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Orion strolled over the thin wayward path through the woods. His boots rustled the autumn leaves beneath him. His eyes were glazed over in deep thought. “Stew or a roast. Or maybe just a sandwich,” he said aloud, revealing the thoughts that dominated his mind. The wind answered him, a howling gale momentarily stopping him in his path, brushing his long locks of black hair up. “A stew it is,” he said, continuing along the path. Minutes later, he was in the safe confines of his home. He was working a ball of dough, having decided to have bread with his stew. Kneading it skilfully, he worked fast, zooming around the kitchen with the dexterity of a housewife twice his age. Sprinting and tripping around his feet was a small bear cub with snow-white fur. Even more minutes later, he was seated by his small oak table, scooping spoonful’s into his mouth. Eating out of its own bowl was the bear cub, digging into it face first. Orion’s eyes were glazed over as before, and he only came to when the bear nudged his hand, its fur now a murky yellow. “Ti, can’t you eat with some decency?” Orion asked, flicking it across the forehead. Its head flung back, and it stared at Orion with glazed over eyes, not in thought but in lack of thought. “Well, come on then. No way you’re allowed on the floor with paws like that,” he said, picking up Ti and putting it in its small bathtub. As he was washing Ti, Orion’s mind flicked back to his past, something he had a bad habit of doing. His victory against the Piros and the foreigners had not only been decisive but also vicious. If there had been anyone in the Empire who hadn’t heard of him by then, they certainly had after the victory. Ironically enough, he had promised himself a life of peace after that fight, but peace was the last thing anyone wanted to give him after that. The Zakari were destroyed, the Piros were crippled, and the Cruorems and Metoles were enfeebled; they had been the protectors of the Empire, and with them gone, the Empire crumbled faster than anyone would have thought. Many people found fault with Orion for this and so hounded after him, each and every one of them rushing to their deaths. Still, their numbers didn’t seem to decrease so Orion had hidden away in this Fae forest with Kora. Their blooming romance had blossomed here, for a while at least. But then Kora had become disillusioned with him: she had fallen in love with the violent and vengeful Orion, not the calm and reserved Orion. Their romance was not meant to be, and once she realised this, she had left him, back to her family he guessed. She hadn’t told him that, as if he would chase her down or the sort. Orion’s lips curled at this. It was quite the ego she had, to believe she had smitten him. Ducking his face into his arms, Orion dodged Ti’s deadly water attack, although he received wet hair in return. Lifting the protesting cub out of the water, he brought it to a length of cloth and began drying Ti, where he once again left for his thoughts. She had left him a year ago now, maybe two – time worked weirdly in the Fae forest. Honestly, he had missed her presence for a while, but after he had found Ti in the forest, abandoned for whatever reason, his mind had naturally drifted off her. He wondered how she was nowadays. She was likely being a murderous vampire with the rest of the Cruorems now. In fact, it was likely she was a ruler of whatever land they had managed to retain of the Empire, alongside the other Cruorems and Metoles. He had injured them the least, so while the Piros likely still existed, it was unlikely they were the ruling House anymore. As for the Zakaris, Orion had heard of one other emerging Zakari during his final days in the Empire, but by now, he wouldn’t be surprised if there were tens of Zakaris making waves in the new world. At this time, Ti rubbed himself across Orion’s hand while softly purring. Breaking into a laugh, Orion began scratching the cub’s back, knowing Ti would soon fall asleep. As expected, the cub didn’t take long to start snoozing, its snores bouncing from the walls. Leaving for the door, Orion left for a walk. Simultaneously, his mind strolled down memory lane. He had last seen Kasib when he had left the Empire how many ever years ago. The bald Seeker had, thankfully, treated him as ever. He hadn’t changed his attitude despite Orion’s power up, instead talking as freely as ever. Truth be told, this had pissed Orion off back then but now, having spent at least a year away from civilisation, he saw that as a blessing. As for the foreigners, despite beating Shrien and destroying their teleporter, now that they had a taste for new, rich land, there had been no chance of them relenting. It had taken them a while but they eventually mapped out the route Shrien and Joiroa had taken to the Empire. From there, they had sent raiding ships and colonising ships. Orion had watched the battles for a time, and once even intervened after Kora persuaded him, wiping out the foreigners on the battlefield. But after that, he had swiftly left with Kora in tow, heading for the Fae forest which lay past the southern reaches of the Empire, in the horsemen’s land. Despite being surrounded by deserts of sun-burnt sand, the lush Fae forest thrived in its environment. Still, the horsemen never entered the forest, even during droughts, for they knew the Fae forest wasn’t natural and certainly not welcoming towards humans. Regardless, Orion and Kora had easily slipped past the horsemen and entered it. From there the two had experienced the forest’s character first hand. The space inside warped constantly, trapping them in a maze they couldn’t leave as they repetitively returned to the same spot heedless of the direction they went. The inhabitants of the forest were vicious monsters of the highest power, and while they were usually apathetic to visitors, after the duo had survived for a few weeks, the monsters had been alarmed. They had started off with little tricks, like destroying food sources or by poisoning water, but afterwards they had come out of hiding and confronted the duo directly. There were many peculiarities with the forest but only one thing was needed to surpass them all: power. And Orion had a lot of power. He had subdued the beasts with difficulty, but then had let them live to Kora’s disappointment. Then he had made friends with his foes, with Maertha the one-eyed Dragon, with Crilya the Bladestorm, with Syeb the three-eyed Troll, and so on. After Kora had left, he had become even better friends with them. They would all be catastrophes if released into the Empire, including Orion, but they had all chosen the laid-back life instead. Nonetheless, Orion hadn’t been able to sever himself from his past completely. He had left in Kora’s hands a bell made of blood-infused ice. He had promised to leave the forest and come to the world’s rescue if she ever rung it. Before, he had longed her to ring it every day, missing aspects of his previous life. But now he wished she never would as he had finally found his home. The end.

The horse’s back thumped against his thighs, flaring up the dull ache. He and Kora had sold their old horses and bought these for the journey, although he now regretted that decision. After they had collected the foreigner, they had bought what supplies they could and rented their last night at The Fat Munch. In the morning, they had come to the Seeker’s building, where Maya had briefed them on their journey. She gave them maps and Smith’s letter of approval. She had teased Orion but only slightly, her aura much calmer than before, maybe due to the broken arm she had gained since the last time they had seen her. When asked whether he could bring along the foreigner, she had looked at him with a raised brow, before saying sure. Joining Lilith and Cyae, they had spent an hour riding away from Visgimar, towards the south of the Empire, towards Kajan. Orion nudged his horse towards the foreigner’s, soon beside the dark man staring into the horizon. Despite Orion rolling up next to him, the foreigner didn’t turn so Orion poked him. The man was still thin but his skin was no longer shrivelled. And while it was hard to spot his scars due to his skin colour, once you spotted one, the whole range of burns and scars became clear. “Hello,” Orion said, waving his hand exaggeratedly. The man watched the hand, then looked at him with the same blank expression as always. “Hello,” Orion repeated. Although the man didn’t respond, the smallest of glints flashed through his eyes. The foreigner rolled his red eyes up as if in thought, then mimicked the wave. “Hell-o,” he said. The pale Seeker felt his lips curl up as he heard the man speak the common tongue, breaking out into a grin. “Jax,” he said, this time pointing at himself. It didn’t long for the man to understand what was happening. “Joiroa,” After saying his name, the foreigner seemed to fall out of the moment, his eyes glazing over and his body shivering. Thinking hard, Orion figured he was reliving memories, most likely the torture from the ship considering how tense he had become. Glancing around, Orion saw Lilith looking back with a strange expression on her face. Cyae watched him passively, perhaps with a small amount of disdain as she turned away from him with cold eyes. When Orion caught Kora’s eyes, she stared back, before shaking her head. She led her horse towards his and pulled up next to him. “Hello, Teacher Jax. Is your student alright?” “Yeah, I think he’s just having an episode. You know he’s smart, he picked what I was saying pretty quickly,” he replied. She nodded excessively with wide eyes. “Yes, he said hello and his name - I’ve never been more impressed in my life,” He rolled his eyes, not falling for her provocation. “Come on, you’ve got to admit you thought he was a dimwit before, like brainless,” She nodded more honestly this time. “I don’t think the ability to say hello invalidates my judgement though,” “Come on then, you try to teach him. You’ll see he’s bright,” “Ok, I will,” she said. **** Now that a few hours had passed since leaving Visgamar, Orion regretted challenging Kora. She had swiftly discovered what he had and proceeded to slowly take control from Orion, eventually kicking him out of the conversation. Even now, he could see them talking – in simple sentences, sure, but still holding a conversation. Lilith had pulled up by him some hours before and they had chatted for a while. He had discovered she was charming and playful as she had teased him for a while, eventually leaving with a wink. He concluded she didn’t flirt for fun like Maya did, instead, using it as a tool. As for Cyae, the short-haired woman hadn’t displayed any interest in Orion at all, instead, opting to stay at the front of the group, scanning their surroundings like a hawk. They had passed several plains, all lush or at least living, but now to their sides were the corpses of fields, crop parts littered all over. Cyae slowed down and hopped off her horse, inspecting the ground and soon searching it. “There’s a monster den somewhere near here, been eating all the food here,” she said, her face tightening into a scowl. She was as tall as Orion and similarly lean, in contrast to Kora and Lilith. She had dark brown hair and a sculpted face, her features sharp and pointed, especially her eyes which seemed to dig into his soul as they passed over him. “What type?” Kora called. “Grub drenites from the look of the damage,” Lilith answered. “Yeah, Grubbers,” Cyae said. “I’m going to destroy their lair, anyone come with?” The other Seekers nodded. Grub drenites were cancer to crops despite only being 3-star monsters. In fact, their danger was inflated due to their numbers - they were 1-starish by themselves. “Right,” Cyae said. She leapt back onto her horse and trekked over the fields, wandering randomly. However, Orion didn’t stop nor interrupt her, instead, watching until he realised she was looking for areas with the least amount of plant waste. Although confused, he followed her, and it only took him a few minutes to acknowledge her skill as they came upon barren land littered with monster shit. In the middle of this area was a large bump, akin to a molehill but man-sized. Climbing off his horse, he stepped over the hole and gazed into the darkness. “They’re nocturnal; they aren’t going to see you,” Cyae called out from far behind. She had opened her bag and was filling a bottle with some liquid, then with another. She put a few ingredients in, the last being a clump of Grubber shit. “Hold your noses, this will stink,” she said as she lit a fire next to the bottle. “Wait, isn’t it best if you add Throllberry as well?” Kora said. Cyae smirked. “If you find some, tell me,” “I’m sure there was some in the forest we went through,” Cyae simply shook her head as she dipped a burning stick into the bottle, the liquid quickly fizzling. Holding her nose, she walked towards the hole and dropped the bottle in. It didn’t take long for the Grubbers to come screaming out, their screeching almost as unbearable as the smell spreading from the hole. There were many forms of Drenites due to how well they adapted to environments, some mammoth sized, some venomous, the highest even a 5-star monster, the boneless drenite. The Grub drenites the Seekers faced were yellow knee-sized frogs with mouths that took up half their bodies. Their molar teeth were their only weapons, meaning they were relatively simple to deal with as long as you watched their numbers. Lilith and Orion took a backward position, both using bows to kill the monsters from a distance. She was faster than him, although he guessed that was more because he hadn’t used a bow in a long while, but what was more surprising was her battle-sense. She somehow stayed aware of the whole battlefield at once, sniping down runaway Grubbers before he even noticed them. Kora and Cyae took the front, Kora using her greatsword to slash through the monsters to great and bloody effect, while Cyae took a more traditional route with a longsword and shield. She wasn’t as fast as Orion, and she wasn’t even close to as powerful as Kora, and yet as the minutes passed by and the stink of Grubber’s intestines filled the air, it became obvious she was the most vicious. Her cuts were clean, her defence was tight, and her attacks were always aimed at vitals. But as strong as the Seekers were, they soon discovered the problem with Grubber’s first hand as the tide of monsters leaving the tunnel increased instead of decreasing. Orion was forced to switch to his sword and dance around the field as time passed, quickly covered with putrid gore. The night passed by painfully slowly.

Indented lines marked the dust track, drawn from countless wagons rolled over. Orion and Flynn walked alongside holding lamps, watching their fronts and backs for any carriages they could hitchhike. Flynn had initially been chatty, babbling on about Visgamar and its quirks once Orion had told him he was new to the area. But as time passed, Flynn began to sulk and frown over things they had been laughing about minutes before. Moreover, he slowed as his steps became trudges and his breaths became wheezes. An hour after the mood change, Flynn abruptly stopped and began scavenging through his backpack. Orion stopped a few steps ahead and followed suit, taking his bottle out and resting his feet. Due to the dark, it was only when Orion walked over he realised his companion had no interest in water, or even food, instead putting them aside his lamp as he ravaged his bag. “What’s that?” he asked. Flynn was unwrapping old, bundled newspapers, his eyes bright and mouth dribbling. “You don’t know? It’s a Visgamar speciality,” he said as he opened it. Orion’s nose caught onto the scent before his eyes recognised it. A rich nutty smell, as sweet as honey. These nuts were burnt black, unlike the ones he had capsized by the dock, but they still shared the distinctive odour of manure. “What are those?” “Gajoi nuts, we call them. They got different names under different cities. Smells nice, eh?” Flynn responded while crushing one in his hand, bolstering the smell. “So smooth, love it,” “Why do you eat them?” Orion asked, his anger seeping in. Flynn glanced over as he popped the nut into his mouth. “Oh, you’re one of them, eh? I can’t function without these, mate.” His eyes glazed over, and his body collapsed onto itself as he finished. Before Orion could even check his companion’s state, Flynn arose and went about wrapping the remaining Gajoi nuts. His eyes were clear now, and only the perverted smile accompanied by the senseless nodding suggested he was high. Seconds passed without Flynn acknowledging Orion or his repulsed stare. “Are you ok?” Orion warily asked, ready to cast Giah any second- it was dark, and no was around for miles. Flynn glanced at Orion and grinned. “Oh. Yeah, yeah, mate. Can’t function without these.” he mumbled. He repacked his bag and started walking, Orion tagging behind. The quiet that had been in between them grew into a silence, the silence only drawing longer every time Flynn stopped to collapse over another Gajoi nut.  Neither of the two had spoken in hours when Flynn suddenly started. “It was long ago, far in the past when I began, mate. Those times were good, I’ll tell you. Mummas angry, just eat a nut and forget that bitch. People wanna beat you up for debts, just eat a nut and let ‘em do it. Didn’t get the job, just eat a nut.” Orion’s eyes bore into Flynn’s back but he carried on undeterred. “Ahhh,” he shouted, sending his arms up. “It felt so good, Jax. Best feelings ever. Even better than sex. But,” he said as his arms plummeted, swinging by his side, “The feeling drains. Every time I ate the nuts, less of a treat, more of a necessity. It started with me wanting to do it. Then, I had to do it. Now, I need to do it,” Orion dropped his guns-drawn glare and looked to the ground. Was this how his sister had fallen into the trap? Just a treat at the parties with the other girls, then honey to her tongue, and finally air for her lungs. “Y’know, it got boring when the choice got taken out. I had been choosing to take it before, choosing to be happy with my head in the clouds.” His voice quivered. “Now my heads gotta be there, or I’ll die; no choice, no fun.” The uncomfortable quiet stretched on until Orion spotted a well-lit carriage behind them. He patted Flynn on the shoulder, and they waited by the side. The two elderly narkois pulling the wagon cast their heads down dispiritedly when they saw the men standing in lamplight. Narkois were large lizards, almost as tall and wider than humans, with forked tongues and crushing molars. They were, however, tameable herbivores. They had round yellow eyes and scaly skin. Their inordinate leg muscles and feet meant they were great for pulling heavy loads. Despite this, only the lower classes put up with the accompanying downsides of them being slow and nocturnal. And like the tired animals had dreaded, Orion and Flynn were effortlessly let on after they claimed they mission, only for the elderly farmer to babble on about Fexa the Gracious. It was what she would have done, the farmer humbly said. Orion ignored the preachings of the Eastern God as he sat beside the farmer, staring into the oppressive darkness. Flynn joined the two for a while but spent most of his time besides the farmer’s unsold wares and bought treats. Surprisingly, the farmer didn’t seem to care at all; maybe he knew nutheads only cared for one thing. Perhaps Fexa the Gracious allowed nutheads, considering how much money and jobs they made for her territories. By the time they reached their destination on the path, it was daybreak, and the farmer had given up on his efforts, apparently not as big a fan of his voice as Orion had mused. Flynn rarely stirred, only ever getting up to open his bag. In foresight, Orion had only thought of his body’s safety when grouping up with Flynn: even if a gang of Flynns betrayed him, he could still get the upper hand. Next time, he also had to think of his mind’s wellbeing. They got off, thanked the farmer, peered at Flynn’s map, and headed further north for an hour until they finally saw Marshall’s Keep. The swamp water was murky-green, and moss dominated the land. There were many downed trees to jump over and rotted wood and animal shit to brush off. Contrary to Orion’s expectations, there weren’t any loud roars or monsters galore. Only the croaks of frogs and the zipping of flies reassured them the swamp was still alive. It appeared the Rockskin had played aplenty in its new stamping ground. Surprisingly, Flynn had gotten his act together since entering the swamp as he had stopped sniffing at his bag every few seconds. Instead, he gripped his longsword and shield as he trod carefully. Were it not for his face being the same and his eyes being as bloodshot as before, Orion would’ve guessed him to be another person. It was while Orion was trying to ignore the marshy reek that Flynn bumped into him and pointed into the distance. There lay a gluttonous reptile at least two metres long and a metre wide. It was half the height of a human, but something, mainly the bulging stomach, told Orion they would die if it rolled over them. Its famously hard and gritty skin looked soft and sticky from the dried swamp water.  It was tearing into a flesh fountain with claws the size of hands, voraciously sinking its teeth into the meat as if there was actually space in its belly. Flynn tapped on Orion’s shoulder and pointed to the tail that made up half the beast. “Don’t get near that,” he whispered, his tone sharp, unrecognisable with the former him. “The claws are nothing but get close to that tail and it’ll feel like a bull to the balls. Don’t die, alright? Get near it and distract it. I’ll come from behind and cripple it, and then we’ll just chip it dead. Simple.” Orion opened his mouth, but Flynn continued. “If it’s not so simple, see that cave there,” he said while pointing to a cavemouth as wide as Orion’s shortsword, “Run in there. If my cripple fails, we can’t outrun it, no matter how fat it is.” he finished. He nodded to Orion and sneaked away, the Rockskin deaf to the wet slaps of his feet circling it. In little time, he was in the trees behind the beast. Orion stared at his hands and considered using Giah. He was sure he could kill the beast alone if he went all-out, but then he’d have to kill Flynn, and he didn’t want to kill indiscriminately. He glanced towards the dirtied, ginger man crouching and nodded. Since Flynn was so confident, he’d at least amuse his plan. He clenched his shortsword as he creeped softly, not looking where he stepped but instead into the beast’s oblivious eyes. The second they snapped over would be the second that mattered. First step: still blood on its mind. Second step: its teeth gorging flesh. Third step: it scratched its nose. Fourth step: it resumed eating. Fifth step: its tongue slipped out and licked the blood off its eyes. Sixth step: the eyes flickered over. Orion sprinted the last few metres, the Rockskin dropping the carcass and raising its arms. Too slow. He flicked at its hanging tongue with his tip and fell back, the monster clawing at air. It almost launched itself at Orion but instead stopped and turned. He couldn’t see clearly due to the bulking monster in front of him and the blasted murky water, but he could clearly hear the scream. “RUN!” Flynn screamed. Orion didn’t process the words - that was not allowed in Zakari military training - he simply followed. He was in the cave before he even realised what he was doing. He whacked his head and swore, picking his arse up to get outside when another figure tumbled through. Flynn landed on his chest and spat pungent blood into the dark. They had fucked up…

Two massive skulls adorned the upper corners of the building. The jaws of the monsters were gaping, and their maws housed incisors stretching the entire length. It gave the Seeker’s building a sinister overtone compared to the noble auras of the other guild-buildings, perhaps only contested by the Black Heart’s building. Orion pushed through the stone doors, the entrance snapping shut after him. Inside, countless skulls of different shapes, sizes, and colour decorated the sides of the hall. There were wide beams of sunlight gracing the room from above, and potted fauna added variety to the ornaments. At the end of the hall, there was a curved marble table, behind which sat a receptionist. Behind her were winding stairs that led up. The decorations ground away at Orion’s confidence as he walked to the table, feeling increasingly frivolous under the stares of the menacing skulls and the spirits of the Seekers who slaughtered them. “Hiya. What’re you here for?” the receptionist asked when Orion awkwardly stood in her sunlight. The receptionist was a toned brunette with two braids hanging above her shoulders. She wore a dark tunic and beige trousers, through which her figure showed. “Hi, I’m here to register as a Seeker.” The brunette scoffed at this before inspecting him. “You sure, kid? I mean, yeah, you could get famous but you look like you’ll die during your first job,” she said despite looking in her early twenties. “I’m sure,” he said while looking her in the eye. “Alright. What’s your name, age, place of birth, and base city?” “Jax Whyte, 16, City of Yupker, and here in Visgamar,” “Jax Whyte, eh?” she teased. “Well, if you travelled all the way here from Yupker, maybe you are strong.” She filled in a form and gave it to him. “Take it upstairs and find Smith,” “Who should I say sent me?” he asked. “He’ll know who sent you, naughty boy. I’ll give you my name if you survive your first job,” she said with a wink, sending Orion upstairs with a faint blush. The first floor was wider than the ground floor and less decorated. There were two rooms to the side, a curious set of stairs on the opposite side heading up and down, and a wide board pinned with contracts. A few people crowded the board and the benches and tables around it. He ignored them and went towards the room with Smith written next to it. He firmly knocked before entering. Inside, there was a grey-haired man with an eyepatch sat behind a table piled with papers and inks. To the sides were shelves compact with sheets and books. Orion handed him the form and sat on the open chair. “New Seeker? I’ll see about that,” Smith said, his voice deep and gravelly. He laughed when he read the form, before facing Orion. “Jax Whyte, were you this pale when you popped out? Did your momma drop her family name to tease you with that?” Orion’s forehead creased, and his lips drew to a thin line. He already regretted the surname he’d picked. “Don’t worry, kid. Your skin will golden up once you stay here. And considering you’re applying to die at such a young age, I’m guessing you know magic?” Smith said. Orion nodded. “I’ve got moderate knowledge of Ice magic. Learned it from a small school near Yupker.” “Nothing compared to the Capital’s mages, then. Although, I guess you’d go to the Mage’s guild if you had such a background,” Smith said while frowning. “You know how to fight? How to survive in the wild?” “Yes,” “Good. Now tell me, how come you’ve got such nice clothes?” Orion’s eyes drifted, and Smith didn’t miss it. “I didn’t steal it. I helped a merchant on the journey here from Yupker. He dealt in noblemen’s clothing and gave me a set.” At Smith’s raised eyebrows, he carried on. “He had guards and mercenaries, but they had been dealing with a few bandits. It was by luck I saved the merchant.” Smith nodded with a smile. “Now, those must have been some really useless mercenaries. Considering he gives out clothes made of Blacktip-leather so easily, you’d imagine him to have deep enough pockets to hire the Black Hearts.” He stared into Orion’s eyes. “We’ll let that pass, though. Weird stuff can happen, I guess.” Orion internally sighed in relief. He was lucky he had been wearing his cheap clothes during the ambush, that was if any luck could be attributed to such an event. “Well, everything looks in order. Let me finish with a sketch of you,” Smith said. Five minutes later, a portrait of Orion lay in front of him. He was slim with cheekbones showing. He had black, finger-length hair jumbled across his head, and black eyes with fine-drawn bags under. His skin was pale, so Smith had coloured the yellow parchment with white ink. He had slumped shoulders and wore simple clothing in the picture. He looked like a generic, handsome Westerner except for one feature: the long, dull-red scars from his left-cheek to his jawline. They looked like cracks in dried ground due to how well they connected. “Alright. I’ll send this to all the Seeker guilds so you can accept contracts and redeem rewards anywhere. Whenever you feel ready to take a contract, just go to the board and pick one. They’ll have the details written on. Any questions?” “Yes. How do I get into the Seekers Summit?” Orion asked. “Ha, Jax, you feisty one. There are 9 ranks. When you become a 5-star Seeker, you’re allowed at the Summit. But don’t worry about ranking up, kid. Ranks are worthless. You could take a 6-star contract from here right now, and I guarantee you’d die. In this profession, most of the newbies die on their first job. So, don’t think about the rank at all, instead think about how you can make the most money from the contracts you can actually do. We double function as a bank so ask Maya downstairs to open an account once you complete a contract. Also, the summit is boring as hell, just higher-starred jobs, depressing talks, and shit drinks.” “Thank you so much,” Orion said, before exiting under Smith’s one-eyed gaze. Once out, he headed towards the contracts and looked through. The 6-star contract Smith had mentioned listed hunting a Basilisk to an island east of Visgamar. It had destroyed the fort set up there, and in turn, the Imperial Guard had commissioned its demise. The reward made Orion blink twice, before putting it back without a second thought. Even if the reward was so great, he remembered his dad telling the tale of how he had cut down a Basilisk, and how difficult it had been. Orion didn’t even have a fraction of the power his dad had. He fell down the tiers and discovered he could barely defeat a 2-star monster, or at least he hoped: it wasn’t something he’d gamble on, though. It was while sitting by a table, looking through 2-star contracts that another man took the seat beside him. “Heya mate, you’re thinking about a tier-two contract, ain’tcha?” Orion nodded and inspected the man. He looked to be in his late twenties and had a roughly-cut ginger beard. His skin was tanned, and he had bloodshot eyes with deep bags under. He wore a thin, plain gambeson with shoulder pads, and a pair of padded trousers. By his waist, he had a small buckled shield, and in his hand, he held a sheathed longsword. “Look, I’ve seen you frown quite a few times. How about you do this contract with me and we’ll split the reward? I’ve read up on it and can nearly take it down, but I’ll need support.” the ginger man said. Orion read the contract on the table. It was to kill a Rockskin, first spotted by a villager in a swamp north of Visgamar. It was rated 2-stars and had a reward of 10 gold coins, commissioned by Lord Rotro. Even if the ginger man turned out useless, a second person to act as a shield was all Orion needed. “Yeah, sure,” Orion said. Although the reward was low for a 2-star, he didn’t care about the coins either away. “I’m Flynn. Pleased to meet ya,” “Jax, likewise,” The two of them shook hands and headed downstairs where Flynn gave the contract to Maya. “Oh, Whytie, you made a friend. Maybe you will live, after all.” “Will we both become 2-starred Seekers after this?” Orion asked. “Sure. You can usually work with a party and still get the same ranking, although the maximum number of people differs with each contract. For this one, you can have up to 3 people.” He glanced at Flynn. “Nah. We agreed to split it, Jax,” Orion nodded towards Maya. “Thanks for the help, Maya,” “Aww, it’s no fun if you cheat. Perhaps I’ll think of something else though?” Maya called out as they left the Seeker’s building. Following this, they bought food supplies, and Orion bought a shortsword from the market. They left Visgamar before nightfall and walked along a path towards Marshal’s Keep. Marshal’s Keep was now a shell of its former self. It had become an actual marsh over the past few years, infested by low-tier monsters. Higher-tiers were rare there, and something like a Rockskin, which lived on grassy pastures, was even more unusual in the swamps.

Orion spent the night at The Little Sip. This time he didn’t wake up to grunting from the room over, though still groggy from the outside reek. Struggling up, he decided that he would no longer spend his nights at this Inn: although it was the cheapest, he figured he could live more lavishly now that he was a Seeker. Dim light beamed through the window, reflecting his mood. It wasn’t midday yet, so he’d done better than yesterday at least. Within five minutes, he had washed and was ready, his maroon bag slumping over his butt. In it were his finger knife, a med-kit, two gold coins, and a few silvers. He slinked through alleys and reached a foggy Hexham’s road, through which he walked to the market. After restocking his dry rations, Orion sold his shortsword for a longer, lighter one, costing six silvers. He sat on a bench and wondered whether he should work with Kora. His intuition told him her attitude wasn’t an act meant to bluff, rather she believed herself a dragon and him a sheep. He smoothed his messy black hair and remembered her patting him - the audacity of that girl! Regardless of his peevish mood, he got up and headed to the Seeker’s building. He couldn’t waste any chances he got considering his astronomical goal.   Easing away his creases, Orion walked through the doors. After some thought, he wore a poker face to give Maya no joy in teasing him. If she knew his identity, she wouldn’t even dare think of such provocations. Likewise, if she knew his identity, he was sure to be shackled and sent to the capital in no time. “Oh goodie, it’s my favourite Seeker,” she shouted, putting down her book. “Don’t forget humble ol’ Maya when you become famous, young buck. Your lady-friend is upstairs by the way,” she said as he walked past, ignoring her. He quickly spotted Kora in her maroon cloak despite the heat inside. Maybe she had some sort of disfigurement? He took the seat beside her and scanned the contracts on the table. “One hour,” she said. “What?” “I thought you wouldn’t show up after asking me here so persuasively,” He exhaled and shook his poker face. Maya and Kora were two peas of the same pod; all he had to do was bore them with a blank expression, then he’d be winning. She stole his other viable reaction and stared at him unamused. “This is how it’s going to be, eh?” When he didn’t break, she nodded her head and acted like nothing had happened. “So, I skimmed through the contracts while you snored in bed and found these. Any which catch your fancy?” Orion stopped her. “Too fast. First of all, which of these can you beat?” “All the 2-stars.” “Then let’s do a 3-star contract. What about this one?” he said, pointing to one for a Spotted arachese. The difficulty in killing them came from their webs, and a simple bit of Szu, albeit disguised as another magic for Kora’s sake, would solve that. She looked at him incredulously, then covered her eyes and began to sob. Orion glanced around and saw a few Seekers frowning at him. He had misjudged before; Kora was on a different level to Maya - she could crease his brows a way the other never managed. Her sobs turned to sniggers, and she pointed at Orion as if to clarify the situation to any onlookers. “Are you an idiot? Spotted arachese pop out babies like crazy when endangered. While they’re weak, the two of us can’t deal with them and their momma,” “I’ve got a crack propagation spell that can deal with that,” She patted his head but withdrew before he could slap it. “Unless you’re a Zakari with their Szu, I’m not trusting your weak-ass cracking spells. Otherwise, I’d only trust your magic if you got some serious meat on those bones. Orion shook his head. It was natural for him to cast Szu without draining fat through Giah that he had forgotten how the inferior breeds did it. He could disguise his magic, but he wouldn’t be able to mask its power considering his figure. “At least you have some sense. What about this contract?” She pointed to a contract about murders in Lesan. Lesan was a coastal town that had grown in the way Visgamar hadn’t – through canals. The whole town was passable by boat, but it also had many bridges for the walkers. It had a booming tourism sector, and being nearer the western Empire meant an inflated geographical importance, explaining how the seafarer’s outpost had exploded up so fast. But due to this, it also had a growing underbelly as sailors brought both goods and gangs along. “It says the rank rewarded is determined by the monster’s race, as is the money,” he said in a displeased tone. He stressed money, and she bit the bait. “Don’t worry, this is definitely a Korshi. Look here on the suspicious deaths: one woman discovered without a stomach and a fractured ribcage – its birth. Two days later, another body found but missing various cuts of meat. Another day later, another similar death. In fact, almost a week of similar deaths- it’s feeding. Then a sudden stop of corpses, so it either got smarter or stopped. I say it stopped; it had enough to make its mask. If we can catch it off guard, it’s an easy kill,” she said. He thought back to everything he had read about the Korshi. “If not, we’re in trouble. Especially in a town like that,” “We will, don’t worry,” She placed her hands over his and talked in the most pleasing tone. “Korshis are easy; don’t be a pussy.” Orion moved his hands. She knew something about it, and she knew something about him, which was why she was pressuring him. Was it that he was a Zakari? He looked at her head on. Her lips curled, and her black eyes smiled. “Trust,” No, she didn’t know. Maybe she just liked him, after all, he was an actual member of the four great Houses. They naturally had likeable dispositions. He nodded. “Fine, let’s do it,” She broke into a grin.   “Interesting contract,” Maya said, writing their names down on a register. “Two others left to do it two days ago. You’ll get there in time to help them if you leave today, and this contract has groups up to five so it’s fine. If it’s a Korshi, remember to watch for their face muscles – they’ll be all stiff and wrong. If it’s a Laeshi, unlikely, but if it is, retreat and come back here,” Her knowledge surprised Orion, altering his image of Maya. “And as long as you come back, you know you’ll be getting my naughty reward,” she said with a slow wink. His image re-altered. Kora tinkled out laughter. Maya bobbed her eyebrows up and down.   Since they were both ready, they left after buying supplies for the trip. Despite both places being coastal cities, the sea voyage took a month with many trade stops down the route unless you emptied your pockets. Thus, before dusk, they were on a carriage headed to Lesan.

Orion had known his family was dead, and potentially, the entire House. Still, it was salt to his fresh wound hearing it from another mouth, especially one which claimed his House harboured treason in their hearts. Outrageous: slandering his family, smearing dirt on their faces. Nonetheless, a glance around told him the crowd had slurped up the Soldier’s lies and his House’s miserable end. His eyes reddened with agitation and his hands itched for action, preferably the Soldier’s neck in between them. But he knew it was pointless; hurting the mouthpiece of the Empire wouldn’t avenge his dead family, nor would it bring them back. Despite this, Orion’s anger ballooned as he picked up on the blasphemous comments flung over his head. He growled, then forced his mouth shut to stop, and shoved himself out of the crowd. He passed by countless faces on Hexham’s road with tears rolling down his cheeks. It was despair; he wanted to plunge into the chilly river and be done with it, and yet his House’s, his family’s demise loomed over him. If he didn’t avenge them, who would?  His anguish lasted minutes as he wandered aimlessly, solely walking for the sake of it. Regardless, as time passed, his hope grew and blossomed: he could do it, he was a Zakari, the greatest of the four great families. But this didn’t mean he could shoot blinded and hit bullseye- hope only came so far. He needed a plan, and for that, he needed paper: he had to see his thoughts and problems in full. Rubbing the reeded edges of his gold coin, Orion decided against his previous thought – ink and paper would be a waste of what little he had. Instead, he needed sand. Remembering a large patch of it, albeit littered, in the slums, he retraced his steps and got there just as the sun had fully woken. In little time, he found a forearm-sized stick and cleared out the foul-smelling garbage, revealing soiled sand. He scratched House into the sand and circled it: it was central to this injustice, it was the victim, it would be avenged. Drawing a line, he attached the House to Empire. No, the Empire was the entire civilised world; the Empire was not his enemy. Why hadn’t he seen this before? He slapped his face hard, leaving a red blur against his pale skin. He could not make mistakes like thinking anyone able to breathe with decency was against him. Staring intensely at Empire, he drew a line leading to ? – Murderers. They were his enemies, and they were knotted up in the Empire’s highest echelons. His gut instinct told him it was the other Houses that had done it but thinking more on it, he couldn't think of a reason why they would want to. With his family gone, the western front was lost, meaning the tribes would be invading the Empire in a short while. So, he still couldn’t put a name to theMurderers or cite their motives. He had to start there. Orion’s lips then stretched into an o as he stared at, but also past, his writing. The optimal place to dig for information was here, in Visgamar. The city was large enough to contain anything he’d require, and in turn, it contained nobody who could identify him as a Zakari, unlike in the capital. Shivers ran down his spine at this realisation as it hinted at another more insidious one. Was it really a coincidence he had been seemingly abandoned here, or had someone known exactly how he would think? In which case, what did they want? His eyes drew back to the ?. Ultimately, it showed how little he understood of the game he had become a pawn in. He needed information. Yes, he needed information. Orion smiled in what felt like forever, a worm wriggling against the tautness of his face. The rest of his thought-train came to him as if the ambiguous resolution had been the only missing track. He would only get the information he wanted from the powerful, but the Nobility would blanch and lock him up the second they realised his identity. Then, an idea struck his head so violently that no other options remained. Orion wasn’t well-travelled, and those he knew would now want him captured, dead or alive. But not the Seeker Kasib. He was a friend of the House’s, and better still, an old friend of his dad’s. But the best was the power Seeker Kasib held – unused power at that. When he learned of the injustice that had occurred, the upper echelons would go from proud to fearful in an instant, scared for their lives and of their families’, just like Orion had been. He just knew it. Seeker Kasib had stayed at their House four months before because he had been hunting down a monster in the North, and their home was the last civilised place before the North. The Seeker’s Summit was ongoing now, and although Seeker Kasib wouldn’t be at it, he would be at the next one: he had explicitly said so. Orion had to meet him there; he had to grow powerful enough in a year’s time to enter the Summit. There was no other way of meeting such an elusive figure like Kasib, and there was no better way of getting his revenge than through Kasib. “Oi, what’s a dimwit lordling doin’ around ‘eres?” called a voice from behind him. Orion brushed the written words away with his boots and genuinely smiled, shattering the webs on his face. He had a path to walk down, and a destination to get to. “Did yers not ‘ear me?” … “Hullo, you listenin’, lordy?” … “How about this? Yer gimme yor clothies an’ I’ll let yer leave alive!” He turned around and faced the approaching owner of the voice. The loudmouth was a child around his size, but much dirtier and uglier, surrounded by a scramble of similar breed. Orion considered beating up a few and escaping the rest, when suddenly, he sucked in his breath and slapped himself in full show of the curious gang. He was no longer the lofty lord of a great house- he was the hunted exile of a disgraced house; these were the sorts of people he would be spending time with. All the more, he remembered a quote from a book he’d glanced at years ago- “Who knows the streets of their cities better than the street urchins who live on them?” “Yuh’right, lordy? Look, jus’ give us yor clothies while they’re still clean, an’ we’ll beat yer up if that’s what yor want.” the loudmouth said while nudging up his eyebrows. His friends laughed while Orion cringed at the uncouth humour exclusive to streeties. The streeties ranged from age to size, but the oldest looked to be 17, similar to Orion, while the biggest were as tall as him but carrying more weight. They wore thatched and ripped clothes crusted with dirt, and their skin was similar being cut, bruised, and dirty. The loudmouth had messy maroon hair, two scars along his cheeks from the eyes to the lips, and golden-brown skin. Orion took a sideward glance and sighed with relief at seeing no one else around. His eyes paled and snow whirled down his right arm, rapidly liquefying into menacing streams revolving his hand. “Uhh! Lord Magy, I truli didn’t know yer a Magy,” the loudmouth said, now aware of who he’d taunted. The younger urchins began to shift and edge away, while the older ones stood in fear, aware of how fast Orion could strike them down. Throughout this, the feared mage in question stared at the group through slitted and downcast eyes, trying his best to hide the colour. Fortunately, sunlight now flooded Visgamar and his eyes warranted no second looks from those who knew no better. And while he was never much of a gambler, he was betting against high risks simply because the opportunity had served itself to him. “No worries,” Orion responded, to the loudmouth’s relief, “All of you can go except the loudmouth,”. And so they did. Within ten seconds, only settling dust clouds suggested a whole gang had been there instead of the sole, distressed street-urchin. Orion’s eyes darkened back to black but he didn’t collapse the spell, instead clenching his teeth to withstand the full-body pain. “Whatevah yer need done, I’ll do it,” the loudmouth pleaded, nay, begged. “Good,” Orion said while releasing the spell, ice tendrils cracking against the sand. His hand was immediately in his trouser pocket, not showing the knife but posing so the loudmouth noticed he had one. “I’m new to the city, you see. I want a guide to show me around. Do you understand?” “Of course, Lordy. No one’s betah at the city than Thimble,” the loudmouth said, flashing a nervous grin.

The pillars above were still for a moment, resisting Orion’s order. Each weighed tons, behemoths in their own right. Regardless, the monstrous pillars cracked, the slits in them shining glints of light into the shadows below. They fell instantly, plummeting down with a petrifying force. The moment was too overwhelming for most men to react as they stared up, their legs frozen below. Then the pillars smashed into the ground, sending up mounds of dirt as the barrage began. It was alike a nightmare as the gory crash landings sounded out like thunder, continuous thunder beating the earth. The pillars’ shadows which had covered the battlefield was now gone, and in their place was an incorporeal darkness, one which fed off the pain and misery around. When all hope seemed lost to both sides of the war, a radiant light burned through the inky black. The light was dazzling but brought warmth to all who saw it: a dangerous warmth. With no warning, the light grew rapidly, soon revealing itself as a burning ball of magma. Just as it was about to shoot forth, a green feather snaked out of the rubble and into the fireball. In response, the fireball jolted and shook, growing volatile by the second. Then the green feather retreated, escaping back to the rubble, and the fireball exploded, splattering thick goo into its surroundings. This molten lava was so hot it devoured the flesh of any it touched, the screams only faltering as the dust cleared. On one side were the foreigners, their leader, Shrien. He stood amongst his men, easily distinguished by the five green feathers revolving around his body. He had smooth ebony skin and stood in a tensed soldier’s pose. Despite this, his head was cocked upward and the disdain from his eyes was tangible. On the other side was the Piros Household, alongside the remaining Imperial Army. The Imperial Soldiers had taken the brunt of the foreigners’ ambush so their numbers were thin and injured. Still, they had nothing to fear with the tyrants at their back. In the middle of this cluster was a man with one foot in the grave and a winding red beard coiled around his body. The man was slim-built, but this did little to hide the tyrannical aura he released. He was Azar, the head of the Piros House, and also the one who had released the fireball, before being intercepted by Shrien. Azar glared at Shrien with enough venom to kill a titanbeast. However, he soon slid his anger towards the figure walking out of the dust. Grinning, Orion strolled out from the dustcloud, coming to a stop as he assessed the two other leaders. Neither of three moved while this happened, even though violence sang loud and clear around them. “Gentlemen,” Orion said in faux modesty. “Zakari,” Azar screeched out, his frame shaking. “El pero weael,” Shrien proclaimed state-of-matterly. While Orion had no idea what the man meant, he had heard Joiroa enough to know it was the same tongue. Joiroa had also told Orion the best way to stop Shrien’s plans was to kill the man and to take the key he held under his clothes. This key was a transporter, and when activated, would release the teleporter, which they could then destroy. The reason Shrien hadn’t left the teleporter in some hidden spot to continuously spit out new soldiers was because it required a ridiculous amount of resources to work, and his latest attempts at procuring those had been foiled by the Piros. What Orion wanted to do to Azar was a lot simpler: kill him. After which, he aimed to kill the remaining family elders to make sure the family would only crumble from now onwards. Unsurprisingly, Shrien was the first to break the tense ceasefire between the leaders. The green feathers floating beside him were simply twirling one second, but in the next they were spearing towards Orion. Azar immediately joined this assault as he cast a fire cage around Orion, locking him in place. While Shrien and Azar hated each other, they were both smart enough to acknowledge Orion’s dreadful power after his arrogant display. The green feathers pierced through Orion’s flesh, and the fire cage closed in, tightening around his skin. But instead of blood and flesh, steaming water poured down as his figure turned to ice. His two enemies reacted quickly, scanning their surroundings with fear. Moments before he was caught by their searching eyes, he leapt out of the ground as if it was water, a dagger of ice in his hand as he lunged towards Shrien. The foreigner smirked at this attempt and sidestepped, taking hold of Orion’s wrist before thrusting down. But instead of hearing the satisfying crack he had expected, he instead felt ice crunch in his hand. Just as he realised he had attacked another clone, a biting pain flared through his back. He screamed as he rushed away from the source of pain, mule-kicking back with all his strength. This attack made contact with Orion but failed to make the Zakari recoil. Instead, Orion snatched the foot with his left hand and used Szu on it as well, cracking the flesh and peeling the skin. Here, he let Shrien go and watched the foreigner trip up in distress, simultaneously setting up an ice barrier to block Azar’s attack. Orion ignored Azar and walked up to Shrien, kicking the man down, before using another burst of Szu on him. The pain he was inflicting didn’t please him at all, no, it was the power that pleased him. These were men who he had once been warned against, fearsome characters who always felt so out of reach. But now they weren’t! Hoping the momentary respite meant Orion had gotten distracted, Shrien edged away, pulling himself forward with his arms. He failed, however, as a blade of crystal ice tore through his neck, decapitating him. Then, Orion turned his attention towards Azar, who had been setting up a grand magic spell all this time. Orion had willingly let the old Piros do this… Finally, Azar ended, striking the ground with his open palms. The ground under Orion cracked, similar to when Szu was used on it, only this time gold-coloured lava seeped out, scorching the very dead ground they spread across. Orion leapt back, realising the lava was forming into a fearsome beast. When it fully formed, it turned out to be a pure lava phoenix with beady eyes. Giving Azar no time to react, Orion strained his mind, forming countless ice chains across the ground, all of which shot up towards the phoenix to latch on. The ones that hit pulled down on the phoenix, giving the majestic beast a rude awakening as it began to violently struggle against the growing number of chains clutching its feathers. Azar transferred as much of his energy into the phoenix, helping it continue its hopeless fight, until an ice crystal blade flew towards him, taking his head cleanly off with his mouth agape. The phoenix fell shortly after, screeching in madness and indignance. After this was over, Orion stood in silence, merely overlooking the rest of the battle. Seeing both leaders had fallen, the remaining combatants had retreated, especially from him, but he knew they wouldn’t get far. This was it: he had reached the peak of power, and yet he found himself as unsatisfied as before. The gore and screams around him somehow broke through his tough shells, reminding his core who he actually was. “Last mission,” he whispered to himself in response, as if convincing himself, “Last mission,” **** Watching the sunrise, Orion wrinkled his nose at the stench around which he had made. Looking at the circular, metallic key he had looted from Shrien, he crushed it. Thick plumes of mana escaped the key and formed in front of him, creating a dark entrance akin to that of a cave’s. He waited awhile, Joiroa and Kora at his side. Seeing nothing had happened after several minutes, he sighed, nodded at Joiroa, and put his left hand on the entrance. It took less than a second for the entire doorway to collapse, releasing a strong gust of magic that would have normally wiped all three of them from existence. But it didn’t as Orion formed an ice shield in front at a similar pace to which the gust broke it down, the pattern carrying on for a whole minute before the ferocious wind abated. Then, the trio stood in silence on the top of a dune. The battlefield was visible from their vantage, its ugly sight a smear on the land. The sight tore at Orion’s numb heart, though ultimately failing to do any damage. What disgust or fear could he feel when it was caused by him in the first place? Still, it relieved him as he turned around, “Final mission. I’m done now,” he said, feeling the weight lift off his soul. His conscience, although tainted, felt like a fresh breath of air for the first time in months. “Last one,” Kora repeated his sentiment, although her words were thick with regret and sadness. Not for the victims, of course, but for the craft itself. She was a Cruorem, a high vampire; Orion knew with certainty she would miss her wild and violent days in the future. But he knew she wouldn’t return to it, in respect for him.

Orion eyed the lanterns drifting in the night with a predator’s patience. He had now watched them for long enough to map out the sentry’s patrol path around the foreigner’s base. He was forced to agree with Kora the whole thing was a ruse though, a sweet cake set out to trap the Piros. The lanterns were flickering in some places, and in others there was no light, just an expanse of black. Considering the foreigners’ alleged strength, there was no way they were lax with their defence, and so the entire scenario screamed out its true nature. Still, the Piros would fall for it. While Orion didn’t know the other House intimately, he had known his own family well enough to draw a parallel. The Piros were the actual leaders of the Empire, and Orion was certain their ego, and frustration with the resilient invaders were enough for them to take the bait. But more than these, he believed they would fall for it was because of their magic. Their magic wasn’t transformative like the Metole’s, nor inhumane like the Cruorem’s, nor creative like the Zakari’s. No, theirs was purely destructive, the power to tame fire, and it was strongest at long ranges. Considering these points, it seemed obvious to him the Piros would set up in one of the surrounding dunes and rain down fire upon the foreigners’ base. And if Shrien was as devious as his reputation made him, then he would use the trap as a tool to get into close range with the Piros, where they had less of an advantage. Of course, there were many counter plays both parties could take for this situation, and that was where the real fight started. “Do we move?” Joiroa asked. Orion considered it. They were on a sandy hill, using the foliage as cover as they spied the soon-to-be war scene. Around them were several similar dunes, each providing less of a vantage but still preferable if the trio wanted to stay hidden. However, Orion had a bone to stick with both the Piros and the foreigners, and considering Eira’s power coursing through his veins, the two parties were going to face hellfire from him. “No,” Orion said viciously. “We’ll take this to them soon, as soon as the sky lights up,” Joiroa nodded, keeping quiet his opinion. The aged foreigner had said little about what he had done while they were apart. Still, he had been overjoyed when he had seen Orion and Kora, although Orion wasn’t sure if this feeling sourced from friendship or from the aura of strength he and Kora exuded. “I think—” Kora said. Suddenly, a bright streak burst through the sky, heading right for the foreigners’ base. A little way off its target, it shattered into several pieces that flew on. But before they could burn the base down to cinders, a large purple barrier appeared metres from the base. The shattered pieces embedded themselves in the barrier, seemingly innocent and pure as they gradually lit up. Orion realised just in time as he yelled, “DOWN!” Kora listened, immediately ducking with her head down, but Joiroa faltered, turning to face Orion with confusion written over his face. In the next second, the shattered pieces budded, lighting up so bright they seemed close to explosion. Orion knew this as he heard Joiroa scream in pain as the light bore holes through his eyes. Then, they exploded. The shockwaves sent the dunes around into chaos, sand sweeping up into the air to form dust screens, the ground itself shaking. When they settled back down, Orion and Kora were beside Joiroa, holding him still as he tried to roll and scream. Eventually calming, Joiroa opened his eyes and stared right through Orion and Kora who glanced over him. “I cannot see,” he said in a cracked voice, “Only circles of darkness with colour around,” “It’s okay. Take a few deep breaths, give it some time and it’ll all be back to normal,” Kora promised. Though, despite her confident tone, she was doubtful whether the damage could be reversed. To their luck, her empty words struck true as in the following moments, Joiroa’s vision returned, sending the aged man into a joyous fit. Gazing into the distance, Orion saw the raid had already begun, or more precisely, the ambush. The barrier around the foreigners’ base had disappeared and what it had once protected was now ash and cinders piled over roasted bones. But just like they had guessed, it seemed no one cared about the causalities as all attention was on the lit-up dune in the far distance. The foreigners had ambushed the Piros right after the initial attack, taking advantage of the blinding light. Orion faced Kora and mirrored her nod. “Alright, Jorioa. It’s time,” “Good luck,” Over the following seconds, the duo sped over the dunes, Kora in her vampire form and Orion gliding over ice. He had never been able to use his powers so carelessly before but now it was different. It seemed they had been closely watched all this time as the moment they emerged, Orion noticed several men and women tailing them. They kept a safe distance away from the duo, or at least they thought, although Orion knew better. Still, he wasn’t about to do anything just yet – they were welcome to enjoy his show if they wanted. Besides, he wasn’t dumb enough to believe they would retreat after one show of power. No, they were precisely here to hound at his heels and delay his arrival. His thoughts proved themselves as the duo crested the dune neighbouring the battlefield. The spies got desperate as they closed the net on him, some using spells. His ice shield blocked the attacks with ease, and to the closest man’s misfortune, a monstrous icicle erupted out of the sand, goring the man through the stomach. As the others momentarily recoiled at this, Orion grabbed Kora’s hand and focused his Szu on the ground, sending waves down at a rapid and dangerous pace. The force propelled them up, shooting them into the sky. While he couldn’t fly like this, he could come crashing down like a broken rocket – a perfect entrance. Orion glanced across the dark-skinned foreigners below him as he fell through the sky. They watched him with wide eyes, some even pointing in surprise, probably more at Kora’s monstrous form than his slight one. To the other side, he saw an even more humorous sight. Waves of fire surrounded the Piros and the very same fire burned in their eyes as they stared at his figure, some visibly gritting their teeth. Orion laughed at this. He was determined to payback everyone who had razed his family despite everything he had discovered, and the Piros were the last piece on the board: he had no qualms about wrecking their House. As for the foreigners, considering they were invading Orion’s homeland to colonise it, he had no qualms about wiping them out either. This was his last task, and he was going to take every joy in doing it. As he landed, he waved his hand at the land and a massive lotus of ice sprouted in an instant, safely cradling the duo to the ground, the petals defending them from wild attacks. Despite feeling it chip away by the second, Orion dug deep into its core and placed his hand on the ground, focusing his whole mind and energy into the ground. From the outside, while the waves of enemies watched curiously as the latest entrant hid away in a frozen flower, large pillars of ice grew around them at the edges of the battlefield. Each of the pillars grew at a visible rate despite being several men thick, and they converged towards the centre, creating an ice cage in a matter of seconds. Some tried to escape during this time but as they inevitably touched the thickly woven ice on the way out, they recoiled back in shock and clutched at their skin, screaming as vicious mana devoured their souls. Finally, the lotus gave way and Orion and Kora revealed themselves, Orion taking in all the fearful yet hateful stares he was getting. He broke into a vicious grin as Kora disappeared in that second, sprinting into a melee with some nameless. Meanwhile, he knelt and put his left hand to the ground, his heart anticipating the fall. “Collapse,” he whispered under his breath.

From the second the monsters came around the willow trees, Kora had started acting strangely. Due to her stronger senses, he realised she must have seen something, or someone, in the distance which had led her to shuffle behind him. She also crouched slightly, letting his figure mask hers. Things only got stranger as she whispered into his ear, “We need to get out,”. He tilted his head to the side as if to admire the pillars of the pavilion, acting non-suspect. “What? Why?” “Look at the ordinary one,” she said, before crouching lower as the monsters got closer. Moments later, Orion found the one she had singled out. Just like she had mentioned, within the dozen monsters, behind the Cloudape, was a man who stood out like a sore thumb. He had tanned skin, a well-groomed beard, and styled hair. He wore formal clothes but stood casually within the mix of monsters as if he belonged. Given Kora’s behaviour and the man’s appearance, Orion figured he was a vampire. But then why was she scared? The Cruorems were at the peak of vampirekind: even if he was stronger, she had no reason to fear him. That was, unless her own family was hunting her… Realising the seriousness of the situation, he felt cold sweat roll down his neck. It was while his thoughts were spiralling down that Fatso’s guffaw sounded out, “Ha HA HA. Ratty, you sick cunt. I’m in,” Orion glanced at the mountainous man and grimaced. He had to get to Smith and report; the city would devolve to death and destruction shortly. “What about you, Madam? Will you cast your die for once?” “No, Rats, I won’t be.” Orion zoned out and faintly smiled. At least there was a sign of resistance, albeit weak. Rats began shouting at Madam Rischei who passively stared back as if watching a child release their tantrum. “I’m terrified, Rats. Now that you’ve made your point, I better get back to running my simple whore business. Best of luck to you boys,” she said as she turned and waved. “Come on, Richy. You got a chance at making it bigger than a whore and you’re hesitating? Really?” Fatso called out. She didn’t reply. Her faction moved as a whole as they left the pavilion and strode towards the gate. Orion tapped Ginger’s shoulder and nodded to him, before walking into Madam’s faction, making sure his body overshadowed Kora’s as they moved. While their exit from Fatso’s group attracted curious glances, these were only momentary as the underworld understood their reasons. If they thought Madam’s side-line tactic was better for survival, then it made sense why the Seekers would curry favour with her and not Fatso. After they had all left his garden, the Lich spoke to Rats. “Since we’re done here, we’ll get in place for the attack,” The scarred leader nodded and ordered the rest of his troops out. The revellers outside would be their meatshields against the Palace gates and their primary source of terror. Once in, Rats’s men would go for the Palace while Fatso agreed to take care of the Imperial Barracks. Their dice were cast; their fates would be decided the very same day. After walking for a few minutes, Madam Rischei stopped and faced her faction. “Alright. I think it’s time we split up; I know a lot of you’ve got work to do. Either way, good luck,” She bowed her head. Only her personal guards and the mages stayed put as the faction split, members leaving to prepare for the coming battle whichever side they were on. The two Seekers dispersed with the rest, quickly coming to Hexham’s road and running along it. The streets were peaceful in a way they wouldn’t be for the following months: the guards unsuspecting, the traders calling wares, the people smiling. They reached the Seeker’s building and rushed in to find Maya’s table empty. Going upstairs, they found Smith shouting orders by the contracts’ board. “Smith, Rats is going to attack the Palace,” “I know,” he said while rubbing the creases on his forehead, “Your contract has changed. It’s now to kill a 4-star monster or to kill one of the Underkings. Killing Rats or Fatso will put you up to 5-stars, but I’ve already set people to hunt them.” When he saw them standing still, he shouted “Doubletime,” and turned his attention to another group of Seekers. As they walked out, Orion shook his head. “What do we do? What are we meant to do?” “We’ll struggle with a 4-star monster, especially in the city, but we should be able to do it. 5-stars is a whole another thing though. You know the vampire I pointed out?” Kora said. He nodded. “That was a Laeshi, 5-stars and one of the strongest monsters in Visgamar if that group was a reflection of the whole company,” Orion couldn’t hide his curiosity. “So why did you hide? Is he after you?” “No, but I left without telling anyone. They probably sent a search warrant for me to all the vampires, not that they’ll do anything even if they find me. Still, they will follow me to make sure I’m safe, and through that…” “They’ll find me,” he finished. “Yeah, but it’s fine. We got out unnoticed. But we need to focus now.” “Hmm, we can’t kill Fatso, Rats, or Madam. What about the other one, Grima? Didn’t Skitters say he worked for someone who knew a lot about the city and who told him to prepare? He’s definitely got something to do with Grima,” “Oh shit, yeah.” Her face scrunched up with thought, “We need to find him now,” ***** A distance away, from the top of a dilapidated building, the Laeshi watched. The Seekers were blurry figures even with his vision, but he was fairly certain one of them was Bian. While he had only caught vague glimpses of her at the human leader’s pavilion, the luscious scent of blood she emanated made her different from the humans she hid between. In truth, he had no idea what Bian looked like as she had kept to her House like the rest of the Cruorems. So, the girl here could just be another higher-vampire, maybe a Varishi. Either way, considering the scent of her blood, following her around would benefit him much. So much. The blurs moved again, zipping across the finger-sized road - they were running, rushing to get somewhere. His lips curled into an unsavoury smile, the type he gave the noblewomen when he was alone with them after a frustrating session of charming. He leapt from the building and entered the air, his domain, and flapped his fleshy wings. Tens of metres from the ground, the difference in the two sides of Visgamar became even more prominent. The Palace stood tall, made of chalk-like rock, a pure white. The surrounding area was clean and colourful, in particular a lot of greenery. On the other side of the city, it was dull, bleary and muck covered the streets. Here, green became a colour of luxury as even the vegetation grew dull brown. The Laeshi was surprised to see the two running into the slums after having left the human leader’s pavilion so brazenly. In fact, he was confused why no one else had paid attention to them switching sides. He dove lower as the bleariness began to misguide him. He continued to tail them for several minutes. From his vantage he could see the growing unrest in the city. It seemed the revellers had been told the plan, and they seemed enthusiastic to get back at the nobler sort. The Laeshi was sure that emotion would feel foreign to them in a few minutes when the attack actually began. The city guards and everyone on the streets still seemed unaware, but the Laeshi noticed the Palace guards weren’t as ignorant. Switching back to his golden goose, he saw the two Seekers stop in front of a building. All of a sudden, Kora turned around, facing up. In fear, the Laeshi flapped further up and hid behind the roof of a building.

Dropping his bag to the ground, Orion stretched his body. Taking his shirt off, he looked at himself in the dim light. His arms were lean, his muscles more defined than before despite shrinking. There were bruises and scars all across his body, mostly light wounds but some heavy. Kora had treated him several times during the trip, but the wounds still showed. He spent what little time he had laying on the bed, one with a frame made of wood and a mattress made of giant leaves. Just as he dozed off, he heard a bell ringing from outside. Pushing himself up, he dressed himself. Each of the Seekers had a separate hut, his around 5 metres in diameter with a thatched roof. It was furnished with a bed, a wooden table with a drawer, and a glubber’s wax lamp on top of the table. He stepped out at the same time as Lilith, who gave him a tired smile. Cyae and Kora already stood by Leo who held the bell. They had both changed into cleaner, lighter clothes, as had Lilith, singling out Orion from the get-go. “Hurry up!” Leo shouted, his earlier calmness morphed into a stern anger. At least his temper fit his role as an instructor, Orion thought. “Follow me,” the ginger Seeker said when they grouped together, bringing them to a towering tree. From a glance, the tree looked like its neighbours, just a little larger. But as Orion gave a closer look, he noticed scars along the tree’s bark and around the branches. “You’re lucky Jowler gave you twenty minutes of rest. Now, I want to see how fast you can climb this tree,” Leo said. He pointed at Cyae, “You go first,” The short-haired Seeker didn’t fluster, instead, she immediately circled the tree, searching for the best place to start from. Once she found a branch low enough, she began climbing, swinging and pulling her way up, reaching the top in twenty minutes. “Well, are you going to come down?” Leo roared, seeing her resting at the top. Once she was back on ground, Leo looked at the group with disgust. “Pathetically slow, I can’t believe how much the Seekers have deteriorated. Since we don’t have all day, you three go up at once. Remember, fast, not slow,” Since they had watched Cyae’s attempt, the three of them found better routes, each going faster than she had. Lilith was the slowest, using the same technique as Cyae, while Kora was faster due to her pure strength, allowing her to swing off branches with greater force. Still, Orion was the fastest because he was light and nimble, allowing him to zip up and down in fifteen minutes. Leo nodded at him and waited for the other two, Kora touching ground in twenty minutes and Lilith in thirty. “Better, but still lacking. Not one of you could last against a 5-star solo, let alone a 6-star in a group.” Leo said. Receiving incredulous and confused expressions in response, he continued, “Yes, I know you’ve all killed 5-star monsters but you must be able to do that by yourselves now, otherwise you’ll drag down any team hunting a higher ranked monster. Based on how fast you went, Cyae, do 4 laps of the tree, Lilith 4, Kora 6, Jax 8. You’ve got 2 hours to finish your laps; I will make sure anyone who fails in that time starves tonight!” The instant he finished, the four Seekers began climbing up the tree. Orion cursed his luck as he pulled himself to the top – he had considered it a speed exercise and had wanted to impress. If he had known it to be an endurance activity, he would have gone as slow as Cyae. By the time the first hour passed, Orion was on track for dinner having completed 5 laps. The following hour, however, was a downhill battle. His muscles ached, and he feared they had torn at one point; his chest heaved and he was constantly out of breath. But worse than these was his mind. During the sixth lap, his mind went off track, the 100m drop down suddenly seeming awfully attractive. It was a challenge to keep his body in one piece, one he almost failed on his last lap as he tripped on the way down, diving through 50 metres. Even when Leo caught him, he didn’t faint from shock, much to his misfortune. He suffered the following minutes as his body felt broken, simply broken. They must have somehow walked back to the main camp without his awareness because the next time he came to, he was gorging on charred meat by a bonfire. The more he ate, the less his pain became. After enough mouthfuls, his body felt refreshed, but looking down, he saw his hands trembled in fear. Glancing around, he saw around twenty Seekers enjoying meals around the bonfire. He spotted Cyae convulsing on the floor, he spotted people pointing at him and her and laughing, he spotted Leo walking up to him with Kora and Lilith behind. “You should feel full after eating that much 6-star meat. You’ve got too much energy now, I bet you want to spend that somehow. Come on, after me,” Leo said. He said similar words to Cyae, soon bringing the four back to the giant tree. “You look a lot better now. I want 5 laps from Cyae and Lilith, 7 from Kora, and 9 from you, Jax,” Seeing them standing dazed at the enemy they believed they had destroyed, his mood changed. “NOW!” he roared, the anger behind his voice driving them up the tree. Orion managed to do 5 laps before the pain rapidly mounted up. He vividly remembered the sixth one, the searing pain and his pride at finishing it. The rest of his memories were fuzzy: some from his seventh lap, slipping from a branch; some from his eight lap, losing his grip and falling, and one from his ninth lap, him heaving under the lowest branch of the tree, headstrong on pulling himself up while his body denied him. When he awoke the next day, somehow in his hut, he didn’t see the same nightmares as always, the ones of the fateful day his life had changed, the day his family’s lives had been reaped. Instead, he awoke to a lack of sense from his limbs, feeling alarmed as he desperately tried to move the limbs that had turned to stone overnight. Eventually, Leo came in and piggybacked him to breakfast, where he met and fell in love with his limbs all over again, swearing to them he would never push his body so hard. It seemed Leo didn’t care for Orion’s promises as he forced the four to lift stones all day. Orion was the weakest, Lilith just above, followed by Cyae, and Kora who was far above. It turned out Leo didn’t give a shit about their strength either as he pushed them all to breaking point anyway. Even when Orion tried to go against the man by plopping on the ground and swearing not to move, Leo would just take him to the food court where the temptation for food was too much for Orion to resist. The second he was full, he was lifting stones again, breaking his back along the way. The day after that was dedicated to willpower building. Leo took them to a waterfall where torrents of water cascaded down to a ferocious river. There was a rope fastened just above the river which they were meant to hang from, taking the force of the water with their bodies and not letting go. When they did inevitably let go each time, they were fished out. Death was a close companion throughout the training, and while Orion never held hands with the bony man, there were times he swore he saw him while sinking, his breath depleting by the second. Even when refreshed by the meat, Orion felt the impulse to run from Kajan to live as a hermit somewhere. But when seeing the others go through the same trials as him, seeing them endure, it pushed him past boundaries he had thought immovable. It was only much later he would learn Leo had an equal part in keeping him in the torturous training, after all, the man had gained peculiar skills from his awakening. On the fourth day, Leo told them it was sense training, grinning after that. Along with their usual 6-star monster meat, they were fed a mix of leaves, stalks, and mushrooms. They then entered a simple obstacle course, told to complete it in a limited time. While Orion could swear he saw Death the day before, he knew for certain he met the Reaper during senses training, multiple times at that. Their lives at Kajan carried on like this, their trainings repeating regularly for an immeasurable amount of time. Immeasurable because Orion gave up on counting after a bit, instead, solely using his energy to face his days. Leo spiced up the trainings as time passed as he added new sorts such as speed training, agility training, weapon training, and such. The day when they would awaken neared, and soon enough, without any of them realising, they were thrust into the Seeker Guild’s greatest secret.

Yhaoli was about to say something when Kasib disappeared out of sight. The surrounding air advanced onto his limbs, blurring and then devouring them from reality. His eyes were the last to meld into his surroundings, their sharp image yearning blood. In the next moment, he appeared beside Yhaoli, striking down onto the giant’s toe despite being unarmed. As his clenched fists neared, the flesh on the monster’s toe rose and fell like choppy waves. The flesh closest to the fists began to disintegrate, revealing ivory bones below, the ashes from it scattering in the wind. Yhaoli yelped in shock, smacking Kasib down where he stood. It was too late, however, as Kasib disappeared again. Orion and Kora were pushed back by the gust of wind and smack of dust as the monster’s palm hit parched ground. As they steadied themselves, Kasib came back into reality beside them, coldly glaring up at the monster. “Little one, what a bite you have,” Yhaoli said, composed despite the chunk of flesh he had lost. “There’s much more of that,” Kasib replied, disappearing once more. “I’m sure there is,” Yhaoli yelled, breaking into a massive grin. This was enough of a sign for the two younger Seekers to realise something was wrong. From the distance sprinted out canines with luminescent coppery-green eyes. Each of their steps dragged up so much dirt they seemed to be leading avalanches. These were Barghests, pack hounds which boasted 7-star ratings. It was also the Barghest’s Elixir Kora had drunk. But focusing into the dust following their charge, Orion saw not falling dirt but instead other freak-like monsters. Even as powerful as he was, he felt a heart-wrenching shiver run through his body as he figured where they stood. It seemed Yhaoli truly had teamed up with the Tribes, and it seemed the trio had taken vantage in the monster army’s charge. Turning to Kora, he saw her transform. Her jaw extended to her collarbone and three black talons spouted from this flesh. Two arched horns grew from her forehead and curled to her ears, and her nails extended out. Her skin was now dark red and as she opened her mouth to him, he saw a true vampire’s teeth. “We fight,” she said, half as a question, half as the answer to the question. He nodded, and put his hands on the ground, focusing on the spot Yhaoli stood on. The earth exploded out like a fountain and would have toppled the monster had it not just stepped forward, its looming feet crumbling the rising dirt. “I know that power, little one. You’re a Zakari,” Yhaoli said, just in time too, as Kasib reappeared next to his foot again. Perhaps it was luck or perhaps it was skill, but either way, the monster kicked in anticipation, booting the bald Seeker through the air. Kasib fell, rolled over, leapt back to his feet, and stumbled back. He didn’t pay any attention to the oncoming wave of monsters, instead his eyes stuck on Yhaoli. “Your family was good,” Yhaoli said, stepping forward towards Orion. “Don’t fight for these cretins, fight for me, little one. Serve me as your family wished to, little one,” Orion shot out several ice spears, cutting through the monster’s flesh. Regardless, he could saw the wounds instantly healing up as he fell back, realising only Kasib’s damage had persisted. “So it be, little one, so it be,” Yhaoli said, shaking its convulsing head from side to side. Without warning, he ran over the Seekers and towards the plateau, seemingly bored with them. While Kasib immediately followed him through his unique method of transportation, Orion and Kora were left to face the oncoming wave of monsters, especially the Barghests which were metres away. They were large and muscular canines, each of them as tall as humans with matt-black fur coats. Suddenly, they quickened, their steps becoming blurry as they sprinted at frightening speeds, saliva slobbering forward. Orion had already used Giah, so his eyes were moonlit-white. While this gave him a wealth of energy, what it didn’t give him was unlimited energy. Due to this, he had been using Szu on the simpler and easier side, not overcomplicating any of his spells as he needed to save his energy for Eira. Luckily Kora didn’t share this issue as Cruorems could burn blood to gain energy. While blood from the other Houses were the most efficient and bountiful, quality meant for little with the sheer quantity of enemies she would soon be draining. And as she had drunk the Barghest’s Elixir, it meant she shared the attribute that made them overpowering: their speed. She shot from her spot and became a blur, her claws striking down so fast the Barghest simply didn’t know what hit it even as its head rolled off. Blood rushed out of the corpse and spread towards the other monsters, slicing flesh and releasing more blood as ammunition. Orion created an ice shield around himself and sprouted tens of ice spikes in the surrounding ground. One Barghest was going too fast to stop as one second it was charging at him like a bull, and in the next its lower body was skewered through several spikes and its sliced off upper half was flung into the distance. While these monsters had extraordinary defences, it meant nothing against Orion due to how strong he was. In the distance, he could hear screams and roars, some from beasts and others from men. From the sheer amount of war cries he heard, he figured out where the majority of the Metoles had been. Eira must have known in advance that Yhaoli would come through the Black forest, or at least gambled so, as she had posted them here. Even though the various monsters thronging their surroundings posed little threat to them, they did restrict their movement. Sure, Kora could stop her bloodbath and sprint out of the Black forest due to how fast she was, but that would mean leaving Orion behind. What he had gained from the Djinn’s Elixir was pure control. Before, he was forced to be in contact to discharge shockwaves and create ice sculptures one by one, but now he could do both from a distance, though the effectiveness increased if he was closer. Still, none of this helped his chances of escaping the Black forest to the plateau due to the remaining Barghests slowly breaking through his defences, and he really needed to get there considering this was the optimal moment. If Yhaoli was against Eira, as he hoped, then the clash of the titans would be his perfect opportunity. Shouting out to Kora, he created a large ice barrier around her. Immediately after, he focused his mind and felt power surging through his body. Horse-sized icicles formed around him, hurtling out in all directions when they cracked, the smaller shards blasting into monsters and trees alike. He maintained this spell for a few seconds, after which he sprinted towards the plateau, Kora calmly following. The area they had been in was now a no-man's-land, ice and blood and corpses and felled trees piled over the ground. They made it to the end of the Black forest without major complications and slid down the precarious cliffs towards the plateau. The battlefield had changed a lot since their last view from the vantage minutes before as there was now a third player. Yhaoli dominated the war in terms of size and significance, and in terms of number of kills. The obsidians spikes across its arms gored through several soldiers at once as it continued to rush into their formation. Following Yhaoli was the monster army, various species running down humans like ragdolls. While the Tribes were largely exempt from these deathcharges, clumps of monsters attacked clumps of tribesmen, providing insight the two armies weren’t as close as rumours suggested. Eira was still the gem, the sweetheart, and the king of the battlefield though, because as Yhaoli broke into her army and attempted to chase her, she had massacred her way to the Tribes’ main unit alongside a team of Metoles. It was obvious while the Tribes had every chance of winning this all-important war, they had a similar chance of losing all their war leaders. Orion mused on this, feeling no joy or anger at Eira’s actions, after all, the Tribes were an old enemy of the Zakari and Eira was an unforgivable one. Then, he spotted Kasib. Despite being so close to his target when in the Black forest, the bald Seeker was now hundreds of metres away from Yhaoli. It was obvious all monsters had been ordered to hold him down, and this turned out to be effective as the bald Seeker couldn’t teleport tens of metres away without another monster baring their fangs at him. It was as the two Seekers entered the war and made quick progress towards Eira that Yhaoli’s booming voice momentarily stopped the war. “KILL THEM! DO NOT ALLOW THEM IN HERE!” Looking to where the giant pointed, men and monsters alike spotted pale, red-tinted, pure red, winged, wingless, large, small, and all types of figures. The one person who tied the whole group together was an average-sized person with hair the colour of thick smoke. He had crimson skin and three black talons across his extended jaw as long as the horns on his forehead. Despite not being intimidatingly muscular, his aura made his status obvious. “Father,” Kora murmured under her breath. She knew Caleb had seen her and yet her father didn’t turn towards her, instead his gaze set squarely on Yhaoli. Yhaoli seemed maddened by this reaction as its head shook vigorously. Anyone with sense, however, knew it wasn’t the reaction that angered Yhaoli as much as the Cruorems’ and their vampire lackeys’ appearance. There wasn’t anywhere better for a vampire to be, particularly one with mastery of Blood arts, than amid war. While Yhaoli’s roar to his monster army had briefly distracted Orion, he swiftly refocused himself on Eira who was in the midst of fighting the strongest tribesmen. It was at that point, as he glared at her, that she turned to him despite being hundreds of metres away and in the thick of a deadly dance. The spinning and shooting icicles around him made it obvious who he was, and in response, she smiled sweetly.

Orion’s legs lost their mental support and buckled over, driving his knees into cracked rock and his face into the wall. But before he made impact, he raised his hands and shielded his face. His mind registered little pain as his limbs got further numbed. He remained on his knees, resting against the wall with his eyes downcast. How? What? How? How had he crossed thousands of miles? Humans couldn’t create portals and the nearest one to the House of Zakari was a whole week away by horseback. Even if the whole journey to Visgamar had been made using multiple portals, it would still take a whole month at least. But, despite being the quickest route, portals were also dangerous to such a point it was unreasonable to use them. This meant that he hadn’t been conscious for at least over a month… How had his Hero made such a journey? How had they put him in a coma for so long? Why had they put him in a coma? Why had they chosen Visgamar? Why not the capital of the Empire, or maybe a small village to hide in?  Countless questions barrelled around in Orion’s head, causing him a headache. He stopped thinking and took a deep breath. He hadn’t been the strongest Zakari, not by a long shot, but he had been one of the smarter ones. A paltry amount of pride blossomed in Orion at this, although it was engulfed by misery as he thought of his siblings, cousins, second-cousins, and so on. They were all utterly marvellous, and he was sure they wouldn’t be snivelling in a dirty alleyway if they were in his position. Wiping his tears away with his sleeve, Orion took another deep breath and stood up. He had to review what he knew and not get tangled up in the past. Unfortunately, the only thing he knew for certain was that he had woken up in a disused storage house by the docks. Thinking on the matter now, it seemed more likely he had been abandoned there on purpose. The crux of the matter was the abandoned bag on the table. From its quality and lack of dust, Orion knew someone had put it there recently, and that it wasn’t his Hero’s equipment, after all, there was no way in Heaven or Hell that anyone would travel from the House of Zakari to Visgamar with just a pocket knife and a handful of food. But despite being certain, he was still aware of other very-unlikely explanations for the bag. He considered wiping away the blood tracker but realised if his Hero had just been out for a bit, it was still for the best he left it there. He did, however, sneak back into the disused storage building and steal the bag. It was dirty-maroon and had two straps to put his arms through. It sagged above his butt but other than that, it fit well. Then, he sneaked out and went back to the alleyway, walking onwards to find a main road. The part that bit him the most about his thought-track was that it seemed inconceivable why someone would put him in a coma in the first place, and why they would just leave him in Visgamar in the second place. In fact, it made a lot more sense if he had just misheard the ringing, or even if another town had copied the bell’s design. So, Orion decided to find someone less shady to ask. While this should have been an easy task, it turned out to be the opposite as right next to the docks were slums, or of the sort, finished with many dead ends and lack of directions. This meant he had to jump over many a wall and tightly grip his knife as he walked, as well as pray his nose would survive the pitfalls of shit and garbage littered about. Close to an hour later, Orion found the main road, a faint glimmer of sweat plastered on his forehead. It was early morning, and the fog had lifted enough it had altered into mist. The main road was well-lit with glass lanterns every few metres. The road itself was looked-after, and potholes and cracks were hard to find. It was about eight or ten metres wide and likely travelled the whole city considering how wealthy of an image it gave the area. Furthermore, after watching the road for a few minutes, he realised it was well-policed with both stationary units and patrolling teams. Seeing another team march past, Orion walked onto the road and headed towards a standing guard. Now closer and in the bright lamplight, he felt his hopes drop as he glanced at the soldier. The middle-aged man wore a gambeson with an insignia showing a boat amidst stormy seas. He had padded trousers and hard boots on, as well as a chain-mail hood. Only his hands and face were bare, and both showed wrinkled, cut, and scarred skin. The article that caused half of Orion’s hopes to dash was the taller-than-man halberd the guard held. It wore a worn spike and axe on its head, but it also had another spike midway down the shaft; halberds were sparsely used in the West of the Empire, where the House of Zakari and its lands were, but were valued and commonly used in the East, where Visgamar lay… “Good sir,” Orion called as he stepped into the light, “May I ask a few questions?” He started off over-polite to show the guard he was less than a threat, and more of a rich lost lord. The guard regarded Orion and his funny accent. Orion’s clothes looked of quality-make but were also dirty and creased. His pale skin and sharp and snappy accent showed he was a Westerner, which explained the journey-worn clothes. Overall, Orion looked too rich for the guard to kick off Hexham’s road, but not rich enough for the guard to kneel and lick the soles of his shoes. “What’s it, Westerner? Are ye lost from yor family?” the guard replied. He stretched each word past what was sensible, but that was simply the weird way they spoke in the East. The evidence was stacking up against Orion’s hopes. “Of the sort, sir. I’ve had a bit too much to drink the other day, and I must’ve passed out. My devilish sisters dumped me somewhere to that direction,” he said while pointing behind him, “to get revenge on me. I need to be back on the carriage as soon as possible, before my Papi gets too angry. Give me some joy and tell me this is Visgamar, at least,” he finished, hoping the guard wouldn’t give him that joy. “Sounds like wretched bitches. Na worries, this is the glorious city of Visgamar.” He looked at Orion’s expression and continued. “Ah, I know that look. It’s the fifteenth today.” “Of?” Orion sucked in his breath. The guard looked at him strangely. “First month of Amadia.” Orion felt a hammer to his stomach. Two months; it had been two whole months since the day… “What’s the way to the biggest Inn here?” he asked through clenched teeth, desperate to be alone with his thoughts. “The Golden Goose. Maybe two miles that way, past the markets.” “Thanks,” Orion said, before rushing away. “And boy,” the guard called after him, “lay off the drink. Eating away yer brain,” The words were like one of wind’s whispers as they brushed past, barely audible to Orion. Instead, his mind clattered about the fact he had heard the ringing accurately, and how his absurd ideas must be right then. He had been unconscious for two months, and someone had brought him here in that time, for whatever reason. Engrossed in his thoughts, he walked absentmindedly, instead trying to fit three parts of a massive puzzle together from different directions just to call it complete. He soon found a river and followed its stream, ignoring the rising number of people on the streets. It was minutes later that he stopped. There was a small stage next to the river where a crowd had gathered. From eavesdropping passing conversations, Orion identified the soldier walking up the stage to be one of the city’s many town criers who delivered the news hot and piping before the papers got a chance. “HEAR ME,” the soldier roared, hushing the crowd. “TODAY, THE CAPITAL HAS SENT OUT SHOCKING REPORTS.” This silenced the quiet crowd. “THE HOUSE OF ZAKARI PLANNED TREASON AGAINST THE CROWN AND EMPIRE. THEY LOOKED TO CAUSE DESTRUCTION AND CHAOS, MASSACRE AND RAPE.” Gasps, cries, panic. The soldier stopped and watched the crowd, letting fear spread. After allowing the moment to mature, he spoke up to pluck the fruit. “THE EMPIRE HAS RAZED DOWN THE HOUSE OF ZAKARI. THE EMPIRE HAS ERASED THEIR LINEAGE. THE EMPIRE IS SAFE.”

The Seekers pushed through waves of revellers, fighting to keep moving against the tide. It was obvious Rats had riled them up as they chanted ‘Death to the rich,’ and began running en masse onto Hexham’s road. It was only after several minutes of struggling, almost an hour, that they made it out of the riot and in front of Skitters’s home. The two-storey building was old with mould growing over the wooden beams. Even the recent lick of paint couldn’t hide the damage below as it had peeled off in large sections, revealing walls on par with brittle bones. They were about to go in when Kora turned and scanned the skies. She searched and searched but found nothing but scribble-like clouds above the city, causing her face to scrunch up. “What is it?” “I feel something staring into my back. Could it be the Laeshi? They do have wings,” “But you said it hadn’t seen you,” “Yeah, but…” She paused and the creases on her forehead dug deeper. “Yeah, you’re right.” Orion looked at her expression, then at the sky, but stopped when he saw less than she had. He walked over to Skitter’s home and looked at the door, a surprisingly solid addition to the run-down house. He checked the windows, and seeing none open, stepped back and rammed the door. It clicked open with little force, sending him barrelling to the ground. Dusting his jacket off, he let Kora take the lead as she explored the house. There was a kitchen with bits of food out and dirty plates strewn around. There was a small, unused storage room holding dusty brooms, though most were bedridden with rot. Then, there was a large room lit by natural light. As they walked in, a figure on a chair became prominent with his back to them, facing the sunlight. Despite the figure continuing to face away, the wavy hair hanging off the top of the chair and the walking stick leaning against it made it obvious who it was. “Skitters,” The figure stood and picked the chair and the walking stick. He turned and sat back down, smiling at the Seekers. There were large hollows below his eyes and a note in his hands. “Jax and girly. I mean, Kora and Jax. Welcome to my home, though y’know you didn’t have to barge in like this? Should’ve just called for me from outside,” “You knew we were coming,” Kora said. Skitters nodded. “A certain person told me to wait here for you two kids,” “Grima?” “The very same, heh heh,” “We need to find him,” “He knows what you wanna do,” “And what’s that?” Orion asked. Skitters opened the note and read through it again, his finger soon finding the words. “Kill him,” Orion kept his face blank, but Kora smirked. “It seems your boss isn’t as smart as people say he is,” The thief raised his eyebrows once more and nodded. “It’s what he told me you’re here for. As for if he’s what people make of him, you can judge that later y’know,” he said while throwing the note to them, landing a distance in front of their feet. “Sorry, could you pick that up?” he said. Kora picked it up and showed it to Orion. It read: The Seekers Jax and Kora will come to you soon. Await their visit. They are coming to you to find me. They are looking to kill me. Welcome them and tell them I’ll be in Lilch waiting. I have business with them. Orion remembered Lilch was a village a few days off Visgamar. Considering Rats had said Grima had been involved in the planning of the attack, it occurred to him as strange that one of the organisers was days away from the plan he had so much riding on. Or maybe he didn’t - maybe that was the benefit of keeping your face hidden from all men and women. “Lilch? The shabby village full of peasants and farmers? What does he have to do there?” Kora asked, ignoring the fact Grima had correctly named them Seekers. It seemed there was credibility to the man’s reputation after all. “I’m not sure, girly; I only know what’s in the letter, y’know. The boss only contacts people when he needs them and to reward them,” Seeing as there were no other clues, Orion re-read the note, trying to find any hidden messages. But then it occurred to him Skitters could have very well received several letters, only that he was instructed to show one to them. The best way of getting information would have been through threatening or torturing the thief, and while Kora could and maybe would do that, Orion couldn’t handle the thought of doing that to someone he knew for such a flimsy reason. He tapped her shoulder and whispered, “Come on, let’s go. No use in wasting time here,” He stepped to the exit when he realised she wasn’t following. The smile Skitters’s wore soured and finally dropped as he saw Kora standing strong. “Anything else you want, girly?” he asked. “I can help you with a decent amount but nothing more with the boss, as much as I want to,” “Skitters, how did your wound heal so quickly?” she asked. The thief gaped at her as if checking she was serious. “What?” “I thought your injury had been bad, but it seemed you were putting a lot of weight on it when turning around,” He shook his head. “I can put a little pressure on it for a little while, but not for any good amount of time. Maybe me sitting in this dusty hole all this time has helped the healing,” “Sure, but not this fast. You’re hiding something,” Orion watched from the sidelines, confused at the two of them. What did his injury’s healing time have to do with anything? The thief held her stare for seconds, saying nothing until he eventually broke and smiled. “You’ve passed the test, both of you, I knew you’d do it,” “That was a test? To notice your injury had healed?” Orion asked, his confusion clear in voice and expression. “Well, na. The test was to figure the code in the note, but you’ve done well enough; you’ve got my recommendation, at least. Here, let me get up,” he said, clutching onto his walking stick. “You still need it?” “Yeah, boss gave me some stuff that speeded up the recovery but nothing that made it disappear, y’know.” He moved to the wall beside him and slapped it hard, then even harder. A click came from the wall and he walked past them, through the hallway and into the disused storage room, coughing while brushing past the countless brooms. The back wall which looked like it was made of stone had gone inside its adjacent neighbour, revealing a dingy tunnel. “Boss likes people who sees and notices the important stuff, y’know. They’re the best workers, which is why I was chosen,” he said while waving them in. “I think you two will have the same luck,”

Yhaoli turned its eyes from Caleb to Eira, then back. It was stuck: Eira was its target, and considering the Imperial army was almost destroyed, killing her would end it all, but Caleb was a Cruorem, a high vampire. Given enough time, with the amount of blood at his disposal, the aged vampire could turn the entire war back into the Empire’s interests. It was a risk, and Yhaoli eventually grinned at its choice. It had only burst up the ranks like a comet due to its risky choices, due to its luck, and there was no way it would lose that now. Roaring while shooting its arms to the side like a slingshot, Yhaoli charged towards Eira. Sure, its path was filled with living obstacles, but in its eyes, they were nothing but meat sponges. **** A hundred metres away, disintegrating through his enemies, Kasib watched the Yhaoli begin its charge. As much as he was cautious of Eira and her army, she was a far better choice for human stability than the king of monsters. Seeing his chance come as most of the monsters turned towards the newly entered vampires, Kasib disappeared, reappearing tens of metres away. Still, he pushed himself and teleported again and again, until he was following Yhaoli as it hunted Eira. ***** From his vantage, Caleb looked down derisively. He had long ago spotted his unruly daughter and the Zakari she had matched with, but he had likewise long ago shoved them out of his mind – he could deal with both of them later, when he would punish both for their sins. Even though Eira was here, Caleb doubted the Imperial General would have the power or the forces to stop him at that point. Nonetheless, it wasn’t like he and she were on different sides. In fact, best case scenario would be her triumphantly destroying all her enemies, maintaining the Empire as her job description called for. But that was unlikely, or at least it was without his help. Breathing in the musky, sickly odour of blood seeping up from the battlefields, Caleb shook his head wildly. While it was all low quality, most likely mixed with murky alcohol and mud, the quantity overpowered him and made his instincts flare up like a fever. “Go,” he whispered. While his voice sounded seethingly cold to others, it was because he had bit down to take rein of his urges. Unlike other vampires, he rarely let loose with indulging himself, in fact he hadn’t in years now. And suddenly to receive a lavish feast like this, it really tested his self-control. As his underlings flew and climbed down to the plateau, Caleb paced forward and leapt off the cliffs. He struck the ground so hard his bones shook, and yet in the next second there was blood swirling around him like fairy orbs. He broke through the weaklings as if they were puppets, draining them as he swept past. His eyes were stuck heavy on Eira, or more specifically, Yhaoli. **** Even as Orion locked eyes with Eira, he knew he had support from Kora as the enemies that charged him in the corner of his eyes fell before making contact. Her smile unsettled him, and even more, it upset him. How dare that bitch smile at him sweetly after what she had done to his family?! Her own family! As she broke from his stare, he came back to reality. Scouring around, he saw the giant that was Yhaoli pummelling down Tribe lines as if they were playthings. He could see the bald Seeker not far behind, his arresting eyes the very image of focus and conviction. Further on, he could see Caleb, the Cruorems head, moving haphazardly, zigzagging from foe to foe as blood rose and joined the putrid sphere of crimson floating above his head. Orion realised he was a hand’s breadth away from his revenge, and he knew that meant he could act recklessly now. If anything, he would have to act recklessly to reach his end goal. Crouching to place both his palms onto the sloppy mud, he focused on his waves and his ice, feeling them merge after several seconds. Growling, he released the energy built up in his body. The surrounding ground iced over, the change happening fast as it passed over man and monster, freezing their bodies over into beautiful and horrific statues. The spread of ice stopped several metres away from him, and here, he slammed his arm to the ground. As he released waves, the entire frozen boundary hopped into the air, most structures shattering under the pressure. Then, with intense control, he willed all the ice forwards at deadly speeds. Without surprise, this cleared out much of the space between him and Kora, the alive struck down like ragdolls. Still, he didn’t stop here, instead going further as in front of him grew ice, growing so tall it was viewable from any corner of the battlefield. His structure was half as tall as Yhaoli and looked like an oversized puppet due to its simple legs and arms. Climbing up to his puppet’s head, Orion waited till Kora joined him to set his machine in motion. It clumsily ran forward, dragging up swathes of dirt as it kicked and crushed its way forward. There were several mages who saw his construction and shot fireballs at it, biting of flesh and even the right arm. Regardless, the machine closed the distance between Orion and Eira, only stopping as it was a few metres from her. It hadn’t stopped by chance or by Orion’s order, instead it straight up refused any orders. Turning towards his cousin, he watched her as she closed her outstretched hand. Simultaneously, he felt an overpowering force crushing down on his creation. But before it could crumble down, Yhaoli burst into the circle, booting away the Metoles who had tried to stop it. It slammed its fists down to Eira as she struggled in a mental battle with Orion. In shock, she hopped back, and at that moment Orion regained his machine. He ordered it to move forward and punt her. Instinctively, she erected an ice barrier but this proved too weak as the foot burst through it and smashed against her body, sending her flying. In the next second, Yhaoli was roaring from pain. Flicking his head over, Orion saw Kasib tearing through the monster’s heel. But before he could see what happened next, a comet struck against his ice machine, toppling it to the ground. As it crumbled, he and Kora escaped unscathed, only to see a group of ten Metoles between them and Eira. Orion recognised the one in the centre, a metallic and wizened man who had so many scars across his skin it looked like someone had scraped it too hard. This man was the leader of the Metoles, Lucifer, and likely the comet he had felt. Just as Orion was about to attack, another enemy landed, only this one with smoky hair and blood covering his entire monstrous body. “Finally,” Lucifer said. “Try to drag your own weight,” Caleb said, before turning to face Kora. “Bian, stand down immediately,” Before she could even reply, Orion struck out in rage, ice spurting out from below his enemies like a fountain, tearing through their defences before they hopped away. “Out of my way,” Orion grated in a strained voice. Seeing as her partner had made his choice, Kora joined him. The blood sphere above her expanded, wind filling its stomach as it turned and toiled, speeding up as it grew into a tornado. The blood that outlined it sliced at anything in its proximity, and the tornado rushed towards Caleb and Lucifer. Still, alike daughter was father as he repeated her Blood art, an even larger tornado forming and clashing into hers. The wind from the clash pushed anyone nearby off their feet and into the air, including Orion and Lucifer. This was enough for the Metole leader as he used the wind to rush forward, taking Orion by surprise as he gripped his arm with the force of a bear. His arm would have been torn off in the next second had Orion not hastily placed his left palm on the man’s skin, tearing through the defences the Metoles were acclaimed for. The cracks propagated quickly, forcing Lucifer to vomit blood. Still, the old man managed a strike on Orion before he fell to the ground. Before anyone could even react, Orion was blasting towards Caleb. The aged vampire had enough of a gauge of Orion’s ability from Lucifer’s misfortune to know what to do. He immediately backed off and used his Blood arts, the same way he would have dealt with Reion or Regnar, Orion’s father and uncle. Yet, the vampire still underestimated him as ropes of ice exploded out of the ground, ten times as thick as the tendrils Orion had formed for the Metole in the Black forest. These ropes moved fast like dragons and latched around Caleb’s ankles and arms like snakes, biting into his skin hard. As he was constrained, Kora blasted into him, kicking her father and teacher in the stomach, sending the old man flying and gasping for breath. Orion could tell she had done this as much as to disable Caleb as to save him from Orion. While Kasib had been right in his judgement of Orion at the Seeker’s Summit, he had changed a lot since then and could no longer be compared to the other Houses, after all, the Zakaris were the greatest. Either way, he didn’t care for Kora’s reason as he turned towards Eira, who had locked Yhaoli in a cage of ice and sustained it as Kasib slowly tore away the monster’s flesh. Seeing his chance, Orion blasted several crystals at Eira, forcing her focus to him. At this moment, Yhaoli cracked his cage and smashed through, although heavily damaged. Orion wasn’t over, however, as he firmly put his arms down and felt the earth’s pulse. His used his energy to source waves through the ground, centred on Eira as the ground under her began to topple. She must have anticipated this as her arms came down simultaneously. On her face were fear and regret, after all, she could have created earthquakes right after killing the strongest Tribe members. Yet she hadn’t as the armies had been too mixed by then, and her losses would have been just as large as her gains. But now her cousin had started, she couldn’t let him succeed. Her waves were far stronger than his and boosted the destructive nature of his, sending tremors down the land. Cracks spread across the wet ground in milliseconds and the fragments toppled over like icebergs in water in the next moment, the entire battlefield falling to ruin as piece after piece fell and crushed. This revealed the caverns below the battlefield, and seconds after, it was the two Zakaris’ turns as they too fell, plummeting down. Their fragment crashed and sent them sprawling across the cavern floor. Above, terrifying masses of land fell like missiles, destroying the floor.

