The morning had come too soon. Both of the residents of the neighboring bunks were still fast asleep, but I had a big day in front of me. I planned to spend it exploring the fortress, learning the lay of the land of Lobsterhead.

Again, it was a structure greater than any I had been in before, so naturally I was more than a little excited to wander its great stone halls. It expanded what I had thought possible for people to accomplish.

I checked to make sure my bunkmates were still asleep. Then, groggily, I projected my [Status] onto the air in front of me.

Ghul

Vestige: The Behemoth (Active)

Might: VI

Arcana: I

Intellect: III

Dexterity: IV

Authority: I

Traits: Strong, Durable

Abilities: Empower I (62.19%) Inflame I (00.03%) Windslash I (04.54%)

I knew I was nothing compared to a god, but, I was proud of the work I had put into my attributes. I had made a handful of very real and tangible improvements since the activation of my System a handful of months before. Which, by my understanding, was more than a little unusual in such a short time frame.

Improvement timelines via the Chrysalis System were measured in years. I'd done it in months. In some cases, even weeks. My only hope was that it would prepare me for whatever I'd face in the Legion or at Lobsterhead.

Kylen, the red-headed farmer, made a noise in his bed as he turned over on his bed. My heart nearly leaped out of my chest. I quickly flickered my [Status] into non-existence and watched him like a hawk to ensure he was still asleep. The slow rise and fall of his chest was a welcome reassurance.

Secrecy was paramount. Delta'd been cagey about the dangers my improvement would bring, but I wasn't feeling like finding anything out for myself. Kylen, Eyes, and I might've made a compact, but that didn't mean I was going to lay my soul bare to them. I had no way to know if they were trustworthy or not, and that wasn't a chance I wanted to take.

I was a man on a mission. I needed to grow powerful enough to fight Beluga, and that couldn't happen if I never got off the ground.

Speaking of Eyes, his bed across the circular room was empty. He'd evidently woken up before I did because there was no sign of him nearby. The quiet boy was a little odd, but so far he'd given me no reason to dislike him. He was a little impeccably groomed for my taste, though. I wasn't sure why, but I got the feeling he grew up somewhere lavish.

I found him, and others, within the common mess of Fletcher Hall that each bunkroom connected to. It was a combination of a lounge and a dining room with both tables and sofas sharing one space. A smattering of enlistees had taken up spots in armchairs in a cluster near one wall. Eyes was among them, unspeaking, but still intently listening to their conversation.

I made a mental note to watch for his listening. As I got closer, I did some eavesdropping of my own. They were talking about the impending conflict Delta had spoken of, the one I'd been assured was unlikely to happen soon- a war between the Principalities of Kanaada and the Empire of New Rome. But, unlikely didn't mean it was impossible.

"There's no shot Kanaada launches an assault across the Erie," One of them exclaimed. "It's already become a graveyard for both Imperial and Principality ships."

He was well-dressed in fine leather traveler's garb and a cloak and spoke loudly enough to drown out the voices of his peers. He didn't have the natural presence of some leaders, but, his voice definitely carried across empty space. I walked over to join them.

The Erie was a large body of water near the western edge of the Empire, forming a natural boundary between New Rome and Kanaada. It was a plentiful source of fresh drinking water, and, incredibly treacherous for any who wanted to cross.

A softer, female voice responded.

"If they've figured out some way to make it past the Horrors of the Lakes, they could be within the Empire proper within the week. There's no reason that The Psychic Prince can't learn to boss around some fish."

The Psychic Prince was one of Kanaada's divines, one who was on famously bad terms with Zeus. Their feud was the stuff of legends. Instead of having powers like the Lord of Lightning, he had the capability of using the System to dominate the minds of men. The Temple Authority regularly spoke of his evil, conniving nature.

The assembled group made various expressions of skepticism. One scoffed and said, "That's a big 'if,' Phoebe. A stormsturgeon is an oversized Horror, not just some random fish."

"Faunus can control Horrors. What stops The Psychic Prince?" She rebutted.

Faunus was a name I recognized. He was a member of Zeus' pantheon that spent most of his time away from the public eye. He had something to do with trees or nature. I couldn't remember which.

"The Green Man's ability with animals is unequaled. It is heresy to suggest that any Prince could possibly be his match." The same boy responded. An edge bled into his tone, his words biting. Still, Phoebe pressed the point. The hackles of the crowd were raised.

"It would not take someone matching Faunus," she said. "Just someone with an echo of a similar ability."

The group wasn't placated, but she'd done a good job of shifting the discussion away from an accusation of heresy. The conversation lulled. I took advantage of the temporary silence and sat near them. I was accepted neutrally, a few of them nodding my way when I pulled up a chair. I got the usual assortment of reactions at my size, double-takes, sputtering, and rapid blinking.

