"How are we settling in?" A soft voice cooed as the door to Damselia's room opened and a human, or at least human looking, woman peeked in, freezing as she caught sight of Chris and Thomas.

"Not a dude. Damselia, you're good." Chris commented, glancing up briefly before turning back to the game. "Come on, it's your turn."

"Chris, we can't just ignore her." Thomas rolled his eyes, tossing down his cards as he got up, walking over to the woman. "Are you one of the captives here?"

The woman hesitated for a moment, looking between the three of them. "Yes… who are you? What are you doing here? Is this a rescue?"

"No, we're just here for her." Chris commented, gesturing to Damselia. "But you're welcome to come with us if you like. You know, when we actually leave."

The woman frowned. "And why are you not leaving?"

"Cause the moment we do we'll set off all the alarms, and we'd rather not do that just yet." Chris shrugged. "Makes it harder to get things done when everyone is looking for you."

"Hm, quite." The woman agreed, narrowing her eyes at them. "And what, pray tell, are you trying to do?"

"One of our friends has a friend here, and we're trying to get him out." Thomas explained.

The woman raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said this wasn't a rescue mission?"

"Well, he wasn't captured or anything, he's just not safe here. Supposedly. So we're trying to get him out." Thomas replied.

"I see. And that's all you're doing?" The woman asked. "Taking this woman and your friend?"

"Well, and you if you like." Thomas added. "We aren't trying to rescue anyone, but if the opportunity presents itself, we're open to it. I mean, taking one person isn't much different than taking two."

"It's actually a hundred percent different." Chris commented with a smirk.

Thomas glared at him. "Stop it."

"And how, exactly, do you plan to escape?" The woman asked.

Chris opened a portal. "With this."

The woman's eyes widened. "You- you can open portals here?"

Chris looked between her and the portal. "Obviously?"

The woman frowned. "Then I'm afraid I can't let you leave." She sighed, and in an instant she was in front of Chris, tearing out his throat! "But I suppose that was never an option." She growled, turning to Thomas as her eyes began to glow red.

Thomas scratched his head. "What are you, a vampire?"

"Yes." The woman smirked, licking her fingers before pausing and frowning at the suspicious lack of blood. "Why-"

"That was rude." Chris commented, stepping out of the portal and taking back his energy as her eyes widened. "Why does everyone feel the need to kill me? Do I give off some kind of vibe or something?"

"Well, I can confidently say I've wanted to kill you more than a few times, so maybe, yeah?" Thomas snickered.

"I wouldn't mind carving a thing or two off you." Damselia grumbled.

"How are you still alive!?!" The vampire hissed.

"Oh, we're immortal." Chris waved dismissively. "You want to hit me a few more times? Get it out of your system? You can hit Thomas too, but it's less satisfying. He doesn't come back as quickly." He paused. "Or would that make it more satisfying?"

"And what about her?" The vampire growled, turning to Damselia.

"Oh, don't do that." Chris shook his head, as suddenly the vampire was across the room, holding her by the throat. "You'll set off all the alarms."

"Chris, I don't think the alarms matter at this point." Thomas sighed.

"What do you mean? Sure, she knows we're here, but she hasn't told anyone yet, so no problem." Chris shrugged. "Once the alarm goes off, everyone will know. That's a problem."

"And the moment I kill her, they will." The vampire grinned, tightening her grip on Damselia and causing her to whimper.

"Right, so if you could not…" Chris sighed, turning to Thomas. "Can you do anything about this?"

"The fuck am I supposed to do?!?" Thomas exclaimed.

"I dunno, but if you do your thing while I do my thing, maybe we can make this work?" Chris shrugged.

"My thing?" Thomas asked.

"You know, the thing with the dungeon boss? Don't make me spell it out, she'll hear." Chris sighed, shaking his head.

Thomas blinked. "Oh, yeah. Okay, sure, let's do it."

"Stay back!" The vampire growled, gripping Damselia tighter. "I'll kill her!"

"It'll take more effort than that." Chris chuckled, opening his world around Damselia, before frowning as it spread around the vampire, but didn't cover her. "Damn, forgot about that. Thomas you're on your own."

"What? Why!?!" Thomas exclaimed.

"Can't get my world around her." Chris shrugged.

"Shit…" Thomas grumbled, sending some points at her, but that didn't work either as the vampire put up her Domain, creating a solid barrier that blocked them out. "And I'm done too. She's got a Domain, and she's keeping me out."

"So, we're done here?" Chris cocked his head.

"We're done here." Thomas nodded.

"Right, Damselia, in you go." Chris waved, sending her into his world as alarms began to go off. "Thomas, you too." He added, gesturing to the portal as he walked in.

"You aren't getting away from me!" The vampire roared, diving in after him, before disappearing as Chris sent her away.