Orion stirred to the sound of distant shouting. He drowsily dug into his pillow and stayed there until the muffled words rang in his ears, grating at his mind. The dim light bloomed as he pulled the curtains, revealing the room. There was a bed by the centre, a wardrobe by the exit, and an oak table by another door. While the decorations were as bare as in The Little Sip, there was the addition of walking space between the furniture. He dragged himself to the door and entered the bathroom where he used the bucket of water to wash the dirt and sweat off, before drying off and coming to his wardrobe. Opening it, he met his newly bought clothes – dyed Blacktip-leather jacket and trousers, and a cloth shirt. He had gone up the dark-stone laden path by the market to buy these clothes, and it had taken a few days for the dyes to stick, but it was worth it. The clothes were comfortable and sturdy, that was as long as he didn’t fight vampires to the death every other weekend. Further, anyone nosy like Smith would have a hard time telling its material unless they molested him. Of course, the downside was that he was ten gold coins poorer, over half his wealth. After dressing, he wore his shortsword over his back, a fashion that had recently picked up, and placed his daggers in their holds by his hip. They were sharp and unassuming, giving him the edge of surprise if he ever needed it. The newly bought weapons had cost four gold coins in total, leaving him three golds and five silvers in hand. Fully equipped, Orion checked the mirror in the wardrobe. His skin had tanned to a light hay-like colour. The bags under his eyes had grown, as had his black hair, now midway between finger-length and hand-length; he’d have to get it cut soon, maybe after this mission. The dull red crack-like scars from his left cheek to his jaw still stood out, though not as much. The biggest difference, however, came through his posture; no longer were his shoulders slumped and his head down, they had straightened, and he could even see the inkling of hope in his eyes – he could, and would, avenge his family. Smiling, he picked up his possessions from the room and put them in his maroon bag, before stepping out. Today was the day. He hopped down the stairs and came to the main room, the air thick with roasted meat. Kora was easily found with her head down and her face stuffed in food, her plate filled with meat, bread, and a gravy dip unique to The Fat Munch. Picking up a plate, he filled it from the buffet and took a seat next to Kora with a large mug of eastern ale. While he had found, and to an extent still found, it bitter, the taste had grown on him after staying at the inn for a week. Picking up a handful of veg, he placed it on her plate. “My mum always said veg was good for you,” “Your momma wasn’t a vampire,” she said, glaring at the green goodness. “Besides, I didn’t eat them any of the other days, why do you think I would start now?” He downed half his drink and glanced at her. She stilled looked the same, her skin tanned, her eyes large and black, her hair long and caramel-brown, her lips covered with bits of food. She wasn’t a pretty sight when she transformed, but she was now with her maroon cloak and her new yellow jacket under. Ok, she would look better if she knew how to eat with some common decency but no one could have it all. “Well, now’s as good a time as any to start,” Since he had said this for the sake of it, he was surprised when she actually picked up a green and crunched off its head. He wasn’t very surprised when she spat it out, looking at him with a face of disgust while he chortled. She wouldn’t talk to him for the next few minutes and only started once they reached Ginger’s den after leaving The Fat Munch. “Today,” she muttered, “Don’t fuck it up. We can beat weaklings, but we’ll die if anyone there suspects us,” He nodded. This wasn’t a chase and kill mission where they used their full strengths. Rather, the opposite: they would have to hide who they were to the fullest, and if the monsters there figured out their identities, then… Then, the last of the Zakari line would fall to street rats born and raised in shit-filled alleyways. The two Seekers were confused when they saw Skitters leaning on a walking stick by the entrance to the fort. He had left for his home a week ago, insisting he needed no help and that he would rest. In his occupation, you could only work with two speedy legs and not with a limping one. “Hey, Skitters, I thought I told you it’d take a few weeks for that to heal?” Kora said. “Heh heh, don’t worry girly - I’ve been through worse. I’m here to tell you about summin,” “Hmm?” The thief began plodding away from the fort, gesturing them to follow. “I’ve been quiet about it, y’know, you knocking me out and killing that Mage. I’m thankful, I really am, and I’ve been silent since you’re both too strong for me to say anything,” He laughed in a self-deprecating manner. “But, y’know, it’s ‘cause I’m thankful I wanna say this, since you two are clearly new blood.” “Sure, what you got to say?” Kora said. Orion walked on the other side of Skitters. He hoped the thief would know his limits, know what he could and couldn’t say. Because if he didn’t, Orion knew Kora would kill him without a second thought. “Stay low in the meeting. It’s Rats’s place, and everyone’s got the feeling something big’s gonna happen. I would say the second you notice something’s up, leave. It’s Rats, the Underking of Killers, anything he’s hiding will lead to death somehow,” The Seekers nodded. “You got an idea of what it is?” “You two are good kids so I’ll tell you. I work for a man who knows a lot about the city, and he’s told us to be ready. You don’t have to be a genius to link being ready and Rat’s celebration together, y’know? So be careful,” “Thanks, Skitters. Hope you get that home in town,” Kora said as Skitters stopped and gestured them to go. “As do I, girly. It’ll be a few months with my leg but you two better come and visit me then,” “We will, we will,” Orion said, smiling. Skitters twirled his curly hair as he watched the two Seekers walk off into the distance. He leaned his weight off his walking stick and onto his feet once they disappeared. One job down, so many more to do. It seemed there would be no rest for him in the coming days.

Silence washed over the pavilion, one born from shock and respect. “But, I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I?” Rats’s smirk turned lopsided. “Welcome to my party. I am Rats, and you are my guests, my minions,” He paused. “Or, you will be soon,” “Minion? Me? HA,” Fatso said, breaking into a guffaw. Instead of responding, Rats looked down for a moment. His eyes shimmered and shadows cast over his skin. In a fluid motion, he moved from his chair to the centre of the pavilion where the marble darkened and twisted into macabre figures. His boots snapped against the floor and the sound rolled through the open-air building. “The Empire is fat like you,” he said while facing Fatso. He squinted his eyes, “Too much like you,” Fatso glared at Rats, holding his tongue for the moment. “Do you remember what I do to fat people? I dice them up and feed them to the plants,” He started laughing, a sleazy thing like his voice. “It’s ironic, eh? But it’s good: they make the flowers bloom brighter since they’re such good fuel. The Empire is fat, and the Houses have their eyes so high up their arses they’re blind to sense. But, break it down and let it act as feed, let it nurture us. The Empire must fall,” A pause. “The Empire must fall!” he repeated, his voice resonating across the pavilion. Orion looked around in confusion. Was he using magic? If so, how come Orion couldn’t sense it?” “The Empire must fall? Hmm, you see, Ratty, something just ain’t sitting right with me there,” “It’s already began, Fatso. Open your eyes: the tribes to the west, who will stop them?” “Of course, the Piros,” “Then, who’s protecting the capital?” “From what? It’s the bloody capital,” “Monsters,” Madam Rischei finally spoke. Her voice was artificially pleasing as if someone was cooing too close into your ear. Fatso’s mouth opened, then closed. “Go on, say your lines,” Rats said, taunting his fellow Underking. “Hmm, you’re scheming with monsters. I figured you were dumb, but not this dumb,” Fatso said. “Tsch tsch,” Rats shook his finger while clicking his tongue. “You can’t skip a whole act like that,” “Come clean already,” Madam Rischei said. “Silence, whore. I’ve been talking with a man, a smart man. Someone I’m sure you two know,” “Of course they’re involved.” Madam Rischei said. “No wonder you grew balls twice your size to do this,” Rats ignored her interruption. “He put me in contact with a certain thing. It talked about the age of the Empire, how it lay on its deathbed despite not knowing. How the time had come for it to enter the grave, for someone greater to take its place,” “And that’s you, I guess,” “No, us. This is our chance to leave the shadows,” “I’m not falling for some drugged-up illusion. Nor am I planning suicide anytime soon. But don’t worry, Ratty, I’ll glady take your place,” Fatso said. “I’ll be taking names - I’ll see how far you can run afterwards. Besides, this isn’t my fantasy. It’s our reality,” Rats said while clapping his hands. From behind the willow trees strolled out a group of figures. Even from a distance, Orion could tell they weren’t human. “So, are you with me? With us?” Fatso turned to his hired Black Hearts. The leader shook his head with an easy expression, putting the larger man at ease. He waited till the monsters were close enough before speaking. “You, is it your master who’s been organising attacks on my carriages? On my ships?” A 10-foot shaggy giant answered. “Dunno. I don’t see why not, human.” It was commonplace to see higher-tier monsters speaking the Empire’s tongue - it was a sign of civility. What made them bestial was their intolerance of each other, such as how Thunderfists couldn’t stand Cloudapes. It was something territorial or such, and yet, standing shoulder to… hips with the giant was a fleecy ape with smoky hair. Rats had clearly set the group to impress and impress they did as eyebrows raised and mouths rounded among the humans. “And how many of you are there?” Fatso asked, as intrigued as the crowd put together. A working monster population roused him in ways others couldn’t imagine. The growth he could make, the money he could make! This time it was a flesh-less, hollow boned Lich that answered. “To attack this city? Thirty,” If not for their bated breath, people would have gasped. Not due to shock but fear. Thirty higher-tier monsters in the city, all due to Rats. The maniac and his scheme, what could stop him? “Ha HA HA. Ratty, you sick cunt. I’m in,” Fatso said with a maddened expression, his sanity lost to greed or maybe fear. As someone at the top of the chain, he understood the implications of the numbers better. Rats smiled, a wide thing far more twisted than before. “What about you, Madam? Will you cast your dice for once?” “No, Rats, I won’t be.” The Underking of killers gnashed his teeth and stared at her. “I know the games you play, even more so Grima. You’ll wait till victory is assured to start sucking us off, won’t you? No point in taking risks when all you got to do is open your legs afterwards. Suit yourself, Madam, but don’t cast it your lot too late,” he said while wagging his finger, “after all, a replacement can easily be found,” She didn’t reply, instead, she stood unimpressed. The monsters, while eye-opening, didn’t scare her, neither did the scarred, deranged man broiling at the mouth in front of her. She had also received the invitation from Yhaoli months before. At the time, she had thought it a sick joke that had found itself through her guards, into her room, and under her pillow. Now, she knew better. Yhaoli was obviously using Rats as a tool, but knowing him, he would soon flip everything it wanted from the scarred man – she only knew too well. But, that was if they actually took over the city, which would be hard considering the Seekers and Imperial Guardsmen were already here; open legs spread a lot more than just disease and purse knots.

The Laeshi swooped low, dodging a high hanging branch. The trees below him were massive. Yet, they appeared in poor health, their trunks painted in dull and rotten colours, their branches drooping as if all life had been sucked out. There were few animal cries despite the size of the forest and even those sounded desperate. Rising in the air, the Laeshi saw what seemed to be a mirage in the distance, a colossal castle shimmering in the mist - he knew better than to believe that though. He had been flying for several months, almost nonstop. Midway, he had even abandoned his crew, too blinded by the reward to wait any longer, and he knew for certain the castle in front of him was all too real. It was the Fullhorn’s House. They rarely allowed visitors in but he would be, he was certain of that much. The Laeshi smirked as he thought of their name - Fullhorn. It proved how stupid humans were, to believe the Cruorems were humans all this time and not doubt a thing, and this showed why humans were unwitting prey in the food chain. Minutes later, landing on the cold stone, the Laeshi folded his wings in and straightened his clothes and hair. His steps echoed in a haunting manner as he paced down a dark tunnel, navigating his way to the bottom layer. But as he was passing through a corridor, glancing over his shoulders every few moments, he found a large, muscular man leaning on the wall by the end of the corridor, seemingly waiting for him. “You have balls, Laeshi, I’ll give you that. To enter our House without permission, you certainly have balls. Though, I guess you won’t be needing them after today,” the muscular man said, his eyes still shut. “No, lord. I come with news,” the Laeshi answered. The muscular man didn’t bite the hook, instead remaining quiet, perfectly still like a statue. “It is to do with your lost lamb, Bian.” The muscular man opened his eyes, his expression tightening into a scowl, the feeble light casting a deep shadow over his face. “What?” The man faced off the Laeshi for a while, before beckoning him to follow. “Either way, you’ve lost all say in your life already. Be it true, you will be a king. Be it false, the dogs can have a treat tonight!” The Laeshi meekly followed, keeping his head down as he passed by other Cruorems on their way. He was led down and around, walking the maze of a castle with ease, eventually stopped in front of a towering set of wooden doors. “Father will see you inside. Don’t bother keeping up any pretences you may have,” the muscular man said, pushing the door open for the Laeshi but staying outside. The winged vampire figured it was a feast hall as he walked in. There was a large table with tens of chairs around it, selections of food and skull-sized mugs covering its top. The lanterns around were well-lit, giving the room a jovial mood. Or at least it would have had it not for the man sitting at the end of the table, the only person in the grand hall other than the Laeshi. This man was smaller than the muscular Cruorem and looked to be middle-aged. He had a well-groomed beard and neatly combed hair, both the colour of thick smoke. Despite his comforting appearance, however, he somehow made the Laeshi feel little, like an ant to a Goliath. “Bian Cruorem, she was always a troublesome one, you know?” the middle-aged Cruorem said, his voice pleasing to the ear. Yet, the Laeshi gulped at this. As far as he knew, the Cruorems could not communicate through telepathy, and the muscular Cruorem hadn’t rushed ahead to update this man on the latest news. The most plausible explanation to the Laeshi, as mad as it seemed, was that the middle-aged man had heard. Despite the distance, despite the stone walls, this man had still heard. “I did not know,” the Laeshi answered, deeply bowing. “Mm, a good trade has to be equal. I’ve given you some information, now tell me what you have,” “The Yhaoli had ordered me and my crew to go to Visgamar. We were meant to aid some human rabble take control from the Imperial forces, and while the rabble-leader was holding a meeting of some sort, I noticed a girl with a strong smell of blood, one ever so sweet. I immediately figured she was Bian,” the Laeshi explained, telling the details he had rehearsed during the trip here. “But I had to be sure so I followed her, and found her exactly so, a true Cruorem. She had three black talons across her neck and two arched horns,” “Visgamar, eh? That’s quite far – she must have planned this escape better than any of us expected. But who was she fighting and how come she didn’t notice you?” the middle-aged Cruorem asked. “I was in a tunnel, lord, watching her fight from a distance. I left the second she had won as I knew she would spot me. She was fighting some humans, I think friends of the rabble-leader. She fought alongside a Zakari,” “A Zakari?” the middle-aged Cruorem asked, raising his eyebrows. “Are you certain?” “He used Giah and had an uncanny mastery of ice. There is no doubt he was a Zakari,” “Yes, no doubt indeed. Isn’t that interesting, she somehow met one of the last ones. Is it a coincidence, or?” The Laeshi didn’t know if it was an open-question or not. Either way, he could tell the middle-aged Cruorem’s interest was falling – he had to strike while the iron was hot. “Lord, I pledge to you I will travel as fast as I can to look after Bian and separate her from the Zakari,” he said. “Mmmm,” the middle-aged man thought aloud. “Yes, Bian will need a guardian angel. You should leave now. As for the Zakari, leave him unharmed. She’s not one to be trifled with and I’d rather she didn’t turn her fangs towards us if possible. But if it’s looking too bad, kill him and bring Bian back at once – I’ll deal with her when the time comes,” The Laeshi nodded his head and stood, brimming with joy. “Oh, not you,” the middle-aged Cruorem pointed at the Laeshi, causing the winged vampire’s blood to freeze. He fell back into his chair, unable to move. “No, you’ve got a lot more purpose here than there. I think we’ve got a much longer chat ahead of us, especially about the monster king, your monster king, Yhaoli,” ***** Leo looked at the four Seekers, feeling a sort of pride he hadn’t felt in forever. They had come in as garbage but now they were true Seekers. He had trained many recruits over the ages but these four were a different standard: they had a different mettle about them, similar to Kasib. “You’ve all come a long way in these months,” Leo said, breaking into a genuine grin. “I’m sure deep inside you’re wondering why I worked you like dogs when some high-ranked Seekers like Jowler are fat fucks,” The four in front of him didn’t respond but their eyes twinkled. “It’s quite simple, really. None of you were born with gifts like the ability to use magic, or even better, to use Giah.” Leo said, winking at this, “And that’s what the Awakening helps you with; it gives you a gift you shouldn’t have, one your body can’t accept. But burn your body out, make it focus on healing and then intensify that until it can barely heal. Your body will shut down, and when your body is dead in all but name, we give you the gift. A rebirth in a sense, I guess,” he finished, leading them into the largest hut. Jowler was already inside, shaking his head. “A fat fuck, am I now? I remember how much you used to respect me, Leo,” The four Seekers followed him in like zombies, alive but not really. Their minds had been broken over the months – it had begun as a toughening but as time passed, the stress had grown too much for any of them to bear. Their bodies would have long been destroyed had it not been for the powerful drugs and meat they had been fed. But now it was time for them to come back. Leo had been through the process – it was an unforgettable process, one that numbed you to your bones, but once it was over, their minds would slowly build up again. “Which Elixirs did you chose for them by the way?” Leo asked. “Djinn, Barghest, Einherz, and Siren,” Jowler said, his old age suddenly washing over him as he looked down, his expression pensive. Leo turned to him in shock, before biting his teeth down as he realised what this meant. “It’s serious, isn’t it?” “There’s no point in keeping around those Elixirs when Yhaoli is breaking the Empire apart. The Tribes have begun their invasion, you know? Soon, the Metoles will have to move, whether it be to the capital or the frontlines, I’m not sure. But it means the Horsemen will soon make their way here, destroying the forest,” Leo wanted to argue against using those Elixirs but deep inside, he knew Jowler said the truth. While those potions had been hard fought for, there were no better subjects for them than the four in front of him. While some of them had lower potential, he knew with these potions that argument would become nought. “It’s alright,” Jowler said, comforting Leo. “If all goes to plan, these four will kill some of those legendary shits and get us better Elixirs. If not—” “Then we still gave it our best shot,” Leo finished. “Damn right. But to be safe, you tell the others outside you made the choice to use these Elixirs, not me. Those ingrates respect you more nowadays,” Jowler scowled. Leo smiled while shaking his head, before turning to the four Seekers. “Drink,”

He breathed out, releasing dragons made from willowy cords of steam. The ice barrier fractured and crumbled onto the concrete, forming thorny, frigid dunes over pools of blood. Tiny shards from the impact bloomed out, setting Orion in the centre of a light-blue smoke cloud. It was cold, but he was a Zakari, conditioned to the cold. “Jax…” He didn’t respond. It stabbed at his soul, but he had to kill her. No one could know. No one. “Jax...” she repeated, her eyes wide and head shaking in disbelief, “You’re a Zakari,” Her shortsword slipped out of her loose grip and clattered against stone. He breathed in, he breathed out. Steam billowed out, his heart cried out. He steeled himself and broke thought. He moved. His fears were perverted into speed, his true speed. He became a spectre, his steps faint whispers, his speed like lightning. He gripped the hilt of his sword with sweaty hands, his blade awaiting the resistance of supple flesh. His mind obsessed with anticipation, the strike, the glorious strike. It was here. He whipped his sword up, his muscles straining. It sliced through the air and met her, her breasts, her neck. Crack. The sword flew out of his hand and he soared through foul air, using his feet to bounce off the wall before he smashed. He righted himself and turned. She stood still, her now-stained maroon cloak covering her figure. Her tanned skin and pink lips were darker in the coppery light, but her caramel-brown hair and pale eyes were the same. She was beautiful. He tasted a bitter build-up in his mouth and spat. She was beguiling. “Fullhorn,” he said while his lips curved into a sneer. “Full fucking horn,” It made sense: her pale eyes, her light skin but undue strength, her speed. But more so what his brothers had hinted about the House of Fullhorn, one of the four great Houses. Blood magic, they said, disguises, they said. Vampire, he saw. Her bleak smile drew even thinner, barely a line. She said nothing, but the silence was proof to his ears. “Do we have to? Do I have to kill you?” she asked, keeping her smile. “We are the greatest,” “And yet you’re the only dead House,” “As you will be,” he barked, his voice booming through the hollow sewers.   Ice spurted from his right hand as he stared at Kora, forming a sphere. She lifted off her cloak and graced him with the body she hid so well. She was full-figured and wore leather trousers and a snug green jacket. She was dressed for a market-trip, not to hunt a monster. Blood drained out of the halved Korshi and began to circle her as she stripped off her jacket, revealing a thin white shirt. She was teasing him in both ways. He growled and touched the swelling ice ball with his left hand. Ice flakes hurtled at her, barraging the blood-shield she had formed, chipping away at it. A few seconds later, Orion slapped himself. His pride was subconsciously giving her time to transform while he fronted an effortless attack, all because he wanted a fair fight. But he couldn’t let it be one: the stakes were too high. Crouching, he placed his left hand on the ground and sensed the earth’s pulse. Right there. Wide cracks formed under Kora, building on each other as the earth sank, dragging her down and under. But she leapt, landing to his right. And far away from her blood-shield: perfect. He turned his ice ball and began splintering it at her, each bullet fast enough to tear flesh. She ran, escaping most of the shots and enduring the ones that hit. Her jaw had extended to her collarbone. It tightened her red-tinted skin and housed three inky talons the size of fingers. There were two curved horns ranging from her hairline to her ears, and her nails had been replaced by claws the size of hands. Her physique had become thicker and sinuous, her muscles flexing, her trousers skin-tight. Orion followed her steps with his bullets, wearing down her skin and creating bruises. She circled his line of fire and made a beeline for him. She was fast, but he was faster. He dashed across the concrete with her on his tail, ice sprouting out of the ground to slow her. Bending low, he picked up his shortsword and turned, striking the blade against her face. Clang. He stepped back and slashed again, only to be blocked by the claws. The clashes resonated through the sewers, ringing their ears, the stench burning their noses, the weapons nicking their skin, drawing blood. He sidestepped and lunged, crouched and rolled, leapt and smashed. She clawed and swept, kicked and followed, dodged and scratched. They fought until he fell and she stood. She kicked his balls and knelt over, blasting hot breath over his cringing face. Her ravenous teeth revealed themselves and she picked him up, putting her lips against his neck. He screamed and shook as she tasted and gasped, moaning with pleasure. The blood of another House, so opulent and rich. Her body burnt the blood and released vast amounts of energy, her cuts visibly healing. She stared at her love bite, hypnotised by the crimson blood that trickled out over his milky skin. Suddenly, he slapped his left hand against her waist and roared. Her pulse became his and her flesh, well, it became his to break. Her skin tore as she fell, gasping for breath as he froze her body, slowing her movement. He glanced at the emanated cracks over her stomach, showing upturned skin like icebergs in the Red River. His hands stung and burned from magic overload. Orion felt weak, his body threatening to topple any second as a vicious headache came over him. He barrelled over to his sword and stumbled back. “You’ll die if you kill me,” Kora spluttered out. He ignored her and held the blade over her neck. One swift strike. “I’m tracked. The Fullhorns will kill you,” she gasped. Orion stopped. He knew she was lying, but it made him remember the obvious: the Fullhorns would follow up on her actions, determined to find the cause of her death, to find him. Then, they would kill him. He breathed in. No, it was ok. All he had to do was hide her body in the sewers and run. He’d have to make another plan but that was better than dying. That was better than failing his, their revenge. “I know why your family actually got slaughtered,” Kora said after seeing her words take effect. He froze. The ambush, the escape, the shout, the coma, the conspiracy: all of it rushed to his head. He remembered his mum screaming, his sister’s image, his dad’s roar, his own weeping. It was too much. He had one second of fear, pure, utter fear of his death and incompetence before he collapsed, her body breaking his fall.

Stumbling up, Orion rubbed the dust out of his eyes. Deafening thuds surrounded him, and yet for some unexplainable reason, he was certain he would not be hit. Still, perhaps it was not so much a certainty as a hope as he desperately tried to see past the towering clouds of dust, although to no avail. Kneeling, he put his palms to the ground and sent waves into the earth. Through this, he found Eira standing tens of metres from him. Her figure was turned towards him and it seemed she was watching him. Through the dust at that. Practically tasting her contempt, he cackled. His insanity did little to deter her but rather the opposite as she strode towards him. So it be, he thought. Breaking into a sprint, ice crackled around him like bolts of lightning, each of them shooting towards her. From the other side, she sensed them and slapped them out of the air with ice-gloved hands. He leapt at her like a wild dog and in turn, she caught him by the collar and tightened her grip. As he yelped in pain, she saw the bright glint in his eyes. Realising what was wrong in that split second, she released him and immediately elbowed his left hand away. It was too late, however, as his palm touched her forearm. Her flesh parted like the ground had underneath them, skin spreading to reveal thick and thin lines of crimson. In response, she struck like a coiled snake, whipping her leg across his stomach, sending him flying and crashing into rubble. While stroking her broken skin, she realised this was a deathmatch. She had hoped it to be a tutor teaching the student a lesson, leaving him whipped and crying to toughen him. Instead she now figured he was an equal to her: he had seemed exhausted and out of energy after using Szu to collapse the plains above, but it seemed Giah still supported his body with a steady influx of energy. Regardless, she knew his body would betray his thoughts soon enough and break down. The real question was whether she would be dead by that time… Casting her right fist to the ground like a hammer to an anvil, her eyes gleamed a brighter white than before as she drained the ground around her. In a moment, a large spherical barrier made of pure ice sprouted around them, trapping them both in a circle with a radius a few metres wide. She did this just in time too as Kora clashed against it in the next second, recoiling back as the ice bit at her flesh. Kora stared at barrier-cum-prison with wary eyes as she paced around it, looking for weaknesses and finding none. Seeing no other option, she steeled herself and moved against the barrier once more. Inside, Eira sneered as she felt the force against her creation. It had been made with her lifeforce, and couldn’t be broken in just a few moments. And by the time it was, only one would come out. Flicking her black ponytail to the side, Eira eyed Orion, who similarly faced her off. Not for long, though, as her cousin made another wild charge towards her, only this time ice spikes rising out of the ground behind her as she stepped back. Suddenly aware he had created them despite no contact with the ground, she rushed forward and grappled him, eventually releasing with flaky skin. He came out likewise but seemed to be overcome with a primitive anger as he continued despite the burning pangs, striking her once and once more with an ice sword while a pointed rock formed below her feet to trip her up. But despite his best efforts, they proved useless as her icy suit of plate armour brushed his attempts off. She watched him behind her armour with an odd giddiness as she saw him growing frustrated and exhausted, his leaden limbs falling like metal. The gleam from his white eyes had also dimmed, the power simmering at his fingertips disappearing by the second. It was in that second an overpowering force pummelled against her barrier, sending her rocking across her feet. Taking advantage, he immediately placed his left palm across her plated armour and finally held on for long enough to crumble it down. It sloshed to the ground like snow. She hastily tried to recreate her armour, and by a miraculous turn of events, he struck her into the air away from himself. As she rolled over the ground, dodging his next attack, she realised he hadn’t even attacked. Righting herself, she noticed he was focused on her with a slack jaw, drawing rapid breaths as if he was convulsing. The edges of his eyes were trembling, and his hands were balled up with blood-letting tightness. She only realised what he was doing when her armour fully formed as lines of pain raced up her arms. She intuitively thickened her ice armour but noticed it did nothing as the pain deepened as if cutting trenches into her flesh. Then the pain became a familiar one; it was the same pain that burned bright when one’s skin was cracked and flesh torn by Szu. Realising he was somehow doing this to her without contact, she turned her fangs to him, attacking with such ferocity it shook the ground. But it didn’t. Instead, she shook in pain as chains of ice slushed out, replacing the tides of thorny ice she had anticipated. It was as her power faltered, leaving her defenceless, that she noticed the strain across his face. Nonetheless, it seemed the gods were through with her either way as she fell to the ground before he broke his focus, her arms deadweights by this point. Then, the words she had both feared and wished for spluttered out of his mouth feebly. “Why? Why did you murder your own family?” he begged, faint sobs following. When she didn’t answer, she felt the pain start again, only this time past her arms and into her chest. He was intent on destroying her… “Fuck, fine. You’re Orion, right?” she asked, somehow finding calm despite the knowledge this was her deathbed. Perhaps it entirely because it was her deathbed since she had foreseen this coming months before, only then she had expected it for years in the future. “No one else has marks like that on their face,” All she heard in response were wet but wild groans. “You’ve got no idea, Orion, none at all. Our family is as power-hungry as they say we are, as bloodthirsty as the rumours tell. Fuck, the other Houses banded together against ours and fucking banished ours to the harshest lands for a reason,” His groans turned into growls at this, but she gave him no time to respond, releasing the words that had drowned her heart for so long. “Of course you don’t know. You’ve lived in the House your whole life: how could you know how we truly are when you buy into our justifications all the same,” “Hearing that from you makes me sick,” he roared, his voice awakening Eira’s true self. She was no victim of the Zakaris. “Why? I’m a Zakari, it flows in my blood and is ingrained in my bones to do this. They told me to open the capital to them, let the Empire be purged of inferior blood. Some upstart called Yhaoli had convinced them they could now stand up against all 3 Houses and win, and maybe they could if I let them. So, I dealt with them the way my blood told me. I had everything to lose and nothing to gain from their betrayal, and the Empire had no reason to fall for a delusional power fetish,” “You massacred your own family,” Orion shouted, accusing her of trivial truth. “I’m a Zakari,” she replied, “I had my best interests at heart,” This silenced him, and for good reason, she thought, as maybe the innumerable examples over his lifetime were finally making sense to him. “Why di—“? “I let you live? Because our blood is too good to lose over my interests. I had all of you taken far away from our grounds so you could grow,” “You razed through reflections of yourself and let the rest of us live,” he replied, accusing her once more. Only, this time, she had no answer. “I didn’t think any of you would power up so fast to take me down, especially not you,” she eventually said. He didn’t reply. “Well then, end the job. Prove you’re a true Zakari, not some weakblood,” she said, lowering her head and letting it rest on the ground. She faced the ice barrier above pensively. Orion wanted to release her, prove his blood didn’t make him alike her, nor like his deceased family. And yet as he looked down at her prone figure, then deeper down at the grief and pain she caused him, at the blood she had spilt, he heard another opinion in his mind. It had always been there but too quiet to fare as resistance, and yet now it seemed so loud it faced no resistance. Placing his right hand on the ground, he waited as the last of his teardrops rolled down his face. Then, he let his passions free, ice exploding around her body, sealing her in a transparent grave. But she wouldn’t die, he knew, with just that. Striding up to her, he placed his left hand on the cube of ice. Shockingly, he felt energy coursing through the cube towards him. No, not energy, power. Somehow, the power from her body was leaking into his. No, not leaking. From the gentle smile on her face, he knew she had done this on purpose. He waited for the stream to end, his heart weighing down on him as she finished. Nodding to her body, he used Szu. As the cracks spread, splitting her body, he wondered if his family had left the world similarly, knowing it was all to strengthen the Zakari line. As much as wanted to deny his blood, the power that entered him made him feel different, as if her interests and his family’s interests had suddenly intruded onto his own. He formed ice over her shattered remains and repeated the process until the splinters of her flesh were hard to see amongst the shards of ice. As he looked down upon the woman who had ruined his life, his tears flowed out once more.

“How bad is his injury?” Orion asked. “Not as bad as it looked, Jax. I think he spun when he got hit so the blade didn’t pierce through his muscle. Still, it’ll be a few weeks until that’s healed, months if he keeps moving around like that,” Orion nodded, before switching his attention to the fort ahead. There were more guards at the entrance than usual, but this was a mere curiosity to the Seekers as they were let in as easily as usual. The loud commotion in the distance led them in and met them at the food court. Ginger had swapped out his dirty jacket and trousers for cleaner and more colourful sorts. He barked the Sticky Fingers around, the tension clear in his voice. Next to him was Nanlong, his washed and combed hair revealing light brown strands instead of the dark mane he normally sported. He solemnly sat there, his mercenaries nowhere to be seen. It was only when the Seekers stepped in front that Ginger noticed them. “Ah, that’s all of us ‘ere. Let’s get going,” “What’s the rush? I thought you said Rats’s celebration was at noon? The fog’s still out; we’d be straggling like blind mice if we left now,” Kora said. “The rush is that he doesn’t want to keep Fatso waiting,” Nanlong said while rising to his full height. “The rush is that no one keeps Fatso waiting,” Ginger corrected. “Oh, are yer guys gonna take in anything with yer?” “I’ll leave my bag here, hopefully, you can keep it safe. But I’m taking in these daggers and sword,” “Same,” Ginger checked their weapons and grunted. “Yeah, those are fine. Don’t worry, none of my boys will touch anything of yers,” The Seekers left their bags with Thimble and passed the gates with Ginger and Nanlong. Ginger clearly knew where they were going off by heart as he navigated the fog with ease. While walking deeper into the slums, they finally saw the size of the celebration: market stalls had set up over the filthy roads, offering food and wares to the criminals; bands of people moved along with them, their steps softs and words whispered, fully aware of who had set up the celebration; hard-eyed men and women watched from every nook and cranny, searching for those who didn’t belong. They walked for an hour, most of it spent queuing behind others as the streets grew clumped and the celebrations grow thicker. The nervous quiet transformed into a boisterous joy as the fog lifted and the alcohol stalls set up. Orion could spot tens of people high on Gajoi nuts, and even a stall wafting the arresting smell into the crowd in a bid to earn more. The immensity of their situation dawned on him simultaneously, realising all these people were celebrating simply because Rats had told them to; the man they had to meet and betray was alike the Lord of Visgamar, on the other side of the city, sure, but still on the same side of the spectrum. The shouts and cheers and singing had given Orion an earful when they reached Rats’s pavilion, or more precisely, his garden. Four guards around Nanlong’s size checked Ginger’s identity and invitation at the entrance. The multiple scars ranging their mountain-like muscles made it clear how they would act if they caught anyone sneaking in. Compared with the stench of the streets, Rats’s garden smelled like paradise - various scents bubbled and popped in the air. Looking around, Orion recognised many exotic flowers and plants, all of them surrounded by skulls and broken bones for compost. The noises from the garden were much more restrained, and the nervousness was palpable. Despite the plethora of drinks and drugs orbiting the guests, none of them seemed to partake as they stood with backs straight and fists clenched. The garden itself was as large as a field, maybe larger as the horizon was hidden by overgrown willow trees. Shamrock-green grass filled the space between the various flowers planted here and there to fill the space. Behind the willowy branches in the distance, Orion spotted a large curved dome the colour of clouds with golden scribbles over it. Closer to him, he could see a mansion made from beige stone with doors and windows the size of horses. It was from this house the servants kept bringing the food and drinks, and it was through these doors he expected the host to stride through. There were two loose factions in the garden, one around an old yet dainty woman and the other around a man the width of a table, the height of a door, and the build of a wardrobe. Ginger walked to the obscene mix of fat and muscle and kneeled to him, to which the man nodded and shooed the gang leader to the edges of his faction. He was Fatso, the Underking of trade, and the woman on the other side was Madam Rischei. Both of the Underkings’ factions were similarly built, with larger-than-life characters around the centre and affiliate gang leaders near the edges. The biggest difference came from who protected each Underking. Around Fatso were ten Black Hearts, their clothes sable and a sliced heart symbol stitched over their chests. Moreover, they clearly weren’t novices either, their calloused eyes scanning the crowds with scrutiny. Although their weapons were hidden into their get up, Orion intuitively knew they were armed to the teeth. Around Madam Rischei were two men and two women the width of Fatso but half the height. If the ornate staffs they used as walking sticks weren’t enough to identify them, their size was. And if their size wasn’t enough to identify them, the contempt with which they looked around was. And if their glares weren’t enough to identify them, the glowing orbs circling theirs and Madam Rischei’s figures were. It didn’t surprise Orion to see the Underking of brothels guarded by pigs addicted to Asarte’s juice, but their roundness declared them to be high-ranking Mages, which did startle him. The higher they went, the more prideful they were, so Madam Rischei must have offered a lot in return for their services. Rats’s entourage would only come out with the man himself, so it was Grima, the last Underking, he was puzzled not to see. But thinking on the matter, it made sense why Grima wasn’t here and why there wasn’t a faction dedicated to him, after all, his men were the ones standing tall in the other factions. Time passed by and the underworld waited. Ginger and Nanlong understood their places in the grand scheme as they stood meekly like everyone else of their status. Madam Rischei stood likewise, showing no signs of impatience at being stood up. She understood it was all a power-game and the first to snap would lose - she also knew who would be the first to lose. Fatso’s ego got the better of him as the man began to pace around, his jeers against Rats sounding far and wide. Coincidently, it was when the man-mountain wanted to storm the mansion that a few men strolled out from behind the willow trees in the distance. “Our master invites all of you to his pavilion,” Furious at falling for such a juvenile trick, Fatso thundered towards and past the willow trees, his faction and Madam Rischei following. After a ten-minute hike Orion saw the pavilion. It was of a similar size to the Temple and built with horse-thick pillars arranged in a circle, holding up the cloud-coloured dome at the top. It was encrusted with gold and the floor of the pavilion was milky marble. Sitting on a red throne fashioned with cushions in the pavilion was the star of the show. Rats was a slight man compared to Fatso, his height and build similar to Orion. He wore a black tunic and black trousers, showing off the corded muscles fastened around his forearms. His simple, albeit dauntingly scarred, look was finished with slicked-back hair and bright green eyes, his skin paler than the eastern norm. His men and women surrounded him. They wore no uniform, regardless, their clothes looked of high quality. They made up the biggest faction and each of them looked ready to fight, if not, kill. Rats waved his hand to the space in the pavilion, inviting the other Underkings in with a sneer. His eyes smiled as he saw them follow, taking their places in his play. Knowing it was time, he stood and stretched out his arms. “The Empire, aren’t you all sick of it?” …

Orion urged his horse into the lane leading to the gate. Unlike Lesan’s guards, Visgamar’s guards didn’t demand a toll but they did constantly scan the crowd, searching for rugged men and children to boot. The roads had been fair to them and Nyrtia, the Western God of fortune, had blessed them with a safe passage. They hadn’t come across Wes or Rover, meaning those two had likely taken a detour. In total, the journey had taken them a week, four days quicker than before. As the two of them entered Hexham’s road, they dismounted under the guards’ watchful eyes and led their mounts to a clean-looking stable. While their horses were relatively weak and slow, they were still worth a gold and 60 silvers. So, they left them in under a stable boy’s care for 20 silvers, enough for a month. Afterwards, Orion bought cheap dishes from the market and showed off his pragmatic knowledge. Kora guessed someone had toured him around the city, claiming he and his dragon-egg-refined tongue wouldn’t risk common food just to find the tastier sort. All the truly delicious dishes were too expensive to buy though, due to the Mages having a monopoly on fatty ingredients. They then went to the Seeker’s guild. On the way, Kora glanced at him weirdly. When he questioned her, she reminded him about Maya’s naughty reward. In response, he brushed away his emotion and replaced it with his deadpan expression – he was inwardly hopeful, but there was no way he would admit it to Kora. When they entered, Maya had her back to the door. She was leaning on her curved marble table and was engrossed in what seemed to be a book. The beams of sunlight from above highlighted her hazel hair, which was tied up in a ponytail today, and she wore her typical dark tunic and beige trousers. A tightness knotted his feet, crippling him to the spot. He could feel his heart beating, and each breath seemed harder than the last. However, instead of succumbing to the tension, he relaxed and forced himself to walk. He was a Zakari: his inborn charm would grant him many more naughty rewards in the future. Freezing in front of each one would sully their great name. Moreover, the thought of granting Kora anymore quips thawed his legs and froze his heart. Maya heard their resounding footsteps and spun around, a grin creeping onto her face. “Whytie! and Kora. I guess you killed the monster?” Kora nodded and passed over Aaron’s note, while Orion blankly watched on. Maya skimmed it. “Wow, high praise. Well, either way, you’re both 3-star Seekers now, only 2 more to get the shiny badge and come to the great meeting,” When she saw the sparkle in their eyes, she chortled and flapped her hand. “I’m just kidding, the meeting is so dead. Worst thing ever, I’d recommend staying at 4-stars,” Orion’s eyes momentarily widened, before he straightened his face. Maya was a 5-star Seeker? What!? “I saw that,” she replied, scrunching up her face and shaking it in disappointment. “I thought you were better than this, Whytie. Not like all the rest, and yet you thought so low of me?” He cleared his throat but otherwise didn’t respond. Maya rolled her eyes and rummaged under the marble table, eventually dropping a clinking pouch onto the table. “20 gold coins for the contract,” But before either of them could check it, she pointed at Orion and raised her eyebrows. “Don’t think I forgot your reward, naughty boy,” She pointed at Kora. “You too,” Orion’s heart sank. “Smith’s got it upstairs. Go and talk to him,” Maya finished, bobbing her eyebrows at them. Orion’s heart shattered and his poker face chipped. He had known it was a trap, and yet he had still hoped. Kora smiled and nodded at Maya while Orion rushed up the stairs, certain his face had bloomed as bright as roses. Despite his speed, their laughter still caught up to him. He sat by the contract board until Kora came, tousling his black hair before sitting beside him. Maya had played him like a fiddle, squirming under his iron gates before sneaking away with his pride. He didn’t regret hoping, but he did regret cracking under disappointment and blushing like a maiden. A few pensive moments later, he stood. “Come on, let’s go to Smith,” Kora patted his back. “It’s alright, kiddo. She got lucky by dodging you,” He frowned and threw her “comforting” hand off. They knocked on Smith’s door and soon entered the grey-haired man’s office. He was behind his desk, this time wearing a yellow eyepatch. He looked up and shook his head, failing to keep his face straight. “Don’t worry, kiddo, Maya does that every cute guy she comes across,” he said as he broke into a rumbling chuckle. Orion wished he could just find a hole to jump into but had to put up with sitting on a chair instead. “The naughty reward, it’s actually another contract. 4-star rated, well-paying, and relatively safe compared to the other 4-star contracts.” Smith explained, smiling as he realised the two Seekers were already hooked. “It’s from the Visgamar council, specifically the Visgamar’s Guard, or better put, the Imperial Guard.” He stopped and scratched at his chin. “Well, the first part was kind of a lie. I don’t know how dangerous the contract is, none of us does, but that’s why this contract exists. Did you kids know Visgamar is split between good and bad?” They nodded. “Yeah, the bad side, Rats’s side, has been up to something. There have been reports of monsters in their ranks, but also of growing tension and secrecy. The Empire fears he’s plotting against it, but they can’t move against him. Visgamar’s Guard is evenly matched with him and if the Empire moved an army here, then someone else would abuse that opportunity. You’ve surely heard the criers yelling about the rising tension across lands. It started ever since the Zakari got razed, and now it’s become palpable.” He paused and gazed directly into their eyes. “Anyway, the contract calls for unknown Seekers to infiltrate Rats’s higher echelons and feed back information. Both of you are new here so trust me when I say this: this job a superb opportunity if you survive,” “Can we have time to think?” Kora asked. “No. You’re either in now, or you forget this meeting ever happened,” She looked at Orion, into his eyes. They nodded simultaneously. “Great. Visgamar’s Guard has already planted a few men into Rats’s gang, and I’ve sent a few people so you’re not alone. I’m sure you’ll figure a way to get close to him. Finally, here’s a tip. No, more of a rule,” Smith said, his voice low and harsh, “Don’t think of Rats as a human, think of him as a monster to hunt. Otherwise…” He paused. “Otherwise, he’ll do things you kids aren’t ready to hear yet,” Smith explained a few more details, then let them go. Minutes later, they were walking on Hexham’s road, having deposited their reward money in the Seeker’s bank. “Yhaoli,” Orion said. “What?” “Your friend, Yhaoli. He’s involved in this,” She moved to whack him but he leapt in time, wagging his finger in response. It felt good to get back at her. “But yeah, Jax, he is. Got any idea of where to start?” Orion stroked his stubble for a few moments when a maroon-haired loudmouth came to mind. “I know just the person,”

They came upon the abandoned village at dawn, golden light cascading down the skies. After further questioning, the Seekers had gained a better picture of Joiroa’s problem. It turned out the Maegi would need a lot of raw materials to make the portal. Joiroa predicted this would take about a year, although that depended on Shrien and his party’s luck and haste. When asked about the materials needed, the foreigner had told the Seekers of many ingredients through gruesome description. Orion hoped this meant more of the Guilds would hear of Shrien’s party and wipe them out, but upon hearing a description of Shrien’s strength, he wasn’t so hopeful anymore. “We should look around,” Kora said, hopping off her horse. The other two agreed, following her. “Remember, when we run into the Lich, run,” Orion said to Joiroa. The dark man nodded; he knew he wasn’t cut out for violence. As they entered the village, the Seekers started searching for clues. By the rotten food they found in houses and the date listed on the contract, they guessed the Lich had been here for almost a month. That was plenty of time to set up a trap, and considering it was a Lich, it had definitely holed up somewhere with traps outside. They discovered plenty of blood tracks that led to nothing, but these were enough for Kora to catch the scent. She followed the trail the corpses had taken, leading them into the neighbouring forest. The forest was quite ordinary in terms of the aged trees and the overwhelming variety of foliage around, but what immediately set it apart from others was the lack of sound. The wind breezed past but it carried with it no animal calls, chilling the party over. Still, this didn’t stop them from following the blood scent, and after trekking through the forest for an hour, the party came upon a cave in a hillside. Kora threw her pack off and transformed, the Cruorem signature three black talons across her neck and arched horns from hairline to ears becoming apparent. Her skin became red-tinted and her muscles grew thicker and more sinuous. Joiroa stared wide-eyed at her, his body tensing up. When she pointed at him, he got the cue and led his horse away with shaky steps. A few steps into the cave, Orion could smell the blood and rotten flesh as clear as day. It was humid inside and the stench was bad enough to twist and turn stomachs. It was also as dark as night but they knew the Lich’s lab would be lit up considering Lichs couldn’t see in total darkness either. Minutes later, when he glimpsed the dim light in the distance, Orion felt an adrenaline rush, his body trembling with anticipation. This was a 5-star monster, something neither of them had considered fighting before their Awakening, but six months later and here they were. He had fought alongside Kora for long enough to recognise she was similarly excited. They sneaked into the Glubber’s lamp-lit cavern but straightened as they noticed the Lich staring at them, or at least they assumed it was staring their way since it didn’t move. It was hard to tell as it was eyeless, and in fact, fleshless. The Lich wore dirty robes over its skeletal form and had a sword in its hand. “It looks as if Fexa has finally heard my prayers,” it joked, “I asked for new subjects and here they come, as clueless as possible,” Orion smirked at this, an ice barrier sprouting around him and Kora. Just in time too as hundreds of projectiles barraged into it, chipping at it but failing to break through as the barrier grew thicker. Orion hadn’t moved from the start – he simply commanded the ice now. “Oh my, forgive my theatrical side,” the Lich said, its ribcage heaving up and down as it faux laughed. “If I’m right, I spy with my eyes a young Zakari, and, a Vampire? What is this beast you command, young Zakari?” The ice barriers shattered, and Kora sprinted, leaping to strike at the Lich. However, she rebounded of a golden barrier before she could snap the Lich’s bones. There were crack-marks across the barrier but the Lich seemed unconcerned as it pointed at Kora. Toxic liquid sprayed at where she stood and it followed her as she ran, never quite hitting her as she moved faster. Meanwhile, Orion yawned and looked around the cavern. He noted several skeletons and other ghastly Frankenstein monsters in the corner, sneaking through a sapphire pool towards them. It seemed the Lich had wanted to swiftly deal with them through the projectile trap, and if that didn’t work, through its creations sneaking up on them while they were distracted by its barrier. He lifted his left hand at them, it vibrating as he focused on the skeletons. The one he had in his sight began to tremble, then dropped into the water, splashing loudly and ruining any chance of sneaking up on Kora. The Lich and Kora turned just in time to see the skeleton explode, bone shards shooting across the cavern. “GET OFF THEM, ZAKARI!” the Lich roared. Orion had no clue what the monster expected from such a request but he carried on anyway, slowly exploding its creations even as the Lich ordered them to sprint and kill him. When they got too close for comfort, he made the surface under them into ice, several spears sprouting from the ground. His ice had gotten much tougher than before his Awakening and it showed as the spears trapped the creations to the spot. While a few managed to wriggle out, he no longer cared as he turned to the Lich. The Lich had been bombarding him with spells and curses all the while dancing with Kora, only to fail each time as his ice barrier blocked any attempts at his life. Bending down, Orion placed his left hand on the ground and focused, feeling the earth’s pulse wash over him. He pinpointed the Lich’s position and released waves towards the area, the ground around the Lich rapidly rising until it swallowed him, momentarily trapping him. Taking a deep breath, Orion created several ice spears that shot towards the Lich. Each of them deepened the cracks Kora had made until one broke through, piercing through the Lich’s bones. As the monster rushed to restore the barrier, more and more spears flew in, quickly toppling the Lich into a pile of bones. Orion shook his head in disbelief while wiping the sheen of sweat off his forehead. “Just magic – I’m surprised I actually did it,” Kora walked up to the pile of bones and crushed the glowing core under her feet, sending the Lich to his second grave. “You got lucky it was such a bonehead,” He chuckled, then felt bad about laughing over such an easy shot. “You’re just jealous I did him in,” “I didn’t even use my skills,” Kora said, “Besides, it’d have been different if he had blood,” “Pfft, sure sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night,” he said. For some inconceivable reason, she didn’t find this funny as she threw the Lich’s skull at his face. He barely dodged this strike at his life. “Stop desecrating the dead and sweep up his core,” **** Smith inspected the shards dumped on his table. “Well, I guess you two really are monsters now,” he eventually said, digging in his drawers until he came out with two golden badges. The golden badges had the number 5 engraved on them and a button on top. When the button was pressed, they let out lightworks showing the Seeker’s logo, the silhouette holding a sword. 5-star Seekers weren’t the sort to lose their badges and considering the other guilds couldn’t craft them, it made them effective identification. “Are you two going to try a 6-star contract now?” Smith asked. Orion looked at Kora. “Naa, I don’t see any reason to. I’m thinking of splurging all the money I’ve made on some quality stuff, then leaving for Edge’s End,” She nodded. “Good kids. I better see you two go for 6-star and 7-star eventually though. Maybe one of yous will also be the first 8-star in a century,” Smith said. They talked for a few more minutes, before the eye-patched Seeker shooed the trio off. Downstairs, Orion took half the money he had in his account from Maya, got back at her for all the times she had teased him, then left the building with Kora and Joiroa. It was while walking across Hexham’s road they spotted a thin and tall man seemingly waiting for them. He walked up to them and faced Orion. “Are you Jax Whyte, sir?” “What of it?” he replied. “My Madame would like a word with you…”

Orion walked half-dazed, the soil squelching under his boots. It had been a month since the Seekers had left Visgamar, and the time spent in the wild showed on his body. His skin was tight, and his body was thin, burning through the food he had eaten a day before to keep his legs moving. There were dark bags under his eyes and he had a bronze tan. A howl washed over the party, then another, and another. Orion stopped, listened, then continued trudging through the Kajan rainforest. Over the course of the journey, he had toughened and learned to use his limited energy effectively. The most important aspect to this skill was judging what was threatening and what was merely fear-inducing. The surrounding rainforest was teeming with life. Battle cries and mating calls were alike the breath of the forest, as common as the droplets of rain sliding off leaves - rushing to arm yourself for each one was foolish. There were many smells around them, berries releasing crisp, sweet scents while the mud gave off an overwhelming tasteless scent. To a Westerner like Orion, the damp and heat together were a constant pain, condemning his thoughts to barely coherent passages. His fellow Seekers around him reacted similarly to the howl, apart from Cyae. She somehow had the willpower to stay both vigilant and march over mud and branches alike. Orion had begun by respecting her for it, but after they had to butcher their horses for quick supplies, he began to hate her continued diligence. Either way, it was little comfort but comfort nonetheless to know Kora and Lilith hated this trip as much as him. On the other hand, Joiroa tread through the mud with ease, his expression as passive as always. Maybe that was the benefit of being tortured, Orion thought, smirking a little. As they toiled through the forest, the distant howls grew close. Scanning his surroundings, Orion slung his bag off his shoulders and onto a dry patch, nodding to Kora as she gave a thumbs up. Digging through his quiver, he picked several arrows rough with dried blood and put one to his bow, pulling the string and holding his stance. His breath slowed, and his heartbeat faded from his mind, his focus solely on the bushes in front. He heard a howl from his side but didn’t stir. It didn’t surprise him the pack had circled them, and as much as he hated and envied Cyae’s mind of steel, he equally trusted her to act as a deadly buffer in case of such a flank. Suddenly, a dark figure burst out of the wet clump of leaves in front; he released the bowstring, the arrow zipping through the air. He drew a second arrow and turned, releasing at another Tawny wolf as it emerged. In his rush, he jabbed his finger against the shaft of an arrow but ignored the pain and kept firing, incapacitating the wolves. Moments later, he grasped at the quiver and grabbed thin air: he had held off making new arrows due to his daily exhaustion and now felt its price. Grinning manically at his fortune, he pulled his longsword and sidestepped an open-maw lunge. He struck as the wolf retreated, before rushing to end all the wolves he had crippled. It was a matter of minutes before the forest grew momentarily quiet, Orion huffing as he skinned the fur off a wolf with his knife. Lilith joined him in this task while Kora leaned against her greatsword and Cyae surveyed the area. Joiroa eased down the tree he had scrambled up, coming to watch over Orion and Lilith as they got on with their task. In less than an hour, they left the bloody area with enough meat for a day. Conversation had drawn to a still a long time ago so they followed the weather-beaten directions in the forest in silence. While they got into two more minor fights along the way, Orion’s wish for weeks came to fruition several hours later as they were trying to decipher which way the wooden post had pointed before being clawed down by a cruel beast. A young man with strands of ginger in his beard, alike Flynn from long ago, strode from the bushes, a taut shortbow in his hand, the arrowhead gleaming in the light. “Seekers?” he called in a friendly manner, his slitted eyes telling a different tale. “Yes, we’re here for the Awakening,” Cyae replied, meanwhile her hand edged towards her shield. “Good,” the ginger man said, lowering his bow. He ignored the party gripping onto their weapons as he continued, “It’s best you follow me – these posts are far too old and broken to get you there,” “And you are?” Kora asked, voicing the concern they all held. “An instructor, I guess,” he replied. “And it’s best if you don’t test me – I don’t show mercy to idiots,” “And where’s the proof?” Kora said. He shook his head. “You’ve already been lucky to get all the way here without running into anything dangerous, you might as well trust that luck a bit longer. Now, come on,” He paced away from them. The group looked at one another, each asking the same silent question while Joiroa stared into blank space. Lilith nodded and the others slowly came to, jogging to catch up to the ginger man who sped through the rainforest as if it was his garden. The man replied to their questions with short answers, keeping them on hold for tens of minutes until they came to a wide clearing in the forest. In the clearing were several wooden huts with few people around. There was a large flag in the centre with the Seeker’s logo, a silhouette of a figure holding a sword. The ginger man led them towards another older man. This old man was clean shaven with heavy jowls under his neck and a large belly. He had been staring intently at the newcomers since they had entered his sight. “Who are these, Leo?” asked the fat man. “Fresh blood?” “That’s what they say, Jowler,” answered the ginger man. “Where are you kids from? Who sent you, eh?” Jowler asked. “Smith from Visgamar,” Cyae answered. Jowler burst into laughter, all too similar to Smith. “Oh, that idiot. He gave you a letter or something, yeah?” Cyae dug through her pack and gave him the letter. He stared at it for several moments before smiling at them. “I knew the dark one wasn’t with you. Why’s he here?” Joiroa, who had gotten bored waiting, was now looking around. The other Seekers turned to Orion at the question, including Kora. “Uh, he’s a friend,” Orion said. “What is he? A desert raider who spent too long in the sun? Does he speak the common tongue?” Orion gulped and shook his head, the impulse of his earlier action now striking him as stupid. “Well, the closest I’ve seen to such dark skin is from the Metoles and he certainly ain’t no Metole. And his eyes, I’ve never seen red eyes from anyone, not even the savages,” Jowler continued. The emotions in their voices had attracted Joiroa back to the conversation, and he figured they were talking about him from the way they looked at him. He passively stared at Jowler, who scrutinised him back. Deep inside, Joiroa knew he should have let them kill him: better to have died than have entered this foreign land with no hope and no knowledge. “Normally I wouldn’t let anyone in, but you know what, I’m interested in this guy. How about this, I’ll let him stay if you order him to stay with me over the period,” Jowler said. Orion looked at him incredulously, wondering why he needed Orion’s permission for that. If Jowler was the boss here like he seemed, it wasn’t like Orion could deny him. Eventually, though, he regained his composure and nodded, to which the fat Seeker grinned. “Good lad. Anyway, Leo, take them to their rooms. Let’s show them some hospitality after their tough journey,” Jowler said, to which the ginger Seeker grinned as if sharing a joke.

Orion woke in the dark. His neck throbbed with pain, and the rest of his body was numb. But despite the startling conditions he woke up in, he still didn’t stir. Instead, he drowsily remained in the pose he had kept for hours, if not days. The only sign of him being alive came from the whistles of breath that bounced around the room, keeping him company in the gloom. A short while of whistling passed before he spluttered to life like an old engine, gagging while his head snapped forwards. He had choked for a few seconds, but what felt like an eternity, when he spat out a clump of vegetation. It splattered against the wooden boards and lay there as Orion gulped in air, strangely feeling worse as he gained more sense. His mind skipped its immediate concerns to torture him with his own memories: rushing into the trapdoor, his mum helping them down before following on, his dad freezing the trapdoor over and staying behind. His dad had wanted to fight without handicaps and without worry over their safety. Those were Orion’s last whole memories.  Then, a blur. An ambush, in a passageway unknown to the world. His mum had died; he was certain of that. She had screamed at them to run with such an intensity the passage had partially collapsed, and so he had. He now knew he had survived, somehow. As for his sisters, or his brothers around the House, he could only hope. Spitting out sour saliva, Orion tried to push down his memories and his nausea. He looked around and saw slits letting in smoky-grey sunshine into the darkness,  lighting up his surroundings: wooden boards, crates, fishing nets, a large mirror, and salted fish. And it all stank, whether it be the bristly mould over the damp wood, or the rotten fish. Rubbing his eyes, he walked over to the mirror and wiped the layer of dust off. His pale skin showed thin bags under his black eyes - he had slept well... There were dull-red scars from his left cheek to his jaw, seeming like cracks in dried ground, and his black finger-length hair had pasted to his head due to the moisture. His 16-year-old figure had slumped shoulders and a dazed stare.  Turning from his reflection, he faced a wooden table with a large bag collapsed over it. Orion rummaged through the bag. Bread, cheese, water pouch, salt, a golden coin, and a wrist-to-finger length knife. General items, sure, but coincidently vital for the current-him; had someone left it here for him? He thought back to his final memory, looking past how blurry and spliced it was. He was running, no, stumbling, tripping, falling, rolling. Wherever he was now, he hadn’t gotten here by his own two feet. One of his family members must have saved his sorry arse and brought him to safety, so where were they?   Hours passed, and Orion had licked the aftertaste of cheese off his fingers, wishing for more. To distract himself, he had forced the door open, and heard a few bricks fall into water on the other side. Despite the fog crippling his sight, he had confirmed he was on a dock: the waves continously crashing against the shore had been a small giveaway. But instead of exploring half-blinded, he had decided to await his rescuer who was clearly more capable than him. Yet, despite his logical choice, his subconscious decided against it, demanding he went out there and cut down every last man and woman who had attacked his family. But who would attack the Zakaris? They were one of the four great Houses, uncontested in the Empire. Who would attack them but... another House. Shaking his head, he stuffed the coin and water pouch into his hunting trousers’ pocket. He used the knife to nick his fingertip, whispering arcane words while his eyes paled to a moonlit-white, before wiping the blood onto the table. A simple spell, one that lasted a week at most and would allow his Hero to find him. Placing the knife into the other pocket, Orion pushed the door and walked into the fog. He quickly changed his opinion of the storeroom he had been in: the boards in there hadn’t been mouldy or rotten, at least relative to the creaking, breaking menaces he stepped on now. The docks were smaller than he had expected, hinting he was in a coastal village right now. The air was thick with the scents of seaweed and salt, and the waves crashing against the shore engulfed any sounds of the sleeping village. The sunlight was now cloud-grey, and Orion could finally see where he stepped, a high-step improvement from before.  His subconscious obsessed over the distant silhouettes and how alike they were to the animals of men who had ambushed the passageway. The passageway was only known to his parents and his siblings, and it was far too well-hidden to be found by chance. It was just another question he didn't know the answer to, and the answers that did appear in his mind scared him, frightened him. Refocusing, he looked for a man to talk to, someone who could at least tell him where he was. It was while walking across the dockside he finally saw a figure, one fiddling with a few crates next to a sizeable boat. He crept over with his eyes set on his surroundings, wary of any ambushers, after all, if they could find out family secrets like the tunnel, what would stop them from tracking him down? However, due to his fit of paranoia, when he reached the crates, the figure had already walked away towards a distant warehouse, its mouth gaping-open for him to follow. However, suddenly aware of the fact that the crates were awfully interesting, Orion instead opted to stay and wait. To distract himself from his fears, he leaned over the crates and looked inside. Forehead creased, he used his hand to unplug his nose and took another whiff of the nuts lying on parchment. They were larger than any he had seen, had a roasted orange shade with black burns, but it was the smell that arrested him the most. He remembered his sister, old enough to work for the family, being sent to City of Yupker. They had lost contact with her a year after, but she had thankfully returned a few days before the search parties had set off. What the Gods hadn’t cared about was the condition they had brought their lost lamb home. Her face had been sallow, her eyes spiritless, her body starved. She had time-drawn creases under her eyes, heavy bags for a 23-year-old to bear, and her clothes couldn’t even defend her figure from lecherous glances, forget the unforgivable weather. An outrage had followed her return, but Orion brushed past his sadness and remembered what he had smelled. The scene was unforgettable with the memory burned in his mind, the scent indistinguishable - a scent of addiction. Despite being roasted a ways back, the nut in his hands still gave off a toasty scent, fresh off the coals. It was sleek and his fingers slid over like over melted butter, but it also crumbled when he squeezed. Opening the nut bolstered the rich nutty aroma, the odd accompanying sweetness, perhaps of honey, and the subtlest reek of manure: all from the nuts. While Orion's mind felt excited by the smell, his anger from his memory burnt brighter. He stepped back, put his hands on the crate and pushed. He ran the crates into the water, loud splashes following. From deep inside the warehouse’s stomach came a loud shout, filled with anger: anger from failing to ruin another’s life, surely. No one would miss such a man, surely. His eyes lightened, the surrounding fog thinned, and tendrils of water ran down his right hand, the chill from it breaking the disguise of water but the fluidity of movement reinforcing it. The strands of ice entwined together like twin dragons, producing a sharp point at their front.  As the clumsy footsteps got closer, he realised his idiocy. His sister’s “friends” had been paid back in full with added extra. His family, however, hadn’t been avenged for the injustice they had suffered. No one could know he was a Zakari, and anyone who came across a corpse stabbed by several icicles would immediately think of his family. So, a good place to start was by not killing every scum he came across.  Taking one last look at the fool thundering his way, Orion sprinted away from the scene and was soon lost to the fog, only stopping when he entered an alley a distance away. While he stood catching his breath, bells rang in the distance. Three slow chimes, a high-pitched one, and three fast hits. The ringing wasn’t particularly loud, but it was resonant enough to ride the whole city and past, or at least Orion had read years ago. Suddenly, it made sense: the City of Visgamar had thick fogs in the mornings; the city had a thriving underbelly; the city had many docks, big and small. There was only one problem: the City of Visgamar was months away from the House of Zakari…

Seeing his chance to be useful, Orion straightened his back and stepped forward. “Hey,” he shouted, “What do you want?” He now saw the two figures clearly; one was a messy-haired blond with a patchy beard and an easy smile, while the other man had clear-cut scars and wore a metal cap. “What are you doing here? This is a crime scene we’re investigating,” the blond said. “Seekers?” Orion replied. The blond man frowned before realisation hit him. “You guys as well? On our contract?” Contrary to Orion’s expectations, his tone wasn’t bitter but instead… relieved? “Yeah, hope you don’t mind the split pay,” Orion said, trying to milk information. “Na na, not a worry, man. And lady. You guys are 3-stars, right?” Kora nodded before Orion corrected him. “Great. Truth be told, me and Rover went out of our le—” the blond said, only to be jabbed by Rover. “This is a dangerous mission, and we’d appreciate your support,” Rover said. Orion caught on but ultimately appreciated the social rules and overlooked it. Kora didn’t. One side of her lips curled into a bent smile. “Our support? Then, I’m guessing you guys can do this alone? Aaron showed us other contracts we could do,” Rover clenched his fists, but his friend gripped his shoulder and looked him in the eye. The blond whispered something, then righted his stern face. “Na, sorry, boss-lady; we’re 2-stars risking it on this. But the more we’ve found, the more it seems the reward ain’t worth the price we’d pay.” He paused and appealed to Orion. “So, we’d like it if we could group up with you,” Orion had watched Kora long enough to know her response. “Yeah, sure. Support is always appreciated,” he said. She scowled at him. “You owe me twice now,” she whispered. “Great. I’m Wes, and this is Rover,” the blond said. “Jax, and Kora,” “I’m guessing you guys just got here? We’ve checked all the scenes but not sure what to do now,” Wes said. Kora snorted and kneeled, surveying the surrounding filth. “I’m seventy percent sure it’s a Korshi, but the only way to be certain is by finding its lair. The last death Aaron attributed to this contract was almost a month ago, so the monster should be there and not punting the canals as a ferryman.” She stood. “Take us to the latest scene. You’ve been there, right?” Wes nodded and led the three Seekers onto a taxi. He started small talk with Orion but soon found his focus transferred to Kora as she firmly grasped the conversation. Rover stared into the sky and only gave short answers when asked. A few minutes later, the Seekers got off and crossed a bridge through which they entered a wealthier region. The houses were larger and made from bricks with tufts of grass at their fronts – it was where the emerging middle-classed lived. Taking a moment to ponder the route, Wes led them in circles before eventually retracing his steps and arriving at the scene. Coincidently, or not, they were right next to the canals with stairs leading to the lower passage. When the water was low, you could walk along the lower passage, but today was not one of those times. “Are all the sites besides a canal?” Kora asked. “Yeah, we think the monster moved through the water or across the lower passage. We know it’s here somewhere since the sites are a few minutes to an hour walking distance of each other, but we didn't find a lead,” Rover answered. “Do you know anyone related to the man who died here?” she asked. “That house,” Wes said, pointing a few metres away, “was where he lived with his wife. I dunno about the kids though. We talked to her, but she was too troubled to give us any helpful details,” The house was well-maintained, and there were small daisies strewn across the lawn. However, the dirt was clotted with footsteps, most likely from the council following up on this death – the only reason this case had received attention was due to the victim’s status and not because of the severity or implications. Kora knocked on the house’s bright-yellow door. Orion imagined how it must feel to have a loved one murdered metres away from you. He had endured worse, but he hadn’t seen split skin or heard any banshee screams. But, on the other hand, this lady still had her house, her wealth, and her kids. He had been left with nothing, nothing but hatred. Noticing no signs of life from the house, Kora was about to leave when Wes stopped her. “Sophie, it’s the Seekers. We’ve nearly got the monster, we just need to know one thing,” he shouted. They waited. Then, the door clacked and creaked open, a fat lady with tanned, tear-stained skin eyeing them spiritlessly. “Seekers? Again? What do you want?” she asked as if desperately searching for a reason to whine. She stood by the door and blocked the hallway, intent on keeping them outside. “Your husband, tell me what happened and what his body looked like afterwards,” Kora said. “Have I not retold the horror enough times? Why do you torment me!?” Sophie screeched. Her eyes spoke of sleepless nights. “One last time, Sophie. Kora’s an expert tracker, she just needs to hear the facts first-hand to find the monster,” Wes said, plucking facts from thin air. Kora stopped, then nodded. “Fine, continue your torture! I was inside, making dinner when he went out for a smoke,” Orion wondered what that meant? Did he make fires for fun? Nonetheless, he didn’t interrupt the shaking woman. “Then, a scream. I ran out and saw some thing, its long and bony limbs holding my husband’s face. Its mouth, its mouth,” she sobbed, “it was slurping up his face and his brain. It looked like a human that had been stretched, with black eyes. Pure black.” Kora placed a hand on her shoulder and stopped her. “That’s enough,” Sophie backed away and nodded too many times while staring through the Seekers. Suddenly, her body collapsed and smashed against the wooden floorboards, blood leaking from her scalp. Orion rushed forward while the others momentarily froze. Realising this was the perfect opportunity, Kora smiled and cracked her fingers against Wes’s face, making him fall and clamber back. Rover growled and charged at her, before being sidestepped and tripped. “It’s a Korshi,” she said from above them. “It’ll suck your blood to regain energy, and you two are too slow to not get caught, let alone be any use,” They stood and righted themselves, embarrassed at failing but angry at her way of testing. “Or do you need more proof you’re too slow?” she asked. Wes didn’t move but Rover did. Kora strode forward and propelled her foot up. He crossed his arms in time but still staggered back, his eyes wide at her strength. “Stay here with Sophie. I’ll kill it with Jax,” Orion stood once Wes came to Sophie, and he walked past Rover who clutched his forearms with a downcast gaze. The pale Seeker nodded at the other two and followed Kora who had ran ahead. She wandered down the road, peeking down each sewer opening they came across. It was at the eighth one she stopped. “The Korshi must have felt safe in this city to assimilate so nearby,” It looked like any other sewer opening with metal bars and a lever lock beside. It smelled of shit and vomit and had green stains across it. Kora pushed the lever and pinned it in its hold. She grinned at Orion and pointed down. “In,” Shit.  

The road was bumpy and unregulated, but the journey to Lesan was beautiful nonetheless. The verdant hills rocked hair made of ebony bark and emerald crowns. The sun lent its light to the lands, but the forest refused, the canopies contouring domes of shade. Countless animals thronged the forests and made silence a vain hope, chitters and calls enriching the breeze. The air was cool and scented with acorns, berries, and mud. Orion and Kora sat by the edges of a caravan, watching trees flicker past. Seekers received favourable treatment for the daily perils they undertook since the public knew of the forlorn reality they’d be living without these sacrifices. For this reason, and as unpaid protection, the merchant Zerabeil had invited them to travel the journey for no cost. There were three carriages: a smaller but cosier one at the front, followed by a larger one, and a wagon. They sat on the first carriage, used by Zerabeil to rest his throbbing feet and parch his tongue. He held his wares in the second one, locked for safety, although still not safe from bandits. That risk was countered by the band of ten mercenaries, four in the wagon and six on foot. “Hey, you know I never said this but twinsies,” Kora said cheerfully, pointing at her maroon cloak and at Orion’s maroon bag. Orion dug his face into his hands and hid from her. He didn’t know where she got the surplus of energy to annoy him in every waking hour, but he very much wished it death and destruction. “Where’d did you buy it?” she asked, looking past the fact he had turtled in. “Where d'you get yours?” Orion said, his voice muffled and unclear. “Well, since you insist, I’ll tell you,” She went on to tell him her journey from her village to Visgamar, fitted with three bears, a lone prince, and a fearsome dragon. Everyone had different takes to boredom, but Orion did not like Kora’s take one bit as it meant he was constantly wondering what was true about her and what was bullshit. He wanted to tear hair out of his scalp when he realised she knew what he wanted and so was purposely making lies. The first day on the road passed like this, his torture only ending when night washed over. On the second day, she named him many of the plants and animals in the forest, much to his surprise. She seemed to care little of her claimed alias as she pointed out plants with names no outward villager would know. Of course, Orion knew most of what she talked about, but he didn’t reveal that, instead trying to reinforce her image of him. On the third day, Orion hung out with the mercenaries. Kora followed. Minutes later, she dominated the conversations. They liked her, and their laughter grew irksome to Orion, who still tried to understand the two-faced monster he had grouped with. On the other hand, he was happy as Kora’s new companionship meant he could sit in peace and quiet. On the fourth day, Kora’s true self leaked out to the mercenaries. They left to scout whenever she started talking and the unlucky who drew the short straws stayed with the carriage-train. Even then, they blankly nodded and smiled to Kora, insidiously asking questions about Orion, reigniting her interest. On the fifth day, she was back and he internally wept. A little externally as well. It wasn’t so much that she talked without stop, rather the fact she saw conversations as battles she had to win. Moreover, it was impossible to beat her once she started ignoring the rules. She baited him with tidbits about Korshis before smacking him in the face with thoughts on Gods, berry colours, and the obesity of the merchant Zerabeil. Orion found the last topic funny, which he hated himself for, as it gave her more ground to play in. On the sixth day, a few hours from Lesan, disaster struck. A mercenary hurtled through shrubbery, hit the first carriage and stumbled down. “Hunt, what’s it?” another mercenary asked, rushing to help him up. “Ollie, he’s dead. Struck in the head. They’re coming, bandits,” he said while wiping wet hair from his forehead, his voice quivering. The heavy downpour couldn’t wash away the fear and trepidation that spread from carriage to carriage. Zerabeil’s jowls jiggled as his eyes darted from mercenary to Seeker. The mercenaries armed themselves and spread - the bandit group was apparently of similar size so there was no way they’d let Ollie’s death go unpaid. In the distance, Orion could hear neighing. He was unsheathing his shortsword when a hand caught his wrist. Kora looked at him, then at Zerabeil’s horses - the intention was clear. Bitterness grew in his mouth and he spat, thick phlegm lost in the rain. He shook his head. “Fine, but you owe me,” she said. He had no idea why he owed her, but he ignored it and ran, catching the cliffside with one hand and pulling himself up. The carriages were in a short valley so he was certain the bandits would take the high-ground, before needling them with clear shots. So, he would surprise them before they got that chance. He heard sounds to his left and turned, only to see Kora climbing with similar ease. While he hadn’t been a great fighter compared to other Zakari, he had been good at parkour and agile on his feet. Moreover, the rock-holds were now wet and hard to scale. But despite all of this, Kora reached the clifftop alongside him. Wiping his dirty hands, he gripped his sword and scampered to a nearby bush. His heart thundered in his ears as he crouched – he was going to kill someone. He had hurt people before, but never ended lives. Shouts sounded from the valley, raucous roars from men who had spent too long in the wild. Then, the clangs of swords echoed. He could almost see the sparks, blood, and fear from below. Someone ran past Orion, in fact, three people. They brought out crude bows and aimed into the gloom below. He breathed in and steeled himself: this was it. He shot through the distance, the wet slaps of his feet announcing him. He grasped his sword high, then cleaved down, biting flesh from an archer’s back. The archer gasped and fell forward, diving through the valley. Orion then twisted and lifted his sword to block another bandit’s blow, only to see something different. The sword in the bandit’s hand fell slack, his eyes wide and mouth gaping, a glint rupturing through his stomach. Orion’s eyes met Kora’s from behind the bandit, another corpse leaking blood into water beside her. He thought he had been on his adrenaline rush but now he knew better. His vision cleared and everything grew brighter, the scene burning itself into his memory, Kora’s abyssal eyes syphoning his soul. He gulped and looked away, before coming back to reality and climbing down. Half-way down the cliffside, he jumped, curled his knees and landed on the balls of his feet. He used the momentum to lunge forward, using his blade to slash a shocked bandit before breaking his combat roll and wobbling to the side. The bandit clutched his cut and glared daggers at Orion, taking time he didn’t have as Orion pierced his eye. Orion glanced around and saw four bandits left, two mercenaries, and no merchants. The number dwindled to three bandits as Kora popped a head. Another bandit staggered in fear of the maroon-cloaked demoness and felt a sudden blaze in his ribs. The mercenary that cut him booted his balls and finished the job. The two remaining bandits tripped their mercenary to the side and rushed Orion, hoping to catch him off guard - they failed. Orion pulled his sword up and caught the first bandit’s blow mid-air. He stepped back and let the bandit swing down, in which time he flourished his sword as if to attack, sidestepped, then stabbed the second bandit. The first bandit recovered and clashed with Orion, once, twice. He was too slow on his third defence and got nicked, then angled his swing wrong. His head rolled off. Thud.  

With Thimble at their lead, the trio zipped through the Slums. He steered away from the pathways which burnt their noses and eventually came to a castle-like ruin next to a river that ran through Visgamar. Looking closer, Orion realised it was actually a collection of decrepit houses built upon each other, giving the image of a fortress. “There’s someone running there,” Kora said, pointing towards a clump of trees and bushes. Orion strained his ears but couldn’t hear anything. Though, he did catch sight of a shadow rushing into the concrete fortress once he peered in the direction. “Na worries, that’s just a runnar,” Thimble said while casually waving his hand, “He keeps watch in case someone attacks,” “Right,” Orion nodded with a frown. The relaxed way Thimble spoke brought new light to Orion’s horizon. He couldn’t even imagine himself acting so calm about an attack, let alone imagine the lifestyle that led to it. They passed by the first house and entered the den. There were few people by the outskirts of the den, and they mostly resigned to watching the trio, forgetting any confrontational thoughts once they realised it was Thimble leading them. But, as they entered the heart, the Seekers saw a large band of people sitting around in a garden decorated by rubble. Orion recognised Nanlong in the crowd, his large frame hard to miss; Thimble had introduced him to the murderous mercenary leader during his tour. But, other than him, the rest of the ragged cutthroats were strangers. The boss of this group was a brown-haired, bearded man sitting with one knee up and eyes glaring at the newcomers. He looked like Thimble, minus the maroon hair and the two large scars on his face and plus some years of hardship. “Thimble, yer useless shit. Instead of wasting around, how about yer whore out like yor sisters and earn us some monies?” the brown-haired man shouted. His comments were met with laughter, the tense type you do when you’re under too much pressure to truly let loose. “Na, Ginger. Listen,” Thimble said as he gestured to the Seekers to wait. He left with Ginger (the brown-haired man) and came back a few moments later. “Haha, forget my rude comments. My bro’s told me yor strong, ain’t it?” Ginger said as he took his place. He scrutinised the Seekers for a few seconds, watching their posture and actions. “An’ he’s told me yer wanna meet Rats, is that right?” Silence washed over the gang. Orion frowned. He doubted Thimble had told Ginger he was a Seeker or a Mage, purely due to how frightened he was, but there was still a chance. “Yeah, we can pay you in gold for it,” he replied. “Hahaha, talking about gold in front of us, the Sticky Fingers, are yer mad or summin?” Another tense laughter followed Ginger’s taunt. Shit. “It’s fine, we’re strong,” Kora replied. Another set of laughter, this time mocking. “Fine, fine. Since my bro didn’t beat around the bush, I’ll come clean. We need fighters, and we need them tonight. If yers can help us against the Saltrocks, then I’ll let yer join me,” Orion thought on it. It seemed the only other ways into Rats’s pavilion was through another gang leader, which would add more uncertainty and risk, or by sneaking in, which would be impossible considering Rats’s guards were thieves and robbers. “Fi—” “Wait there, Ginger. You’re telling me you believe these kids are strong?” Nanlong called out with a curl to his lips. Orion looked back to Ginger and saw he was calm despite the interruption. So, he had either been waiting for Nanlong to say this, or they were good enough friends to not care about such trivial matters. “Go on, Fister. Teach them a lesson,” Nanlong finished, pushing forward a man who was a mix of muscle and fat. Fister’s eyes gleamed and he brushed his pudgy hand through his mohawk, springing it up. “If you say so, boss,” Kora placed a hand on Orion’s shoulder and nodded. She pulled her cowl lower and strode to Fister. The mohawked man sneered at her slight figure and sped up into a charge, his hands stretched out to tackle her. But instead of flustering, Kora kicked, or better said, sliced through the air. Fister expected this and spun in time, actually, a bit too late as his feet left the ground and his body was sent flying, hitting the ground a metre away. He did not get back up. “Ahh, strong and pretty. They’re a good sort,” Nanlong said. Kora frowned in his direction while the other mercenaries peered into her cowl, trying to get a glimpse. The large mercenary leader clearly had eagle eyes. “Good good, let’s get you up to speed then, specially yer, Thimble,” Ginger said. “What?” “The ship’s not coming in a few days. It’s coming today an’ they were tryna hide that, just got it snitched to me,” Ginger paused and rubbed his brown beard. “Like, I ain’t no idiot, clearly they got the word we’re attacking and this is a trap to kill us, but this is also our chance.” Ginger turned to the Seekers. “Despite Rats’s street-cred, you still wanna meet him, an’ there’s a million reasons why you would wanna. I don’t wanna hear the sob story tho, just help us sink the Saltrock’s ship an’ you can come with me,” It was then a new group of men entered the ruins. Orion recognised one of them: Skitters, another man Thimble had briefly introduced him to, the one with a lot of lockpicks and masks in his home. “Ai, Ginger. The ships coming to the Drowner’s. Checked a few homes around the dock, ain’t found anyone, yet,” Skitters said, brushing his hand through his wavy hair. “No one? Yer sure?” “Ya, unless they got a Mage or summin, I ain’t sure how they could ambush us,” No one spoke, no one moved, no one breathed. Orion realised it wasn’t just Thimble who feared Mages, but instead all of them. “Don’t even joke about that,” Ginger said. “Fuck, let’s just go an’ get in place.” It had been six hours since they had entered Ginger’s den, and three since they had gone into hiding by the Drowner’s docks. Ginger and his thugs, including Thimble, had scattered across the buildings, awaiting nightfall when the ship was said to arrive. Nanlong and his mercenaries had hidden close to the docks; they were the best equipped and would take the vanguard in the fight. As for the Seekers, they were in an abandoned storage room with Skitters, alike to the one Orion had first woken up in but with a tunnel. They were told to follow Skitters as he sneaked onto the ship and dumped the flares overboard, then to protect him afterwards. As if to lure them to go down the decks and murder, Ginger had said any treasure they took was theirs to keep Night had arrived sometime before, and the trio now waited for the ship to arrive. Orion had a bad feeling about the ambush, after all, Ginger had trusted them too easily, he had given them too important of a job, and now Orion had to kill people getting on with their lives. He knew whatever ploys both sides had planned would come into play once the ship arrived, and as if by magic, a loud horn blared out from one of the houses far away. The ship was here…

Orion looked down the remaining height and jumped, landing with a thump; his entry was masked by a chorus of groans. The stifling stench dug into his nose, the smell of faeces almost palpable. There was only one point of light, it being a thumb-sized glubber’s wax candle in a lantern. Made visible by the dim light was a row of jails which filled the room. Covering his nose, he stepped to the closest one and peered through the metal grid. Cooped inside were seven, no, eight slaves, their limbs scraggy and skin discoloured. They looked emaciated as if they were standing on death’s door. Beside them were a broken bench and a bucket filled with shit. Anger and pity equally flared up inside Orion– it was the sailors he had been reluctant to kill who had done this! Gritting his teeth, he searched for the keys, and when he didn’t find them, he used his sword’s hilt to whack open the locks. Once, twice, and it came loose, clattering to the ground. He opened the gate and looked in, only to see the near-dead people finally move. They scrambled back, or at least the few who could did, while the rest began to moan louder. “It’s fine, they’re dead. Get out of here,” Orion said. He was lost for words when none of them moved. “Get out,” he roared, finally urging a reaction. The able few stood but waited. Realising how frightened they must be, the Seeker picked up the lantern and moved over to repeat the process. The number of bruises, cuts, shit-crusted skin, and haggard eyes he saw soon calloused his mind and transformed his anger. Gone was the flaming tempest ready to kill and here was the cold monster ready to do something much worse to the sailors. None of the slaves uttered thanks but he didn’t even consider them doing so, after all, the fearful looks they gave him verbalised their thoughts – another sick sailor playing a cruel joke. And how could he blame them when the only people who came down here were their slavers. But despite their well-groomed scepticism, the second he moved from their gate, the slaves stumbled out and pulled themselves up the ladder. Having broken six locks and freed 40-something slaves, Orion reached the last jail. Inside, he was surprised to see a single man. Breaking the lock, the Seeker stepped in and raised his lantern. The unconscious man was just as shrivelled, if not more, than the others. Orion had wondered why the Mage had been on this ship, especially considering how she seemed to hate it. And this man answered the question, more specifically, his skin did. It was etched with burns and crude cuts, as well as some pain-inducing runes. The reason for his torture became clear to Orion. The man’s visible skin was dark brown, almost black, even darker than a Metole’s skin. And opening his eyelids, Orion saw dull-red irises. He wasn’t from the Empire, so where was he from? The only uncivilised people Orion knew of were the tribes to the west of his ruined house, but they had golden hair and sapphire-blue eyes, and the horsemen south of the House of Metole, but their faces were hawk-like and their skin and eyes were caramel-brown. Finding no leads or hints from his mind, Orion decided to leave it until the man was better. He used Giah to whiten his eyes, then sucked the energy out of the runes, the work of a novice - no wonder the Mage had been an easy foe, she had been a runewright! Once done, the man’s breath slowed but otherwise showed no signs of waking. Orion tapped him, shook him, shook him some more, then slapped him. This worked as the man stirred, gasping with widened eyes, the red and black moons rapidly scanning the room. Seconds later, the man’s face steeled and the emotion drained out. “Are you ok?” Orion asked. No reply. “Can you understand me?” No reply. Giving up, the Seeker stepped out of the jail and gestured for the man to follow. The dark-skinned man faintly smirked, then studied Orion’s figure, especially his hips. The Seeker figured the foreigner was checking if he was a Mage, which he was, but not that the man would know though. Satisfied, or at least happier than otherwise with what he saw, the man pushed off the wooden wall and fell face first into his own waste. Realising the man had no hope of getting up, Orion picked up the weightless body and carried him, checking the remaining slaves on the way out. Nine of them were dead so Orion could only save an additional young woman. Walking with the two bodies over his shoulder, he passed by the kitchen and pantry and saw both completely ransacked. Curiously, the Mage’s room was in a similar state. He carried on and eventually stepped up the stairs, coming to the lit-up deck. He saw Kora supporting Skitters, who had his arm around her shoulder. He saw the freed slaves herded into a group by Nanlong’s mercenaries. And he saw Ginger rapidly commanding the Sticky Fingers around. “There yer are,” he shouted as he noticed Orion. “A few of the Saltrocks escaped. Their bastard friends gonna be ‘ere soon,” Then, Orion saw a few Sticky Fingers, including Thimble, rolling barrels onto the ship. “Alright, everyone off the ship now,” Ginger roared. “Boys, take them barrels down and break them. Quick!” While the crowd went onto dry ground, the Sticky Fingers rolled more and more barrels up the ramp and down the deck. About ten minutes later, they joined the others, standing with a few molotovs in their sweaty palms. A few hurls passed before one hit the trail of oil leading down. “Everyone run, including yer slaves. Anyone who can’t dies ‘ere,” Ginger said. Orion was shocked when the slaves, as weak as they looked and as slow as they had been, suddenly found a spurt of speed, maybe from realising this chance at freedom was genuine, maybe their final spurt. It was amid his sprint he turned to glance at the roaring flames. It looked the same as when he had ran away from his House, the plumes of rancid smoke exploding from the inferno. Spoiler Magic: Some people in the world can use magic - they usually train under schools of magic to become mages. Magic spells are not fueled by mana but instead the person's own body, similar to how our bodies burn fat to release energy during exercise. This is why most mages are fat because otherwise they wouldn't be able to use more grand spells.  These mages can improve the efficiency of energy transfer from body to spells through practice, but no matter how skilled they are, their body will still be the energy source. Giah: This is a process special humans and most monsters can use. These humans are nearly all exclusively part of one of the four Houses, so Zakari, Piros, Metole, or Fullhorn (Cruorem). Giah allows them to use the world around them, their surroundings, as the fuel source for spells instead of their own bodies. You can also use Giah to fuel other activities, such as running, fighting, and such. Giah also lightens your iris and pupil, making your eyes look white/pale.    Giah is what put the four Houses at the top of human civilisation, after all, what can stop mages who have nearly unlimited fuel source apart from other mages with nearly unlimited fuel sources. Houses: The four families (now three) that control the Empire. They each held control over different parts of the Empire. Zakari on the west, keeping the tribes out of the Empire. Metole to the south, keeping the Horsemen out of the Empire. Piros in the centre, around the capital of the city, and Fullhorn between Piros and Zakari.  Anything with Imperial in its name, such as the Imperial Guard, is basically owned by the Piros. The Piros are above the other Houses. Each of the 4 houses has different magic sets. This is the trade-off they made for Giah as it restricts them to one magic set, apart from a few minor ones. Normal mages can learn any type of magic, but cannot use Giah. Szu: This is the Zakari's skillset. They can produce ice from their right hands and emit force out of the left.  World: Empire in the centre. Tribes to the west of it. Horsemen to the south of it. Arctic wastelands to the north of it. An expanse of sea to the east of it. Zakari marking: They mark any people living in the grounds under their control. Their left hands emit force, so they just emit enough force on people's face to create crack-like scars. They say it's to protect the people from the tribes, the rest of the Empire says the Zakari just like to brand their people like cattle. This is why Kora thought Orion wasn't a Zakari at first, since she thought them far too prideful to get marked and live on. In her eyes, it's like he got branded as cattle by his own family. [collapse]

“Can you not bait it out?” Orion asked. “You’re a bit of a dim one, aren’t you? Unless you’ve got tens of gold coins and a week of time, it’s impossible to bait out a Korshi so near the end of its transformation.” He peered into the dingy hole and gulped. Had he really sunk so low in three months? “Can we at least not get nose-plugs or something?” he tried. “In!” Tightening his nose, he gripped onto the railing and climbed down. The stench was atrocious; it reeked of shit, of piss, of rotten fish, and rotten eggs. And these were only the severely offensive ones, not forgetting the countless odours that nuanced the smell. They hit the ground sometime later. Before anything else, he stumbled to the static liquid flowing through the middle and retched his vomit into the putrid mix. Oddly, he felt better because the stench no longer held his stomach in ransom, but also worse because his stomach had escaped by getting shot. Kora wasn’t as deeply affected, instead leaning on the wall with gloved hands. Soon, she regained her bearings. “Come on, kiddo, we’ve got a vampire to hunt. The blood is strong here,” “What? How can you smell anything past the Korshi’s shit?” he said while rising. She walked past him into the unlit gloom as if she knew where she was going, as if she could somehow smell the Korshi in this stench. He didn’t care how and spent no time thinking about it, instead, trudging after her. A mountainous hike seasoned with rats later, she stopped and began kicking at faeces. Or maybe not faeces. Where they stood, the sewer walls seemed to be plastered with grime, but he knew better. The smell of blood was distinctive. She spun and faced him. “It’s here,” Their front was dimly lit by coppery-green beams. The sewage lake drew into a waterfall, a large brick wall hiding what followed. He would be able to see the rest of the stream if he dived past the wall, but he wasn’t curious. Unlike an actual waterfall, there were no sounds of rushing and crashing water, instead, wet slops that churned his empty stomach. Suddenly, a groan bounced off the walls. Orion wasn’t scared: if worse came to worst, he could still use Szu and live, although Kora would then have to die - a thought that stung his heart. Nonetheless, the echo made him tense. Out of character, he put his hand across her back. “We’ll be fine, easy kill,” “Get your shit-stains off my cloak,” she grumbled back. Tough love. Now, with the foul backdrop, he understood why she enjoyed poking him so much. He pushed her forward and stepped around the corner. When the sewers had first been built, there had been large hatches to enter it. But, over time, Lesan had learnt big entrances allowed monsters easy access in and out, so they bolted the hatches and dug smaller openings across the city. A disused stone hatch lay over the Korshi, its countless stains the monster’s stars at night. The monster stood on a few metres long by a few metres wide concrete platform. There were tough weeds growing through the hatch, dropping sickly green hair onto the Korshi. The Korshi itself looked like a naked, dishevelled man. It had a large nose and thin eyes, long brown strands filing the weeds. It was emaciated and had sallow skin. Around it lay blood stains and flesh, a lot of flesh. Despite this, it grinned, showing crooked, but otherwise normal, teeth. “Human, you why here?” Its voice was high-pitched like a woman’s screech and punctuated by squeaks. It clearly hadn’t completed its assimilation. “Human, why…” it paused, searching its victims’ minds for the right words, “… with her?” Orion gripped his sword and took a defensive stance. He knew Korshis were fast, but he didn’t know how fast. So, he’d let it teach him its flow before ripping it several new ones. However, unlike him, Kora strode forward, her sword still by her waist. “Why… higher…” the Korshi said. Kora shushed it loudly before beckoning it closer. It obeyed…  Orion knew she was well-read on many things, more so than him on monsters, so the naivety she now showed gave him the shivers. “Kora, it’s dangerous. Don’t be fooled,” he warned, his voice quivering. Did she know something he didn’t? Or was his … next Seeker about to die as well? The monster now stood two metres away, warily eyeing her, before taking another step. “Did m—” Kora swiftly flicked her sword out and slashed up. The Korshi leapt back with inordinate force but not before her blade gashed its shoulder, causing its arm to be bent across its chest. Its wound spurt blood and its mouth fizzled spit as it landed metres away. “YOU… YOU!” She didn’t allow it anymore words as she chased, her sword sweeping low. The Korshi growled and bones ripped out of its skin, the dim light exhibiting a massive human-hound mutant. Its teeth grew finger-long and claws extended from underneath the nails. Black ovals replaced its eyes. Due to Kora’s strike, it crouched on three limbs instead of four but even that seemed of no effect to its speed as it exploded from its spot, sprinting to the sides. The Korshi pushed off the walls and leapt at Orion, its maw gaping and its tongue lusting blood. It seemed to have deemed him the easier target, the fuel-box for it to refill its energy. In the face of danger, Orion sneered at this thought: a Zakari, an easy target? He sidestepped and stuck his sword point into the Vampire’s path. Realising speed was no longer its ally, the Korshi used its remaining front limb to claw at the ground and alter its path. Despite its escape, it still lunged its foot at Orion as it went past, its claws ripping fabric. Shocked by the sharpness, he hopped back and stood with Kora. Not for long, though, as she hounded after the monster, her cowl flinging off to reveal caramel-brown hair and glimmering eyes. She was… excited? The Korshi’s black ovals regarded her and saw the same thing. It grew desperate - it growled, and its inky eyes lightened. Orion, with his back to the stone hatch, saw blood rise from the half-eaten flesh around him. They sharpened like needles and began to quiver. Kora glanced back as she ran and then stopped. She turned and cast her palm against monster: blood flooded out of its gash and circled its waist. The Korshi screamed in anguish, knowing its demise. But it still didn’t give up, instead, grasping onto its sanity as more blood-needles rose around Orion. Click. The blood-needles shot out, dotting him with holes. Click. The blood-saw contracted and sliced the Korshi’s waist, its legs standing for a moment longer as the torso toppled onto concrete. Kora looked back in dismay. Her eyes were pale. Orion stood with an ice-shell covering him. It was cracked and full of holes. His eyes were pale.