I'd never actually been to the Erie, so I wasn't familiar with what they spoke of beyond what I'd heard in rumors and stories. Faunus, also, did not spend a lot of time on my side of the Empire. He practically never left mountainous Appalachia, and even there he was said to be elusive.

Another voice joined the fray. This one came from a boy with curly black hair, and eyes that were accented by oversized bags, making him look tired beyond his years.

"The assembly seems to think we'll be at war before the first snow. It's a guess, but it'll definitely be before the lake has a chance to freeze."

Phoebe inclined her head at him.

"Thanks, Weiland. I'm glad that someone here sees the risk."

Weiland didn't respond. That didn't seem to bother Phoebe. The other boy, the one in traveling leathers, rolled his eyes at their whole exchange. I didn't know if he was just a snob, or if some history already existed between them. I didn't really care for passive aggression. So, I decided this was my opportunity to get a word in, and maybe meet some of my fellow enlistees.

"Has anyone checked out the rest of the fort yet? It seems really big, and I've got no real idea where to start." I asked and then added. "I'm Ghul, by the way. It's nice to meet you all."

My introduction was sloppy. I hoped it wouldn't matter because everyone was already strangers, coming from various places across the empire.

Weiland sounded bored when he spoke. I had no idea if it was because of me, or if that was just the way he talked. His was a slow drawl that seemed to stretch every word out. "Some of us are going to watch a Galestalker hopeful fight," He said. "He's going to go and try to earn his wings in the arena. You're welcome to join us"

He mulled something over in his head for a moment, and then added, "We could even take a scenic route to the pits. It wouldn't be a perfect tour of the place, but it'd be a start."

"Earn his wings? What does that mean? " I asked. I had a general clue what a Galerider was, but only because Toby had insisted that Delta likely was one.

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"They've gotta prove they're worthy of joining the order. Most aren't." Weiland said.

"They accomplish that by dueling with an already inducted member of the order. If they win or come close, then they've 'earned' a spot amongst them. It's a very prestigious position, and it's rare for them to even allow people to try out. Only the best. It's an event called a Trial of Worth, and almost every military order has one."

A chance to see what the best in the Legion looked like? I couldn't wait. I wanted to see the physical representation of the goals I had to work towards: the noble few that followed behind Zeus into battle, they that marched in step with the gods.

He raised a hand flippantly, "Like, the current Sword was once a Galestalker, although he's since stepped away. If you think you're worthy of being peers with the Sword of Zeus, then you can go right ahead and try. "

Weiland looked me dead in the eye and raised his eyebrows.

"Either way, you can bet it'll be a fight worth watching."

Phoebe snorted. "Okay, battlefreak. Save some entertainment for the rest of us. There's more to do here than watch people pound the snot out of each other."

"Like what? Learn about how best to pound the snot out of each other? " The boy who'd been arguing with her earlier retorted.

Phoebe rolled her eyes and turned to me. "Or, maybe you could go to the Zoo. Lobsterhead is actually home to the Empire's largest collection of domesticated horrors. They're kept in a massive network of subterranean cells shaped into the stone of the Earth." She dropped her voice down to a whisper and then looked around the room like she was checking to see if anyone was listening. "They call it The Depths. It's what they do with the enlisted who aren't showing any promise."

She clacked her teeth together in a biting motion. "They feed 'em to the beasties underground."

That was a juvenile tall-tale. One so outrageous that it couldn't possibly be true. I chuckled about it to myself.

"Don't be such an ass, Phoebe." Weiland admonished.

"What?" Phoebe feigned ignorance. "I heard it from a reliable source. It's not my fault you don't believe me."

They bickered back and forth for a few seconds more, and then Weiland turned to me.

"The Depths are real," He explained "It's just that none of us newbies are allowed to know what's in them. It's one of the 'secrets' of Lobsterhead. You either find out by seniority, or by someone accidentally letting something slip."

I scratched the back of my neck. "How do we know they're real? Sounds like the kind of story someone tells the greenhorns for a laugh."

"We know because they aren't hidden," Weiland said. "The very opposite, in fact. There's an inverse pyramid of stairs near the center of the Citadel. That's the entrance. We'll pass by it on our way to the arena if you decide to join us."

It wasn't like I had any better way to spend my afternoon. There's only so much time you can spend swinging a sword around without instruction before it becomes unproductive, but, I'd definitely need to find a place to practice soon. I was hoping the facilities would be nice because Lobsterhead was a military installation

"Yeah, I'm in. The Trial of Worth sounds like it'll be informative" I told him. It was true. I was hoping that I'd glean some insight about power from watching the powerful.

Weiland gave me an odd look.

"Informative? Y'know, you're allowed to say that the Trial of Worth'll be awesome."

He had a point. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to watch a brawl between immortals.

* * *

A few hours later I found myself walking side-by-side Eyes and Weiland through the streets of the fortress city.