"Damn it… now I have two people who hate me in here." Chris sighed.

*

As it turns out, getting a recruit in the middle of intense training alone was more difficult than Andrew had previously thought. It was, arguably, impossible. The recruits did everything together, from eating to shitting. As the day wore on, Andrew was getting more and more frustrated, seriously considering just walking out and shouting at Corek, damn the consequences, only the thought that they were trying not to piss people off holding him back, when the raid sirens began. Andrew blinked as the entire complex swarmed into action. "What are the odds this is unrelated…" He muttered under his breath, before letting out a sigh. "Slim." He glanced over to see Corek and the rest of his group being herded deeper into the complex by their trainers. "And there goes any chance of getting Corek alone any time soon. Fuck it, he's safe here." He shook his head, heading out of the complex. There was enough security around that the only way anyone would get to Corek in here would be if they brought an army. Or a shit ton of explosives… ugh, he needed to get Corek out of here.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Andrew made his way back to the mating quarters to find it swarming with soldiers, which… yeah, that made sense. Chris and Thomas must have gotten out with Damselia by now. He just needed to check… *Oh, what the shit, guys!* He groaned as he found a literal army clustered around one of Chris's portals.

"Give back Mistress Lithmara!" A giant orc roared at Chris through the portal as Andrew snuck his way in.

"Come in and get her." Chris retorted, looking bored as he rested in a recliner. "Who knows, maybe the fourth time's the charm?"

The orc growled, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth. "We will hunt you down and-"

"And what? Yell at me some more?" Chris cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Chris, why are you taunting them?" Andrew sighed as created a human core and appeared next to Chris. "Also, clothes please."

"They won't let me close the portal." Chris explained as he waved a hand, clothes appearing on Andrew. "They keep doing this spatial manipulation thing to expand it."

"So? Just leave them to it. Why do you need to sit here and mock them?" Andrew frowned.

Chris cocked his head. "Fun?"

"Of course. Why didn't I think of that?" Andrew rolled his eyes. "Is antagonizing them really the smartest thing we could be doing."

"Kinda too late, honestly." Chris shrugged. "We apparently kidnapped the city's ruler. This Lithmara woman. Vampire."

"Of course you did." Andrew pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Stop ignoring me!" The orc roared.

"Right, does Greg have a place for us yet?" Andrew asked.

"Yeah, kinda. We have to wait until he gets off work, though." Chris replied.

"Cool. You sent everything into lockdown, so there's no way we're doing anything around here any time soon." Andrew grumbled.

"You won't be doing anything around here ever!" The orc snapped.

"Like you can stop us." Chris rolled his eyes.

"Listen, we aren't here to cause problems, okay?" Andrew sighed. "We're just here to help out a friend."

"Then give back Mistress Lithmara and the rest of the people you've kidnapped!" The orc retorted.

Andrew blinked, turning back to Chris. "Why aren't you giving them back?"

Chris shrugged. "No reason. Kinda bored. Plus I don't like it when people demand things from me."

Andrew rolled his eyes. "What if they traded something for her. Shit, have them give us some of the women they've captured!"

Chris cocked his head. "That could work… okay, sure." He turned to the orc. "You heard him. Give us women and we'll give you back your people."

The orc glared at them for a moment. "Fine." He spat, turning to the men behind them. "Bring me four women. The ones on their last legs."

"Oh, come on now." Chris rolled his eyes. "You can't honestly believe your ruler is worth a few women who are going to die soon anyway, can you?"

The orc gritted his teeth. "Fine! Bring the four best women we have! Happy!?!" He growled at Chris.

"Eh?" Chris shrugged. "Oh, and bring the others too." The orc glared at him. "What? They're going to die soon anyway, right?" The orc growled, waving for his hand for his men to do as Chris asked. Chris turned to Andrew with a smirk. "See that? I got double."

Andrew rolled his eyes. "Good for you."

A few minutes later a group of eight women were herded into the room, looking nervous. Well, four looked nervous. The other four just looked around with these empty gazes, waiting for whatever was going to happen to them this time. "Alright, they're here. Give us our people." The orc demanded.

"Again with the demands." Chris muttered, a hint of annoyance in his tone as he waved his hand, Lithmara and the other three people appearing nearby.

"You!" Lithmara exclaimed, diving at him, only to be stopped by the indestructible white material that used to make up his world. He should think of a name for that stuff… worldium or something.

"Alright, send them in and I'll let them out." Chris replied, turning to the orc.

"No, no, you let them out, then we send them in." The orc retorted.

"So you can screw us over? No thank you." Chris snorted. "No, you go first."

"What, so you can screw us over?!?" The orc sneered. "You go first!"