Spoiler Someone asked me on Webnovel(where I also post) about the confusing magic names. Sorry, I had completly forgot about explaining it  Szu is the actual magic Orion knows. It's the one the House of Zakari is famed for. It consists of ice from his right hand and crack propagation from his left. Giah is the process all the Houses and monsters can use. It lightens your eyes and enables you to use magic with the environment's energy instead of your own.  [collapse] Orion and Kora saw Lesan in the distance, past the gold-hued haze. They trotted along a trailing river, their thighs weary from hours of riding. The ambush had left two mercenaries and two Seekers breathing. Zerabeil had been one of the first to fall, his defenceless bulky body an easy target. On the other hand, the mercenaries had been overcome by the bandits’ numbers, at least before Orion and Kora had ended the battle. Following this, Kora had tended to the living’s injuries, then the two Seekers had raided Zerabeil’s merchandise, taking dry rations, a few bottles of fancy wine, and five gold coins each. He had been a merchant in fine wines and grains meaning they couldn’t take most of his wares without burdening their bags. Then, they had mounted two of his three horses and left the mercenaries. While Orion had wanted to walk with them, they had assured him they would be a-ok, most likely to loot the rest of Zerabeil’s stock, and Kora had pressured him to shut up and follow her. The remaining passage to Lesan had been cold and dull. Kora had piped down, leaving Orion with souvenirs of the fight: haunting memories and frightful thoughts. He had killed, she had killed, she had scared, he had bested and murdered foes, wretched men, humans. His shortsword had been light, as always, but the price of his swings had been heavy - crushed memories and dreams. Fates. It reminded him of his mother in the tunnel, but more of her slayers: he was now of a similar breed to them. Kora saw his grief-stricken state but didn’t offer any words to comfort. Perhaps she knew the power of time because as hours passed, despite his thoughts being the same, their bites numbed and fractured. Now, he stared at Lesan empty of feeling. The river beside them joined the sea a bit ahead before circling the city like a moat. Sturdy stone-laden bridges connected the lands, making Lesan look like a docked ship, ready to sail any moment. They arrived at a bridge and dismounted, urging the horses towards the waiting guards. “Hea, stand heyre,” a brunet guard said while inspecting the two. “A gold for yous toll fee,” “You can have these horses,” Kora said. While the horses weren’t textbook pictures of health or strength, they were still worth the amount. “Sures, I’ll take ‘em. But, also the gold. We need to eat,” the guard replied. He wore a dented cuirass, cloth trousers and underclothes, and gripped a halberd. His fellow guards wore mismatched clothing, their image between that of guards and gangsters. “We’re Seekers,” she said. Orion stared past the men, his passions drained. “Oh, are yous? Well, where’s the proof?” the guard said. His mates closed in on Kora. Her hand flickered out of sight and viscously backhanded the brunet guard, throwing him off balance and onto his arse. His halberd clattered beside him. He wiped blood off his cheek and stood, his fists clenched. “The gall to strike Lesan’s guards. Yous done for,” he roared while shooting spittle. His friends ambiguously stood back, giving him space for a bloody beatdown but also getting out of Kora’s range. “And the audacity you have to charge such a toll,” she replied, unsheathing her sword. “My patience has worn out,” The guard took a double take, then stepped back after seeing Kora rise above his intimidation. She was clearly a Seeker, or at the very least someone he couldn’t handle. “F-fine. I’ll allow the horses this once,” he said, his shame hidden under his sunburned skin. Unamused, Kora frowned and walked past, Orion following. They passed the city’s gate with little trouble and soon hopped on a boat. For a few coppers, they were punted to the Seeker’s building. The water was sky-blue with splotches of lime-green. Sunlight glared off it and lit up the muck plastered across the canals. The buildings above were brightly painted, and trees of all types peppered the gaps. Constantly swapping, the smells of the water altered from pleasant to foul as they passed by sewer gates – while the sewage travelled through tunnels under the city, the frequent openings liberated the odour and tormented the locals. By the time they arrived, Orion had woken from his daze due to the spices thrown at his senses. They paid their fare and headed towards an unassuming building. After knocking, a portly man with a curled ginger moustache opened the door, before scrutinising them. “Seekers or wannabes?” he asked, his open mouth releasing swamp-breath. Kora squeezed her nose and leaned back. “We’re here to investigate the mysterious spree of murders,” The man’s eyes lit up. He stepped aside and beckoned them in. Stained sheets filled the squat room, the sides lined with books. They looked around the room while the man went to the kitchen, eventually coming back with two cups of sewage water, curiously accompanied by the aroma of roasted beans. “Coffee for you two. An import from the south, gives you energy,” the man said. “By the way, my names Aaron,” “Kora, and Jax,” Kora said, before picking up the coffee and sipping at it. She smiled and nodded. Apeing her actions, Orion drank the coffee, before spitting it out onto the table. It was horribly bitter, and the heat scalded his tongue. He was now fully awake and stared at the other two with scrunched up eyebrows, eyeing them with disgust and shock. “Keep drinking it, lad. It’s an acquired taste,” Aaron said while handing Orion a towel. He glanced around and continued. “I know what you two are thinking - why the hells a Seeker’s building so small?” Kora nodded, taking down her cloak’s cowl, while Orion progressed to round two with his coffee, before swiftly being knocked out again. “Well, it’s what happens when a new place emerges with poor idiots as the people. Whenever they got a monster problem, they hire the gangs to sort it out, always leading to unnecessary deaths, though maybe for the good. It means I rarely get contracts. The ones I do get, like your one, are issued by the council once they realise they’re hopeless at this business,” Aaron said. “But that’s off the topic. I’m sure you wanna know more of your contract,” he continued. “Well, they gave me a list of nasty deaths they couldn’t solve. I connected the ones you know of, although there may be more, and it’s gotta be a Korshi. I recommend you start at the first scene, like the two before you did,” Kora questioned Aaron about the details surrounding the case while Orion built his army and waged campaigns against the coffee, whittling it down until he bested it on the field. By this point, his body was filled with energy and his tongue was seared beyond use. They left Aaron and used another taxi to get to the first scene, where a woman had been found without her stomach and organs but with a shattered ribcage. It was a dingy alleyway with stairs into the murky canal. There was rubbish packed around and any blood she had shed was now mixed with the city’s filth. Kora knelt and inspected the area while Orion stood behind, confused at what he could do. “Hey,” came a shout from in front. Two figures walked around the corner, both armed to the teeth.

The winds puffed across the dry plains, swaying weeds and grass. It tugged at Orion’s clothes and at the figure’s cloak. The two parties were fifty metres apart, and the figure seemed disinterested in circling him and walking past. Hoping for reason to avail, Orion tried again. “Please, let’s not devolve to violence like monsters,” His body ached, and he doubted his ability to carry Flynn to Visgamar after a fight unless he got lucky. The figure was now thirty metres away and edging closer. They were near enough for Orion to peek through the cowl. “You’re a woman,” he exclaimed. “It’s dangerous on the road if bandits catch you. Since we’re heading the same way, why don’t we group up for safety?” “I’m about to mow down two bandits right now,” she answered, her tone grave. Considering their combat clothes and their bloody and ragged appearance, Orion knew it wasn’t much of a stretch to assume them bandits. But still, he had been carrying Flynn, who was severely injured, meaning they obviously weren’t going to rob anyone anytime soon. So what kind of conceited bitch was she to execute them for such a fanciful assumption. “We’re not bandits,” Orion said, before bitterly laughing. “We’re Seekers come from a hunt,” “Seekers?” she said surprised. “Like monster hunter Seekers?” “The very same,” he answered. While keeping his eye on her, he opened Flynn’s bag and pulled out the Rockskin’s head. “Oh,” she said disappointed. Orion didn’t know whether she was disappointed with their kill, or over the fact she couldn’t slaughter them over a false assumption. She awkwardly stood in silence, lacking the words to explain her thoughts. “Are of you of Fexa’s faith?” he repeated, guessing she was a religious fanatic. “Yeah,” she mumbled. She walked forwards as she said, “Since you’re Seekers, do you know how I can become one?” “Yep. We’re heading to the Seeker’s building right now if you want to join,” She nodded as she stepped in front of him. He sheathed his shortsword while maintaining sight, before realising he’d be defenceless next to a crazy person if he picked up Flynn again. Contrarily, she was nonchalant at his presence as she stood with her back to Orion, inspecting Flynn. “Did you do this?” she asked while picking at the bandages. “Yeah,” he answered while creeping to Flynn, tense over her calmness. She chuckled and ripped them off. “You’re terrible. He would’ve died in a few hours, regardless of your intentions,” Opening her backpack, she took out a flask and a small knife. She cleaned away the pus that had bloomed under the bandages and spread concentrated alcohol over the wound that covered half of Flynn’s abs. He gasped but didn’t wake. Then, she held the knife over his stomach. Orion crouched around the other side and watched her method. He hadn’t considered the pus build-up due to the tension at Marshall’s Keep, and the alcohol they had bought had been weak. Head-level with her, he glanced at her. She had glowing tanned skin and black eyes. She had caramel-brown hair and creamy-pink lips. Her maroon cloak hid the rest of her figure but Orion could tell she was pretty. She caught his stare, but he didn’t look away. Instead, he tried to figure her intentions, after all, he doubted she was as volatile as she seemed. Or at least he hoped. He only looked away when he realised the knife was magically reddening. Without hesitation, she pressed the knife against the wound, causing Flynn to scream. “Hold him down,” she said, clearly comfortable commanding a stranger. Over the following minutes, Flynn’s screams sounded across the plains as she cauterised his wound, only stopping once it was closed off and bandaged. By this time, he had fainted again. “Alright, let’s go,” she said as she flung Flynn over her back and started walking. Her strength shocked Orion but he kept quiet, not wanting to provoke a reaction.   The trio walked through Visgamar’s gates and headed towards the Seeker’s building. Over the hours, Orion learnt her name was Kora, and that she was from a village west of Marshall’s Keep. She had dreamed of being a Seeker, and now that she was 20, she decided to risk her life and entertain her fantasy. To his own surprise, Orion actually believed it considering how reckless, naïve, and temperamental she was.  Flynn had woken an hour from Visgamar and had ended the trek on his own two feet after seven hours on Kora’s back. He profusely thanked the two and had remained level-headed for the rest of the journey, somewhat because his fling with death had shrivelled his craving but more so because Orion had dumped his nuts in the swamp.   “Oh, Whytie. Another friend, aren’t you a magnet,” Maya said as she scrutinised the Rockskin head. “And a quick shot, apparently. This is the real deal; here’s your reward,” she said as she gave out five gold coins to Flynn and five to Orion. “Put three in my account,” Orion said. Maya nodded, then winked. “Don’t worry, I thought of a naughty reward for your next contract,” Flynn ignored them, and gave two of his gold coins to Kora, who giggled over Maya’s teasing. “Your help is worth more, but I hope you’ll accept this,” She smiled in response, before asking Maya how to become a Seeker. A few minutes later, the three Seekers stood outside on Hexham’s road. “Remember, The Honeyed Spitroast tomorrow night. My treat,” Flynn said, before leaving. Kora waved at Orion and disappeared down the road, saying she wanted to look around the city. While he could have helped her, it was almost night and his limbs felt like lead hammers, crude and heavy, but more importantly, he felt uneasy about how easy she seemed around him. He headed to The Little Sip, the cheapest inn in Visgamar, and paid five coppers for a night and food. He washed his filthy clothes, bathed, ate, and slept like a baby. The next day, he woke late to the sounds of grunting in the opposite room and a foul smell from the streets. He looked through the window and saw the sun was high in sky, the fog over Visgamar a paper-thin mist. The duo in the next room, maybe trio, came to a climax so he got to dress in relative quiet. Picking up his items, he left his bare little room and entered the bustle of the city. He bought elbow-pads, knee-pads, and a large med-kit from the market for 8 silvers. Then, he ate a hearty lunch, and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the city. When the sky darkened, he arrived at The Honeyed Spitroast and waited by a table. The inn was much larger than The Little Sip, and there were burly bouncers guarding the entrances. Orion figured it was an inevitability with larger, grander establishments. In the middle of the hall spun a large boar, its skin golden-brown with a honeyed lustre. Orion could smell oregano, tomato, marcona almonds, chilli powder, cinnamon, walnuts, and roast pork wafting around him. It was while he was tuning into the orchestra in his nose that someone sat beside him. He looked over and saw Kora beaming at him. She wore her maroon cloak except over her head, and while she attracted a few glances, her simple type of beauty wasn’t enough for anyone to make a fuss about. He put on a smile and made small talk with her, asking about her tour of Visgamar. Half an hour passed and the two of them went to the counter, asking for Flynn’s room number. The owner swiftly directed them before rushing around the inn again. Outside Flynn’s door, they knocked and shouted. Kora then pushed Orion aside and turned the knob, opening the door. She stepped away and let Orion see. Inside, Flynn sat on the floorboards with his head collapsed over the bed. His hands were by his sides and there was Gajoi powder brushed on his clothes, but none on his face. There was a small pool of blood and saliva beside him, trailing from his nose and mouth. While Orion stood with his throat in his stomach, Kora put her fingers around Flynn’s wrist, then his neck. She shook her head a moment later.

He mourned, for this was the last time he would so for Eira. Even though it hurt him to know his family’s true nature, it wasn’t really new information as much as it was confirming his past suspicions. He had lived in the outside world for a year now and everything he heard pointed at the Zakaris being wild, power-hungry beasts. He had just been desensitised by being too close. Tightening his fists, Orion breathed out and let his chest fall, then walked away from Eira. He stopped at the edge of the barrier and touched it, his power breaking through the biting force of the ice. His head was cast low as he stepped through to the battlefield, not in despair but in thought. All this time, he had imagined killing his family’s enemy to be a distant goal but still one that would fill him to the brim with joy. Even when he had figured Eira, his own cousin, to be his enemy, he had still held the expectation, after all, she had to be a monster considering what she had done. And she was a monster, only so had been the men and women he had avenged, and thinking on it, so was he. He had started off by killing monsters but once he had transitioned to killing men, he had developed a taste for it. From Visgamar to the cold and stingy grounds he now stood on, he was sure he could be traced by the trail of bodies he left behind. Breaking into a macabre grin, he looked up and finally faced the chaos around him. Immediately, his eyes cast to Kora, who was running towards him. Her right arm was dangling lifelessly and her body looked pocked and diseased. Looking up from her, he noticed Caleb was in a far better condition, watching his daughter run to Orion with sharp eyes. Beside him stood Lucifer who held a hand over his stomach where Orion had gifted him cracked skin and broken bones. Lucifer’s eyes were more passive, those of grudging respect. Kora came to Orion and he welcomed her with a wide embrace, immediately feeling her fangs on his neck before he could even say a word. Regardless, he didn’t care about her impatience as his body overflowed with energy anyway. Deep down he was scared what he would do with the power Eira had graciously gifted him if it wasn’t reined back. Eyes searching the battlefield, Orion found Yhaoli. While Kora had been pockmarked, Yhaoli looked to be half-devoured as if the monster king had fought a beast so horrible it had an ungiving taste for Yhaoli’s flesh. And to the side of Yhaoli, that was exactly what Orion found: a bald beast with bright, dangerous eyes. Kasib coolly regarded him back, yet simultaneously seemed tense enough to pounce any second. Yhaoli’s towering figure, or at least what was left of it, was left standing, acting as a beacon on the battlefield. His eyes had dulled over with death and the rest of his body looked as if someone had just wrestled it out of the jaws of a starving hound. As Kora finished up, Orion pushed his eyes off Yhaoli and onto the battlefield around. He couldn’t see much due to the carnage and kicked up bloody mud surrounding him, but the sounds of war seemed muted to what they were before. In contrast, the smell of blood and death were stronger than ever, enveloping him, depriving him of air. Almost. For some reason, Orion felt a tingle through his heart instead of the suffocating pain he expected. “Let’s go,” he said to Kora, his desperation leaking through. She didn’t turn to Orion, instead to her father as they locked eyes. Eventually, with excruciating slowness, Caleb nodded but seemed a hundred years older right after, the decision ageing him to his core. She then stroked Orion’s shoulder with a familiar softness, setting him into motion as he strode across the battlefield, leaving behind his cousin’s grave. Not a single person there tried to stop him or Kora’s exit. Orion knew for certain Kasib would have liked to and questioned him after, and yet the bald hunter didn’t. Perhaps they can sense the power oozing out of me now, Orion thought. Or maybe it’s because they know why I’m rushing away now. Still, his VIP treatment ended as he entered the fray of the fighting where monsters and men didn’t care for his face or status. And they fell with passionless ease, crumpling up into bone-chilling forms as he passed. Either way, they both made it out of the battlefield eventually, seeking a vantage to look down upon the fighting. From here, Orion figured out the conclusion to the war. The Tribes were all but decimated at this point, and the monsters that had come to support them were far and few between. Still, it wasn’t as if the Imperial Army was better off. Orion could only spot small clusters of them now, and he was certain had it not been for the vampires’ entrance, the Imperial Army would have broken apart ages ago. As most wars tended to finish with, there were no winners here, only losers who would trudge back to their homes with haunting memories. Burning the scene into his mind, Orion smiled and turned, leaving for the horizon. ******* 6 months. It had been 6 months since the Great War, as it was now known. Due to it, the Tribes had lost their appetite for the Empire, at least momentarily, and the Empire had lost a third of its soldiers. In fact, more now as their southern defence against the Horsemen had been lacking and the vampire support there had done little to tip the scales. Nonetheless, it seemed the Horsemen were content for the moment as they enjoyed their doubling in territory, cutting deep into the Empire. But it was the east that mattered since no one had expected much from the Imperial Army and the weaker half of the Cruorems at the southern border anyway. It was the opposite in the east where it had been an Imperial Army and the entire Piros household, arguably the strongest House in the Empire, and definitely the flagbearers of the Empire. Everyone had expected a steamroller victory, one so definitive and crushing the foreigners would retreat with their tails far up their arses. Nope. Despite only, apparently, being the scouting force, the foreigners had come to a standstill with the Empire’s strongest. Orion had anticipated this after Joiroa had told him of Shrien’s strength, the leader of the foreigners, but it was another thing to actually realise it to be true. But it didn’t matter, or at least it wouldn’t soon enough. After the Great War, exaggerated tales of Orion’s influence and power had spread far quicker than he had anticipated. It seemed the returning soldiers had nothing to talk about but the next dreadful Zakari on the block. Regardless, as much as it pained him to admit to the common fearful man, he had to do just that as he came to terms with his own power. During her death, Eira hadn’t simply given him the energy to leave the battlefield, she had actually sapped the power out of her bones and transferred it to his. He was now stronger, alarmingly so, and he knew it was all according to her plan. Hell, for all he knew, this could just be an extended Zakari plan, one where he would magically revive them back to life at the end. Maybe the power he had been given by her were small sections his family had passed onto her. Either way, he wouldn’t let them succeed. As much as he had once loved his family, considering the Empire was now crumbling to death and despair, he doubted the last thing it needed was the revival of a power-hungry family. In truth, he didn’t care too much for the Empire. It was instead his unfortunate familiarity with death and despair that made his feelings to his family turn. No, as far as he was concerned, the world was done with the Zakari line and he would be doing his darn best to keep it that way. From what Eira had said, it seemed she had transported all the younger Zakaris far from their House and into distant cities. If any of them emerged into the world with dreadful power, he wouldn’t stop them. But for the legends of the past who now lay in the ground, they would have to continue doing so and forget any dreams of revival. And for this to happen, Orion had a plan, one he was sure Eira hadn’t thought through, or at least believed he wouldn’t commit to. But he would after this last necessary evil, because while it went against his urges, deep down, it was far better than the alternative. “Orion?” Joiroa suddenly asked, intruding on Orion’s thoughts. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Orion replied, breaking out of his daze. “But you’re sure?” “Yes, this is where they gather. Look at the light and fire and life,” Joiroa replied. “No.” Orion said, “You’re sure you want to do this? It’s technically a betrayal, right?” Joiroa released a low guttural laugh, more beast than man, especially one so refined and aged as Joiroa was. “They betrayed me first. Besides, I don’t…” he stopped. “I don’t want to see what will happen otherwise. It is too dreadful, too base, too inhumane,” Orion nodded at the aged foreigner before turning to Kora who kept a watch for both of them. “We alright?” he casually said. “Yeah, but we’ve got visitors. I think the Piros are also launching an attack now, and from the patterns the torches are following, I think the foreigners are expecting them. Don’t get me wrong, they’ll all be there but this is an ambush,” she said slowly. Orion shrugged. “All the better to deal with them in one strike,”

Orion staggered into the room and knelt. Flynn’s eyes were half-open and his chest was still - he had been dead for a few hours. His mouth open, Orion looked at Kora and saw her staring at him, her eyes tinged with worry. Why was she looking at him like that? He put his hand over his face and felt his fingers dampen: he was crying… He shook his head. “I’m alright,” She placed a hand on his shoulder before walking out. “I’ll tell the innkeeper,” Orion got up and followed her. “No, I’ll come with,” They went downstairs and found the innkeeper. His face was tinted red and glimmering with sweat. Kora got his attention and beckoned him. “Um, our friend, the one in the 12th room, overdosed and died,” The innkeeper’s face paled. “Flynn? No, surely not.” He looked at the floorboards and rubbed his forehead. “Look, I’m busy so if you clean out his room, you can have whatever he’s left,” he said, before bowing his head and dashing to another customer. They went back upstairs and moved Flynn’s body to the side. Orion searched the drawers but found nothing except the longsword. Flynn’s bag and gold coins had disappeared, maybe bartered for the Gajoi powder. They picked up his corpse and carried it with the sword, exiting through the front door. Some of the inn’s merry-goers seemed shocked but most ignored them, and one bouncer even poked Flynn’s head as a joke, before bursting into laughter with his friends. Kora piggybacked the body and Orion held the sword as they headed to the Temple. The moon and stars poorly lit up the inky sky, but luckily, Hexham’s road was well-lit and allowed them safe passage through the city. During his tour, Thimble had mentioned the Temple was close to the Palace, but he hadn’t revealed anything else, most likely not the praying type. While treading the stone-laid path, a thought entered Orion’s head. “Don’t you think it’s a bit fishy?” he said, wiping away the dried tears. “What?” she said. “The innkeeper didn’t ask us any questions, and the guards acted carefree about his death,” Kora smirked. “You are a bit slow, aren’t you? When he faced her with confusion, she continued. “Flynn was a Seeker, but his room was basically naked. Nothing there, and even if he had traded his gold coins for powder, where was the rest of it? A gold coin can get you a bagful of Gajoi powder, more than enough for several uses.” Orion wondered how she knew such a fact but didn’t comment. Maybe she used to be an addict. “Who’s got the best access to Flynn’s room? All the innkeeper had to do was check up on him, see him dead, strip the room of valuables, leave the door unlocked for his friends, and then act shocked at his death. Damn boy, how did you not notice the nutty smell in the inn? Clearly a meeting place for addicts and dealers, probably the innkeeper himself. How did you not even smell the blood on him?” she finished. Orion couldn’t bear his curiosity anymore. “How do you know all this?” She chortled and bent over, holding her stomach while she shook, precariously tilting Flynn’s corpse. A lifetime later, she stopped and wiped at her tears, before facing Orion. “You’re too good. Where have you been living, some castle? Just spend time without your head up your arse and you’ll learn some common sense,” He glared at her, then frowned. She really was laid-back around him, and now he knew why. She believed she was stronger, and apparently more pragmatic, so she didn’t have to worry in his presence. “I’m kidding, Jax. Put that pout away,” He harrumphed and looked away. They walked the rest of the distance in relative quiet, eventually arriving at the Temple’s gates. A patrol of guards stood at attention by the ornate gates. “What is your business here?” a guard asked. “We want to cremate our friend,” Orion answered. “And the sword?” the guard asked, furrowing his brow. “He was a Seeker. We thought it was only right,” Kora said. The guard nodded. “A Seeker, eh? A good man then,” He stepped out of the way, allowing the Seekers in. The Temple was as grandly decorated as the gate. Large torch fires were scattered every few metres, lighting up the area like in daytime. Pillars of marble stood as tall as dragons and as long as horses. The roof and floor were made of polished marble, reflecting and distorting their faces from many angles. Around the temple were two small waterfalls and oasis-like pools filled with emerald plants. Gold tinted statues were spread over the grounds, mostly small ones of great people, but also larger ones of Kings and Gods embellished with jewels. Kora and Orion soon discovered the Temple’s domain was much larger than they had imagined. The building they been in awe over was the Temple’s facade, and through its mouth they could arrive at the actual temples of the three gods praised in the East. Orion followed Kora through the right-most corridor and reached Asarte’s temple. In the open hall, scantily dressed priestesses danced in a ceremonial way, hips shaking and steps flowing like water. Behind them stood barely clothed priests, waiting for their turn in the centre. All of them were alluring, their bodies seducing and their speech charming. Around the hall, there were clay jugs of wine and bowls of fruits, honey, and cheeses. The side walls led to various rooms, some of them lavishly decorated and soundproof. On the furthermost wall was a statue of Asarte. She was voluptuous, her figure naked, and her legs open. She was the Goddess of desires, and for a small fortune, her clergy would drain your impure cravings and itches, your thirst and hunger, your aches and yearnings, and leave you virtuous and sinless. Orion glanced thunderstruck around the hall for a long time, feeling his desires aroused and arrested. This was his first time at an Asartean temple, and now he understood why their creed was the wealthiest and most powerful: they dominated and controlled the mages’ hearts. Even now, he could see various obese mages around, lecherously slobbering over the eye-candy while being pampered by Asarte’s clergy. He broke from the spell with a pounding heart and saw Kora beside another corridor, shaking her forefinger at him with a grin plastered over her face. Gulping down his shame, Orion caught up and followed her to the next Temple. While Asarte’s Temple fit Flynn and his death well, they agreed to give him a cremation in honour of his other accomplishments in life. They entered Fexa’s Temple, took a quick look, then left. Although her hall was embellished with jewels and silks, it wasn’t half as gaudy as Asarte’s. Her Clergy were robed men and women reciting prayers and listening to the common folk, of which there were many in the hall despite the late hour. Fexa herself was on the furthest wall, her statue kneeling with her robes flowing around her, her eyes made of diamonds and her hands clasped in prayer. She had a gentle expression and a noble aura. She was not a good fit for Flynn. The last hall was for Kovas, God of glory, but mostly of violence and destruction. In the middle of the hall was a large pit, stained black and red with blood. It was an arena for the faithful to prove themselves. The clergy wore thin and tight-fitting clothes, their figures toned and slim. All of them had injuries of some severity, and they were almost matches for the Western God Vastya’s clergy. Almost. Orion and Kora walked past the arena and went to the furthest wall. The statue showed a thinly dressed man holding a sword. He looked plain and unimpressive, unfitting for a God but that was simply the way Kovas had looked. Anyone who had underestimated him for that had died long ago. “We want to cremate our friend here,” Orion said to a priest. “What right does he have to enter Kovas’s favour?” the priest replied. “He was a Seeker,” Kora answered. “What rank, strong woman?” “2-stars,” she said. “But still a Seeker. Do you have payment for his cremation?” Orion handed the longsword. The priest brought the sword close and sniffed it. “Good. He will die again in our hall,” The two of them bowed and left the Temple. Orion was thankful he hadn’t known Flynn well, otherwise, he knew he would have reverted to a weeping fool. They returned to the cold dark of the night and stood in silence for a few moments. “Do you want to do a contract tomorrow?” Kora asked, her back to Orion. He considered it. While Kora was temperamental and rude, if she actually was strong, then it meant he could jump up the ranks much quicker. Moreover, he doubted she could be as useless as Flynn had been. “Us two in a group? Sure. In the building, tomorrow?” he said. “Fine, I’ll join you since you asked so nicely,” Kora said while patting his head. She left him there gritting his teeth, reconsidering his choice.

Visgamar’s insignia, the boat amidst stormy seas, was the centrepiece of the gate, watching over tourists and criminals alike as they entered its walls. Since it had been half a year, the two Seekers felt strange coming back, now like tigers among mice, while Joiroa pensively followed, his face as passive as usual. As they passed through the city, it became obvious the Imperial forces had been victorious due to the soldiers everywhere. The streets were still scarred by the battle, but it seemed the city dwellers had gotten used to this as they all walked on, ignoring the surrounding damage. When the trio got to the marketplace, they were pleasantly surprised to see it was thriving, stalls set up like before the riots. Orion noticed the that none of the stallkeepers shouted out their wares but this made sense considering the city’s current mood. The closer they got to the centre of Visgamar, the less damage they saw on the buildings. In contrast, the inhabitants of these areas who had been haughty were now aware and sceptical, always on the lookout. The trio eventually arrived at the Guild buildings, perhaps the part of the city least affected by the riots, and they entered the Seeker’s guild. Seeing the multitude of skulls decorating the inside, Orion calmed, even smiling as he spotted Maya engrossed in a book as always. “Maya!” he called, striding up to the curved, marble table. “Whytie!” she said on impulse, before knotting her brows as she peered at him. “Whytie? You’re no westerner with skin like that,” she said. He flicked her forehead before she could react, sending a flush down her face. “Oh my, when did my innocent Whytie get so dominant?” she asked, regaining her composure. He ignored her comment. “Is Smith in?” When she nodded, the three of them went upstairs, leaving her open-mouthed about how different Orion was. Her Awakening had changed her in ways, but nothing compared to what had happened to him. Knocking on Smith’s door, the three of them came to see him behind his desk cluttered with papers. He was wearing a dull-blue eyepatch with his greying hair combed to the side. “Oh, you’re back, with a visitor as well. Is he the one you took with you?” Smith asked. “Yeah, this is Joiroa,” Orion said, gesturing towards the foreigner. Joiroa nodded at Smith. “Does he understand the common tongue?” Smith asked, curious over the man’s appearance. “I have learned the simple parts,” Joiroa answered. Smith stared wide-eyed, before shaking his head in disbelief. “Wow, I think we need to sit down and talk someday. Anyway, back to the matter, how were your Awakenings?” “They went alright, as well as any other,” Kora answered. “Which Elixirs did you two drink?” “Djinn and Barghest,” Orion answered. The gentle smile across Smith’s face washed away at this, his expression tightening into a scowl. He seemed to be in thought for several moments, before turning back to the trio. “It must be serious then… What news did Jowler ask you to send?” “The Tribes have made some ground into the Zakari’s land, and the Metoles are leaving to the frontlines. Jowler’s left from Kajan for that reason, since the Horsemen will soon take over, and the Seekers there have gone to Petrosa for the time being. Then they’re going to Edge’s End for the Seeker’s Summit,” Kora explained. “And he said he’ll put a stick up your arse if we aren’t there,” Orion added, chuckling a little. Smith shook his head with a good-humoured smile. “That sounds like him. I guess that means you two have little time to become 5-stars. Though, that should be easy; I can only imagine what kind of monsters you are now. So, head outside and get going on a contract now, I don’t want Jowler handling me,” Minutes later, the trio, or more accurately, duo, were scouring the contracts board as Joiroa spied the other Seekers around with interest. They eventually agreed on one about a Lich, mainly because it was reported to be a week’s distance away. They spent the night at The Fat Munch, Orion paying for Joiroa’s room, before setting off at dawn with new horses. **** Orion gazed over the passing fields from his horse with relative disinterest, vaguely wishing to go back in time to Kajan. As tough and mind-breaking as the exercises had been, it had also fulfilled him in a way, taking his thoughts away from vengeance and head-hunting. “You two are of great clans?” Joiroa said out of the blue, bringing both of them out of their thoughts. “Yeah. Did Jowler tell you that?” Kora said. During their trip from Kajan to Visgamar and now this one, Joiroa had stayed quiet on the whole. While Orion’s curiosity had been piqued when Jowler had mentioned Joiroa was on a mission, he had kept off asking him, after all, he knew all too well how painful it was to talk about matters like that. He had only ever told Kora what had happened, and that was because he had been close to having a breakdown. If Joiroa’s wounds and former prison cell were anything to judge by, Orion knew it was best the foreigner opened on his own terms. “He told me you two were from famous, very large clans,” Joiroa explained. Orion laughed at this, Joiroa staring wide-eyed at him while Kora rolled her eyes at him. “Close but you missed the mark. My House is dead – I’m the last one,” The foreigner didn’t respond for a few moments as if taking in the meaning. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” Orion waved his hand at Joiroa, gesturing it was of no matter. “Jowler told me you two could help me. I’m new to this… Empire place,” Joiroa continued. Orion laughed again, interrupting once more. “I think everyone figured that out!” Joiroa chuckled at this, “Yes, you all look sickly. But some of my people are sick in the head, seriously sick,” He paused, keeping the two Seekers on hook. “I was on a ship, the…” he pointed to the ground, then to the sky, “stars, travel, direction” “Navigator?” Kora said. “Yes, navigating. We were on a mission to find new ground, a new place to take control off. By Shale’s grace, we came to this Empire’s coast after a year at sea. But, but,” he stopped there, his eyes glazing over. “But one man, Shrien, he had other contacts, people he was promised to. He and others tried to kill the rest of us – I was one to escape, perhaps only one to escape. But something happened, because I was found by a Maegi who put me on a ship and spoke your tongue, demanding something off me. Then, you rescued me,” Joiroa said, a weight lifting off his chest. Orion pondered over the matter. It seemed Shrien, one of the ship’s mates, had another allegiance, due to which he had attacked the rest of the crew. Joiroa had escaped but had been caught by a mage later, likely the fat woman he had killed on the Saltrock’s ship. And if Joiroa’s ship had been searching for new land to colonise, it made sense Shrien and his men had made a violent ruckus in the area after the backstabbing, most likely attracting the Mage Guild’s attention. In turn, they had sent one of their own, who had caught Joiroa and possibly interrogated him ever since then. This was the version that made sense in Orion’s head, although he was still unsure on many parts, the biggest being where the hell was Joiroa’s homeland and how come the Empire had never heard of it? “Ok,” Kora said, her expression pensive. Orion figured she was trying to make a link between Shrien and Yhaoli, after all, the monster king seemed to have a talent spreading the idea of betrayal. “Jowler said you both could help me since you have wide power,” Joiroa said, explaining his point. “Wait, what do you want us to help you with? Killing Shrien and the rest of the backstabbers?” Joiroa’s red ovals seemed all the more brighter now, a hot anger rising inside him. “No, not for that. They attack us because they didn’t want to make any peaceful trade, instead they want to attack here,” “So we’ve got a year of time to prepare? I reckon we can do that,” Kora said, smiling at Orion. “No, no, no. They have a Maegi. He makes wide doors in the sky, really powerful. They let men skip land and water,” Joiroa said. Orion felt his body freeze over at this. The only things that could let people skip land were portals, and they certainly couldn’t be made by man. But what if they could be? He considered the possibility, his beginning in Visgamar suddenly popping back up. He had somehow travelled from the west of the Empire to the east in too short a time frame to be possible, even with portals. But if someone could artificially make them… Orion realised the reason’s Joiroa’s eyes had seemed brighter wasn’t due to anger, but rather fear, the same fear he felt now.

"We are the greatest," the Zakari always cried. "We will not be broken," the Zakari always cried. Then they all cried together. Then they cried no longer. - Eira, General of the Pirosian Empire, in Why the Empire Fell, page 5, line 12. The House of Zakari towered over its surroundings, its walls snow-white. There were four spires saddled upon its halls, their bodies sickly thin and eerily tall, able to cup a handful of the clouds without strain. The House wore a looming facade that protruded over the front yard like tusks. Colourful plants filled the garden despite the gravelly soil. These bright colours dulled towards the edges of the house, all but washed away in the countless white flowers that encamped the surrounding fields.  But these flowers had decided to rosy up as they darkened in the smoke billows. The House was now aflame, its walls a flaky charcoal-black as licks of the fire fizzled across them. The stench that besieged the building pressured those nearby to wheeze and choke to death, the smell mocking the immense fortunes exchanged for the oils. Moreover, the plants that had blessed the House with their presence were little more than trampled trash as great swathes of soldiers stood at attention. Of course, the great Zakari lineage wouldn’t entertain such humiliation standing, and to their dubious luck, they didn’t have to as their corpses were stacked into mounds and set alight. Today was the day when the illustrious House of Zakari would fall to nothing more than a footnote in history. And as if representing the Gods, the almost-holy daybreak welcomed it…     A soldier wore a taut rictus as he lifted bodies and piled them. Clothes stripped, amulets torn, arms down, legs straight. There was a simple, albeit dark, rhythm to his job as he entered his flow. He knew each corpse he touched belonged to sorcerers feared and revered from east to west, people he would have been delighted merely glancing at. Now he pawed their bodies with sweaty, grimy hands. Their mortality scared him. But more than that, it was their eyes that frightened him the most. Black. Black. Black. Black. Black. Not one he had handled was white; they had caught the Zakari completely unawares. He understood the parasitic gear that wrapped itself around him was responsible for that, but it still broke him. This would be a momentous point in history: one of the great Houses dropping dead in disgrace. And worse still, he was part of that reality… Feeling sick at the high-stakes play he found himself trapped in, the soldier raised his head with vomit lurching up his throat. But as his eyes met with the horizon in between scattered trees, he saw a figure fleeing in the daylight. The bile that had threatened his dignity free-fell back down. “Sir!” he called out through pure reflex, uncaring about how raspy his voice sounded. “Yeah, Rods. What’s it?” came the response. “Sir, there’s a person there.” Rods answered. The officer kept his composure and squinted in the direction. “Naa, Rods. You got good eyes, I’ll say, but there’s nothing there.” The officer’s tone pronounced the matter over, but the whole event was already too frightening for Rods to now just ignore a glaring addition. “No, Sir. Please, there!” The officer didn’t even turn, let alone look. “There is nothing there!” he roared in a restrained manner, stretching each syllable to make up for the volume. His previous calmness had been lost to the storm. “Am I clear, Rods?” Nevertheless, Rods still peered into the distance with pleading, nay, begging eyes. Suddenly, a glint winked over and past the horizon, following the figure. It only went fast enough to trail the figure, not fast enough to actually chase down the figure, and Rods knew for certain it could run at several times the speed of a man. His jaw fell slack, his expression thunderstruck.  Why hadn't it killed the fleeing figure? What the fuck was going on? The officer didn’t wait for an answer, after all, Rods’s expression was more honest than any mustered-up bullshit. He liked the young soldier, so could only hope Rods had enough sense to keep his mouth shut. Forever.

Liam stands in the middle of Aiden’s training field.  Twenty shadow clones of Aiden jump, back flip, and roll circles around him.  Three dive for the same area, but instead of crashing into each other and exploding, the upper most clone flips around and arcs his back to do a back hand spring.  The bottom most clone drops onto his knees, lowers his back onto the ground, and slides over the dirt.  The third clone dives between the two.  He hits the ground once with his hand and uses that momentum to spin like a screw between the two before landing and continuing on his way.  The clones, during that entire ordeal, make various hand and arm gestures.   He looks towards Aiden at the far end of the field and says, “This is a mess.  Is it even working?” Aiden doesn’t break focus from his shadow clones.  He adjusts their formation by having them add a hand seal of two palms placed atop of one another during a spin kick before saying, “I told you to bring a book.  Do want to borrow one of mine?” “I didn’t think I’d be standing here for over an hour!” “Then sit down!  I never said you had to stay standing!”  Then, without break his gaze over his ritual, he speaks to Kalani, “Mind taking something to him?” Kalani perks up from the beginner alchemy book she’s borrowing from Aiden.  Confusion laces her voice as she says, “Won’t I get in the way of that dance thing your clones are doing?” “This will be pointless if I can’t make them adjust to sudden interferences.  Try ramming into them while you’re at it.” “Fine, fine.”  Kalani grabs an introductory text to spirit magic and hurls herself into a thicket of shadow clones.  Despite how four clones are twisting around each other, they coordinate a gap for her to fly through.   She then flings a spray of rocks towards a second clumping.  The clones jump, twist, and spin in order to avoid the being pelted.  They continue unfettered by the interference. Kalani clicks her tongue and attacks a random clone.  It avoids her punch by leaning to the side and her kick by hopping.  Shen then trips and falls flat on her face as it spins around and escapes.  In none of her attempts did she come close to even grazing a single clone. While shouting the words, “You suck!” to Aiden, she hands the book to Liam and returns to her seat outside the ritual circle.   Aiden says, “Easy?  Hard?  How was it?” “Shut up!  Hell, why are you even bothering with something like this?” “Because large scale magic circles are stupid.  They’re okay for sneak attacks, but after that, anyone can use them against you.” “No duh!  I know that!  Can’t you just use the ley line like usual?” Aiden gives a flat, “Rituals require vast areas of space to be performed.  They can’t be transmitted through ley lines.” Kalani stares at him.  Knowing Aiden’s bad habit of never fully explaining himself, she says, “And?” “Trying to send a spell up stream against a ley line is harder than telling an ant to swim against a riptide.  Nothing, not even the fabled, oh so call mighty, dragon, can stand against the planet.  This will be my backup for whenever I’m downstream.” Kalani whacks Aiden across the back.  She then winces and shakes her hand in pain.  “Ow, that stings.” Aiden makes a few more adjustments to his ritual and sighs.  “Okay, okay, I’m sorry.  I’m doing this ritual as a way to steal mana from Eric in my match against him.  Even if I were to fill my reserves, I get the feeling it won’t be enough.  I’m also using this opportunity to develop other ritual based spells.  Those are mostly being discovered by accident though.” Kalani huffs.  She sits back down and says, “Was that so hard to say?” After almost an hour Aiden shouts out to Liam. “Hey, let’s move onto the next stage!  Run around and keep out of the ritual’s center!” Kalani rests her face upon her hands as watches Liam try to destroy a shadow alone.  “Are all magicians like this?” “This?” “Spending hours on research and development.  To me, being a magician only meant being able to cast flashy spells and slay evil apparitions.” Aiden remembers back when he was four.  His parents explained to him that mana is created by the chakra points.  They broke down the leading theory of how they create and refine mana before telling him that his are flawed.  Instead of just a few hours of rest like a normal person, he needs to wait months to fully recover his mana reserves.  They told him he’d never become a proper magician.  He says, “That’s one type of magician.  The kind everyone wants to be…” Liam stops moving.  He looks himself over and then rushes towards Aiden.  “What did you just do?  What’s happening to my mana?” Kalani’s jaw drops.  She slaps her forehead and says, “You didn’t even tell him the point of all this?” Aiden laughs out and says, “It was quite tasty, thanks!” Liam’s jaw drops.  “You’re draining my mana!?  Is that even possible?” Aiden stares at Liam for a bit.  “Isn’t that the entire foundation to what Sifu teaches us?” Liam is taken aback.  He averts his gaze as he says, “Ye-yeah, I guess you’re right.  How’d you even come up with something like this?” Aiden gives a sheepish laugh.  “By accident.  Before I met Sifu, I tried creating a spell that would let me draw mana from nature and ended up with the proto-type to this instead.” “So?” “So, what?” Kalani follows up Aiden’s blank stare with another slap to his back.  She winces and tries to ignore the sting as she says, “The details!  I’ve never even heard of magic involving acrobatics before.  You called it some sort of ritual?  That kinda makes sense seeing how complicated the whole thing is, but what was that?” Aiden says, “To be more accurate, it’s called a living magic circle.  Unlike drawn static magic circles, moving objects are used.  The idea was that it would provide flexibility in casting magic back.  This was before alchemy was created and the ability to generate magic circles on the spot with it.  It’s biggest advantage now is that it can’t be usurped by opposing magicians.” Liam suppresses a sigh at Aiden’s incomplete answer and says, “And how have we never heard of it before?” “Cause it’s flawed and entirely impractical.”  Aiden goes to end his answer there, but a glare from Kalani convinces him otherwise.  “Magic circles require precise details.  Just a single blemish can lead to a failed spell, or worse, an explosive backlash.  That means a ridiculously high degree of coordination is required for a successful living magic circle.  Furthermore, while people can learn to preform one, those movement will only serve for that circle.  Every new spell requires a different performance.” Kalani, seeing that Aiden finished, adds, “Which means they are very easy to disrupt and hard to use.  Okay, so why are you using it?”  She then realizes how Aiden will answer and adds, “As in, if it’s so impractical, what makes you confident?” Aiden is cut off by her sudden addendum.  He reorients his thoughts and opens his mouth to speak.  That’s when Liam adds, “And don’t just say because of your shadow clones.  What makes them so special.” Aiden again stops as his reply is cut off.  He frowns in irritation, wishing they’d think about it themselves instead, but still says, “Like I said, living magic circles are very easy to disrupt.  Just pushing one person out of sync is enough to ruin the whole thing.  Fixing it is possible, but requires awareness over the entire operation.  Although coordination for a circle could be trained, a misstep isn’t something that can easily be fixed on the spot.  It’s pretty much why every society that’s ever researched it abandoned it. “My shadow clones are something I developed after studying Omyuoji teachings and Shintoism.  They are directly linked to my mind.  How they move is entirely decided by me.  I can give them a degree of autonomy, but in the end, it’s all my discretion.  If something goes wrong, I’ll be able to fix it on the spot.” Kalani says, “There’s… no way that’s as easy as you’re making it sound.” Aiden shrugs.  “Do this against multiple enemies would be pretty difficult.  In a one on one, as long as the attention is on me, I’ll manage.” Liam says, “And what else?  From what I understand about magic is that magic circles need to be solid.  I mean, aren’t shadow clones basically just holograms?” “Light… if trapped within a container, will contribute to the containers mass as relativistic mass.  Shadow clones can be considered contained light. Also, shadow clones are made of my mana.  Heck, I could even explode them if I wanted too.  Mana is energy and energy, according to Einstein, equals mass of the body multiplied by the speed of light, squared.” Kalani and Liam stare at Aiden with blank expressions.  She says, “What?” “…Shadow clones fulfill all the requirements.  Think of it like this, charged batteries weigh more than uncharged batteries.  Actually, puppet masters and necromancers could also utilize living magic circles if they wanted to—”   Kalani says, “Stop, stop, stop!  No random tangents!  Focus on your match against Eric, first!” Liam says, “You do have a plan to fight him, right?” “Of course, from what I can see, he’s a guy who prides himself on his talent.  I can more or less guess his reactions.” Kalani smirks, “Oh, I like where this is going.” 

Aiden stretches his arms over head as he steps onto the Academy arena.  While there aren’t any expectations on him advancing very far in the academy’s Strongest Under Heaven Magic Battle competition, many magicians are curious as to how he’ll perform.  It’s the perfect opportunity for him to showcase the changes the ascension ritual had on his body.  As such, he was selected to appear in the opening match on the first of October. A carefree smile floats across Aiden’s face as he recalls the previous night’s training.  His fellow Maoli magic style training mates don’t watch the opening matches of the competition.  Kalani even went so far as to say, “Those opening matches are a waste of time.  Real magic doesn’t start appearing until after the elimination rounds so just save your time off for that.” She’s right. Aiden’s current opponent is a first year.  Despite being a second year himself, his poor record the previous year coupled with the ability for magic he has exhibited so far seeded him into a position where he’ll start of against students not well versed in magic.  Still, he is a second year and as such, the first year he’s up against is one of the better ones of the class. More important than that, however, is that none of his training classmates will be in the audience.  All of them are instead busy working to keep the island operational.  If none of them are watching, then he doesn’t need to worry about his status as an academy student being exposed. I spent all that time wondering how I’d face them afterwards for nothing.  Well, maybe not nothing.  I’ll still need to come clean in December… Aiden looks around once he reaches the center of the arena. Seated within the amphitheater is practically the entire first year class, a fifth of the second-year class, and magical researches there only to observe him.  Still, despite that showing, not even a fifth of the seats are occupied. I can’t believe I didn’t even notice last year.  With those thoughts in mind, Aiden continues to look around the audience.  Only after his third sweep across does he give up searching for Camillia. His opponent says, “Can we start already?  I want to finish this today.” Aiden sighs as he lowers himself into a martial arts stance.  “Yeah, might as well get the over with.” “Wait, you seriously think you’re going to beat me?  Are you stupid?  I’m the top of my grade and you’re just the special scholarship student.  I actually deserve to be at this academy.” Aiden ignores him and waits for the match to start.  Although he can freely use magic now, he wants to keep that a secret for as long as he can. His opponent continues to taunt him.  He moved from self-entitlement to critiquing Aiden’s decision to use martial arts.  “Seriously, what kind of 4th rate magician resorts to punching?  Actually, I have the perfect spell for this.  Get ready to punch yourself in the face!  A big, fat, bloody nose-” The match then starts while his opponent is in mid-sentence.  Aiden dashes forward, covering the 30 meters between them in less than a second, and smashes his fist into his opponent’s face.  He had originally been intending to sock him in the stomach, but this guy is too annoying. The first-year flies back and kicks up dust as he tumbles across the ground.  He comes to a stop flat on his face.  Not a twitch comes from his body as blood spreads out beneath him. Aiden looks at him and says, “Don’t underestimate you opponents,” before leaving the ring.  No one cheers.  His victory was too sudden and unexpected for the majority of the audience.  Only the second years who saw him compete in the previous year’s competition anticipated such an outcome against such an opponent. “I wonder if I’ll be able to get through the rest of today’s matches without having to use any of my real magic?”

The evening’s first stars peak into the sky as the sun begins to set.  Long shadows stretch across an open field that was gradually created and expanded upon through the testing of various spells.  On the large rock in the center of the field sits Aiden. Scattered on the grass around him are physics books, his notebooks, advanced spell books, and a doll he lost when he was five. He’s oblivious to the passage of time as he mulls over a new spell.  Fengshui links quantum mechanics with relativity which should let me create a wormhole to my zweihander. He glances at the items surrounding him.  “Should let me, assuming that’s what I want most…” Aiden lays back on the rock with a sigh and looks up at the few stars.  “Letting fengshui direct the spell by reading my feelings makes the observer effect too much of a wildcard.” Aiden traces a circle of fire in the air with a finger and reaches into it.  His hand vanishes inside of it instead of appearing on the opposite end.  He reaches straight into the circle and grasps what he wants most.  “Dinner cooked by my mother…” Well, it has been almost a year since I last went home… and I am getting hungry. He starts to eat with a sigh and tries again.  This time, when he reaches into the circle, he hears a shrill scream.  He grabs his desired object and pulls it out.  “A soapy shampoo bottle?” He recalls that he is low on shampoo while looking at the label.  “Isn’t this Kairi’s favorite brand…?”  It then dawns on him that the scream sounded familiar. Using fengshui to manipulate the observer effect when creating the wormhole is too unstable.  But, it’s also the most flexible when it comes to locating something when it’s coordinates isn’t known. “And it’s also the most economical when it comes to a mana to spell ratio.” He places the empty plate with the other failed summoned objects as he stands up.  “Once I’m in actual combat, my survival instincts will help me focus my desire and link me to my sword, probably…”

Aiden walks onto a clearing in the woods, but doesn’t see any of his classmates. Thinking he might be early, he heads for the creek where he finds Kalani and Liam listening to music. Neither of them are dressed for training. Kalani is even wearing a skirt. He says, “What gives? Didn’t you call us all here for extra training?” Liam sighs and shakes his head. “Kalani calling for extra practice is code for, ‘let’s hang out.’” Aiden’s face twists with annoyance. He then turns around while saying, “I have work to do.” Kalani dashes past him to cut him off. “Wait, wait, wait, don’t be like that.” She gives him a brilliant smile as she says, “You’re already here, so let’s have some fun.” Aiden grits his teeth as she readjust the bird of paradise in her silky brown hair. “I’m busy.” “You’re always busy. Come on, make some time for your friends.” Aiden’s taken aback. When he first came to Pounamu, he was excited and happy to be coming with a friend. Now that friend barely even notices him anymore. Mirth cracks his voice as he points at himself while saying, “We’re... friends?” Kalani tilts her head while saying, “Well, yeah? I mean, you haven’t missed a single day of training since dad let you join us. Haven’t we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well since then?” Aiden frowns as he thinks over Kalani’s words. “Yeah… I guess… that’s true.” Kalani flashes him a grin and says, “So come on, let’s hang out for a bit.” Aiden’s reluctance breaks with a sigh, “Fine…” A smile soon gives way as he adds, “What are you planning?” Liam slaps Aiden’s back. “Remember how you mentioned that you can speak Spanish a few days back?” He laughs and adds, “Start regretting that.” Kalani drags them both back to the creek before anything more is said. She hops down onto the bank and crouches before a smartphone that is connected to a speaker. After sliding though the songs, she gets up, rounds her arms above her head, and sways her hips while singing, “I never really knew that she could dance like this; She makes a man want to speak Spanish.” Liam says, “Kalani loves singing and dancing on her free time.” He then pushes Aiden forward while adding, “Have fun.” Aiden looks back and forth between the two and says, “I don’t know the first thing about any of this!” He then looks to Liam, “Maybe you should keep doing the dancing!” Liam kicks back on the grass and says, “Dude, you’re just a bit taller than her while I’m a head taller. It’ll flow much smoother with you.” “You’re just looking for someone to trade out with...” Kalani stops dancing and says, “It’s fine, it’s fine. We’ll start with the song. You use your Latin voice to do the man’s part, and I’ll do Shakira’s.” She presses rewind on her smartphone and beams at Aiden. Her joy soon melts into disappointment. Aiden looks away. His supposed part started, but he remained silent. As he starts to talk, his face turns redder with each word. “Sorry, I… don’t know the lyrics.” Kalani’s jaw drops. “Seriously? Just what do you do on your free time?” “I read…” Aiden stops himself from adding, “research, and develop spells.” That he’s an actual academy student is a secret from the class. While he could tell them, he’s afraid that if they find out, they won’t want him around anymore. “I read a lot of books.” “What kind?” “Things like astrophysics, chemistry, calculus, and quantum mechanics.” Both Kalani and Liam look at him and say, “You’re weird.”

Aiden pulls out his phone and with a few swipes of his finger, opens a messenger app.  He had invited Camillia to meet up for lunch earlier that week so they could catch up with each other.  A lot happened over the summer that he wants to tell her, but according to the app, she never even bothered to open his text.  He pockets his phone with a sigh.  Figures… That she wouldn’t accept, or even answer aren’t surprising.  Camilla had been seeking him out less and less ever since last Christmas break.  Regardless, he at least thought she’d read his message. Aiden glances over at the special lunch platform reserved for the academy’s top students.  It isn’t anything fancy, just an elevated deck with a nice view.  A few spells keep it at a comfortable temperature year round just like the rest of the outdoor dining area.  Maybe she’s already up there sharing stories with her new friends?  He doesn’t know.  Unlike last year, she hasn’t told him her schedule for the year. Aiden clicks his tongue as he turns his back towards the deck.  He gets a burger and fries from one of the stores, and after searching around, finds an empty table.  Five minutes after sitting down, a girl with black, wavy, shoulder length hair sets a tray at the opposite corner. She looks into Aiden’s eyes as she sits down and then, without a word, begins to eat.  Okay, sure.  Better than eating alone, I guess…  Neither of them exchange a word.  His only impression of her is about her dark eyes from when she sat down.  They were radiating with uncertainty. The next day, despite being a Saturday, is the same.  Aiden sits at an empty table and she joins him, choosing the seat furthest away from his.  The meal is again eaten in silence.  Aiden looks around and sees that unlike the previous day, there are other open tables.  Does she just want to eat with me or something? On the third day, Aiden sits at the empty end of a half full table.  The other students at the table recognize him as the scholarship student and stare at him as he eats.  Since he chose to sit with them, he can only ignore their curious stares while waiting to see how the girl will respond.  Maybe I should just go back to sitting at empty tables… She, instead of sitting at the same table, claims the table behind him.  She sits with her back to him.  She isn’t watching him, but that makes him even more uncomfortable. On the fourth day, she doesn’t appear.  Does she have class? Aiden sits at an empty table on the fifth day.  The girl once more sits at the seat furthest away from him.  He waits for her to sit down before saying, “So, are you eating with me because of a dare?” She glances towards Aiden and shakes her head.  “I just want to.” “You just want to?” She shrugs, “I don’t get it either.  I’m all ears if you have any guesses.” Aiden has no idea on how to respond. To be fair, her reason isn’t that strange.  He stares at her for a few seconds before saying, “Are you a first year?” “I’m a second year, just like you.  I just had class during this time last year.”

A white curtained bed within a white painted room is placed next to an open window. Aiden, having finished his match, was assigned to a room within Pounamu Academy’s hospital ward for a proper examination. He isn’t there because he was injured during his battle. At most, he was burned a bit and slapped around.  Nothing happened to get all of this… While most students would be assigned to one of the many curtained beds within one of the long rooms, his circumstances warrant private room. Having survived an ascension ritual, various experts around the world are curious about his physiology. They would use any reason, no matter how small, to get a chance to examine him. As such, in order for a more in-depth analysis, he was segregated away from everyone else. Not that any visitors are being deterred. Aiden bookmarks his page in his astrophysics book and closes it. He then places it on the bedside table next to some other astrophysics books and a few texts on numerology. He glances towards the brunette closing his room’s door behind herself. Her braids have been getting more and more intricate. He says, “Long time no see, Camillia.” Camillia sits on the chair next to the bed with a sheepish smile on her face. “How’ve you been?” “Pretty good, didn’t you see? I’m totally dominating this year.” Camillia glances at the zweihander leaning against the wall. Its silver, seven inch wide, blade takes a golden sheen under the afternoon sunlight. She then leans closer to Aiden with a curious grin on her face. A sense of mischief glints within her eyes as she says, “A lot of people were shocked to see you pull that out. How’d you summon it?” Aiden grins back, and beckons her closer. He leans towards her and speaks into her ear. “With a summoning spell I’ve been working on.” Camillia’s expression falls flat. Annoyance laces her voice as she pulls away. “That’s not what I’m asking about!” Aiden chuckles but doesn’t reply. “Aiden, what you did was impossible. The ascension ritual failed.” He adopts an aloof tone and says, “What are you talking about?” He then pats a bicep emphasizes the following, “Your spell totally worked.” “Come off it, Aiden! You know better than anyone that the whole point of the ritual was mana. It was your spell! You’re the one who-” “Speak any louder and everyone will hear you.” Camillia instantly shuts her mouth, but her scowl transforms into a glare. After a moment, she says, “Quit acting dumb. Your body shouldn’t be able to produce mana. People are going to want to analyze if the ascension ritual has a delayed effect if we don’t clear this up. Aren’t we friends?” Aiden maintains his laid back tone. “Yeah, you’d definitely be expelled if it comes to that. But if you lose your place, then you lose your place.” Horror and shock flashes across her face as she says, “Don’t you care!” Aiden’s tone once more turns flat. “Camillia, just come out and say you’re here because I beat Harald, Eric’s baby brother.” “That not tr-” “You haven’t bothered to watch any of my matches. The only reason you came to this one was to cheer for Harald. You thought I’d lose here just like everyone else. But now that I won, you’re scared and wondering who I’ll beat next.” Camillia grits her teeth and slams the bed with a palm. Scorn laces her tone as she gets up. “Why would I be scared of you?” “Because I’m a first rate magician! I’m developing synthesis magic. I drafted an ascension ritual. I did all of this before turning 15. What’s going to happen now that I have mana to back me up? Your boyfriend is good. He has quick mana recovery and a fairly high mana output. Those are excellent traits for a combat magician like him. There’s just one problem. Now that I can use mana, I’m a complete dark horse. Your friends might not think too much of me, but you know better. Camillia, I’m going straight to the finals.” “You’re not going to beat Eric.” Aiden confronts Camillia’s glare with resolute eyes full of confidence. “Just wait and see.” Camillia turns and storms out of the room. Aiden’s expression softens once the door slams shut and he drops back against his pillow. Less than two years ago, Camillia would have corrected him with “Cami” whenever he called her Camillia. He recalls a conversation he overheard the other day. She still hates it when her friends call her anything but that. “You were a good friend…”

Dirt mixed with sweat is smeared across Aiden’s face.  It covers him all the way from his black hair down to his feet.  Green leaves and flower petals cling to his body and mud caked clothes.  Yet, despite his filth, excitement radiates from his dark eyes. Anticipation laces his voice as he says, “Hey, hey, are you free?  Can you help me out with something really quick?” Deeper in the woods within a small clearing sits a lone, light grey, blouder.  Carved into the ground around it is a magic circle with a diameter of 3 meters.  Rocks and sticks are laid out in key areas of the circle, making it three dimensional. The man Aiden dragged along steps to the edge of the circle.  He looks around and says, “How’d that rock get here?  It isn’t from this part of the island.” Aiden gives a halfhearted, “I rolled it,” before leaping onto the rock.  He looks over the circle and grins.  “Perfect!  Alright, let’s get started.” The man looks from the circle to Aiden.  Underneath the grim covering Aiden’s arms are various cuts and scrapes.  He didn’t clear the field and make the circle with alchemy, he did everything by hand.  “What do you need me to do?” Aiden’s excitement spills into his gestures.  He waves his arms and flings them at the circle as he says, “Just need to pour some mana into the circle and activate it.” “That’s all?” “No helping it.  I don’t have any mana.” The man looks Aiden over with a faint smile on his face.  “You’re the scholarship student everyone’s been talking about this past year.” Aiden’s glee falls at the remark. “The ascension ritual was a failure.”  As the man is taken aback by the shift in tone, Aiden adds, “Sure, I survived, but the whole point of that that ritual was mana.” The man chuckles.  “And now you’re here.” Aiden shrugs.  “This spell is designed to draw mana from the surroundings and funnel it into my body here in the center.” Approval laces the man’s voice.  “How tenacious, but why not ask Camilla for help? Isn’t she the one who over saw your ascension ritual?” Aiden gives a flat, “She’s busy.” The man then approaches the magic circle’s edge with an, “I see,” and activates it. The lines Aiden dug into the dirt emit a faint white light as mana channels into the circle. The carved circle shines white while the sticks and rocks placed on top glow red. Branches shake and leaves rustle as a mana funnels around Aiden on the boulder. Aiden hunches over from surprise.  Exhilaration courses through his body as mana builds within its seven chakra points.  Their warm pulses give him a soothing sense of completion.  He feels like a bird finding his wings.  The initial shock on his face melts into a grin bursting with laughter.  Then, right when he’s ready to soar, they’re clipped. Anger distorts his joy and frustration laces his tone. He glares at the man as he says, “What gives?  It was working!  Why’d you stop?” The man shakes his head.  “Your spell wasn’t drawing mana from its surroundings.  It was taking it from me.” Aiden clicks his tongue, but doesn’t retort.  He scrutinizes his circle from atop of bolder to search for what he needs to change.  His scowl and clenched teeth, the jerks of his head as he looks left and right, and his incoherent mutterings display the depths of his frustration, but he remains undeterred.  His eyes burn with the desire to acquire mana. The man, impressed by Aiden’s attitude, says, “It’s a known fact that spell casters produce mana within their own bodies.  Even if the mana is used up, it will refill itself.  The crown, third eye, throat, heart, solar plexus, spleen, and root are always producing mana inside of spell casters.  Something like this, drawing mana in from your surroundings.  This is practically heresy from the common world view.  How’d you come up with such an idea?” Aiden, focused on analyzing his failed magic circle, gives the man half his attention as he says.  “It was just a thought.  According to Shintoism, animals like foxes and raccoons gain magical abilities after living for a long period of time.  Under certain conditions, the same can apply to inanimate objects too. The best known example is swords gaining souls after 100 years. “That’s when I thought about trees.  They’re everywhere. They’ve also been around longer than us.  Can they gain souls, become sentient, and wield magic?  According to my research, yes, they’re called treants.  So, my hypothesis, do trees gain the ability to use magic after their souls, or could they always use magic but lacked the ability to do so because they didn’t have souls to make them sentient?  If the latter, then I should be able to syphon the mana for myself.” “Hoo, interesting, interesting.  A perfect example of innovation out of desperation.  However, you’ve made a mistake.” Aiden looks away from the magic circle and gives the man his full attention.  “Really, what, where?” “I’m not a spell caster.  I am one of the normal humans brought to this island to help keep it operational.” Aiden’s taken aback at the remark.  “What? But didn’t you just channel mana?”  He leaps off the bolder towards the man at his nod.  He leans towards him with hope, desperation, and anticipation all over his face.  “How?” “You’ll become one of my students?” “Please, teach me!” The man nods and gestures for Aiden to follow him back onto the path.  As they walk, the man says, “If you wish to learn under me, then you will refer to me as Sifu.  Is this clear?” “Yes, Sifu.”

Aiden stares Eric down from across the arena.  He’s both ready to spring forward, and itches for a fight that will test his abilities, but can’t see himself winning with such a reckless play against the reigning champion.  Even though Eric stands at complete ease, to the point that he looks about ready to yawn, Aiden continues to wait for a proper opening. Champions to the Strongest Under Heaven Magic Battle competition tend to be fifth year students who are ready to graduate.  Fourth year students sometimes win the title, but then tend to fail to defend their position the following year.  Their victories depend heavily on their opponents being too exhausted from the previous battles to fight properly. Eric did the seemingly impossible and claimed the position of the academy’s strongest magician as a third year.  Luck and circumstance cannot overcome the difference in skill between third years and fifth years.  Furthermore, while he isn’t the first to accomplish such a feat over the academy’s glorious history, the previous three have all had their names recorded into history.  Eric’s future, compared to Aiden’s, is blinding. As Aiden takes a few steps to the side for a different approach, Eric smirks.  “Well, aren’t you going to bring out your sword?”  Aiden stops moving and readies himself, but Eric just throws up his arms and turns around.  “Here, tell you what, have at it.” Of course, he would… Aiden kicks forward while strengthening his physical abilities with his internal magic circle and kicks into Eric’s side.  Eric holds his ground.  He keeps his back towards Aiden and speaks with a flat tone.  “That isn’t your sword.” Aiden leaps back.  Having expected his attack to be shrugged off, he claps his hands together in midair in order to try a different attack.  Stone spikes rupture from the ground.  They spear into Eric from all sides only for their tips to crumble upon impact.   Eric glances towards Aiden.  Annoyance laces his almost bored expression.  The spikes crack and shatter as he steps through them and out of the encirclement. Not a single one even managed to tear his clothes.  “Seriously?  Didn’t you lecture my brother about researching your opponents?  He and Cami think way too highly of you.” “Wait, what?”  Aiden pauses only back away a few more steps.  “Harald’s been talking about me?” Eric shrugs.  “He’s been going on and on about how you’ll revolutionize magic.  Honestly, you’re nothing special.  Just a brainless moron who lucked into an Ascension Ritual.” “Then why the heck are you baiting me to take out my zweihander?” “Cause it’s too good for you.  We just started and you’re already scared of me.  I don’t know where you got it from, but something like that is better off with me.” Aiden’s so taken aback that he shouts, “You’re flat out admitting this?” Eric takes a few steps towards him while saying, “What’s the problem?  I’m properly winning it from you through fair combat.” Aiden claps his hands while saying, “You mean stealing.”  Eric cracks his neck when a molten tendril whips him from behind.  He finally grunts out, but doesn’t flinch.  The tendril wrapping around him elicits a deep growl laced with irritation.  As he his teeth sharpen into fangs, he slides his legs apart and flexes his arms.  Aiden strengthens his spell’s grip by pouring more mana into it, but after a short struggle, it bursts apart as leathery wings covered in black scales rupture from Eric’s back.  A sharp flap scatters the dripping, molten, remains into raining around himself.  Eric’s wing patagium reach across his chest, allowing the wing membranes to drape over his self like a mantle in place of his incinerated shirt.  Aiden’s tendril failed to burn Eric.  Not even the hairs on his chest are singed.  Despite that, a large smile crosses his face. Eric scoffs.  “What?  You think this proves something?” “Yeah, I got you to use your wings before you did my sword.” “Everyone really is overestimating you.”  Eric stomps his foot and drives it a few inches into the ground as he says, “You messed up!”  Nothing happens.  Aiden looks left and then to the right.  Just as he rehearsed with Kalani and Liam, he acts confused.  “Did you do something?” Eric’s eyes pop open at his failure to activate Aiden’s spell.  As he again tries activating Aiden’s spell, Aiden claps his hands together.  Although Eric again fails to cast anything, Aiden has molten chains jut out from the ground and snake around his opponent.  They hiss as they try to dig into Eric’s flesh, but fail to do anything other than bind him.  Eric flexes his arms and wings in an attempt to break free, but they don’t move.  His body remains still regardless of how he tenses his muscles.  He struggles even harder against the chains, but fails to realize that they are not competing against him in terms of strength.  They are strategically positioned across joints, ligaments, and muscles for the sake of prevent movement. Aiden, once more as rehearsed, smirks and says, “Shouldn’t you be free by now?  Those chains aren’t very strong.” Eric freezes at the taunt.  He grits his teeth as he glares at Aiden.  “How?  Where’s the magic circle?  Why can’t I find it?  What did you do?” “This,” Aiden claps his hands together, but instead of using alchemy to create a wide reaching, underground, magic circle to as Eric believes, he bridges the spell created by his internal magic circle to the outside world.  His earlier “brainless” attacks and “cowardly backing away” were all to better position himself upstream over the ley line branch running underneath the island.  Through it he ferries a spell that turns the ground underneath Eric into a neck high, pool of mud. “You, what is this?  That wasn’t magic!”  Aiden relishes Eric’s frustration.  He recalls the mockery from his cousins, the pity from his grandparents, the consoling into giving up becoming a magician by his mother, and encouragement to pursue something other than magic by his father.  Laughter bubbles out from his stomach. “Quit laughing!  What is all this?” Aiden takes a breath, but instead of following the next part of his script, he points to himself and adlibs.  His declarations are loud enough for everyone to hear.  “You idiot.  I’m the world’s first synthesis magician!”    “The hell is that?” A smile plays at Aiden’s face as he claps his hands.  He has a stone fist shoot up from the ground and punch Eric in the face.  Even though the fist crumbles upon hitting him, Aiden says, “If you’re wondering, this is alchemy.”  He then follows up by having open palms reach from the ground to hold Eric’s face still.  More hands then tug Eric’s hair taut, allowing for razor thin stones to shear it all off. Eric’s mouth drops open as his hair tufts down before his face.  The amphitheater rumbles and the ground pops.  Black scales begin hardening over Eric’s face and fissures weave out from around him. Aiden stops his next spell, spins around, and dashes to the far end of the arena.  From behind Aiden ruptures out a black dragon ruptures from ground.  Boulders tumble through the air as unfolding wings spread a gust over the arena.  Eric, assuming his dragon form, holds his head high as his fore-paws touch down and releases a ground shaking roar that echoes across the island.  The deafening roar cuts into a gurgle as he disappears into a pool of mud. From the far end of the arena, Aiden claps his hands to create a platoon of shadow clones.  He spread them across the arena.  They race around, leaping of the walls, barrel rolling over each other, back-flipping, and slide tackling.  Aiden vanishes as he joins the crowd, but is given away by his sudden, deep felt, laughter.  He can’t not grow excited at the sudden surge of energy.  The amount of mana channeling into him through his spell this is nothing like when he tested it with Liam.  A testament to Eric’s potential as a true magician…  And exactly why I’m winning this. Mud explodes all around the amphitheater as Eric’s draconic head bursts through the mud pool with another ground shaking roar, but Aiden meets it with confident smile.  “Your breath reeks.” Aiden stares straight into the gapping maw.  Having researched Eric’s general behavior, attitude, and habits, he’s been predicting all of his responses.  He claps his hands and shoves dozens of molten tendrils down its gullet.  While Eric chokes and heaves, Aiden reinforces his body with a stronger strengthening spell than before.  The spell disregards all caution towards mana efficiency for the sake of maximizing gains.  He springs forward and leaps.  At the same time, he rotates his wrist to trace a crimson ring with a finger.  His fingers fall upon the circle and he eases it towards his opposite hip.  The hand then slips inside to grab his zweihander. He kicks off the air and propels himself towards Eric’s chest.  Key to Eric’s transformation is his heart.  Magic was able to remodel it into that of an ancient dragon’s.  It was a permanent altercation that affected his entire body, one that can’t be undone with magic negating material.  The dragon form, however, Aiden, however, theorizes that the dragon form is different, that it’s something requiring a spell to activate.  Piercing Eric’s heart, should return him to human form.  And everyone will remember me as a dragon slayer. The air whistles at the zweihander draw.  It arcs forward and clings as it collides against the scales.  The force behind Aiden’s swing is reflected back on him.  His sword turns into a lever against the scales and sends him tumbling to the side. Eric, still dripping molten ground from his jaw, snarls and hurls his body Aiden.  Aiden swings out an arm and propels himself upward by pushing against air.  A few quick kicks help him stabilize and flip over Eric’s head. A sharp pain cuts across Aiden’s back.  Eric’s barrel roll sends mud flying all over the arena.  Yet instead of chasing after Aiden who he sent crashing and is tumbling, he slams his taloned paw into the ground. Nothing happens. Aiden’s eyes pop open as he bursts with laughter.  He winces a few breaths later.  He’s too relieved to think much over how his spinal cord was almost severed.  That Eric didn’t charge forward is a lucky outcome to his stupid improved swordplay.  He heals the wound as he stands.  “Seriously, you are an idiot!  If it didn’t work before, what made you think you’d succeed now?  Read my lips, only morons give their enemies large scale magic circles to usurp.  You of all magicians should know that!” Eric snarls and lunges.  Aiden takes a breath and flings his zweihander at Eric’s chest. While the sword is flicked aside, he alchemizes a magic circle under the ground beneath his feet.  It’s small and away from his enemy’s reach in adherence to combat theory.  Oak trunk thick, molten red, tendrils with no regard to mana consumption burst from the ground like roots to snare Eric. They catch his wing as he tries ducking around them.  He then tries brushing them off, but they grab his arms and weave around his body. Regardless of how he rolls, pulls his wings, and twists his neck, he can’t overpower the tendrils.   Aiden watches Eric wrestle against his spell.  He knew it would be too slow due to being downstream the ley line and having to cast it the normal way, but banked on Eric’s arrogance.  Thanks to it, molten red is threading around the Eric’s black scales and forcing him still.  For insurance, he even hardens the mud pool back into solid ground.  “I’ve… won…” A low, grumbling laugh shakes the stadium.  Eric waits for Aiden to finish recalling his zweihander before saying, “You’re delusional.  Toss my sword off the ring.  I don’t want to dama—” Aiden acts before Eric can finish.  His failed impromptu swordplay sobered him of his mana high.  It almost turned all of his planning and preparation into wasted effort.   Eric notices the shift in Aiden’s attitude and sharpens his focus.  He directs all of his attention onto Aiden and fails to take note of how the shadow clones are coordinating themselves to a different pattern. I seriously couldn’t have asked for a better opponent. Aiden is also thankful for the sound barrier setup against the audience.  Few might realize his shadow clones are acting as a living magic circle, but anyone could warn Eric that they’re doing something.  He has no doubt Camillia would be the first. Eric tires of Aiden’s smug smile and says, “Well?  Get on with—”  A tendril clamps his snout shut. Aiden waits for Eric to tremble from rage before saying, “Too late.”  Blooming orange flames swallow Eric.  The blinding fire scorches and melts everything in its path as it blossoms across the arena.  Any remaining mud bubbles away and turns to ash.  Aiden pours all of his stolen mana into making his spell burn brighter and hotter. “It’s over.” The words finish rolling off his tongue when he feels a tremor shake the arena.  It’s not enough!?  All the information he gathered on Eric flashes through his mind.  Even the data to complete his spell was gathered during their match. “A miscalculation?” Aiden doesn’t try overwhelming Eric by making his spell burn hotter.  He gives up on his spell, hoists up his zweihander, and thrusts it into the ground.  By the time he grips the handle and dives behind the seven inch wide blade, the outburst is already tearing across his face. Dragon scales serve as naturally occurring magic circles, ones with the equation for mixing mana into the surrounding air for an explosion.  Circulating mana into them allows a dragon’s native ability to trigger: Eruption. The world around him shakes as the ground is torn asunder.  The intensity of the escaping air forces his eyes shut.  The pressure alone peels his exposed fingers.  That the plot of land he’s on hasn’t been blown away astounds him.  He half wonders if Eric can control his Eruption to such a degree, but soon drops the thought.  Even if Eric could, his earlier taunts were all for the sake of robing such clarity from him.  Regardless of the reason, he realizes he’s just lucky. Only as the technique begins to settle down does he realizes he’s screaming.  He stops himself only to then collapse against his sword.  After a few heavy breaths and coughs, he grips the crescent guard and hoists himself back onto his feet.  He doesn’t need to look around.  He knows not a single shadow clone could have survived that blast.  He tries to click his tongue, but instead almost falls over.  I’ll need to make more… His gaze drops down towards his hands as he prepares to clap them.  Ivory white flashes before him.  There is no feeling in either of them.  He tries moving his fingers as a test and despite the various stripped patches of flesh, they obey.  Aiden fights down the urge to throw up and regrows the missing nerves, ligaments, arteries, skin, and nails.  As he releases his held breath, a shadow washes over him.  A rumbling voice echoes from above.  “You endured it…” Aiden goes to answer, but chokes.  He clears his throat and then says, “O-obviously…”  He then forces himself to match Eric’s stare with a smirk.  “I’m not a fake.” Internally, he racks his brain on how to set up a new living magic circle.  Eric’s roar doesn’t let him think too deeply on the matter. Aiden leaps back to avoid being crushed by Eric’s paw.  He claps his hands together while in air and nine, light blue, spirit flames halo around.  They zip towards the oncoming second paw, but although they make Eric growl, do little to throw off his aim.  Aiden gets swatted aside and tumbles across the ripped up remains of the arena.  He bounces off the ground and crashes against an outcropping the knocks the wind out of him.  Eric doesn’t give Aiden any time to readjust himself.  He takes a deep breath in order to carry out another ability native to dragons: Dragon’s Breath. Aiden grits his teeth and traces a flame circle to summon his zweihander.  Dragon’s Breath, unlike Eruption, manifests through mana.  The fire is nothing more than a spell laced into the exhaled air.  His swing pulls him back onto his feet as he cuts through the flame. Eric persists and sends another round.  Aiden, not wanting to enter a stupid back and forth, once again shoves his zweihander into the ground and hides behind it’s seven-inch-wide blade.  The attack becomes nothing more a heavy wind against it. He catches his breath and thinks.  Plenty of his mana remains, but his strongest spell already failed.  Anything I do would just be a repeat. Regardless, Aiden claps his hands to create another platoon of shadow clones.  All of them explode a second later underneath a stream of fire.  He uses that as cover for his counter attack.  For Eric to attack with something else, he needs to stop his current fire breath.  Aiden counts on that time delay as he springs upward, grabbing his zweihander in the processes.  Eric breathes in unleashes another torrent of fire breath towards Aiden.  He really wants that to work… Aiden brandishes his sword before himself and kicks himself forward off the air.  The flames break into packets of light and fade as they split themselves against the blade.  He lands upon Eric’s snout and lunges.  Eric flings his head to the side, but he’s too slow.  The zweihander stabs into Eric’s eye.  The vigorous head jerk only serves to aggravate the injury.  It helps the sword tear across the rest of the eye. Aiden kicks off the air, flips, and lands a bit behind Eric.  A spell to amplify his voice over Eric’s ground shaking howls.  “Hey, moron!  Thanks for being so cooperative!” Eric homes in on the voice and pounces.  Aiden leaps back as Eric crashes into the most optimal location and braces himself for the next step.  He breathes in and activates the large scale magic circle he laid down back when he created his shadow clones.  As beams of light spear out of the ground.  While large clumps of debris are pushes aside, the smaller pieces of rubble vaporize. This is gonna hurt. The whole arena vanishes in a geyser of pure mana.  All the protective barriers places around the amphitheater shatter from the pressure alone.  Everything is drowned white. An unyielding roar drowns out all sound within that white.  Within that roar, Aiden is positive that he’s screaming.  Highly concentrated mana particles tear into his body and rupture through the other side.  To his surprise, the pain is so overwhelming, his body can’t even process it.  He can’t process anything.  His spell, M.A.D., is a gamble where he unleashes Earth’s might by prying open a ley line.  While a normal person would be vaporized by the attack, he is an ascended being while Eric is the former pinnacle of ascension ritual research.  Both of them are beyond humanity’s limits. It’s then that something rams into Aiden and sends him flying.  The impact is nothing to the pain coursing through his body, but if focuses his attention.  He still can’t see anything beyond the white blanketing everything and neither can he tell if he’s standing upright or flat on his face, but Eric’s just fine?  Something then slams down into Aiden and drills him into that direction.  Aiden has no idea what’s going on.  He only knows he can’t stay there.  As far as he can guess, he’s laying on the ground.  He does what he can to stand, but has no idea if he’s successful.  Regardless, he starts running any which way he can.  If he’s moving, stumbling, or falling flat on his face, he can’t tell.  Most likely, he’s being flung around like a rag doll. He’s helpless within the mana.  Its barrage overwhelms his senses, but it’s mana.  That’s just crazy… He takes a breath, or thinks he does, and lets it flow into him.  The same way Sifu taught him to draw mana from nature, he draws in the concentrated mana of the ley line.  It flows into him and radiates out of him to form a neon blue halo.  An azure blue flame appears within the white.  It spears through the dense mana and rams into the black dragon before flickering out.

Aiden and Harald stare each other down as they wait for their match to start.  The winner will move onto the main tournament starting in December.  That competition will be televised around the world for all magicians to watch. The stands over the past 2 months matches slowly filled in and are now less than a quarter empty.  Many were shocked to see Aiden emerge victorious round after round, but have since come to consider him the tournament dark horse.  Quite a few are even betting he’ll reach the finals despite the odds. Aiden takes a quick glance towards where he spotted Camillia sitting earlier.  She finally came to watch his match, but she and her friends solely give their support to Harald.  Not a single word of encouragement from those rising stars of the academy is shared with him.  That’s when Camillia says, “Don’t forget, Aiden’s weak to long range attacks.  He doesn’t have the mana to defend against a barrage!” Harald glances towards Camillia and then back towards Aiden.  A sliver of sympathy laces his voice as he says, “Does it hurt?” Aiden shrugs.  He tries to act carefree, but his voice trembles.  “Why would it?” Harald smirks and says, “You’ve been doing pretty good this year.  Didn’t some girl eliminate you in the third round last tournament?” Aiden sighs as Harald’s obvious attempt to change the topic.  “Don’t you research your opponents?  You fought her in your last match.” Harald shrugs as he says, “Why waste my time?  She isn’t anything special.” Aiden stares at Harald in dumbfoundment.  Only after a few seconds does he realizing he’s being provoked.  He then thrusts out a finger with a fearless laugh and says, “Don’t regret those words!” “Right back at you.” The match starts and Aiden dashes towards Harald.  He claps his hands before Harald can respond and uses alchemy to manipulate the ground into bursting up a dust screen.  Harald , anticipating Aiden’s well established tactic, leaps upward.  The runes tattooed across his chest glow and ethereal tendrils sprout from his back to hoist him above the cloud of dust.  He then uses Aiden’s clover to his advantage by crashing those tendrils all over the arena. The dust is blown away by the thrashing and Aiden is revealed both unharmed and wielding a seven inch wide zweihander.  More than that, not a single tendril appears to have reached him.  Harald looks at Aiden and then at his sword before spearing forth a tendril. Aiden whips his zweihander around with an arm, and with a flick of the wrist, splits the incoming tendril down the middle.  Not only does his weapon meet no resistance, the segment cut apart by his sword bursts and vanishes. The damaged tendril is pulled back where it then regenerates.  Aiden shifts his zweihander against his side as though it were a sheathed katana and smirks.  “Were you expecting clones?  Only an idiot uses the same trick over and over.” “That’s what you’ve been doing for the past two months…” Aiden dashes towards Harald while saying, “All for today!”  Internally, however, his thoughts are more honest.  It finally worked!  I really did need actual combat to focus my desires. Harald thrusts a pair of tendrils at Aiden, but he bisects them with an iai.  Aiden continues the swing as he leaps and circles his sword around so he can hoist it overhead.  Harald dodges the cut by propelling himself to the side with his tendrils.  Then, as Aiden continues past beside him, he activates the runes on his other arm.  He holds that arm forward while saying, “Idiot!” and fires quills from the palm. Aiden kicks down on the air as the quills reach him and he soars upward.  He flips around, squats upside down in midair, and bursts forward.  Harald instinctively blocks with a pair of tendrils, but Aiden cuts through them with his zweihander. Aiden once more kicks his foot off air and follows Harald as he tries escaping backwards.  He slashes.  Harald instinctively raises his arms to defend himself, but the attack slips through his guard.  Blood splatters from Harald’s chest as the strike knocks him onto the ground.  Aiden lands with a squat, but leaps onto his feet and spins around to face Harald.  He holds his zweihander forward and ready to clash again.  Harald coughs blood and white from his ribcage flashes as he stands back up.  That his bones resisted the attack surprises everyone.  His glare is locked on Aiden’s zweihander while a set of runes on his other arm begin to glow. Aiden, recognizing the pattern as a healing spell, dashes forward with his sword against his hip.   Harald immediately claps his hands and buys himself time to heal by alchemizing a massive stone wall.  Aiden judges it too thick for him to break through and darts towards its side.  A torrent of flame swallows him upon rounding the edge. He forces his way forward by shielding himself with the flat side of his zweihander.  Its seven inch wide blade can’t completely block the fire, but it covers him enough.  That which is exposed is quickly healed with a spell cast through his internal magic circle.  The flames blocked by the sword, like with the tendrils before, burst and vanish upon crashing into it. “Flames are his specialty!” The flame cover dissipates at Camillia’s warning.  Harald’s first instinct upon seeing Aiden so close is to leap back.  Aiden clicks his tongue and jumps up after him. The runes on Harald’s back glow, but he cancels the spell before the ethereal tendrils can appear.  His wariness towards Aiden’s zweihander prompts him to instead drop back onto the ground and activate the runes on his leg. A gale surrounds Aiden.  He kicks off the air in an attempt to escape, but the wind encases him.  Caught, he hurls his zweihander at Harald. Harald’s eyes bulge at the attack.  He never expected Aiden to toss aside what’s arguably his biggest advantage so easily.  He jerks his body to the side and the large sword zips past his face. Aiden is shocked by Harald looking away from him.  Flinging his zweihander wasn’t a desperate effort to escape.  Holding it was merely limiting his options.  By throwing it, even if he missed, his hands would at least be free leaving him in a position to try something else.  The current outcome is too outside his expectations. Regardless, he latches onto the opening and claps his hands together.  His alchemy is infused with the Daoist principles inherent to the left and right hands in order to link his internal magic circle with the outside world.  Nine, pale blue, balls of fire appear as a halo around him before launching towards Harald. Various students shout warnings to Harald.  He turns in time to see the flames streaking towards him where, on instinct, he conjures his ethereal tendrils.  The flames are blocked by the makeshift shield, yet he still screams out.  Those flames, unlike normal fire, directly attack the soul.  The mind, body, and soul are all linked.  Harald, by blocking them with something manipulated by thought, laid a direct link for the attack to reach his soul. Shock and pain make Harald lose control of himself and his spells, giving Aiden the opportunity he needs to air leap forward.  Aiden dashes towards Harald only to be slammed into the ground a flailing tendril.  Harald , despite his seething pain, feels through his tendrils that he struck something.  He latches onto the feeling and forces his mind back into focus where he then spots Aiden pushing himself back up.  Fear at what might happen if Aiden reorients himself motivates him into slamming down more tendrils against Aiden.  He repeats the attack until Aiden stops struggling.  Then, he then hoists him into the air, taking care to ensures he also binds his arms.  Harald waits for Aiden to finish coughing before saying, “That was spirit fire.” Aiden grimaces as looks down at him.  Despite his heavy breathing, his tone is laced with spite.  “Weren’t you listening?  I specialize in fire.” Harald , instead of answer, walks towards the discarded zweihander.  He tries lifting it with a tendril, but the moment the ethereal limb touches the silver blade, it bursts and fades.  While sending a curious glance towards Aiden, he says, “And this blade is made of anti-magic metal…” Another rune on Harald’s body glows, giving him the strength needed to lift the sword.  “Who are you?” Aiden smirks and says, “The scholarship student.” Harald frowns and opens his mouth to retort, but gets punched in the face before he can say anything.  As he stumbles, a tanned arm yanks the zweihander from his grip and flips it around.  He flinches, but the blade stops right against his neck.  Just breathing is enough for the edge to cut into his skin. Aiden is still bound and suspended by his tendrils, but half of his left arm has vanished within a ring of fire.  “A spatial linking spell, too…” “Going to continue?” Harald puts Aiden down while saying, “Even if I wanted to, it’d be declared my loss the second I try.  They’re just giving me the opportunity to honorable recognize my defeat.” Aiden, once free from his constraints, draws out his arm and zweihander from the ring of fire.  He twirls the sword around with his wrist and rests it on his shoulder.  “Good match.” Harald marches straight up to Aiden, locks eyes with him, and says, “You are amazing.  Teach me how to do that.” Aiden stares at him for a few seconds before saying, “What?” “Oh, come on!  That sword, your magic, I want to learn all about this.  Teach me!” “You just lost to me.” “Which is totally how I can tell that you’re amazing!  Not even my—  I mean, that was spirit fire.  It has nothing to do with alchemy, but you made it work.  That’s revolutionary.  I’d be crazy to ignore this.” Aiden glances to the side.  His tone is heavy.  “Ask Camellia…” Harald makes a face, but bites down his retort.

Aiden takes a breath.  He hides behind a tree as he tries to decide what to do.  The voices of his Maoli magic style training classmates drift over to him from their training field.  All of them are taking about the Strongest Under Heaven Magic Battle’s first round of the finals.  A few minutes have already passed since he arrived, but not once has his name been mentioned. While they were all shocked to see him step onto the field for the opening match, they didn’t hold back in cheering for him during his introduction.  Kalani even went so far as to shout out tips and advice.  Afterwards, when he won, they were the loudest in the amphitheater.  Everything is fine.  They wouldn’t have done that if hated me for not telling them I’m an academy student.  I’m not going to be told to stop coming to practice…   It’s then someone says, “Aiden’s late today.” Someone else says, “You think he’s not coming?” “Maybe he’s too good for us now?” Aiden takes a breath and steps out from behind the tree.  “I’m here, I’m here…”  He trails off as everyone turns to stare at him.  He stares back at them and after a few moments of silence, with uncertainty lacing his voice, says, “Thanks for the cheers…. Surprise?” Liam steps forward and punches Aiden in the arm.  “Dude!  You completely left us in the dark!  What gives?” Kalani walks up to his other side.  The annoyance covering her face is accompanied with a sharp tone.  “Why didn’t you tell us you’re an academy student?”   Aiden glances to the side.  His tone is meek, but without a trace of hesitation.  “Would you have really accepted me as a fellow disciple back when I joined if you knew?”  While Liam and Kalani are taken aback by the question, Aiden faces the rest of his training mates.  He takes courage from their silence and continues.  “You guys hate the academy students.” Liam says, “That’s cause they treat us like servants.  Maybe you’re right to have not said anything at first, but you should have told us after a while.” Kalani jabs Aiden with a finger and says, “Even if not us, at the very least to my dad.  He’s your sifu.  He invited you to train with us.  You’ve been lying to his face this whole time.” “I’ve known since the beginning.”  Everyone freezes at Sifu’s words.  In the same breath, they all face him and cup their hands as they bow.  Sifu continues, “Aiden hasn’t lied to me.  I’ve known of his situation from the start, an academy student without mana.” Liam suppresses a sigh as he says, “Then we have no reason to continue being mad at Aiden.” Kalani, however, looks away as she frowns out of annoyance.  “I want to learn how to do alchemy.” Sifu says, “Before that, the semi-finals.” Liam takes cue from Sifu’s words and says, “That’s right, Aiden, you’re facing Eric next.  He’s the top student and the defending champion.” “I have a few ideas.” Kalani looks Aiden over as she responds.  Her tone is accusative as she says, “Yeah?  Well how about the basics?  You’ve gotten pretty good at manipulating your internal magic circle, but what about gathering mana.  Not once have you ever filled your mana reserves.” Aiden shrugs, but desperation laces his voice.  “I’ve been meditating almost an hour every night for practice.  Last night I even did it for 2 hours, 2 hours.  Not once have I slacked off on this.” Liam says, “This might be more an issue of storage capacity than efficiency.  Even the worst student can fill their mana reserves after practicing for this long.  I mean, don’t you remember today’s match?  Did it look like Aiden was lacking in mana?” Sifu nods as he says, “Very good.  Liam, Kalani, I leave Aiden’s training in your hands for this week.” The three cup their hands and bow to him while saying, “Understood, Sifu.”

The door slams shut as Aiden rushes into his dorm room and flings it behind himself.  He had spent the whole day wondering how he’d get genetic material from a girl when he saw one throw out an unfinished slice of pizza.  He now holds that half-eaten slice as though it’s the Holy Grail as he dashes towards and half crashes into his desk.  He looks down at the open note book and reviews the most recent draft of a spell he created. He assures himself of the process and puts the pizza into his mouth, but stops before biting down.  He sets a small plate from one of his drawers on the desk and then resumes his spell.  He bites down on the cold pizza on an area already bitten by the previous owner, sets it down, and then forms a hand seal by wrapping his left hand over the first two fingers of his right hand.  He then shifts to other hand seals such as clamped hands with interlocked fingers, hands open with spread fingers while the index and thumb are touching, and the left fist cupped within the right hand while the right thumb overlaps the left thumb.  “Inverse chromosomes from circumspect to susceptible by referenced ingestion.” Aiden’s body glows with a blinding, neon blue, light which soon fades to reveal a slim, girl version, of himself.  Her shirt drapes over her body while her shorts barely cling to her hips.  Everything shifts around as she walks to her desk and looks down at the spell.  “This is horrible.  What the heck was I thinking?” She crosses out various instructions while saying, “Making the body lean towards femininity through hand seals is a waste of time.  In Daoism, the left hand represents Yin and femininity is an aspect of that.” She writes, Cupping the left hand over the right hand is symbolic of femininity over coming masculinity.  Combine Greek alchemy’s decomposition with fengsui to isolate the injected X chromosome. “No, that’s also off.  As long as the DNA relates to becoming a girl, it’ll also be left undamaged.  This will do more than change a few of my parts, it’ll rewrite my entire biochemistry.” She flips the page and continues, “How did I think chanting would be a good idea.  I’m ingesting foreign DNA.  I need my mouth for chewing.”  After a few more notes, she simplifies the spell with and exchanges it with a compatible, internal magic circle.  “And that should replicate the foreign DNA with a body wide illusion, fengsui will guide those strands into every cell of my body while another spell suppresses the original strands of those DNA sequences.  Eastern alchemy will then restructure my body accordingly with the guidance of fengsui.” She flips the page to the instructions for cancelling the spell.  With a sigh and a shudder, she says, “Seriously, what was I thinking?  I’d die a horrible death where all my cells dissolve from the inside leaving me as a puddle of goop on the floor.” Aiden comes up with two methods of returning back into being a man.  The first is clasping the right hand over the left and with an internal magic circle, release the illusion creating the foreign DNA.  The second involves clasping anti-magic metal between her hands.  The material will react by interrupting the magic circle and continue into the body where it will also release the magically bound foreign DNA.  The second method will save mana by removing the "illusionary DNA" without the need of a spell.  I knew I should have brought a sheet with me… I need to ask Kairi to send me some. Editing the two spells takes her little more than an hour.  The entirety of it, she passes standing hunched over her desk.  Only once finished does she straighten her back and stretch her arms.  A relieved sigh escapes her as various bones pop.  Then, while rolling her neck, she notices her binder of synthesized spells.  “Those are going to need a look over…” Editing the spells in the binder takes a few hours.  None of the spells require major editing, but minor tweaking let her improve the mana efficiency of some by a decimal.  I need to remember to retype these later.  She is so immersed in her work that she unconsciously finishes the pizza she planned on saving for future experiments. Aiden spends the next four days crafting spells she had rolling around her head, but had been unable to figure out until then.  She only stops working because she notices a strange smell in the air.  She looks around and spots cups of instant food piled in the sink.  Can’t be, I made sure to rinse them.  She catches another whiff of the odor upon turning around.  With an inquisitive frown, she looks down, lifts her collar, and sniffs.  It’s me? A quick glance in the mirror reveals that she is a mess.  While her expression teems with energy and adrenaline, a sense of ragged exhaustion seeps out from underneath.  Her cheeks are lined with smudges of food while her shirt is stained with different types of broth.  I did pretty much just gobbled whatever as fast as I could whenever I decided to eat.  Actually, did I eat today?  I think I did… She then realizes that she’s wearing the same unfitting outfit from when she first transformed.  “No wonder I stink.  I only created this spell to see if one sex is better at magic than the other, but this body’s brain is amazing.” Aiden opens a window to ventilate her room.  She then heads towards her field.  The academy grounds are oddly deserted, Actually, I’m the one who’s skipping… “Whatever, it’s not like they actually expect much out of me. A sly grin then crosses her face.  Not to mention, I’m way too valuable for them to expel in the first place. Aiden concludes her tests around midnight.  With a spell to illuminate her surroundings, she records her findings on a tablet.  She notes everything underneath her experiment logs. Men don’t have any particular advantage when it comes to magic.  They are, however, able to utilize strengthening spells to greater effect due to naturally having higher physical capabilities.  If men have a strength level of 10 and women have a strength level of 9, a fivefold increase would yield strength levels of 50 and 45 respectively.  Magic based around strength would be affected accordingly. Women, on the other hand, are better at preforming magic than men, but only at night and when it relates to outer space.  As long as it involves the stars, celestial bodies, or even a comet that’s just streaking by, a woman caster will consume less mana and conjure something much more potent.  “Maybe I can turn this in next year as my third year graduation thesis?” Aiden packs away her tablet and begins back for her room.  “Guess I’ll take a shower now…” Realization strikes Aiden’s face as she stops and cups her chest.  Ten fingers press into a pair of soft, small bulges.  Bright red colors her face as she realizes she’s a girl.  I was so caught up with everything that I never noticed! The few delusions of exploring her new body make her blush ever harder.  She shakes her head while saying, “No, no, no!  Forget it!  I’ll just turn back!” She then freezes upon realizing what that would mean.  Girl me is way smarter than boy me!  No, no, it’s okay, I still have that pizza.  I can just cast this spell again later.  

It's been two weeks since I came out as transgender to my family, to my friends, and to my classmates. Overall, it went fairly well. My family, after getting over the shock of it all, was accepting of my need to express who I truly was, a girl. And they were even more accepting of my new name, Emma. My friends? Well, I lost a few, but sometimes, that can’t be helped. My best friend, Johnny, freaked out at first but called me up a few hours later to apologize. The day after I told my family I wanted to be Emma, I went to school dressed as a girl. It was a huge step, one that my family disapproved of. But I knew that if I wanted to fully transition to a girl, I would have to face the world at some point. Might as well get it over with. When I showed up to class that first cold dark morning, I was met by mixed reactions. Some were positive, some were negative, and some were neutral. I did have to deal with bullies, three to be exact. They were older than me and massive jerks. So I did my best to ignore them, which is what the adults ask us to do when faced against bullies.    Now, two weeks after that day, I stood in front of a mirror wearing a classic princess costume. A classic, pink, princess costume, purchased by my mother, of course. It was something I had dreamed of wearing as long as I could remember but was too scared to wear one in the past. Now I was free to wear it, and even better, on Halloween. I may be slightly too old to go trick-or-treating, but my first Halloween as a girl was too much of a grand opportunity to pass up. It honestly felt like some sort of formal event. The pictures, the posing, it was all a dream come true.   Trick-or-treating was slightly more difficult, not because of my costume, but because I looked a bit older than the average trick-or-treater. Most the attention was diverted to my younger siblings, but I didn’t mind. Everybody I talked to saw me as I wanted to be, a girl wanting to be a princess. But Halloween was special in my family. We would often tell stories about things that could come out when night fell. All the supernatural creatures; werewolves, vampires, ghosts, demon creatures. These things were fun to think and tell stories about all of it. This was a family tradition and I was proud to be a part of it, especially as a pretty pink princess.   “Hurry up, Emma,” my little sister urged.   “We still have a ton of trick-or-treating to do,” my other little sister followed.   “Alright, alright, I’m coming… I’m coming,” I said. The only problem with my dress was that the skirt was a bit poofy, making it slightly difficult to run. I made up for this by raising the skirt off the ground, allowing me to run faster on the boots I was wearing. Running to catch up to my two baby sisters, I came around the corner to find my sisters hiding behind a bush. Why were they hiding? Because the three bullies that I have had since I came out as transgender two weeks ago were on the other side taunting a little girl dressed in a Rainbow Dash costume. They were pushing her around as she tried to jump for the candy bucket the three had obviously stolen from her. She was crying while begging them to give it back. In response, the three laughed harder.   “HEY, YOU FUCKS! Give that back!” I yelled at them as emotions of bravery washed over me. The little girl they were taunting looked about the same age as my baby sisters and even if I was their sister now, I was still going to protect them and those like them.  Quickly, the three bullies turned to see who had called them out. Their eyes came to rest on me. At first, there was a look of shock on their faces, but it changed when they realized who I was, at which the look became a sick smirk.   “Look who comes to the rescue, the fag. And look, guys, he’s a pretty, pretty, princess!” All three started laughing.   “Hey, that’s not very nice!” one of my sisters called out, joining me in standing up to the bullies.   “Yeah, go away, you big meanies,” my other sister called out. My bravery had given them bravery.   Smiling, “You hear them, get going,” I told them.   The three looked at each other, then mockingly said, “As the princess commands.” With that, they ran off, laughing. The little girl that they had been bullying fell to her knees and started crying. I ran up and knelt down beside to comfort her.   "Why were they" (sniffle) "so mean" (sob) "to me?" she cried. I looked around for her candy bucket, only to be dismayed when I realized that those bullies took this girl’s candy bucket when they ran off. I knew from what I saw that the bucket she’d had was full of candy, so losing the bucket to those jackasses must have been devastating to her. My two sisters were trying to comfort her, but they couldn’t get her to stop crying. But I knew what to do.   “Here you go.” I offered her my candy bucket. There wasn’t much in it, but still. The little girl looked up at me timidly, tears still in her eyes, unsure whether I was actually offering it or I was planning to trick her. “It's alright,” I reassured her. The little girl tenderly reached up and took the bucket. Without hesitation and without me asking, my two baby sisters took half of what was in their buckets and dumped it into the little girl’s newly acquired bucket, completely filling it. The girl perked up; her stolen hard work had been returned. She quickly jumped up and wrapped her hands around me in a big hug.   “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she said over and over again with a tone of pure joy. She pulled back, looked me straight in the eye and said, “You truly are a princess.” And she ran off, I hoped to find her mother. I had lost my candy, but to make that little girl happy was worth it. I did realize that I had completely forgotten to ask what her name was, but her comment about me being a princess, well, words couldn’t describe what I felt. With a lightness in my heart, we started back home. I got three blocks from my house when my mother appeared to relieve me of my duty of watching over my sisters and told me that one of my friends, Johnny, had come over to invite to a Halloween party he and a bunch of my classmates were having over at Johnny’s house. She told me to go have fun, so I did. It was Halloween night, and I wanted to have fun. As a girl no less.   I actually ran into Johnny on the way to his house and after him commentating on how cute I looked, we continued the rest of the way together. We made small talk about the past couple of weeks and how eventful it had been. A few more comments about my princess dress topped off our arrival at the Halloween party. From the sound of it, it was wild. Johnny stated he had something to do around back, so he left me alone to walk through the front door. And when I did, I shut down the party. Everybody turned to look at me. The music stopped. A cup dropped. And no one was wearing a costume, except for me.   “Wow, Ethan, going all out, aren’t you?” one partygoer said, calling me by my old and discarded name. Their stares were making me feel deeply uncomfortable and I somewhat wanted to leave. But, then again, I needed to face this to prove that I would face whatever came my way. So I moved about with the party resuming some of its wildness. My poofy skirt made walking around partygoers difficult, with some tripping over it.   “Sorry, sorry, sorry,” I kept saying to those who tripped. I was trying to find Johnny, but the amount of effort to move from one room of the house to another made it pointless and made me realize that the princess dress I was wearing wasn’t made for parties. Then, to my utter shock, I saw them. My three bullies who stole the candy from that little girl. To add insult to injury, they were actually in the middle of eating the candy they had stolen. They didn’t notice me, but if they did, I had half a mind to walk up and kick them right in the groin.   “Emma!” Johnny called over the noise of the party, from the opposite end of the house. “Over here,” he yelled, waving his hand. Great, I’d have to walk back through the party with my poofy dress. But before I did, I quickly glanced over to the three bullies and saw that they were focused solely on me. Their glares felt weird, almost inhuman.   Going back through the party goers was easier said than done, but when I reached where Johnny was waiting, he guided me into an empty side room. He walked toward the other side of the room to pick up something, with me looking on with mild curiosity.   “Emma,” he started to say.   “Yes?” I asked.   “You are truly a princess,” he said. I blushed at his comment. I truly felt like a girl, both mentally and physically, at that moment. Then he picked up a bat. “But you are still a fag that must be dealt with.” What?! Johnny was my friend. My best friend, my most supportive friend. But this ‘friend’ turned around and his face became twisted, sick. He slowly began to walk toward me, holding up the bat.   I backed up, terrified of the situation I was now in. Then I backed into something; turning around, I faced the three bullies who had the same twisted sick face that Johnny did. One shut the door and locked it. This… this was a trap. Johnny’s support of me being transgender, the party, it was a trap. “It’s time for you to take part in your own, personal, Halloween nightmare.” I heard Johnny cackle, then the force of the bat being whacked against my head, then nothing.   I woke up sometime later but felt extremely sick and disoriented. I had a massive headache, and I couldn’t see or hear anything. I was laying on something soft but felt pressure on top of me. I couldn’t even tell if I was still wearing my princess dress. My sides ached, and piercing pain began to make itself known in my leg and arm. Then I slipped back into the darkness. When I emerged again, the pain was worse, and I felt even worse in every part of my body. At that moment, I thought I was going to die, all because of some sick fucks. As I slipped back into the darkness, I hoped it would be the last time.   But I didn’t die. I woke up again and even though my condition had deteriorated, I still couldn’t see anything, but I could barely hear people moving about the room, as well as music from the party and the sounds of pictures being taken by some old, loud camera. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but I could make out the tones. The tones of these bastards sounded excited. Maybe I was imagining it, but it seemed the tones turned from excitement to confusion as the house began to shake. Then it stopped, but at the same time, the wild sounds of the party died out. I sensed the ones in the room moving about, trying to figure out what was happening. Then the door was blown open, the force sending it crashing into the wall beside me. It was impossible not to know this, it was so loud and made my head feel worse. The tones turned from confusion to anger as they confronted whatever had knocked down the door. I could hear Johnny amidst everything. I was beginning to slip back into the darkness when, suddenly, the tones of Johnny and most likely those three bullies suddenly turned from anger to pure terror. They started screaming so loud that I could actually make out them attempting to beg something to stay away from them. Something was here, something bad, something out of a Halloween horror story.   The four sounded so petrified. Then, the room was filled with a bright light, so bright that even in my condition, even in my blindness, I could see it. In the light, the screams rose to their highest levels. The room shook violently, then suddenly, the screams faded to nothing. Everything went quiet, and my blindness returned. A figure made its way over to me, I could hear the quiet footsteps approach me. Whatever had attacked the four was now going to claim me. I felt so close to death at this point, I didn’t really care. I closed my eyes and waited for the quiet embrace of death on this Halloween night. But instead, I heard a muffled voice that I thought I recognized and the snap of fingers. My body was overcome by a warm, piercing, comforting feeling.   My mind cleared, my body’s aches went away, but another strange feeling came over me. A feeling of something changing within me. Then the feeling disappeared and whatever injuries I had suffered were gone. The ringing in my ears ceased which means I could once again hear perfectly. I opened my eyes, relieved that I could once again see. I felt a presence beside me and I turned to find that my savior was a little girl with pure blue eyes and goofy smile, wearing a Rainbow Dash costume. It was the little girl that my sisters and I had comforted and given candy to after the three attackers had stolen her candy bucket.   “Those were some sick fuckers. Well, are you feeling better?” she asked me in concern. I looked around the room, which was, to my surprise, Johnny’s room. But there was no Johnny or the three attackers. All that was in the room was me and this ‘thing’.   “Who… who are you?” I asked nervously, noting that my voice sounded higher pitched than before.   “I’m Sammie,” she answered.   I looked around the room again, then back to where the door had hit the wall. The pure terror in my attacker’s voices before they disappeared, as well as the damage made it obvious clear that Sammie was no little girl. “What… what are you?” I asked, my voice keeping the same nervous spark. I again noticed the difference in pitch in my voice.   Sammie simply shrugged. “It’s not important. What is important is that you are okay.”   “What did you do to me?” I questioned.   “I healed you. From the injuries of your head, body, and that gender problem you were having.” Sammie listed off.   Gender problem? Wait, does that mean? I brought one hand up to my chest, and the other down to my groin. From what I could feel through my ruined costume, the change to my voice suddenly made sense. Sammie cured me by changing me into a girl. A true, biological girl. Suddenly, I forgot about the ‘Halloween nightmare’. My greatest wish was granted by my apparent rescuer. I rolled off the bed and grabbed Sammie and pulled her into a hug. Sammie returned the hug. “Thank you,” I cried. “Thank you for everything.”   “You're very welcome,” she said. Then a thought came over me.   “But why?” I asked her.   Sammie’s smile never faded. “A princess once said that when you carry out an act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, that you would have a feeling that someday, someone might do the same for you. You and your sisters helped me and when I finally sensed that you were in danger, I came to your rescue. Because it took some time for me realize this, I knew I had to give you what you wanted most.” Sammie reached up and wiped the tears off my face, “Now, time to send you home. Your family is worried sick about you. Don’t worry about the partygoers and the four that attacked you. I have taken care of them. Now, close your eyes, I will send you home.” I did as Sammie asked and I felt her bop my nose. Within seconds, I found myself standing in my driveway. Multiple cop cars were parked in front of my house.   Turning around, I saw the first light take hold across the skies, signifying that a new day was beginning. I heard the front door opening and my name being called out by my mother and sisters. I heard the sound of their footsteps running towards me. I didn’t turn to face them, rather, I looked down at myself. My dress was ruined, but I knew that I was really and truly Emma. Looking back up at the sunrise, I pondered about my rescuer. I knew Sammie wasn’t a traditional Halloween creature. She created such terror in my attackers, but at the same, displayed kindness towards me. She came to my rescue. And just before my family embraced me into a hug, I pondered over one last question. Sammie wasn’t a Halloween creature, but was it possible that my rescuer and the deliverer of my greatest wish, the little girl that called herself Sammie, was actually and truly… an angel?

Announcement Here is the first main chapter as the story gets under way. This is the first time i'm writing a story completely in first person so it may read a little odd in some places, especially with monologue sections. Thanks for reading. ================================ "Asterin, Asterin. Did you hear?." My best friend Sarah said as she looked down at her smartphone. On the screen was a site that seemed to list all sorts of rumours, probably all made up bullshit. "It says here that people have supposedly sighted 'roamers' a few suburbs over.It's kind of scary to have them be so close to where we are." She looked up at me with a concerned expression as she spoke. "Don't you think that there's a chance we might be evacuated?"   "It's possible." I answered as i got lost for a second looking into her brown eyes. Turning my eyes away, i looked around the classroom to see what our classmates were up to. The rumour was news to me but judging by the nervous behaviour of some of them, the rumour seemed to spread quite a bit. A lot of them were looking at things on their phones, probably news or rumours, just like Sarah was doing.  Even though this was technically a normal class, the teacher didn't seem to care about what we were doing.  I returned my attention to Sarah and got lost in thought.   Sarah Mason, my closest and longest friend. Sarah was very much your stereotypical teenage girl, interested in her phone, boys, fashion and gossip (not necessarily in that order). Her long blonde hair, pale skin and naturally slender figure was the envy of a lot of girls yet her lively and outgoing personality meant she got along with everyone. Like all of the other girls, she wore our school's female uniform which was a short sleeved, knee-length dress with a tartan pattern of gold and various shades of dark green. Somehow she managed to make it look very fashionable which was a source of mystery to me. With long red hair, skin the golden colour of wheat and a well proportioned body i stood out in contrast when you looked at us next to each other. It didn't help that my uniforms, for some reason, always seemed to be a little too tight despite them being the right size for me.   It was at that point that the bell began to ring in a pattern of five short rings. That meant that there was going to be an announcement over the PA system. A little bit of static sound came out of the speaker as we all turned our attention to listen.  A second or two passed before we heard the voice of the principal begin to speak.  "Attention all staff and students. This is the principal speaking. I have just been in communication with staff at the State Emergency Defence Centre. The state government has declared this suburb, Mt. Oran, an immediate danger area subject to evacuation. Defence Force troops have been dispatched to begin evacuating the school in line with emergency policy. Staff members, take count of your classes so as to avoid missing any students."    When the announcement ended, a wave of panic spread through the classroom, affecting all of us. Already, a few of our classmates had begun to cry while i could see tears starting to gather in the corner of Sarah's eyes. "I'm scared. They only evacuate us if there was a real, close danger right?. That must mean they are nearby." Sarah was very frightened and, to be honest, so was i. We'd all seen the footage taken of 'roamer' attacks, of the horrific injuries and of the bodies returning to their feet after death. Neither of us wanted to be caught in an outbreak but it seemed like fate had other plans for us.   "We'll be okay. The principal said that help was on the way and that we'd be evacuated. We just have to trust the authorities." I said as i pulled her into a hug. Even as i tried to calm her, i was teetering on the verge of tears as well. It was clear that any evacuation was a race against time. Would we be saved or would the area be overrun and all of us either devoured or turned into inhuman monsters as well?. The class devolved into a chattering mess as students talked or cried or just went silent and became withdrawn. It was interesting, in a surreal way, to see how our classmates reacted to the news.   About twenty minutes later, a wave of dull noise began to build from a distance then became a roaring sound as it got closer. As a distraction from our thoughts, we all turned to look out the windows on the external wall of the classroom. A wave of dots moved into view and rapidly turned into helicopters as they approached the school at speed before finally passing over the buildings where we lost sight of them though we could still hear them clearly. There was the sound of clapping which brought our attention to the open door where our teacher was now standing with the class roll in his hands. "As you leave the room, i will check you off on the roll. Move out into the common area and wait while i discuss with the other teachers."   I picked up my sports bag, slung it over my shoulder then joined the line with Sarah to leave the classroom. We shuffled out, got our names checked then joined the growing crowd of students milling about in the common area between the four classrooms of the section. There were kids crying and sobbing while others were in a daze. A few were even looking out the windows trying to see the helicopters again. Sarah and i found some empty space at a side and leaned against the wall to wait. "They're going to fly us out, huh. I wonder where to and how long it would take?" Sarah spoke as she glanced out the window at the sky.   Just as i was about to speak in reply, i was distracted by the sight of a teacher who rushed into the common area then started speaking quickly with the other teachers. They talked amongst themselves then moved to the entrance of the common area and called for our attention. "Listen up students. In a minute, we're going to split you into two groups according to your classes. One group will be led to the back playing fields while the other will be brought to the football fields. From there, you will wait to board the military helicopters. These helicopters will then fly you to a safe zone far out of the city. Now, classes 4-2 and 4-4 will go to the rear fields. Classes 4-1 and 4-3 will go to the football fields." *****  When we got to the football field, we were finally able to see a lot more than we could in the classroom. In the distance, there were so many columns of smoke rising that it seemed like the city was burning. Far overhead, i could just make out all sorts of planes flying in all directions to flee the city. On the main road that ran past the far side of the field and the school, all sort of vehicles were stuck in one huge traffic jam, honking their horns in futility. Closer to us, the view was just as stunning.   On the football field sat six helicopters, their rotors continuing to spin, as crew chiefs had already begun directing the first groups of students onto the choppers. Several more choppers circled overhead, likely watching for any clear signs of 'roamers' while awaiting their turn to land. Despite the situation, i couldn't help but geek out internally as i watched the display of military hardware. It was my guilty pleasure, one only Sarah knew about. "Blackhawks, MRH90s and a Chinook. They've certainly committed to the school evacuations with these." I muttered to myself as i continued to watch.   I suddenly felt Sarah nudge my side then heard her speak. "Asterin, look over there." I turned and saw that she was pointing to the school's back gate. On the other side of the gate, a crowd of local residents were starting to gather together. They were probably hoping for the army to rescue them and take them to safety. On our side of the gate, a squad of soldiers stood in a line facing the crowd with weapons ready and grim expressions on their faces. "Do you think that they'll be rescued as well?" Sarah asked as she watched the crowd. I just shook my head in reply. It was clear from their demeanor that the soldiers were there to guard the evacuation and not to rescue others.   Even as we watched the crowd grow, the evacuation of students continued at a quick pace. Helicopters landed, were packed with students and staff then took off again. For an operation in a rush, things progressed unusually smoothly especially considering the situation at the time. However, that was not to last. As the last two groups, including the both of us, were led to the helicopters things turned from bad to worse. There were suddenly screams and then gunshots from behind us so we hurried to climb in. I was the last to climb in then sat down, slipped on a headset which hung from the top of the bay and joined the rest of the group as we watched, in shock and terror, the crowd at the gate devolve into chaos.   Several people within the crowd seemed to have turned and had begun attacking everybody around them. Several people were bitten before the gate was forced open by the weight of the crowd pressing on it. The soldiers tried to take out the 'roamers' but their numbers increased faster than they could be killed while the crowd blocked most of their chances to shoot. All of this happen in the span of not more than a minute. The crew chief slid the bay door closed then climbed into the gunner's bay as the chopper began to lift off the ground. At the same time, the 'roamers' overran the remaining civilians and soldiers.   Everyone had just started feeling relieved that we had made it away just in time when there was a succession of cracks and bangs followed by a scream and a pained groan. Everyone began screaming in terror as the helicopter began to spin wildly out of control. I could just make out one of the pilots on the radio talking. "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! Evac 5-5 is hit. Main pilot is dead, co-pilot is injured. Aircraft ha sustained critical damage. We are going down. I repeat. Evac 5-5 is hit and going down."   When i heard the pilot declare that we were going down, i strapped myself in with the safety restraints then strapped Sarah in as well. I waved my hand in front of her face to get her to focus on me then took hold over her hand as i leaned close to her face to speak. "Sarah, hold on tight because we're going to crash." The ground and houses were a rapidly approaching and unfocused blur through the door windows until there was a a thunderous bang and we were jolted heavily by an impact. The helicopter had hit the ground at an angle then began to bounce and violently roll across the ground.What happened after that is just a blur of shattered, scattered fragments of memories. Everyone and everything not strapped down was sent flying around the cabin, bouncing off everything else as they flew. I remember the pain from being hit several times by flying objects or limbs. The last thing i remember during the crash was that something hit my head very hard then i screamed in pain and blacked out.  ==========================

First of all, thank you for choosing to read this novel and i welcome any and all constructive feedback or even just if you enjoyed the story. There are a few things to be explained so as to cut down on any potential problems in reader's understanding of the world: 1. This is a draft so the story quality wont be top notch. I'll try my best to keep good grammar and structure. 2. This story is written as i go so there will be no set release schedule. Chapters will be release when they are ready. 3. The novel is set in an alternate earth which diverged from our reality around 2008, the time of the Global Financial Crisis. 4. When applying views and opinions from reality to the novel's world, your mileage may vary.   Nov 9 2021 edit: Still currently on hiatus but hopefully plan to get back to this soon(tm). Life has been.... well, life and i have found myself in the problem of deciding which way i want to take the story from the many different ideas i have. Might pop a poll up to see if any zombie readers are still around   Q&A section: If you have a question or speculation, feel free to PM me on the NUF forums. Once the forums here are up and running, you can contact me there as well.

Announcement A/N: This is the first actual chapter and is fairly full with information which sets up how things came to be. Enjoy! ================== The Ebola outbreaks in West Africa in  2013-14 gave a great scare to the global community and exposed flaws in the myriad international Non Government Organizations and aid groups which commonly operate around the world. In particular, several recorded cases of aid workers who had been unknowingly infected with the virus but were allowed to return to their home countries without proper medical checks, and several subsequent infections of hospital personnel, incited outrage among the general population at the perceived lax nature of the 'humanitarian' approach to infectious disease control followed by NGOs. In the face of the public outcry, most governments implemented laws which mandated proper procedures for those returning from assisting in known disease outbreaks. This led to NGOs and aid groups concealing their operations and the movements of their volunteers to avoid the new measures.   In 2017, a spate of viral outbreaks occurred in the same geographical areas that had been affected by the Ebola outbreaks several years earlier. This coincidence, coupled with victims displaying symptoms that seemed to be those of Ebola, led to a mistaken belief that the outbreaks were a resurgence of Ebola. Aid groups and volunteers flocked to the region to treat those affected by the virus but no effort was made to determine if the outbreaks were indeed Ebola or something else. The belief was compounded when new Ebola treatments seemed, initially, to be effective as expected when given to infected patients.   One year later, in 2018, the first western victims, all of whom were aid workers or volunteers, began to be diagnosed as having been infected with the virus and quickly placed under quarantine. When these victims began to show symptoms completely different from what was expected, national health and disease management organizations began studying those infected in the hopes of identifying both the virus and any possible treatment options. In June 2018, every single identified victim of the virus successively began to die, one by one, only to resurrect minutes, hours or days later. This new development confounded scientists and sent the world into a panic.   In light of the developments, the United Nations and other global organizations, like NATO, took swift action to quarantine the African continent to hopefully prevent the spread of the virus, dubbed the 'Horizon' virus by the world media. A total air and sea blockade was instituted, focused primarily on the northwest, north and east sides of Africa where other countries could be reached in relatively short periods of time. A multinational ground force, spearheaded by Israel and Jordan, constructed a series of layered defenses and barriers on the western side of the Sinai peninsula that completely blocked, controlled and monitored everything west of the Suez canal and the Gulf of Suez.   Every attempt made to flee Africa by air, sea or land was met with a military reaction. Africans were forced to return to the continent while any tourists from outside Africa were taken away for quarantine until it could be determined if they were infected or not. The continent itself began a slow descent into anarchy. This descent accelerated when outbreaks of the virus began occurring across north and central Africa. Countries all across the world began to impose strict controls on those wishing to enter while anybody who had been in West Africa during the initial viral outbreaks were detained and quarantined for testing and observation.   Left-wing moralizing groups, disliked throughout the world due to their 'holier than thou' attitudes, held protests around the world to oppose the new protection measures and demanded both the release of those quarantined and the lifting of the full blockade of Africa. In several countries, these groups quickly discarded peaceful protest and moved straight to active resistance, spiriting aid workers into hiding and hindering efforts to quarantine them. Within several week, the consequences of this 'resistance' became clear as the first outbreaks began to occur outside of Africa, due to those infected which had been hidden away escaping from where they were kept and the concurrent infections of their erstwhile allies.   Within three months of the first outbreak, several small countries around the world had been completely overrun by the inhuman creatures whilst many other countries were combating their own outbreaks and thus were unable to aid them. It was at this time that scientists working on analyzing the 'Horizon' virus made several discoveries about the virus and how it was spread. It was found that victims who were bitten directly by a 'roamer', as the creatures themselves had been dubbed, had a greater than 85% chance of becoming a 'roamer' themselves. Contact with infected blood, however, was unlikely to cause a change unless it entered the blood stream directly through open wounds. Those bitten by a 'roamer' could could turn at any time as analysis of eyewitness accounts concluded that there was no single consistent time frame for the infected to turn. In the case of death, an infected person would immediately turn as soon as their heart stopped.   By March 2019, every country that hadn't already fallen was suffering from outbreaks and the chaos that followed. Attempts were made to contain the growing swarms as best as possible. Military forces, along with police and other emergency services, worked to defend and evacuate civilians from areas under threat to zones that could be properly secured from assault. These efforts, however, were thrown into anarchic chaos once the virus spread reached a saturation point and those infected began to turn after only ten minutes.   One area greatly affected by this unexpected change in the virus behaviour was the city of Sydney in Australia. At the time of the Sydney outbreaks, and the subsequent fall of the city, i was just a sixteen year old student in year 10 of high school. I was there as the suburb i called home was overrun and the city became a living hell. My name is Asterin Prior and this is my story.....

Sabruness Oh wow, it's been over 4 years since i started posting this story. Finally i can get around to posting this chapter which has been sitting in draft for about 4 years, 2 months and 2 weeks. Gonna try and see if i can get another chapter out within the next week or two... maybe. i've got some new ideas that will require a slight rejig to my existing rough ideas (nothing that should require the existing chapters to be changed). Next up should hopefully be a bit of a 'history' chapter which will be a similar 'retrospective' style as the 00 chapter. it will cover a bit of one of the new ideas i had to try and flesh things out a little while adding a little difference compared to the 'usual' early phase post-apoc story.  ==================== The next thing i remember is waking up after crash with a bad headache. At the time, i could only see through my left eye as i looked around the cabin at the carnage that resulted from the crash. The chopper seemed to have come to rest on it's left side as the cabin was tilted at an angle and i could only see rubble and debris through the smashed left side windows. I then turned and reached out to Sarah and began shaking her should with my left hand, trying to wake her. "Sarah, can you hear me?. Come on, wake up Sarah." After a minute or so of shaking, i finally got a response as Sarah groaned and opened her eyes. "Asterin? What happened?" She dazedly asked me. I reached to my chest and began fumbling with the harness as i tried to gather my thoughts and answer her. "The helicopter..." i winced and stopped mid-sentence as a jolt of pain went through my head. After the pain subsided, i finished what i was saying. "It crashed." As i spoke, i managed to get the harness undone and free myself. As a result, i half tumbled out of my seat and landed on Sarah. Fortunately, it was a very short distance and we're both quite soft. "Crashed? So we're trapped? What are we going to do now?" Sarah said as she began to cry and tremble. I could feel her shaking in terror through the body contact but admittedly i was shaking as well. I carefully climbed off of Sarah but held onto the seat so that i wouldn't fall further down the cabin. I needed to calm her down so i figured i'd give her something to focus on. "All we can do is try our best, Sarah. Could you try and find a first aid kit, please? I'm going to check on the others. " It was then that i heard Sarah gasp as she looked up at me. "Asterin, your.... your head. It's bleeding." When i heard her, i reached up with my right hand and touched it to my face then to the side of my head above my eye. As soon as it touched, i winced from the pain that flared and pulled my hand away. I lowered my hand and saw that my hand was covered in blood. "Gotta... gotta stop the bleeding. Um.. uh..." I began to panic a little as it seemed like a lot of blood was flowing. That was probably also why i couldn't open my right eye at the time. Sarah suddenly reached into her bag, which hung at her side, and pulled out a pair of folded up tights. "Lean forward so i can reach better." Sarah said as she refolded the tights into a makeshift bandage. I moved like she asked before she placed the thickest part over the bleeding spot then tied them tightly around my head. Finally, she used the end of one of the legs to wipe the blood off my face so that i could open my eye. "It's only a temporary fix but it should help stem the bleeding at least. Even minor scratches like that tend to bleed a lot on the head." As if she could read the question on my face, she smiled and explained. "Well, you know my mom is a nurse. She's always insisted on me learning first aid skills to be prepared. I never expected to use them in a situation like this though." She said with a nervous yet infectious giggle which quickly spread to me. I'll admit that giggling in that situation is very odd but we needed it or we would have psychologically fallen apart. Thanks to that, i was able to focus and gather myself to do what i needed to do. I carefully climbed down the cabin to where our fellow students, once living people, lay crumpled in a tangled heap of humanity with limbs splayed out or bent at odd angles. I reached out to check the first person, a girl, laying on the top of the heap. Her head was bent at a strange angle and her eyes were wide open, staring off into space. I still sometime see those blank, lifeless eyes when i'm able to sleep. It was clear to me that she was dead so i gently shut her eyes then searched her and gathered her personal effects, like her phone, wallet and jewellery. I then moved on to checking the rest of them. Some of them were very clearly dead, their head twisted far beyond what the human neck could handle. Others had no obvious signs of injury except for huge bruises on parts of their heads. As i confirmed another dead, i gathered their personal belongings like jewelry, wallets and phones in the vain hope that i could return them to their families in the future. A likely futile gesture but it was something to cling to. Just as i was about to give up hope for survival, i noticed something about the girl i was checking. Up and down... her chest was moving. She was alive!. "Wake up. Come on, wake up please." I plead as i worked to free her from the pile of bodies. I finally pulled her free then laid her out on the bench seat where we had originally sat. "I've got the first aid kit." I heard Sarah say as she came up and crouched next to me, the kit balanced on her legs. "Leave her to me. You... do what you do best." she mumbled as she began to check the girl for injuries. Her decision was right so i got up to begin searching for any and all useful items i could find. Sarah gave me a nod and a smile before i climbed forward into the gunners bay. The crew chief had not survived the crash either and lay crumpled on the left side. I gathered his dogtags and personal items, removed the holstered pistol from his flight suit then returned to my bag and put them away. I made my way to the semi-crumpled cockpit this time and repeated the process for the pilots before searching for any more weapons or survival kits. By the time i had found a few items and returned to the passenger cabin, Sarah had managed to wake up the girl. She had her sitting on a seat with a bandage wrapped around her right wrist and left ankle. Sarah turned and smiled at me before she began to talk about the girl. "Meet Angie Simmons, year 8. She has a sprained wrist and ankle but apart from that she's fine." Angie was small and petite with shoulder length brown hair and very pale looking skin. I gave Angie a nod and a quick smile as i placed the last few items on my bag and began to check over them. Sarah continued to talk, this time to Angie. "That quiet but determined girl is my best friend Asterin Prior and i am Sarah Mason. We're both in year 10. I don't know what to talk about now." I stifled a short giggle when i heard that. That was just like Sarah, managing to get a giggle in any situation. I turned to face them and gave them a serious look. "Ok. I've gathered and tallied anything that may be of use to us for survival. For defence, i was able to gather three M9 pistols with three full magazines each and an F88A2 Steyr carbine with three magazines." I explained as i strapped two of the pistol holsters to my legs and put the third in my bag for safekeeping. "I also found the crew's personal survival kits along with the emergency kit. They have some food rations, medical stuff and other helpful stuff." I held up the small bags for them to see then placed them back down. I opened up my bag, pulled out my bulky textbooks and tossed them to another part of the cabin. "Get rid of your textbooks and any other heavy items from your bags. We don't need to carry the weight." I left them to sort out their bags while i retrieved the bags of our schoolmates and piled them up in an open area of the cabin. "What are you doing Asterin?" I turned my head and saw Sarah watching me while Angie dug around in her bag. I returned my attention to the bags and opened the first one. "I'm going to see if there is anything that we could use. Clothes, food... anything we could use." Some might see my actions as morally questionable at best and heartless at worst but practicality trumped sentimentality at that time. As i dug through the bag, i pulled out any items of food or pieces of clothing i found and piled them on the seats in front of me. When i finished the first bag, i then went through the others until i had checked them all and a large pile of items sat on the empty seats. "Pack as much as you can into your bags. We can sort it all out once we find a safe place to spend the night." I began to pack things into my bag when i heard footsteps come over and stop next to me before Sarah spoke. "Asterin, are you sure we should do this? Isn't it stealing?" I couldnt fault Sarah for thinking like that, as it was the common sense of the normal world, but the world was no longer how it was yesterday. "Yes, i'm sure. I understand how you feel about this but the world has changed and i think we have to change along with it if we want to survive." I saw Sarah's bag dropped to the floor next to mine before her arms began to pack things away, joined a minute later by what i assume was Angie's bag. We spent a few minutes packing in silence until everything had been put away. "I think that we've spent enough time here, as they might have been attracted by the noise of the crash." I turned to look at Sarah and Angie so that they could have their say. Sarah answered first with a smile. "I trust you to make the decisions for us. I think you only have our best interests in mind so i'll follow you whatever you decide." It was precisely at that moment that i felt a warm and fuzzy feeling spread out through my body. I was sure that i had the best and closest friend i could ever have and that i was lucky to have her in my life. She was and still is the only person who really understands me and helps me to not fall apart mentally or emotionally. Angie looked around the cabin, her eyes lingering on our deceased schoolmates, before she turned back to us and tearfully nodded. "I'm scared. I dont know what's to going to happen from now on or what to do but..." She sniffled and wiped her eyes with a sleeve. "I want to trust you. I need to trust you. I will trust you. You make the decisions for us." Hearing all of that, their willingness to entrust their lives to me, was like a weight had dropped on my shoulders. I was hit by the realization that I was now responsible for their very lives. I calmed my rapid breathing and resolved myself to my new responsibility. I was determined to protect their lives for as long as i could even if it ended up costing my own in exchange. Looking back on it now, it was quite the heavy responsibility for a teenager to bear. We didn't know what might happen in the future or if things would ever get back to anything approaching normal. "Thank you." I zipped closed my bag then picked it up and slung it over my shoulders. When it was in place, i picked up the carbine and smiled at the girls. "Once i open the door, i'm going to check the area before we get out. Once we reach the ground, we're going to have to move fast but carefully." When i finished my explanation, both of them nodded to me and picked up their own bags. I turned to face the right side door and made my way over to it. It took me a minute to find the handle to open the door but once i got my hand on it, i slowly pulled the door open a little and peered out. I wasnt sure what exactly i was expecting but i was surprised, to say the least, at what i found.

I honestly wrote this story just for the heck of it. I had a bunch of free time and though "why not?" I wanted to see how my junk novel would do. I just grabbed a few random genres and decided to make something out of them. Pretty sure that system of making a story (grabbing random stuff and trying to put them together) killed this story before it was even born. I honsetly didn't have a direction to work toward for the first few chapters. I noticed some people reading so I thought I should make something at least a little acceptable. Unfortunately I'm too lazy to keep going with this, for now. I might write a different, more planned out story if I decide to throw this one down the dump. I have a few ideas that I was always too lazy to actually write. Sincerly, The Master Dragon GAO!

The year was 156, two years after the crowning of the great King Rufus Melthandios. It was a good year. Agriculture was thriving and the economy was strong. The army protected the border all year around, providing safety and comfort to the populace. That was until the first princess Nua Aruca Melthandios came of age. Princes, nobles, and merchants came from all over the continent, trying for the hand of the fair princess. The fair princess welcomed all but accepted none. The king of Lacros offered a large fertile land. The prince of the elves of S'lithra offered eternal youth. The sorcerer of a distant land offered immortality. The nobles and merchants offered gold, jewels and beautiful works of art. Yet, the princess refused them all. Until the Demon King of the Dark World came forth and stole her away. None of the soldiers, the knights, and the wizards were his match. Yet still, they fought hard. Still, they failed. Unable to stop the Demon King, King Rufus declared an all-out war on the Dark World. Despite the illustrious Crown Prince leading them, the kingdom's armies were forced back in every engagement. For the enemy was forged in the torments of hell, the soldiers of the kingdom who had enjoyed years of peace could not stop their advance. It seemed to be hopeless until a single ray of light appeared. The second prince, Aru Nefeskaya Melthandios, then only 13 summers old, stood before the king. He was attired in a sword too long for his arms, armour too big for his build, mantle too long for his height and helm that almost covered his eyes because of its size. He told the king, "I will save big sister!" "But you are too young," the king said. "For the kingdom, no age is too young!" the young prince said. "But you are just a boy," the king said. "Even a boy can be a man when he has something to protect!" Unable to persuade the young prince, the king had him arrested and confined. To keep him safe, the king locked him inside a tower, one so tall he should not be able to get away. But the next morning, the prince was gone. Nobody knew where he went or how he left the tower. Unbeknownst to everyone, the prince was not simply running away. He escaped to fulfill his promise to save his sister. To be a man worthy of the kingdom. To be a man who protects his loved ones. His first opponent was the Bandit King Meclis. With a wonderful display of wind magic, he charmed his opponent. The Bandit King Meclis, a name feared across the continent, chose to leave his title behind and became the young prince's subordinate. His next opponent was the Mistress of Flame, Lysianda, the monster who took part in all of the Dark World's advances. With a sweep of her hand, she could burn whole fields to ashes. Where she stood, not even cinders would remain. Yet the young prince, without fear, turned her flame magic against herself and won despite all odds. The defeat of Lysianda brought new life to our soldiers and little by little, our army was able to reclaim the lands lost. Yet, not all enemies were outside our borders. The greedy and cowardly Count Meleodoros, after knowing the demon armies were approaching his fiefdom, cut ties with the kingdom and supported the demon army with supplies and weapons. Yet, the kingdom could not do anything about it. With the demon armies approaching the capital, the County of Sanori's betrayal was considered of little importance. The young prince, knowing the strategic importance of the County of Sanori went to plead for Count Meleodoros's support. Instead of support, what he received was an enemy's welcome. He was captured and imprisoned, until he challenged the count to a game of chess. Count Meleodoros could be called many things, but he deeply respected the game of chess. Unfortunately, the count was a prodigy in chess since he was a child. So there was no chance for the young prince to win. Therefore, the young prince proposed a new game of chess, where the chess pieces were the count's attendants. He took the game further, deciding that both Count Meleodoros and himself become opposing kings. It was a game of chess where both kings put their lives at stake. It was a game where the only way to win was for one of them to die or surrender. The count, bored with the normal game of chess, heartily agreed. With cunning and clever tactics, the count surrendered and now with Sanori again in the kingdom's possession, the demon front lines were also hit from behind. The resulting rout was legendary. Even three years after, new songs were composed, new poems were written and new plays were performed. It was considered the kingdom's greatest victory and it was later known that it was Count Meleodoros's plan all along. The witless demon races stood no chance against the cunningness of mankind. Yet, all was not over. For the demon king's palace was still as imposing as ever. The closer the young prince's party was to the palace, the more enemies appeared. Yet despite the sharp, strong winds of the Dark World and the mass of monsters blocking his way, the prince never faltered. He pushed forward, leaving a trail of blood behind him. He was stopped at the gate by a fallen angel, the former Angel of Thrones Illuriel Seraphita Docus. The young prince, unable to bring himself to slay a high angel, tried to persuade the fallen angel to step aside. All words were in vain, as the fallen angel materialized the angel blade Galtharus in his hand. The poor prince could barely protect himself from the slashes of the angel blade. In the end, he fell to the ground, exhausted. As the last strike was swung down, the young prince heard his sister's voice. "Don't give up!" she cried. The young prince evaded the blade at the very last second, now recalling the reason for his journey. He stood up and with all his strength, swung his blade for the last time. The blade broke as it hit the fallen angel's body, but it fulfilled its purpose. The angel fell on the ground, breathing his last breath in the mortal world and vanishing in a trail of light. "Thou hath proven thyself worthy of me. I shall serve thee to the end of thine lyfe." It was the angelic sword's oath. As if in reply, the young prince wrapped his hand around Galtharus's hilt. Despite the exhaustion, power flowed into his body. Despite numerous battles, his determination to fulfill his purpose remained strong. Yet, his eyes, flowing with tears of blood, could no longer see the world around him. His once bright blue eyes were burned inside its sockets during the battle against Illuriel. It was now empty, except for the blood that continued to flow from his veins. Still, he persevered. Every time he stumbled, he stood again. Every time he was stabbed, he stabbed back. Every time he was engulfed in magic, he stood strong. By the time he faced the demon king, only his perseverance remained his strength. Only his will remained his drive. Only his sister's voice guided him. In the end, the demon lord was sealed and all the demons returned to the Dark World. The princess then returned to the capital safe and sound. As for the hero, the second prince was nowhere to be found. Some say he fell in that final battle. Some say his body was claimed by the gods. Some say he is still alive to this day and walks the world helping those in need. We may never know, but he is an example to all those who still live today. "Eeh... that's amazing. How much of that was the truth?" a thin man in a leather vest and triangle hat asked. "Oi, don't ask that question. Everyone in this kingdom owes their lives to the second prince. You don't want to be stabbed in a dark alley," his companion, a heavy-set man who seemed made of logs said. "It's just a folktale, right?" the thin man asked. "Hah?!!! What did you say, you bastard?" another man from the next table stood up, followed by all five of his friends from the same table. "This is why I say don't question it!" the heavy man grabbed his head in panic. "If not for the second prince, me and my friends here would've been eaten alive by demon monsters in Carima. How dare you say it's a fairytale!" "I said folktale." "We're village folks, we don't understand cultured words!" the man from the other table said as his friends nodded as if it was a fact. "Hey hey, calm down. He wasn't trying to insult. He's just new here. He's from Galda, you see. Ah, I know, how about I treat you a round of beer?" the heavy man said with a friendly smile. "Hmph, if you buy a round for my friends too, then we'll forgive you." The rest of his goons nodded twice. "Yes, of course. Feska, a round of fire brand for these gentlemen!" the heavy man called to the barmaid at the bar in the back. The barmaid in question gave her usual smile and said, "Coming right up!" The girl was a popular and coveted target of affection in the village. With hair the colour of wheat straws, skin as fine as virgin snow and a melodious voice like that of a nightingale, she could be said to be a peerless beauty, though that was not her only allure. Despite being a barmaid, she had a certain grace that was out of place in this backwater village. Not only her choice of words, her posture and her demeanor were also reminiscent of someone of high birth. Many in the village believed she was actually a young noblewoman who ran away from home. Many had proposed to her, all she turned down gracefully. As a result, men chose to watch over her in silence, despite already being turned down. As she never judged and never discriminated against anyone, young men found her to be a good target for their first love confessions. Older men too tried their luck. In some cases, she would agree to a limited courting before breaking it up after a week or two. However, none knew how she chose her potential partners. Despite the seeming perfection, this girl Feska had one debilitating flaw. She was blind. While most men in the village didn't mind it all that much, there were talks that perhaps that was the reason she was in the village in the first place. Some believed due to her flaw, she was matched in an unfavourable marriage. Some believed she suffered misfortune in love that she took out her own eyes in a fit of madness. Some thought she left her home simply so that she wouldn't continue to be a burden. Regardless of the reason, everyone believed there was more to her than what she let people know. "Five fire brand! Here you go!" Feska the barmaid said as she skillfully maneuvered around chairs, the outstretched legs and the animated arms of the excited patrons with five mugs of ale in her two hands. Despite being blind, Feska did not act like someone blind. Despite having her eyes closed, she avoided everything coming her way like an accomplished martial artist or a graceful dancer. Despite being blind, she could easily perceive who was speaking to her, as well as where and how far that person was. Many who frequented The Daily Seasons no longer questioned it, having assumed the reason being a sixth sense of sort. This tavern wasn't the only place for wining and dining in the village. There were two more taverns, both with their own charm. Being a little far from the center of the village, this tavern's charm was its peacefulness. Being far from the village center, the tavern was frequented by farmers who only wanted to rest and talk in peace. However, this tavern's charm was about to be broken this day. For suddenly, two men in bluish boiled leather armour and armed with short swords appeared at the entrance of the tavern. Their uniform appearance was so out of place that the whole tavern was reduced to silence. Not wasting any time, the men in question scanned the tavern. Their eyes fell on each patron before moving to the next. When they noticed the retreating figure of the barmaid at the rear door, the man with some kind of medal on his chest bellowed. "Stop! In the name of the king, show yourself!" Shit, he saw me, Feska thought as she slowly turned around. With every second she could feel her anger rising. After all, this should not have happened in the first place. "You..." the big man with a medal on his chest looked in astonishment before getting down on one knee and thumped his chest with his right fist as he said, "I have found you at last. Clom of Summerwind greets the honourable highness, Pri-" "Captain Clom," Feska said gently with her closed eyes and gentle smile despite the bulging vein in her temple, "Would you mind following me to the inner room? You too, soldier." The two soldiers stood up and followed close behind her as she walked along the corridor behind the bar. She stopped at a door near the end of the corridor and nonchalantly opened it with her small hand. There were already five men inside, playing Punch, a common card game in this region of the continent. To these men, Feska said, "Good evening, gentlemen. I have use for this room. Would you mind letting me use it until I'm done?" But of course, the men wouldn't just obediently leave. "Feska, we already paid for the room." "Don't disturb, Feska. It's finally my win." "Go away, girl." "I need another tankard of ale." Feska, still smiling with closed eyes, released a great, sharp killing aura. "GET. OUT!" she said as she continued releasing even stronger bloodlust into the room. For the two men who were trained to have sharp senses, Feska's killing aura made their knees weak and the bodies shaking, sweating in fear. To Captain Clom, standing next to her felt like being stabbed by hundreds of tiny knives. To the men in the room though, they only felt a strange foreboding feeling as if they'd be murdered if they stayed, so they quietly left through the only door, feeling their fear rising as they got closer to Feska, the source of the foreboding feeling. When they were finally out, they felt like they could sing, their eyes flowed tears of happiness knowing that they could live for another day. It was a strange feeling they as farmers and craftsmen couldn't understand at all. On the other hand, despite suffering the most from her bloodlust, Captain Clom had nothing but respect for Feska. As expected of the hero who defeated the demon king, he thought. As for the other soldier, he'd just have to change his pants later. The moment the last of the men left, Feska locked the room and went to sit at one of the now vacant chairs. She looked at the two soldiers in the same room, making both of them uncomfortable. Well, 'looked' was actually a misnomer, as Feska's eyes, being blind, were closed the entire time. However, while the two men couldn't understand it, they could certainly feel her gaze on them. "Boy... get behind me and start massaging my shoulders," Feska said as she rested her left cheek on her fist, propped on the table. "Me?" the boy, who appeared to be older than Feska said. "Don't make me repeat myself." The 'boy' saluted and dashed behind Feska. With an 'excuse me', he started massaging her tiny and soft shoulders not covered by her commoner dress. Being a virgin, he almost gasped at the feeling of soft skin under his fingers. "Now you, I shall hear your explanation. No, before that, what happened to Captain Juko?" Feska said while making small groans from her throat as her sore muscles were massaged with the young soldier's strong hands. "He retired, your highness." "Oh, he retired! I thought he'd never leave his position. Well anyway, speak your piece and then go back and tell father not to disturb me anymore. A little lower, please. Lower, I said!" Feska said to the captain before talking to her masseuse. "Your Highness! Please come home!" the captain cried. "Shit, why don't you say it louder, you bastard! So loud that the whole village can hear. Or even the whole county. After all, you're here to cause me trouble, aren't you?" The captain shrank under Feska's gaze, despite her being blind. "No, we're not here to cause trouble." "Oh? Then tell me, despite the fact I specifically said not to look for me, the captain of the troops directly under the Crown Prince, the famed Gryphon Knights are here. And you're here to tell me to go back." Again, let us ignore the fact that she was blind and had not opened her eyes even once. "There's a big problem, your highness." "Whatever it is, it's not my problem," Feska dismissed it while moaning from the massage. "But it IS your problem, your highness. The demon king has returned." "I've already sealed him. He won't return for the next one hundred years!" Feska stated in annoyance while inside, she was thinking, Hopefully after I'm already dead. "But he has revived, your highness. He's really back. Our spies saw him and all the demonkin called him the demon king, your highness." "Could it be another demon king instead? Oooh, that hits the spot." "Unless there's another demon king whose left horn is cut off with a sword of the angels, no, your highness." Biting her nail, Feska thought, Shit, sounds like it's really him. Just as I thought I'd be able to live the rest of my life in peace, he has to return and ruin it for me. Damn it, I knew it was too cheap to be real. That fake priestess! "Your Highness, what is in your mind?" the captain said as he saw Feska was deep in thought. Feska turned her head towards him, "What if I still say I don't want to go back? And you, don't stop your hands." "His majesty permitted the use of force, your highness. He told us to bring you back using any means necessary," the captain answered while lowering his head and not looking at Feska directly. "Oh? Force, you say? Are you perhaps that confident with your own power? Should I give that confidence a test?" The young soldier behind her soiled his pants again being so close to the source of the bloodlust aimed at the captain. The captain quickly got down on his knees and placed his head on the floor between his two hands as he said, "No no, please don't misunderstand me, your highness. This humble soldier only answered your question. Of course, my humble self is not a match for the hero who defeated the demon king. Please show mercy!" Feska thought about it further as the captain kept his forehead in contact with the floor. "Fine," she said as she stood up, "I'll go back with you. In the first place, it's that idiot father's fault for not being able to follow simple instructions." The captain breathed a sigh of relief as he raised his head. "Wait here. I have some packing to do," Feska said as she left through the only door. Soon after Feska left, the other soldier who was used as a masseuse approached the captain and said, "Captain, is this a nightmare? How could the legendary prince in the story become... that?" "Weld, in this world, there are many things we can't understand. His highness's trials must've been so great, his strife unimaginable to us that it broke his mind. Just remember, this man saved us all at the cost of himself. He deserves our respect, regardless of what he became. Anyway, go change your pants. You're starting to smell." "Yes, captain." Meanwhile, in Feska room. "Shit, I don't have any court dress!"

"So Feska, we should go west," Meclis said after they left the vicinity of the capital city. "Any reason why?" Feska asked, sitting astride a rare white stallion, usually reserved for royal processions. She had the king release one for her use as early payment for taking care of the demon king. To Meclis's relief, Feska's eyes were now closed again. Although Meclis was one of the few who wasn't afraid of looking into her glowing eyes and one of the few who could appreciate the beauty of the chaotic, constantly shifting world inside her eyes, he was afraid it would scare off everyone else. Not to mention that his life would be in danger for as long as Feska's eyes remained open. "That guy is hiding in a village west of here, on an island-" "We're not going to look for him," Feska said with a smile. It almost threw Meclis off his brown stallion. He always thought Feska hated that guy with a passion. He couldn't understand why Feska would smile as she spoke of that guy. He really couldn't understand. "Can you guess what I'm feeling now, Meclis?" Feska remained smiling as she said this, her hands clasped together like a girl in love. So Meclis answered with the only answer that made sense. "Umm, happy?" "Correct! I'm happy! I'm so happy! I'm very happy that he's still alive!" In Meclis's eyes, Feska really did look happy. Like a girl in love who just found out that her husband is back safe and sound from a terrible war. Or like a girl who has found her true love. Meclis suddenly felt jealous of that guy. "I can finally beat that piece of shit up with my own bare hands!" Or not, Meclis thought. "Then why aren't we going to see him?" "Because if I see him now, I will end up hugging and kissing him! I am that happy! Of course, I'll follow up with beating him up to death, but that's beside the point. Do you know why revenge is a dish best served cold, Meclis?" "Umm, I wouldn't know. I've always been on the receiving end, you see." "Right now, I'm happy that he's alive. It overrides all my feelings of anger towards him. I need to wait until that happiness disappears and my anger returns. And I need my anger to stew, to simmer in the background until it boils out of me and I can finally use it to deliver the judgment of the gods on that piece of shit bastard!" Meclis breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't only because Feska wasn't actually in love with that guy. It was also because Feska's anger towards that guy has never been anywhere close to her dislike towards his 'special interests'. "So where are we going now, then?" "We're gonna go see that fake priestess and beat her up for selling me that fake sealing scroll." "Oh, the sealing scroll that sealed the demon king?" "What other scroll would I be talking about?" "If you're looking to meet Nerys, we're going the wrong way." "Did the highway change in the three years I didn't ride along it?" "No, that's not what I mean. She's no longer at Red Rock Abbey. She's now the high priestess of Geryon Temple in the capital." "What?!!! Turn around at once!" ****** In a certain part of the capital, a single temple in a various state of disrepair stood alone amidst three-storey apartments that had seen better days a century earlier. This temple once held the God of the Good Fortune Geryon in worship, but when the priestesses lost their powers of prophecy a decade ago, those who used to worship Geryon deduced that the god had died and turned away from the temple. On this day, two cloaked figures approached an auction held in front of the temple. "Last item on the block! Necklace of the mermaid queen Boroburu. Granted to the warrior Amysada for defeating the Kraken overlord of the Kaldar Sea. Not only it allows you to breathe underwater, but it also grants you an audience with the beautiful mermaid queen. And you can have this amazing artifact for the starting price of 6 gold!" "8 gold!" "12 gold" "13 gold!" The crowd went. As the bidding slowed down at 30 gold, the priestess on the stage asked, "Anyone bidding at 31 gold? This is a priceless artifact! Only one in the world, and even grants you the rights to meet the beautiful mermaid queen! Anyone?" "100 gold!" A cloaked figure holding up a sack filled with coins yelled. "Sold for 100 gold! Please come right to the back chambers, good sir!" The priestess said with a big smile while rubbing her palms together. The 'back chamber' was actually the inside of the temple itself. Despite the general consensus that Geryon was dead, the priestesses, or what remained of them, diligently cleaned the temple and polished the marble idol representing Geryon. However, the furniture were in various stages of disrepair, with some broken furniture even piled at a corner and covered with cloth. Just from the look of the inside of the temple, one could tell that they were now living in poverty. "Heehee, do you have the money, Meclis?" the priestess who did the auction earlier asked while rubbing her palms. "Oh, you know who I am. I never could hide from you, Nerys," the man in front who was covered from top to toe in traveling cloak took off his hood. He reached for the money in his backpack and handed it to the priestess Nerys. "Would you like to count it, Nerys?" he asked. "Hee... no need, no need," she quickly passed the money to another priestess and whispered, "Count it, quickly!" before turning back towards Meclis and patted his left shoulder with her right hand before saying, "We've been friends for so many years, Meclis. I'd trust you with my very own life! Besides, what's money in front of true friendship?" "Good to know, Nerys. So, the artifact?" he asked with a smile. He imagined many things in his mind, mainly how things would proceed within the next hour. But his imagination would pale in comparison to what would actually happen. "Here it is," Priestess Nerys said as she offered him a wooden box with the artifact inside. "But I never knew you'd be interested in an artifact like this. Finally looking to settle down? With a mermaid?" "Oh, it's not for me. I'm just buying it for her. She said she misses you." He had to hold down his laugh. "Huh?" Nerys tried to look around behind Meclis as the woman behind him came forward and took off her hood. "Hello, Nerusys. Still up to old tricks, I see," Feska said without opening her eyes. "Uhh, Feska... why are you here?" Nerys looked around her before she grabbed the priestess still counting the gold coins on the table behind her. "Do you need me for anything, high priestess?" the priestess asked as she was pulled closer. "You, last time you pledged to protect me from any trouble if I become your head priestess, right?" Nerys asked with a whisper. "Yes, of course, head priestess. You've done so much for us. I wouldn't dream of breaking my pledge." "Good, then..." Nerys threw the priestess towards Feska as if it was a projectile, "Be my shield!" The priestess screamed as she flew in the air. Feska sensed the incoming projectile, and she thought it was a completely pointless and futile action. She evaded the flying priestess with the least effort possible, causing the priestess to crash against the long chairs behind her head first. She passed out upon contact. Meanwhile, Nerys almost completed her chant of teleportation. The magic circle under her feet glowed as the spell started to initiate but with a single command of "Magic Break" from Feska, the magic circle under Nerys's feet shattered. As particles of light scattered around Nerys, she realized that Feska had learned another new magic. "I'm sorry, were you trying to escape, Nerusys? Don't do that. I missed you so very very very much," Feska said with a sinister smile. Instead of being frozen in fear, Nerys jumped away, high in the air using Air Step as she tried to escape through the high glass window. "Hah! You think I'm trying to escape? I'm not afraid of you!" "Oh but you should be afraid of me," Feska suddenly appeared in front of Nerys, "After all, you cheated me of my money." Feska pointed her right palm at Nerys. Her palm glowed white as it accumulated power before being launched at Nerys in a straight beam. Barely able to escape, Nerys looked back at the gaping hole in the temple wall where the white beam hit. "Are you trying to kill me?!" Nerys screamed as she tried to put some distance between her and Feska. The magic circle for Air Step glowed under Nerys's feet with each step taken. It was the same with Feska. As Air Step only worked momentarily instead of continuously, both of them had to repeatedly invoke Air Step and shift their feet to remain standing in mid-air. Although it appeared as if the Air Step magic circle glowed permanently under their feet, in reality, Feska actually cast the spell twice every second. Nerys cast it once each second, which caused her stance to look a little less stable than Feska's. This was a feat considered impossible for most people. For most people, casting Air Step every five seconds was already an amazing achievement. Even so, it couldn't be maintained indefinitely as the mana requirement would be too high. The fact that both Feska and Nerys were able to cast it every second without looking tired proved that both of them were far above a normal human being. Even Meclis could only cast Air Step once every three seconds. "What are you saying? You're like a cockroach. Something of that level won't be able to kill you. Now, let's try again, shall we?" Feska said as she directed another beam of light at Nerys. Nerys barely managed to avoid it again. She silently thanked her teacher for trying to kill her in the guise of 'training'. If not for the murderous lessons, she wouldn't possibly be able to see the flow of magic in Feska's hand and accurately guess when it would be launched. Normally, against this kind of overwhelming presence, she would either flee or wait until the opponent's mana ran out. Unfortunately, this was Feska, the hero who defeated the demon king, wielder of the angel blade Galtharus and possessor of the Chaos Eyes. She would likely die of old age before Feska ran out of mana. Faced with no choice, she chanted, "Lord of Thunder, Maroska. I, Nerusys your humble servant requests your aid. Grant me your lightning. Strike this foul creature with your thousand bolts!" The air became charged with crackles of electrical energy. Within seconds, countless balls of light formed all around Feska. Feska looked around, understanding the true nature of these balls of light, but she was so thoroughly surrounded, she could do nothing to escape when the first ball of light fired. It hit her in the back, shocking her with the power of lightning that would be lethal to humans. Soon after the first ball of light fired, another fired, and another, and another. Within mere seconds, Feska was struck by hundreds of lightning bolts. However, Feska didn't really care and was just waiting for the spell to run its course. While a single thunderstrike could kill a dozen men, to Feska, even this was merely at the level of 'annoying itch'. Of course, Meclis was merely human, same for the priestess lying unconscious on the floor. So Meclis, being a normal human, fled carrying the priestess on his shoulder. Being one who had to calm Feska down when she rampaged after sealing the demon king, he knew first hand how dangerous Feska could be. He was actually very amazed that he managed to calm Feska at that time and not being killed in his mad attempt. Shortly after he left the temple, numerous lightning from the sky struck the temple roof. The people waiting for the next auction item in front of the temple scampered away in chaos, afraid the wrath of the gods was upon them. Meclis could only stand there and watch as he started regretting bringing Feska to meet Nerys. Meanwhile, inside the temple, both of them were playing a game of tag while throwing dangerous things at each other. Nerys threw ice balls and thunderbolts at Feska while screaming "Die, die, die!" Feska had stopped firing her beam of light and now extended her hand, trying to grab Nerys's agile body with Remote Hand, a telekinetic technique to grab something from afar. However, their attempts proved difficult as both were extremely agile with their liberal application of Air Step. "I grow tired of this," Feska said as she activated Air Rush, a spell that allowed her to 'fly' through the air at incredible speed, putting her right in Nerys's path. Instead of crashing against Feska, Nerys performed emergency stop by kicking the air in front instead of under her. She kicked the air again, allowing her to put some distance again as she cried, "I taught you Air Step and Air Rush, little boy! You think I would fall for something like this?" "But you will fall," Feska said as she appeared again in front of Nerys, having chased her with Air Rush. Feska, being an excellent air magic practitioner, executed a second Air Rush after her first one. She cleverly calculated Nerys's actions and determined her most likely escape path, allowing her to chase Nerys without a pause. Without a second to lose, she grabbed Nerys's neck in her right hand and performed another Air Rush. She drove the back of Nerys's head against the hard stone of the temple wall. Using Air Step, Feska pressed Nerys's head deeper against the stone wall, cracking it using Nerys's skull. She dragged Nerys's head against the wall in the air, leaving a long trail of broken stones and blood behind them. "Now are you going to submit like a good hag, Neru - huh?" for the first time since meeting Nerys, Feska was confused. For the Nerys whom she had been painting the stone wall with was no longer in her hand. She wondered if it was some kind of illusion magic. "God damn it!" Nerys cursed, "Out of all the places it could've blinked me to, it had to blink me back into the temple." Feska looked down at the floor. Standing on the floor with blood soaking her priestess dress, was Nerys, panting in exhaustion. In her hand was a broken crystal container, the contents of which flowed out of its broken container. Before it could drop onto the floor, the liquid disappeared into the air. "Is that an artifact?" Feska asked while still standing in the air. "That's right. For a monster like you, I shouldn't have held back from the very start. It was stupid of me to think that anything short of a miracle can kill you." "Good of you to understand that. Now give up and accept your punishment." "Lord of Light, Neji. Grant me the power of the celestial brilliance. Shine your light upon this wretched being of the deepest pit. Smite him in the name of holy light!" Immediately after her chant ended, Nerys's skin cracked in multiple places, as blood exploded from her veins. This was a forbidden spell that Nerys acquired with great difficulty. It was originally a final suicide spell of the priests of Neji, the God of Light, but she tweaked it so that it only gave her 'a pain worse than death' instead of outright 'death'. She planned to use it on the demon king if he ever tried to attack her. She never thought Feska would return after her self-exile. She overcame the limitation of 'a pain worse than death' by simply acquiring a blessing from Aury, the God of War, making her unable to feel pain, thus, negating the effect of Pillar of Light. She could do nothing about her burst blood vessel as casting the Pillar of Light power strip her of the ability to use magic for a month. Even if she wanted to heal herself, she couldn't. She didn't mind, after all, it was better than dying. Only a month, she could handle it. The most important thing was that it killed Feska and that was all that mattered. She rejoiced as Feska was dead at last! "This is quite powerful." Or not. "So you've been hiding this to use on me?" came Feska's calm voice from inside the Pillar of Light. "Why are you not dead?!!!" "Hum? I've been to the heavens and back. What makes you think something so flashy as celestial radiance is good enough to kill me?" "You monster! You monster! You do not belong in this world!" Nerys cried with tears flowing down her face, knowing that she would die in moments. The Pillar of Light dimmed and in its very center was Feska, protected by a shell of chaotic energy. She stood atop what was left of the temple's floor, surrounded by a crater made by the Pillar of Light. As the Pillar of Light disappeared completely, Feska disabled the shell of chaotic energy and raised her left hand. In her palm glowed a sphere of light of much greater intensity than the ones before. "But Nerusys, you're kind of pissing me off. Oh well, I'm sure there are other sealing mages I can persuade to help me. Goodbye. I was hoping we can be friends again... Just kidding! Goodbye, Nerusys." Feska fired the beam of light at Nerys. Feska was not bluffing. She really intended to kill Nerys with this attack, and alongside Nerys, half of the capital city. While she was conscious of what she was doing, she was unable to think of the consequences of her actions. This was the same madness that preceded her rampage after the defeat of the demon king. Had Meclis been here to see it, he would've immediately jumped in to stop her mind from degenerating even further. But he was not here. He was in another district trying to prevent the kingdom's army from intervening in this battle of monsters. Even if he was here, it was likely to be futile, for even Meclis couldn't understand how he was actually able to stop Feska the first time. The beam of light, wider than the whole height of any human alive, consumed everything in its path. Wood, rocks even the air was erased when the beam of light touched them. Nerys who could no longer use magic could only suffer the same fate. But as the beam of light enveloped Nerys, instead of cries of pain, Nerys let out a laugh. "Hyahaha, I got you now, Feska! How do you like my acting?" The beam of light disappeared as it was absorbed by the magic circle rotating in the air in front of Nerys. At first sight, it looked as if the magic circle shielded Nerys, but that wasn't entirely correct. The magic circle consumed the beam of light to power its spell matrices. For the now powerless Nerys, only her talismans were of any use. "Hyahaha, have you forgotten who I am, Feska? I am the precious daughter of the greatest artificer of all time, Lamius of Jarhan. I alone hold the majority of my father's creations. I alone know enough of them to use and replicate them!" "I see, it's an artifact. Well, I wonder how much magic your artifact can absorb," Feska said calmly as she gathered magic for another beam of light. But nothing happened. Feska was very puzzled by that. As her madness was still not sated, she could only stare at her hand like a confused child, wondering why it wouldn't work. As long as she was in this state of madness, her higher brain function was extremely limited. As long as she remained in this state of madness, her mental capacity was lower than even a six years old child. It was the same as when she forced her way through the throng of demons on her way to the demon king's palace three years earlier. Just like back then, at this moment, she was no different from a wild beast driven only by her desire and instinct. Suddenly Feska felt something grab her legs. She looked down under her tattered dress. There, from the floor under her feet, numerous shadowy black hands emerged. One after another, they grabbed hold of Feska's legs as the ground cracked, releasing flames and embers from underneath the floor. She tried to kick the legs, but even more hands came out from the floor underneath her and even from the surface of the crater. Hundreds of shadowy black hands grabbed not only her legs but also the rest of her body. Some of the shadowy hands even firmly grabbed her head. Despite being in a state of madness, even Feska felt a little bit of fear creeping up her heart right now. As the ground underneath her crumbled away pulling her down into its fiery depths, she could only scream in fear as her nails clawed at what remained of the ground. Within moments, Feska was dragged down into the depth of the Hell of flames and the fiery surface of the crater returned to its original appearance as nothing more than a crater of dirt. "Hahaha, how do you like that, huh? I saved this for the demon king but I don't regret using this on a monster like you! Enjoy your eternity in hell, you-" The ground cracked. Before Nerys could finish her words, it burst, and a figure flew out of the cracked ground with wings of light. She landed in front of the speechless Nerys as the cracked ground returned to normal. Her appearance was truly beautiful, one would say angelic. However, something that came out of Hell couldn't possibly be angelic. Case in point, it was none other than Feska, who somehow acquired wings of light. "How?" "I beat up the first princess of Hell and ate her heart. Now thanks to you, or no thanks to you, I'm immortal. After that, it was only a matter of beating up a million weird creatures and blackmailing the gatekeeper of Hell to let me through or suffer centuries of pain from being beaten up," she said as he eyes remained closed. "I'm really going to die now! Uwaaaaahhhh!!!" Nerys cried like a child as she realized she had nothing left to fight Feska with. "Oh right, I wanted to kill you. Well, that's all water under the bridge now. I've beaten up millions of hellish creatures for so long that I'm not angry at you anymore. Those guys were fun. I'd probably ask you to send me back to Hell from time to time to release stress." "So are you going to let me go?" Nerys asked. "Ah no, this and that are two totally unrelated things, Nerusys. If you beg me properly, I may spare your life and make you my slave. How about it, Nerusys?" Nerys quickly prostrated on her hands, knees, and head before Feska. "Oh, great shining one. The most beautiful angel in Heaven, Earth, and Hell, please find it in your heart to forgive this lowly self. Nerusys pledge to become your most loyal slave. I will serve you with all my heart if you will only forgive me, great one." "See? You can do it if you try. Okay, I'll forgive you, Nerys. But doublecross me again, I will find you and I will kill you, slowly. Even if you're already dead." "Yes! I will never doublecross you again, glorious one!" "By the way, why are you still alive?" "Huh?" "Shouldn't you be like more than 200 years old now?" "Why would I be? You've only been in Hell for like two minutes." "... I see. Time flows differently in Hell." Meanwhile outside, the priestess from earlier finally woke. She rubbed the top of her head and could feel a large bump from when it crashed against the chairs of the temple. She could only moan in pain as she opened her eyes and discovered the carnage in front of her. "Temple... temple... temple... temple..." she repeated the same words over and over for a week. For there was nothing left of the temple except for a smoking ruin.  

Announcement This chapter is dedicated to Venusaur26, who repeatedly reminded Ai-chan to continue writing. Thanks for your support. “Meclis.” “Yes, Feska.” “It’s been two days.” “I know.” “So tell me why we are still here.” “Sightseeing?” “Do you want to become a star, Meclis?” “Look, I don’t know what’s happening, alright? I’m a thief, not a scholar of whatever field of study this is!” Meclis said in exasperation “It looks like we’re going in circles,” Nerys interjected. “Oh wow, brilliant deduction, Nerusys!” “No need to get snarky about it, Feska.” “So how do we get out of this, Nerusys?” Feska asked as she yawned. “Umm, according to Archmage Krell, space and time is a never-ending loop. So if we consider that space-time is a flat surface, by walking forward we will eventually reach our point of origin.” “How does this help?” Meclis asked. “This place is like a labyrinth. If we could reach the point of origin, we could, theoretically, leave this labyrinth.” “But that would’ve meant wasting two days.” Nerys huffed in annoyance. “I would rather waste two days than spending two years wandering the same place. We can make a detour and avoid this place altogether.” “But if we just ignore this, other people would be caught up in it,” Meclis said in a rare display of responsibility. “What makes you think I care, Meclis?” Feska asked. “Like teacher, like student,” Meclis grumbled. “What was that, Meclis?” “Nothing, Feska.” “Well, let’s have dinner for now. We’ll talk about how to leave after dinner,” Feska said as she stopped her royal white horse. “Dinner?” Meclis looked up at the canopy of the trees. “I can still see bright light outside.” “Nerusys, explain it to him.” Nerys looked at Feska with a confused face. “Wait, are you telling me you’re still not aware of it?” “Are you trying to say that you know what’s going on?” “Not yet, but I do know that the time inside and outside is not the same.” “You know this how?” Feska opened her eyes. Her glowing blue orb filled with lightning and explosions appeared before Nerys. As she had already seen it before, she wasn’t as afraid of it as the first time, but it still gave her the chills. “Forget I asked.” Feska closed back her eyes and told Nerys that she would again be the cook. And unlike the past two days, she told Nerys that she wanted roast meat, which confused Nerys as they have not seen a single game for the past two days. Seeing Nerys’s confused face, Feska raised her right hand, palm upwards as a stack of four rabbits fell into her hand. All four were already properly gutted. Both Meclis and Nerys looked up at the canopy of trees, wondering where the rabbits came from. Meclis wondered if it was given by the gods. Nerys wondered if Feska had learned spatial storage magic. Both were confused and hesitant to ask Feska for fear that it would make Feska’s mood get worse. Feska couldn’t give a damn about their worries as she tossed all four rabbits at Nerys and jumped off her perfectly clean white horse. After dinner, Feska stood up and said, “Now to fix this.” Nerys looked up at Feska, looking surprised. “You know where the origin point is?” “No.” “Then how would you solve this?” “I am Feska.” “Right, why did I even bother asking?” Ignoring Nerys, Feska stretched her body, her limps, and her spine. She snapped her fingers as she said, “I give you one minute.” “Come on! I’m just barely able to use water magic again. How could you ask me to finish cleaning everything in one minute?!!!” Nerys wailed. “Not you, dumbass! Them!” Feska said as she looked into the forest. Both Nerys and Meclis looked at the same direction, as Feska said, “No, you’re looking at the wrong direction.” “Eh? But we’re looking at the same direction as you!” Meclis argued. “No, you’re not. Unless your eyes are exactly where my eyes are, you’re looking at a completely different thing.” Both Nerys and Meclis looked at Feska with confused expressions. As if noticing their stares, Feska turned her gaze at them. After a moment of silence, she explained what she meant. “What you were looking at just now, Nerusys, was a funny-looking tree. It was a tree that looked like it was raping another tree.” Nerys went slack-jawed. Her eyes went wide, shocked to know that she was looking at trees mating. It didn’t cross her mind at this moment that trees do not mate. As for you, Meclis, you were looking at naked young girls taking a bath at a river.” “What? Seriously? Where?” Meclis asked as he turned back to look at the previous direction. “The alignment has changed. You’re now looking at the butt of a hippopotamus.” “Urgh!” Feska turned to a new direction and said aloud, “Your time is up. Get rid of this space or I get rid of you. Your choice is mine.” Without warning, Feska covered her arms in gale winds. It was such fierce wind that the horses and her two companions fell on the ground to prevent themselves from being blown away. She crossed both her arms before her face as the gale winds became denser and fiercer. Then she spread both arms, unleashing the power of a hurricane to her surrounding with a blood-curdling scream. As the hurricane ravaged the surroundings, the scenery started to melt. It shifted upward, downward, and sideward. The trees appeared to dance as they melted together or split apart. The colour of the sky mixed together, becoming a single milky blue canvas. And then, everything shattered like glass. Sitting in a bush not far from them, were two girls. They were not normal girls, but girls with big pointy ears on their heads. They were fox girls, one with red fur and one with blue fur. But they were not just any fox girls. “Kochime and Amukoe!” Nerys exclaimed. Feska turned her head at Nerusys. “You know these little bitches, Nerusys?” “Didn’t your mother read you fairytales when you were a kid, Feska?” Nerys asked. “I can’t remember. I’ve been fighting demons since I was a kid.” Sighing, Nerys explained, “Kochime and Amukoe, the Twin Tricksters. They’re known to reward entertainers and play tricks on travelers. If you get tricked by them, you can offer them soybean curds.” “And you didn’t think to solve this problem earlier with soybean curds?” Meclis said. “What’s the point? I thought they were just a fairytale before today. Besides, it’s not like we actually have soybean curds.” “Well, that’s beside the point,” Feska said, “The problem is, they were playing tricks on me.” Feska turned her gaze back the twin fox girls. Her chaos eyes slowly opened as more and more lightning leaked out of her opened eyes. She raised both hands and the two girls materialized, their necks in her grip. “I do not like being tricked, little bitches.” Feska said as she tightened her grip on their necks. “We were just having fun!” the twin fox girls said together. “He told us you’d give us interesting reaction, so we waited here,” they continued, altogether. “We even had to wait here for half a year! How were we supposed know that you’re an archangel?!” they said together again, their words echoing to the point that it was hard to understand. “I am not an archangel, little bitches. You said ‘he’. Who’s ‘he’?” Feska asked. They were about to open their mouths again. But Feska tightened her grip on their necks again, telling them to choose one person to speak. Feska didn’t know if they were connected or if it was simply how they spoke, but she hated that kind of echoey sound. For her superior hearing, that kind of echoey noise was incredibly irritating. They looked at each other before the blue-haired fox girl said, “Umm, he has curly brown hair. He wears glasses and he speaks like a Kormorian. He has a lopsided smile - ack!” The fox girl stopped speaking as Feska strangled her. “THAT FUCKING BASTARD!!!” Feska cried as she threw them both to the sky. “Feska, calm down,” Meclis said in the hope that Feska wouldn’t fall into madness again. “I change my mind, creep. We’re going straight to that bastard now!”   Ai-chan As you may know, Ai-chan has a lot of stories. If you have a particular story that you want Ai-chan to continue, please tell Ai-chan, either in that story's comment or in Ai-chan's profile page. Of course, just because you ask for it, doesn't mean it will definitely be released the next day. However, everytime you ask for it, it gives the story a 'motivation point', which pushes them up the ladder. Which means if there is going to be an update, it's most likely the title at the top of the ladder. So if you like the story and wants more of it, say it, you guys!