Chris paused. "Half and half? I send out two, you send in four… actually, you send in all of them, and then I send out the other two."

The orc considered the offer for a moment. "I'll agree to that, as long as Mistress Lithmara is sent out first."

Chris rolled his eyes. "As if. She's the only one you care about. She goes last."

"Then no deal!" The orc growled.

"Well, then we're stuck, aren't we?" Chris shrugged. "I don't trust you, you don't trust me, and there's no way to do this without it. Unless you're desperate enough for her to take a chance?" Chris cocked his head, gesturing to the vampire struggling fruitlessly, glaring at him hatefully. "Cause I'm definitely not going first."

"If you do not hand over Mistress Lithmara, we will kill these women!" The orc roared.

Chris shrugged. "Eh? And then you'll need to get eight more… really, that's a bigger problem for you than me."

"Uh, Chris? I would rather the women not die." Andrew interjected nervously.

"Yeah, me too, but I'm not going to take the chance of not saving any of them because of it." Chris replied. "Besides, look at those four… they look like they want to be dead."

"Chris!" Andrew chastised him, shooting him a glare. "They're people! Don't be dismissive about their lives!"

Chris sighed. "So many rules. Fine, whatever, please don't kill them, but we're not handing Lithmara here over until they're in here. And if you kill them… I dunno, I'll torture her or something. I hear suffocation is rather unpleasant."

Andrew pinched the bridge of his nose. "Damn it, Chris, you can't just torture people!"

"I'm only going to do it if he kills them! Totally fair." Chris retorted. Andrew snorted, rolling his eyes, but didn't protest any further.

The orc grimaced. "Fine!" He snarled, turning to his men. "Send them in!" He ordered, before turning back to Chris. "But if you screw us on this, I swear, I will personally subject one of the other women here to the most heinous tortures you can imagine, right in front of you!"

Chris shrugged. "Fair."

The orc eyed him hesitantly for a moment, before letting out a 'feh!' and waving for his men to send the women in. The women were shoved into the world and Chris immediately sent them elsewhere, giving them a quick heal in the process. "Okay, y'all are free to go." Chris waved dismissively.

Lithmara continued to glare at him as he released her, before letting out a humph and stomping out of his world, followed by the others. "What are you all doing standing around here?!? Get back to work!" She demanded, sending all the soldiers scrambling out of the room to get back to wherever they were supposed to be. She took a moment to readjust herself, before turning back to Chris, holding her chin high. "Now, I believe it is time we reintroduce ourselves. I am Lithmara, Mistress of Obleck. Who-" She narrowed her eyes at Chris. "Are you?"

"I'm Chris… the World Eternal? Sound about right?" Chris cocked his head, turning to Andrew.

"Would that make me the Aura Eternal?" Andrew muttered. "Or Essence… or what was that list Narita gave us?"

"World, Body, Soul, Spirit." Chris listed off. "You'd be Spirit."

"Right!" Andrew nodded. "Right, I'm Andrew, the Spirit Eternal."

Lithmara frowned. "I don't believe I've ever heard of any 'Eternals' before."

"Yeah, we're new." Chris shrugged.

"I see." She muttered. "Fine, then why are you here?"

"Didn't we already tell you that?" Chris cocked his head. "To help a friend. His friend, actually." He gestured to Andrew with his thumb. "Other than that… I dunno, to look around? Get to know the area? Maybe do some recruiting?"

"Recruiting?" Lithmara asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, see, I can connect people to my world, making them immortal like me." Chris explained. "It also gives me some level of influence over them, including the ability to pull them in and out of my world at will, which… Well, you've experienced how powerful that can be."

Lithmara coughed awkwardly. "Yes…" She trailed off, blinking as she processed 'immortal'. "Wait, how immortal?" She asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Completely?" Chris replied, raising an eyebrow at her. "Can't die, age… Well, you can age, but I can just reset you back to whatever age you want to be at any time. We haven't actually been around long enough to say with any certainty you can't die from old age, despite your physical appearance, but I still say it's highly unlikely."

Lithmara froze. "That- is a very interesting ability."

"Isn't it?" Chris smirked.

"So… then you're here to offer us immortality… as long as we serve you." Lithmara frowned.

"Pretty much." Chris nodded. "Hence, recruiting."

"Thomas also has a system to give people. Lets you get stronger by doing tasks. About thirty attribute points a day." Andrew added.

"A day!?!" Lithmara sputtered. "What- where did you people come from!?!"

"We-" Chris began.

"Eh!" Andrew cut him off, shooting him a look. "You don't need to know that. All you need to know is that we are here. For better or for worse."

"I see." Lithmara sighed, considering everything she'd just learned. "I don't know how to deal with you people."

"That's a common sentiment." Chris chuckled.