Solomon left school at three and got back home thirty minutes after. After getting inside, he headed towards his room where he then plopped onto his bed. Solomon lay on the soft mattress, rethinking the events at lunch. He immediately cringed as he remembered the embarrassing scene Zachary displayed in front of their classmates. "Why am I friends with such a weirdo?! Now everyone thinks I'm just as weird as him! Now they won't be my friends! Since they won't be my friends, I'll be stuck with that weirdo even longer! Then the cycle will just continue until we're old men!" Solomon could see it now. Two old men with no friends. One balding with a pasty white beer belly that plopped to the floor, making him look like spoiled cheese. The other was a bag of bones regretting ever becoming acquainted with the other. "I can't end up like that... I definitely won't! I'll make a bunch of friends in the future!" Solomon solemnly sweared to himself that he wouldn't allow himself to get in such situations. Solomon decided that he needed to clear his head, and that there was no better way than to head into the world of VR. Solomon put on his VR equipment and was soon floating around the empty Hub World. He opened his messages and just as he suspected, Saber King Matthew had messaged him. User 10052: Ha! Fool, you shouldn't have warned me that my account wasn't private. After you slipped out the words "duck face", I instantly knew that I had to fix my settings! Now you can't see my account! If I were you, I would have blackmailed me or something, but now you can't access my profile! Now you can't see my posts! MUAHAAHAHAH! You're so dumb! I'll pay you back a thousand times for this humiliation!!!!!!! This is just what Solomon needed after such an embarrassing day. He promptly cracked his virtual knuckles before sending a message back. HumbleHut: Stupid, why do you think you're safe from blackmail now? How do you know I don't have any screenshots of your account? If I were you, I would watch how I address me! Solomon stared at his last sentence. Was that proper grammar? Who cares! This was an internet rant. No one cares about grammar in rant posts! Solomon didn't actually save screenshots of the rage grandpa's account. What would he want barf material for? He could barely look at the geezer's duck face, much less the other cringe-worthy trends. After messaging the "hip" grandpa, Solomon opened up a program other than Immortals of the Skies. There wasn't much for him to do in the game since he was waiting for Zachary and Joey to help him sell his items. He didn't feel like grinding for even more items and he felt burnt out just thinking of his destroyed lair. He needed something more casual. He opened FaceMask a chat program that would send the user into a random chatroom. There, one would be able to rant anonymously in real time with people they probably wouldn't see again. It was a perfect place for degenerates like himself. Solomon was transported into a dark void as he waited to connect. While he was waiting, he took a look at his avatar. It was an upright, silverback gorilla in a black tuxedo. Solomon found his looks amusing. It had been a while since he had last used FaceMask and he had completely forgotten how he looked. FaceMask had been one of the first programs created in VR and was one of the first programs Solomon tried when he was given his VR equipment. After practicing a few poses, a bright flash covered his body and he was transported into what looked like a log cabin. "This is nostalgic" Solomon thought. Solomon took in the once familiar layout as he searched for the other accounts in the server. Solomon flicked at the air with his fingers and opened the list of users online. There was only one other user other than himself. It was titled "LittleRedBird." "I guess it has been a while... FaceMask hasn't updated in a year now, so I guess it isn't a surprise that its empty like this..." Solomon debated whether or not he should just use a different program to vent today, but finally decided against it. "The catharsis won't feel as good if I delay too much. Finding a suitable program will take a while..." Solomon made his way around the cabin. After thirty minutes or so, Solomon had yet to find LittleRedBird. He was about to give up his hopes of venting when his eyes suddenly brightened. "Oh right! There was that one place..." Solomon moved up to the attic and checked the window. Outside he could see the snowy display of an endless forest with grand mountains in the distance. A full moon hung over everything as if it were watching over the world. Solomon took a moment to appreciate the scene before opening the small window. He remembered that on the cabin map, a person wasn't limited to just the cabin. A person could climb up to the roof to enjoy the cool breeze of the winter night wind. Solomon moved his arms through the window and then his head. Soon after that, he began to climb through the opened window. As he was half way through, Solomon realized he could move on no longer. He was stuck. Solomon's gorilla avatar was too big to fit! "Why did I make such a huge character?! Me of the past, why did you care about being big a muscular so much? Why couldn't you just make a small mouse that could go anywhere!" Solomon cursed his past self for having such a childish desire to look big and strong. He lay halfway through the window before making a violent struggle to push himself through. Rather than moving back inside the cabin, Solomon was going to force his way out. He already started and he was too stubborn to turn back. Thud! Thud! Thud! Solomon had repeatedly rammed his lower half against the wall, trying to squeeze through. After taking a minute long break, Solomon was about to perform another round of squeezing when he suddenly felt an impact at the back of his head. Thud!

This story happened on a full moon, a week after the battle in the capital. Just like every other day, our heroes were making camp after a day of riding through the barely maintained roads. But unlike any other day, on this day, Meclic did something absolutely unthinkable.   Squeeze squeeze.   Hm... Meclis wondered in his head at this strange sensation in his hands.   Squeeze squeeze.   Boin boin.   "As you going to explain this before or after I beat you to death?" Feska asked as Meclis continued to fondle her breasts.   Squeeze squeeze. "No... I'm just wondering... why do you have breasts?"   "Before, then," Feska said as she cracked her knuckles.   "Please have mercy on me."   The birds in the forest flew away at the first sound of fist meeting flesh. The sound of meat being pummeled continued to echo for another hour. As each shockwave hit the trunk and branches of the trees, the leaves fell one after another, imitating autumn. Except it wasn't autumn, it was past winter.   When it was done, there was a corpse-like being under one of the trees. It was covered in blood. There were words written in blood on the trunk of the tree, saying "Here lies Meclis. The enemy of all women."   "Did you have to hit me that hard?" Meclis asked when he regained consciousness.   He massaged his aching body gently, a result of being beaten half to death by Feska just a couple of hours earlier. If not for Feska's healing magic, he probably would've died for real. Feska would disagree though. After all, this wasn't the first time Feska tried to kill him and failed. Meclis's ability to survive sure death was legendary even back before he joined Feska.   "You were fondling my breasts!" Feska huffed in annoyance with her arms crossed under her mounds of flesh.   "And that's what's curious! What's with that?!!! You're not a-"   Meclis could not speak further as he found his mouth was covered by a sticky substance. It closed his mouth shut tight, that even with his superhuman strength, he couldn't open his mouth to speak a word. All that could be heard was his muffled voice as he tried to say something without much success.   "He did have a point, though," Nerys the priestess came in Meclis's defense, "Why would you have those when you're not a-"   Nerys also found that she couldn't speak as the same sticky substance that covered Meclis's mouth was also on her mouth. She tried to open her mouth without any luck. As she lost the ability to use magic for a month, there was nothing she could do to dispel the spell that Feska cast despite knowing how to do it.   Without turning her head, Feska's consciousness peered to the left, far in the bushes behind the trees. Suddenly she laughed in a way so unlike her normally taciturn personality. "Hahaha, what are you both talking about? Of course a girl would have breasts. Why is it so strange for a girl to have breasts? Hohoho."   But you're not a girl! Both Meclis and Nerys had the same thought.   And so busty! Meclis and Nerys again shared the same thought.   As if sensing their inner thoughts, Feska explained, "Look, it's the full moon. Things happen on a full moon."   Both Meclis and Nerys looked at Feska with doubt in their eyes. As far as they knew, Feska was never a werewolf. Feska could be a demon, but she was certainly not a werewolf or a werewoman in this case. They were both very sure that Feska was a boy through and through despite how she dressed.   "If you agree not to ask about it, I'll remove the gag, alright? Nod if you agree," Feska offered.   Both Meclis and Nerys nodded as one.   Although they both had questions, they kept quiet about it. Both felt Feska was more agitated and sensitive than usual. And an agitated and sensitive Feska was bad news. No, bad news was Feska being sweet. Horrible news was when Feska was agitated and there was no telling what Feska would do.   Is this the result of my bullying last time? Whichever god who governs this boy's mood, I'm sorry, okay!  Nerys thought as she felt a little guilty about bullying Feska three years ago.   Must be a woman thing, Meclis thought.   Feska flinched as she sensed that thought. She felt like beating him up again but stayed her hand. After all, her current situation was a little complicated.   Damn, how the hell do I use this flint? Magic, where is it when I need it? Nerys thought.   Feska ignored her.   I wonder what's for dinner... A different voice said in the darkness.   The veins on Feska's temple popped at hearing the thought that wasn't hers.   "I can't get the fire started," Nerys complained.   "Ha? I thought fire was your specialty, Nerusys?" Feska sneered.   "When I had magic! I can't use magic for at least a month because of you!"   "Eeeeh... you raised your voice at me, Nerusys?"   Nerys jumped down on her knees and prostrated before Feska in an exaggerated manner. "Please forgive this worm for speaking out of turn, my dear great goddess. Your beauty is first in Heaven and Earth and your prowess is eternal."   Feska squatted on the ground and patted Nerys's head. "Good that you know your place, Nerusys."   Meclis looked at the exchange and said, "This is all very amusing, but we still have a problem. I'm trying to start a fire now and I can't get it to work either. My tinder box is empty now. Everything is soaking wet. I'm not willing to sacrifice a blanket for this."   It was of course normal for both Meclis and Nerys to worry about fire.   Being the single most powerful creature on Earth, carrying a pair of Chaos Eyes and possessing the angelic runeblade Galtharus, Feska didn't really need fire. However, the same couldn't be said for her two companions. Despite being something that could be considered on the same rank as monsters, they were both still very much human. It had just rained and everything was wet, even themselves. So they needed fire or they would get very sick from the cold night. Especially Nerys, who had lost the magic that she was so proud of and depended on, who was now no different from a normal human.   Oh, Feska wasn't wet, though. She wasn't touched by the downpour. While she would normally allow drizzles to touch her, she would raise her own barrier when it rained heavily. The result was that neither she nor her royal white horse were affected by the heavy downpour earlier.   Without a word, Feska grabbed one of the wet branches and said, "I need fire."   There was a spark at the tip of the branch as soon as she said it. In the moment it took to say 'fire', the sparks at the tip turned into actual flames. The wet branch sizzled as the heat slowly dried out the water inside the branch, allowing the flame to sustain itself. Feska placed the branch under the pile of logs once she was satisfied it wouldn't be snuffed easily.   "You've learned fire magic?" Nerys asked, feeling like she's been left behind again by her former student.   "None of the reports mentioned you could use fire magic," Meclis stated with suspicion.   "I've never learned fire magic. My magic has always been wind. See?" Feska used her wind magic on the pile of logs, allowing the fire to burn brighter.   "But that..."   "Was one of the things you do not need to know, Meclis."   "I see, one of those 'it's a full moon' thing, huh?"   "Not really, but I suppose you can look at it that way."   "Can I ask about it when it's no longer the full moon?"   "No."   "Gotcha."   "So Feska, why exactly are we looking for that guy?" Nerys asked as she pierced some mushrooms with wooden skewers.   "That bastard, I will never forgive him for as long as I live!"   "So what exactly did he do?" Nerys asked as she added cucumbers to the skewered mushroom.   "It's between me and him. You wouldn't know because you left earlier than he did and I forbid you from telling her, Meclis."   Oh come on, you're still sore about that? Nerys rolled her eyes as she put the skewered cucumber and mushroom by the fire and started buttering corn.   "Yeah, about that. I don't even know what he did. I've been thinking about it all this time and I still came out with nothing."   "How can you forget? You were there! You were there the whole time!"   "Ah, that... when was this?"   "The assault on the demon king's castle!"   "But that guy wasn't even there at that time. There were only the two of us there. Well, there would've been three of us if someone didn't run away on her own," Meclis said as she glared at Nerys who was putting the corn to cook beside the fire.   "Hey man, how many times do you want me to say sorry? Look, there was only the four of us and you guys wanted to go defeat the demon king. There were thousands of demons between us and them. How did you expect me to feel?" Nerys replied while adding bell pepper, green beans, and tomatoes into a cast iron cookware.   Feska grabbed Nerys's left wrist before she could throw in some roughly cut eggplants into the stew.   "Not the eggplants," Feska warned.   "What's wrong with it?" Nerys said as she flicked her wrist, throwing the eggplants in her hand into the cookware.   "Noooo!!!"   "You need to eat your vegetables, Feska."   "What are you, my mother? I don't need to eat vegetables. I can get all my sustenance from my Chaos Eyes."   "Oh, so you'll be fine without meat, right?"   "No! Put the meat in, take the eggplants out!"   "What's wrong with eggplants?"   "It's soft, slimy and disgusting! What other reason would there be?"   Nerys suddenly felt smug as she patted Feska's head. "There, there. If you don't eat well, you won't grow up well. How will you seduce boys then, little princess?"   "I'll slice you, bitch!" Feska's words ended with the flashy appearance of Galtharus in her hand.   Understanding that she went too far, Nerys prostrated before Feska and begged for forgiveness again.   The chirping of birds and the crowing of the forest roosters signaled the start of the next morning. Meclis dutifully did his task of packing up their camping gear and putting it on the horses. Nerys, being someone with neither strength nor magic, acted as the cook. As for Feska, well, she was Feska. She did at least dry the camping gear with her wind magic, but that was her only contribution. Basically, just an average day in their journey.   After breakfast, they hopped on their horses and rode away. Behind them, at the place where the fire burned up til breakfast was a single bowl of stew. The 'stew' had less water and more meat and cabbage. It was actually piled high in beef strips and cabbage. Then it was simply left there at the campsite.   "Is that an offering to the gods or something? You've been doing that for days," Meclis asked, unable to keep it quiet any more.   "No," Feska answered while urging her horse forward.   "That's it? Just no?" Meclis asked again.   "Yes, no."   Meclis sighed. "I'm going to need to keep a list of what I'm not allowed to ask."   "You'll find out soon."   Meclis sighed as he thought, Why can't you just tell me?

Solomon was back in the Hub World. The chilly air no longer caressed his skin. He no longer looked like a gorilla. He no longer was in the reaches of a pervert. Solomon opened his clock and saw that it was still only four. Only thirty minutes had passed in the real world! Vr really was a modern miracle... or maybe it was a curse? People could easily lose their sense of time when they dove into the Vr universe. The time distortion in Vr was something developers had to be careful with. Humanity had actually developed an even more distorted time space in Vr, but they did not release it to the public in fear of causing psychological problems. Solomon had read somewhere that Russia had achieved six times time distortion! You could spend six hours in Vr and only pass one hour in reality! The very thought of six hour time distortion made Solomon's mind tremble. It was something he wanted to try. Alas, it would be pretty much useless to him, though. If he had six times time distortion, he would be on another time field than other networks. He wouldn't be able to connect to his favorite games that ran at double time distortion! It would be a wasted gem.... After checking the time, Solomon checked his messages. He was excited to see what Saber King Matthew had sent. User 10052: HOLD ON!!!!!! Don't leak my information! Dooooont!!!! I'll do whatever you want! If you release those posts, my life on Vr will end! I'll have to start all over!! Money? Is it money you want? How about one of my game accounts? I have an almost maxed out character in Space Gate! What is it? Name your price! Solomon once again felt guilt tugging at his heart. Here he was destroying what seemed to be this old geezer's life blood. Maybe he really was going to far. Sure the old geezer was an annoying troll, but all he did was let out his toxicity. He didn't hurt anybody... HumbleHut: Don't worry. I've changed my mind.... I deleted everything. Just be less toxic. Solomon thought he could let the two of them go their separate ways now. He gave Saber King Matthew a good scare, and now he would probably stop messing with him. User 10052: Yeah right! Like I'll fall for that! You're playing the "nice" guy, aren't you! Ur gonna dump everything out on 4Ch*n! Don't! They'll eat me alive! Just name a price!!!!! Solomon was about to find something else to do when he got an immediate response. After reading the message, Solomon let out a crooked smile. "Doesn't this guy know there are good people out there?" HumbleHut: Can't you just trust in my good will? I'm not trash like. User 10052: Trash! you just called me trash! You really are out to get me! You leave me no choice.... I really didn't want to do this..... if you don't make the right decision, you'll definitely regret it! It's the fortune of a life time! Solomon was slightly intrigued by the response. "What are you, a fortune teller?" What could this once in a life time chance be? HumbleHut: What is it? After a long, suspenseful wait, there was finally another message. User 10052: Elixir. I'll give you a real elixir if you let me go. It'll increase your abilities by tenfold! It'll eventually allow you to reach power a thousand fold if you use it well! "What is this dude talking about?" What elixir could tempt Solomon? Solomon was league ahead of Saber King Matthew in Immortals of the Skies. Why would he want a peasant's trash? Maybe it was a secret event item? Solomon was going to quit Immortals of the Skies soon. It wouldn't make much of a difference to him even if it could benefit his character. Was this elixir for another game? It might be a good trade if he liked the game... The games he was looking forward to, however, were going to be released a month from now. Did this geezer pre-order items? That was impossible. The big companies almost never let you pre-purchase items as good as the one he's describing.... It seemed Saber King Matthew was impatient for an answer and sent another message. User 10052: It's not a virtual elixir. It's an actual potion to make you stronger. It'll increase your life span too! Take it or else you'll regret it! So it wasn't for a game! It was an actual magical potion that would lead Solomon down the path of a real immortal! Solomon knew he had to get this elixir! He immediately sent a reply. HumbleHut: No! I'm not interested in drugs! Screw off why don't ya? Yeah right! Like I'll take some strange dude's random liquids! Is this old fart being serious? If he is, then he should go get his mental state checked. How sketchy is this? An old internet troll trying to send me an "elixir"? That has "bad" written all over it! Would he want to meet in person? Yeah, let Solomon set himself for a hit or kidnapping right now! Would he want his address to mail it? Yeah! Solomon might as well open his front door for people to steal his stuff! Solomon wasn't a fool who would give out his information to strangers! Especially not with creeps like this guy! This guy wanted hack Solomon not too long ago. He probably wanted to speed up the process by doing this. "No way Jose! Keep that H*rry P*tter crap outa here!" Solomon exclaimed. Solomon's mood was totally ruined today. He was embarrassed in front of his peers during lunch, he was assaulted by some pervert in FaceMask, and now some crazy grandpa was trying to send him drugs! He quickly shut off his Vr equipment. After removing the gear, he pushed today's events to the back of his mind. He decided to clear his thoughts by doing some homework and some studying. Solomon had enough of today.

The rest of the school week was uneventful and it was now Saturday. Solomon finally turned in his share for the class funds. He was also able to recover his math grade with the next quiz. It seemed his studying, albeit very washed out studying, payed off. Saber King Matthew also never failed to tell Solomon that he had missed a chance of a lifetime by rejecting the elixir. He said he was foolish and that he should watch out for the inevitable day when he would hack him. Solomon didn't care about the old fart's threats. The geezer had his Vr account for two years and hadn't figured out how to set it to private until a couple days ago. At this rate, it would take Saber King Matthew one hundred years to get the basics of hacking down. It would probably take another thousand for him to get proficient enough to stand a chance against the privacy protection. As for the pervert who prowled FaceMask, Solomon never encountered them again. He had checked every day to see if he could squeeze out more information from the fiend, but unfortunately they never showed up. Every time Solomon logged in, the servers would be completely empty. Had the pervert really been driven out? Although Solomon had been able to catch the fiend, he was able to at least stop them from committing the crime further. Or was he? Now that the pervert's paradise was gone, they may have moved on to another more populated program! Did Solomon mess up? At least before the pervert restricted them self to FaceMask! Now that Solomon scared them off, he had unleashed a pent up pervert to the public! I need to atone for my mistake... If we meet again, I'll definitely report you to the authorities! Some of you may be thinking, "Why doesn't Solomon tell the creator of FaceMask to track the pervert for him?" The answer was simple. The game had basically died because the developer let it die. The developer suddenly stopped checking on FaceMask and development was permanently put on hold. FaceMask used to be the number one Vr chat program, but when the developer stopped checking logs and updating, the users slowly migrated to more active programs. For some strange reason, although the game ceased its updates and the developer stopped responding, the servers continued to stay up. Even after a year of the program's death, the servers continued to run. Solomon had already approached the problems he had gotten over the week. All that was left to settle was selling his items in Immortals of the Skies. Solomon  was floating in his Hub World. He had already replied to Saber King Matthew's daily message. All that was left was to do was enter the game. Solomon found himself back under the large tree. He carefully looked around his surroundings. "Even if Master Soul Cloud was able to track me here, I doubt he would camp for six days." Solomon thought. Solomon reorganized his equipment just in case. His character, Sky Master Solomon, was very muscular. It wasn't to the point of a body builder, however, and was more lean and slim. A large white robe covered up most of his figure, and thus hid the tanned muscle of his character. Bushy light brown hair topped his head and his equally light brown eyes appeared as if they were shining. "I've still got a few restriction blocks and I have multiple destruction seal covered beads." "The speed talismans are also fully charged.... The spirit recovery pills are kinda low now though....." Solomon hadn't really lost much from his lair's destruction. Only his pride and income were damaged. He would usually keep his important items on him. Things like attack and defense talismans, immortal treasures, spirit recover items, and self refined tools were kept in his bags of holdings. It was only the spirit recovery items  and a few escape items that were used up during the chase. When he was running from Master Soul Cloud, Solomon had used three high quality pills and at least a dozen medium quality pills. He had also used up several speed talismans to the point where they could no longer be recharged. It seems his sudden, taxing use of them had worn them out. After making sure all of his equipment could be summoned at any moment, Solomon brought out the Red Streak and immediately hopped on. The red light then zoomed away into the distance. Solomon whizzed around the trees and would occasionally grab a passing fruit. He would let out a loud yell of excitement every now and then just to see the frightened birds fly away. He was acting very casually. It was as if the events with Master Soul Cloud had never happened. Along the way, Solomon saw towering trees that were easily the size of skyscrapers. Giant vines fell from their branches like serpents. Bizarre creatures would stare at Solomon's passing figure. There were ostrich like animals with the heads of lizards. There were blue elephants with multiple tusks. There were even winged panthers that glided from branch to branch above Solomon! This really was a world of immortals! This is what drew him into the genre in the first place! A world filled with fantastical animals and plants. A world which could not be seen in reality! After thirty minutes of travel, Solomon arrived at a small creek. The little stream of water flowed over a fallen tree and let out a soothing ambiance. He looked left an right, up and down. He was searching for any disturbances in the area. He was searching for signs that someone had been here. "Sky Master Solomon, you sure did take your time! I was beginning to think you were backing out!" A heroic voice resounded from above. A youth dropped from the trees. He was tall and pale. He had ink black hair to contrast. His looks were well chiseled, and if he were to exist in real life, idol groups would be fighting over him. Unfortunately this person did not exist in real life, or rather, this person did not look or sound like this in real life. This youth was actually the human rice cake Zachary! "Zach, you know don't really play on the school days. Especially when my math grade was as low as it was." "Oh come on! Quit being a goody goody! You call a C plus low? You're already doing well! You're already in Calculus two while I'm still stuck in pre-Cal! I have a D too! You should be happy to have a C when you're so far ahead of this young master! And don't call me Zach! Call me Lord Tranquility!" Solomon was not comforted by his friends words at all. It just made him feel worse that his friend was asking him to settle for a lower grade just because his friend was behind. "Well whatever! I'm here now. Where's Joey?" "Over here." Solomon turned toward the voice and saw a skinny boy arose from the ground. His entire body was covered in mud and dirt. It was hard to tell his appearance. Joey's character was nicknamed "Master Gaia" because of his skilled ability to hid his presence. It was as if he was one with the earth, hence the name Gaia. Joey was only at the middle stage of Earth Realm, but had been able to evade peak Earth Realm warriors like Solomon. Joey had even escaped a Cloud Realm warrior with his expert presence concealment. "Well, everyone's here now so I guess I'll hand you all of the items." Solomon tossed a spatial bag toward Zachary, or should I say Lord Tranquility. Lord Tranquility immediately peeked inside and was awed by what he saw. "You got Old Po's sledge hammer? You got the Flute of Stillness too! I don't know which I want to keep!" "You can keep the cheapest one, nothing else! I want to get my money as soon as possible." Lord Tranquility's expression darkened at the words, but eventually put the spatial bag away. Solomon then threw another spatial bag to Lord Gaia. "You two go sell them for as much as you can. I'll watch you from the distance to make sure you don't get robbed." The two nodded to Solomon before going separate ways to sell the items. "I guess I'm almost done with this game, huh? I won't reach the Sky Realm, but things'll get repetitive soon. It's better that I stop playing now while the feeling's still magical." Solomon took in the surroundings. What would the next world be like?

Solomon held his head as he groaned. There was a throbbing pain at the back of his head and his vision blurred. What had hit him? Solomon twisted his neck to look behind him. All he saw was an incoming baseball bat! Thud! Solomon's head swiveled back around and he let out another long groan of pain. "What the heck is this! I'm trapped in a window getting pummeled by a baseball bat! I came here to make myself feel better, not to awaken my masochism!" Solomon gloomily thought. I should've just logged out immediately to play something else... I could've been using a new program by this time.  Solomon was about to turn around again when he felt a violent chill shoot down his spine. He had the feeling that if he made any sudden movements, then he would be assaulted once again. "St-still not dead yet? I guess I'll go with another strike!" The quivering voice of a girl entered Solomon's ears. "Ah, Ah! You're LittleRedBird, aren't you! What are you doing? This isn't a fighting game! If you wanted to bash people on the head, then go play M*rtal Combat or something! Don't go around hitting casual players, you gorilla!" "Wh-what?! I'm the gorilla?! That's not something you call a girl! You're the gorilla! You're a gorilla in a suit!" the frail voice replied. Solomon held his pain not in pain, but because of how dull this girl was. He then felt the malicious intent of the bat and realized he wasn't in the position to scold the girl. "I meant you're violent like a gorilla! Not that you are one! I actually like gorillas, though! I wouldn't look like one right now if I didn't!" Solomon lied. He was beginning to hate gorillas. This stupid gorilla avatar was the reason why he was stuck in the first place. "Can you help me out now?" Solomon pleaded. The girl's voice seemed to hesitate before answering. "F-fine, I guess I feel bad for hitting you..." Solomon held onto the baseball bat so that the girl could help pull him out while he pushed his way out with his legs.  With the girl's help, Solomon was freed. Once Solomon was safely standing on the roof, he was finally able to get a good look at his assailant. It was a pretty girl around his age dressed in a baggy sweater and sweat pants. She only stood up to his gorilla shoulders. She had light brown hair and fair skin. "Why the heck are you assaulting the other users?!"  That was the first thing Solomon blurted out once he was out of the window. It seemed Solomon's loud gorilla voice startled the girl. She reflexively readied her baseball bat for a swing. Solomon sneered in his heart. "Ha! You think I'm scared of you anymore?! I was in a bad position before, but now how can your teenage girl avatar match up to the physique of a gorilla!" "Y-you got it wrong! I didn't know you were another user!" What do you mean? Did FaceMask make an unannounced update for gorilla raids? Since when! "N-no one really uses FaceMask anymore... It took me by surprise when I saw a gorilla crawling out the window.... You looked like a monster..." LittleRedBird's voice grew fainter and fainter as she talked. Solomon didn't know whether to laugh or cry.... No! It was neither! He definitely wanted to scold both this air-headed girl and his younger self! Younger me, why did you choose such a bizarre appearance?! Do you know how much trouble it's caused for future you?! I was mistaken for a game monster! And you air-head! Why are you hitting without speaking?! If you get surprised at people for joining a public server, then go find a single-player program! Solomon was too worn out to actually scold the girl. He knew it wouldn't get him anywhere, so he decided to just let it go. He was already satisfied looking down on the girl's intelligence. "Why are you even playing this dead game?" Solomon asked. Solomon only stayed online since he was curious about the last user of this dying program. LittleRedBird blushed. "I like the atmosphere here... It's usually quiet and peaceful here.... I come here to clear my thoughts... What are you doing here?" Why does it feel like this is my fault now! What am I? The big bad gorilla who invaded a young girl's privacy?! Wait... I'm not even sure this is a girl. This might be some middle-aged man who wants to know what it's like to be a girl in her youth! You sicko! Your real reason for being alone here is probably to appease your disgusting desires! When you saw another user find your pervert paradise, you decided to bash their head in! That's definitely it! "Just you wait until I call the authorities on you!" Solomon thought. It then hit Solomon  that he could not report this scoundrel. FaceMask was designed everything about its users private. There was no way for Solomon to report this pervert successfully. I'll have to catfish this guy, then... Solomon was determined to rid the internet of another predator! He would gain the trust of this air-head until he got enough information to report him! LittleRedBird had a confused expression. She had no idea what vile thoughts Solomon had about her, and she patiently waited for him to say something.  Solomon realized he had left her question hanging. He wanted to "befriend" this pervert and thought that his original purpose to rant would scare them away, so he lied. "I wanted to... enjoy the snowy scene here! I used to use FaceMask a lot, and I missed the peaceful atmosphere that you came here for too! Yup! That's what I came here for!" Solomon puffed out his gorilla chest as he heroically thought. "Just you wait you fiend! I'll have you swatted in no time!"

"I was told about this, but I didn't expect you would actually come here looking like this," the king said as Feska stood before him, in a dress. It was a white ceremonial dress, one commonly worn by female knights or female civil official of the kingdom. The dress was white, obviously, with some trims under the arm, around the wrist and under the waist meant to provide freedom of movement in cases of emergencies. It was worn with a mantle which could also be used as a blanket in emergencies, though most female knights wouldn't dare use it for that purpose since the whole outfit would cost one a small fortune. Feska pushed her mantle aside, showing her thin beautiful arms covered in bracers of dragon scales. "Oh really, father? Did I disappoint you? After all these years, is that all you're going to say?" "Just why did you become... this?" The king gestured at Feska with his right hand. "Nothing I'd care to tell you, father. Now let's move on to the real issue at hand." "Just where did that cute boy went to," the king sighed before he continued, "Well, I guess you're right. Let's talk about the demon king-" "No father, I only came here to talk about having you leave me alone." The king gasped in shock. "I'm not going to get anywhere near that guy again, father. Find another hero and let me live the rest of my life in peace." "B-but, the demon king is a menace to the human world! As a hero, it's your duty to stop him once and for all!" "I was a hero once. I retired," Feska stated, looking rather bored with the exchange. "But you can't retire. The kingdom needs a hero!" "YOU need a hero, father. I've already quit. I'm done. It's no longer my business." "My son, have you forgotten what you yourself said before that journey? Are you turning your back on your own words?" As the king said these words, all conversation stopped. The air felt heavy and an overwhelming murderous feeling pressed against everyone present. For those in the throne hall, this overwhelming feeling made them sweat, their bodies tremble and their bladder loose. As everyone wondered if they would all die on this day, Feska's eyes, shut for years, opened slowly. But what leaked out from the crack of her eyelids was something that should not have come out of a human's eyes. As her eyes opened fully, what could be seen from the sockets of those eyes were not the clear white eyeballs with bright blue irises the colour of the cleanest coasts. It was blue indeed, but it was as far removed from a human's eyes, the difference being akin to the distance between the sea and the moon. Glowing inside Feska's eye sockets were twin orbs with no limit or boundary. Like twin stars, it shone with a bright light like the guiding beacon that informs sailors of the direction north. For those who saw those twin blue orbs, it instilled in them a sense of warmth but at the same time, also a sense of great fear. For there was nothing human about those twin orbs. If one were to hold back their fear long enough to gaze into those eyes, they would see nothing but a world of chaos and destruction. A world where things were always created and destroyed. Where truth always changed and stability lasted only a fraction of a second. If the eyes could be said to be the window to the soul, then where would these twin orbs lead the observer? "This isn't good," the prime minister said as he saw the light. "Thank you for reminding me of that, father. As I thought, I really shouldn't have left those who heard that conversation alive. I guess I should turn this continent into a wasteland after all," Feska said with a sigh. Spoken by any other person, it would've been seen as a joke. Unfortunately, when the same words were spoken by the hero who defeated the demon king, the same demon king who could destroy the continent, nobody knew what to think anymore. Nobody knew whether Feska really meant what she had just said. Feska meant it as a joke, though. Probably. Maybe. She won't actually kill over a million people just because she is embarrassed, right? Actually, not even this narrator can tell for sure. "C-calm down, my son. Ah, I know, how about I call the Sorcerer of the Red Tower and ask him to turn you into a lady for real with this message card. That's what you want, right?" Feska stared at the message card between the king's finger. With a flash of blue light from her eyes, she incinerated the message card between the king's fingers, causing the king to withdraw his fingers in pain. It was clear she had no interest in such an offer. "I'm not wearing this because I want to be a lady, father," Feska stated. "T-then, how about this?" The king produced a parchment made of sheepskin. "How about this? Your own land, untouched, fertile and rich with lush forests. It's so close to Sanori, you can see your sister anytime you want." "See my sister, you say? Would this untouched land happened to be right next to the demon territories?" "Well..." "Lie to me, father and I will ensure you regret it." "It shares twenty miles border with the demon territories." Feska's eyes shot twin beams of light, making holes in the parchment. "Rejected." "How about this? Huge mountainous land and lush virgin forests. It's a bit cold, but the land is huge. Truly good for a duke, won't you agree?" "And where exactly is this land, father?" "It's a little complicated-" "Name of the region, father." "Umm, Karenka." Feska's eyebeam again burned through another parchment. "That's right in the route of invading demons in the last war, father! You're expecting me to take care of your problems for you, aren't you?" "Then - then do it for your late mother! You know she'd be turning in her grave if she only knew her son would let innocents suffer." Feska turned her head slightly to the right, then back to the king, then back to the right, then back to the king. "Father... my mother is still alive. She's sitting right next to you." To everyone in the room, this was common knowledge. It was unthinkable to them how the king could not know this. As for the king himself, he turned his head to his left. The queen, sitting by his side, smiled before mouthing out, "My son," without a sound while pointing a finger at herself. "Ooooh..." the king said as he struck his left palm with his right fist. "Seriously father, if you can't remember your wives, don't keep adding them! I wonder if you even know the name of big brother's mother." "Umm, yes. Of course I know that. Err..." "It's Princess Ceneris, father!" "Ah, Ceneris. Lovely woman. Very beautiful, very dignified. I wonder how she's doing." "She died almost 10 years ago, father." "Oh, so she's the one who died!" "Who's big sister's mother, then?" The king frowned. He tried hard to remember, struggled to reach that deep part of his memory that he never bothered to visit. He looked left and right, looking for a hint to the answer, until his queen patted his left hand and in the same way as before, wordlessly said with the movements of her lips, "My daughter." "Unbelievable, father!" Feska threw her hands up in disgust. "Look boy. There are lots of things you need to consider when you're an adult. Isn't that right, prime minister?" Without saying a word, the prime minister bowed slightly. This gesture usually symbolized agreement, but in the prime minister's head, he was actually thinking about something else. Inside, the prime minister was thinking, "Your Majesty, please don't involve me. I don't want to be turned to ash." "I'm already 16, father. In a few months, I'll be 17, which makes me wonder why I haven't received any severance gift. I've been wondering if you're expecting me to steal the throne from big brother." The king frowned. "Every word you say is rebellious, my son." "Or perhaps... you were expecting me to abdicate without any benefits?" "But I already offered you a large fief." "You want me to be a god-forsaken wall!" "Prime minister, this is going nowhere. Summon him." Him? Feska wondered this person could be. She didn't have to wait long. "I was summoned and has arrived! Applause, please," the newcomer said as he entered the throne room. Only a few in attendance clapped their hands, the king being one of them. The rest was too afraid of Feska to do anything. Those about to clap late pissed their pants when Feska with the twin glowing orbs on her face turned her head towards them. Feska knew who that was. Even without turning her head, even without using her chaos eyes, she knew who that was. The single, most shameless, most obnoxious pervert she had ever met. "Guards, why are you allowing this crook into the throne room? Arrest this thief at once!" Feska ordered. Nobody moved. "Father, explain. If I don't like it, I will make you bald permanently this time." "Hiiiiii!" the king squealed as he hid behind the throne. "Spymaster, save me!" Spymaster? Feska wondered what the hell had happened since she left the palace. "Greetings, Princess Feska. Meclis, spymaster extraordinaire at your service." The former bandit king said as he made an exaggerated bow with a wide sweep of his arms. "Please stop, being called 'princess' by you gives me the chills," Feska said as she fixed him a narrow-eyed glare. "Hahaha, please don't be shy with me, princess. After all, we journeyed to defeat the demon king together." "Don't remind me..." "You also flashed me your-" The beam of light missed Meclis's head by about an inch. Meclis's smiling face froze as he imagined how easily he could've lost his head. Despite playing it cool, he almost lost his bladder. Actually, he already leaked a few drops. "I do not miss twice, scum," Feska said while releasing killing intent towards Meclis. "Wait, wait, wait. I have information!" "Whatever information about the demon king is not information I'm interested in," Feska turned towards the king, who was hiding behind the queen. Feska already dismissed her former compatriot in her mind and now simply wanted to extract an agreement from her father, the king. "Not the demon king! Though I do have information about that too. Wait wait, I can feel your glare. I was trying to say that guy is still alive!" "Of course that guy is still alive, that's why they dragged me here." "No, not the demon king," Meclis said as his voice dropped into a whisper, "THAT guy." Feska froze hearing his words. She slowly turned her head left, facing Meclis, though it was unnecessary. Meclis could already feel Feska's supernatural attention on him again the moment he finished his words. "Are you saying THAT guy is still alive?" "Yes, THAT guy is still alive." "Impossible!" "I have seen him myself." "You are not lying?" "I'd never lie to you, princess." "See, that's a lie." "I'm not lying right now." "Will you swear it?" "On my dead wife's grave." "You were never married." "It was a matter of choice, not performance." Meclis shrugged, at the same time trying to forget the wetness in his drawers. "Still, THAT guy is alive, huh? Kukuku..." Feska's lips turned into a crooked smile as her chuckles turned into a mirthful laugh. "THAT guy is still alive! Hahaha, finally! This unfulfilled wish, I can finally end this! Just you wait, you bastard! You are not getting away from me again! Hahaha!" "Umm, who are you both talking about?" the king asked in a timid voice. His question was of course, ignored. "Let's go, bast - I mean, Meclis, my good friend! Take me to THAT guy, now!" "Wait, you're forgetting an important matter, Feska. What about the demon king?" Meclis asked. Feska snapped her head towards Meclis. Placing her right hand on Meclis's right shoulder, Feska looked up at Meclis's face, several inches higher. As Meclis started sweating, Feska said, "You do realize I can turn you to ash where you stand, right?" Meclis's sweat formed big drops and dripped from his chink onto the floor. With his shirt increasingly soaked by his own sweat, he said, "It is my duty as the kingdom's spymaster and your former companion, Feska. Please have mercy." Feska looked at Meclis, a large man, a full head taller than her, maybe more. He was sweating like a pig, his shirt started to turn sticky, his eyes started to be filled with tears, despite trying to appear brave. Feska knew he was on the verge of wetting his own pants too, again. Feska knew these things, not only because of her otherworldly perception but because she purposely aimed a torrent of killing aura into Meclis with the contact of her hand on his shoulder. The fact that Meclis still hadn't pissed his pants again was proof that he had a strong spirit. As expected of someone who accompanied her all the way to the demon king's castle, despite what THAT man did. Or maybe it was because after Feska went berserk and he had to stop her, he acquired a certain resistance towards Feska's killing aura. Regardless, that wasn't Feska's problem. Meclis might have been a crook and was a scum with a strange taste, but he was her most loyal follower. Where others, such as THAT guy and that fake priestess abandoned him, he remained with her throughout the journey. Though Feska wasn't sure if it was truly loyalty or simply because he was a different kind of scum than her other followers. "Fine, I'll handle the demon king. Now take me to THAT guy!"   Announcement Ai-chan finally caved in and made a patreon now. If you wish to support Ai-chan and encourage Ai-chan to write faster, please visit here: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=15967257

"Nah! Why would I do that! I came here to study, not to mess around!" Solomon ultimately decided against joining a lobby. If he joined one, he wouldn't be able to hide behind an avatar. Since he was using a public Vr set, he was required to use his actual face. He didn't want people to recognize him and he didn't feel like getting to know random strangers. They would be sure to drag him away from his studies..... not that he was doing that himself.... Solomon pushed the pile of comics and novels to the side and decided to watch video lessons. You can't go wrong with video lessons! They're full of knowledge and guidance! They're definitely not sources of entertainment! Solomon clicked on video after video. He started with Calculus then to Chemistry. He went from Chemistry to Physics. He went from Physics to M*th Busters. He accidentally went from M*th Busters to "top ten tricks when it comes to talking to people" because of a mis-click. He went from M*th Busters to ghost hunting. He went from Ghost hunting to Gh*st B*sters. He went from Gh*st B*sters to popular media. Finally, he went from popular media to tech updates. After getting led along a rabbit hole of topics, Solomon had strayed far from the math lessons he came for. His resolve for studying was apparently very weak. Soon he was reading updates and blogs on the tech advancements. Maybe there were some good Vr updates in there. "Oh, they finally confessed to having six hour time distortion... That must mean they've already developed seven times too. When will they be honest with the public?" "Hmm? They almost have a vaccine for the common cold? It's been taking them a while now.... Maybe they're embezzling the funds?" "What?! The military developed l*ght s*bers?! Maybe my dreams of watching j*di kendo will come true!" Solomon was scrolling through dozens of updates. Each update was just as interesting as the last to Solomon. The update were mostly made by large companies or government agencies, but once in a while some lone wolf researchers would post their discoveries. Of course not just anyone could post their research on the tech research sites. You would have had made a bit of a name for yourself. Of all the rogue researchers, his favorite was Stan Grey. He couldn't really be considered a rogue anymore because he now owned one of the leading corporations now, but back when he was all on his own, he had been the one to create the first intelligent AI's. He also developed hover-boards and made the Hollywood famous holograms a reality! Doctor Grey had also created multiple robotic suits the that were looked at as the modern tanks of the world. Around this time was when Doctor Grey established his corporation. He worked with the government on many advancements soon after. Although he was now part of a large organization, Solomon still saw Doctor Grey as one of the lone wolf researches. He merely had more hands to work with now. Solomon was taken by surprise when he saw an update by the renown doctor. Usually updates were posted by Grey corp., but for some reason it came directly from the doctor's account. Hello everyone! I am aware that Vr technology is not exactly my forte, but I wanted to try my hand at it anyways. I am proud to reveal that I have been working on my own MMO for the past six months! It will be a while until it is actually released, but I can assure you it is something to look forward to. It will have aspects from all your favorite genres. Be it the magic and sorcery of arcane wizards or the profound spells of immortals. Be it the grand giants of kaiju or mechs. Be it the world of superheroes and super-villains or a torn apocalypse full of zombies. The game will have it all! I'm sure all of your interests have been piqued and you cannot wait. Worry not, for I will occasionally provide some beta testing for all! Your favorite MMO's have been contacted and have agreed to help. Whether it is the aspect of small, new games or the qualities of the MMO giants, everyone will work together to make an all-encompassing hit that will shake the world! I am not too sure when the official release will be, but when it comes, it's sure to be grand. Please keep a look out for further updates. -Stanford Grey Solomon had conflicted thoughts. A game by such a famous researcher was sure to be expensive! Would he have money when it was released? Should he hold onto his funds until the day comes? No! What was even more conflicting was that his favorite lone wolf researcher was going to create a trash game! Stick to a single genre you madman! Why are you throwing mechs into the world of xianxia?! Why is the H*lk going to fight zombies?! It was going to be a jumbled mess of everything! Was the genius at tech actually an idiot when it came to game design? Nonetheless, Solomon was looking forward to the game's release. After reading the update five times over, as if searching for hidden clues for some solution to a murder, Solomon checked his timer. Three minutes! "Crap! I wasted too much time! Doctor Grey! You wasted my precious study time with your update!" Even with the library keeping him away from his games, he was still unable to stay focused. Solomon scrambled back to the messy pile of books on the floor, trying to stuff as many words into his head as possible. A self mocking expression covered his face as he realized how far he strayed from his original purpose.

Hello, this is the writer of Peerless Emperor of the Skies (PES). I'll be placing the novel on hold while I work on my other work, True Nobility. PES had nothing really planned. The plot for PES was made as I wrote, and seeing how many views it was getting, I decided to jump ship to a more stable story before it was too late. For those of you who enjoy PES, do not worry (that much). I'll be updating PES every now and then, but I never intended to seriously work on it. I'll plan out a more appropriate plot so it can be acceptable (at least in my eyes). Once I get everything ready, I'll get back into updating PES. An ending will be reached someday, because just dropping the novel is the worst thing I think I could do.  - Master Dragon GAO!

From the side of a large mountain grew a tree. The tree towered over all of the other trees around it, providing a great view of the land around it. The tree was like the king of the jungle overlooking its subjects. A tan youth leisurely sat on one of the large branches. He was eating a juicy fruit that didn't exist on earth. His bushy, brown hair blew according to the wind. From his vantage point, the young man could observe everything that happened within the two small towns at the base of the mountain. This youth was Solomon. Because of his infamy, Solomon couldn't enter many towns. If he wanted to visit, he would need to spend a lot of effort on a disguise. Rather than going through the trouble of concealing himself, it was much easier for him to ask his friends to sell items for him. Although his friends Lord Tranquility and Master Gaia weren't high ranking players, he had faith that they wouldn't encounter problems they couldn't handle. Solomon had gifted them multiple items to help increase their attack and defense capabilities. He also gave multiple items to aid in their escape should they meet troublesome enemies. Should such a situation arise, Solomon would bolt down the mountain to help them. The only problem that could stem from this strategy would be if both Master Gaia and Lord Tranquility were attacked at the same time. Solomon naturally couldn't be at two places at once. The best solution to this was within Solomon's spatial bag. Solomon pulled out an orange lightning bolt that stretched about the length of his index finger. This odd colored bolt of lightning was actually a strand of immortal will! Immortal will came in all kinds of forms. They could come as rain from the clouds, waves from the seas, dust in the wind, fire, magma from the earth, and lightning! Immortal wills came in colors that ranked their power. The order from weakest to strongest was white, red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, and finally black. The colored wills could then be divided by effectiveness against warrior realms. White and red caused problems for Mortal Realm warriors, however with enough skill they could recover or protect themselves.  If they were to face an orange bolt, however, they would have little chance at survival. Likewise, Earth Realm Warriors would have trouble with orange and yellow immortal wills and get stumped by a green immortal will. Following this order, Cloud Realm Warriors could handle green and cyan wills. Finally, Sky Realm Warriors would struggle with blue and purple Immortal wills. The highest ranking Sky Realm Warriors would still find their bane against black colored immortal wills. These immortal wills  were definitely game changers! The immortal wills could be further strengthened and be refined. Immortal wills could be refined by either cultivators or be refined naturally. Cultivator-refined wills increased the power of the will depending on the warrior's cultivation realm. A naturally refined immortal, however, was leagues above a artificially refined will of the same rank. Naturally refined wills would have less gaps in their formation, allowing a more explosive power to be unleashed. Solomon held the bolt of immortal will while covering his hand in a white cloth. His eyes were full of caution as he handled it. If he were to hold it barehanded, the bolt would likely shoot into his hand and damage his meridians until he was wasted! Of course he had other counter measures for this, but why would he waste perfectly good resources along with a highly coveted immortal will? Solomon planned that should trouble arise for both his companions, he would send the bolt toward one town as he traveled to the other. This would hopefully provide enough time for his friend to escape. "Too bad it's only of the orange rank. I've been refining it ever since I got it, but it seems this is as strong as I could make it... If I were able to refine it into a yellow immortal will, that Master Soul Cloud would have been in for a big hit!" Solomon shrugged. At least he had a piece of immortal will. It would still prove to be useful. It could probably sell for a lot when he was done with the game. "I was really lucky to come across that heavenly storm!" When Solomon had just entered the Earth Realm, he was travelling alone through a canyon. A storm had been forming in above the canyon for weeks, and Solomon thought it would be the perfect place to cultivate. Solomon's cultivation method relied on absorbing the spiritual energy from the skies. Rain, clouds, and lightning were all things that Solomon used to increase his power. He had been cultivating there, absorbing the stormy energy for weeks when the clouds suddenly condensed into one. Solomon had no idea that he was beneath a heavenly storm and was baffled by the scene. He foolishly absorbed the dense spiritual energy and was at the peak of early Earth Realm. Solomon sucked up as much energy as he could, and in turn directed the storms focus on him. Lightning crackled across the surface of the clouds. First it was white like normal lightning. Then it soon turning red. By the time Solomon realized the coming danger, the lightning in the clouds turned orange and struck at Solomon who was directing a large amount of spiritual energy toward himself. The lighting stretched the length of a tall tree and snaked its way toward Solomon like a dragon. Solomon only had a split second to react, and he quickly pulled out his most powerful defensive treasure. Solomon threw a silver token toward the bolt of immortal will. The coin began absorbing as much off the immortal will as it could. It only lasted for a few breaths before it rusted and finally burst. The lightning then continued on its path toward Solomon. The time the silver token provided Solomon gave him enough time to take out the Red Streak and speed away. Solomon's speed was fast. The Red Streak's speed combined with his peak early Earth Realm power allowed him to travel faster than he ever had. Unfortunately, his speed was still insignificant in face of the immortal will. In order to stall for more time, Solomon sent out treasure after treasure. Each treasure, no matter how important to Solomon, made seemingly no difference to the lightning. The combined defense of ten treasure would only stop the coming danger for a second! Solomon had used up dozens of treasures and he was about to run out completely! Although the orange light was slightly red now, Solomon had no hope of outlasting it. Rather than wasting his spiritual energy on running, Solomon decided that he would only stand a chance by confronting it with his body.  He had no hope of dispelling the chasing lighting. Even if he were to weaken it, if the bolt were to reach him when he was out of spiritual energy, it would still be like a mortal getting struck by normal lightning! Solomon pasted dozens of spirit gathering slips onto his body. He then threw handful after handful of pills into his mouth. Once his meridians were sucking in spirit energy like crazy, Solomon put Red Streak away and faced the lightning! The bolt entered through his chest and he was immediately knocked back several yards. Solomon lay with a weakened consciousness as he combated the foreign power in his body. Excruciating pain could be felt. It was as if his a fire was tearing through his meridians. The pain was so great, he couldn't even let out a sound. Although pain was dulled within the Vr world, the constant tingling would still feel like torture. All of Solomon's focus was on staying awake and keeping the danger at bay. If he collapsed now, he would die for sure! If he were to die, he would have to start over from the mid stage of Mortal Realm. He would also lose all of his items! Solomon's body was completely vulnerable. If someone were to find him, all they would need to do was give him a good smack! If his mind were to wander for even a second, the immortal will would break past his spiritual energy and end him! Solomon sent his power directly toward the immortal will. Solomon attempted to enclose the lightning with his spiritual energy so he could push it back out. As soon as his energy would make contact with it, the energy would dissipate. Luckily, Solomon had used numerous resources to increase his spirit recovery. He was just barely able to keep up with the destruction within his body. Solomon laid in the middle of the jungle. A crackle of orange electricity would occasionally flicker around his body. After what felt like days, but was probably only an hour or two, Solomon was able to force out the immortal will. The once large lighting was now only the length of his index finger. Solomon wrapped the bolt in a cloth and used the last of his spirit energy to throw it into his spatial bag. His clothes were charred and his meridians were completely void of spirit energy. Immediately after putting the bolt away, Solomon collapsed and was forcefully logged off  from Immortals of the Skies.

Solomon spent the rest of the day with his books. He wanted to clear out everything that had happened from his mind. By the next morning, Solomon's head was a mess. He had a dream that night of him getting chased by a giant, perverted gorilla. Atop of the gorilla's head was a fat rice cake shouting out offers and counter offers. It was like he was getting chased by debt collectors! As he ran, he felt his legs giving out. Solomon knew he wouldn't last much longer.... That was when some old bag of bones appeared beside him, offering a magic drink that would give him the power to fight his pursuers. Solomon rejected the offer immediately, slapping the drink from the man's hand. Soon after, the gorilla's hand reached out and grabbed Solomon. "Hey, Solomon, you don't look too good. Don't tell me you were up all night with your games again, were you?" Tommy was worried after noticing Solomon's ill expression in the morning. Solomon was pale and he had overslept. Dark bags hung below his eyes. He missed his breakfast! "Stupid idiots! You can put me through embarrassing situations, but don't mess with my sleep and meals! If I don't pay you back ten times for these troubles, I'm not Sky Master Solomon!" Solomon thought. Solomon's head truly was in a shambles. He was mixing up his game identity with reality.... Solomon looked up from his desk after hearing his friend's concern. "No, it was the complete opposite. I was studying 'til I passed out... I was trying to stay away from Vr yesterday..." Solomon avoiding Vr? Was the sun rising from the west today? Tommy shrugged his shoulders. If his friend was turning away from his unhealthy Vr habits, then it was fine. Solomon trudged on with the day, and as time went by, he slowly recovered from his stupor.  When lunch had come, Solomon was back to his normal self. The four boys were eating lunch as usual. Zachary mouthed off about his Vr accomplishments while the rest silently listened. Joey's face was expressionless like a wall. It seemed he was used to this. After all, he had known Zachary since they were little. It seemed they would see each other a lot outside the school since their parents were friends. Tommy on the other hand was filled with confusion. He would occasionally ask questions like "What is a Dragon's Ascension cultivation method?" or "Why do your characters take so many pills to get stronger?" Tommy didn't play as many Vr games as the others. Although he would play with the others occasionally, he would usually focus on his sports. To him, most of the game talk was gibberish. Zachary was in the middle of his story about slaying a Crimson Dragon in Tales of the Mountain when one of their classmates approached them. "Don't you ever shut your mouth? You're the only one I hear talking whenever I pass this table!" The one who scolded Zachary was a tall girl. Black, shiny hair fell to her back. She had pale skin as if she never went outside. Solomon was curious if it was her lotion or if she was naturally like that. It was hard to not get a tan here unless you truly despised the sun like Zachary. Although she was pale, it did not make her seem ill like Zachary. It gave others the impression of pureness. As if she were sheltered from he troubles outside. If Solomon were to rate her looks, she would be a seven out of ten. Solomon's rating wasn't very reliable, however, as his friends would often tell him he had a poor eye when it came to ranking beauties. "It's always Vr this and Vr that with you guys! You guys haven't turned in your class funds yet. How are we supposed to prepare for class events like field trips if we have leeches like you!" The girl was Sarah Bell, she was the class treasurer.  Solomon shrunk back like a turtle retreating into his shell. He forgotten to pay his share. It was already a week overdue, but it would always slip from his mind. It didn't seem like his friends were any better. If he weren't being scolded as well, he would have thought the scene was quite comedic. The large and muscular Tommy hung his head down as if a powerful tiger was prowling around him. The usually calm Joey gave out a sheepish smile and pretended to look through his bag for the funds. As for Zachary, he happily whistled an upbeat tune. He didn't seem to have a care in the world! "Idiot! Have you no shame! We were supposed to pay a week ago! How can we be considered men if we can't even keep simple schedules!" Solomon scolded inside. Zachary's disgusting voice then resounded through the area. "Ha ha! Sarah, aren't you a bit uptight? Looking at the pale faces of the other tables, it seems like they forgot as well! You can't punish us all can you?! Why don't you just scold the entire class while you're at it! Can't you see you're bothering everyone?" Solomon slowly looked around. He didn't want to seem like he was readily agreeing with Zachary, that scum. Just as Zachary had said, most of the other students were flustered. They must have forgotten to pay too.... But Zachary! Your method of saving us from the Treasurer's berating is the way of a coward! You're using the power of the crowd to make her seem like the outsider who's destroying the peace! Will you blame the police for breaking into a gang infested town too? After all, those gang town's have their own sense of "peace" that the government is destroying! No matter how you look at this, you are turning the tables when your still in the wrong! To Solomon's surprise, however, Sarah didn't falter to Zachary's words. "Hmmph! So what if I'm destroying the peace! If you were criminals, I wouldn't hesitate to execute you all!" Sarah sent her cold stare across the lunch tables. It felt as if she was staring everyone in the eyes at once! The students couldn't help but lower their heads in defeat. Does this chick have a super power or something? Are you one of those masters who are so well-trained they can defeat their enemies with just a look? Will I die just for making eye contact? After defeating the entire class with her stare, and imprinting her dominance into people's instincts, the treasurer left three simple words. "Pay by tomorrow." Three words, but for some reason it felt like a thousand. Solomon could feel killing intent from the simple request!

By the time Solomon got back home, it was already five. His parents would not be back until ten, so Solomon decided to eat an early dinner which consisted of  lunch's left overs - a fried fish, two bowls of rice, and a variety of vegetables. Solomon may cheat the mandatory exercise, but he would never alter his eating habits. He believed that meals should be made generously with plenty of side dishes. After so many years of half-baked exercise and his hearty eating, Solomon was surprised he was still somewhat skinny. He could only thank his parents for passing him their good genes. Once he had finished his meal, he washed his dishes and made his way to his room on the second floor of the house. Solomon immediately sat back on his chair and readied his VR equipment. After immersing himself in the virtual reality, the first thing he saw was the empty white space of the Hub World. He was about to launch Immortals of the Skies when he noticed that Saber King Matthew had sent him another message. User 10052: Hmmph! Even if you're 100 years old, you are still a little brat! Since you've accepted my challenge, then don't blame me when I beat you up! All I have to do now is find you now! Just you wait until I figure out how to hack computers! Solomon found Saber King Matthew's threat amusing. "How are you going to find me, old geezer? Do you really think you can hack me and find my address?" Solomon was sure he wasn't dealing with a smurf hacker. He checked User 10052's profile page, and found it was covered in personal posts and pictures. The profile was covered in rant posts and images of the user's meals. User 10052 was even dumb enough to post a selfie picture of himself! The picture showed a bald old man who was probably in his fifty's doing a duck face, making Solomon nearly barf. "This guy really is one of those trendy grandpas...." Solomon shivered as he thought this. Solomon thought of the silly image of someone's grandpa furiously sending threats while hooked up to their VR equipment. Then he thought of said grandpa trying to hack his account. HumbleHut: Waste your time however you want, old man. Don't you know the VR space is guarded like a bank account? I'll be surprised if a noob who can't even change his username can get past all the security! Without wasting anymore time with Rage King Matthew, Solomon launched the MMO Immortals of the Skies. A bright flash filled Solomon's eyes, and in the next moment, Solomon found himself standing in a blood covered canyon. Multiple corpses littered the earth, and they all wore horrifying expressions. "Peh, that's what you greedy scavengers get!" Solomon spat on one of the bodies before pulling a simple red rug from a small pouch. "Why can't space bags exist in reality.... they're so useful!" Solomon then sat cross legged on the rug and sent some of his spiritual power into it. After receiving his energy, the rug began to float of the ground, earning a excited laugh from Solomon. "Haha! I can't get tired of this! I'm just like Aladdin! Red Streak, On wards!" After hearing his command, the rug titled Red Streak shot out of the canyon and into the surrounding jungle. As Solomon shot past the vegetation, all that could be seen of him was a red streak of light. After a the time it takes to make a cup of cocoa, Solomon arrived in front the base of a mountain. A simple wall of dirt and rock. No signs that anyone had been here lay in sight. Only Solomon knew that beyond this natural looking landscape was his great lair! "Seals, open!" Once commanded by Solomon, the hidden restrictions could only obey! Bright red chains revealed themselves all over the surrounding area. They were coiled around trees! They cover the floor like grass! They hung from the branches like vines! It was as if the world was held together by these crimson chains! Had anyone else unleashed their spiritual power, all of these chains would have lashed out at them. They would have surely died! But since it was Sky Master Solomon who called them, they could only yield! Shortly after they revealed themselves, the crimson chains opened a hole within the base of the mountain. One could not judge how far the tunnel went. The tunnel was already pitch black after a few yards in. When the tunnel was opened by the chains, the rug sped in without hesitation. Just as soon as he had come, Solomon had left. Without further command, the chains closed the tunnel on their own. After sealing the lair entrance, the chains then hid themselves back within their surrounding, waiting to strike at any intruders. Solomon made many twists and turn through his labyrinth. It was easy for outsiders to get lost here. Towards the end of the tunnel, the Red Streak Rug began to slow down. The tunnel was very long, and even with Red Streak's speed, travelling through the tunnel still took about thirty breaths. Red Streak finally stopped within a spacious stone room. It was a completely empty room that Solomon used to sort through his new treasures. Solomon had dug this lair out on his own. It had taken him a month to dig it out completely and another month for him to place all of his seals. Sky Master Solomon was extremely proud of his work. After he arrived to the heart of his lair, Solomon hopped off of Red Streak before putting the rug bag back within his spatial bag. Solomon then took out multiple spatial bags and began dumping what seemed like an endless amount of items. Solomon couldn't help but grin at the sight of his profit. "Heh heh! Look at all this! I bet it'll sell for a lot!" Whenever Sky Master Solomon would finish his harvests, he would end up with more items than he needed. He didn't want to keep a bunch of trash lying around, so he decided to sell the rarities he didn't need back to players for double the price. Not many items could catch Solomon's eyes with the level he was at now. In the past, it would take days before he could properly sift through everything, but now that he was one of the most powerful warriors, only few items could grab his attention. After a few short moments, two piles were made. One large pile designated as trash and one pile consisting of only thirty items designated as items of interest. There were no items that he thought were useful for himself. Out of hundreds of items, only thirty were acceptable to Solomon! "Adding this to the last harvest, I should have enough to buy the new VRMMO's!" With so many treasures, Solomon only saw a couple of dollars. Solomon didn't play Immortals of the Skies to get stronger. He played it so he could make money! Solomon sighed. "Even the most expensive items in game are only worth a couple dollars in real life... It's taken me five excursions, but I think I've saved up for some new games!" Solomon's parents, although less strict about VR, still made Solomon responsible for what he does with his VR. He had to buy new attachments on his own. He had to buy games on his own. He had to earn everything himself! Solomon couldn't care less about his ranking in games. All he cared about was moving on with his VR hobbies!

Why didn't Solomon just get a job like a normal person? Why did he have to be such a cyber-jerk to fund his VR hobbies? The answer was simple - he didn't want a normal job. The "normal" jobs like waiters and item stockers were boring. They were monotonous tasks that paid little. Rather than forcing himself through boring tasks, Solomon decided to expand his VR collection with the VR games he already had. That way he could spend his time earning money in the VR world rather than in reality. It would also prove to be an exciting job that would almost never get repetitive. "Heh heh! Solomon, you are so clever!" "Of course I am! I am Sky Master Solomon, after all!" Over the time he spent in VR plus his innate introversion, Solomon developed the tendency to talk to himself. He was aware that it was a very embarrassing habit, but habits are hard to break. Fortunately for Solomon, he at least had the self control to stop himself in front of other people. "Well, I guess its time to sell the items!" "I don't think so. I think I'll be taking those for free." Solomon's eyes widened. He had trouble talking to himself, but he could definitely tell that the second voice did not belong to him. He immediately spun on his heels to face the intruder. Standing at the room entrance was a young man dressed in a white rob. Long black hair fell to his back. "Wh-who are you?!" Solomon wasn't able to detect this youth's arrival. His restrictions didn't even notify him! Solomon was confident in his restriction skills and he had used many top grade treasures to defend his lair. How did this person enter unscathed? "For someone so arrogant, you sure are easy to fluster! I am Master Soul Cloud. Is there anyone who doesn't know my name?!" Solomon's face paled as multiple thoughts raced through his head. Master Soul Cloud! He was the one of the top warriors in the game! He was in the Cloud Realm! In Immortals of the Skies, there were four known Realms that determined one's strength. They were the Mortal Realm, Earth Realm, Cloud Realm, and Sky Realm! Master Soul Cloud had already reached the Cloud Realm while Solomon was still only at the peak of the Earth Realm. The differences between realms was humongous. A person could never hope to beat someone one realm above them-self! No! Wait, Solomon. You are at the peak of Earth Realm, and this is your lair. You've set down multiple restrictions in this room and although he looks fine, he's probably been weakened on his way here! You have a chance to win! The rewards shall be great! "You must have worked hard to enter my lair! Too bad you worked so hard just to die! Seals, strike the intruder!" Suddenly, crimson red chains smashed through the walls of the room and shot toward Master Soul Cloud. "Hmmph!" Master Soul Cloud sneered as he drew a katana from his spatial bag. In the next instant, Master Soul Cloud cut at the crimson chains.  Before they could even reach him, all of the chains had fallen to the ground. "You'll die a dog's death for that!" Master Soul Cloud yelled. With those words, Master Soul Cloud leapt toward Solomon. "Eeeeek!" Solomon jumped to the side and barely avoided Soul Cloud's blade. "Restrictions, don't hold back! Kill him!" More chains burst from the ground and tangled Soul Cloud's legs. As soon as they touched his legs, the smell of burning flesh permeated the air. "GAH! You think some hot chains will be enough to stop m-?!" Master Soul Cloud was about to cut off the chains when the walls on his sides rushed towards each other and crushed him. After watching the powerful Master Soul Cloud crushed by his restrictions, Solomon let out a sigh of relief. "Hooo~ I guess the Cloud Realm isn't all that great? Well... just to be sure...." Solomon used his spiritual energy to call the seals throughout his lair. In a few breaths, thousands of crimson chains encircled him. "If anyone comes out of the rubble, kill him!" With that, Solomon hurried to leave. "I don't want to take any chances staying here.... I guess it's time for me to move..."

It was a mostly quiet morning. All that could be heard was the pleasant chirping of the birds and the occasional passing of a car. Once the clock hit six, however, the quiet was broken. Rrrrinnng! Rrrrinnng! Rrrrinnng! The terrible sound of an alarm clock disturbed the peaceful morning. Solomon slowly rose out of bed as he wiped his eyes. "Monday, huh? I hate Mondays...." Solomon wasn't a morning person. He was the type of person to stay up late into the night and wake up after halfway through the next day. Unfortunately for him, he was a student, which forced him into a an early-rising cycle. After getting out of bed, Solomon prepared himself for the day. He took a warm shower after eating a large breakfast of eggs, rice, and toast. After showering and eating, he changed into his schools uniform which composed of a white colored shirt and khaki pants. Solomon left home on his bike after saying goodbye to his parents. When he left home, the sun was still beginning its ascent, and thus the world was still covered in a grayish shade. As he biked, the cool morning air chilled his skin. His warm breath gave off a strange feeling to his skin when contrasted to the chilly weather. Along the way to his school, Solomon would see all kinds of things. As he passed by a convenience store, he would occasionally see a fellow student being scolded for shoplifting. As he passed by an apartment complex, he would sometimes see an old woman caring for her plants. The cars that would zoom past him would be different each day as well. Every day was different. Everyone had their own lives. Sometimes Solomon would wonder what life was like from their perspective, and guessed that curiosity of his was the reason for his love for VR. With VR, Solomon could experience countless lives other than his own. With VR, Solomon could sate his curiosity for a new perspective. After a twenty minute ride, Solomon arrived at his school. It seemed that he arrived sooner than he expected. Solomon locked his bike at the nearest bike rack then made his way toward his first class. The school's campus was composed of multiple buildings which encouraged the students to walk under the sun. The area was known for its great weather that lasted all year, so no-one had a problem with this. The exposure to the sun in this campus was also the reason for Solomon's slight tan. Had this been a mostly indoor school which confined its students to a single building, Solomon would probably look a sickly white. Besides his exercise and time at school, Solomon spent almost no time outdoors. Solomon dragged his still tired body to his first class. The room wasn't open, so he decided to sit and lean his back to the building. "Why do you look so tired? Did you play games the entire weekend?" Solomon raised his head to the voice of his friend Tommy. Tommy was two heads taller than Solomon and was quite muscular. He had very tanned skin and short black hair. He looked the part of an athlete. Tommy had been friends with Solomon since middle school. They had known each other before Solomon even tried VR. The youth named Tommy was a star athlete in the school. He would play in the almost all of the school's sports teams. Whether it was track, football, soccer, or basketball, Tommy would rise to be one of the top participants. Although Tommy was younger than Solomon by six months, Solomon looked like the younger of the two. Solomon replied with a low grumble. "I didn't play for the entire weekend... just for most of it...I did some exercise..." Tommy made a crooked smile. "We're already juniors in high school. Shouldn't you be more focused on your grades or something?" Tommy didn't know whether to laugh or cry at his friend's behavior. He then continued. "And not that I'm discouraging your exercising... its actually good that you go outside instead of shutting yourself in all the time... but why do go to those exercise centers? We're still students. The mandatory exercise and mandatory time outside doesn't apply to us. We already spend a lot of our time at school." Solomon expected this question to come up sooner or later. Solomon began his exercise at the youth center a year ago. What Tommy said was true. The mandatory exercise and time outdoors only applied to shut-ins who weren't students or were jobless. Solomon gave a simple reply to his friend. "I don't neglect my grades. You don't have the right to question me about that when your grades are below mine! You're the one who neglects his grades for sports. And as for my exercising . . . I just feel like I should." Although Solomon wasn't a complete NEET, he was very close to one. The only thing keeping him from it was his identity as a student. He was aware of his present predicament and felt uncomfortable knowing he was at a near NEET status. In order to appease his guilt, Solomon decided to at least visit the youth center to perform the "mandatory exercise". "I can't be a complete shut-in" He thought. Obviously, Tommy couldn't read Solomon's thoughts, and did not know what Solomon meant by his words. He did, however, understand that Solomon was an extreme introvert and that he had trouble expressing himself. Tommy decided to leave the topic alone and move on to another one. Outside in the cool morning air, the two boys sat and continued their idle chatter until class began.

Four hours had passed since Solomon arrived to school. Tommy and he made their way to meet up with their other friends who were part of another class. They found their destination outside under the shade of a large oak tree within a brick planter. Beneath the tree was a set of lunch tables for the students. Solomon swiveled his head back and forth, searching for the rest of his friends. After a few twists of the neck, Solomon spotted them and quickly walked toward them. Around his friends was the only time Solomon felt comfortable to socialize. When Tommy and Solomon arrived, the table seated four young boys. "Took ya long enough!" said a chubby youth as he slurped from his microwavable ramen. The boy was short. He only reached Solomon's brows. The boy's name was Zachary. Zachary had skin white like toothpaste. The sickly colored skin displayed the boy's hate for the outdoors. His body took the shape of a pear which would wobble from the slightest movement. It had been Zachary who introduced Solomon to VR back in their first year of middle school. Back then, Zachary was extremely skinny like a straw. It was a wonder how such a huge transformation could be made in a few years. Had Solomon known that Zachary would turn into a living potato, he would have dreaded VR even more. But by chance, Zachary still seemed normal in middle school, leading to Solomon's current VR predicaments. "It couldn't be helped. We were kept back because of a test.... it wasn't very good..." Tommy replied as he took a sandwich out of his bag. "Not good for you. I was just waiting for you to finish." Solomon joked. Solomon may have been a VR addict, but he took his promise to his parents seriously. As he said earlier in the morning, Solomon did not neglect his studies, and made sure to keep his grades away from the C ranges. "Solomon, I heard you caused a ruckus in the Eagle Canyon over the weekend. Do you need us to sell the items again?" asked the last of the boys. The boy was average looking. He wasn't muscular like Tommy nor was he fat like Zachary. He stood at a height identical to Solomon. The only thing that stood out about Joey was his head of red, curly hair. Unlike Solomon's other two friends, Solomon only became acquainted with Joey when they began high school. It seemed he was friends with Zachary back when the two were in elementary school. Joey tended to keep to himself and always acted calmly. He was quiet, but not as socially incapable as Solomon. It was an odd contrast to Zachary's explosive personality. "Joey's right! I bet you got a good haul this time! We're splitting it forty for us and sixty for you again, right? It's not like you can exchange those items without causing a commotion. The moment you enter a town, the people will either flock or run!" added the obnoxious voice of Zachary. Zachary was right. Solomon had become a well-known character in Immortals of the Skies. This made it hard for him to sell the items he would take. In order to get around this problem, Solomon employed his two friends, Zachary and Joey, to sell the items for him. In return for their help, Solomon would let the two keep some items and some of the profit. "Yeah . . . I'll be needing help with those" Solomon made a brief pause before continuing. "I don't think I'll be playing as much after this haul. I think I'll find a new game to spend my time on." Solomon already reached the near pinnacle of the player base and he was about to get the funds for a new set of games. He already got a good feel for the immortals trope, and planned to switch it up soon. The recent attack by Master Soul Cloud only hastened his decision. "What do you mean?! If you stop playing, how am I supposed to get more items? How am I supposed to get stronger or richer?! Solomon, I'm only at the mid-Earth Realm! At least help me until I'm as strong as you!" Zachary was horrified at the news, and thought up ways to get Solomon to keep playing. "Thirty-Seventy! You can take away from Joey's share since he doesn't care as much! If that isn't enough, you can just take Joey's share completely! Please just grind a bit more!" Zachary wasted no time to throw his friend's share down the drain. Solomon's character was the lifeline of Zachary's power. If Solomon were to stop playing, Zachary would have a much harder time getting items. Solomon's expression didn't change. It seemed he had already made up his mind. Noticing his counter-offer wasn't working, Zachary got up from his seat and prostrated on the floor. On his way to the floor, he had spilled his cup of ramen. The hot ramen scalded Zachary, and he quickly took off his shirt, revealing an even paler white chest and stomach. "Sky Master Solomon! Have mercy on this lowly peasant! Please keep up your tyranny until I can take your place! It was a strange scene to behold. A fat, pale boy bowed to his classmate. His position combined with his strange looks resembled a large, sentient rice cake. Many of the nearby tables eyed the boys with confusion and mocking in their eyes. Under the gazes of all his classmates, Solomon's introversion began acting up. Cold sweat formed on his back, and he began to freeze up. "O-okay, okay. I'll give you my items and help you for a week. After that, I'm done. Now get up!" Zachary quickly got back up and didn't even bother to cover his pasty skin. "Haha! I knew you couldn't let a friend down, Solomon!"

Lighting crackled through a dark, cloudy sky.  The massive rumbles of thunder shook the ground below. Under the chaotic scene was an even more chaotic battle! Within a large canyon, thousands of warriors battled. Armed with swords, axes, spears, and staves, the warriors fought with little regard to their well-being. There was only one thought that raced through their minds... "Kill!" There was no friend or ally in this mess. Only predator and prey. Their movements, although complicated in battle, were simple from the bigger picture. Attack those who are weak and run from the strong. One man suited in full plate armor raised his sword above his head. He was about to end the life of a simple looking farm boy. Before he could land the finishing blow, however, the farmer looking youth pulled a dirty brown book from his pocket. "To thee death comes!" Suddenly, a black mist escaped from the book and devoured the armored man. "Heh heh! Good thing I brought the Tome of Darkness with me! With this, I'll be able to get th-" Before the youth could finish gloating, an arrow flew from seemingly nowhere and pierced his skull. Similar scenes could be seen throughout the canyon. What could be spurring all of these people into madness? The answer was in the center of the canyon.  Within a larger crater was a young man in a lotus sitting position. His eyes were closed. It was as if the violence around him didn't exist. wounds could be seen all over his muscular body. Cuts as deep as a thumb dug into his arms and sides. A hole gaped from his stomach. Despite these injuries, the young man calmly sat. A fiery sphere surrounded this man, preventing anyone from getting close. Those who managed to escape the violent fighting and reach the barrier would burn the moment they got within a few feet of it. "Stop fighting each other! Let's just team up and get rid of Sky Master Solomon, that annoying man! The moment he dies, the spot for number one under the Cloud Realm will be one of ours! If we let him recover, we'll all surely die!" Among the brutish battles, a handsome, middle aged man commanded. The people around him seemed to have snapped out of their violent dazes, and they readied their sights on the injured, young man. "Get in position!" The middle aged man commanded. Soon a team of uniformly armed men surrounded the flaming sphere. Each man held a staff which glowed a dazzling yellow as they chanted. "Lord of the Flames, hear our call! Let Fire bend to our will and may your flames guide us to victory!" As soon as they finished, the flaming barrier began to dim. The barrier continued to burn, but it was obviously weaker than before. "Go now! End his life!" the middle aged man yelled. A flood of warriors crashed through the flames. Some were still too weak to survive the flames and perished halfway through. The first to reach Sky Master Solomon was a skinny teen dressed in ninja attire. He sneered as he swung his knife towards the neck of the Sky Master. "You dare?!" The moment the steel touched the neck's skin, it shattered! "You are ten thousand years to early! I was going to let you all leave in peace, but you leave me no choice!" Sky Master Solomon opened his eyes and fiercely gazed at his opponents. It was like a tiger in the hen house! He suddenly jumped at them. Lunging from one foe to another. As soon as he left, the men would explode into a mist of blood. They didn't even know how they died! The massacre moved like a tidal wave. Instead of fighting to get to Sky Master Solomon, the men began to fight their way away from him! "It was a huge mistake coming here!" they thought. Barehanded, Sky Master Solomon tore flesh and bone on his way toward the middle aged man. "Hmmph! Let's see if you're as great as they say, Solomon! Come taste the blade of Saber King Matthew!" "Fine! Come at me! You'll die with your arrogance!" The middle aged man-Saber King Matthew- unsheathed his saber and charged toward the beast of a man Solomon. A yellow glow covered the Saber King's blade. The Saber King swung his saber horizontally, hoping to cleave Solomon in two. The force of the swing created a  gust of wind which blew the warriors around him away. All that was left in the blade's path was Sky Master Solomon. The saber came quickly. It would only take five seconds for it to reach its target. One Second passed and Sky Master Solomon stood firmly where he was. Two Seconds.  Three Seconds Four Seconds had passed and Solomon still stood in the path of the saber! The saber was going to land in the next second! It was about to cleave into the flesh of his waist! Just as the saber touched the hairs on Solomon's skin, a bolt of lightning flowed through Solomon's body, through his hair, and into the saber. The deadly energy then made its way past the blade and up Saber King Matthew's arm, where it would begin to course through his meridians. The moment the lightning left the blade, the saber shattered, and no harm was brought to the Sky Master. Saber King Matthew, on the other hand, was left in a sorry state. He squirmed on the ground in excruciating pain. He was paralyzed by the intense stinging in his body. "GAH! You coward! You should have faced me with your actual skills! GAH!" Sky Master Solomon sneered as he said, "You don't deserve a serious exchange with me!" And with that, Sky Master Solomon chased out the rest of the warriors who had come to scavenge off of his misfortune. "Powers of the sky, heed my call! Bring forth thy energy to heal my scars!" Sky Master Solomon raised his hand as he chanted. As soon as he finished, the hundreds of lightning bolts struck at his hand like dragons and entered his meridians. It was very similar to his attack on Saber King Matthew earlier. Unlike before, however, the lightning nourished Solomon's wounds. The hole in his stomach instantly sealed. The Cuts on his arms and legs stitched themselves together. In the time it takes one to blink, all of Solomon's injuries were healed. "Ha! They never learn, do they? Acting like an injured master really draws in all of the powers in the local area! This is such an easy way of robbing them all of their treasures without having to chase them all down!" All had gone to Sky Master Solomon's plan. This wasn't the first time he had done this. Throughout the continent, he had performed similar feats. He would ride the clouds during their peak of power and injure himself. He was not worried when this happened, however, because he cultivated the ways of the skies. Nothing that was born above would truly make him tremble in fear. When his injuries made it appear that he truly had been injured in a battle, he would crash himself into an open space that would make it hard for crowds to escape. The steep canyon he was in now was a perfect example. He would then await for the message to pass around and slaughter the groups that would arrive. The areas he would tarnish like this would then come to hate him, and after performing this a dozen times, Sky Master Solomon had become the number one hated man under the Cloud Realm. But unfortunately for everyone else . . . Sky Master Solomon was also the number one fighter under the Cloud Realm! All who would come after him would definitely regret it! Solomon whistled an upbeat tune as he gathered all of the treasures that caught his eye. "Today was a good haul... Where should I go next?"

Solomon immediately summoned Red Streak and hopped on top. He quickly sped through his lair, leaving only a red light in sight. He made twists and turns, skipping many rooms on his way. "I doubt a Cloud Realm warrior can be so easily defeated! My restrictions will only buy me a couple of minutes...." Solomon made his way to his most important rooms. Although Solomon kept his life saving treasures with him at all times, there were many important non-combat items he stored in his lair. Along the way to his treasure rooms, Solomon noticed the ground was littered with broken chains and other restrictions. "He was actually able to get this far without me knowing...." A fiery panic was set in Solomon's eyes. "I definitely need to leave as soon as I can!" Solomon made another detour and decided that of his twelve treasure rooms, he would only visit three. "The alchemy rooms! Those are the most important rooms here..." Of Solomon's twelve treasure rooms, three were dedicated to weapons for refining, three were dedicated to items with nostalgic value, three were dedicated to his restriction research, and three were dedicated to his alchemy! Solomon stored many pill recipes and elixirs within his alchemy rooms. There were many rare pills that could sell high! There were many pills he had saved to boost his cultivation! If he had to salvage a room during this crisis, it was going to be an alchemy room. Solomon sped through the tunnels like a madman. He stopped when he arrived at a golden door. With no hesitation, he kicked the door open and began putting everything into a spatial bag. Once everything was devoured by his bag, he immediately moved to the next room. After three minutes had passed, Solomon was in the middle of storing the second alchemy room. Just as he put in the last item, a loud explosion could be heard. Shortly following the explosion was an echoing voice. "Sky Master Solomon! Dare to resist no longer! I'm coming for you!" Hearing the coming threat, Solomon gave up the idea of harvesting the last alchemy room. He gloomily shot toward the lair exit. By the time Solomon escaped, only six minutes had passed. Once he was outside, Solomon continued to speed through the jungle and away from his lair. After he was a good distance away, Solomon took a piece of jade from his spatial bag. With an aggrieved look, Solomon crushed the jade. A large pillar of light then appeared where Solomon's lair had been. Apart from the thousands of red chain restrictions, Solomon had also covered his base with hundreds of destruction seals. He had never expected to actually activate the seals, but he knew that if left unhindered, Master Soul Cloud would soon catch up to him. The huge explosion destroyed everything around it. The mighty mountain toppled over as its base was destroyed. "Hmmph! You may have survived the my red chain restrictions, but can you survive the activation of hundreds of destruction seals? Can you survive the weight of an entire mountain falling on you?!" Solomon didn't dare look back as he raced as far away as he could. His face was ghostly pale and covered in sweat. "That was way too close.... I said he wouldn't survive, but I don't have the balls to go back and check... I may sound arrogant, but I'm not dumb enough to deliver myself to possible doom!" Solomon had traveled non-stop for two hours. Whenever he felt tired, he would waste no expense to recover. During his escape, he had used well over a dozen pills. He had traveled at least fifty miles and had change direction many times. He was also careful to hide his tracks. Solomon finally decided to take a break. He had just escaped a catastrophe, and although his body was fine due to pill consumption, he was very, very fatigued mentally. Solomon took a deep breath as he sat in the shade of a large tree. He then pulled out many dishes from his spatial bag and began to eat. "I lost a lot in my lair... If I knew this was going to happen, I would have sold them all before hand..." The lair Solomon had built composed of many restrictions and seals. It also stored many valuable items. Solomon was in pain as he could have easily sold his lost belongings for at least two hundred dollars. "Well, I guess I'll log off now. Too much has happened and I need to sleep... I got school tomorrow too..." Solomon sat down calmly and kept the idea to log off in his head. In order to prevent combat logging, the game was designed so that as long as malicious intent was targeted at you, and as long as it could affect you within a three minutes, you would not be able to log off. Of course, you could not be taken hostage in the virtual world like this. The developers made a sure-to-work method that would allow a person to log out. The drawback, however, would be that half of you belongings would be dropped, and your cultivation would be decreased by half for a week. You would then have to log in within a day or else you character would be killed. After a few moments, Solomon was transported to his empty Hub World. In order to vent his frustration, Solomon decided to send a message to Saber King Matthew. HumbleHut: Oi, duck faced geezer, how's that hacking coming along? Can you use your morning yoga to virtually fight the privacy protection? Solomon imagined the comedic seen of a bald old man in kung fu clothing ready to fight his computer. Solomon's mood lifted a bit after sending his toxic message. He was then surprised at a quick response. User 10052: Who are you calling duck faced? Wait... is my account not private?!?!?! Screw you, you hacker! You hacked me, didn't you?! You're gonna regret it! I'ma beat you 'til your parents don't recognize you! HumbleHut: Your account is public, dude. Everyone's able to see your dumb rants against those m*sical.ly kids... Saber King Matthew didn't respond. Solomon guessed that the Rage King was in a state of panic, trying to figure out how to change his account to private. Solomon felt a sting of guilt for trash talking an old man, but reassured himself when he remembered that said man spent his days on the internet ranting about everything. Solomon laughed as he prepared to turn off his VR equipment. "This guy is a pain to the eyes, but I guess he's pretty amusing to mess with."

Solomon logged off from the game he had been playing - Immortals of the Skies. He had been playing since its release one year ago. In the one year he had been playing, he had risen to become one of the strongest characters on his server. Of course, there were plenty of people who could probably beat him, but he would always be sure to cover his tracts. 'Til this day, Solomon's character- Sky  Master Solomon- had only died once. He blames that tarnish to his record on not being familiar to fighting games. Solomon floated through the Hub World, an empty white space which could be customized to the user's tastes. Solomon opted for the default white since he didn't spend much time in the Hub World anyways. The Hub World was essentially the desktop on your laptop. From here, one could access their games, web browsers, and messages. Solomon was surprised when he noticed he had been sent a message. He didn't have many people who messaged him through VR. If his friends needed to tell him something, they would text him or tell him in person. He opened the message with a flick of his finger. A crooked smile appeared on the side of his face when he read the message. User 10052: You little brat! How dare you kill my character! Do you know how long it will take me to recover?! I SPENT 15 HOURS GRINDING FOR THAT SABER!!!! Why don't you meet me IRL?! I've got thousands of confirmed kills! I'm trained in actual martial arts! You won't be so arrogant if I meet you in person! Solomon realized the message was sent by Saber King Matthew. The dignified Saber King turned out to be a rager... Did such people still exist? "I thought these kinds of people only played MOBA's and Call of Duty...." Solomon decided to amuse himself and sent back a reply. HumbleHut: Peh! Who're you callin' a brat? For all you know, I could be 40! What are you? One of those hip grandpas? Sorry, but those yoga routines in the park aren't actual kung fu moves. If you wanna fight come get me! I'll beat you to a pulp old geezer! Solomon was satisfied with his reply. This truly was a new age for internet trolls. Solomon shut down his VR equipment and removed his head gear. When the equipment was taken off, a slightly tanned face was revealed. He had a small nose with a thin nose bridge. His eyes were dark a dark brown and were capped by equally dark brown brows. Solomon's face was clean shaven with no beard or mustache. He had wanted to grow his facial hair, but no matter what, the hairs would remain a length that was more disgusting than handsome, so he decided to shave it off completely. Solomon did not care much for flashy outfits or trends. He confidently kept his childhood bowl cut to this day, and he wore a simple gray shirt with black shorts.  After putting away the VR equipment, Solomon took a shower and changed into clothes that were slightly more acceptable in public. If it weren't for his disinterest in fashion, he would definitely be considered good looking for his age. Solomon left his house, hopped on his bike, and began travelling down the street. He was on his way toward his local youth center to get an hour for his weekly exercise. Ever since he gained access to his own VR equipment, Solomon slowly become more and more introverted. It seemed that he was so introverted that it would affect his personality online, leading to the haughty personality Sky Master Solomon portrayed. the only times Solomon would interact with others would be at school or this youth center. After thirty minutes of biking, Solomon arrived at his destination. Solomon quickly locked his bike and made his way inside. "Ah, hello Solomon! The ping pong tables were just cleaned, so no one is there right now." A female receptionist greeted Solomon when he entered. She seemed to be in her mid twenty's. She was pretty and gave off the "innocent" vibe. Solomon got acquainted with her over time, as he became a regular visitor when she began working. Solomon shyly nodded to her in gratitude. The receptionist had figured out that Solomon preferred being alone, and would always help him find something he could do by himself. Solomon made multiple twists and turns before he finally reached the ping pong tables. Truthfully, he had no idea how the game was played. All he new was that it was an easy way to fill up exercise hours. There would be no intense movements as long as you played casually. The room was empty just as the receptionist had said. Solomon picked up a paddle and some balls, then he booted up an AI robot to be his partner. The robot looked just like a tin trash can with wheels. from its sides sprouted arms that could hold the paddles. Solomon was glad that he lived in an age that helped him to avoid human interaction. Solomon set the robot to merely return his serves rather than to play an actual game with him. Solomon had spent his exercise hours like this for the past two years, with the only exception being when he came with his few friends. He kept at his monotonous task for the next hour, enjoying the rhythm of the ball hitting the paddles and table. Pik Pok Pik Pok Once his alarm went off, informing him that the hour was over, he returned the room to how he had found it. Solomon made his way back to the receptionist to update his hours before finally leaving the building. The sun was already setting and the sky was turning a comforting orange. As Solomon rode his bike back home, he took in the world around him. This was the atmosphere he liked best in reality. The atmosphere when all of your senses were stimulated. The whizzing of wind on your body as you cut through the air on a bike, the warmth on the body turning cold as the sun sets, the changing of the sky's color as thoughts race through your mind, the smell of the food stalls following the breeze toward your nose, and the dull ambiance of the world all around. Although many would look at Solomon's daily routine as dull, no matter what, Solomon didn't want to miss out on moments like these where one could feel at peace.

After school, Solomon began biking to the library. Although he wasn't as hopeless as Tommy, he didn't do very well on yesterday's quiz. His math grade was slipping dangerously close to a C. Solomon wanted to abstain from Vr today and just focus on his studies. At the library, he would be able to accomplish his studies without the temptation of Vr. Sort of. Solomon was planning on using a Vr set at the library. At the library, there were Vr sets that you could rent to study within a time distorted space. This could help a person study at a much faster pace. It was also disconnected from many programs that could tempt you away from your studies. Why didn't people just learn in the Vr space if they had such useful tools? Why did students continue dragging themselves to schools? There were a couple reasons for this. It was expensive. Not everyone could afford a Vr set. There were also people like Solomon's parents who abstained from Vr. The government also wanted the youths to be used to travelling outside. If they grew up without having the need to go outside, they would eventually grow into a generation of NEETs. The nation would soon meet its collapse once these shut-ins took over. The only reason why students were exempt from the mandatory exercise was because they were already forced to go to school. Take school away, and you have a bunch of couch potatoes. A society of lazy, weak recluses was something to be avoided, thus physical schools were still necessary. Only a select few would enjoy an entirely Vr education. Such people would usually be rich descendants who could afford Vr sets and had social statuses that kept them away from the NEET life. Solomon sighed. Why couldn't he be one of those young masters who could spend their days in Vr? After a twenty minute bike ride, Solomon arrived at a large building with a modern style. There were a total of three floors to this library and it was wide enough to fit multiple houses inside. It was truly a giant when compared to other buildings. Solomon walked through the automatic doors and navigated around the building. The second and third floors were empty within the middle, allowing a person to see the roof of the library from the first floor. Because of this design, a person could easily see each of the sections after walking into the building. There were shelves and shelves of books as well as a lounge with multiple games. Rather than checking out the building, Solomon walked directly toward the Vr Sets on the second floor. There were multiple sofas and beds for people to use the Vr equipment. The place was packed and there was easily fifty people. As he saw the strange scene of more than four dozen people hooked up to Vr equipment, he heard some irritated grumbling by his side. "Look at these people! Youths these days spend all their time on these things! What happened to playing outside or holding group study sessions at home?! Bah! Society is gonna collapse because of this Vr crap! Don't turn out like them, okay kid?" The speaker was a hunched back old man. If the man had proper posture, he could probably be a head taller than Solomon, but because of his bad posture, he only reached Solomon's shoulders. Under the man's glasses many wrinkles could be seen on his face. A long, fluffy, white beard grew from his face.  Solomon gave a quick glance at the old man. He was embarrassed because he was one of the youths this man was talking about. Solomon quickly moved away from the old man to set himself up. Solomon found a vacant bed and got ready to use it. After paying for thirty minutes, an hour within the Vr, Solomon hastily dove into the world of Vr. Each second of the precious Vr renting was precious and Solomon didn't want to waste a single moment! Solomon suddenly found himself in the library's Hub World. Instead of the blank white space he was used to, the Hub World was a complete replica of the library. Solomon opened the messages tab and was shown how much longer he had with his rented time. Solomon then tried to access the internet. He was restricted only to government websites and a select few programs that were proven to be educational. This Vr space prevented Solomon from performing his usual Vr habits. It was completely void of human interaction!  It was a perfect place for him to study! Solomon then received a notification asking if he wanted to join a group lobby. Obviously he rejected the invitation. "I came to study, not to meet with people! Those normies will drag me away from my original purpose!" Maybe it was because this Vr space did not allow you to become anonymous and was modeled on a real life setting, but Solomon's introversion was still acting up despite being in the world of Vr. Solomon sat in the Vr space for twenty minutes and skimmed through a couple books. After a while, he slumped down on a couch. "I'm bored...." Solomon resorted to reading comics and novels half way through. There was a messy pile of books all around him. Solomon opened the timer and found he still had thirty minutes left. "This is torture..... I don't want to waste the time in this space though.... Maybe I really should find a lobby to join?"

The two sat on the roof in silence. It was a calm winter's night on the log cabin map. After the ruckus the two had caused, the atmosphere quickly become that of a peaceful night. They basked in the light of the moon and stars. The cold, icy air would make their skin tingle. No word was exchanged between the two of them. The only thing that could be heard was the howling of the winter night wind. It was just a well dressed gorilla and a young girl holding a baseball bat watching the starry sky. This would be the ideal place to relax, but currently it was making Solomon's instincts stand on edge. Solomon would occasionally glance at LittleRedBird and see a melancholic look on her face. For some reason, her slight frown would provoke many emotions from Solomon. It made him have the desire to protect or tease her. Anything to grab her attention. No! That's not a girl! That's definitely some old pervert acting as one! They were waiting for Solomon to drop his guard so they could attack him! "I'm not so easy to fool! My name's Solomon for a reason!" Solomon sneered in his head. Solomon felt awkward during this time. He was sitting a few feet away from a pervert. Although it was a virtual world and that in reality, the two were probably miles away from each other, he sweated bullets. What if this dude awakens his beastly desire for gorilla! I'm not safe around her him! Solomon wanted to log off and escape, but then he felt his sense of justice tugging at his morals. He decided to make a vow to himself. No! If I leave now, how is society supposed to rid itself of this criminal! I'll sacrifice my dignity for the greater good and get rid of them myself! Solomon had to figure out how to break the ice. He had to get evidence of this fiend's perverted acts! "So.... Little Red, what do you usually do here? You can't just come here to look at the scenery, right? That' gotta be boring! There's gotta be something you do! *Cough! Cough!* Like exploring yourself (exploring  the female body) *Cough!* Solomon wasn't well-versed in the art of being discreet. Heck, he didn't know how to be discreet at all! This was his Achilles heel as a shut-in introvert. LittleRedBird sighed. Had she realized he was setting her up and that he was trying reveal her crimes?! "Exploring myself? Yeah, I guess that's something I do a lot here..." Solomon's face paled. Did this chick guy just admit to their perverted activities?! Did they just say that they do this a lot?! Solomon was appalled by what he heard. "They already made the confession! Now I just need them to reveal their identity!" Solomon thought. Shame on you for defiling this innocent looking avatar! I bet you based its looks on your crush! How would you feel if someone were to defile you! Actually, wait, an incel like you would be flattered if that were to happen! "Sometimes when I'm here, I wonder how life would be had I made different decisions. Would my small changes lead to big differences? Or would fate bring me back to how everything is now? . . . Other times, I like to just rethink my personality, and I try to figure out how I can be a better me." What? Is this pervert reflecting on their perverted crimes? Do you feel remorseful for violating your virtual avatar? Do you want to get back on the track of an honest man? Well don't give in to your lecherous instincts then! Forget fate! Fate wouldn't lead you down the path of perversion! Solomon began to pity LittleRedBird. If this fiend were to change his ways and amend his ways, Solomon would consider letting him go. "I guess deep down inside, even perverts want to make things right..." "But  then I think again... I am actually satisfied with my life! I wouldn't trade my life for anyone elses! The life I have now is the result of my own decisions! The choices I made are what make me, me. So what if I made some mistakes here and there? So what if I was a bit foolish! Those decisions are what make me stronger! Without them, I would be someone completely different! I should learn to love myself!" LittleRedBird began her self-motivating speech. It was as if no wall of negativity could stop this unstoppable train of thought. While LittleRedBird went on with her words, Solomon instantly lost the pity he held for her. All his expectations for leading Little Red down the right path were shattered. There was no helping this pervert! Crap! There's no redemption after all! This perv is happy being a scum of the earth! I'm sorry. I thought you had some hope for rehabilitation, but it turns out fate won and you really are destined to be a fiend! Hurry up and reveal yourself, you scum! LittleRedBird twirled around in joy. It seemed she had reached some sort of enlightenment. "Thank you. You didn't really say much, and you don't really know much about me either, but you helped me a lot. Thank you... I need to go now while I still have this energy in me. I hope we can meet again!" With that, LittleRedBird's avatar dissolved into fragments of light. She logged off. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo! I just let the pervert get away! I failed! They knew! They must have known I was planning a trap! They realized it and decided to book it! "I'm sorry, world, I failed you and all of humanity! I wasn't able to stop that pervert!" Solomon had taken a huge blow to his little pride. He had come to vent his heart out, but all he accomplished was gaining an immense feeling of failure and guilt. He felt even worse than how he had come! After a sitting on the roof in silence, Solomon decided to finally log out of FaceMask. "I guess I'll just go back to cyber-bullying the old rage geezer...."

My name is.... or rather . . . .  Let's start out with the past first.... I was born in the year 2025. Life hasn't changed much from the beginning of the millennium. No major wars. No major discoveries. No new inventions. All there was to look forward to was an Iphone of a different number and size. Life was at a constant with no change in sight. One day, however, a man made a breakthrough discovery - Virtual Reality. This wasn't your good ol' Oculus Rift. This was full immersion VR. You could actually taste the virtual foods. You could actually tire yourself out from virtual running. To those who had their senses dulled in reality, this new VR was even realer than real life! The blind could see. The deaf could hear. The full immersion VR was seen as the flagship of hope. A ship that would send us all into a better tomorrow.... and it did. By studying the body's reactions in VR, man was able to make breakthrough after breakthrough. The medical fields were able to study multiple diseases at a faster pace, leading to the eradication of many illnesses. The study of the brain and the body's functions lead to the creation of Artificial Intelligence and robots. Man had finally stepped into the future. All of these new inventions and discoveries were appreciated, but no one forgot their childhood dream of experiencing another world from the comfort of their home. Game companies immediately began the production of new MMO's. Soon everyone was spending their time in VR. Many people began to worry for the health of their fellow countrymen who spent weeks within their homes. In order to deal with this, nations all over the globe made it mandatory for their citizens to spend five hours at their local gym every week, and to spend time outside their homes for another five hours. The mood of the shut in populace soured at these new decrees. They would much rather explore the world of VR than spend their time in the boring, outside world. Many companies began work to to solve this soured mood. The solution they came up with was disproportionate time. This was the same property of VR you may have seen in the novels of the past. For every two hours spent in VR, only one hour would pass in reality. Many people questioned the safety of this new solution, but they soon came to accept it. Enough with the history lesson. Let's get back to me. My parents were both opposed to the idea of VR. They grew up well before its creation, and were very skeptical of it. I couldn't blame them. Thinking from their perspective, a random man came up with a device which would send the mind some place else. Too many problems could come from this. When I was born, my parents named me Solomon Grant. With this name, they hoped I would grow to become a wise man who would lead others. I inherited my parents' distrust toward these devices, thinking I would be sent into a coma if the device were to be forcefully removed. During my first year middle school, however, a couple of my friends invited me to the VR arcade. I was hesitant at first, but finally decided to join them. We played VR racing games and VR puzzles. I definitely didn't play any fight games, though. That would be too much for me to handle. By the time we were done, although I still feared the possible pains from the device, I had come to love it. I would spend my time after school at the arcade since I did not own any VR equipment at home. I mean who did? It was a hot new product. It would be hard to find one under a thousand dollars. What made it even harder for me to get one was my parent's opposition to the equipment. Playing VR games had become a norm for me. I was surprised my parents hadn't caught on... that was until my freshmen year in high school. On my way to my arcade, it seems that my mother had spotted me. When I got back home, my parents had a talk with me. They asked me how long I had been playing. I answered truthfully. They asked me if I felt anything weird since I started playing. I told them no. They asked if I really enjoyed VR. I told them yes. They continued asking the questions of any worried parent and I hid behind no lies. When they finished, they paused for what seemed like hours, but was probably only a minute or two. "Maybe I really did get some side effects from the VR. I can't even tell time properly." I joked in my head. After gathering their thoughts, my parents told me they would allow me to use the VR equipment as long as I would stop the moment I felt something was wrong, and as long as I kept my priorities in check. After having the talk with my parents, I went back to my routine of visiting the VR arcade, although I was a bit more watchful to see if someone was following me. My days passed like this for the next couple of months. When Christmas came, I find to my surprise that a set of VR equipment lay under the tree. My parents played it off as being less expensive than going to the arcade, and that if something did cause me problems, they would be within reach. I thanked my parents and excitedly set it up in my room. It took me a few hours to get everything put together. I had no clue how the actual equipment worked after all. In the arcade I would only come in to play and then leave. I never cared for how it was put together. Once it was all put together, I sat in my chair in a way I was sure to be comfortable. I slowly brought the head gear to my face. I took a few moments to appreciate it before putting it on. I had done this hundreds of times in the arcade, but having one of my own made me much more nervous. I gently brought my finger to the power button and pressed it. A flash of light shot through the screen and I was instantly sent to the familiar world of virtual reality. "This is going to be fun." I thought.

Violet was having a no-good, very bad, and horrible day. A black cat crossed her path on her way to work. Violet gave it a wide berth but it turned and sprang at her. Though she was fast enough to fling an arm up to protect her face, the black cat still managed to scratch the back of her hand. "Ow! What the ***!" said Violet. "Get out of the way!" someone screamed from behind her. Instinctively, she jumped to the side. Violet's eyes widened. "You ****er! Just wait until I catch you. I'll make you wish you'd never been born!" A pig-tailed red-haired girl wearing a strange frilly black and white outfit was chasing a plain-looking teenaged boy. But what shocked Violet was that they were both riding huge lions the size of two grown adult men. Violet looked around and realized that she was now in a town that looked like something from a generic European medieval fantasy world. ...Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.

... Alright, clearly she wasn't on Earth anymore. The nearby houses and shops were one clue. The other was the plethora of strange sights around, like the mid-sized mechas (only 20 feet tall), beast mounts, animal-eared people (some of them in chains or collars, obviously slaves), elves, dwarves, and all sorts of mundane and magical-seeming pets. That one there that looked like a snake made of fire was probably a salamander. There was another that looked like a bat but you could see through it so it was a ghost bat... Violet sighed. What was she going to do now? She looked around for the black cat but it was nowhere around. She took stock of everything she had in her handbag. She had a few things she might be able to sell or barter: a small notebook two pens lip balm lipstick compact after dinner mints chocolate bar wallet with cash, IDs, credit cards, and discount cards As she was busy rummaging through her handbag, looking for something that might be useful, someone grabbed her from behind and spun her around. "Young lady, where have you been?! What are you wearing?" said a woman who looked like she was around sixty years old. "I've been looking all over for you. Do you know worried I was?" "Huh?" said Violet. The old woman grabbed her by the ear and dragged her along with her as she stomped her way towards the door of the house in front of them. Flinging open the door, she shouted, "Here she is! I found her."

The ceiling had a natural pattern to it. I could tell by the irregularity in the dark golden brown hues. There was a light base with numerous darker shades of veins traveling through the entire ceiling. Was really authentic wood? The doc would surprise me if he could honestly afford such a luxury. That was a real emphasis on ‘honestly afford’ any of it. Like it would matter in a few years. Just like every other system in Betelgeuse's path, the ceiling would eventually burn. The sound of a book being clapped shut alerted me to turn the same time the doc looked up from his recent scribbling in that notebook. “...I believe this is a good point to stop.” He set his book on a stand next to where he sat and continued: “Please consider what you’ve told me carefully. You’ve made a breakthrough with one of your past relationships.” Before I got up, I savored the relaxation I had found laying on his couch. It was so much larger than what I was accustomed to: furniture one foot too small. Normally my feet would hang off the edges of the mattress, but that wasn’t the case for the Doc’s couch. The cushions were comfortable and smooth to the touch. I’d have liked to ask him what the cushion covers were made of, but I refrained. I didn’t want to be here, let alone strike a casual conversation with the doc. So I sat up straight, ready to end the session, but I wondered if he meant who I thought he did. I asked: “You mean Saran? We got along, at first… but I don’t know what you mean? What went wrong?” The doc smiled and quickly flipped open his notebook back to a previous entry. He reread the page, once he found it, and elaborated my supposed breakthrough. “You were attracted to her, but once you two became close -- you were scared? Could you repeat to me what it was about her that frightened you?” “Yeah.” I laughed a little at the memorable experience before I explained. “She’s had issues. One of those silent mile-long-stare types.” Remembering that, I shook my head as I recalled Saran’s expression when she’d go real quiet on me. True silence with nobody home. “She never told me what had happened to her, but I felt like she’d snap at some point. Especially when she got like that. Like if I ever accidentally broke her out of trance, she’d still be in whatever world kept her caged up and -- I don’t know. I didn’t want to find out what’d she do, so we broke up.” The doc closed his notebook and pointed up as an indicator. “Someone who has had a traumatic episode in their life would experience a great deal of emotional stress. There have been worse cases than what you’ve described Saran having. Epilepsy is a common one.” I shook my head in response. “She didn’t have seizures.” “They become more frequent as the pressure increases.” He dropped his notebook in his lap and quickly flipped through the pages in search of something. Then he asked: “What was her position again?” “An extraterrestrial geophysicist.” The doc’s white bushy brows raised at that career choice. I summarized the details of the job. “She would conduct overland surveys, explore and discover the deeper regions -- like canyons, caverns or caves, and oceans -- and map out the terrain of other worlds before colonization.” “Sounds dangerous.” I nodded silently in agreement. “What did you expect to happen if you woke her from those trances?” I kept my mouth shut. “Roth? Are you still with me?” “Yeah. I…” After a moment of silence, I nodded in agreement. “I think you are right. I’d like to stop here.” “Roth. Look at me.” I listened and obeyed. The doc locked eyes with me for a few seconds before he asked: “Have you been taking your suppressants?” Without saying it, I shook my head. He sighed and tapped his sleeve to turn off the nanite recorder. “Before we end our session, would you tell me what bothered you just now?” He picked the notebook up, but simply tossed it away from himself. It stopped its skid across the floor by my feet. “Off the record. Completely.” He wanted insight on a man not taking his dosages of suppressants. “What was it that bothered you?” My hands clenched tightly together as I thought about Saran. The more I thought about her, the tighter my hands brutalized each other in their large grips. I softly spoke: “Saran needed help. Real help.” I let go of my hands to quickly clear my eyes before any waterworks could come forth. “I couldn’t. I couldn’t help her… I couldn’t and I wanted to, but I couldn’t. I was afraid of watching her fall…” I had to rub my eyes more furiously to keep them clear. “You felt helpless.” I nodded in silence to the doc. “Did you want to save her?” All I did was nod again. “Soup?” That didn’t sound right. I pulled my hand away from my eyes and gave the Doc a blurry stare. He looked different… * * * * * * “Soup?” Blinking away, I stared at the soldier who came into the tent. He held a steamy bowl out to me. When I didn’t take it right away, he set the bowl down by my side. I wasn’t sure which had woken me up first, the sound of the voice or the delicious scent coming from the steamy bowl set down by me… probably him. I didn’t recall an invigorating aroma wafting up to my nose in my dream. If I had, I would have been dreaming of a banquet, not a shrink! “You’re safe now.” Glancing away from the bowl of soup, I looked at the soldier as he leaned in close to me -- -- and reached toward me to brush the tears off of my cheek. Was I crying in my sleep? “Ma said a wet face causes wrinkles. You’re too young and pretty for that to happen so soon.” He swept my face clear of tears, but held me beneath my chin and turned me to face side-to-side. I guessed he was inspecting my cheeks for a missed spot? “Pretty?” I hadn’t a clue how I looked. He grinned and said, “Yes. You are pretty.” Then he blinked rapidly. “Wait. Maybe I am seeing things.” A couple of seconds later, he let go of my chin, then said, “Let me fix this.” The young soldier leveled his gaze with mine and remained very still and quiet for a moment. Then he raised a fist and softly bonked himself upside the right of his head. His right eye crossed instantly. He rubbed his chin and stared at me as I did my best to keep from laughing. “Hm… still pretty. Let me try something else.” And he repeated the same silly act, but on the left side of his head. Now the other eye crossed. With both eyes fully crossed, he stated: “Hey! I like this better than before. Now I see two pretty girls.” I laughed hard enough to cause a bellyache! As soon as my laughter softened, he uncrossed his eyes and said, “I’ll leave you to eat. I’m right outside if you require anything.” He backed out of the tent on his hands and knees -- which I thought looked funny. Once he was out, I saw he continued to carefully tend to the campfire and pot of bean soup. At least, I thought it was bean soup. When I looked in my steamy bowl, I saw a soupy paste. Bean paste? I searched a moment for silverware… and didn’t find any. Was I supposed to scoop the hot meal up with my fingers? There should have been some familiarity or I was about to be embarrassed when I asked how to properly eat here! Hadn’t the kid tried bean paste soup before? My mouth had watered enough that I had to gulp a few times before I yielded my pride. I pulled the black and gold fur tighter around me and stood up. The soldier noticed me stand before I could’ve walked out. He crawled back in and asked: “May I assist you with anything?” I froze for a second before I blurted out: “How eat?” Out from under the fur blanket, I pointed at the soup. I witnessed the soldier’s smile for the first time. “Let it cool. When you can tolerate the touch, use a finger.” When I lifted my slim finger up, he was quick to explain the reason. “Mutengge’s orders: eat slow.” That was a word, a name too… but I was too hungry to care right now! With an instant frown, I stated: “Hungry.” “I can see that. Only others that can speak over Mutengge are the elders, and I’m not one of them.” He looked down at my bowl, then glanced up at me. Suddenly, he laid down on his stomach and elbows to start blowing on my soup. After a minute, he said, “Take a bit off the top. Don’t dip, just scrap it.” With his directions, I sat back down, and I scraped a line over the top of the paste. Not hot. Quickly, I brought my warmed fingertip up to my open mouth and nommed on the tip. After a second of suckling on my finger, I reach to make another groove in my soup. “Keep it at a slow pace and you’ll be able to finish it without burning yourself.” He pushed himself up onto his knees and watched me eat for a minute or two. “Let me know if you need me.” Then he crawled back out. Slow and steady, I ate without a single burn. Even if I had, I doubted the pain would’ve registered long after I would have numbed it. When I finished the bowl, I licked it and my finger clean before I gave the soldier a wave with the empty bowl in my hand. He crawled right back in and retrieved the bowl. I had a chance to look down at my hands, then the ruined blue robe I wore. The young soldier did tell me to let him know if I had need. I needed a bath. Pointing at myself, I told him: “Dirty.” ...c’mon girl! “I dir -- I am dirty.” Instead of receiving a response from the soldier, he reacted with a hard pat on his sleeve -- which puffed dust in the air. He was covered in very fine dirt! After I registered that, he must have seen that I understood. “When this is over, we’ll all go back and get cleaned up… if it all goes well. If not, we’ll be chasing the Xi for another night.” He appeared crestfallen at the thought of an ongoing chase. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. It wasn’t like I had anywhere else to be. But I did want to bathe. “I go -- I will go… The river?” I was getting better, but had a long way to go before I could be fluent with the language. “Not without approval. That won’t happen with the Xi riding around.” He held a hand up to himself and stated: “I wouldn’t want to be caught by them butt naked. You don’t want that either, do you?” I almost shook my head, but instead said, “No. How permission?” I let that poor line slide and waited to hear what he had to say. “You can’t. I told you, it is too dangerous for you.” I knew that, but something in me was being defiant to that logic! “I be sa --” I bit my bottom lip and concentrated on what I wanted to say. After taking a breath, I told him: “I would be safe if you came with me.” He smiled and laughed a little before pointing at himself to state: “I would need approval too and I’m not going to be getting any of that. We are all in need of a dip.” Another instant frown appeared on my face. Then I had an idea: “Bring water here?” He told me where we were. “We’re in the mountains. We’d have to turn back, like I said.” Somehow the combination of horsemen in mountains didn’t figure well in my head. I didn’t have a full grasp on what horses were capable of doing, but their hooves didn’t sound like the best to be scrabbling over an incline. Maybe that was why our village wasn’t prepared for their raiding? We never would have guessed… But that explained how the Xi horsemen had gotten trapped by the Nangjang’s soldiers. The young soldier corrected himself on one note. “We do have something for you to drink.” He quickly added: “Don’t rinse with it.” I couldn’t get clean, but maybe I could at least get out of these robes. “Change clothes?” “I will come back with drink and a change of clothes. Stay here, please?” I nearly nodded again, but I instead gestured at the ground. “That means you’ll stay?” “Yes. I stay.” As I watched him back out of the tent again, I bundled back up more securely in the fur blanket and waited. Taking a deep breath, I concentrated on discerning what I had eaten. Not knowing what was in me now made me cautious about transmuting the pasty soup into nutrients my body desperately required. I would have to wait and feel out what my body naturally took from the soup before I could do something with the potential waste. If I could... The water, when the soldier came back, that was something I could -- -- someone cried out an alarm. Then there was a chorus of shouting and the sound of numberless soldiers suddenly on the move. I poked my head out of the tent to see what was going on -- -- and got shoved right back in. “Wait here.” The young soldier pressed a canister against my chest that sloshed up a bit of water onto my hand when I took it by instinct. Just as quickly, he darted off with a crowd of other soldiers. Something was wrong. I quickly took a gulp of water and wiped my mouth before I tucked and secured the canister into the sash around my narrow waist. After my refreshment, I disobeyed the soldier and left the tent. The golden and black-furred blanket almost fell from my shoulders. I gripped it tightly and secured its corners in a knot around my neck. In addition to the fact that the fur’s appearance better suited me now than the ruined blue robe, I also didn’t want to lose the blanket. I liked it too much. After my small distraction, I took in the grand scene before me. Over the hills, I saw the box formation of soldiers holding -- shields. They were great big ones that towered over their heads and made of some kind of woven wood. That explained the bark-like texture… But a section of the box had broken and horsemen flooded through the gap in great numbers. They didn’t flee, but instead turned and fanned out. Each of them were throwing their javelins into those without protection or into the backs of those soldiers who still hefted the great shields. They must have waited for a moment to get a clear shot instead of wasting their opportunity against those shields. I turned and saw what was happening on my hill. The soldiers were responding to the breakout. A new line of shields were rushed in a round-tipped formation. When the rounded tip hit the first of the Xi, the ends of the formation’s arms ran forward to curl around the horsemen. The round-tip formation had turned into a big ‘U’ shape until the soldiers at the ends met with their comrades a part of the box formation. Gradually the pocket formation flattened -- -- and the box was reformed. Soldiers who had not held any shields raced up onto the grassy elevations and began to loose their own javelins or arrows into the thick of horsemen. I immediately looked away from the sight. Hearing the sounds of so much death was one thing, but seeing it was another. Why was I against seeing the Xi being killed like that? Hadn’t I wanted to kill them some while ago? A shuddering breath escaped me and I shook my head. I didn’t want to kill. She did. Her vengeance, not mine. All I wanted to do was save those villagers. There was nothing more I could do for my mother. Seeking revenge would not bring back the dead! “...no orphans?” I said my thought, but the concept of it was illogical. Why didn’t the girl understand that if I killed those horsemen, that their children would become orphans too? Death wasn’t a give-take relationship, but a pure take! I was thankful for the imprinted knowledge she had, but the mind and body were mine now. The kid had to settle with my decisions and keep a lid on those emotions. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath to calm down those emotions -- -- and jerked back with an instant sharp pain in my thigh. Blinking my eyes open, I saw the shaft of an arrow sticking out of my leg. Lifting my gaze, I traced the line of trajectory back to its source. Four horsemen. They had managed to escape the soldiers’ notice! But why did they aim at me? Then I saw why. The one who’d shot me was the decorated horseman. I took a step back and winced when I tried with my injured leg. I couldn’t heal with the blasted arrow still in! Clenching hard, I muffled a scream as I yanked on the shaft and pulled out the arrow. I saw the arrowhead was in an odd shape… with my torn flesh around it. Shaking my head to rid me of the sight, I felt my wound close in time for me to get moving again. I searched, but saw none of the soldiers who were up here earlier. Had they all gone to patch up the box formation? The heavy hooves of the horses were heard behind me! When I glanced over my shoulder, I broke in a run -- -- but I was scooped up! In that instant, I gripped the shaft of the arrow tightly and swung my fist as hard as I could into the soldier’s arm around my waist. After I hearing his scream, he dropped me onto the rushing ground. I rolled on the ground for a second or two before I smacked into a canvas wall. On all fours, I raised my head up and saw through the filter of my dark hair the sight of those horsemen acutely turning about. “Run!” My mind whirled in bewilderment for a few seconds. Then I saw the young soldier who’d cared for me in the company of another soldier. There was a third soldier who disappeared down the hill -- likely to alert others of the horsemen. After my moment of hesitation, I quickly looked around and wondered where the Hell I was supposed to run off to? As I stood up, the young soldier and his companion ran together. “Get behind us!” I bolted toward them when I saw they had lifted one of those overly large shields up in time to deflect one of the horsemen’s javelins. But not the arrow. A precise hit violently spun the companion of the young soldier to the ground, causing the unbalanced shield to drop -- -- and leave him exposed for an instant. As if time slowed for a moment, that instant I helplessly watched as he was struck by the other two horsemen. Those long splinters were felt by his hands for only a moment. There were only a few steps for me to take to reach him, but I stopped. The look on the young soldier’s face was confused. He looked at me, then down at his stomach and lower abdomen as if he didn’t understand what those javelins were doing there. An arrow pierced his chest. He lifted his gaze back up to me. He didn’t make a sound, but I saw his eyes well up. A whizzing sound passed my ear and I saw the second arrow appear dead center on the soldier’s chest. He looked up past me. And up. His head rolled back to fully face and stare up at the heavens. Then he stumbled backwards. And finally he collapsed. Inside of me, something had become unhinged. My mouth widely opened as air rushed out me. Everything had been silenced. Deafened. My voice transformed into an explosive hatred in the form of a terrible scream. In that breathless moment, I had been devoured whole by the girl’s wrath. I whirled around and sprinted. It never crossed my mind that my run toward the horsemen was suicidal. Only a homicidal passion drummed in me. One of the horsemen tried to catch me again, but I instead slammed my body into the horse’s front legs. My body was crushed in the process of felling the horse head first into the ground over me. Like a contortionist, I snapped back together and knitted the broken tissue as I scrambled what limbs worked over the fallen horse to the Xi soldier. He saw me and yelled in a panic as I dropped on him. His weapons. When the Xi tried to withdraw his sword, I tore out the arrow still embedded in his arm. The moment he yelled, I grabbed a javelin from his quiver and jammed the sharp point down. He was heavily armored, but from the legs up. The Xi were much less protected around the torso. An aimlessly mad stabbing went on until I felt the javelin sink into the man. Then I rolled off, tore the javelin out of the wound I’d inflicted, and left him. He was incapacitated. That was enough for me to leave him be. My enraged mind told me I would deal with him after I finished off his friends. With the same kind of psychotic strength I’d used in the village, I threw the bloody javelin into another horseman who was in mid-turnabout. That time, I aimed away from the horse and hit the Xi soldier in the shoulder. He twisted out of his saddle. Almost in slow motion, he fell while I tended to my self-injury. While I crunched my shoulder back into its socket, the corner of my vision caught a blur of motion. With feral animosity, I faced a crowd of soldiers coming up the mound who stood stunned. There were shocked expressions across all of their faces. My attention returned to the last two horsemen. Both appeared ready to flee, now that they were outnumbered. The two had withdrawn javelin and arrow. Both loosed at the same time and I felt their impacts. I bared my teeth at them as I tore the missiles out of me and returned the javelin in the same manner as I always had. How I’d struck that Xi soldier -- I hadn’t paid enough attention to know how he’d fared. He was hit. Hurt. Him being down or out of the fight was all that mattered. My focus was on the decorated Xi. The only one who carried a quiver of arrows. Like the one that had shot down the young soldier. As I faced him, my irrepressible anger boiled up and out of me in an eruption of intolerable emotional anguish. My throat ruptured and regenerated in an unbridled scream to the point my damaged voice cracked and burst -- -- and only a guttural growl could be heard from me! His horse snuffed loudly as it attempted to turn away from my bestial voice. The last capable Xi that was in my sights stared back at me. With a look of wonder, he watched as I tensed and readied to explode in a savage attack. I would murder him without any restraint. “Tasha!” Spots appeared and sparkled in my vision as I processed the word he’d said. Tiger? A flood of aggravated emotions swept away my momentary reasoning when he pulled another arrow from his quiver. The arrowhead had a sleeve which he removed before he notched the arrow and drew it. Not having a care of his aim, I charged at him and his horse… which began to gallop away? He never pulled the reins, but it looked as if he was directing his mount with his legs. As he distanced himself from me, he loosed another arrow. The blunt impact of it caused me to spasmodically jerk to a stop, and then burn all over. The pain was possible to ignore, and that time I wasn’t incapacitated by the piercing blow... so I ignored the arrow too. I resumed running after him -- -- but he suddenly fell from his horse. And the horse soon followed after him to the ground. As I approached, I finally stopped to take in the scene. My vision blurred as I stared at the Xi and his horse in confusion. At least until I noticed the crop of slender yellow shoots were not vegetation. Arrow shafts surrounded the decorated horseman and his horse. A few of those arrows stuck out of the corpses. Looking away, I saw the group of Nangjang’s archers on the nearby mound. Their attire blended in with the tall green grass. The decorated Xi horseman never saw them while he was too focused on me. The adrenaline in my system began to ebb away. Before it fully faded, I took a look down at myself to find the arrow that hit me. It stuck out of my chest. I took a firm grip and pulled, but it wouldn’t come out. I tried again with both hands, but the archers were shouting at me. I looked back up and saw they were waving for me to come over. But I could hear them shouting at me to stop? Which was it!? Come over or stop? One of the archers raced down the mound’s decline. He had a mixed look of worry and disbelief. I supposed he -- and his buddies -- wondered how I was still alive, let alone standing? That was a safe bet… With a swift jerk, I freed the arrow with both hands and smiled at the relief in my chest. The archer barked a curse before he came and knelt down. His hands shook as he pressed against the wound in my chest. But I already felt the hole starting to close up -- -- and I felt really woozy now that my hot head cleared. I fell forward into the archer’s arms and had only a view of the green and yellow grass. The waving paper-thin blades had spots? Tiny flecks of red sprinkled over the grass. In a dazed blindness, I struggled to raise my hand up. It felt as if my chest was on fire. I had to feel for where the archer held my wound closed. I had to see with my hand what was wrong. But my hand fell away limp. I blacked out…

“Oh c’mon. If I were one of my siblings, I’d leave you in a heartbeat, and you know that.” My mind mulled over the only options I had left: reason with her one more time or have her rolled up in her mattress and carried out? She’d hate me for the latter, but the harder I pressed her, the less reasonable she became. “-- you can do that.” I’d entirely missed what she had said before, but when I heard those words, my head buzzed until my ears thrummed with a rhythmic beat. In a stunned silence, I looked away from my mother and took in my surroundings. A look away from the clutter on her bookshelves to the two standing dressers -- -- a gaze across the room to my dear mom’s bed -- -- and a passing glance across the rugged floor to the many faces on the wall. Generations of our family. Most still alive and well. Each with their own families branched around our world, but not beyond. Our homeworld… after the climate was modified and all had been terraformed, every one of our family members remained on a once-desolate ice world. A lush tundra now. We nurtured and cultivated the land until it suited our needs. There were whole regions of the planet that we left alone. Those regions had a natural beauty that I had always found joy in when I paid them a visit. One of those photos on the wall had been taken in a vacant region. The field was entirely blanketed in wildflowers as far as the eye could see. We cared about our world very much, and for those regions still in need of a bit of color, we applied our green thumbs where we could. We were traditionalists. That meant we had sentimental value all over our world. And I meant it. Our family had a relative of some kind living in every inhabited patch of tundra -- like only one small continent, which was within the arctic circle. We had a history wherever we looked. And we were always there for each other in times of need. A very rare quality in our era. I shook my head. “You’re not staying --” “Go. You said you’d leave. Leave.” My mother walked away from me to sit down on the edge of her single bed. She looked up at me and waved me off. “Go. No one will blame you. There won’t be anyone here when it hits.” Imploring her to yield to reason, I held out my hands and began yelling: “That’s my point! Come with --” “That’s not the point.” She leaned forward and gave me a mockery of a smile. “Your father dropped you on your head far too often; that’s why I’m not getting through to you, isn’t it? Or maybe you two are too much alike. Too thick.” I shook my head at her and tried reason once more. “Oma, c’mon --” “No, you come on! Who’s going to be left when you leave? Who’s out there?” She pointed out the door, but I knew she meant beyond and into the burning galaxy. “Where will you go? How far are you going to run until you realize who you are leaving behind?” She left me with no choice: the mattress it would have to be! “I’m not! You’re coming with me…” I watched my mother flip a gesture at me in refusal. While I admired the outstanding birdy she showed me, I began to work next to her bed in preparation to safely roll her up -- more for my safety than hers. “I don’t understand. Why?” “Because your family is here. If I leave.” Her chest was harshly jabbed with her thumb as she enounciated her next two words firmly. “I’m leaving.” She waved behind himself to indicate all of the framed smiles and waves on the wall. “I’m leaving them. Your family.” I took another look around to gather what she’d said, but in the end I just shook my head. “I’m not leaving -- what did you do?” She tapped the side of her tensely clenched jaw. The pigment of her skin had darkened under the makeup. Not like a tan, but pinkish. Then a reddish tone. Her shoulders squared and I caught the sight of her throat impulsively swallowing. Her nostrils flared as her face turned purplish… blue. “No!!” I reached out to her -- -- and she raised her delicately pampered hands to push me away. Despite her millennial age compared to my bicentennial, she was equally fit, and her unrestrained strength had been desperately magnified with adrenaline. I crashed through the door as I was literally thrown out of my only parent’s room. When I sat up, the color of her skin had already blackened. She really did it. She’d activated her necrosis. I got up, but there was nothing I could do at that stage. That didn’t stop me from going back in her room. I didn’t know what to do when I approached her. What could I do? What should I do? Unable to just leave her like that, I reached out to hold her. Halfway through a deathstroke, she somehow managed to raise her hand up to my face. After she grabbed my attention, she pointed beyond me. The last word I heard my mother breathlessly whispered in my ear was: “Go.” Her final wish was said and she fell backwards on her bed. The scenery blurred, but I know I eventually turned from her and obeyed. I abandoned our home. * * * * * * There were noises disturbing my sleep. Very noisy… I was sleeping. The rest was welcomed, but I could have done well without the dreams. Either way, I wasn’t to return to my slumber with that noise… voices? I listened. “-- enough to kill an Ussuri mojihiyan?” The voice was familiar, but the words he used were funny. If the girl didn’t recognized the words, I certainly would not. At least, until I obtained a definition or some details to learn? “Yes, Nangjang. Straight here.” I recognized that voice of the man who’d rescued me from the Xi… but I didn’t appreciate my sternum being poked. “Hm?” After a second, he tapped me in the sternum again. Despite not knowing what he was doing, I smacked his hand off. There was a loud sigh as I opened my eyes. I looked and found the one who’d sighed was the Nangjang. He turned his gaze away from me and to the man that inspected me. “Mutengge. Had it not been for so many eyewitnesses --” “I know.” The voice changed to a more stern one and clarified: “We knew.” The man, Mutengge, turned his gaze up to the Nangjang. “The Xi took her for a reason. Now we’ve seen it.” Both turned their eyes to me. “She’s a national treasure.” “A treasure we almost lost.” Nangjang took a step forward and laid a hand on Mutengge’s shoulder. “I entrusted you with the responsibility.” “Yes, Nangjang.” He kept his eyes off of his superior and down on me. The grip on his shoulder looked like it had became tighter. Painfully so. He repeated: “Yes, Nangjang.” Then the Nangjang let go and walked away from us. “Don’t disappoint me again.” It wasn’t until the Nangjang ducked and left that I realized we were in a tent. Nothing appeared any different from the last tent I was in, so I assumed it was the same. Mutengge’s tent. He gave me a smile. Something was wrong with the way he smiled at me. I didn’t have time to figure the smile out before I felt something warm pulled up over to cover my chest. My hand slipped out from under, to feel what was on me. I felt the sleek fur and knew right away I was blanketed in tigerskin. The thought made me blurt out: “Tasha?” “Yes.” He patted my hand on the blanket. “Tiger… they say Sagujin called you Tasha. Is that your name?” I ended up going quiet in wonder what a Sagujin was and what the girl’s name might be. I supposed Sagujin was the decorated Xi horseman. But the girl apparently hadn’t a clue what she once was called. “Don’t you...? Tasha. Your name from now on is Tasha.” Mutengge smiled down at me. A different smile that had become more proud. He then stated: “The Xi fear Tasha. Now they fear Tasha more than ever.” For some reason, I smiled at his analogy. After a moment, my smile faded as a thought occurred to me. I pointed out: “Nangjang wrong.” I lifted my hand off the fur and pointed at Mutengge. “Ordered back.” He settled and covered my hand back down on the fur blanket with his own large hand. “The Nangjang must save face. It is natural, or consequences will follow us all.” I was confused, but I didn’t shake my head that time. I learned to use my voice. “Why?” He looked over me and took a deep breath before he explained: “The Nangjang is one of many. They command a garrison for a single city. The surrounding region is under the city’s protection. By association, the Nangjang is appointed protector of the region.” He grasped and ripped grass up by the roots from the open floor of the tent. He shook the dirt from the roots and said, “Kirin is under our protection.” Kirin? That was what he had been shouting at me when we sorta first met. I still had a sack over my head at that time, so the introductions were a bit awkward. At least now I had an idea what the word Kirin had meant: the province. Mutengge resumed to conclude his explanation. “The Nangjang knows us all well, and we know him. He has a handle on how to utilize our numbers. But if we begin to acknowledge his mistakes, we also begin to question his commands. Not a good trait for the Nangjang to carry.” “Bad.” When I understood the circumstances for Mutengge taking the fall, he patted me on the head. “Yes, it was. This was a tragic afternoon. Many lives were lost because of my own mistakes.” Mutengge’s smile had become sad once more. “I didn’t return in time to prevent the breech... many Xi escaped.” His eyes became vacant for a moment as he reflected: “Many lives were lost because of my absence.” His absence was because of me… but he left as soon as he could! Once he had been substituted by -- -- what was his name? I sat up immediately. “Ah -- ha, where -- ah…” I swallowed sorrowfully hard when I realized I never asked for the young soldier’s name. Instead of guessing what to call him, I gestured with my hands an imitation of eating from a bowl. He appeared confused. Then smiled in amusement as he guessed: “Hungry?” “Mutengge’s friend!” I was gesturing at the flapping open tent, where the cooking took place, when he finally understood me. His smile faltered, but it returned sadly as he informed me. “His name was Songgotu. Everyone will be brought back with us.” The name… I understood what it meant. Someone that was good at crying. The name indicated a baby. I felt there was a story now behind his name, why he brushed away my tears, and his mother’s word of advice that he’d passed onto me. But I would never hear his tale… I wondered what they would do with him. I decided to ask, but first I concentrated on how I wanted to word it. “What will happen to Songgotu?” “He will be buried with the others.” When he said that, a dense lump formed in my throat. I confirmed: “Buried --” “Together -- as brothers.” What he said sounded very wrong. A mass grave? Not to show disrespect to Mutengge, but I had to find out why a burial like that would take place. “Why?” “If he were of higher station, he’d be given a ceremonial funeral, but he was nobi.” Now that he had informed me of Songgotu’s status, I could make sense of his odd behavior when he treated me. He wasn’t crawling backwards and out of the tent to be funny. He was repeating a gesture he’d perhaps had done thousands of times: groveling. And they intended to sink him lower than the dirt! “...no.” I pulled the blanket off to stand up. “No?” Mutengge questioned me as he picked the fur blanket back up and pulled it quickly around my shoulders. My bare shoulders. My train of thought was sidetracked as I took a look down and saw my ruined robe had been stripped down to the waist. Mutengge and the Nangjang must have wanted a closer inspection of my chest for that final wound I received. I felt no shame of being exposed. There had been pity instead of that shameful sense of vulnerability. The girl’s body -- I could see the subtle definition of my ribs before they descended down to the concaving disappearance of my tummy... I was so thin. And bloodied. When I lifted my gaze back up to Mutengge, I noted he was no cleaner than I had been. His own robe may have once been white or tan, but the darkened color that stained it now had surely come from the battle’s ordeal. But we could bathe ourselves… the dead could not. As I pulled the yellow-striped blanket securely around my neck, I elaborated. “Wash Songgotu.” Mutengge repeated: “He will be buried when --” “Not bury,” was my quick reply. His eyes narrowed. “Tasha, listen to --” “No!” My gaze locked onto his in defiance. “I wash Songgotu.” He kept his eyes on mine until a sigh escaped him. “Tasha. The Nangjang will order for all the dead to be buried. Songgotu is no exception.” Mutengge laid a hand on my shoulder and leaned in to softly ask: “Do you intend the yolo and giyahun to feast on him after you went through the trouble of cleansing his body?” Birds. I thought of big, raptor-like, razor-sharp taloned birds. The image of them circling in the sky filled me with dread. They would come for the dead. My voice quieted as I said, “No.” The soldiers. The nobi. They were so filthy from their march through the burned farmland and the mountain that opened way to the plains of the Xi people. I kept replaying the same image of Songgotu’s robed uniform puffing dust in the air. And I knew now he would remain that way forever. A surge of hot blood rushed to my head. “No!” Muttenge tried again to reason with me: “Tasha --” “No!!” I had understood him, but I was no longer calm or rational. I smacked his hand off of my shoulder and pushed past him to escape the tent. He called after me. “Tasha!” And I ignored him as I exited his tent and looked across the hill in search for Songgotu -- -- to find laid-out rows of many dead. So very many dead… Just as before, I stared at the numerous laid-out soldiers and felt an expectation from them: to roll over, itch their cheeks, twitch their noses, snort and snore, cross their arms or legs, or something. Anything to signal me they were only asleep! I knew better. They didn’t have my abnormal background… they had all had their own tales before those ended here. Many had on display different stories of their terrible conditions before their deaths. The nobi. But they all were in the same robed uniform. As brothers in arms... I couldn’t tell the difference between them with a distant glance. My vision blurred as I ran to the deceased in search of a familiar face. Their faces were layered in dust, or smeared with blood, or caked in dirt, or... right in front of my very eyes, I still wouldn’t know who I was looking at! How was I to find...? My mind rationally worked and I instantly felt around my waist. There, I felt the hard-outlined shape buried under my rolled down robe: the canister that contained my water. He had told me the water was for drinking only. In a quiet voice, I said, “Sorry.” As I removed the container and opened it, I knelt down by the first of the fallen soldiers. My fingers dipped into the water and I began to rub the first man’s face clear. It wasn’t him. I moved onto the next. And the next one… and the next. I kept cleaning their faces, but after awhile I worried I wouldn’t find him. My lips trembled when I realized daylight was in short supply. I had to hurry, but inspecting everyone quickly to find Songgotu would slim my chances to notice him before nightfall. Hope faded when a shadow fell over me. Mutengge knelt down by my side and began to rinse the face of the next soldier. I stared at him for a moment before I decided not to question him. I stood and passed him to cleanse the man after. A soldier approached my other side and knelt with me. I stopped what I was doing when he removed a blade from under his apron. He tore a ragged band of cloth off of his thick robe with that blade and dipped the cloth into his own container of water. He cleaned the man’s face for me. I had an inclination why Mutengge had joined me, but not the aproned soldier. When he lifted his irritably pinkened eyes up to meet mine, I understood then and there he was in search of someone too. How many other soldiers wanted to know who lived or not? My gaze drifted back to Mutengge. He looked baffled for a split second, as if we both had the same question on our minds, but caught my look and quickly his face appeared stern. And his voice loud and confident. “Juhyunwul! Get over here!” As he called someone over, my blurred vision shifted from Mutengge to a robust soldier with one of those thick aprons on. “Rally the men and have them identify everyone. Write down their names.” The man called Juhyunwul exclaimed: “Yes, Mutengge!” “No one rests until everyone is accounted for. Understood?” When Mutengge clarified his additional order, Juhyunwul appeared confused or unsure for only a moment. I barely managed to hear Juhyunwul question his orders quietly. “Mutengge… we march to return before daybreak --” Mutengge asked a simple question: “Must I repeat myself?” The response to Mutengge was resolved. “No, Mutengge.” After I witnessed that, I understood what Mutengge meant by commands being questioned and the result: hesitation. A soldier who hesitated too long wouldn’t live long. Then Juhyunwul straightened and exclaimed: “Yes, Mutengge!” He raced off and began to shout for everyone to gather before the orders were announced. When it appeared the whole population of the encampment had gathered, Juhyunwul began to call names. I watched as someone answered a name and hurriedly run to the deceased. They began to either scan those dead that had been cleaned or knelt and cleansed the corpses’ faces for identification. I caught a glimpse of some soldiers who would run back to Juhyunwul. Without intention, I overheard names. Names of a fallen comrade here. And there... A census had begun for the living and not. “Tasha.” I looked away from what had happened here, up to Mutengge. “They will find him, but you mustn’t be out here any longer.” He knelt down by my side and explained. “The Xi know and fear you. Maybe you cannot die, but you can be stopped. Taken.” He gestured to all the dead and said, “We are sorely without the numbers to deal with another advance party.” I didn’t quite understand his logic. If the Xi knew I was here and wanted to take me, but the Nangjang’s forces lacked the strength to repel them -- how would secluding me in a tent change anything? My confusion must have been expressed clearly on my face for Mutengge to see as he explained: “Not all Xi openly challenge us. The Xiang are one tribe, but large and powerful.” He laid a hand on my shoulder and stated: “You parading around the camp could change their attitudes toward us. It is best you stay out of sight until we safely return.” After taking a deep breath to calm down, I stood and turned to face the direction of the quiet battlefield. Mutengge stood behind me and placed both hands on my shoulders as I stared out at the countless fallen Xi. Mutengge tugged me away from the dark and grim scenery. “Come.” In one last attempt to search for Songgotu, I scanned the many cleared faces of those fallen soldiers I had passed on my way to Mutengge’s tent. The young soldier’s death would forever remain in my memories, but not because of how he died, but why. My hesitation when he told me to run. To go…

Wildchild In a time of endless life and eternal beauty, there existed a sparkling world, a sight for all to see and envy. It was even envied by the stars! For you see, the future of mankind flourished without a twilight. The vast numbers of what we called humanity had become countless, settled on infinite planets -- hospitable or not -- throughout the galaxy. Within and without, the boundaries of our race were pushed beyond a mortal and moral limit long enough ago that it was forgotten where the line had originally been drawn. We were immortals. Expansion was essential for our kind. That didn’t stop others from crossing arms and barring each other from going further. Everyone had their own agenda and sought to set it up high on their pedestal. Why was that human nature? Instinct? The best of the best were always what we sought in all of us. That was why we mated endlessly with those who appeared Godlike from the beginning of time and to the never ending. To have the greatest chance of survival, we discovered in ourselves the necessary genetics that would push our race to the next generation. Why would now be any different from then? That was how I thought when I looked out at a twinkling-blue colossus: Earth. I stared at the primal planet in a fascinated wonder. Not my homeworld, but the origin of our species. It was a pretty color... and the glittering lights of civilization were remarkable. I wished I could’ve done more for that beautiful world. At least, to have more time... But it certainly was a great sight to behold before my demise -- -- then the cabin of my ship was engulfed in a silent inferno. That would be the very last instant captured in my mind before I saw no more. But my mind still mulled over what if I had time... Was I lucky to have frozen before burning? Not when it was the vacuum of space that had been the cause. That void had shattered me in the process, just like the blue marble had when the destructive solar wave struck. Unlike the explosion of Earth, I had interestingly imploded rather than having burst into specks of tiny ice. And instantly melted in the consumption of an unstoppable aimless flame. My time, all those on that world, and countless others had vanished. All because an angry red sun enviously went supernova. * * * * * * Dark. Thirsty. Starved. Tired. Cold. Hot. Pain. I stopped counting the negatives and searched for something positive. That was a tad bit difficult for an outstanding reason. I was distracted. A burning in my chest and an acute headache were a couple disorienting factors. There was a weight on my body; I felt crushed and wet where I was clothed. It had me confused about where I was. Because nearby a scorcher of incredible heat was practically cooking me! I would look, but a searing line of agony crossed my vision and left me in befuddlement. Those were odd sensations, but I did find a positive in all of that! If I had vision, that meant I could see. I only had to look and find the bright side! I attempted to shake my head, but I couldn’t move. I wanted to rid myself of the troublesome nerves distracting me first so I could figure out my situation, but apparently I had to deal with my condition before that. ...I got it! I didn’t need to be alerted to the pain anymore. I knew something had been damaged, but it was difficult to get a hold of myself. Like I wasn’t -- myself? Honestly, I shouldn’t even be... I mean, I had no existence. I’d been vaporized! The last memory I had was being blown into stardust with the supernova. Well… I didn’t remember it exactly to that extent, but I was glad to have not consciously experienced that mindblowing event to the fullest. …ouch. It was really getting on my nerves that I couldn’t grasp what was wrong with my body. I should have been capable of self-regenerating the damaged tissue by now -- -- unless my mind was damaged? Wait… I’m confused? I shouldn’t have a body at all, but I was obviously thinking. How and why was I feeling anything? How was I experiencing confusion without a rational concept of thought? There was currently an issue of it being available. For one, for my consciousness to exist, it had to be contained in a squishy pinkening grey noodle, but my noggin had poofed into nothing with the rest of me. Right? Okay. Focus on that first. Pretend I have a brain and knit whatever had happened to it back to its original state. Then upgrade what most certainly was required to get the damn pain to stop! ...FUCK!! did that ever hurt. I jerked my head away from whatever was burning nearby. That was enough to tell me I had fixed whatever was broken upstairs. Next was to deal with deadening my nerves to a tolerable degree. All I needed was to know I was hurt, not blaring klaxons through my whole Goddamn system. ...much better. What was I dealing with? Head trauma? If so, must be severe. If I could whistle right now, I would in the deepest gratitude I could recall how to regen. Now that I had a grasp of where my head was, I could twitch and search out through those controlled nerves what was the matter… Yowch and ew. Something had partially cleaved through my head. That’s an easy fix. I was rather cold from the blood loss, but I worked on getting my lungs back in motion... On second thought, I’d leave that to my autopilot -- once I get that smooth baby programmed. That way all I had to worry about were the cognitive functions. The burning I had felt in my chest had escalated when I began to breathe again. Other organs in my body had sparked brilliantly back to life. My hearing came next. I hadn’t realized I’d been deafened by the blow to the head until my autopilot recovered the rest of my senses. Everything was still dark, but I could sense whatever was going on -- -- I wasn’t alone. There were hysterical shouts and desperate screams all around me. Crackling too. Like that of a fire. A big one. And so much unfiltered chaos of frantic running and so many smashing noises. What confused me most was the raised and faded noises going by. Was I moving? I doubted it when I considered my recent condition had been death, but I tried to wiggle around and find out if I was a reanimated corpse or something… a zombie? Nope. Thank God! Whatever was the cause of motion had halted and a harsh light blinded me. It was so bright! The light made me jerk away in agony and cry out. “Ah!” My voice sounded weird, but I wasn’t surprised. My head had only been put back together a moment ago! What did surprise me was the sound I heard above my cry. I heard sobbing above me. A vise crushed my midsection into a pillowy softness. It took some effort, but I looked up to see what was squishing me. Cool tears were blurring my vision -- not surprising considering my painfully obvious condition. So I reached up and wiped my eyes clear. What I saw was a scrunched up and crying face. A pretty woman’s face. She was literally bawling her eyes out as she looked down at me. Despite her sniveling over me and dripping tears onto my face, she expressed a joy that was beyond relief. Then I was blinded again as she crushed me even further into her large chest. Wait a second. Was she carrying me? I gave a soft kick to figure out how far off the ground I was. My bare toes hit her at once, so I changed tactics and felt around with my toesies and soles. I felt smooth fabric, something that was broad and tied tightly around -- that was her waist. So that would be a sash I felt. Then I drew my leg up and my heel hit her elbow. Was she cradling me? How small was I? Why was I small? What in the world was going on here? It took a lot of effort to free my face from her buxom bosom. When I had accomplished that, I got a good view of the sky above our heads. It was light blue... with a ring of fluffy white clouds that reminded me of the Helix nebula, but that was only because it was mostly surrounded by an obscuring smokescreen. In the corner of my vision, I could see the cause of smoke: fire everywhere. The flutters of motion that blurred by my stinging vision were those people I heard running. Not one appeared to stop and all were going in the same direction. Except us. And I began to understand what had happened when she jerked a step forward and gave me a stunned look. How she looked at me left me startled and confused. A shuddering breath escaped her lips. For far too long, she breathed only out like an air leak. Any time she tried to inhale, she choked. She could only exhale until the corners of her lips turned blue. Then the sky had a different perspective, like it had spun for a moment, but really it was the woman toppling over on top of me. I was trapped under her heavy and shaking figure. She spasmed a few times, but I felt her seize up firmly with determination as she pulled me more beneath her. Breathlessly, I barely heard her final demand: “S-stay... stay.” Then she was still. Dead. I knew now why everyone was running. They were on the run from death. But I didn’t have a clue what was the cause of it. If I could, I would have looked out from under the woman to see what was behind everyone. Problem was, I didn’t have the strength! I was puny! Maybe from starvation? When I wiggled my little fingers in front of my face, I second guessed that theory. Being beneath the woman was impairing my ability to see myself and everything else around here. Not a moment longer and I didn’t have to look for me to know something was approaching. A lot of somethings. They shook the ground under us. Pressing my ear to the dirt was easy, but discerning what I heard was difficult. It sounded like thunder, but unlike any I’d heard before. Normally vehicles or some heavy transport would cause that, but these weren’t any kind of wheels or treads I’d ever heard of before. From the sound of their approach, they rumbled across the earth at great speed too. They sounded like stomping. Or rather… clopping? A weird noise went by me. Definitely a creature. An animal. Then a herd or swarm of them. All of them were the cause of the loud quaking. There was also hooting and shouting coming from those animals. Wait, I was wrong. On top of the animals. People were with them. On them? Whatever was going on, it was weird. Squirming my way to see better, I managed to poke my head out from under the arm of the woman. The sight I saw was intriguing. Brown and black sleek fur. Four long and tapered legs that ended in a single shoe like an overgrown stubby toenail. Great darker mane of hair whipped in the wind, much like their swishing and brushing long haired tail. Strong and long-snouted necks with an equally long face that bit and gnashed at a brittle between their teeth. They had straps, reins, harnesses, and more attached to their horizontal broad bodies with riders in the saddle. Saddle… Oh! These were horses! I’d heard of those. The riders, all men -- horsemen -- wore dresses? Armored dresses that covered more of their legs than they had ascending up their bodies. They would have a difficult time walking in that. I suppose the protective design was to be more efficient while riding rather than on foot? Protective… I believed these were warriors of some sort. They did appear to be wielding weapons of some kind. Staffs with an elongated slender tip. I couldn’t call that a spear. Definitely a missile. Javelin? Why was my head being filled with that knowledge? The longer I looked on, the more knowledge of what I saw came to me. I could confirm these were warriors with my new-found knowledge. Soldiers, to be more precise. A vanguard of a host that came to cause trouble. But why? It took a moment, but then I figured it out. A diversion. They were drawing out someone to distract them from a bigger target. Another host that was charged to defend the whole region. I was in only a tiny location of that region. As these soldiers passed and left me behind, I struggled out from under the dead weight of the woman. ...my mother? I shook my head a few times to clear my thoughts. I was so confused. I still didn’t know what was going on. What shocked me more was my figure in the light of day. I was a child! Blackened, bloody, but formerly blue robes had been wrapped around me securely. My skin tone wasn’t the same as my original fair-colored body. A sort of golden-hued complexion. The sight of my skinny body had me concerned enough to explore myself and discover more of who I was... But all that should’ve mattered right now was to find safety. Right here was not safe. Especially as the fires lifted higher, hotter, and came far too close to me. To us. As I managed to stand up at last, I saw what had struck down… struck down my mother. Between her shoulder blades was one of those javelins. That explained the jerk I’d felt in her arms, that shocked expression, and her last odd breaths. My hands shook. I took one hand in a tight grip while I bit down on my lower lip. For some reason, tears welled up to blind me again. I had thought I’d taken care of numbing the pain, but the agony I felt right now was through the roof! It felt like my chest was going to cave in. I’d never experienced a pain like that. But I’d had a taste of fire once and those fires were almost to us. I didn’t know what to do as I was, small and weak. But I simply could not stay here. In a farewell to this woman -- those thoughts of her as my mother were troubling me -- I knelt down, patted her head, and combed back her elegantly beautiful, long, and shining black hair until it was straight and neat. The wooden stock of the javelin in her back was in the way. Memories of how her hair once was flooded my mind. I couldn’t help it, I had to fix her tousled hair or I wouldn’t find peace after leaving her. With trembling hands, I gripped the javelin tightly and used all of my strength to tear. In a shuddered huff, I fell back, frozen stiff. With the overlong stake removed from her, all I could do was stare at the woman and expect the impossible. I literally thought she would be fine now that the javelin was out. I knew better. After I recovered, I crawled onto my hands and knees and reached out. A moment was all I gave to her to adjust an intimately familiar hair over that ugly hole. The blue native dress she wore was stained a dark red, but I left her like that. I took the javelin without thinking. Inside of my strange new heart, I felt a fiery rage grow hotter than the flames around me. Those soldiers would pay for what they’d done. But why? I didn’t know who they were or why any of what happened was… well, happening! But I hated them. Wasn’t that all that really mattered? There was no rhyme or reason for why I should. I was a stranger here. Yet I intimately knew the who and how what was before their arrival. My home burned. My family murdered. In an instant, I violently shook my head to find clarity! I was dead! Dead, until an anomaly in that particular supernova did something really weird. It must have caused me to be launched into a child. A child with the same disposition as mine: deceased. Except I would have been lucky if I had been atomized into dust in the coldness of space. Likely nothing remained of me after the solar catastrophe. The child was a different story. And yet there was a problem being a kid. I wasn’t capable of doing anything about what had happened here. Those had been soldiers. Riders with weapons that could be thrown at a range before I could come close. Even if I had been in their faces, what could I do? There was a strange new voice in me. A burning hatred that germinated and grew stronger the longer I remained doing nothing, and told me to do morbidly malicious things to those soldiers. To kill them before they reached and slaughtered all those who were running. Just like they had done to my mother. Could I catch up to them? Gritting my teeth tightly together, I recovered some of my composure. My thoughts swayed back to -- Hold on a fucking moment! What was I going to do if I did? I was a kid! A suicidal kid. Jesus! No wonder the brat was dead... Take a lesson from me: look before you leap. How many soldiers were there? Twenty, right? At least, that was how many I’d seen ride past me. Who knew how many more there were in that vanguard. Not to mention how far away the host was from my destroyed village. Their village! THEIRS! Why was I still on a tangent about the kid’s identity? I took a deep breath. Then another, another, and another. I calmed down and worked out what were my thoughts and separated them from the child’s. I’d acquiesced to whoever’s personality was in my mind, but I would be the dominant consciousness. The kid could support memories and hand off whatever knowledge I required. Thinking back, my mother didn’t regenerate like I could. Was that because of the shock or didn’t she know how? Did that apply to those soldiers? Something to test. Did that mean I was committed to the child’s cause? I could simply run off and gather more information about what all was happening. What had happened. But that again meant the deaths of all those who were running from the soldiers that killed my mother! ...I crossed the Rubicon. First challenge was for me to catch up! That meant in more way than one. I let all the air in my lungs escape and learned the best method to breathe with a small body. Then I started to walk. I got a feel of moving around for the first time with these thin legs. And I went at a sprinting pace before I exerted myself at full throttle. To chase after those horsemen, I had to ignore the limits of my new body. With psychotic strength, I immediately pulled and tore apart the muscles in my overextended legs from an unrestrained speed. I had no choice but to stop. I couldn’t move! I knitted the flesh of my legs back together again. Tried to run again. And knit again. And both done again until the act became muscle memory. Something my auto-pilot handled without a thought involved anymore. After that painstakingly long session, it became easier to run at that constant mad dash. It certainly helped made up for lost time. The distance was still great, but I might be able to reach them in time to stop any more killing of my people. My people? Who exactly were considered my people? I would have to work that out later. Maybe when I found peace? I had a massacre to prevent first if I wanted peace. Otherwise I’d have felt like I hadn’t tried when I might’ve been able to accomplish something. Up ahead, I heard and then saw horsemen. Right now would be the time to come up with a rational plan. We were out of the inferno and on a field. To the left was a large slope that was blanketed with trees. On the right was just more fields. Farmland? That made some sense. What was beyond the vanguard? Villagers… I know that! Where are they heading? Water? A stream, lake, river..? A river that snaked around the other side of the slope to pass the farmland and flow toward a major settlement. A city? The villagers were going to make an attempt crossing and racing down along the other side of that river to that city. They won’t make it. We were already at the slope and the horsemen won’t be long until they reach the mass crossing. My people will die… The kid flared up with a score of emotional turmoil and snapped so hard that I was thrown for a loop! Inside me, something burned through and had broken free: a feral animosity. My breathing had ceased. My jaw made a cricking and cracking noise as it tensed from the wide open cry I had been about to let loose. Then I screamed like a banshee. And I panted and gasped for air as I charged straight and true at those soldiers. Blood rushed through me with a potent surge of adrenaline. At least four of the riders had yanked back on their reins to spot my inhumanly fast approach. At least one of them was going to be the subject of my experiment. The javelin in my hand was thrown -- again without any thought of it being in my possession. I watched it sail until I saw the slim wooden flier disappear before my eyes. I knew it had hit one of the soldiers because he jerked back from the momentum. The man hadn’t appeared to be fazed -- -- but only for a moment. The horse he rode had strangely collapsed. He didn’t slide off, but he did curl up onto his side and clutch his stomach. While that beast of burden was down, and the other three horsemen had a moment to recuperate from shock of what I had done, I was dealing with an acute pain in my shoulder. Apparently my shoulder had dislocated when I hurled that javelin. I rolled and shoved at my shoulder and arm until the regeneration kicked into the joint. With a sigh of relief, and more knowledge on how to fix that kind of injury, I saw something of interest ahead of me. It was how my javelin had embedded itself in the soldier. He was trying to wrench free from the back of his horse's long head!? The tip of the javelin stuck out of the horse’s mouth like a pointed tongue. Yuck! I didn’t intend that to happen! Now that I had an inkling of what I could do, I worked on my awareness to not let my rage go out of control. Obviously that wrath didn’t prioritize precision or care for anything other than killing those soldiers. Everything else was in the way. If I went berserk like that again, such as near the villagers, my own assault would endanger innocents. I had to keep control or the collateral damage would be horrendous in my vengeance. Vengeance? Again I had to reassert how I was a stranger here, despite how I felt otherwise. Memories and knowledge were acceptable from the child, but these tremendous emotions overwhelmed me and were unwelcome. That caused me to move onto another experiment: emotional control. Unlike me, the three other riders snapped out of it and didn’t appear to have the same issue with getting angry like me. And they appeared to seek revenge. They charged at me and tossed their own javelins before they reached over their shoulder for more. I quickly counted. In reserve, there were a total of three javelins in their quivers. As for the javelins zeroed in on me, I managed to dodge one, but I gagged when the other two struck true. One stuck out of my empty tummy. The other had grazed my hand -- when I instinctively tried to wrench out the bellyache. After it had scored my hand, the missile had jabbed its tip into my hip, but bounced out and clattered to the ground. I guessed that one had hit bone? The thought of that caused me to shudder. Breathing in once, I concentrated and forced my regeneration to be faster. Quickly now, so I could use the javelin I’d just now ripped out of my stomach, and the one I’d picked up off the ground, effectively before I was run down. A few seconds was all took me to heal that time. I was improving at regenerating. With a grin, I gripped both javelins by the middle and shoved them up under my arms. The three horsemen split, but still charged me as I ran at them -- -- and leapt from the ground onto the broad breast of one horse that galloped straight at me. I smacked off of the charger, but not before I had let go of those two javelins. I blindly gored the rider. I knew that because I’d hit him in the shocking impact with his horse and felt the vibration go through my thin arms when I struck his armor and ran him through. If they hadn’t pierced him, those javelins would have dropped and clattered to the ground. And most likely that soldier wouldn’t have fallen off his horse just now. But now I felt woozy. When I fell, I heard and sensed a crunch when I bounced off the ground. I had accidently tried to break my rebounded fall by reaching out to the ground. I recovered from my break within seconds. I Impulsively laughed at my arm’s quick fix! How long until I could instantly heal? But I had an issue that sobered me right up. I was out of stabbing things and I had two more riders to deal with! Scrambling on the ground, I moved fast on all fours. I clumsily kicked back up onto my feet and glanced at one of the riders. He had pulled on his reins to circle sharply back around -- sacrificing his momentum for that quick turnabout. Glancing the other way, I raced towards the second horseman’s rear. Both horsemen were yet to turn around fully. That second rider happened to be angry at me for jumping up and climbing on his back to meet him. He drew out a wickedly long blade. Not as sharp as I would have expected. While he tried to throw me off, my mind was fed more knowledge and I sort of understood the concept of that sword. Thicker and duller to be more sturdy for a charged swipe. If it had been thinner and sharper, it could snap. He swung the blade behind himself and at me, snapping me out of my observation. Despite the blade not being too sharp, it was still dangerous! He had armor; I didn’t! What I had was some kind of blue robe. And I wasn’t sure I could reknit severed limbs onto a kid’s body, so I hopped off the instant he flashed that menacing sword at me again. After I rolled on the ground and hopped back up, I ran as fast as I could to the soldier who was curled up around his horse’s skewered head. Kneeling down by him, I saw that he wasn’t alive any longer -- that was a good thing for him and me. The kid gave me morbid thoughts, not sadistic ones for these soldiers. The sound of the fast-approaching horses alarmed me. I fumbled with the dead soldier’s sword in a panic. The two horsemen sounded like they had come up right behind me. I bit hard into my bottom lip and tasted the coppery tang of blood on my tongue. My hands steadied and gripped the sword’s handle. Once the sword was free from his scabbard, I held it up -- -- and found a problem: it was too heavy for me. But that wasn’t the only issue here! When I raised the sword up, I finally took notice that we were being watched by the rest of the horsemen. I stared back at the assembly of soldiers and wondered for a few seconds how they must have perceived a kid like me. I had already taken down two of their heavily armored riders and still held my own against two more. I suppose if I was in their position, I’d stop and watch the incredible scenario unfold too. Focus! Those two hadn’t wandered back with their group of friends, which meant I had to keep vigilant or lose my head. When I looked at the two horsemen, I saw their murderous intent in those dark eyes… so I reflected the look right back at them! I ducked just in time as the second horseman’s sword swished over my head. The other soldier barked some kind of curse at me before he removed another javelin from over his shoulder. Thinking fast, I crawled over the horse and used its big round belly to wall myself off from the horsemen -- the two that remained and the twenty-some that still watched. As the two maneuvered around the dead horse’s carcass, I held the sword up to face against the second horseman while I’d have to possibly endure another javelin in the back. In a pincer, the horsemen picked up their pace in a sudden burst of speed. And charged when I was in their line of attack. That second horseman -- on my left -- swiped his sword at me again, but aimed and struck my borrowed blade hard enough to send my sword flying out of my delicate little hands -- -- while at the same instant on my right, the other horseman leaned down so low as to ram a lancing blow with his javelin someplace too close for comfort next to my spine. I was launched in the air a few inches and smacked off of the horse’s belly. Sliding down to my knees, I hiccuped for air as I blindly felt around my back to reach for the object impaled in me. I knew going against these guys was suicide! Not having any luck from behind, I had a better idea on how to remove the javelin. The tip poked out from under my ribs, so I thought I could just pull it out the long way. That was the most sickening sensation I had yet felt so far out of all the other wounds I’d sustained. And I only managed an inch or so coming out of me. I clenched my eyes shut and dug my slender fingers in deeper until I had a sure grip. A shuddering gasp later, I ripped it out of me fully. After I registered that it was thoroughly out, I reknit the wound. I felt jittery and sick, but managed to stand up. Now that I had a weapon in hand -- -- I realized it was useless. I saw that the rest of those twenty-some horsemen had decided to finally join the party. I watched as I was entrapped in an encirclement. What could I do? I took one pointless step back and was blocked by that big belly of the dead horse. The horsemen rode around me with those javelins held in a surer grip than mine high over their head and shoulders. All aimed down at me before the first of them commenced the shower of splinters. I wished I could dodge all of that! One after another, they sent their missiles flying at me. Most hit, and I instinctively shrieked as I was being pinned to horse, ground, and even to myself. My hand stuck onto my thigh when I tried -- by impulse -- to free my staked leg. When I stopped moving, they rode off. I supposed they were done when they thought I was dead? Of course, they had a village population to massacre. Why would they bother wasting any more time with a kid? I could only hope that they were too late and the villagers were already making headway along the river. Meanwhile, me being left incapacitated and stuck like a pincushion, I thought I might as well be dead. Who would free me? No one from the village would be here and all of those soldiers had ridden off... Then I noticed only one of them had stayed behind. He was decorated, unlike the rest of those soldiers. He approached me and stared down with disbelieving dark eyes. It was like he was disgusted and in awe at the same time. Not exactly knowing how I appeared to him, I would give him the benefit of the doubt that I probably was a complete mess. “What are you?” he hacked out in a baritone voice, in a language unlike any I’d ever heard before, but I somehow understood him. At least, I thought I had? Improbable, but it was possible I had misheard and thought I understood what was said... maybe? To be certain, I kept quiet and waited to hear him speak again. “Girl, I asked you a question.” Girl? How the Hell could he tell I was a girl when I was me and I couldn’t even tell!? Maybe the blue robe I wore was meant for women? “I asked you a question! What are you!?” He was shouting at me now! Like that was going to make me talk... Could I speak? I gave it a shot: “Hi?” ...that was certainly a girl’s voice. Without expressing it, my scalp tensed as I mentally cringed. He withdrew the sword at his hip and brought it across his chest in preparation to swipe at me. Likely my head. “Don’t test my patience any longer, girl. What. Are. You?” I had to think fast. He wasn’t about to believe me if I explained to him the mystery of my existence. And if I told him I didn’t know -- my head would roll. Maybe if I lied? ...why? Instead of giving him an answer, I questioned him. “What am I?” My response appeared to have caused him to hesitate. He lowered his sword down a hair and asked me another question. “Why are you here?” There were two reasons my mind quickly came up with: vengeance and rescue. I didn’t appreciate the vengeance so much, but the idea I could save the villagers appealed to me. “Save village.” That sounded good enough, if a bit curt. Did I have a limited vocabulary? I shouldn’t. My head was patched up and in working order. “Will you cease your hostility against us if we turn back?” Was he negotiating? I supposed I understood that. I was damn difficult to kill -- if not impossible. Who was there to tell him I wouldn’t rise back up to hunt them down one-by-one? Anyways, after he offered, I eagerly nodded in acceptance. And… he just stared at me. For a moment, I wondered if he understood what I meant when I nodded. So I told him: “Yes.” And yet he continued to look at me for a long time. There were so many stakes through me that I feared the blood loss would cause me to faint before he would acknowledge me. “Very well.” A shuddering sigh of relief escaped me as soon as he said that. He grabbed a hold of something odd on his back. Unlike all the other men, he didn’t have those javelins. What he held was a flattened rod, curved, with a strip of sinew between both ends. A bow? Yes. That was a bow. On his hip, those were arrows in his quiver. He drew a strange kind of arrow and aimlessly fired up in the sky. A shrill whistle soon followed its trail before the noisy arrow disappeared into the distant smoke. In a few minutes, I almost nodded off and blacked out before I felt and heard the approach of riders. Many more riders than before. Possibly fifty? A hundred? I didn’t bother counting when more showed up. The decorated man gestured down at me and a number of soldiers dropped from their horses to approach me. Then I saw rope. “Hey!” The first loop went around my neck, but so did a gag over my mouth when I was about to protest again. The nearest soldier yanked me off of the dead horse with such force that I fell forward. By reflex, I struggled as I was yanked back up onto my feet by the rope around my neck. As I stood, I felt a bit of relief when they began to remove the javelins. They turned me around and secured me in bonds around my wrists. Thankfully, they left my legs alone. Then I had a sack pulled over my head... that effectively blinded me. I supposed they didn’t want me to see where they were riding off to? That made a whole lot of sense, because I wouldn’t be able to immediately follow after them or tell any of their enemies the general direction they rode off to. ...I was wrong. Those soldiers picked me up and carried me. Then I was laid on my back -- down over what felt like one of their horses. I felt them fiddling with the rope around my neck. It went slack, but I wasn’t sure why. I couldn’t see, so I didn’t know how yet. I realized the worst when I found how they’d retied the rope around my neck. Once they tightened it up against my throat, it felt like they had secured the other end to the neighing horse’s own neck or reins. Either way, our heads jerked together and I choked each time. A muffled cry left my lips and I tried to squirm closer to the horse’s head. Then I felt hands on me. They turned me over to lay me on my stomach. The horse began to move. My legs instantly bowed down and over the back of the horse to hold on for dear life. If I fell, I’d hang and be dragged over the ground until I got back on my feet. If I could get back up. I was experiencing flashes in my darkened little world in the hood. Not long now until I would faint. I kept deathly still after I figured that out. It had sounded like I was to be with the entire vanguard. The cacophony of clopping hooves told me that much. When I felt our return to the conflagration that had once been my village, I felt a sense of relief that they were holding their end of the bargain. My people would live. My emotions got the better of me as I thought about that. Tears ran down my cheek and soaked through the hood onto the horse’s mane. For now, I was filled with joy for that victory. But my tears became bitter when darkness remained my only company. If I cried, it was because I was in trouble. What if they eventually decided it was best to execute me? How would they go about doing that? The flames of my village offered me one possibility. My terrible imagination ran wild. Was that because I was a kid? ...at least it wouldn’t matter in a few minutes. I reached my limit and passed out.

From the corner of my vision, I watched Nathaniel lean forward to reach for something. With deft fingers, he tapped and adjusted his shifty fingertips across the dash for a minute. His head tilted back and forth, almost as if he was paying attention to hear a quiet noise. I strained my own hearing just to sense if I had missed something in our cabin -- -- and winced at the incredibly loud guitar and drums blaring and thundering. Nathaniel barked laughter loud enough to be heard over the album playing. The volume died down to a whisper as did the snickering Nathaniel. “Hehe, sorry.” I shook my head and kept my mouth shut, or I would perhaps have said something rather rude to match his prank. “Yo. You good?” He leaned close, giving me a concerned look up at my face. I nodded in response when he just kept giving me that look. “You gotta talk to me.” My attention followed him straightening back up and stretching out his arms and legs as he stated: “We’ve got a long ways to go before we reach the Big Blue Mama. It’ll be a real drag if I’m the only one talkin’.” My attention broke away from him to see the static interference caused by our cosmic journey. It would take a very long time until we reached our destination and Nathaniel was right about how our perception of time would slow without distractions. What he wanted to know… the matter was too personal, so I kept silent about it. But if he wanted me to talk: “What’s Earth like?” When Nathaniel didn’t reply right away, I turned to look back at him -- -- and snorted a restrained laugh. He had his eyes crossed while giving me a very serious look. “What? Am I focusing on you too much? I can see how that’d come ‘cross as funny. That’s cool.” He blinked his eyes straight. “I’ll spill the beans. You, ah, just sit there and catch whatever flies out of my mouth.” He smiled and reached over to a bag. Once he swiped his finger across the perfectly sealed top, the bag sliced open -- it worked kinda like a zipper. Then he began to rummage inside. “Okay. While I look for this, you wanna tell me how Mommy Dearest has been doing?” I tensed up, took a deep breath, and decided to give him the fact. “She’s dead.” “...sorry to hear that. How did her nine-billionth kid take that?” He pulled out a holoprojector and sat it in his lap. “I’m going out on a limb and say you’re still shaken-up about it?” “If I was, I’d take some suppressants and be cool about it.” Nathaniel just shrugged at my logic. “What? You don’t think I would?” “Yeah. I actually do, but that is besides the point. You haven’t been taking any damn suppressants for the past two years since we got the news.” He activated the holovid and I saw the static burp up an image for a nanosecond. At least, I thought I did? Maybe I had imagined it. “Oh what the Hell!? Don’t be leaving me hanging like that… piece of junk.” I wanted to change the subject. “Well, you wanted to talk. Tell me, if you can’t show me.” “Nah. This is definitely a show-n-tell. Give me another minute.” He smacked the holoprojector a few times as if violence was going to fix it. “Why don’t you take them?” “No clue.” Nathaniel stopped tinkering for a moment. He looked at me and asked: “You want to explain that one?” I shook my head and said, “Forget about it.” He faced me and pointed at me, but also had a look on his face like he’d just now remembered something. “You took my advice, didn’t you?” “Your advice?” I thought back to what kind of advice I’d been crazy enough to heed from him. I shook my head when nothing came up. “Yeah! Holy shit! You actually listened to me!? Fucking unreal… okay, dude, you shouldn’t do things like that, but I’m real damn happy what I said sunk in.” My confusion had gone up another defcon level and I began to feel a little irritated. And Nathaniel laughed. I might have been wrong, but I thought he saw my annoyance. When he sobered, he asked: “Any luck with the women?” Once he asked that, it all came to me. I slapped and sank my face down into my palm. “That’s -- no. No such luck.” I shook my head and added: “Not even the shrink helped. All he did was point out my problems, but not what I’m looking for in women.” “Yeah? What’s your problem? Oh, wait, correction: problems.” My wrist was grabbed and my hand was pulled away from my face by him. He leaned in and asked: “That was plural, right?” “Yeah. It was.” Nathaniel spun his hand in the air to indicate I should tell all. “He thinks I’m compensating.” It was his turn to snort back and refrain from laughing, but I didn’t know why until he explained. “Dude. You are not a dud. I’m sorry, but I’ve seen it and you’re gonna make a lady very happy.” I immediately shook my head. “No-o. That wasn’t what he meant.” A sigh escaped and I thought about what I could tell Nathaniel that wasn’t too personal. “He pointed out I go looking for trouble on a regular basis. That everyone I’ve included in my life has had some problem they couldn’t have managed on their own.” He paused a moment to reflect on what I said before he blurted out in confusion: “Yeah, you do, but how is that compensating?” The answer to that was on the too-personal-to-talk-about subject. “Let’s just say I wasn’t always there for someone when I should have.” Nathaniel smacked my shoulder and roughly shook me. He had a smile on his face as he stated: “Don’t worry about it… well now, here’s someone for you, man. ‘Till the end of time.” I smiled back and nodded, but I wasn’t entirely sure if he was my best choice in a lifetime companion. I mean, technically he was going to be with me until we got hit. “Yeah. Thanks. Just don’t go doing any favors for Betelgeuse and blow us up with one of your pranks.” He smacked my shoulder hard before he leaned back in his seat to tinker with the holoprojector again. “Pfft! How the fuck am I going to blow us --” We both flinched away from his holoprojector when it exploded in an intense flash. I took a look at Nathaniel and saw his lap and abdomen had begun to reknit where they were burned -- skin by thought and clothes by nanites. I would have said something witty, but dropped my thought because Nathaniel was a harsher critic. “Don’t ever listen to what I tell you or it’s just gonna go kablooie.” I had to ask: “Am I going to regret taking that advice?” He held his hands up to the sides of his head and imitated his head exploding as he said, “Don’t ask me that. That’s mind blowing.” We laughed for a good while until I pointed out that his show-n-tell was gonna have to be fully narrated. Despite how sullen he became with that news, I enjoyed his attempt. He was funny. I felt better knowing I had him with me. He knew how to make the last of our days a blast...   * * ** * * The sunlight had woken me. There was a regular beat, not rhythmic, but constant. The noise was mixed with a familiar clop of horses’ hooves. The other noise was different… a squeaky grind and a chorus of stomps. I had blinked the sleep out and caught the column of the Nangjang’s soldiers behind us in the extreme corner of my vision. With a backward glance, I saw many were equipped with a bow or had a long spear in hand. They kept vigilant when we passed hills that had obscured what lay beyond our vision. Almost all the regional soldiers of Kirin were on the march. Within their ranks, they escorted horse-drawn carts. The transports squeaked with the weight of camp supplies, provisions, and those who were too injured to walk. And the casualties of the battle were secluded in bundles somewhere further to the back of the column. I looked up and over my shoulder at the sky. “Mutengge?” He glanced behind himself. “Sleep well?” My legs stretched down and along the horse we rode before I answered: “Yes.” Sleeping while sitting up on a horse and against a rider’s back wasn’t the most comfortable. But the sleep I’d gotten today was far better than the last time I’d slept on a horse by miles. I would have slept better with my tigerskin blanket, but Mutengge insisted I not wear anything to associate myself with the current events. When I shifted to see what was up ahead, I was startled to see the familiar slope to my village. I wanted to see more, so I leaned further to the side until I had the burnt husk of my village in sight. I had expected to see the villagers begin reconstruction, but I should have known that would be too soon after the danger had passed through. My thoughts of the nobi returning shifted to the tired soldiers on the march. The soldiers who weren’t kept alert to the possible dangers appeared eagerly ready to rest and doze off at a moment’s notice. I caught that tell-tale sign from a few who were dragging their feet. Mutengge had ordered the census right before nightfall, but I had been the one who refused reason and defiantly searched for Songgotu. For what I’d caused, I felt sorry for the soldiers and the harm to Mutengge’s reputation. To hug him, my arms wrapped around his waist and squeezed tightly. With my face pressed against his back, I muffed out: “Sorry.” He used my name in query. “Tasha?” I took a moment to concentrate on my vocabulary. When I had in my mind the sentence structure, I spoke: “Songgotu was kind. I only meant to give my respects to him.” The memory of the young soldier filled my mind. The very last time I’d seen him was the most heartbreaking moment. “Songgotu said ‘stay.’” My face pressed harder into Mutengge’s back as I stated: “I didn’t. Now Songgotu’s dead.” The horse abruptly cantered off and out of the column. Then we came to a stop. My arms unwound from Mutengge as he dismounted. He turned and picked me up and off the horse, settled me down, but he knelt down and still held me. He suddenly pulled me into a tight hug and said, “Don’t blame yourself. His death is my fault.” His hand soothingly rubbed my entire back and it coaxed comfort into me. “When I saw him, I ordered him to return to you. He was to guard you until I had settled matters with the Xi.” Now I understood why Songgotu had only returned with a couple of soldiers. He was likely accompanied by backup to ensure no stray horsemen caught him alone. But when he and his escort saw me in distress… I hugged Mutengge back and buried my face down into his robes to keep my face dry and voice quiet as I began to cry. His hand raised up to the back of my head and gently began to smooth my hair back and down my neck. “Tasha… we all make mistakes. I’ve made horrifying judgements.” I didn’t hear him speak for a few seconds before his voice cracked as he spoke: “The village here, and other villages elsewhere, are in this state because of me. I was the one who suggested we not engage.” That caused me to pull my face away and stare up at him. “Why?” I knew why… I had reasoned it out of the girl’s knowledge before I had been captured. I wanted Mutengge to confirm I was right. “Their objective wasn’t to raid the villages, but to draw us out. Sagujin would’ve taken the opportunity to ford across and deeper to reach Pyeongwon.” The name didn’t register at all with me. “Pyeongwon?” He regained some of his composure and explained: “Our king.” He smiled down at me and assured me: “I’ll ensure you are provided with an education on all courtly matters and more.” His gaze lifted from me and swept across the marching column. “You must be prepared before.” The rational part of me had fitted together Mutengge’s cryptic last words with all that had happened up until now. He wanted me to be ready before our kingdom’s court took advantage of my abnormality. But with my disposition to having temperamentally vicious outbursts, let alone my struggling attempts at having a decent conversation, preparations would be difficult -- if not impossible in a short amount of time. ...unless he was suggesting something? I asked: “Home?” After patting me on the head, he announced: “You require much before the world learns of you.” He leaned down, but I shut my eyes for an instant as he flattened my hair with his bushy-faced kiss on my head. “You will find a home with my family.” I cheered up a little with that knowledge confirmed -- -- then became confused as he quickly pulled me to his side and held perfectly still. A few seconds passed until I felt the earth shake beneath my feet. “Tasha. Do nothing. We must keep you a secret as much as we can.” He lifted me up; I grabbed around his neck and shoulders in return as he carried me back to the horse. We mounted back up and instantly galloped to get ahead of the column. I believed that was where the Nangjang was located. Likely Mutengge wanted to convene and consult with him on what was approaching us all. Once we reached the Nangjang, the column had already begun to transform into something more formidably solid. Everyone had their shoulders aligned with their neighbors as they faced the open hills. The Nangjang faced us and barked out a word: “Bogui!” I felt Mutengge’s back stiffen. He responded: “I feared as much. How many of the Xiang has he brought with him?” “Enough.” The Nangjang pointed at us and stated: “I told you he was responsible for this. That pup thinks he can rebuild the Xiongnu.” “No.” Mutengge brought our horse up beside the Nangjang’s mount. “I still believe Bogui would rather keep us on friendly terms. He’s dealing with Puliuru Jian’s expansion into Xianbei.” The Nangjang pointedly announced: “We will soon see!” Then he turned his horse away to face the direction of horsemen galloping over the hills toward us and the solidified column. “If he so much as hints at being responsible for what happened here -- Juhyunwul!” The robust man rushed his mount instantly by Mutengge’s side. “Yes, Nangjang!” “Archers on the slope,” ordered the Nangjang. “Yes, Nangjang!” Juhyunwul raced to meet the demand before the Xiang acted. I watched their approach, but I was more focused on their outfits. Unlike the Xi, they were armored from head to toe. Like one giant robe of heavy armor. Even the horses wore the same armor blanketed over their broad and long frame. The armor appeared to be segmented with... metal? If the Xi would’ve had a rough time walking, the Xiang would find a real challenge when they dismounted. ...except I doubted they ever would leave their saddles. A vast number of armored horsemen kept flooding over the hills until the green and yellow was lost. Among all of the combat-ready Xiang, there stood out only one who wore much less than the vastly numbered tribe. Or were the Xiang a confederation? At last, the Xiang halted their advance with a moderate distance from the Kirin. Except for the less armored Xiang. He directed his armored charger toward us. As my sight of him became more clear, I noted his windswept short and long hair was interesting. His front bangs were long, but kept up with a leather band around his head. On both sides of his head, from above the ears and down, what long hair he had was ornately beaded to dangle and clink together over his shoulders. And he was the first person I’d seen not with full black hair. There were traces of sunset-red in his hair. Especially lighter in the fringes on his long bangs. Up close, I noted what he wore was an open vest made of some animal hide. He was lean, but from what I could see of his bare chest, he had a well-defined musculature beneath those tribal clothes. I caught myself focusing too much on how appealing he looked. That had to have been an influence from the girl! After I resolved my funny emotions, I redirected my attention onto our eventual meeting. Mutengge brought our horse up to meet him. “Bogui.” “Mutengge.” I blinked when I realized that was Bogui speaking. He was young! I mean, he appeared older than me, but in reflection of Mutengge and the Nangjang, Bogui was a freshmen compared to those seniors. And he had a very unsettling expression. He had yet to blink! He stared at Mutengge, then lazily drifted past him and glanced up. I followed his gaze and saw the bowmen on the slope. When I turned back to look at Bogui, he faced Mutengge once more as if he could care less about the archers the Nangjang had aimed at him. Bogui looked beyond us, at my burnt village. “The ones who fought till the end were not soldiers.” Mutengge shared: “Waegonobi.” “Whether it be child or woman, Sagujin killed everyone in sight.” He faced us once more, but his emotionless eyes drifted down to me as I peeked up from behind Mutengge. “Who’s that?” Pushing me out of Bogui’s sight, Mutengge softly backed his elbow into me as he stated: “My daughter.” Despite being startled at his response, I still peeked under his arm! Bogui shifted his uninterested attention back to Mutengge. “Do you know where I may find Sagujin?” He sounded bored. And appeared entirely unenthused. Mutengge gently informed the young Xiang: “I am afraid not. We had troubles finding our own among the dead.” “Ah, shame. I would have enjoyed being the one to rip out his throat.” With a smile, Bogui finally displayed a spark of life. “I heard a tiger tore it out.” I had to wonder, if he already knew the man’s fate, why was he questioning Mutengge with an implication of having no previous knowledge of Sagujin? Unless Bogui was confirming the hearsay? “Then I would suggest searching for a man with no head.” When Mutengge said that, Bogui lost his smile and abruptly turned away from us. He galloped back to his armored horsemen -- -- and the Xiang turned around at a gradual gallop away from the Kirin. I tugged on Mutengge’s robe to grab his attention and asked: “Bogui leave?” He reached behind himself and gave me a reassuring pat where he could. “Yes.” With some difficulty, he turned to look down and to face me. “Did you see how he looked?” “Yes!” I clapped my mouth shut immediately. My response was louder than I’d intended in my interest to talk about Bogui. Excited? Mutengge laughed a short moment at my embarrassing exclamation. With a smile, he tugged down on his cheek to show the red under his eye. “I meant his appearance.” I muffled an apology behind my hands: “Sorry.” He explained: “Bogui is exhausted. For him, and the tribes to have assembled, to have rushed all the way here this quickly -- all to be told he was too late -- has weighed on him in a single instant.” He faced forward once more and righted himself more comfortably on our horse. And talked more to himself than to me. “He has told me what happened.” A moment passed in silence as I felt and heard his lungs be filled enough to straighten his back and square his shoulders. “That was worth the effort for him come here. For that, he has my appreciation.” A great sigh had heaved out of him as he said, “Sagujin defected to the Sui.” I asked: “Sui?” And he indirectly clarified as he spoke to himself a little more. “An empire to the southwest of us. The Xiang have been our buffer from them until recently. It will only be a matter of time… Pyeongwon can apologize as much as he wants. Puliuru Jian wants an excuse.” He directed our horse away from the retreating Xiang. When we joined back with the Nangjang, Mutengge explained the conversation and situation. We resumed our march through the burned remains, making our way to the river. Once there, the column followed the river to the city. Our eventual arrival to the city was met with a sombering sight. There were a countless number of squatters around the walled city. Inside was much worse as we became crowded by the traffic of what I assumed were refugees. I kept my mouth shut about asking anything. I didn’t want to know what would truly could happen to these people. My wish was for them to find hope and live… but I knew they were nobi. How could someone willingly return to a life like that? We dismounted and I had been greeted with household servants. I wanted to ask if they were nobi as well, but I refrained. With me in silence, Mutengge had busied himself with the casualties we had brought with us, the results of ending the Xi’s incursions. They would all be buried while in the meantime I would be cleansed and made presentable by the servants. Bathing... Again, I had kept myself quiet on how the dead would be treated. I knew he was following the orders of the Nangjang. But I wondered what would become of the maimed and injured soldiers… With a focused effort, I drifted onto a less pessimistic train of thought: my introduction to the city! I overheard much talk while I remained in silence. It was surprising how the chatty servants allowed me to gather information without asking. Maybe they thought I was mute? I was quietly enlightened. The city of Gungnae. I learned it had once been the capital of the kingdom, but far too many times had invaders sacked the place -- even with the nearby mountain fortress of Hwando. A new capital had been relocated much further to the south in a province, formerly a kingdom called Nakrang. Just as the province of Kirin had a major river, so did the province of Nakrang, and their city’s capital resided and heavily relied on their river. Apparently our kingdom of Goguryeo was expansive to have multiple annexed kingdoms within its borders. In my first observation of the city, I appraised the impression and Gungnae bore the initial concept I had of the girl’s mental image: a settlement. Now that had been a harsh criticism only because I was accustomed to the achievable potential humanity could bring to the stars. ...I had yet to understand what had happened to me, but I doubted I’d discover an answer. In the meantime, I explored the world from my new perspective. Broken or crushed rocks were used to pave the road. Several bridges of dark wood spanned over the stretch of water intersecting the city. Many of the citizens and refugees frequented the bank. Upon closer inspection of the city, I concluded the river was certainly the major provider to the inhabitants. With an intelligent guess, the homes appeared made of a combination of brick, stone, and clay from the river. The bricks themselves were the size of my entire torso! Many of those bricks appeared to be utilized to contain elevated earth works. The city rose on up with a serpentine road linked with all the residential areas on one side of the river. The other side of the river was peppered with raised hills and a crazy webwork of dirt roads. Likely those roads were naturally created rather than founded and leveled for the people. A simple look was all I required to compare which side was for the wealthy and not. Standing on the four corners of some buildings, cracked clay exposed patches of great logs. I had a theory, a case that proved the river was a major factor to the city. The trees had probably come from the sporadic woods in the hilly mountains. With the river so close, all the men had to do was dunk the logs in and they’d floated down the river to the city for collections. None would be floating in the river. Not after the recent incursions. Many villages would be abandoned by their populations massacred or the hard working men called into service. Or the nobi were conscripted. Could the injured truly return to the lives they had placed on hold? In the eyes of their masters, are the nobi worth being treated? Or did the Kirin have a method to acquire more? Mutengge promised I would be taught and I looked forward to the tutelage. Within a society that placed a set value on lives, I eventually would’ve figured out that it was an honor to die a clean death in battle rather than to suffer through a life of ruin. A lesson I would have to carry with me forever if I wanted to live as humanly as possible. A turning point in my new life happened when Mutengge concluded his business. He retrieved me and led me to his home. And to be introduced to my new family. My few days living as a wild child had ended... * * * * * * EPILOGUE The following years would become relatively peaceful. But I had no idea at the time how I’d be dragged into an ugly war between three kings. Or be confronted with the passionate ambitions of a tribal chieftain. And together being the cause of an imperial dynasty’s fall. Those would be parts attributed to another story of my immortal life. [End of Wild Child. Tasha will return a few years older.]

Inside the room was a cute little boy with spiky platinum blond hair. His eyes were enormous pools of black with no iris or sclera. Two tiny horns poked out of his hair and he had a barbed tail. A demon! As I stared at him in shock,  he crossed his arms on his chest and said, "You moron! That's a girl. I specifically asked for a boy." "No problem," said the old woman. She was a grey person. Her hair, skin, eyes, nails, and clothes were all grey. "Here you go." The old woman didn't do anything I could see but, all of a sudden, boobs disappeared and my chest became flat as a pancake. Something weird was going on in between my legs. "Oh, for crying out loud! This is your kink, isn't it?" The demon boy slapped his forehead with a hand. "Wait a minute, what did you do to me?" I asked the old woman. "I summoned you here because Lord Baal here needs a hero," she said. "I mean, what did you do to my body?" "Check it yourself." The old woman smiled. That is to say, the corners of her mouth turned up, and the wrinkles on her face rearranged themselves, to technically form a smile. However, I think she might actually be leering at me. I turned around, away from them, and checked my lower body. "Oh my god!" I screamed. I had a "twig and two berries." "See? No problem," said the old woman to the demon.

  Kingdom of Crux Capital City Flora Inside one of the restaurants  of the Capital Cityof Crux, Flora, three female teenagers were gossiping. Jane, Elise, and May "Hey, Have you heard? Someone saw the silver belle walking around the city square." said Jane. "Really? ~contented sigh~ The Silver Belle. She's so pretty. So Elegant." said Elise "Hey, who's the silver belle?" asked May "..." After that particular question was asked, the whole restaurant bathed in dead silence. That question seemed innocent but it was an ignorant question. Those that heard this question instantly dissolved into murmurs and gossip while sneering at the three girls. May's face blushed in embarrassment and apologized while Jane and Elise were still in a state of shock. The first one that came to her senses was Elise and then Jane. After that Jane angrily said to May, "Seriously? You haven't heard of "The Wandering Silver Belle"? Even just a tiny rumour?" "The Wandering Silver Belle is said to be the most beautiful lady in the kingdom. Blessed with silver hair with pink tips and silver eyes, she easily won that title." added Elise "But beware, it is rumoured that while the silver belled is elegant and looks soft tempered, she has an icy cold temper. When she gets angry, she would stare at you with cold eyes like looking at an ant and an expressionless face. She also has a deadly and poisonous tounge when she's pissed. So don't you ever ever annoy her." warned Jane Suddenly, the entrance opened with a bang! A sweaty man was standing out of breath. Clearly an evidence that he ran or sprinted all the way to the restaurant. "SOMEONE SAW THE SILVER BELLE NEAR THIS RESTAURANT!!" he shouted    

What is this ingredient? You asked. The ingredient that Celeste needs is called "Caster's Beans". It's a crucial ingredient for making a poison called "Caster's Poison." named after the bean itself. Where did she come to know of this poison? She came to know of it from a mysterious book that mysteriously appeared in the daphne garden. It popped out of a daphne flower yesterday morning. ~Flashback~ Celeste was watering the daphne flowers when she noticed something. It was a huge black daphne. Since she was curious, she tried opening it. However, nothing worked. She tried cutting it, watering it, tearing it apart, healing it. But there was still something that she didn't tried doing but it was her last resort. The last way was poisoning it and it worked. Apparently, the daphne only responds to poison. She was obviously expecting something more but it was only a book that she saw. Written on the cover was... "Book of Poisons" she recited. She opened it and continued reading but only one was what caught her attention,  "Caster's Poison Caster's Poison comes in several forms, including powder, mist, and pellets. It can also be dissolved in water. And the tiniest amount is all that’s needed to be fatal. The first symptoms of ingesting this poison include nausea and vomiting, which rapidly progress to kidney and liver failure. The first symptoms of inhaling Caster's Poison include difficulty breathing, chest tightness, and a cough, and rapidly progress to respiratory failure. There is no antidote for it. Pure Caster's Poison is highly effective. To make it, here are some procedures and ingredients you might need and know of. Ingredients: Caster's Beans Hot Water Lye Acetone Things  needed:  Bowl Tweezers Blender Glass Jar Coffee Filter Pan Newspaper Procedure: Place 2 oz of hot water in a glass jar and add one teaspoon of lye, mix thoroughly. Wait for the lye mixture to cool. Place 2 oz of caster's beans into the liquid and let them soak for an hour. Pour the liquid out taking care not to get any on your skin. Rinse the beans off with cool water and remove outside layer of bean with tweezers. Place the bean in a blender with 4 oz of acetone for every 1 oz of beans. Blend until completely mixed or a milky substance. Place in air tight jar for approximately 3 days. After three days shake jar to mix thoroughly and drain through a coffee filter. Throw away the liquid portion. Make sure to squeeze the bean portion so that all the acetone is out of the mixture. Spread on pan covered with newspaper and let it dry. The final Caster's Poison should be free of acetone and contaminants. The product should look like a powder when complete. Very dangerous substance. Caution should be taken"she continued. She understood most of it but what in the world was a blender, a tweezer, a pan, and a coffee filter?? ~Flashback End~ After reading the recipe, she figured that since there were some ingredients that she understood and some that she can't, she's going to collecting the things and ingredients that she knows of. (SnowdropLily: So the book was kind of like from another world.)                  

  Mortals believe witches are cruel, vicious, evil and ugly. You can’t deny that. But although some witches can be defined with these adjectives, some are the opposite and some are in the middle. Back in the year of hundreds the mortal folks knew of a legend, about a witch that was born. Born in a place that mortals also believed as a legend; The Legendary Daphne Garden. Daphne is a flower that is dangerous and poisonous. It can cause coma or sudden death. That time, few people only knew about poisons. Ignorance was common. Celeste grew up to be a beautiful witch. Born with silver hair with pink tips (much like the pink water daphne), pale white skin, red lips and silver eyes. She was famous to anywhere she goes. Anyone who had a mind knew about “The Wandering Silver Belle” Who would’ve know that this “silver belle” would be the witch in the legend of the witch born in “The Daphne Garden.”

While I slept, I dreamt of the man I once was. We were working on a Dyson sphere -- which would have taken another decade to complete. My mind was fuzzy on which sun it was, but I remembered it had been one of the bright stars that made up the Southern Cross constellation. But that changed when we got word of our imminent destruction… Since the hall was brightly lit, I had to move and hold the holovid in a dark corner that I made all the darker with my large frame. A holographic projection of a cutely dressed teen was dancing around in a looped recording. There was music in the background, along with her melodious song being sweetly and powerfully voiced by the nanite amplifiers -- but I had it on mute. I was supposed to be working, not gawking at a pretty girl! Honestly though, I was more afraid of the impression anyone would have gotten if they’d seen me. What I truly was gawking at was her dress. The skirt had been a new nanite fashion that acted like water. A brilliant blue with a foamy-white to it, she would twirl around and let the tiny particles of nanites splash everything surrounding her. Since her dress was coded to contain an exact number of nanites, she never lost a single ‘thread’ of her skirt. It was cool! That hadn’t been the only awesome feature to her dress. Every time she sashayed or swirled her body around in circles, the programmed fabric would shift and bare skin ever so subtly as if she truly had a liquid dress on. I had to wonder how much time I’d have to put in before there were enough credits to my name to get me one of those? Likely never in a million years. That dress was the pop idol’s signature dress and any likeness would be skyrocketing as she rose in fame. I sighed and pocketed the holoprojector. “What was that?” I froze immediately at the disapprovingly firm sounding voice of that query. With a guilty grin, I turned slowly around and played ignorance: “Uh, nothing?” Then I saw who it was and let out my intense relief in an incredulously bellowed sigh. “Nathaniel, did you have to give me a heart attack?” Nathaniel broke out with a laughing smile and ended up slapping me on the shoulder. “It was in good fun. You know how much I enjoy seeing you smile, and that was perfect.” When he said that, I dropped the grin and gave him a deadpan stare. “Aw, c’mon! Don’t go back to your gloomy depression already. I just got here!” For him, I put on my smiling mask. “There, happy?” He leaned in under my nose with his goateed chin held between his fingers. Was he inspecting me? Then he made an uncertain observation before asking: “I’m not so sure. Are you?” I kept up the smile and nodded to acknowledge how ‘happy’ I was to see him. He was a cool guy and I liked hanging around him, but sometimes he’d annoy the living shit out of me when he’d sneak up like that. I wasn’t the only one he’d do that to, either, and that was what annoyed me most. I’d be found guilty of being a prankster like him by association! Now it had nothing to do with scaring people. The problem lay with Nathaniel’s impersonation of our superintendent. It would be fine if he’d stuck with our supervisor’s likeness, but the bigger honcho was by far a Scrooge. No fun allowed at all and that went double when making fun of him. So we’d get into trouble quite often. Nothing in the policies forbade Nathaniel from doing crap like that, but still… I didn’t like getting yelled at for something I didn’t do. Which then would have led to me being pointedly told I could have said something earlier to stop Nathaniel. He was my friend. I wasn’t going to rat him out. But I would keep an eye on him and attempt to prevent any more unsuspecting victims from being harassed. I got an idea and decided to lure him into it. First, to answer his question. “Here. Let me show you.” I pulled the holoprojector out and clicked it back on for him to see. He smirked up at me. “Damn, she’s a cute one. I’d hit it.” So far, so good. I baited him by just rolling my eyes. “Oh, what? You wouldn’t?” That was too easy. I gave him a silent nod. When he raised his brow at me, I said, ”Sure I would --” “‘Sure I would,’ he says.” He had that smirk on his face grow an extra inch longer. Mentally, my smile was bigger than his. “Fine. I wouldn’t, but it’s because she’s not my type.” That was true. I couldn’t outright say what my type was, but it wasn’t her. There were a few women who did look appealing to me, but I never understood what they had that many other women did not. Maybe it was because they’d been way out of my league? But that didn’t explain my lack of interest in the pop star here. “Look, I know what you’re thinking and I’ll get this out in the open now. I’m not like that.” Now was the moment to hook him in. “I know. I experimented and it didn’t do anything for --” “Woah. Wait, you tried?” Nathaniel shook his head, as if he was clearing something out of his noggin. Hooked, and now I’d reel him in. “I’ve known you for the past hundred. When did you give someone else a wank?” “Before we met -- anyways, do you believe me?” He grudgingly nodded and I nodded back to cut him some slack. “Tell me then. What’s the deal with the vid if you’re not into her?” When he said that, I felt only half successful entrapping him in a worthwhile conversation. I had wanted the discussion to be driven toward his perspective, so that he might have brought up whatever I had missed in my search for Miss Right. Instead, he focused on the pop idol! I really wanted my friend’s insight, but it sounded like I might have to seek professional help after all. A shrink? That was not someone anyone ever looked forward meeting, let alone getting personal with. For now, I dropped my derailed train of thought and took what I had going with Nathaniel and went with it. “Not here. I’m not comfortable with --” “Say no more! Come with me to the Den and we’ll get you comfortably straightened out, ‘kay?” That at least meant I had drawn him away from his pranking ways for today. In triumph, a soft laugh escaped me before I could stop it. But that gave Nathaniel a cheerful smile as he led me off to his room… I remembered. Warm and cozy, sitting in a chair, I was listening to Nathaniel lecturing me on how shallow I supposedly was with women when we heard the unsettling news. A solar mass that had been ejected from a supernova thousands of years ago across the expansive galaxy had been rediscovered. It was abnormal because the sun’s boom had been an old event. Real damn old and every one of those speculating experts thought nothing dangerous would come from it -- at least, back then. And they were wrong… * * * * * * I was jerked awake and inhaled sharply in fright when I nearly fell off of the horse. It had gone into full gallop. My legs clamped tightly to my horse’s sides and I flattened myself as well as I could to the beast’s hairy mane. There were challenging shouts of rage -- -- clashing and scrapping of steel -- -- agonized and angry screams with the whining of horses -- -- and a clogging mass of dust in my hooded sack. I couldn’t stop coughing after I had sucked in the dryness to the back of my throat upon my rude awakening. Without looking, I took an educated guess. A battle. My question was: who against who here? What I knew -- so far -- was that there were two factions in the region. The invaders and the locals. Who were the invaders? If I didn’t already know, most likely the girl never had known… or didn’t comprehend? How old was I? If I were to look at myself, my current height wouldn’t allow me to be a good judge at all. Originally as I grew up, I was a pretty big boy for my age. With that in mind, I really wished now I had longer legs to keep a better grip on my horse. It felt like I was on an out of control flight simulator! The only difference between the two was that flight simulators didn’t crash into things -- -- unlike the sensations of other horsemen brushing by and practically smacking into my mount! Why were they so close to me? If a battle was really happening, wouldn’t it be better for them to ditch me and -- I didn’t know, get into some kind of formation? “Mmmff!” One of those bastards just did a number to my leg! It didn’t feel broken, but I certain felt better without them crushing it. A second went by and I was fine. But I wondered how long it would be before I got blindsided again? In a split-second, I felt my guts rise up. It felt like my horse had jumped, and I flew up in the air and off the horse a mere few inches in the process -- -- then yanked right back down onto the horse’s back from my leashed neck. I coughed uncontrollably, but focused on tightly clamping my legs onto the horse more securely than before. However the battle may have been turning, it was intense. I could only hope to recover fast enough before something else happened to me. Over the din of battle, I supposed I had a moment of selective hearing to have picked up one of the combatants shouting orders. At first, I failed to understand what he said -- the words didn’t make sense. But then he added more structure to his command and I understood. “-- before they flee!” I caught only a part of that shouted command, but I picked up another. “Cut off the Xi! They cannot --” That was cut off before it was followed with another command… and that one was desperately screeched out! “Surround them! Box them!” By what senses I had available, I felt as if the direction of my horse had changed. Like every one of the horsemen had decided to take a drastic change of course. At last, I understood the reasoning for these horsemen’s compact riding formation now. Whoever they were fighting had caught them, and the horsemen may have created an opening. I guessed that meant there were still too many of my captors left for the bloodshed to end? Whoever these other combatants were -- why would they attempt to trap the horsemen if they were too much to hold? I sucked in a sharp breath when I realized something: they succeeded. The invaders created the diversion and now whoever was defending the region chased after my captors. That meant the bulk of the invasion could move without harassment to… where? How did the girl know that much, but not know who was who or what was what? The concept of what was going on existed, but none of the whys. From the thought of it, I was apparently the one who had to puzzle the answers out. But I needed to know more. And the sack on my head wasn’t helping! Again I sensed the shifting direction of my horse. And again… I crushed myself down against the horse’s mane and hoped to not fall off if it. I didn’t know why, but I guess the horse had to keep zigzagging with the rest of the horsemen? With another jerk from the leash, I nearly slid off the back of my horse when it reared up in the air. When my horse slammed back down, I realized we’d stopped. The sound of the conflict escalated -- -- and my horse wildly bucked! I managed to hold on for a few seconds before I swung off and along the horse’s side. Maybe a second or two had gone by with me being strangled. Instinct kicked in and I began to kick madly for the ground beneath me. Then I dropped flat on my ass! I felt the rope hang limply over my shoulder… either it’d worked itself loose or someone had cut it. A breathless thanks passed my muffled mouth to either God or man before I struggled to stand. Blind and with my wrists still in bonds, I knew to remain where I stood would mean being certainly trampled in the unseen chaos. I ran -- -- and slammed into something. Whatever it was, it didn’t feel like a horse or person. There was a rough quality to the obstruction. When I reached my hands out to feel it, I immediately thought of bark on a tree. But it was flat, not rounded like a trunk should be. Whatever it was, it approached and buffeted me back. Then again. I was incredibly confused by what was pushing me further back from where I ran. “Open!” The flat-barked thing scraped my knuckles as it rose high in the air -- -- then I fell backwards as something grabbed my ankles and violently pulled me under the flat-barked wall. Hands were pawing me and I freaked out! Not much I could do in my weak condition and bonded situation, but I struggled against the hands that grabbed me. Someone kept shouting down at me: “Kirin! Kirin!” Whoever it was kept repeating the same word. And I kept struggling! Even if I’d understood what he was yelling, I was flipping out. It wasn’t until I was pulled up and held tightly in the stranger’s arms that I finally stopped trying to fight. Just like the sensation I’d had with the horse, I felt whomever had me stand and move quickly. I was hugged tighter as he ran like Hell from where we’d fought my one-sided struggle. I jerked upright in his arms when he loudly bellowed: “Loose!” There was a rhythmic thrum in the air -- -- followed by a roar of enraged yells, terrible screams, and bestial whining of all the horsemen and their mounts within the boxed in bark-wall. I very much would have liked it if the sack on my head was removed before, but after I heard those cries… not anymore. I kept my head down against the man’s chest and myself silent. That was how I heard the approach of a familiar noise: clopping. There was a horse racing towards our general direction. In his arms, I felt my body jerk as we whirled around to face whatever came. He freed his right arm of my burden and held me simply in his left. A weird word was shouted: “Tokombi!” Something caused me to flinch as a shadow flew close by. There was a loud crunch beneath us and our postures became awkward… was he squatting? I rose my head up from his chest -- -- and smacked my face right back onto his chest. A massive force had nearly thrown the both of us backward -- a horse! I heard its scream before the beast’s weight crumpled to the ground behind me. There was something wildly thrashing across the ground, but I never found out what had made that noise. As soon as the horse had fallen, the man holding me got back up onto his feet and ran. While I rested my head against him, I was becoming aware I understood a single language, but others were foreign to me. Or maybe I didn’t understand the entire vocabulary? Or were there multiple spoken languages being yelled across the battlefield? Why didn’t the girl know? I’d restored her mind! She should know… The only thing I had found to be a dominant feature in the girl was her emotions. Her memories were jumbled and only triggered in my consciousness when there was an outside factor involved. I needed the hood off to understand more. The greater my sensory reception, the faster I could expand my knowledge of what had happened here. ...but I waited. I didn’t want to see what all I’d heard back there. Until we were a sufficient distance from the chaotic noises of battle, he had run before he slowed to a stop. We were not alone. Less shouting and more firm commands were being issued around me. He had finally set me down on my feet. The rope around my neck was pulled and I felt a quick jerking vibration through the thick braid -- it was being sawed off. Once the leash was removed, the next thing to happen to me was that my blindness in the hooded darkness transitioned to another blindness in the bright daylight. While he removed the gag and freed my wrists, I silently spent a minute to let my eyes adjust to the light. A different voice spoke down to us: “She’s the -hwang?” After a few blinks, I gazed up at several men in thick and heavy robed uniforms. They wore an incredibly thick-looking black apron over the robe. Maybe that was their version of protection? Not much in comparison to the invaders. But I would give it to them that they would have an easier time walking around rather than the horsemen. The man who had secured and freed me glanced away to address the other speaker. “Yes, Nangjang --” My mind worked in overdrive. I knew what the word translated into: Lieutenant Commander. But it wasn’t the translation I was working out, rather the comparison to some other rank that I had been familiar with. The man who freed me turned away from the Nangjang to inspect the regions on my clothes that had dried blood. “Difficult to believe what the Waegonobi said, but it is obvious the Xi took her for a reason.” The other words I wasn’t familiar with, but I reasoned the Xi were the invaders. So I asked about the other word: “Waegonobi?” That appeared to startle him for an instance, but he smiled and answered. “Nobi that can own property.” I understood that word. Slaves. We were a village of slaves. Did that mean I had saved my people from death to only have them run back to their masters? Was I a nobi too? That didn’t sound like the case. The Nangjang addressed me in another funny word. Once more, I asked for a translation as I pointed at myself. “Hwang?” He looked at me in confusion for a moment. When I pointed up at the Nangjang, then his eyes lit up. “He meant Bonghwang.” I shook my head when I didn’t understand. Instead of elaborating the word, he placed his palm along my head and steadied my shaking to continue his inspection. Apparently I had to ask him. “What bonghwang?” “An immortal bird. Very colorful with reds and blues.” Again I hadn’t translated the meaning, but rather compared what he said to a phoenix… except I thought the bird he’d described might actually exist? There was imagery in my mind. A memory. The girl was reminded where she had seen a bird like that before. In the beautiful scenery, the rushing water was a surge of lush green vegetation that crashed and sparkled brilliant -- and powerful -- waves against the blue-grey rocks jutting from the river’s surface. But on those slippery rocks, those birds idled while calmly cleaning their vibrant feathers without a fear of being swept away by the current. They were pretty. My stomach lurched when I smelled the nearby fires. Campfires. They were cooking? I asked: “Food?” “And drink.” He patted me on the head and turned to address the Nangjang again. “She’s not in good shape. I recommend rationing her intake until her health is accustomed. To survive, she’s suffered consumption of the body.” The Nangjang locked eyes with me and clarified: “The wasting sickness?” “Yes, Nangjang,” said the man in confirmation. It took me a moment to click together the puzzle-pieces. My starvation had been real and my body had begun to break down the good nutrients from my muscles and other juicy organs to sustain itself. “We will deal with this matter later. Take her back and see that she is seen to properly. Don’t tarry. I want your return to be swift.” The Nangjang looked out and across the uneven field we had come from and stated: “The Xi are not finished.” “Yes, Nangjang.” Without being asked, the man lifted me as he stood up. As he slipped his arms under me more securely, I adjusted to find comfort against him. Now that my bonds were cut, I hooked my arms around the back of his neck and rested my head on his shoulder. He carried me further away from the sounds of combat until they were a distant rumble. There were a number of massive bubbled canvases set up around the hills. Tents. Those were tents. The encampment. And those were soldiers. All wore the same thick robes, but only a few had those thicker aprons on. Many had spears. None had a sword with them. But more importantly, they were grinding bowls filled with yellow wheat. My mouth watered when I saw that. Why? Then I associated the wheat with warm and gooey hunks of bread. My tummy painfully grumbled. Without thought, I blurted out: “Food?” “Yes. Be patient.” He gave me a pat on the back before I sensed a shadow fall over us as he ducked. Then I realized we had entered one of the tents. “I’m setting you down.” Once I felt the ground, I let go of his neck and decided to sit where I had been settled. He grabbed a nearby item off of a rack and folded the warm layer around me. A blanket? It was furry, but absolutely smooth. Where I touched the furry coat, I was overwhelmed with a temptation to comb my fingers through the fine black stripes. My mind desired to keep the dark hairs out of the golden fur. As I bundled up in the cozy warmth of the blanket, I continued to pet the sleek coat. The man passed me and began to collect items from the corner of his tent. The first thing he did was grab a pot and go straight outside with it. Through the open slit of the tent’s entrance, I watched him mix items into the pot by one of the fires. He scooped a clump of paste up out of the pot -- it was white. A young soldier came over and sat down by the fire with him. The two exchanged the white stuff and began mixing it with something. Beans? They were beans. They were cooking! My tummy growled at me again. Why couldn’t I have some of the bread that the other soldiers may have already prepared? The man who had taken me to his tent stood up and wandered away. Because he was ordered to, he likely headed back to the Nangjang. And to resume his involvement in the battle. I sighed and turned away when the soldier had just started to add water into the pot. Likely he would be boiling whatever was on the menu. Meanwhile, I scooted over to the stretched tight canvased wall and rested my side up against it. And I yielded to the slumbering darkness once more…

  After face slapping Mary, the "Silver Belle" or should I say Celeste continued going up the stairs and sat on one oc the tables and chairs set up on the balcony of the restaurant. She ordered some snacks and sipped her tea. After that, she paid for it then exited the building.  While walking on the streets,  Celeste thought about what happened back at the restaurant and sighed.  She clearly didn't expect that she would be welcomed with insults as a greeting. She didn't want to fight back but the girl(Mary) was so annoying that she couldn't help it. Also because she developed a default personality. She's experienced many situations similar to what happened that it became a habit of hers to fight back and crush her opponent ten-fold with a verbal assault. It really is so hard being beautiful. (SnowdropLily: See,?? I told you. She's arrogant.) While Celeste was in thought, she didn't notice that she has already arrived to her purpose here in this kingdom. She also didn't notice that she bumped into a person. "Oof!" "I am so sorry." She apologized while bowing. "It's alright. I couldn't possibly be angry to fine and beautiful lady like you.~" the person replied in a manly voice. When Celeste heard this voice, she inferred that it was a man that she bumped into. She was quite intrigued to what the man looks like and so just to satisfy her curiosity, she lifted her head and looked. She was impressed at what she saw. She saw a man dressed in a white shirt, black pants, black boots, and a red scarf. She was also impressed of how handsome the man is. But somehow, the man gave her a bad feeling. He had a grin on his face and looked at her with soft eyes. So why is she uncomfortable with him? Driven by her instincts, she straightened up her back, apologized again and left. After that she sauntered her way to entrance of the store. Yes, her purpose in the Kingdom of Crux can be found in a store. But it wasn't just any store. While it's external appearance is that of a normal store, inside are various types of ingredients for medicines and poisons being sold. The reason why she came to this store is that the first ingredient that she needs for a poison she's making is sold here. ____________________ Questions: •Where did that man come from? •What is this ingredient? •What is this poison? •Where did she come to know of this poison?  

But when he blinked, only two glowing golden eyes welcomed him. Rather, they had an unwelcoming gleam to them. She was annoyed that he made her get up to give him an answer. He only interpreted that she was annoyed with Desmond's conduct. "Lady Bailey, it's truly a wonderful moment to look upon such a beautiful countenance!" Praising her as he bowed as he would to any other state guest. Rather, how he handled pretty female state guests. Praise them, flatter them, and they'll be more forthcoming to him. Often giving him coins or jewels as gifts for his hospitality. Unfortunately for him, Avery wasn't that kind of person. When he raised his head back up, all that awaited him was eyes that could stab him if they were daggers. "E-Emperor Jeagerfang has sent me to take you to the Crystal Wing. You'll find better comfort there rather than this lowly side." Flustered, he fumbled out the decree the Emperor had given him. Even in his opinion, he believed it was a good decision to move her there. The crystal wing was the luxury wing that housed only the most important guests of the Empire. The grounds made up of one-seventh of the castle's hilly estate. Only the best maids were posted, the most disciplined guards, and only the finest furniture. Not to mention, the expansive courtyard and its planters That's not the mention the... bonus perks. Anyone staying in that wing could even murder or rape the maids and the Empire wouldn't bat an eye. That was the testament to the status of those allowed into that wing. It was the Castle's pride after all! Only, Avery dumped a bucket of cold water on him. "As Desmond said the last time, I said no." Though her voice was soft, almost a melody to his ears, there was a drip of anger coloring it. He felt pleasant listening to it, only to have his veins frost over at her rejection. He felt embarrassed and a ting of indignation over her rejecting the castle's pride. "Lady Bailey, the Emperor wasn't asking if you wanted to. He was ordering you to-" for a moment, he felt all the air leave him and his vision blacken. Crash! The sound of shattering glass filled the air around him before a gust of cold wind embraced his whole body. His vision returned and the starry sky greeted him along the first snowfall. As if welcoming him, the snowflakes kissed his head momentarily as the stars twinkled. Then, he felt his chest hurt, then his back. It was over in a few seconds, but he couldn't understand why he was looking up at the sky, or why he couldn't move. Only that he thought this sky was oddly beautiful, as more snowflakes fell and hugged his body. And that was the last thought he had as the screams of maids and stewards filled the air. It had taken no more than ten seconds for him to fly out the window and lay mangled on the Imperial Plaza floor where the window overlooked. It took another ten seconds for the guards to react to the situation. Tens of knights began moving with haste, their clinking armor almost merging into a jingle as their shouts spread to other guards, then more. The entire castle became a hive of activity, torches lighting and whistles blowing. And it only took them a whole minute to figure out where he'd fallen from. Avery had already closed the door the moment he had flown out of sight into the night air. For a moment, she blacked out when her blood boiled at the words he spoke to her. She didn't know why it riled her up, but it did. Her blackout lasted only a few seconds, enough to see the old man flying out of sight and her leg touching the ground. It took a heartbeat for her to figure out what had happened. Oddly enough it felt good, scary, but good. Desmond who had gotten up to spectate whatever schemes his family had brought was freaking out. Panic in his voice he yelled, "That was my father's Head Steward!". The words only served to please her more. No one was going to order her to do something against her wishes, or so she thought. The pleasure of kicking that 'scum' out the window lasted only a few moments until she felt dirty from touching him with her foot. Like bugs crawled on her feet and legs. She began to strip the dress off as she listened absentmindedly to Desmond. "Avery! You can't just kill people whenever you want!". 'Right, and they could make her do their bidding?' She retorted in her head but didn't voice her thoughts. Even she knew something was changing in her, or maybe she had always been rash? At this point, he didn't fuss over where she changed, well, so long as she wasn't doing it in front of other people. Not that it wasn't a sight to behold, but he was already baptized in her fire. The fire of baking her nude body in his mind at the river's shore. Then being forced to strip and thrown in a cold river. He figured he'd just stop questioning it. He continued his plead. "... Just promise me you won't do it without consulting me first." He wasn't sure if she heard the storm brewing out there, but there was a huge one. She ignored him. "Where's your bedroom?" A couple of outfits were in her hand, appearing in her hands in a mixture of light particles and golden flames. "Over here." With a sigh, he led her over to the bedroom door that was adjacent to the hearth that occupied the wall by the couches. As she was about to go through, he stopped her with a gentle hand on across her stomach. "Look... I can understand why you did that, but that wasn't a justifiable reason to kill the man." Avery looked at him for once since it happened. Even she understood this, but she couldn't help herself savor what she did. Yet, when she saw that worn expression on his face, she felt bad for feeling pleased. For a moment, she struggled in her heart. "I just want you to talk to me before you do something stupid. When you killed that golden knight back in the valley, I thought it was justified, but not with the steward. There was no honor in killing him..." Desmond added. After a back and forth in her head, she sighed and relented. "Okay..." She softly said, her golden eyes which glowed under the firelight dimmed slightly with shame. Desmond wanted could see her feelings. He wanted to give her some comfort, but he wanted her to think on it. There was a loud pounding at the quarter's entrance. "Open up my lord, I have to speak with you. Please, open or I'll have to force myself in!" Desmond looked at her, she shook her head. "Do what you have to do then, I'll... go change." She opened the bedroom's door and walked it, closing it behind her. Desmond sighed with relief, hoping there wouldn't be any more death tonight. He walked over to the entrance and opened the door. The sight of two Silver Knights, two of his personal guards that stood guard just by the entrance way into the hall to his quarters. "Yes?" He already knew what they were here for them. The wind howled behind the two men as a snowstorm began to brew and snow came through the broken window. "We came to speak to you about the Head Steward.". He let them into the room and a Golden Knight walked into the room behind the two. Desmond didn't notice him but figured he'd be around the corner. "We know he to your quarters to speak with you and Lady Bailey." One of the silver knights spoke up. These two knights had been there at the valley so they both held her in high regards. However, the golden knight was a wet-behind-the-ears Heavenly Knight. "I have come to arrest the person who killed the Head Steward!" His voice dripped with contempt for Desmond. ... The whole ordeal was finished up within the hour. The silver knights having to escort the rowdy golden one away since Avery couldn't be touched. Even if she could, what would they do? Demand her arrest? She already killed the Emperor's steward for trying to order her around. If he was killed like that, why would they bother? Avery behaved the rest of the night as well. Taking Desmond's words to heart, she eventually apologized to him, but she refused to apologize to the emperor. The next morning, Desmond woke up. The hearth in the bedroom crackled softly. He didn't remember lighting the heart, but there it was. Its orange light dancing across the room as he laid on his side. He turned over and saw Avery sleeping soundly under the bed covers. She laid on her side, facing him. Her peaceful sleeping face warmed him slightly. Her white hair an avalanche of snow on the pillows as her chest rose slightly and fell softly. The fire's light cast a warm shadow over her face as the light danced on the wall above her. He never remembered going to sleep with her, but he wasn't complaining... He never noticed, but she had long eyelashes that fluttered as she dreamed, if she was dreaming. He began to wonder if she was dreaming, what was she dreaming of. Both of them were petite in their own respects, almost a foot of space between them. The same thick red and gold blanket covered them both. For a moment, he wanted to move closer. He had a strange desire to feel her warmth. To wrap his arm around her peaceful sleeping body. Once the sleep left his mind, he pushed those thoughts away like they were the plague. He had to admit, he did like her. How much though? How much did he fear her? It was a battle in his heart would have to sort eventually. Sighing inwardly, he slid the blanket off himself as not to wake her before he swung his feet over before firmly putting them on the fur rug below. Or so he thought. "Take your feet off my tail." Desmond stiffened at the voice. He looked down. A lion-sized silver wolf laid sprawled out below him. Fenrir never bothered to lift his head when he spoke. "Now would be a good time." Desmond realized he was just staring at the wolf in a daze. He lifted his foot before moving it over to the floor. "Sorry..." Fenrir only blew air from his nose in response and flicked his tail away. Desmond turned his attention to the fire burning in the heart. "Who lit the fire...?" Desmond asked. "A maid came in the middle of the night," Fenrir responded curtly. "Why is Avery in my bed..?" Desmond moved his feet and scratched Fenrir's back. He took to that well as he stretched out before answering "When the maid came in, Avery was laying on the couch. Poor lass. Avery nearly cut her head off. Both of them were startled." Fenrir readjusted himself so Desmond's toes scratched another place. "Anyways, they got over the situation, but she decided to slip into your bed. She said she'd rather sleep somewhere more comfortable." Desmond chuckled before he stole a glance at the sleeping girl behind him. "Did she have maids before?" His soft voice, almost a whisper. "No, Master did most things by herself. Things she couldn't, the other master's assisted her with. We did very little besides attending to her parents and fight alongside her." Fenrir seemed to tire of Desmond's foot and sat up, Desmond retracting his foot. A window above the bed's headboard was caked in snow. The outside black as ink, but enough moonlight to highlight slivers of white racing towards the ground. If he strained his ear, he could probably hear the faint howls of the blizzard, but he didn't feel like it. Both of them sat in silence before Desmond broke it. " I didn't know Primordials had parents. I thought they've just existed..." Fenrir finally turned to look at him. His eyes scanning his, seeing if that was supposed to be a joke. What were a few heartbeats felt like an entirety before Fenrir responded, "As far as I know, each Primordial has a parent. Though their bodies in this world weren't real... Avery's body now is her real body now though." Desmond's brows furrowed, his head tilting. "What do you mean by... not her real body..?" Fenrir sighed, strangely, his mouth never moved when he spoke. Desmond just registered that. "Don't worry about it. Avery will probably tell you sooner or later. Either way, it's not too important to the now or future." Fenrir laid his head down in an attempt to sleep. It was almost ten minutes before Desmond spoke up again. "Does Avery celebrate Christmas?" Only the pops of the fire answered. Fenrir didn't stir again. "Fenrir...?" Desmond toed his tail but failed to get a reaction. Yet again, only the fire answered his question. "I do." A soft, honey-sweet voice answered him. This time he jumped on his toes and accidentally stomped on Fenrir's tail. Fenrir leaped up, which caused Desmond to fall backward onto the bed. His head landed on Avery's mid-section, his back on the mattress and his legs dangling off the edge. He composed himself for a moment before realizing his head landed on Avery. Quickly turning to his left to see her face. Two topaz eyes stared back through half opened eyes. "Y-You're awake..." He muttered. "Mm." It wasn't much in the way of a morning greeting from her though. "How long have you been awake...?", "Since you moved the blanket." He felt embarrassment burn in his cheeks. He looked away quickly. " I'm going back to sleep, it's too early to be up." he took a quick glance at her and noticed her eyes didn't have their usual lively glow. They glowed faintly with a hint of melancholy as she shut her eyes. Not wanting to stay embarrassed, he lifted his head off her and laid back down. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Desmond missed the two clear crystal lines flowing from her eyes. . . . The morning rays illuminated the lounge in Desmond's quarters. Two maids stood off to the side as Avery sat huddled in a blanket and Desmond looked out at the snow that blanketed his courtyard. He sipped at a bowl of chicken soup while Avery stared at a bowl of fish soup that she hadn't touched. Her hair was ruffled on her right side and two golden eyes glanced up through half-open eyes, charming the maids. She propped her chin on her right hand as she turned to look outside into the now snowy tundra. The early morning conversation with Fenrir still knocked around in Desmond's head. He pondered on the body comment but came up with no luck. He wanted to ask Avery what he had meant, only, he didn't know how to approach the question. In the end, he put it to the back. She treated him fairly well, leagues difference than what his family treated him aside from his mother. He would rather wait for her to tell him. While Avery was stuck in her morning lull, Desmond in his internal struggle. A loud knock echoed from the entrance. Avery let out a reluctant moan then pulled the blanket over her head. She was sick of hearing knocks at the moment. Before one of the maids could answer the door, Desmond's bastard father along with a younger man opened the door without permission and strode in like they owned the place. The maids could only back to up the wall and bow while announcing their already unwelcome presence. "The Emperor and the First prince have arrived!" Author note: My child wrecked my Skullcandy headset and I wrecked headphones by accidentally washing them. One side works, though it's annoying that I can still hear people.  

Sunlight beat down the morning cold, leaving behind fresh midday air in its wake. A brick paved path wide enough for four large carriages side by side lay in front of Avery. It led up the hill's incline towards the city gates. They were large wooden doors braced with steel along with engraved runes. Two lines formed on the right side of the road. One for carriages, the other for pedestrians. The far left was four exit traffic while the center had been reserved for important or emergency carriages that could forgo the lines and quickly enter the capital. There were many different carriages ranging from passenger to merchant models. Some were in pristine condition while others appeared to have seen long roads. To their right, the people were even more diverse. Beast-men, dwarfs, humans, and a few other races mingled while they waited their turn. Some wore warm layered clothing, while some worn light armors such as leather or steel chest breastplates and gauntlets. Some were heavy mage robes while holding ornate staffs. Other mages dressed in light armor with simple staffs. Desmond sat on the right edge of the coaches seat while Avery sat between him and a barrel-chested old man. He was a farmer, or so he told them, and he was heading towards the morning market in the Trader's Plaza in town. Avery and the farmer made small talk as the line slowly moved time to time as they were inspected. The people on foot moved along quicker with simple identification checks. The checks were mostly surface, security theater, aimed at deterring criminals. The carriage check was only checking for illegal goods and wanted men. Why were they on this carriage? It started earlier when they found out that Consort Loralei only brought one royal carriage, something she apparently made a habit to harass the Empress. That left two options for the stranded three. Take a military carriage or walk. The wyverns weren't allowed into town unless there was an emergency. So if the Empress had taken a military carriage, she would have to be identified at the Gate. Being a 'ruler' she didn't have identification on her. Thus this would have made a scene while they confirmed via a noble. It was a round-a-bout way of slapping her face, something she apparently loved to do when presented a suitable chance. That's not to say a carriage wouldn't come from the castle, it was that it would be almost nightfall by the time it did happen. Neither the military carriage nor walking would suffice for Empress Maria though. She may have let most of that girl's slights against her go, but she wouldn't allow her to publicly shame her. So she stayed back for the eventual arrival of a royal carriage. Desmond had half the mind to stay with her. Contend to stay cozy in the military base among the lesser dragons. He didn't often get the chance to study them up close, saying "The academy thinks books are good enough for everything." Avery, on the other hand, was already set to see the capital. Either by walking or carriage. Unfortunately, Empress Maria wouldn't allow him to go in a military carriage. Strictly forbidding it. Avery wasn't there for the whole conversation, but she only had forbidden use of the military's carriage. Not a farmers. Granted, Avery understood what Empress Maria was trying to do. She neither cared for the politics nor cared for pride their pride. So she made a slight compromise. Maria forbid the military carriage and Desmond wasn't in shape to walk. Thus when she asked around if there were any other carriages, the logistic soldiers mentioned the farmer who would pass by with supplies on his way to the capital within an hour. And he did come within the hour, but he wouldn't take them for free. His payment? Company and conversation of a beautiful young lady, Avery. No in a dirty way. A friendly way of keeping him occupied on the short way there. In the end, they made it to the capital with the farmer named Ian Rivva, a pleasant old man who'd been widowed at the age of fifty. Living by himself just a few miles from the capital. He was a retired soldier, one who'd seen war and pain. He meant to settle with his wife and raise 'hundreds of children' birthed from his 'mortal goddess'. A sweet old, yet she was taken from him after the birth of their first daughter. Avery turned to Desmond, with a questionative look. "What...?" With the same look, he stared back. She leaned in. " Couldn't someone save her with healing magic...?". Desmond only looked at her in sheer shock. Avery watched the gears in his head turn, his expressions changing by the second. "Ah... Yes... There was that.." As he remembered her background, of course, she wouldn't have known!" Magic nowadays is different from your era.." He cleared his throat. "Magic is hard for the common people. People have to specialize in it like all other professions. Think of it as a craft, it takes time, money, and most of all dedication. I don't know how it was before, all I know is that normal humans aren't as... Diverse as before. " This time it was Avery's turn to be shocked! What's with that bullshit?! "How do you guys heal yourselves then?!" Avery's voice raised an octave. "We use potions young one! Like those priest spells, but not as good yet not so expensive!" Ian huffed out having overheard Avery. "Those damned priests wanted five gold coins!" That sweet old man suddenly scowled. Though the years had taken his young and his strength, that scowl belonged to a battle-hardened veteran. Avery could picture it if he trimmed his beard, it could probably look like a wise general. " Give gold coins?!" This time, Desmond spoke up. "Damn right! that was a whole year pay in the army!" He calmed down slowly before adding more " I didn't have any coins left after I purchased the farm that year..." Avery ended being pushed from the conversation as they both ranted about Alistair's church. She only understood that the church liked to upcharge for healing services to fund some weird lavish lifestyles. Being fed up with the dark discussion, Avery interjected" Enough of the topic, you both are ruining the mood." The displeasure was apparent in her tone. Both of them quieted, but the conversation had left a sour taste in all their mouths. So they all just stayed quiet until it was their turn to be inspected. Two guards stood guard in full suited iron armor. Each held iron spears as tall as themselves. Each stood on each side of the door. One, a large plumb black man with a full salt-n-pepper beard that reached his chest. The other was a lighter, yet tanned man. Only noticeable by the open-faced helmets their wore. "Oi, ya lazy man, wer' ya' pick up these too beauties!?" The plumb guard's voice rose jokingly towards Ian." Don't worry about it ya' old fool!" They both had a quick, light, laugh. After they exchanged their oddly insulting, yet endearing greetings. Ian got to business. "Picked these young ones from the base below, Mr. Roddintin vouched for them." Ian pulled out a letter from behind him in the cargo area - handing it to the guard. The guard quickly scanned the letter before his expression cramped. The skinnier guard looked at him curiously. "Sir Genns, what's wrong...?" His voice was timid, he sounded almost Desmond age. The plumb guard, Sir Genns, handed the letter back with shaky hands. "No search... Go on Ian and... Please don't offend the lords next to you..." His voice sounded nervous. Ian may have been old, but him having been a soldier, understanding how to treat lords was ingrained in him. He quickly straightened his posture before he weakly smiled at the Avery. No wonder they were good looking kids! They were lordlings! Unless one reached a high level, the only way to get such good looks were either to be born nobility! Of course, there were good looking commoners, but most of them ended up losing their looks to stress and hard working conditions around their late teens. Nobility would have less stress, well their children, when it came to such matters. Reaching higher levels, like level thirty, one would start to be purified by mana, regaining their youthful looks. Desmond waved his hand as if used to it " I'm of nobility. The lovely girl is just high level." He didn't go into specifics. Princes and level one-thousands weren't as common as dragons of course! The old farmer was already strained to hear they were referred to as lords. "Just treat us the same. Don't act distant grandpa!" Avery spoke to him like a loving grandchild with a dazzling smile. Both the guards were enraptured. The old man - having lost such desires - thought she'd make a good bride to the man next to her. Desmond's heart's skipped a beat, even after seeing the side of her face. ... After exchanging promises to visit his farm in the future, Avery and Desmond parted from Ian. They walked down the bustling capital main street. Inns, shops, and other establishments dotted each side. Carriages run up and down the middle of the street while people walked to the sides. It was rather well organized, leaving the carriages to streamline their way towards their destinations. Only stopping when one needed to turn off. It took only a few minutes before Avery and Desmond passed by a large side road lined with many stalls. The passageway was lined with large three-story buildings. Some appeared to be homes, others workshops. The passageway large like the main street, but it left enough room for one carriage to pass by without hitting the stalls. With an excited tug, Avery pulled Desmond's hand while turning down the passageway. He could only blush at her soft hand's touch as he was willingly dragged along. Many stalls were manned by robbed people, as cold winds strolled down the road. Some bartered with people, some called out to passer-biers, and others simply sat quietly. Avery approached the first stall closest to her. The stall was covered with wore grey cloth with seemingly cheap trinkets. A brush made from a light wood. Iron tableware, and some children toys. The vendor was an older lady who stared at the couple with gauging eyes. She was amused at how Avery looked at each cheap trinket like they were never before seen. "That brush looks nice." Avery off-handedly commented."It's a cheap commoners brush, I can find you something of higher quality " Desmond wasn't a merchant. He wasn't tactful enough to be one, but he ran several shops in the noble district from behind the scenes. Making logistical and administrative decisions. All built on the little money he got from the castle, thus funding more of his scholarly ventures. As such, He'd seen higher quality items. That's why he said such a thing. To him, it was a harmless statement. As a young man wanting to impress a girl, he'd aim to get her something flashier. Yes, an unthoughtful statement by a young man. One that pricked one of Avery's buttons. There was a moment of silence before she turned to him, with a frown. The vendor also frowned, but kept their mouth shut. The only winner is a lordling with fighting as they say. So they kept quiet about his rude comment. "Why are you being an ass?" Desmond who a moment ago had his head up in the clouds, but suddenly struck from the sky by the goddess called Avery.

Previously: "The silver belle was seen walking around the city square." "Who's the silver belle?" "..." "SOMEONE SAW THE SILVER BELLE NEAR THIS RESTAURANT!!" As if on cue, another person showed up at the entrance. Dressed in a brown and rough looking cloak, the person stepped inside the restaurant. To those with normal eyesight, they could say that the person looked like a man so they paid no attention. They expected to see something better.  However, to those who had better eyesight, they could tell from the person's outline that it was a female under that cloak. Others saw a silver hair and a silver glinting light through the hood.  Soon enough, the restaurant erupted to another series of murmurs and gossips. The female didn't heed them and continued walking to the stairs to the second floor of the restaurant. "That's her isn't?" they thought. Although most of them realized this, none of them were courageous enough to say it out loud. Only one was brave and foolish enough to do so, and that was Mary. Oh poor ignorant Mary. She would sure regret it after this. She doesn't know what's comin' to get her. "Hey! You're the Silver Belle, aren't ya?!" with a confident strut, she walked to the cloaked female and said this. "If you're so beautiful, why hide yourself? Well, it's not really hiding ain't it? I mean who wouldn't notice a cloaked person enter a restaurant in the midle of the day. Are you actually ugly. Maybe, I'm right! Maybe it's just fake news. Maybe the silver belle isn't beautiful after all. Obviously, I'm more beautiful and amazing than her--" she continued but was cut off from her sentence. "You done?" the person interrupted. The voice was laced with boredom. Then slowly, the person took off her hood and revealed a beautiful and peerless face. A silver hair and silver eyes. Anyone with eyes would know that standing right before them is "The Wandering Silver Belle."  With a passive expression on her face and eyes that seemed as if it was looking at an ant and can look through your soul, the Silver Belle stared at Mary.  Then suprisingsly, an amused smile streched through her face and with an amused voice she said, "How can an insignificant person be talking like that in front of me? The nerve. Honestly, I haven't met a single one who would be brave enough to dare so do this. Well some tried but they would simply run away after they finished talking." and with a arrogant voice she continued, "Well, I admit that it was foolish of me to  dress as a cloaked person go inside a restaurant. No doubt that it would direct the people's attention to me. But what could I say? I just love the attention. And while it's foolish of me, it's even more foolish for you. I simply cannot believe that I was insulted by a self-proclaimed beautiful girl when the truth is that you're merely just an average looking girl. You're nothing special while I am. And just look at your clothing,--" the silver belle sneered at Mary "even a blind person could tell that it's made of rags and while I'm wearing a cloak but under this cloak, is an elegantly and specially tailored dress made just for me from the most famous boutique in all of the kingdom. Yours, I could even tell that the person who made your clothes didn't want to do so. So see? You are nothing special."  After that she left them and continued on going up the stairs. She left them with their jaws hanging in shock and eyes in awe especially Mary. However, while her jaws were hanging in shock, her eyes wasn't filled with awe, it was brimming with tears. Then, one of the masses came to his senses and started laughing hard. And like a chain reaction, everyone was laughing. They were laughing at Mary. Mary finally cried and exited the restaurant. She was warned to not piss the silver belle but she did not heed that warning. She regretted it so much. In front of the restaurant was another restaurant just across the street and seated on one of the tables and chairs set up in front of the restaurant was a man with white hair, red eyes and a red scarf saw the whole thing.  With an amused grin and malicious eyes, he fled from the scene. ____________________ Question: Who was that mysterious man?    

The piggy emperor and a man, a few years older than Desmond, swaggered in before standing over the table Avery and Desmond sat at. Being only two chairs in the whole room, Desmond's father looked at him as if waiting for him to give up his seat. Desmond knew Avery's position towards him already, that much was apparent. So he pretended not to noticed and focused on the beef stew on the table. He waited for a few more moments before his impatience got the better of him. "Are you not going to give your seat to Us?" Eyes of daggers and a tone laced with menace. Avery let out a sigh before pushing her head from the comforts of the blanket. Her bees nest-like hair was combed back with delicate fingers, revealing a tired - pissed off face. "What do you want?" Her tone resembled the man in feeling. The Emperor jumped slightly, feeling actual bloodlust coming from her. He only smiled weakly at Avery. That's when she noticed the man behind him. He resembled Desmond but had a haughty air about him. He stood with confidence and wore thick red clothing, yet she noticed bulging muscles around his arms and chest. Slicked back hair and finely trimmed beard. He also had an ornate sword, encrusted with a large ruby on the bottom of its hilt. The man was the First Prince, Peter. The royal family's very own womanizer! The man caught a look of Avery the moment she combed her hair back, and he felt it was love at first sight! Such an exotic flower would look good, naked in his bed, or so his delusions thought. He was known for his womanizing and skirt chasing. Having father a few illegitimate children himself, he was known for only thinking with his genitals. Avery noticed that sleazy look and cringed at it. She was glad the blanket covered her like a cocoon with only her head exposed. Even then, she felt she was being stripped by his eyes. She glared at him as well, but he never noticed. The Emperor cleared his throat before composing himself. "We came to apologize for the actions of our steward." He glanced at Desmond, still waiting for the chair to be given to him, but it still never came. He felt indignant towards him. "Look over here, don't worry about him." Avery was annoyed by the two interrupting the morning, not even giving them the first few hours after waking up some peace. The Emperor looked like a dog that had just been kicked, his face reddening with anger. "We came to apologize, and this is how you are going to treat Us?" He huffed before he felt a chill on his back. Avery's eyes locked on his. He never really looked at those eyes, but the glowed fiercely. They reminded him of a Dragon he once encountered in his youth. Those feline-slit eyes narrowed, even more, when he spoke back. She took a breath before she reprimanded him, "Let's get things straight. I kicked your damned dog out the window for being a little cunt. I've committed regicide before, against stronger rulers. Desmond may have asked me not to do it, but don't think I won't kick you either." Sure enough, the Emperor became ashen and fumbled with a few words before he completely shut up with another aimed glare from her. After a few moments, Avery felt satisfied. "Good, now that you understand, what did you want so early?" She turned to look out the window with disinterest, wanting to escape that lecher's eyes. "We came to personally invite Lady Bailey for breakfast. We certainly can provide any meal you want. Simply say it and we'll try and accommodate." Managing to smile amicably towards the two, the emperor felt proud over his diplomatic skills Avery turned to Desmond after hearing his father's proposal. Desmond seemed like a timid bunny, sipping away at his sip little by little, as he tried not to attract any of their attention. A gentle and warm smile grew on her face. She thought he was quite adorable right now. "You want to go?" She asked him, bemused. Not wanting to start an argument so early in the morning, he felt it was better to indulge them for now. He nodded before Avery said they had to change first. Both left their seats and headed towards the bedroom when Desmond's brother cut him off with a raised arm. "What are you doing? The woman is going to get changed!" Desmond sighed. His brother definitely did such things, but he didn't know why he was grouping him into such things. After that night he walked in on Avery bathing, she stopped caring. Her reason? He already baked her nude image into his mind. Well... he did. It was the first nude woman he'd ever seen and she was too beautiful. Too perfect in that moonlight not to forget. But... he was pretty sure she was too lazy to get her own space. She was laid back when people weren't annoying her, which she seemed to be irritated a lot. Contrary to the old books, she was said to be helpful and sweet. Not that she didn't have those traits, but she seemed quick-tempered. What Desmond didn't know, most players were often quick-tempered excluding a few saintly players or uncaring ones. It was a given. Whichever the case, it was the sudden norm for the two, which neither of them mind. Though Desmond was embarrassed the first few times, being baptized in fire tempered one's mind. Actually, it was quite good. Seeing someone of Avery's caliber, all the girls he thought were beautiful, seemed to be average to him now. Like grains of sand on a beach, Avery being the tsunami hitting it. "Leave me be." Desmond chirped with forced voice. "I won't let your eyes defile such a goddess with your dir-" Avery turned around hearing Peter's question. "Leave him alone. Both of you out." Desmond was about to tell his brother to leave him alone, but Avery stepped in, pushing Peter away with a single hand before pointing to the door with an open palm. The maids were quick in escorting them to the door. His father wanted to speak up, but he also didn't want to get kicked out the window. His steward was a low-level and old, thus he didn't survive the long drop. He, however, was a fairly high level, nearing the thirties. If he fell, he'd survive. Maybe. He wasn't about to test it though. Though, Peter seemed kin on learning to fly that morning. "My lady Bailey, I think I'd better su-". "Out!" Avery roared. Her eyebrows furrowed and her nose scrunching with fleeting patience for the two men. The Emperor wasn't so dense as not to sense the pending storm, as he already fled the room 'gracefully.' Unlike his father, Peter was forcibly pushed out by the two maids who were under orders not to anger Avery. At this moment, Avery wished she hadn't promised Desmond to not be rash. . . . Inside a large hall, eight thick brown wooden beams reinforced with steel rings held up the roof. Shields with coats of arms decorated the wall along with banners with the country's emblem. Braziers crackled across the room along with the hushed talk from silver knights and golden knights eating their meals. three large windows reached from the floor to the roof to the right of the room, overlooking the castle's training yard. Everything outside was coated in a blanket of glistening snow and a crystal blue sky. The Emperor sat uncomfortably on a long wooden bench, his robes cumbersome. Avery sat across from him. She wore a thick grey long sleeve shirt that hugged her body and black cargo pants with boots. She sipped at some fish soup the mess hall chefs cooked up at her request. Desmond sat to her left, dressed in his academy mage robes. Both sat shoulder to shoulder, but it seemed that Avery was trying to sit far from his brother who sat to her right. He had finally remembered to introduce himself to her, though it didn't matter much. More interested in the soup brought to her, his small talk fell on deaf ears. The man was quite the looker, having quite the air of confidence about him that Desmond didn't have. Something Desmond felt insecure about, he kept his head down as he nibbled on some cut beef bathed in gravy. He said he wasn't hungry, but Avery said he needed to eat more. Peter, against the atmosphere, tried every trick in the book he could in wooing her, but she gave him the cold shoulder. Oddly enough, he seemed to make his fire burn hotter for her. To the point, the air around him began to smell like lust, or maybe it was bad body odour? Either way, it was ruining her appetite. She liked the smell around Desmond though. Unsure if it was his clothes or just him, but he always smelled of herbs. Fenrir was made to stay back in Desmond's room so no one would snoop through it. Even he smelled far better than Peter. Even the Emperor, who wanted Avery to be wooed by Peter was at a loss. He'd never seen him be so shameless that even the surrounding knights and servants cringed at his demeanor. "Was this my child?" he thought. Certainly justified though. If Peter and a bandit were put side by side, they'd look like brothers in arms at a brothel. "My son, let us go for a walk and let them eat. We have much to discuss." He gave Peter a warning glance before he clumsily slid his feet out from under the table and go up. Peter was reluctant to part with Avery, but seeing his father's look, he could only give up for now. "Yes, Father." He too got from the bench, but more natural. "And I bid you good day dear Lady." With a sweet smile that disgusted Avery, he tried to brush the hair that cascaded down her back, but she only swatted his hand away. Peter felt embarrassed, not because she swatted his hand away, but because he failed to woo a woman in front of so many people. His father was already walking out the hall's entrance when he rushed to catch up like a dog with his tail between his legs, finally leaving Desmond and Avery to eat in peace. . . . Desmond and Avery trudged through foot high snow as more floated down from the bright yet foggy sky. Desmond was wearing his school robes while Avery was dressed in her black shirt, black pants, and black boots, along with cloak so white, it almost disappeared in the snow. The cloak reached down to her mid-calves. The hood draped off her head and flared out downward, vaguely resembling an upside down heart. With every step, the hem of the cloak trailed after her - like a beautiful wraith. The cloak's name was Cloud Dancer. The item came from a raid that commenced in the sky, the Cloud Weaver Palace. It was the home of a Sky Colassal, a fierce dragon covered in fur that was considered the ruler of the Sky. Avery didn't get the drop when they defeated the boss. luckily though, she got an item that one of the re-runners - a player who already beat the raid- didn't have. He already had two so he traded this beautiful cloak for that item. Even though it was snowing and the air pricked at her cheeks; the town was alive with people, with the exception of stalls. Butchers, smiths, general stores, and other various shops that lined the main road howled their wares. People coming and going from the stores and restaurants like it was a regular day, only they were coated in warm clothes. It wasn't long before the road turned from shops and restaurants to homes of various sizes. Desmond was taking her to the Academy to enroll her, even though it was the ending of the school year with a week left till they adjourn till after the new year. Sooner the better in his mind. The Academy laid on the cusp of the Noble District and the Commoner district. This allowed both walks of life to reach it without 'offending' each other. The two approached through the Noble district as it bordered the castle. The once crowded main road turned into a quiet path, big enough for two carriages with foot traffic. Very few carriages past by though. They also seldom crossed any other pedestrian. The few they did were just maids or butlers heading towards the shops a little ways behind. Desmond explained it was because the school had dorms that people could stay in. For people who didn't live within a ten-minute walk often just stayed in the dorms since school started early. Desmond, being one of them, stayed at the castle the other night because he couldn't bring her onto school grounds without permission and the administration was closed for the night. Soon they reached the school grounds. Elegantly wrought iron fence decorated the top of short grey stonewalls. They walked up to a large stone archway that stood to break a gap in the fence. A double iron gate occupied the space in the arch with one gate left ajar, enough for a single person to walk through. Two men stood guard on the inside by the gate chattering away. Both of them was dressed in deep blue pants and long jackets under polished chest plates and arm protectors. At their sides were short swords, sheathed in dark leather adorned in symbols. "Those are what we call Mage-Warriors. They're the same as the knights in the orders, heavily oriented towards magic. In other countries, they're called Magic knights, but here they can't be called a knight if they're not officially knighted so they're called that." As they approached the guards, one noticed them and knocked the back of his hand against the chest of his fellow guard. "Look alive." They straightened themselves out with a laugh until they were at the gate opening. "Ah, if it isn't the prince boy. Welcome back." One of the guards chuckled with a huge grin. "We definitely weren't slacking on the job." Desmond laughed when he saw them "Sure, whatever you say Adin. We all know you rather guard the gate than the food hall." Desmond teased him with a genuine smile. "Psh! Damn Vice-Master! She said I was gaining weight so she manned me here yesterday! Now I can't snag slices of pie now!" The man-made exaggerated gestures like it were the worst thing in the world.  The man was youthful, but showed signs of aging, possibly in his early thirties. His face was tanned with a neat short stubble beard. He had short-curly ginger hair that gave him a troublemaker look, The other guard slapped his knee with a hearty laugh as he bent forward. "Don't lie! We know you been putting the moves on that woman! She sent you out here because she saw you flirting with that new female chef! haha! She was two seconds away from hurling a fireball at your crotch!" He had long black hair, tied back into a slick high ponytail that reached to his mid-neck. The man appeared younger than his fellow guard, maybe mid-twenties. They laughed for a moment longer until Avery's sweet giggles caught their attention. "Oi, Desmond... Your companion wouldn't happen to be a... girl?" Adin asked, leaving both of the guards surprised. They hadn't noticed Avery because they were messing around. "Ah, yes. This is my good friend Lady Bailey. I brought her to enroll in the academy." Avery took off her head and revealed her face. "Little Desmond finally has a girlfriend! Haha!"  Both of the warriors rejoiced loudly. "Alright guys, calm down. I want to get inside where its warm, so can one of you guys escort us to the headmaster?" Desmond sighed, trying to sidestep what he knew was coming next. "Yeah, Walden here can take you. Vice-master is still pissed off." Adin coughed and looked away with a shiver. "Sure. I rather not have this man lose his manhood. I'd hate to explain it to all his girlfriends." Adin clicked his tongue to Walden's comment, but then they both chuckled at each other. "Alright, let's go in then, kids." Adin pushed the gate open more to let them walk in without having to scrunch up before returning back when they walked through. Waldon gesturing them to follow.  

Walden lead the two past neat rows of tall pine trees, decorated with glass balls. Glossy reds, mind-calming greens, and loving pinks along with other various colors. Soft white lights of orbs danced above thin iron poles the width of two of Avery's fingers together. Symbols were painstakingly carved into the pole's body leading up to a rough uneven stone the size of her fist. A path made up of asymmetrically smooth stone bricks, of a higher quality visible to the naked eye, paved the way through the decorated trees towards a large four-story victorian-styled castle with tens of arched windows looking out over the front of the school grounds. The front of the castle was shaped in a '[' with the tips facing the front gates. There were other buildings on the ground, but Avery ignored them as they reached the front doors. Two thick-steel braced doors loomed higher than the front gate in size. She could imagine a troll fitting through the front door in the middle of the night here. "Desmond, why does this place look out of place compared to the rest of the town?" A good question. The capital seemed to loosely follow an eastern theme with a blend of western. This building though was of complete European design. It also seemed oddly familiar, like she had been here before. "This school was built long before my ancestors conquered these lands. I'm not sure who exactly build and when, but we think it was build during your time." She let out an 'ah' to Desmond's answer. So that's why she felt it looked so familiar. She pulled open the map in her menu and tried to glean at the school. Most of the map was blacked out aside from worm trails here and there where she'd been. The school itself was actually lit up! "What's the name of the school...?" Avery inquired. "Dragon Nest Academy. What it went by before, I don't know." Desmond shrugged. He seemed to be more open and confident now that they reached the school. His timid posture was more upright. Almost like this was where he was comfortable. She looked back at the map that floated before her eyes, moving it with her thoughts while keeping one eye on the surroundings. Enough not to trip and bump into people. The map opened up of the school. 'Garrgon Guild's Castle [Abandoned]' Right after that, the name flashed red. with a prompt. [Garrgon not registered to exist anymore. The building has been taken by 'Dragon's Nest Academy'. Re-registering.] A few seconds later [Building re-registration on map complete.] She hadn't looked at her map since she woken up. The first reason was she knew the Sky Gardens by heart. Afterward, she had Desmond leading her around. Maps weren't overly useful in new areas unless you were backtracking, or trying to fill it in. When you did fill in the map, you could see any major changes to the environment which came detrimental to find new major events. Unless it was a situation like this... Where the entire map was changed drastically. The capital had been build and the guild's land changed. The only thing remaining that attested to their existence was their guild building probably couldn't be demolished. Guild buildings could be 'seized' if they were abandoned. Such as the guild had no officers to take charge once the leaders or leader had been banned, deleted their account, or left their guild. The guild's coffers would remain in their places along with guild own property that wasn't on a member. The buildings would go up for grabs, but the buildings could be purchased by any other 'guild' at the cost of the building. Not the items inside. Unfortunately for those members, it happened quite frequently. Guilds rose and fell often. It didn't matter how small or big. For their own reasons, players came and gone, often leaving guild buildings unattended. There were waypoints in large cities to teleport guild members to their own buildings, as they could set down buildings in the world. Of course, such things had restrictions. Only major guilds could have that function, and the locations had to be approved by the Game Masters. Even then, just to reach Major Guild status, it wasn't member counts, but raid and quest completions with guild-only parties that counted! This made an unofficial requirement too, to have a six-member guild. That was if one only used quest completions. If they were going with raid counts, they would need over thirty members! Garrgon was a 'Quest Guild'. They had ten members, made up of close school friends who Avery had the luxury of playing within the past. They were lore-freaks and loved to make tomes, writing their own stories or creating magical tomes to sell off. Avery actually felt a little sad when the building was listed as 'abandoned.' This meant that leader had left the game without electing an 'heir', a player to take over. She closed her map after checking it and looked around. The insides were just as she remembered it. She knew a lot of people, but she hadn't visited many guilds. She had her own, after all, but Garrgon only sold wares out of their building or whenever you saw them. Often not, she purchased a lot of magical tomes from them on requests of her friends. Of course, with advance payment from them with a little bit of interest for making the journey. They walked up a staircase with a banner of each school of magic on each floor. Each floor was about fifty feet wide, as for its length... She didn't bother to estimate. It was long though. Her feet felt the distant memory of having to chase down those members when she needed to buy a tome. They reached the top of the flight of stairs. In front of them was an archway with a form-fitting wooden door. The Walden knocked softly on the door before announcing "The Third Prince, Desmond has arrived and wishes to speak with you." The door creaked open a minute later with a young woman, mid-twenties, opened the door. "Vice-Master." Both Walden and Desmond greeted the woman "Ah, Walden. Has Adin repented yet?" The woman was a Dark elf. Silver tied back hair revealed thin pointed ears. She was as tall as Desmond with a slim frame and with humble curves and assets. Her dark-skin was supple and smooth, yet her eyes seemed to blaze with anger. "Ah, Ms. Tavi, please spare me what the man things. I don't concern myself with his shenanigans, else I'd be answering that question every day." Walden spoke causally to the woman. She only huffed before smiling at him and Desmond. "Well, I let me know if you two need to come in for a break from the cold, but tell Adin he's only getting a break!" She giggled as if she used to punishing Adin. "Definitely, maybe he'd repent when his manhood freezes." They both laughed before Vice-Master Tavi turned her to Desmond. "It's good that you're okay. We got the report, from your mother of course. It's a stroke of bad luck through and through. With a gentle smile, she opened the door, gesturing for the two to enter. "I'll take it from here." Walden nodded before trudging down the staircase again as Desmond and Avery walked in. "Ah, you must be Lady Bailey." Tavi greeted Avery the moment she walked in. "Yes. Nice to meet you." Avery tried to shake her had by Tavi bowed deeply at her. "As one who followers the Traveler's Code, you have my gratitude." Avery felt awkward, her hand left out hanging in the air. She pulled her hand back before mumbled an "ah yes." Unsure of what she was talking about. Once inside, the room was furnished with bookcases that lined each wall. packed to the brim with leather wrapped books and items. A large ornate, worn, rug occupied the floor with a wooden table. A large unorganized mess of papers and books occupied the tabletop with four chairs also filled up. A large, well organized, desk sat to the far side, a human man well into his sixties sitting behind it. He held a report in his hand as Tavi lead the two over to him. A window with a large ledge rested behind him with a few glowing flowers that resembled roses potted by it. Desmond pulled a pile of books off one chair, placed them on the floor and pulled to chair up to the desk. Tavi did the same with another chair. She gestured, almost like she was worshipping, to Avery to sit in the chair. Desmond only smiled awkwardly at the scene. "Um... Ms. Tavi -", "Please, call me Tavi. I, your humble follower, would love that.". Avery cleared her throat, clearly uncomfortable with the gesture. "Tavi, I could have done that myself.". Tavi shook her head, "Of course, but I wanted to express my hospitality." "The girl is obviously uncomfortable, my love. I understand you worship her, but please try not to scare her off." The old man looked at Tavi with a warm gaze. "Ah, sorry." She bowed deeply with embarrassment. "You'd have to excuse my wife. Her life had been saved many times over by your statues." His old gruff voice called out to Avery as she took a seat." Your wife?" Avery asked, obviously confused by the vast difference in looks. "Tavi is older than me by a hundred years. Don't worry, I don't chase younger girls. Women are -" Desmond cleared his voice cutting him off. "Like fine wine?" Avery finished his sentence. Desmond looked over in disbelief. "Yes! Someone who understands!" The old man put down the paper in his hands while standing up while laughing." So you think so as well?!" Avery laughed with the man. "Yes. Age does come with charm, though I think in your case, you get to enjoy the perks of a youthful woman as well." Tavi who stood to the side with clasped hands turned away. If she had lighter skin, a bright blush would have been visible. Her embarrassment growing more by the minute. "Well, Desmond! You've hooked yourself a good one, haha!" Desmond could only nod. Unsure how to respond to him and Avery's comments. "I'm glad to have met you. May I call you Avery, or do you prefer Lady Bailey?" The man sat down with effort before Avery spoke. "I prefer Avery." "Well, Avery, welcome to our humble academy. I am the Headmaster, Harold Harkin. This is Tavi Harkin, vice-master, and my wife for forty years. It's a pleasure." His tone calmer than before. "So, how can I be of assistance to you and little Desmond?" Getting straight to business, his smile faded. Replaced with a calm expression while clasping his hands over his desk. "I wanted to enroll Avery into the Academy. Think of it as integration into society. I'm sure she's more powerful than anyone here, but I think it would be good for her to socialize with normal people." Harold nodded his head in understanding. "I see. We certainly could do that. My love, please grab me an enrollment form." Tavi nodded, walked over to the table and sifted through the pile. "Quite the mess Harold," Avery commented as she looked behind her, watching Tavi shift through it with deft hands. "If they spent more time on their duties, and not flirting, it might be cleaned up," Desmond commented with a frown, yet she could tell he was teasing. "Ho? Such a young man who hadn't laid with a woman - ", "I slept with Avery." Desmond puffed his chest out proudly towards Harold. "Hooo? You and Avery made love?". Avery quickly snapped forward, her face dark with annoyance. "We slept in the same bed, but we haven't done anything like that, little alone kiss." Harold slapped the desk, his head craned backward in a laugh. "Oh, that's still good progress!" Avery, unsure how to respond this time turned back to Tavi just as she slipped a new form from the table and brought it over. "Please fill this out, Avery." Tavi placed the paper in front of her with a quill and ink. She read through the form and filled out the corresponding sections. She handed it to Hardol once she was done who picked it up to read. "Avery Bailey. Age eighteen. Highest profession, Fire magic. Rank..." He gulped. "G-God of Fire..." All eyes turned to her. . . . It took almost half an hour to explain that title. God of Fire didn't grant her control of fire completely but gave her really marked her proficiency in the Fire element. Granting her fire resistance up to four-thousand degrees (f, 2200 c). She still felt the warmth of heat and its intensity. It could still harm her, but it also meant she wasn't great with the cold. She had Ice magic, but she didn't like using it much. {Proofer: Her cold resistance is worse than regular people's...} "Well, on then..." He said with a tired face. "Three Highest professions... Master Smith, Master Alchemist, and Weapon master... Quite the resume here little one..." He sighed and placed the paper down. "I'm not going to bother with the rest, you're already more qualified than me by leagues." Avery also felt troubled over this. She hoped neither of the too wouldn't feel inferior to her. She respected her elders, obviously when given due respect. "I have a request. May I become your discipline?" Harold looked at her, a determination in his eyes. "Can I think it over...?" Avery wouldn't mind, but she'd need to iron out details with him if she did. "Of course. I hope you do. I'd love to learn what you know. With my selfish wish out of the way, will you be staying in the dorms or commuting to the school?", "I'll stay in the dorms with Desmond." Tavi cleared her throat. "Unfortunately, if you two aren't married, you won't be in the same rooms. We are co-ed, but each student gets their own dorms. Only married couples may stay in the same dorm, but we can arrange a room next to Desmonds if you'd like?" Avery nodded and looked to Desmond. "I'd like a room next to you if we can't be in the same room, but I don't want you to feel uncomfortable." Desmond wanted to retort ' You haven't cared about that since we first slept together!', but she was adept in witty comebacks, as he'd learned, so he kept his mouth shut and pondered the question. He thought about having her just stay in any open dorm, only, there weren't any open dorms near him, only in the dorms two buildings down. He felt a fierce territorial feeling arise thinking about this. He nodded to Harold. "Just rearrange us to any empty adjacent rooms." Harold nodded back. "It will be done."  

Proofreader: Saphira   The WindRunner soared through the air leaving contrails in its wake, its underbelly fin just grazing the clouds below. The cold air nipped at Avery's nose, but fortunately, it wasn't too cold. The Windrunner had a built-in shield-generator that covered the top of the small vessel to prevent that strong winds from affecting the people onboard. She had also noticed that what looked like a gondola that had been outfitted was actually a specialized vessel. Strangely enough, the design appeared to be similar to a few of in-game mounts that were given out in special competitions and contests. She had never won one, but she had flown in one that one of her guild members had won. The inside looked similar, but this one didn't have that polished finish. The in-game one was made entirely of meteor-metal. This one was made out of wood like a normal boat, just with Magic Propulsion Engines, similar to jet engines, but with less power. If she had to estimate using the clouds, they were travelling just under eighty-mph (128 kph). Fenrir was enjoying the ride as his muzzle was plastered to the front wind barrier. Desmond, on the other hand, was sitting at the back. Around him was more magical devices with displays similar to the status screens, though unlike the status screen, others could see the content. An expression of deep concentration was on his face, his brows furrowed as he clumsily tinkered with the display and kept pulling at something by his feet. Avery, who sat in the middle feeling a little bored, moved over and sat by him in an open spot that would allow her on his left. With both of them sitting there, it wasn't cramped, but they were cozy sitting shoulder to shoulder. Desmond was surprised by Avery suddenly sitting next to him and tensed up. Avery, however, was enjoying the extra warmth. Desmond was elated that a beautiful girl was sitting next to him, but it also made him more nervous. It became more apparent just how inexperienced Desmond was. "Have you flown this thing before?" Avery asked as she leaned forward a little to see his expression. "Y-Yeah, plenty..." Desmond grew antsier as her face was only a foot away from his. "What are you looking for?" Her eyes turned to the two displays in front and to his right. Her gaze then travelled to his feet. There was a joystick attached to the floor, but neatly folded." Just checking a few things..." His face was turning pink as he spoke. His pale skin only emphasized his embarrassment more. "Oh? Then can you tell me what's that by your feet?" Avery pressed against him more as she teased him, pressing her shoulder more against his. She wasn't oblivious to what she was doing as her playful tone was sung out. Be it that Desmond wasn't used to the opposite or he was just really nervous, she was amused by teasing him. " That's the piloting stick, it folds away when the Windrunner is in autopilot mode." He spoke with forcefully, as if he was avoiding something. "Ohh? So that's what you were looking for. It's on the right display towards the upper-left." She pointed to it with her left arm reaching across him. Desmond tensed up even more as her sweet scent was caught by his nose. He turned his head quickly to try and get away from that lovely scent. Unfortunately for him, he turned to where she was pointing and felt even more ashamed. There was a square prompt, one inch by one inch with the words Autopilot Engaged. In that moment, he just wanted to throw himself over the side and be done with life. Avery had a lovely smile as she watched several different stages of his embarrassment flash across his face. Feeling she teased him enough, she leaned back and let him be. After a few moments, Desmond calmed himself. He turned the autopilot off with a press of his finger and the joystick shot up straight. A prompt telling him that manual piloting was engaged, the Windrunner shook slightly before it tipped slowly forward as the nose dipped into the cloud. Then all around them turned white as they cut through the clouds with Desmond's control. Avery let out a breath of awe as she looked all around her as the clouds parted around them. Behind them, there was a clear path that soon began to fill as the air-vortex created by the Windrunner pulled in the surrounding fluffy clouds inwards. After a minute, the Windrunner had broken through the underbelly of the clouds. What greeted them was large rocky-black stone mountains with snow-covered ridges. Between the mountains were a sea of green trees with tints of brown and yellow. A large river also snaked its way through between the mountains. Avery had never seen this place in the game before. Fenrir, having noticed Avery's awe and confusion, moved back to speak with her. "This is the Grey-Stone Mountains. It's not from our time. Much of the land's makeup has changed." Fenrir turned to look at Avery. She nodded, her playful expression changed to a serious one. "How much has changed?" Avery asked as her eyes wandered over the scene below. " I think about-" Fenrir was cut off as Avery cut in " Hold up! Desmond!" Avery's eyes landed on a large pillar of smoke in the distance towards the side of the mountain. Multiple spells were shot, glowing through the smoke, but she couldn't see, as the smoke had created a smoke screen around the area. The WindRunner had a noticeable drop in speed as Desmond's attention was pulled away when Avery called his name. That's when he too, had noticed the distant scene. The smoke wasn't high yet, indicating that it was fresh. He too also saw the glowing spells flowing faintly through the smoke screen. Understanding that Avery wanted to go check it out, he refocused on his Mana control and dipped the ship at a soft angle to gradually pick up speed. After a few minutes, the Windrunner had reached the edge of the smoke. The speed dropped dramatically so they could get a better look. RUUUUUOOOOOO! A deep roar bellowed from within the smoke, clearing away the smoke on the that lingered on the ground. What was revealed was a Dragon, twenty feet wide and fifty feet long.  Its scales weathered and scared, and its wings folded behind its back to protect it from the onslaught of spells being launched at it. "That's the Heaven's Cloud!" Desmond, who didn't have to concentrate too much on controlling the Windrunner now, pointed towards the source of the smoke. A large wooden boat with different inscriptions and devices attached to the hull lay on its side, smoke billowing out the rear, where the magic propulsion devices were located. The Windrunner shook violently as the barrier and the engines had sputtered as the mana fueling them had been cut off."Desmond!" Avery yelled out his name to get his attention, but his ashen face was too focused on his mother's ship down below. "Desmond!" Avery shook his shoulder hard."Ah! Sorry! Sorry!" The sudden jerk of his body from Avery pulled him from his dazed state as mana began to pour back into the Windrunner, but they had fallen too close to the ground as they crashed into the trees. Desmond only had enough time to activate the barrier as leaves and branches broke around them as the Windrunner crashed through the forest canopy below. He quickly tried to maneuver a crash landing as they crashed into the ground. Dirt flew everywhere along with other debris on the forest floor before it came crashing down again all over the barrier. Desmond and Avery were fine as her high-strength held them down as she held them both down to the seat below. Fenrir, on the other hand, was less fortunate. His paws couldn't exactly grip anything as he flew forward with a yelp as he crashed into the barrier. He was fine, but it still took the breath out of him. The barrier then fizzled away, Fenrir and Avery were quick to recover, but Desmond was shaken up pretty bad. His eyes were swimming in their sockets and he puked off the side of the wrecked Windrunner. Avery and Fenrir both stood at high alert as just a couple hundred feet away was the battle between the ship's occupants and the dragon. "Quickly, Desmond!" Avery pulled on Desmond as she stepped out of the wrecked fuselage. He was still a little dazed but sobered up as another roar echoed through the trees, a fierce gust of foul smelling wind crashed into them. Avery did a quick check of her inventory and equipped the set of armor she had worn at the festival. Light Particles converged around her limbs and chest. The armor quickly materialized under a second and a short sword was in her right hand. Desmond was stunned by the quality of her armor but forced himself out of it. He also equipped some armor, but black with gold-ornate decorations. His large overly exaggerated robe was replaced with a lighter long jacket. His legs were covered with greaves that matched the armor. In his hand was a staff with a large reddish-gold orb held by three large ornate metal wires. His outfit seemed more for display while Avery's was more for movement. Fenrir also glowed slightly as armor appeared on his back and head. Without delaying, Avery and Fenrir shot forward, their backs slowly disappeared into the distance while Desmond stumbled after them on the uneven forest terrain. Neither of them noticed he couldn't keep up. Avery and Fenrir slowed down at the edge of the clearing. Before them was a wide clearing over hundreds of feet. Broken trees and other debris littered the clearing as Mages hid behind fallen trunks and in craters. The Dragon was a lot more imposing up close, but Avery didn't feel fazed as she quickly charged in. The Dragon appeared to be methodical as he targeted his prey as if looking for something and only attacking when he didn't find it. Most of the defenders could escape from its attacks as it didn't use any Area of Effect attacks, only using its front claws to swipe away at the trees and at the humans below. "Hold the dragon off!" One of the mages was equipped in armor like Desmond, but it was duller and made of steel. "The Empress is almost out of the ship! The precious cargo is with her!" Another knight shouted over the chaos and screams of the dying. Avery blocked it out as she charged at the Dragon. Noticing someone much stronger had appeared, the Dragon, with his glowing red eyes looked at her. Before it could register she was an attacker, Avery swung her sword at its right arm with all her might. The ground below it exploded as her sword cut through its limb and stuck the ground below. Burning red liquid covered Avery as its limb fell to the ground. The Dragon swung its stump of a limb around, flinging blood everywhere like a fountain. Avery didn't have a chance to move before the left arm fiercely stuck her, sending her crashing into the standing trees. Fenrir chased after her, disregarding the dragon and the stunned fighters around it. "Master!" Fenrir managed to catch up to her, running quickly through the trail of broken trees and branches. Avery had flown until she hit the ground, leaving a large groove in the ground. A little bit of blood drizzled down from her cut lip. Her body was covered in dust and her hair was a mess, but thanks to her high defense, she got out with just that being out of breath from the hit. "I'm fine.." Avery took a deep breath before realizing she had lost her sword. Her body that was caked in the Dragon's blood was now also covered in wood splinters and dirt. She looked like some zombie homeless person now, but she didn't have time to think more about it as the dragon let out an ear-piercing roar as light particles began to converge in its mouth. Having seen such attacks by boss monsters in the game, Avery quickly summoned a Holy Barrier that took the shape of a large Templar shield that stood taller than Avery and was wide enough to cover her. A large beam of light shot out of the Dragon's mouth and within a blink of an eye had shot towards Avery, crashing into the Holy Barrier. The beam struck into the shield, but only managed to push her backward. Her feet dug deep into the ground and left a trail as the beam pushed her, sparks jumping out and molten mana dropped onto the dirt below before disappearing. Even though she had the barrier in front of her, she could feel the intense heat of the beam. She felt that it was a hit she didn't want to take, even with her stats and equipment. The beam lasted for almost ten seconds before it died down. The injured dragon, now missing a limb, was dead-set on killing Avery. Its roars were filled with pain and hate as its wings spread out, shaking with anger. "Fenrir! Go check on the Empress, I’ve got this!" Fenrir nodded, disappearing into the thicket and wormed his way over towards the ship. Avery turned her attention back to the Dragon. It brought its head towards its stub of a limb and let out a large breath of fire, searing the wound and cauterizing the wound like it happened before. It took a few moments, but it worked. The blood stopped flowing, leaving only a pool of blood below. The pressing matter was over, so it turned back towards Avery. It exhaled loudly before jumping into the air and taking off, Its wings flapped quickly. It rose slowly before it got to a good altitude and charged towards Avery. "Crap!" Avery could tell it was going to do something so she kept the shield up, despite a pounding headache she had from having to keep it up from that last attack. The dragon dived towards her while releasing a large breath of fire that engulfed the area. Desmond had finally made his way out of the forest as the dragon dive-bombed over Avery in the distance, but he didn't know what was going on. He only went up to the closest mage that was huddled behind a fallen tree. "You! Where is the Empress?! Where's Avery?!" The mage only shrunk more as was holding himself in the fetal position" I don't know! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" the mage just kept repeating himself over and over again. Desmond felt annoyed. These mages were supposed to be the top mages in his school and in the Research Department at the Palace. The one before him was a Researcher. "Frick!" Desmond cursed out of frustration. Useless! He stuck his head over the tree trunk, but what greeted him scared him to his core. Mangled bodies of his lifeless school mates laid just on the other side. Crushed by the large claws of the Dragon. Their faces displayed the sheer horror they felt in their last moments. He quickly ducked back over, his face even more ashen than before. His mind was blank as the scene was burnt into his retinas. Fear numbed his body as he kneeled behind the trunk... Avery, on the other hand, was fighting for her life. As the dragon past over her, she closed the barrier and noticed her mana bar was displayed just towards the bottom left of her view like in the game when entering combat. [550,000/1,000,000] Crap! Barriers worked in a sense that she could summon them for a lost mana cost. With the Holy Barrier, it only cost around a thousand to summon and could withstand a lot, but should the damage it takes to go over its summoned threshold, the Holy Barrier, like other higher-leveled barriers, would take from the summoner’s mana to keep it going. In her case, since it was such a strong attack, it took just under half her mana with those two! She was even more on her toes now, not wanting to find out which one did that. Her surroundings were charred black, the trees on her sides set ablaze as the dragon banked around to attack her again. It was an all or nothing moment, summoning one of her strongest magic, Helio's Hammer, which was actually a bow. It cost just shy of two-hundred thousand to use one shot and was used to half raid bosses at the cost of sending a player into a fatigued state for a few minutes. Summoning Helio's Hammer, Avery put her arms out like she was drawing a bow with an arrow notched. The air around her began to swirl as, like a vortex, her body began to glow brightly. The Dragon sensed that something was coming dangerously was happening and also prepared another Light beam, aimed for her. A phantom bow appeared in Avery's hand and an arrow in the other as she aimed for the dragon as it came barreling towards her. The phantom arrow solidified into an arrow made of glowing gold flames. At the same time, the Dragon had finished its spell and launched it towards Avery. Feeling that the spell was done, Avery unleashed the arrow. An explosion like a sonic boom burst out from the front of the bow as the arrow left Avery's hand. The arrow zipped through the air like a bullet. The light beam and the arrow collided... Previous | Table of Content |Next

"... How am I being.. an 'ass'?" He didn't know what he did to displease her. Avery could see the gears in his mind work as he tried to figure it out. She pointed to the brush. " What do you think of the things here?" He thought carefully before giving his honest opinion." Cheap, roadside trinkets. The brush is the only thing remotely useful besides the tableware, but the tableware isn't up to par in craftsmanship. The brush appears to use boar bristles and -" Avery shook her head. Desmond than looked at it again, but neither picked it up. " Miss, may I pick it up?" Avery politely asked, neither overly nice nor too pandering. Desmond felt a little weird hearing her say it like that. "So she has a nice side..?" Desmond thought. The vendor nodded, unwilling to speak. Distant drums and singing could be heard, along with the voices of nearby people within the alley filling the silence between the three. The brush's body was a made from a deep redwood, or it was stained. Avery couldn't tell. An outline of a rose, painted blue, rested behind somewhat off-center yet cleanly done. The varnish was obviously worn, but it was well cared for. The bristles were also worn, but clean with the tips dyed blue. The handle was shaped nicely for the hand with painted initials on the handle 'V.H'." What would you say this brush had?" Avery asked, a gentle smile stickied to her face. "Amateur workmanship, but appears thought did go into it," Desmond said straight face. He could feel something coming. Avery turned to the old lady "What's the deal with the brush?" The vendor looked hesitant to answer before sighing." I made it... It was supposed to go to my granddaughter, but I had a falling out with my son." The old lady didn't seem to hurt, like it was just another day. Whether it was true or not, it had a story. "How many brushes have you made?" Avery asked. " Three. One for my son when he was born. Another for his wife and then this one. " The vendor responded.  Avery turned to Desmond "What do you think now?" Desmond pondered for a moment." Having a story does make it more attractive, but we can't verify it's true. My statement remains the same." Avery pursed her lips with displeasure, eyebrows furrowed. "The story is icing on the cake. The brush has character. Buying artisan craft items are nice and all, but so is buying things like this. Each has their own charm. "   Avery poked Desmond's nose lightly with the brush's bristles. "If you're trying to impress someone, sometimes expensive isn't better. Remember, its the thought that counts to your friends most of the time." Desmond thought for a moment before he looked like he had realized something. "So you're one of those people?" Now it was Avery's turn to be confused. "One of what?" Desmond clarified himself "Sentimental people." Avery shrugged "I'm a person. I have things I get sentimental over, while others I could toss like trash." Desmond seemed to accept it, albeit reluctantly. Seeing that the two had finished, the old lady interjected." My lords, I understand you two are talking, but if you're not going to buy..." She seemed troubled whether to finish the statement, but Avery jumped in knowing what she wanted." I'm sorry, how much for the brush? I do like the overall appearance." "One large sliver..." She hesitantly replied. Desmond seemed offended at the price "this isn't worth that amount. That's already halfway to the cheapest brush in the noble's district!" The old lady didn't press the price only saying" I'll keep my brush then"."Enough of this!" Avery fumed, losing her patience." Here." Handing the brush back, Avery turned without another word before continuing down the side road. Desmond felt bad about his outburst. Silently, they continued on their way. There were few things that caught Avery's eyes, most intriguing pieces of jewelry and other brushes. Neither weapons nor armor even came into her eyes. Desmond thought she was into those things but then remember something. Everything she had was higher quality than everything here. He had to rethink his outlook with this girl. It finally came to him. She was probably richer than the empire. Why would expensive things matter? Having come to some understanding of why she was angry, or at least what he assumed was the reason, he followed behind her. Less inclined to make such comments. Praising himself on his ability to adapt and improvise. The passage of time had become foreign to them as they brushed from stall to stall. However, Avery never mentioned she wanted something again, unwilling to deal with Desmond's previous outburst. Which sadly left Desmond's newfound epiphany to collect dust behind her. ... It wasn't long before the sun arched over the city, brilliant rays of sun that basked the city in warmth turned to cool dusk air. People began leaving their homes, work, or where ever they came from as the roads and side-ways livened up with bodies and voices. Singing muses coraled on corners, dancers floated along the streets, and the rare thief being caught by the City Watch. Amongst all of it, Avery watched it all with glistening eyes, bouncing between the crowds of people and stalls. Guards walked along the pathways, torches in hand as they light lamps and street braziers. The sky had recently turned a haze of blues and oranges with the occasional two-toned cloud lazily floating into view from between the buildings. The darkening sky meant the city would also fall into darkness, yet with the city became a light in dancing orange light. Avery seemed to never tire, floating from one stall to another. Going to a performer one moment, then going to a side attraction in the next. Desmond struggled to keep up. His stamina had been long depleted, but he didn't stop her. He, in fact, encouraged her to keep going. Her long white hair seemed to glitter like real snow in the torchlight. Her golden eyes glowed like distant stars and her upturned smile seemed to infect most of the people around her. How could it not? Such young beauty whom happily enjoying their daily bustle with such vigor. Most beauties were often taken to the Noble District to leech off rich men. Yet there was such an exotic beauty happily dancing like a child to a singers song, eating from their food stalls, and not sneering at their cheap trinkets. She was odd, yes, but their lives were full of hardship and troubles. Having something new happy wouldn't hurt. When the last strokes of orange were snuffed out of the sky by the glittering night sky did Avery rest by a 'creek' in a close to in the merchant district. They had spent quite a long time floating from market to market before they landed in the actual shopping district. The difference from the other places was they sold commodities and other things commoners needed or may want. The shopping district was aimed at tourist and visitors as well as commoners who'd come on up from the lower districts for little excursions. It also housed the most reputable brothels accessible to commoners and merchants without letters of introductions or connections. As a side note. Avery, dressed in a flowing white cotton dress that went to her mid-calf with long sleeves. Something she let Desmond purchase her at clothing shop the previous hour ago. It was pretty comfortable, even by her standards. She tied her hair into a side ponytail and nibbled happily at a skewer of sliced bell peppers, onions, and lamb. It wasn't seasoned well, but it was roasted well and she had good company to eat with. They stand on a stone block bench by the 'creek', an artificial flow of water that flowed down from the royal castle's gardens. Built on the mouth of a freshwater river, the Imperial Castle enjoyed luxurious baths and gardens, but some of the previous emperors had built several 'creeks' and 'rivers' flowing out into tourist spots and noble parkways, elevating the area's appeal. Where Avery and Desmond sat, it was a small off-run from the main merchant district's flow, leading off to the tavern and inn main street. There were planters on the edge with small trees and flowers here and there. Enough so that flow would water them, but not so little that it'd seem desolate like other stone cities. It was strange layout to Avery, but nonetheless beautiful in its own right. Plenty of people walked around them, but not the earlier too and forth crowd. No, they were dressed nicer and smelled nicer. Couples, tourists, and foreigners walked around,  thus completing the Capital feel. Even after they had finished eating, Avery sat with leisure on the bench. She noticed how much she had worn Desmond out with her mad sight-seeing spree earlier. So she let him have his break next to her. His mage robes had been exchanged for a warm light-blue cotton tunic and black pants along with dark-brown leather boots. The night air was slowly chilling, yet they felt as warm as day from their meal. "Did you have fun...?" Desmond timidly called out. Never having such an experience with the opposite sex, he was unsure how Avery felt. "Yes. " She cooed sweetly with a smile. He wasn't expecting such a forward answer. Rather, he didn't know what he was expecting. Darker memories seemed to boil up in his mind before he pushed them back. The girl by his side was a brash girl. One that apparently didn't hesitate to speak her mind, but understood that sometimes needed tact. At least, that's what he'd come to understand. Suddenly, her face had cramped up awkwardly.  Desmond not missing it asked "Are you okay..? Do I -" She waved her hand. " I just remembered I forgot Fenrir back at the forest...". It hit Desmond too that the large wolf was missing as well. Then they both broke out in a chuckle. Desmond was going to say they could go back to get him right now, but Avery's word almost destroyed his common sense. "Whelp. He'll be fine. He's a Higher-Wolf. Well past the five hundreds by now, I believe." She stood up then brushed off her dress." Damn it, I stained the dress already." Desmond sat stiff faced as he looked at her like he would a demon. "What...?" Avery looked at Desmond."You said the upper five hundreds..." Avery shrugged." Unno, it's probably gone into the six hundreds by now. I stop bothering the check after the three hundreds. It took a few moments, but he decided he'd stop thinking and followed Avery out of the shopping district. ... A grey wood throne with gold dragon heads for armrests stood over two women. One kneeling and one standing. White-jade marked their eyes with inlaid white-jade fangs in their open mouths. Polished gold scales populated the both carvings' bodies as they coiled up the backrest and towards the heaven. Behind the throne was three large velvet banners on each side, each embroidered with coiled dragons eating their tails. Polished stone bricks laid behind those with one Heavenly Knight under each banner with sheathed swords. On the throne sat a large pale old man. His hair long grey and abandoning. Anger cooked in his eyes as he gnashed his teeth behind a long grey beard that reached his mid-abdomen. Thick crimson robes with golden embroidered dragons slithered down his chest did little to hide his protruding gut. He was the Emperor, Maria's 'husband'. The sun long bedded itself as the inky night sky filled with glistening stars took its place. Yet, Empress Maria and Consort Lorelei along with other council members were present in the audience chamber. Large braziers burned with intense crackling that seemed to echo across the room, breaking the tense silence. Empress Maria was the only one that stood, facing the Emperor. Even with his contempt of her, he still had to give her that much in front of others. He doted on his Consort excessively, yet she was made to bow in front of the council and him in the chamber. That was half his anger. The other half was his o' so beloved consort seemed to have 'forgotten' details in her earlier, colorful report. He had half a mind to kill his Empress and raise Lorelei to power, yet when the Empress strode in confidently, despite her missing arm. He had an ominous gut feeling that Lorelei may have left something out earlier. It was not like she hadn't before, but she knew well enough that he needed important information, unaltered, when it came to making such executive decisions. He was the Emperor, but he wasn't blind to the power struggles within the castle. He toed a fine line with those powers. Though they often left him to his own devices, removing Empress Maria who was backed with a neighboring country wasn't a smart idea. That is, without a huge scandal on her part. Losing the Ghost Flower was a good reason, yet lorelei failed to explain it was due to a dragon attack. Even worst, there was a Primordial with the Empress! This made him both nervous and excited. If he could tie this female Primordial to the empire, they'd become an unparallel power. The one problem was that neither her nor his shitty son was here. "The Primordial, where is she?" His voice was deep and raspy, well suited to the title of an emperor. "She's with the Third Prince." Empress responded confidently. Her unwavering eyes only agitated him more. "We take that he has gotten them lost in the Capital?" His voice was domineering, pushing his accusation. In a normal session, the council members would have murmured their agreements with such. However, this was not such a meeting. Neither were they a normal council. Lorelei saw to that. The council had long been a cabinet of ten noble men, yet three were executed become Consort Lorelei accused them of trying to rape her. Each of them was her trying to sleep with them because they were young and handsome. Two were pushed off the Emperor's Heaven's Cloud when they tried to reason with her over her expensive demands. One was dragged and thrown into a pit of hungry feral dogs when he raised his voice to her. The last two 'mysteriously' disappeared when they were overhead slandering her. The current council consisted of five young and old men. The youngest being fifteen. A stable boy who proved he was quite the thinker despite no formal education nor an ability to read. Three were old professors from Desmond's academy in the noble district. Oddly enough, they lacked an ability to see to the people's needs. They just used the stable boy for that. The last one was the only noble on the council. His only job was to balance the books, find the coin, and inform the council of the status of the country. Oddly enough, this patchworked council was rather good in its ways. A stable hand with a commoner's thinking yet creative in thought; Three professors who had connections to schools and could find people - being the only thing they were useful for -; Lastly, a well-bred nobleman who was versed in finances and law while seeing the power struggles. But alas, it was a struggling group. Even with ten members, they barely managed to hold the country together with an Emperor who rather sleep and drink with women for half the day then help make decisions. In fact, Consort Lorelei was more involved in creating laws than the Emperor, but only those that benefited her family. They long ago gave up their dreams of grandeur of bettering the country with those two at the helm. It seemed if the Empress wasn't there, the country would have fallen by now. Then, the large grey wood chamber doors opened with loud clacks of the door handles. as two stone-faced Heavenly Knights pushed each door open before announcing."Third Prince and his guest, Avery Bailey have arrived.'' Flanking them, a youthful man with pale skin with a young girl with a flawless complexion and flowing hair white as snow walked in. Desmond had changed into his school robes. Loose, thin, deep-sea blue robes clung to his body underneath a black hooded mantle and thick polished leather boots. Avery wore the white cotton dress that he bought her earlier, except with the stains gone. Her hair cascaded off her right shoulder and down the front of her chest. Her golden-feline eyes scanned the room with fleeting interest. The moment they walked in, all the men sucked in their breaths.        

Author Note: I understand I failed to describe the dragon the other chapter :u, I'm rectifying it now and I'll try not to let it happen again <3 Proofer: @saphira371   The morning sun rose, the rays barely peeking over the mountains. A dense mist hung in the air, leaving the edge of the crash site in a misty haze. Pine trees resembling tall, shadowy figures watched over yesterday's battlefield. The early morning rays barely made their way through the fog, leaving dark outlines of abyss-like craters and fallen trees. Swords and arrows stood in the spots their wielders had died, solemn grave markers to be collected later. The light barely illuminated the trench carved out by the Heaven's Cloud, bits of planks lay scattered. Some were flat on the ground, while others were stuck up at an angle. The frigid morning wind blew between them, as well as over the knights and mages who walked about without energy, piercing their thick gear like knives. The vice-captain of the Royal Knights had died and with Captain in the Capital, the vice-captain's aide had been taken command in the dead of night. A defensive perimeter had been established around the downed vessel. After the battle, word spread among the survivors. The dragon had been slain by the Primordial, Avery. However, no one was in the mood to celebrate as they quickly gathered the wounded and left the corpses. It was only after midnight were they able to collect the bodies of their comrades. It was also after midnight that Desmond and Avery arrived, both mentally exhausted. Even then, Avery had left them "Potions of Healing". When they had used them in front of her, they didn't heal instantly like in-game, but slowly. With white steam sizzling from their wounds. Those with scrapes, cuts, and broken bones were healed visibly. Those with more critical wounds had the same effect, but they couldn't replace limbs or bring back the dead. It let a bittersweet victory, albeit small, in everyone's mind. Avery didn't bother to stay any longer. She didn't bring out her stronger potions, as she was scared they would have an extreme side effect. The regular ones had almost made the soldiers throw up from the potency. The next morning, the cold air nipped at Avery's nose. Her body shuddered by the suddenness. A frown crept onto her face pretty sleeping face. Her hands fumbled under the blanket, searching out something warm to cling to, only to have them slip out the edges. Her eyes shot open in a panic. Her golden feline eyes vibrantly glowed in the low-light. The only light slipped through the sides of the door. Desmond slept just a few feet away. He shot up, his eyes frantic and his heart racing. His eyes scanned the room looking for the source of the rustling, only to find a pair of glowing golden eyes staring narrowly at him like he was prey. For a split moment, he thought there was a monster. Then, he remembered that it was just Avery and that they shared a room last night in the overturned boat. He was just about to ask what happened before Avery slipped nimbly from under her blanket and into his. He felt like a rabbit, staring into the open jaws of a wolf that was about to eat him. His body tensed up, and his mind screeched to a stop. Only after she nuzzled up to his side, half asleep, muttering "Warm.." did he come back to his senses." A-Avery! You can't do that-" Avery cut him off with a soft, sweet muddled voice that could melt the meanest man. "I don't care. It's cold." He thought about moving, but just as he was going to, a soft womanly arm slid over his lap and gripped his opposite side, leaving him unable to get up. He looked at Avery in disbelief, only to see the side of a beautiful, fair-skinned face. For a moment, his young inexperienced mind wanted to kiss that cheek, like he'd read in the romance novel his older half-sister had shown him. He turned over and was about to slide his arm over her midsection before a pair of narrowed golden eyes peered at him threateningly. He could see a faint blush on her cheeks. She was embarrassed, but he could see her breath coming out as a white mist. She was doing it to warm herself, he reminded himself. "O-Okay..." He liked her, but it seemed she would become scary if you did something she didn't want... In the end, both of them lay together, facing each other. They both no longer felt the morning cold, which was probably around 40 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius).{Proofer: Personally, I don't think 5 degrees Celsius is snuggle weather. Not even cold enough for snow.}{Author: Don't listen to her, she's a Canadian. Common tempt to see breath >45F, snow is at 32F.} Both of them were embarrassed, but they were able to fall into a deeper sleep than they had the entire night... It was a few hours later when the door-flap open inward with a maid appearing. "My lord, the Empress has sent us to wake-" Her expression froze and her words stopped. From her view, she could see the Third Prince's back. The creaking door and the sudden wave of light lit up the room. A pair of golden feline eyes sleepily peeked over Desmond's waking body. Avery's rustled hair was adorable. Her half-asleep look was quite seductive and also all the maid could see, so she thought they were naked under the blankets. "I'm sorry to disturb you!" Desmond barely turned his head before the panicked maid let go of the door, swinging downward with a bang. He was confused before he looked at Avery who was in front of him and remembered her slipping into his blanket a few hours prior. He felt his reputation of being a pure, virgin prince slip away like a soul leaving. Avery ignored Desmond's blank look as she used the blanket to rub the sleep from her eyes. It took a while, but Desmond was able to recover, accepting that he would probably be killed by his mother. Avery, on the other hand, changed without reservation in front of him. She still remembered how he walked in on her bathing and soaked her majestic body with all his might. At this point, sleeping with him was nothing as they were both clothed. She was probably just clutching at straws at that point. After they had dressed in thick clothing and thick cloaks, provided by the maid who ran away, they exited the room into a broken hallway. It was the fourth level, turned the second story. Two maids had waited for them just outside. Behind the maids was the large opening where the dragon ripped apart the hull. There weren't any stairs to get up to their room, but with Avery there, she could leap up with Desmond. The maids had two knights below who helped them up. The knights reach their arms and helped Desmond. When they were about to help Avery, she only disregarded them and jumped down. She landed nimbly. Barely a sound was made, making them feel awkward. Luckily for them, the normal maids needed their help, fixing their hurt egos. The sun was high in the sky, the morning fog absent. The outside temperature was higher than in the rooms, so everyone was out and about. Some made defenses, others patrolled, and the rest scavenged useable goods from the vessel. The knights guided them through the chaos and makeshift tents to the edge of the camp. "The Empire's forces should be here within a few hours, my lord. We found the Long-Bow transmitter and sent a distress signal." The Empress stood looking out over yesterday's battlefield solemnly. She no longer wore a tattered dress, but a simple one made of fine materials. Many magical artifacts were destroyed in the initial attack. They had to use whatever remained to steel themselves against whatever would attack them. The Valley wasn't known to be friendly. The Dragon had been there, so many monsters had been scared off, but who knew when they would come back. She kept watch thinking about the price of this. She, of course, knew the number of casualties from the attack, but as a ruler, she also had to think of the cost. Lives and coin could be replaced, but money was harder than lives to keep in their world. It wasn't easily made. Unfortunately, it wasn't hard kept. All the artifacts aboard her ship were emergency measures they gathered among Primordial ruins, leaving them irreplaceable. Barriers, wards, instant magic scrolls, and other things. Of course, they were only to be used in life or death situations, but most of them had been destroyed, never seeing the light of day. This left a sour feeling in her stomach. "My lady, Prince Desmond, and Ms. Avery are here." Maria sighed, relief filling here. Finally, a distraction. The maid bowed away while the two approached Empress Maria. Desmond bowed while Avery only yawned. No one found it disrespectful. She was their sole savior. Even without that title, she was a "Primordial". She held great power, one that the Empire would have to gather every mage, every knight, and every scholar to hold a candle to. Instead, Empress Maria was the one to bow to her. "Oooh? So you decided to take our baby boy as payment for saving us?" Maria cooed with a wolfish grin. Avery's head tilted with confusion. The surrounding guards gave approving thumbs up towards Desmond. The boy in question could only remain stunned by the sudden event. Seeing Avery's confusion, Maria clarified herself. " The maids tell me you were under the same blanket this morning." Like a lightning bolt, an "ahh" escaped her lips and returned the same wolfish grin. "Mhm, the little prince already baked my nude image into his mind. No way he's getting away now...". A dangerous glint appeared in Empress Maria's eyes as her head turned towards Desmond. "Oh my... My little rabbit is nineteen already, I guess it's only natural." Though her lips smiled, her eyes conveyed a threat. You take responsibility! Desmond, having been his mother's only child, knew the threatening look very well. He could only silently receive his one-sided verbal slander. The exchange went on for a few minutes. After Avery decided Desmond had enough payback for last night, she reminded Empress Maria that she had wanted to see them. Empress Maria moved to the main subject." Unfortunately, we're unable to leave." She let out a tired sigh that seemed to age her ten years. "Too many wounded. Too many dead... That's not accounting that the Heaven's Cloud is the Dragon Empire's treasure..." With a ridiculing chuckle, she continued " It's ironic that it'd be a dragon that felled it." One of the maids by the Empress cleared her throat. This brought the Empress back to the present. "Back to the matter... With all this, we can't abandon the crash site. Good news, when we departed, we sent ahead a Wyvern messenger. Since we didn't arrive yesterday, there should be reinforcements already on the way." Avery remembered Wyvern. They were considered 'pest dragons', nothing more than mounts used by some NPCs, or flocks of wild dragons that terrorized low-level areas. Sometimes they'd accompany boss dragons, but only to die as fodder or food. They were actually good material for low-level players. "So the mages and Scholars will salvage what they can, while the knights keep a defensive perimeter. As for you two, come with me. We'll go deal with the dragon corpse before it turns into a Ghoul..." Empress Maria turned away and lead them both out away from the crash site and towards the treeline. In the direction the dead dragon was. After weaving between the trees and thicket, the three, along with a small group of knights, arrived at the charred clearing. A thick scent of iron hung in the air, almost activating their gag reflexes. Avery felt a chill run up her spine, while the others shuddered. Before them was a behemoth of an animal. White polished scales gleamed in the sunlight. The body was majestic but pitiful. The wings were sprawled out, covered in dirt and soot, while the hind legs were sprawled behind it. Most of its white body was in pristine condition, besides the neck. A gaping hole was visible, with a portion of the skull's rear and the neck's upper part missing. Dried blood stained the pure white scales around the wound. Bits of broken scales and muscle surrounded the edges. Blood had pooled around its lifeless head, its clouded eyes reflected nothing. "Haa... Poor thing. Such a young Light Dragon. It's a shame you had to kill it..." It was an adolescent dragon, less than two hundred years. Avery didn't react to the Empress' comment as they approached it, stepping over broken trees and branches. Its head reminded Avery of a German Shepherd. She too felt it was a shame, but she didn't regret what she had done. By now they all had gotten used to the stench as the party examined it. Avery kept looking into its eyes. Thinking how it looked so harmless and pitiful, she reckoned she could have reasoned with it. Avery felt herself shudder; it was her first kill. She felt her emotions mix in the pit of her stomach but forced herself to keep it together. There was a first for everything in the past few days. She told herself it was self-defence. She didn't know if she was right or wrong. She didn't want to know. The others looked at her, worried. They watched as different emotions crossed her face. Whether she was aware of it or not, didn't matter. Desmond, who already liked her, worriedly walked up to her and put his hand on her left shoulder. "You okay...?" His eyes conveyed his concern along with his gentle tone. Avery only forced a smile and nodded. His gentleness didn't erase her thoughts, though he gave her a sense of peace, even if it was small. Desmond, in his heart, feared Avery, but at the same time, had grown to like her over the two days they had spent together. She was a blunt girl from what little he'd seen. She didn't try to deceive him, nor did she try to flatter him. At least, not that he could tell. It still left a good impression on the two. It wasn't like that Desmond liked every girl that did such things. Of course, there were many that did, but Desmond had disliked such girls since the first one tried using him. No, because Avery was such a powerful existence and treated them like human beings. That's what he liked. He also hoped that she liked him as well. Such a beautiful girl with such good manners, of course, he'd want to get close to her. While the gears turned in Desmond's head, the poor boy's object of affection paid him no mind and had thoughts of her own. She pondered something for a moment, then walked forward. Placing her hand on the dragon's nose, trying to invoke her Item box. [Bodies cannot be placed in the item box, please dismantle before trying again.] Avery resolved herself. She was living in this world, thus, she would have to learn to live in it. The first order of business? Dismantling her kill. "Anyone know how to dismantle a dragon?" Everyone was caught off guard by the sudden question, Desmond took the initiative to look cool in front of her. "I haven't personally dismantled a dragon, but I've done it to other animals in school!" He puffed out his chest, proud of himself. One of the guards whispered to the Empress, "Should we tell her that they only dismantled deer and pigs in cooking class?" Empress Maria shook her head and giggled before whispering back. "No, leave the young ones be... I can sense they kind of like each other. Let them bond over it. We can just rest while they do their thing." Empress Maria also had her agenda. To pull over such a powerful existence to their side, but she thought Avery to be a good girl. If she wasn't, she would have tried to push one of the Emperor's other bastard children. The heavens knew how much she hated those twisted kids of his, but this was her only child. A sweet prince who she tried to shield him from the throne fighting. In the end, it only left her child meek and cowardly, but he had grown bolder within the last few years after going to school. She thought of many things he had experienced. Like a doting mother, she wished for his happiness in the least. As an Empress, she hoped he could lure Avery to their empire. At this moment though, the mother in her won and she stepped away with her thoughts. Desmond and Avery both held Mithril knives as they began to dismantle the dragon with untrained cuts. Both of them could tell they were amateurs, but neither cared as they enjoyed laughing and working together.  A little joke here, and a prank here. Avery had slowly gotten over her misery, and Desmond felt happy. A few guards stood nearby. All of them had guarded Desmon since he was a babe, so they all felt like god-fathers watching him grow up in that moment. After all that happened, the group, even if only for a few hours, managed to find some escape from yesterday's tragedy as they watched two younglings bond over a dead dragon before one guard asked "Hey... A-Aren't thought mm-mithril daggers...?" A whole new situation had unfolded silently among the guards. Avery, who always used mithril equipment didn't care. Desmond, a scholar, was too preoccupied with trying to impress Avery to notice...  

Author note: As my first series, there is going to be a lot of plot holes. Feel free to remind me of them! I'll try my best to fill them in   Rolling across the vast sky, was a strange storm. A vortex of swirling clouds that were considered the greatest mystery of all just trailing behind the Primordial Age. This storm always followed a set route, with no deviation to it. It also never faded. Documented since the beginning of time, it was something every scholar in their youth had thought they could solve. Even with such fame among the ruling class and it's scholars, no one knew what was inside, only that, something was inside of it. It appeared to be an overly large storm that was calm, but once you penetrated the inside... It was a raging storm that even a Demon King would mostly lose its life in. Only one person had managed to get a glimpse inside and make it tell the tale. A high-leveled Mage known as "Mythos" That was all he managed to remember. Having lost his mount and critically wounded, he died having only saying "There's something large in there... Something grand.." No one knew how he managed to almost make it, but many tried for years after. Some failed and returned to seek other courses of research. Others... Never returned. Until one day, the storm dispersed with a large explosion of wind. What was left in a large opening in the sky, was a floating island. Ö Many years ago, A floating island, about the size of all of New York combined. It had the shape of a massive upside-down mountain. This island cut through the clouds like an icebreaker. To the west on this island, was a landing dock for flying mounts as well as a teleportation archway. Trailing inwards was a massive flower garden with many exotic plans and common ones. Many ponds and even a lake to the south-west of the flower gardens. From the north to the south, a mountain range hugged the eastern edge of the island. This mountain cradled a huge white-stone elven-styled city. On this Island, under the night sky were thousands of people had gathered in the largest festival. This was the SkyGardens in the Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Game called Fallen Kingdoms: Eos. All of them were eating and drinking while in a large flower garden with hundreds of stone planters, home to many exotic plants and common plants. Stone Golems walked around, handing out food and drink. Many string lings zig-zagged above them all from wooden posts as tables were placed next to the planters. There was plenty of music and laughter among them all. In the center of all these festivities, was a circular black-starry night granite platform. Overlooking this festival was a lovely girl about eighteen, sitting in a throne style chair. Snow-white hair tied back, golden eyes, fair skinned and rosy cheeks. On either side of her was a man and woman in their later eyes, who looked similar to her. These were her parents. As they spoke to each other, they had somber expressions. It didn't impact the festive mood for the others as they all revealed in the mood. Person after person came up and gave hearty speeches, tear-filled recounts and some of them downright made a fool of themselves. All of them though were welcomed with great cheers, because this festival, was a festival of life. All of them came to celebrate the woman sitting on that throne. Avery Bailey, the most beloved player. This was her final day to life. Everyone here was to celebrate her. This was a journey that started two years ago when she was, but a fledgling teenager. Full of life and dreams. All of which was cut short the moment she had collapsed at school. For four long months, she had been in a coma fighting for her life until the doctors had been able to stabilize her in an experimental medical unit that sealed her away from the rest of the world. What happened? How did this happen? Why? It wasn't until four months after her episode, did the answer somewhat get revealed. A very aggressive form of cancer. It was a new one, that had spread throughout her body. It was terminal. From that point on, her parents would venture to the ends of the earth to find something. Anything. To save their only child. Blood, sweat, and tears. Pray and black magic. Everything and anything. To the point of almost falling into bankruptcy. In the end, the doctors managed to get her into an experimental medical unit. It was called the Virtual Reality Housing Medical Pod or VRHMP. It was designed to keep the body sedated while keeping the mind active in virtual reality. Thus allowing her to interact with friends and family while being locked away from the world. Thus, her never-ending life inside Virtual reality would be spent for the next two years. On that end, Avery was actually a founding member of the game "Fallen Kingdoms: Eos" or FkE. She played religiously as she was almost the most active player in-game and on the forums. Most people would know who she was if they dedicated some time to the game. Like people invested in the game knowing who were the top ten players on the leaderboards. Avery was an unofficial mascot of the game. So when this person had disappeared for almost five months, it started a storm within the community. In the end, no one could find out. Of all the players, only three of them knew her in real life. To which neither of them had spoken about it. It wasn't until after that time frame did she reappear, but.. different. The once happy-go-lucky girl had become a recluse. After not speaking to any other players for a week, she left a single thread on the forums. A post detailing the situation that had happened, how she was told she would die in a couple of years and a single wish... A wish to enjoy her final days with everyone whom she played with over the course of the years on this game. A wish to spend her final days laughing and smiling. Of course, Avery herself was oblivious to the amount of fame she had on the platform. It wasn't until she posted that did it blow up in her face. Everyone from people she hadn't spoken with for years to even new players had come to her. All of them willing to try and answer her wish. At this moment, the one and only event that ever mattered in a game was created "System Announcement: [ Avery's Star] event has started. All previous events will become active as soon as one is completed. End-game will be available after the last event is completed." In the end, they managed to complete all of those events. Avery reached the apex of the game along with other players during that time. The game developers even released new content such as player homes, guild bases and floating Islands that could double as both. With everyone's help, Avery managed to complete different homes, bases, and even the largest floating Island in the game, SkyGardens. A memento to be left in her wake what she called it. Slowly throughout this period of time. They laughed and cried. Many of them reminisced of their journeys in-game, no tale was too small nor too large in Avery's eyes. She was happy that so many people hold a special place in their heart, even if was for something small. Slowly, days turned to months and months turned into years. Avery had told them all the most hard-breaking of news on a beautiful, spring morning. "They told me that in a few weeks... I would start to go through organs failures one by one until one of them killed me. They also gave me an option to be put down, like when you put down your old dog... I took it. In two weeks, I'll finally be ending our adventure. So let us go out with a bang.." Avery sat on her throne in mithril-plate armor that had was rather feminine with a large paw print on the chest. She wore it nicely as she gave her greetings to the last person to come toast her. Above her head was a timer, a timer counting down to the moment she would die. Overlooking people drinking, laughing and fighting. It was like some old outdoor bar filled with ruffians, but it brought a smile to her face. As people were swept up in the mood of the festival, the timer was left with only thirty seconds. A large bell rung out, quieting the festival goers. Only then did their expressions begin to tighten. It was the moment they are were waiting for and dreaded. All of the GMs stood up with one of them stepping forward. "I know we have fulfilled Avery's dying wish now, down to the last letter, but we the Game Masters will not tolerate such a farewell. This is going to be a Warriors send off. A goodbye fit for a god!" With that, light particles quickly gathered and formed a staff in his hand. He slammed the butt of this staff onto the platform and the night grew brighter as thousands of stars streaked across the sky as the timer hit zero. The crowd that had once been quiet had started to become loud with cries, many crying out farewells while others stayed silent. Suddenly, stars began to streak across the sky. Thousands of them as every let out surprised voices. A truly befitting night sky for her. "Thank you, everyone, for granting me this.." The woman, Avery, who had been quiet the entire time had finally spoken up, tires streamed down her eyes as she could feel her mind starting to fade away until a man sitting at the table directly in front of her, her closest friend slammed the table. "Fuck this Avery! Stand your ass up and go out like a warrior! Laughing in Death's face with a smile!" He stood up from the table, pulling out a blue sword from its sheath and pointed it towards the sky, letting out a mighty battle-cry. Stomping his foot like a war drum. At first, people were shocked. After a few moments though, one by one. They all joined in. Staffs, wands, and daggers; Warhammers, glaves, and spears; Short swords, long swords, and everything in-between. One by one, weapons were pointed to the sky as if challenging death itself as the battle cries reached the heavens. It was the game's custom to do before a raid... "Avery, you damned girl! Go on and raid the next boss for us! Don't worry, we'll all be right behind you, hahaha!" The war cries became even louder than before. Avery's parents who were also shocked joined into the shouting. They helped Avery stand from the throne and pull out a long double-edged sword that was silver and blue. The sword of Gaia, the sword of the game's last boss. The Demon King. And with the help of her parents, raised it towards the sky as her body slowly became weaker. "Everyone... Thank you... I'll be going ahead now. Don't make me wait too long though or I'll take all the loot, haha! You guys, make sure to level up some more, I can't be the only one to be doing all the damage!" With these final words, the crowd went silent. Avery's mind began to darken, her arm began to slowly lower the raised sword before it eventually lost grip of it. As the sword clattered on the granite platform, so too did her body slump over. Her parents caught her body and slowly laid her down. Then another battle cry rang out from her friend... "To Victory, Avery!" The crowds sprung to life again, yelling out that battle cry. Letting our their emotions so that the heavens would think twice before slighting her in the next life. That cry was the last thing she heard as a grin spread softly across her face, ear to ear. Her body slowly began limp and her parents disappeared to deal with the aftermath in the hospital. Then three beings appeared next to her. Her NPC followers. They lifted her up with magic as her body levitated three feet above the ground and they began to walk towards the large city to the east. One by one, the players began to kneel as she passed by. This percussion continued past the large white-stoned walls of the city. Even NPCs were out in the street Kneeling. This continued on until they reached her player-castle up at the highest part of the city. Back in the gardens, a large star fell on the now empty platform. A blindingly came out for a split second before it disappeared and in its wake, was a large white-wood tree. stood almost twenty stories tall, with dark blue leaves and faintly glowing flowers. It was a Divine cherry blossom tree. At the base of the tree, there was a statue of Avery, in her final moment of glory enshrined. Then a prompted came out for everyone. [Avery's star has fallen. Even the gods mourn her passing. In the spot she took her last breath, they leave behind the Divine Primordial Cherry Blossom tree. A shrine has been erected in her exact spot, showing her final glory.] [Avery's Star: Fallen titled given to all players] [SkyGarden's city, Heart's Rest, closes it's doors to all, but her followers. From this day on, only legacy guild members and Avery's NPCs will have access. The Gardens will now become a public area for high-level players. Low-Level players may access this place for certain quests only and during events.] [Global GM-M: Goodnight Avery,  may more victories come your way in the next life...] With this, her festival ended, leaving behind a shrine to her celebrating her life in-game forever. As a valiant warrior, with the love of the gods. One by one, players left the island and the stone golems cleaned up the mess and fixed the gardens. From the gardens to the city, not a player was left. Their hearts were wounded so they left to catch their breath... An eerie silence took the island as darkness began to engulf the island, the NPCs in the city looked up with worried hearts. Something they never felt before, like a fog clearing away. They began to feel things, think things. they didn't bother to question why this was happening, only worried about the darkness that washed over their beautiful island... Ξ Unbeknownst to the GameMasters, their scripting ended with them only taking her to her castle and nothing else. Strangely, they too began to fell a sense like the wool over their eyes was pooled away. They looked with pain expressions at their former master. Her beautiful face looked like it normally did. Even still, they had all their memories from before till now. They knew she was gone. They didn't know what to do as their world was torn apart. Two men and a single woman grieved silently, unsure of what to do. The city below stirred with fear and uncertainty, but they didn't care. Their one and only master had passed. They thought. 'Maybe this world should crumble too...' as they wept. For who knows how long they grieved. It only stopped until an unknown figure stepped out of the darkness did they all stand at attention, ready to pull out their weapons. "I did not come to fight young ones... I came with to offer a solution regarding your master.." It was on that day, a God descended to answer their prayers. Looking back, it may of been a Devil, but to them. It only mattered most if their master came back to them. This was their final thoughts as they heard the solution, quickly acting upon it. The God only looked out over the city with a faint smile, but it was like a smiling devil. On this day, Avery's soul was snatched away from heaven... [Mutliple titles granted] [God Jen'Kuo has granted you a second wind.]              

  Empress Maria and Avery spoke for more a while at the Sky-Docks. Maria had pulled back the researchers when Avery gave her the Frost flower or now named "Ghost flower". Maria was ecstatic, while the scholar mages were having a complete meltdown. Their excitement over it made Avery feel awkward over it. It was a common plant to her, but from their reactions, not to them. Parked in one of the open bays that resembled a large airplane hangar but with elven architecture, was a something like a modified boat. It was made from wood but had strange contraptions installed on the side and didn't have a mast. It also didn't appear to be any apparent weapons on it, but it had ornate carvings on the hull. Avery only glanced at it but wasn't too interested. Maria tried to talk her into a dinner date with Desmond. She only waved it off, saying maybe another time. Taking away Empress Maria's title, she was just like a doting mother. This made her relaxed a little, but her mind was still swirling around how she came to be here. After managing to part with the royal pair, she walked back through the now empty gardens and the sun was beginning to set as she found herself back in front of that large tree. The evening sun's glow illuminated the statue and the tree. Below on the garden path that circled around the tree were scattered blue leaves and pink flowers. Scenes from that night that seemed to be just the other day kept replaying as she placed her hand on the base of the statue, which came up to her waist. She chuckled sadly, thinking about how large the statue was. "Hey, guys... I did it... I'll make sure to find a new raid for you guys..." Heavy thuds could be heard to her right. Turning her head she saw a Stone Golem, with its large ape-like arms, use almost silent wind spell to blow the fallen leaves and petals into its other hand. As if noticing Avery's stare, it's head slowly turned towards her. Its single glowing red eye glowed faintly. A cheery chime emitted as if greeting her before turning its attention back to tending to the garden. Avery let out a sigh before walking around the tree and heading back to the city. Having to get her emotions in order, she felt a sense of loneliness overcome her. She was the only hot-blooded being in the gardens. Insecurity and anxiety also began to grip her over what her future would be like. Wondering about how she would be living from now and why she was here started to get thrown around in her mind. The mixture of thoughts and emotions made her sick to her stomach as she passed through the gates into Heart's Rest. Χ Avery found herself standing, staring at the ruins that once was her Guild's Hall. In its hay-days, it was similar to a large roman-catholic cathedral. It houses over one-hundred members that stationed themselves in the city after the island was created. She could see the phantoms of its past as players exited and entered. There were some players preaching the beauty of cat-girls, some of the lolis. "Shit-Posters" they were called in the forums, but here that sort of humor was welcomed. She used to shake her head at them every time she passed. Leaving them with words of reprimand. Now it felt even more desolate with their liveliness. The stones they posted themselves on when preaching were now overrun with moss and vines. The only sign that they used to was a faded diagram about cat-girls. Seeing this diagram, a smile blossomed before she continued into the guild's ruins while stepping over scattered stones and overgrown bushes. Once inside, the scene wasn't any better. With its tall ceiling half collapsed and large piles of rubble beneath. Avery could picture were every table, chair, and the counters were. All of which were either covered in rubble or turned to dust. She had to climb over some smaller piles of rubble while the dust was kicked up with each step. Some steps she would slip as debris became dislodged and others because she didn't have a good foothold. She managed to make her way to where the reception counters were. The counters were rotten to the point that they could turn to dust at any moment. Beyond it was the storerooms and other administration rooms, but all of it was blocked with rubble as the back end of the cathedral had collapsed. The other large buildings behind it had toppled over onto the backside, causing it to collapse. She decided to just sit on the pile she stood on. She was tired, mentally. She had hopes that maybe if she explored a little, maybe she would find someone. In the end, she gave up. She lightly searched the main street's shops and homes and ended the search at the guild hall. She was mentally fatigued and close to losing it. She sat for a few moments as the last of the sunlight leaking through the collapsed roof disappeared. She let out a quick huff of breath before getting up and dusting herself out. Taking one last look at the ruined hall that once was so homely, was now so foreign, left the ruins the same way she came. As she stepped past the entrance of the Guild's entrance, she turned while placing her hand on it. She wanted to say something but decided against it. She took in the destruction, once more. As the last of the sunlight had faded, moonlight illuminated the ruined city in its place. "Master..." A man's deep soft voice came from behind her, causing her to jump slightly. Turning around quickly, Avery's eyes spotted a familiar figure standing on the street, looking towards her. Its eyes glowed a soft silver. It was the figure of a wolf. A large world, the size of a lion. It's fur was a silvery shine. It was Fenrir. "Master..." His voice became a whimper as he bowed down before her. Avery was awe-struck seeing him. His muzzle touched the paved-stone street below him, his eyes downcasted. It was only for a moment before he lifted himself up and approached her. "... Fenrir..?" "Yes! It's me, master! Your most loyal hound!" Fenrir's large tail began to sway with happiness after hearing his name be called out once more. His once eyes gleamed with joy, but it only lasted for a moment. "Where have you been?!" Fenrir immediately bowed in fear, as Avery's upset voice roared in his ears. Unsure of what he had done wrong to offend her. "Answer me! Where have you been!?" "To answer Master! I've been scouting the lands below! I came as soon as I felt the seal on Master's bedchambers break!" He took a look at Avery's face, but there was only pain. He felt taken aback. Why was his master making such a face? "You stupid dog!"  Avery suddenly embraced him tightly. As if she believed he would disappear if she loosed a little. Fenrir felt her tight embrace and was dumbstruck. he imagined every day his god-like master would awaken and show him her beautiful smile once again. This outcome was not something he saw. For a few minutes, neither of them moved as Avery's muffled sobs sounded from Fenrir's neck. Her Tears wetting his fur. "M-Master... Why are you crying?" He couldn't take it anymore. Why was master crying? Master never cried! Who hurt her! He would make them die a billion deaths! "Because of you!" He regretted his previous thoughts. He couldn't take his own life, he had to use it to protect her! "Master, what have I done to hurt you..?" "You weren't there! I woke up and no one was here! I looked for everyone, but no one was here!" Avery was almost screaming now. Each word only made Fenrir regret every action up to this point. He scouted out the areas below for her. he amassed a following for her. He wanted to speak these things. They never left his throat though. Each one was just an excuse. After so long, none of them believed she would ever awake again. They believed they were dupped by that God. "I am sorry master, please punish me for being a disloyal hound..." • After Avery had let out all her pent-up emotions. She finally released him from her death-grip. They ended up in the dining hall back at Heart's Rest Keep, her home. Fenrir sat happily as Avery was eating some meat he had procured. He gave her detailed accounts on the events after she.. Died. Avery only sighed as she listened. She felt much better now that she wasn't alone anymore. To sum it up. After Avery had died and the other players had left, a darkness gripped the island. They could not leave or see out past this darkness. Having counted who was still on the island, it was about ten-thousand citizens. A mixture of Dwarfs, Elves, Fairies, and humans. Humans accounting for almost nine-thousand of the population. The island was able to support them, but no one was able to ascend to the High races anymore. Thus after thousands of years, the human population began to dwindle. Children were no being born and they ended up dying from old age. Fenrir did stay by her side throughout the thousands of years she laid in the pool. Jessin was overcome with grief and never showed herself in the city while Athena took over managing the remaining population. Fey-Races only lives less than six-thousand years With no children being born, they eventually died out about five hundred years ago. The city also began to deteriorate as there were fewer people were here to maintain it. Avery didn't know why it felt foreign. Like those people didn't matter too much. She desperately looked for them. Maybe it was a sense of closure. She never spoke a word throughout his debriefing. But she could feel that Fenrir was leaving something important out.. Yes. The events that led to her being placed in the pool. "So are you going to tell me how I ended up in that pool to begin with?" Fenrir, who had been a chatterbox, suddenly clamped his mouth shut. After a few moments, it was obvious Fenrir was unwilling to say. "Are you unwilling or you can't speak if it?" "I cannot speak of it." "Why?" "Athena has forbidden we speak of it should we ever see you first." "Where is Athena?" "In the lands below..." "I believe you know I was meaning specifically..." "Athena has tucked herself into a temple in the human Captial of the Two-Dragon Empire..." "Why didn't they come like you did?" "Athena and Jessin both removed their seals from the door. They said they didn't any more false hope... Jessin disappeared, neither of us knows where she went off too. I hear rumors of her from time to time coming from the south-east." There was a silence, not even the fork in Avery's hand made a sound as she picked at the food on the plate. She thought it over, but she felt a little betrayed. At the least, she believed they should have left their seals on the door. It wouldn't degrade with time. It was a magic in-game without a time limit and could be set only in homes. It more of a lore thing if anything. with only one option left, she pushed Athena and Jessin to the back of her mind. Right now, Fenrir was here only. They went off on their own. Fenrir, who was still in wolf form, sat happily on a wide bench watching her. He kept himself calm, understanding that the world had changed too much for her. "Fenrir." "Yes, master?" "Stop calling me that." "Yes, Supreme one." "No." "As you wish, commander. "Just call me by my name." "That would be sacrilegious." "What do you view me as?!" "God. My god. The God." Avery let out a frustrated sigh. "I'm joking with you master, I would be honored to call you by your name." Fenrir let out a chuckle as his tail swayed side to side. "Yes, please call me Avery." "As you wish Avery." "So Fenrir, do you have a name?" "Fenrir is the name Avery had bestowed upon me. I have never wished that changed." "Ah.. Say, do you know what I was before... that happened?" "You were a supreme being." "No I wasn't, that was my avatar." ".. Ah I do believe you've mentioned that before with your parents." "You knew about my parents?" "Mr. Randal and Mrs. Genie, yes?" "Yes, them." "I have heard you call them as Mother and Father. We had dedicated it to memory." "You can also call them mother and father. So you know my avatar wasn't my real body." "Yes, but it was only closer to the end did I find out. Athena and them... I'm not sure. Mrs. Geni- I mean Mother had spoke to Father about it around me. Your real body was in a different world and it was sick." "Ah... Pretty much, how did feel about that...?" "It doesn't change a thing. If anything... It makes me feel helpless that I could not reach into that world and protect you..." Avery felt her heart warm. New tears began to roll down her cheek, but they were happy tears. Fenrir only turned his head in confusion. Not understanding how one could cry while smiling. "I'm feeling tired. I will not order you around and I believe the right thing is to let you go. Let you choose your future..." Avery's voice turned into a whisper as she looked at Fenrir. She wanted to treat him like she did before in-game. She couldn't bring herself to accept that though. He was a sentient being now. She wished happiness for him, the first follower she ever got. "I refuse. You've awoken after so long, I'm fine staying with master until my last days." "Ah.. How long would that be...?" " I have close to a thousand years left.." "..." "Athena has close to a hundred as she is the oldest. Jessin has even less since she isn't a dragon and older than I." "..." "I believe that is the biggest reason for them giving up hope. To die without regrets..." Avery sighed, it was something she worried about, but now that it was confirmed she could only deal with the cards. "Fenrir." "Yes?" "I can't promise you that life will be as peaceful as it was before." "I like peace, but I will rather be with you if there was a danger at every corner." " You still will sleep in my bed." "I wouldn't have it any other way." "Speaking of that, do you have a human form?" "No, and I'm not interested in master like that." Avery felt a little embarrassed with the conversation, but she was a maiden who didn't want something to happen. "I have had my love, had my children and buried them as well. I've lived long enough to see the children of twenty-something generations... I've grown tired of burying my kin. I also can no longer have children as I'm considered a very old man in both human and wolf ages." "Ah.. I see." Having ended on that note, Avery and them chatted about what they would be doing next. Heading to find Athena was picked out, since she was already going to be there. Jessin was put on hold until they could find out where she ran off too. Then they headed to Avery's bedroom and cleaned it up. Avery took off all her clothes without reserve. Fenrir did not pat an eye as this was the norm. Avery often changed in front of them and he only sat by her, assessing the condition of her stored clothes. She ended up standing by the large window, looking out over the ruins and the Gardens. Fenrir joined her and she ended up telling him everything that had happened in her world. From the reality of what he was, how they came to be and why. Fenrir asked very little questions. Having understood the gravity of the situation, it was the only thing he could do from feeling bad, "But this is all real now Fenrir... I don't know if we could be as we were before. We have to watch our backs and our words. They are real people, with lives and families. So many things to consider." "I think that's going to be a fun adventure." "Yes... It's going to be fun." The two stood peacefully overlooking everything, they no longer spoke, but their hearts were at ease now. Tomorrow would be the start of a new journey for them both.  

The dragon was fully dismantled, with the organs left for anyone wanted them. Avery had thrown a fit, unwilling to even put such things in her item box. Desmond and the others didn't try to reason with her, as while the internal organs of a dragon did possess medicinal properties, it wasn't strong in young dragons like the one Avery killed. Sending the imperial knights back to the camp, the sun loomed high overhead by the time they got back to the makeshift camp. They had washed the blood off, yet they had a faint scent of iron from dismantling for so long. The clearing had turned into a makeshift landing area for the incoming wyvern riders. Their buffalo-sized komodo dragon-like bodies landed with trained motions in the clearest area before waddling off into smaller cleared areas to rest. Other wyverns began to clear away debris for more spots. Taking the long way to stay out of their way, they skimmed the tree line. Avery looked on with curiosity as most of the wyverns had saddles and packs attached. Desmond had told her that wyverns were just lesser dragons, the furthest ones in the dragon tree. They only reached the camp after thirty minutes. "So why are these knights gold and not silver like the ones with us?" Avery finally asked the question that Desmond had dreaded. He chewed at his lip while contemplating his answer. "The silver knights are regular Imperial Knights. The gold imperial knights are the best of the Imperial Knights. Protecting the Emperor and his favorite lover. The Heavenly Knights." Avery eyes jerked to look at him in confusion" Then why aren't th-" She stopped, and a look of understanding slowly surfaced on her face. Desmond hoped she wouldn't continue to ask. The stars aligned and his luck favored him that morning as she only nodded, no longer questioning his circumstances. The newly arrived Heavenly Knights wore polished gold colored armor that did not make noises when they walked, unlike the Imperial Knights in their steel armor. They walked with high heads, red capes at their backs. They never acknowledged the Imperial Knights, but the Imperial Knights seemed to not care as they went about their day. Avery could see unrestrained disdain on their faces when the Heavenly Knights had to speak with their silver counterparts. They cut through the middle of the camp and headed towards the toppled boat. Desmond's earlier thanks ended up turning to curse as a pompous woman dressed scantily in a loose golden robe and pinned up hair. Her features were gentle and youthful. Avery guessed she probably was around her early twenties. Her eyes lips had a seductive smile, but her eyes radiated disdain as they both entered her sight. "I see. The little rabbit got itself a girl rabbit. Hmph." Her words dripped with ridicule. Desmond, the object of her disdain, only lowered his eyes in embarrassment. The afternoon air wasn't as frigid like the early morning, but even the surrounding people could feel the temperature drop. It was an open secret that the Imperial Consort viewed the Empress and the latter's child with open disdain. Only in front of guests did all of them act like a loving family, as the protocol dictated. To them, it was like any other day. Avery's golden eyes narrowed at the gaudy woman. First impressions were most important. Her first impression was this girl needed a beating, but she kept it to herself. Desmond leaned sideways slightly "That is Imperial Consort Loralei, the girl my father, the emperor, favors currently. She's willful and arrogant, but she has the backing of my father, so please, try not to do anything." She could hear the worry in his voice, but she wasn't scared of a spoiled woman. She had killed Dragons, Giants, Demons and Demi-gods before. Granted, she had tens of other players helping her, but Imperial Consort Loralei appeared to be just a human. "Oh? Is she just a servant ?" Consort Loralei kept on talking, smug as she watched Desmond submit to her abuse. Avery only shook her head with annoyance. "Shaking your head like a dog little servant?" Consort Loralei turned her repulsive words toward Avery. "Your insults are worst than your fashion sense. Why don't you go sleep with one of your knights instead? It'd be more productive." Avery's expression flatlined, her tone monotonous and a faint bloodlust radiated from her. Consort Loralei's smug expression turned to a shock. Her mouth fell open, the silver knights stifled their laughter. Consort Loralei was silent, unable to fathom someone would talk back or even insult her. Avery let out a huff through her nose before walking around her. Desmond, also shocked, chased after Avery like a startled rabbit that had its cover pulled away. One Heavenly Knight stepped in front of Avery from her right. " Halt, you wench! You just insulted the Imperial Consort of the Two-Dragon Empire!" The knight brandished his sword. " The penalty is death!" he shouted. Before he could even ready his sword to swing, Avery's fist had already made contact with his breastplate. Thumm~! Before the knight could swing at her, he flew backward into the crowd of golden armor behind him. His comrades were barely able to catch him and not topple over themselves. When they looked at him, his chest plate was caved in. At the center, the metal was even pierced. Blood slowly welled up before it began to slowly run out of the cavity. His body was limp and his jaw was slack as his fellow knights held him stunned. All the onlookers were also silent. Suddenly, one after one, Silver and Gold brandished their metal swords. Each glared at each other, ready to clash. Desmond was stunned by the sheer force Avery had in that punch. Heavenly Knight armor was B-Rank armor! And her fist punched it like paper! Consort Loralei wasn't a warrior, nor a scholar. Neither did she bother with details pertaining to her Knights. Seeing a girl, no taller than a fifteen-year-old, send a Heavenly Knight flying backward, in her mind, it must have meant that knight was weak. Her mind quickly altered the view to conform it to her desires. This shitty brat must die!  Unlike when Avery smelt the dragon's blood, she didn't recoil from it. Instead, she felt a feeling of joy in her heart. Her blood pumped faster, her body itching to hit him again. "He's dead!" One of the knights had confirmed what they already saw. Desmond was taken aback, but Avery only felt more joy. She didn't understand where this emotion came from, but she wanted to fight. She wanted to kill more of those pesky Heavenly Knights. Wipe those smug condescending smiles into the mud with her boots. Her feline eyes narrowed dangerously as a deep, furious bloodlust began to radiant from her body. Everyone became even more stunned. They had watched this walking goddess, who looked frailer than the Third Prince, kill a Heavenly knight. Now she was slowly looking more wild than a feral cat. She took an offensive stance and brought her hands up to eye level. The bloodlust she radiated made them take a step back. Desmond's hand was half-extended towards Avery's back before a booming voice rang out. "Halt! Who dares fight in the presence of the Empress?!" A man in crimson armor shouldered his way through the crowd before he found the epicenter. He quickly scanned the surroundings before his eyes laid on Avery and the knight she faced. He also didn't miss the injured or dead knight behind the other knight. "Disperse quickly!" None of Desmond's Imperial Knights inched, and neither did the Heavenly Knights. Their snarling faces contracted Avery's now open joyful expression. It only served to agitate the Golden Knights even more. Bloodlust began to radiate from the Crimson Knight before the Knights came back to their senses. Looking towards him, there also stood an older woman, missing an arm. "Long live the Empress!" All the Knights shouted, more sincerely on the silver side. The entire golden side seemly ignored it. "Whatever grudges the two sides may have, may seemly be fought out in the Moon Palace!" A noble woman's voice softly fell on their ears. Coming in from behind the Crimson Knight, Empress Maria strode out. Her face looked haggard. It seemed the troubles this time had aged her more, well past her age of forty. "Consort Loralei, the crimes you believe they've done... Can they not wait until we've at least returned...?" A pleading laced her words. Her tired eyes showing resignation.  Of all the places she wished such things didn't happen, this was the one. "No! I-" Consort Loralei was about to argue before Empress Maria cut her off. "In the middle of nowhere, with so much to take back, should we use your mount, or should we lose more knights?" Consort Loralei quieted, her words getting through her stubbornness. She was a "fine noble", of course, she didn't want to be in the sticks. Consort Loralei turned her attention to Avery and Desmond. "I'll deal with this bitch later!" Puffing air through her nose, she turned and stomped off. Her knights following in tow, but not before hurling barrels of insults. Desmond let out a sigh, while Avery stomped her foot in frustration. Everyone only looked confused at her. When she turned around and saw their stares did she finally come back to her senses. Recounting that bliss of killing someone, she felt a ting of shame but nothing else. She mostly felt judged by the Imperial Knights and Desmond. She then moved her feet to head to the crash site, the crowd parting. Desmond was about to follow before his mother stopped him."We have to speak privately..." He cast a worried glance in Avery's direction but followed his mother as she turned towards the silver knight's camp. Fenrir felt like killing himself. Avery had found him as he waited outside their temporary lodging. Something he regretted with every fiber of his being. She began to rant and rave about some poor soul that had angered her. He wasn't well versed in these human relations, only between other players. Avery had made a point that that experience wouldn't help with these people. He also noticed that if two players had such an argument, they would have fought it out already. Here, his master had held back because "Senseless murder is bad" and "I don't want to be a hypocrite". From his understanding, all sentient beings were contradictory. It was such a fruitless endeavor to calm her. He only ended up being shaken around and was an inch away from turning into a pin cushion when he brought up the other night. Sadly, stuck between a rock and a hard place... He brought her train of thought back to the woman again. Prince Desmond stepped into his mother's tent, his face displaying his worries. "It's okay my love, I'm only wanting to know what happened..." Desmond recounted the earlier happenings. In the end, the Empress also felt worried, but something even more. Resigned. "I've been fighting that woman for over three years now. I'm too old. Too Tired. Too beaten. " She looked at her remaining hand, her tired eyes unfocused. " I don't care about this country anymore, Desmond." Her eyes turned up, but he felt she really wasn't looking at him. "I... I..." Desmond hesitation brought a smile to her face." It's good if you still care..." She turned and found a chair in the corner of the tent to sit on. Her body was thrown onto it, and she leaned her head back." I've been Empress for twenty years, but your father has never really cared. He only wanted my home country's support." A sigh escaped. " Now that the Kingdom of Stag is losing its war against the Holy Kingdom, he stopped putting his facade up..." She wasn't a citizen of the Empire, but a pawn of political marriage. She could always tell her husband never cared for her. He sought to satisfy his vanity. Money, power, beautiful women, and powerful soldiers. Her body was wanted, not herself. Their wedding night, she laid alone in bed while he tended to younger concubines in a drunken sex-filled night. Another blow to her was that he already had children with concubines. The first prince was the oldest. She wasn't a citizen of the Empire, but a woman of a political marriage. She always knew the Emperor never cared for her. He was a vain man. He cared for power, money and looks. He wanted her body, but once it was used and her maiden body was worn from giving birth, he moved onto younger women, some as young as ten. He was a bastard, yes, but she could never leave him. No matter how much she wished she could. That didn't even account for all the bastard children the man had. All the bodies he left in his wake. He also didn't like his only legitimate child, Desmond. He frowned down on him, saying he was should have been born a woman. He wasn't brave, he wasn't strong, and he wasn't an ambitious child. But Desmond loved his father all the same. He learned Magic, became a Scholar, and explored ruins with large groups of Knights to bring his father many treasures since he was ten. In her eyes, Desmond was Brave, maybe not the way the father wanted him to be, but he still approached a Primordial. He still helped that same girl skin a dragon! He just wasn't going around womanizing women. He actually was quite shy around the opposite sex, but since that last incident, he liked to avoid women from the capital. A black stain on that poor child's heart. Pulling her thoughts back to the present, she realized her thoughts trailed off. She sighed. I am truly too old for this... She raised her head to face Desmond's worried eyes. " We'll think of a way child. Just... Don't try to use that girl. She's a good child, we shouldn't make it a habit to use good people like those people do." By those, she meant her husband and Loralei, who would use anyone when they can, how they can. It was a vicious cycle and only proved to make the palace more vicious. Servants that kill and steal. Concubines that poison others. Guards that wouldn't hesitate to steal. She had managed to keep it together with the Imperial Knights, but they were slowly dwindling. Her people were already little, with each new year it got even smaller. "I understand. Though, I hadn't planned to do such. She's a scary person you know." A troubled chuckle passed his lips. "You're right, she is." A chuckle also left Maria's lips.    

  Before Avery was an overwhelmingly large Festival of Life. They were celebrating her life. In the way of doing things by customs, the normal practice was to celebrate it after they had passed. That was thrown out the window today though. Having seen the future through Tarot cards and mythical back-alley seances, she found out the day of her death. This was the joke she told often. The truth though was far darker. Having recounted, Her doctors had given her a time-frame for when things would start to break down in her body. By the grace of recent laws and the Hospital's blessing, she was able to pick out the day she would have her "Medically Assisted Suicide". Her doctor had entered the guest VR chairs in the room next to hers along with her parents. There, the hospital had mocked up a calm park for them all. There were a few NPCs walking around as they all sat on the park benches. There the "talk" was given, while Avery sat on a swing distance away. Even though Avery wasn't apart of the first talk, she knew what was going on by the hysterical crying from her mother. She was able to mentally prepare herself by the time they talked to her. She was already at peace. Her parents could tell, but it only made it worse for them. The doctor had then laid out the charts for her while being supportive, but she only cut him off and asked: "when". Over the course of the day, she dealt with the unstoppable march of time. Each minute ticked away was one minute closer to death for her. She honestly could have dealt with it, but seeing her parents deal with it made it hurt far worst. It wasn't until she found herself alone in the VR's mid-way room. A pitch black room with only a single light coming from a single floating screen. It was the room you'd come to before choosing your next destination. She found herself huddled on the floor. Her face buried in her knees as she let it all out... On the screen was the video-feed of the camera that was above her bed. It pointed towards the observation window across from her. There was a microphone on the other side that she could turn on and off so people could talk to her. There, her parents were pleading with the doctors to replace her organs with theirs. It wasn't the first time, but it was always a resounding no. Her cancer would just destroy those organs too. She felt she had the best parents in the world. It was such a shame she wouldn't be able to spend her life with them. Avery thought how cruel reality was as she looked at her mother's pained face. Her father's hopeless eyes. These two beautiful souls undeserving of watching their child slowly die before them. Avery thought about how it felt to be a parent to go through that. She would never have a child, a family of her own. She had asked her father what it felt like. "As a parent who loves their child... all I can say is... Your child is supposed to bury you, not you bury them..." Avery could get faint nuances in his words. It still didn't convey how much it tore them apart. She never really got to live in their world. She was barely a teen before she ended up in this virtual prison. She was barely exploring who she was as a person, making friends. She still was wondering what toys she would get for Christmas. That was until this cancer had struck her. Slowly eating away her. It was then her parents joined her world. Looked at it. How this virtual world managed to give their child the freedom she had lost. After that day, Avery had picked a nice winter day on Christmas Eve. It was a day before the earliest projected day she could die. Having been given options, she chose the one she gave her the most freedom. The freedom to die on the day she wanted. In the grand scheme of things, it was meaningless. It was the only silver lining she had thought... That was when she posted to the forum, notifying the one place she felt free... Δ   The day she was to die was a roller-coaster of emotions, but she was content. Her parents were allowed to VR-dive while side by side in her room with all their hands linked together at Avery's request. The doctors allowed it, seeing as she'd die before her immune system could fail. With that done, on Avery's final day, they did whatever she wished. It was a strange day for her, how she could be the happiest, but the saddest at the same time. Even though she still had lingering regrets and wishes, she kept them to herself. Everyone had come together for [Avery's star] event. Her parents came along on adventures. Her dad became a father figure to many while Mother... Well mothered others. Soon, many people would only call them Father and Mother. Even those older than them. It was like one big family when they came around. Back at the festival. It was a worldwide festival. From the City of Beginnings to the Fallen Kingdoms of the Fey races. All took apart, players and NPCs alike. Until the moment of truth came. As the master of the SkyGardens and subject of the festival; Avery sat in the throne of honor. Her parents at her side. The Gamemasters also sat close by with her good friends. the whole festival had gone on without a hitch. That was until the timer had reached zero. Her good friend Gerald, "TheSharkySharkShark", stood up and yelled at her. "Fuck this Avery! Stand your ass up and go out like a warrior! Laughing in Death's face with a smile!" Avery wanted to laugh at him. It truly was like him. He was a man in his mid-thirties and his own child. He often preached the principals of a man and also of being a warrior. Gerald and Avery had been friends since the beginning of the game. She and her parents met him at an IRL Meet, held at a convention. He truly was a principled man and so was his son. "Look forward and face your problems. Even if you're crying!" Avery wanted to face-palm herself. This was also something she thought about doing, but having let the depressing thoughts get to her; she didn't. She wished with all her heart. That she could live just one more minute. One more hour. Just one more day. Avery held that wish, deep inside her heart. Burning it into her very soul. She joined in their war-cries and defiantly looked up at the beautiful night sky. The shooting stars reflecting in all their eyes. She tried to hold her courage until the last moment. As she felt her body lose it's strength and her mind become hazy, she felt a deep fear in her heart. She never really felt it before. Sadness. Anger. Regret. Those were not foreign feelings but never fear. Every step of the way, she never was alone. Her beloved parents and friends. Other players and even NPCs. Right now though, as death slowly came. She would be entering the unknown alone. If there was life after death, she would be going at it alone. Maybe Heaven, maybe hell. She didn't know what was coming next. She felt true fear grip her. "Mommy... Daddy... Don't leave me... Please..." That was her last thought she had when the darkness took her. A cold sensation enveloped her with one last thing reaching her. " " " " " "To victory Avery!" " " " " " Their cries reached her. Her heart felt warm, sending that sensation away. Fear... Fear no longer gripped her...   Δ After an unknown amount of time, Avery felt something again. She had been stuck in limbo for what could have been a second or maybe a century. She felt like she was floating, suspended in darkness. It was cold and unwelcoming. She felt like she was a bodiless soul. It wasn't before long she saw her life. Then Dreams. Finally, they all became nightmares. Things repressed in her heart came out to haunt her. For a while, she was sure she was in hell. She could feel her sanity slowly break. Then nothing. The abyss returned and that, in itself, was its own hell. Just before she felt her entire being slip away into the darkness, she felt new sensations. The feeling of having limbs. She felt they slowly twitch. For a while, she felt each twitch becoming more powerful. It was then she felt like the darkness was just a sea. She felt which way was up and down. She concentrated on a certain spot she felt was the surface. Without rest, she tried to reach out towards that spot. Minute after minute, hour after hour. Maybe year after year. She never lost focus. Until one day...  A light broke through. She felt the freedom of her limbs again and shot forward through it. Splash! Shhh! shh! * [ For extra immersion -> theme music + repeat <Spotify>]] Her upper body exploded through the surface of a faintly blue-glowing water. The liquid gushed over the edges all around her as she managed to cling to a low wall. Holding onto for dear life she tried to breathe, but couldn't. For a few moments, she convulsed before being able to puke out that liquid. She gasped for air the moment her lungs were emptied out. It was a sweet, sweet sensation. Cold crisp air entered her lungs. It didn't feel like hospital air, but it wasn't that artificial feeling of the VR world. Pushing it to the back of her mind, she wiped away the liquid over her eyes. What greeted her was a white-stone floor, covered in a deep ocean-blue liquid. The wall she was clinging too was a wall of an above-ground pool. Inside the pool was the same liquid that faintly glowed. Taking a few minutes to compose herself. Her body felt exhausted just from pushing herself out of the liquid. Every muscle screamed in protest, but she stubbornly clung to the pool wall. Looking around the room, it felt familiar. The walls were the same stone as the floor but hand carvings of deers and plants. The room had poor lighting, but it looked like an Elven Bathroom. She noticed that there were no windows in there and the only light source was coming from the liquid in the pool. There were also a few benches stacked into the back corner of the room, caked in dust. Just ahead of her was an archway leading into another room. After getting enough rest, she heaved herself out of the pool. Her bare skin was so pale, her veins could be seen. She didn't pay attention to her body though. Stumbling across the floor, she managed to reach the archway and peer in the next room. It was a bedroom. Peering into the room, it was a circular room with a ten-foot-high ceiling. Immediately to the left was a large window with a bench ledge to sit on. Circling the room, there was a wardrobe with large doors and a desk. Armor stands and weapon stands. There were also different artworks on hung on the wall. There was even a bed, but all of it was covered in dust. The room was all too familiar to her. "My.. home in... Eos?" Be it a nightmare or a dream. She was in her room in FkE. Walking into the center of the room, she knew where everything was. Taking a quick glance around, everything was like she left it. The dust was caked on like it hadn't been touched for such a long time. Walking over to the wardrobe. Avery wiped away the dust stuck to the left door. Under the dust was ornate paintings of nature. Taking in the familiar sight, she opened both the doors revealing a clean interior. None of the dust touched the contents inside. There were several sets of loungewear and casual clothes hanging. Her eyes scanned over the contents before a mirror hung on inside of the left door caught her attention. Her eyes caught the pale naked figure that was her. Every vein on her body was visible but slowly faded at a noticeable pace. It took a few minutes before the veins were no longer visible and she looked normal. Rather, being that this room was in Eos, she looked to life like. The person looking in the mirror wasn't her real body, but her character from FkE. A feminine face with a fair complexion. Two golden feline-like eyes and long lashes. Her cheeks were slightly rosy. Her like snow-white hair cascaded off her head onto her back falling behind a petite female's body with ample breasts. An almost hour-glass shaped body with decent sized hips and toned thighs. Her body was definitely a beautiful, but it's charmed laid in the subtlety of its portions. She liked it that way, rather than it be extreme as the other character. She stood about five-five and overall was adorable. It was unlike her real body, withered husk. Some hopes came true for her. She made this character when she first joined and she always wished to look as beautiful like this. Now she was. That was her silver lining here. This world was real now. She was no longer some empty husk of a human waiting to die. Reaching inside, she pulled out a crop-top muscle shirt, cargo pants, and boots. All black. After dressing herself, she looked in the mirror again. Her features looked nobler. One could say heroic even. A gentle heroine? Closing the wardrobe, she walked back to the window and looked out. Just below was the courtyard of the hybrid Roman-Italian villa with elven architecture, resting on the side of a mountain. It was a beautiful property that would be liked to those million dollars vacation homes. Now it was neglected and in disrepair. Vines, moss and other plants had overtaken most of the room top and grew up the pillars. Beyond laid a city, Heart's Rest. What she saw only made her heartache. hundreds of buildings of similar architecture had fallen into an even worst state than her player home. Bushes, trees and other plants had overtaken the city. Many buildings had given into time and were turned into rubble. Many were in different states of collapse. Only a few looked habitable. It appeared abandoned for centuries. She found herself unsure of what to do. She ran her hand through her hair. Then again. Then another time. She then started pulling her hair in frustration. All these things were happening and no one was here. She could tell just from how bad everything was here. She sat on the dusty floor, her back against the window's wall. Softling crying out for her parents and her friends. Someone.   ≡ After a while, she felt better, but her eyes were red. She pulled herself together and let her mind rest after processing everything done so far. She felt fatigued, but better now. she stretched her upper body before bring out her status with a thought Chime~ <———————————————————> N@$% @$(#)@ A@e S@(#@)(*$(*$(# @#()($)#()$#$#*($#@*(*#@)(#@ + =+ +=++=_____-___-_ <———————————————————> [Current status display no compatiable with current World-System.] [Displaying status from the last record.] [Error, last record is currently blocked. Attempting again.] The chime came out along with a holographic status screen that floated in mid-air in front of her. It was distorted. It struggled to keep it from before it closed. It made Avery feel sick to the pit of her stomach. Suddenly she threw up to her left the remaining liquid from earlier. Avery's sight blackened as she feebily supported herself. Her whole body protesting the sudden change before a wave of relief washed over her. Her earlier fatigue disappeared. [Expelled remaining substance "Corruption" from the body.] [Record retrieved. World-System data not available. Displaying unformatted record.] <———————————————————> Name: Avery Bailey |" FemmeFoxtrot " Health: [Error] / 100,000 [+400,000] Mana: 100,000 [+ 1,000,000]  Body Status: Strength [+500], Agility 500 [+500], Vitality 500 [+500], Wisdown 500 [+500], Constitution 500 [+500] Level: 1,000  [Maximum level] Age: 1,000 + [ System maximum numerical reached ]Adventurer rank: SSS+ Home: Sky Gardens - The Keep. Skills: [Error - Record corrupted] Followers/Pets: Pets - Fenrir [High-MoonWolf], Athena [High-Sundragon], and Jessin [High-SilverLeopard] Titles: > Showing recently earned titled  [Friend Of The World] - Majority of Players have tagged your username, +100 fame [Conqueror] - Defeated the Demon King and dealt the most damage. +100 fame [Avery's star - Fallen] - Witness the fall of the world's most beloved person and made their last wish come true - Adds a statue of Avery's character to Homebase's build menu. [God's Mercy] - Beloved by all, God has heard your wishes granting you another life in a new, yet familiar world - Reincarnation in Eoos, the world the game world is modeled after. [Second Wind] - God purges the world of reincarnates, but your loyal followers have managed to save your comatose body in an unknown substance. The origins of this substance are not of this world... - Alastair's Plague immunity  [Keeper of the Hearth] - While you have been long away, your legend has lived on through many ruins and historical records. You've been thought of as the Hearth Keeper, Mother of the flame. - 1,000+ fame, worshipped by wayfarers, explorers, and people who live on the road.  [Includes pirates, bandits, etc.] [Icon of Heresy] - You're viewed as a pagan Symbol  by the Religion of Alastair, religion of the Holy Empire- 1,000+ infamy  <———————————————————> Avery let out a sigh of relief. This world seemed to retain game-like functions, but opening the status screen left more questions than answers. Of course, it answered why everything looked the way it did. Very few races lived long, and even fewer lived more than a thousand years. Those who could surpass five-thousand were only races of the high meadows. It wasn't one race, but many. It was a place were lower races could begin their journey towards immortality. Such as a MoonWolf. They lived no more than sixty years. A mutated one can live up to five hundred. A High variant ascended into the thousands. Though that was just the lore, they were immortal in the game. It wouldn't be strange to see them fall in line with their lore settings. After checking her stats, she moved on to the other tabs. Her inventory was empty like she left it, messages were the same, and the map tab was there, but that was it. Store, guild, settings, and social had disappeared. Swiping away the menu with her hand and got up. She tied her hair up into a ponytail before heading towards the door. Grabbing the door handle, she pushed it open into the hallway beyond. What greeted her was overgrowth everywhere, but strangely, a perfectly cut path leading towards the front of the villa. Her steps echoed as she followed it and step foot in the courtyard. The path wasn't very big. It could only fit one person walking at a time, but the plants were trimmed back so they wouldn't touch anyone walking through. Avery felt an ebbing annoyance that the rest of the plants weren't cleaned up, but she kept them unsaid. Walking out the derelict entrance and down a fairly intact brick mountain path into the city. Avery saw many shops and stores she remembered was always packed with people. Homes of friends and guild members. Many of them were good friends of her. Now, most of those buildings held the notion that the once use to house someone. The wooden furniture rotted away and the metal ones rusted into modern art pieces. There was a small sense of loss for them all. Avery didn't linger long after giving them a glance. The path now started to weave through thick vegetation before it made its way into the large pavilion that was the center of the town. It was the Guild Pavilion. She stopped at looked at the cathedral-like building, wondering how such a majestic thing, could fall so low. It's decrepit appearance hide its glory Throughout the entire walk, Avery never say signs of fighting. It troubled her greatly to see that this city had become so destroyed and it was all to neglect.  Looking around, many of the defensive spells etched into the floors and side of buildings to prevent attacks remained intact. Above her in the sky, the Defensive matrix shimmered slightly as it's translucent shield continued to protect the city. Already in a down mood, she decided to continue going on. On she went until she reached the city walls. Reaching the ramparts was almost a godsend. Upon arrival, Avery noticed the lands around the wall were neatly taken care of. Stone golems patroled the floor at the foot of the wall while large Meteor Golems protected the wall as they patrolled the wall. As if noticing her arrival, the two Meteor golems walked down the rampart stairs and stood by the large wooden gates. "Authority, Avery. Requesting order display. <———————————————————> Last directive: City is not to be accessed without the Authority of Fenrir, or Athena. Issuer: Athena Last entry: 3 weeks ago [Fenrir] Last Exit: 3 weeks ago [Fenrir Average: 5 weeks. <———————————————————> Approaching the Golems, Avery had requested the gate information. Having seen that at least one of her followers was alive brought joy to her. She had her little happiness before she issued the gate be opened for her to walk out. On the other side, was the public gardens. There were also stone golems tending to this side as well, but strangely there were men and women dressed in over-exaggerated mage robs as they carried clipboards with paper and pens. They were trailed by knights in ornate silver armor and kept a few feet from them. The all seemed to be following stone golems as they tended to the garden, but what caught Avery's attention was the large pale-white tree that grew in the center of the garden. Walking towards that tree, the knights only glanced at her before turning their attention back onto their wards. Reaching the tree, she noticed how it's large canopy cast a pleasant shadow down on her. There was a cool, gentle breeze at the moment. Gave a sense of peace as she walked around its massive trunk as she examined it. After walking around to the other side, she found a statue of her likeness of that night. Her in that battle armor, crying to the heavens.  It stood almost twelve feet tall, with a plaque reading [ Avery's Star has fallen, in her wake. The gods leave behind the Divine Tree of Memories. The Sky Gardens will remain open to those who have walked with her in her last moments. After tonight, only those who've received approval from the Ancient dragon Uggdren may step foot in Avery's holy grounds. From today, only her Guild members will have access to her Lost City. Good night Avery, may you win more battles in the next life...] [Date of death xx.xx.xxxx] Below it, there was deeply carved words reading... [ She never died, only slumbered] It appeared to be carved out by a claw if she had to guess. The statue appeared to be made out of Meteorite. So whoever did it had to be powerful. Taking in this scene, she heard someone quickly coming towards her and she felt like they didn't have good intentions...   [Old Author Note! ]Author Note: Whelp, I had planned for more followers. Kinda like a Overlord feel, but I changed my mind and felt that wasn't really the route I wanted to go. SO I KILLED AN ENTIRE CITY ! New Author Note; Revised to match next chapter.    

A divine walking among mortals! This single sentence was collectively thought by all the men in the chambers. Even the Empress was stunned. She had seen Avery in her 'immodest' clothing and dealt with her unconventional ways these past two days, but the way she held herself right now... Made those days seem like a lie! She couldn't repute Desmond for walking behind her like a shield. Avery, in herself, was a frontal attack! Head held high, Avery strode in with a pleasant smile and light steps. Her dress lightly fluttering after her. Desmond was less graceful and had a weary smile as he bowed towards his father. Walking down the long narrow carpet, past the thick, black marble supports. She took her place next to Empress Maria without a second thought with Desmond taking a knee behind her towards his father. The Emperor looked at Avery thoughtfully before he spoke." Kneel, child." He commanded as if gracing her with his voice. "Nah." Her voice, sweet and soft, barely reached his ears. He felt an arousing chill tingle his spine but after the moment; His brows furrowed again. "You'd disobey Us in our own Empire...?" It was a question laced with a subtle threat. As if oblivious to the threat, Avery nodded happily. "Hmph. I hereby grant Avery Bailey, to never have to bow before Us." A knight stepped forward. "You may thank the Emperor for this grace now!" Empress Maria's shoulders shuddered visibly as she struggled to hold down her laughter. He knew he couldn't control her, so he played it off as if he graced her. Avery, on the other hand, could care less for the political theatre. She only came because Desmond begged her to come. Explaining he had to go, but she was summoned as well. "Do you think I'm some little servant that can be summoned when he wants? He can kick rocks." Avery had told him, annoyed. "He'll send the knights to drag us over then!" Desmond stated, taken aback in how to reason with this girl. His conventional wisdom was different from hers. Rather, it was from a different world! How could he convince her to do things like this? At first, he thought she didn't understand the how an empire worked. He had started to explain to her how this was supposed to work. Only, he was silenced with a glare. "I know how Empires and Kingdoms work. They existed in my time and before me. Honestly, because I know is why I won't go." She explained how empires often tried to exert their power over other players, only succeeding in low leveled ones. He didn't understand why she referred to other primordials as 'players', but he went with it. . . . The meeting conveyed when the Emperor exited the throne room. The people inside exited through the large double doors and into a lobby of sorts. The knights inside began to exit, then standing guard outside the door. The councilmembers each greeted Avery in their own fashion. Each was surprised by how sociable she was compared to when she dealt with Emperor Jeagerfang. "Nice to meet you, Avery, I'm Varen Gray!" A young man, with deep brown eyes and short curly hair that reminded Avery of velcro. His face was flat with a slight crook in his jaw and a mischevious glint in his eyes. His nose was slightly bent with an old scar across the middle of it. He wasn't a big person but stood slightly taller than Desmond. He was just as skinny, wearing a deep black tunic with no other colors, but his muscles were outlined by the thin cloth in the firelight that filled the room. He held out a calloused hand for a handshake, whom Avery took and shook. Her hand seemed to be enveloped by his hand before he wrapped his other hand around it. "Such a beautiful lady, hehe." Avery didn't get the feeling that he was being a pervert, rather a very upfront teenager. "Stop trying to get with every girl that comes through here Varen." Desmond pulled Avery from him protectively. Both of them seemingly accustomed to it, Varen only laughed with heart. "You know me, I'm just trying to find love." The other council members who weren't dressed in luxurious clothing laughed with him, while the ones who didn't simply scowled at the exchange. "Varen, as a councilmember, can you be less shameful? You can have any common woman yet you keep trying to go for nobles." A man with sky-grey eyes, wrapped in a grey wolf mantle stepped up. His entire vibe screamed noble. Even Avery could tell the items on him were quite the pretty penny. He had a more pronounced face with slicked-back blond hair. His face clean shaven and a weary expression on his face. "I apologize for the boy, he's a grey child. He doesn't want to make another grey." Avery turned to look at Desmond for an explanation. "Grey is the surnames given to orphans." Desmond explained, seeing that confused look. "Ah! Okay." She turned back with a smile. "Well Mr. Varen, it's a pleasure to meet you." Avery nodded her head but kept her distance for Desmond's comfort. "Please, we look to be around the same age! No need to the pleasantries, haha!" He puffed out his chest with pride. Even Avery was beginning to feel annoyed by his overfamiliarity. She made a point to engage the noble who intervened earlier. "And your name?" With a smile, she held her hand out towards him. Seeing her suddenly call out to her, albeit to avoid Varen, he was startled. Avery got a good look at the man shook hers awkwardly as if uncustomed to the practice. Though his face was clean, his years showed. He looked anywhere from thirty to thirty-five maybe. His clean-shaven face was pleasant peach, well it looked like a peach. He wasn't barrel-chested, but he was chubby. Chubby enough for a gut to protrude from his shirt, but he didn't seem to mind. His hand was soft, but not oily. A gentle hand. "I am Horst, fourth son of House Gunter." Unlike the always laughing Varen, Horst was the polar opposite. Horst presented himself as a gentle individual. He didn't try to kiss her hand, nor place his hand on top of hers to flirt. The moment the shake was done, he pulled his hand away politely before clasping them together behind his back humbly. Desmond didn't try to intervene with Horst but actually came up to him. "Hello, Horst." Desmond greeted him. "Hellow, Third prince. Its been a while since we've last met. I trust you have been well?" Horst gave a polite nod to Desmond before smiling at both of them. "Well.. We had some problems here and there, but nothing we couldn't overcome." Avery rolled her eyes playfully and thought "Not without my help...". . . . Avery never met the other councilmembers, who fled from them the moment the Throne room doors parted. Inside Desmond's 'wing', there were little furnishings. None grand like the items in the hallways, but they weren't neglected. The room was wiped, dusted, and mopped. The curtains and bed sheets changed as well. All within half an hour by four different maids who moved with trained precision. It was quite a show to watch actually. Desmond's wing consisted of a lounge area that was ten by twenty feet, with two worn by comfortable couches with a table in between. An old red ornate rug under them. There was a dining table to the far side against a large panel window that seemed like a stereotypical window in the medieval area. Whole stone arch and everything. Besides that, there weren't any wall decorations or tabletop items. It seemed bared. "How come this place seems... deserted?" Avery asked as the last maid left the room. She walked through the room, running her hands over the couches before walking over to the window. The window overlooked the courtyard they traveled through. a single tree planted in the middle stood, it branches spreading out over the majority of the courtyard. Snow fell onto its canopy. A modest courtyard compared to the other's she walked through to get here. "I live at the Academy dorms. Living in the castle can be... unfit for one's health." He gave a cramped smile as he dropped himself down into the couch. A tired sigh left his lips as Avery came and joined him. "So they're trying to kill you?" Desmond laughed to her question. "That, and the fact this place is depressing." Avery didn't need further explanation. She laughed with him. Afterward, there was an awkward silence, neither knowing what to say or do. Neither had the energy to care either. Unfortunately - or fortunately - a knock echoed from the entrance. "The Empress wishes to visit your highness.". "Let her in!" Desmond yelled back, unwilling to move as Avery, who sat shoulder to shoulder with her, was comfortable at a glance. The wooden door squeaked slightly coming in. Desmond and Avery glanced over to see her and Fenrir come in." Fenrir...?" Avery was questioning why he was with the Empress. "Mr. Fenrir here seemed to have been forgotten by you, but he was able to hitch a ride on Windrunner with another soldier. After Fenrir explained he was forgotten..." Maria had an amicable smile, but her eyes were daggers aimed at the two youth. Truth be told, Avery was used to her followers dematerializing and rematerializing when she left areas, so she hadn't thought about it when they left the valley. Apparently... That wasn't the case anymore. "Master! Why did you abandon me!?" Fenrir came in with a lowered head like a puppy who was just yelled at for peeing on the carpet. He cutely crawled up to her feet with large sad eyes. Avery was at a loss what to do with him, one moment, he was a fierce king of Dire-Wolves the next he was a whimpering mess! Desmond and Maria both gave up their quarrel, laughing at Fenrir. "I'm sorry?" She picked up his entire body, which was almost as big as her and placed him on her lap - and Desmond's -. She ruffled his fur tenderly before a golden flame puffed a wooden brush, made with Cloud-bouncer bristles, into Avery's free hand. She began to brush his fur as he spread himself on with his head on Desmond's lap. Empress Maria was the only one who noticed the golden flame puff out a brush into Avery's hand. " Did you just use an item box?" Avery only gave a 'un' as a reply along with a nod. 'Ahhh.' was the only reply before she nodded and turned to leave "I'll be off then. I hope you two sleep comfortably~!" She wasn't oblivious to them liking each other. She wasn't sure why Avery liked Desmond, but none the less, it was beneficial for her. Even more so for Desmond. Then the as if remembering, she tapped the ring on her left hand, middle finger and Avery's sword appeared in her hands and left it by the crackling fireplace. She was sure Avery would notice it. She wouldn't have to worry about him with her around. At that moment, she was not looking at the two as the Empress, but of a doting mother who wished for happiness for her only child. Before she had been split between the duties of her country and the wishes of her son. After the first incident with that despicable girl, she no longer cared whom he loved, only that person treat him well. With these thoughts, she left Desmond's wing to the sweet laughter of not a primordial and a prince, but two youngins bonding over a wolf. Thought, she wished they'd do it over dinner or perhaps, a ride. Well, be it dead dragons and wolves, whatever made them happy in this crazy twisted world she concluded. She couldn't be the judge. Though, the world seemed inclined not to give them their moment as she spotted her husband's steward from halfway down the hall as he rounded the corner. The old steward seemed like a pleasant old man at a glance, but he was just as vicious as that damned consort. Only he did everything with a pleasant face. "And what might you be doing here in my son's wing, Steward Jenkins?" That dotting, smiling, mother dissipated. What was left was the cold, stoic face of Empress Maria. A face she learned to take with dealing with people that weren't her 'husband'. She didn't have to spend pleasantries with people lower than her she didn't like. "Ho ho, as fickle with pleasantries as always my lady." Steward Jenkins answered with a bow. His slicked back white hair failed to hair the splotting wrinkled skin of the old man. Neither did his words match the disdain on his face. "Your husband asked that I escort Lady Bailey to the Emissary Wing for the duration that she'll be here." His words were clear and pronounced. The man would have been a great Steward if he didn't have a vile personality and liked to torture maids he disliked. So long as it was none of her people, she wouldn't lift a finger though. Rather, there was no point. Her husband had a knack for finding vile people to serve him to do dirty deeds. "No need, she'll be staying with my son in his wing." She answered curtly as she looked out the tall hallway windows. She saw that snow began to fall heavily outside. It was winter, but their winters were strange in many ways. She watched as the once clear grounds began to whiten, speck by speck. "I beg your pardon, but that is inappropriate. Someone of Lady Bailey's prestige should not be in such l-... quarters..." He was about to say lowly. He of all people would know never to say such things to Empress Maria. Of all the things she did not tolerate, speaking badly of her child was the highest. She did not care if they spoke of the consort's child like that, nor of the Second prince or the firs who belonged to a concubine. They can speak for their children. She was about to barrage him with profanities when she had an idea. A gentle, knowing smile spread across her face, aimed at the steward. He was startled in turn. "Then do as such. Bless your soul." She uttered those words and walked off with a light step, her maid in tow. The steward was unsure of what to do, feeling something was definitely amiss. Unable to pinpoint what, he pushed the feeling aside and walked down the hall. He continued towards the door, unable to shake the feeling before he knocked on the door. "Steward Jenkins, here to speak with Lady Bailey!", the room was silent for a few moments before he received an answer from Desmond. "She has refused, please come again tomorrow." Steward Jenkins face darkened hearing Desmond. He pounded on the door with vigor this time. "By Decree of the Emperor, I've come to speak with Lady Bailey!". " She says no still." Steward Jenkins wasn't a very patient man with people he viewed lower than himself. He began to pound on the door without rest for a full minute before the door was pulled open with such force, he thought it was about to rip from the hinges. "What?" Avery was the one at the door. Her pure white hair brushed to the side and down her shoulders. She was still in the cotton dress Desmond gave her, this time though, there was no smile on her face. Steward Jenkins gulped as two glowing eyes stared back at him from the shadow of the doorway. A face of a celestial of course, but he thought for a moment he saw faint transparent golden flames coming from her eyes.