Lobsterhead wasn't like any structure I'd been in before. Every road, building, and public space looked like they had been carved from a massive block of the same gray stone. There was no place where the rocky foundation of a structure ended and the building began. It was a smooth, seamless transition from ground to wall. It was like countless years of erosion and weathering had done their work and by happenstance left behind a fully-formed town.

If it all came from one rock I thought did that mean that buildings with multiple stories were tunnels? And how big was the rock?

As we walked, I noted that housing everywhere was as dense as the halls like Fletcher. Or denser. In the residential ward, people were practically overflowing onto the streets. The crowds made me feel vulnerable. This was the perfect place for someone to get robbed. Apart from that, there were actually a fair amount of people who I'd affectionately call 'urchins.' Beggars and gutter rats had always made me feel at peace. They were something I knew.

They reminded me of Lille. The thought of where I grew up hurt. Then, for the first time since I left, I longed for the familiar streets of my youth. I knew I couldn't go back. That door had been forcibly closed on me. That didn't mean that I didn't want to.

On a less somber note, our journey through the streets also exposed that extreme wealthy disparity existed here, too. I might've seen urchins abound, but, I also saw those from the lap of luxury.

The notable exception to the compact housing was a few 'important' neighborhoods that had oversized housing in the citadel. With the citadel being in the center of town, and the town getting progressively higher the closer to the center you got, it wasn't wrong to say that you could literally see the larger homes looking down on the poorer regions of town. Many of them had balconies overlooking the blocks of legion tenements. I couldn't imagine that the view was great.

Their terraces were beautiful; lavish gardens of vibrant colors of every shade, fountains with ever-running water, and ornate railings to match. It almost felt cruel. Like they were reminding those suffering below of their place in the world.

Weiland interrupted my thoughts by snapping twice in front of my face. He had to reach far above his head to do so, which made him look a little strange.

"Ghul? We're here." He said, although his voice sounded uncertain. "Are you alright up there? You seem a little distracted, you've been mumbling for the last half-mile."

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied. "Just taking in the sights. Lobsterhead is much bigger than where I'm from. Even if the streets are a little cramped."

Weiland nodded like he understood. "Yeah, I always hear that moving to a city for the first time is a rough transition. I grew up in New Rome, so it wasn't one that I ever had to make. But I feel ya."

That was neat. I'd never met someone from the Empire's heart before. At the mention of New Rome, Eyes began to watch our conversation intensely.

"You're from the capital? What's that like? Have you ever seen Zeus?" I quizzed.

"It's a place without comparison. New Rome is the city to end all cities. It makes Lobsterhead look like a village. And no, I've never seen Zeus. Most haven't. The High Court is a pretty exclusive place, even when the Emperor isn't present."

The High Court was where Zeus' throne sat. It was his seat of power, and to be invited there was an honor beyond words.

Weiland took a deep breath, sighed, and continued, "Anyway, again, we're here. Let's head in and make sure we can nab a good seat. I'd like to have a good view of the Trial."

That sounded good to me. Although I wondered how much competition there'd actually be for a spot in the audience at an event like this. Fights between immortals weren't the kind of thing that one attended; it was the kind of thing you ran from.

The building Weiland led Eyes and me into was closer to a pit than an arena. It was cylindrical in shape and went deep below street level. We'd be watching the fight from seats overlooking a balcony above. There was a fair amount of stone between the audience and the ring to sink up any stray abilities thrown by the fighters, but, judging by damages going up to the level where people sat, it hadn't always been effective. Like everything else about the fort, this arena had been dug out of preexisting rock.

We waited for a while. I made a joke about jumping down to join them. Eyes grinned. Weiland just snorted and shook his head.

Then, the crowd got quiet. The sound of stone grinding against stone rang out as two doors opened on either side of the ring. Two figures stepped through and stood opposite each other in the arena.

I was expecting them to be similar. They were both either a Galestalker hopeful or a Galestalker themselves, and I thought that meant that they'd be likely to have similar combat styles and physicality. I didn't expect them to be perfect copies of one another, but I thought it'd at least be close.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

One of them had come armored to the teeth: a chain coif spilled around his neck, a dark set of plate mail covered his chest and appendages, and he held a round steel shield half as tall as he was. He was dressed for combat. And, it looked like he was pulling out anything he could for this fight. He had an ornamental axe with a large ruby set in the middle of its head. I thought it looked tacky. It was meant to be looked at and not used. That made it a pretty poor axe in my book. With that said the equipment he was wearing was probably worth more gold than I'd ever seen.

The other wore the loose-fitting slack of a pair of legion pants and a plain shirt. She had brought no armor or even a weapon. She looked entirely relaxed. Had someone not told her to bring equipment? She was about to participate in a Trial of Worth! The Galestalker would tear her to shreds, ugly axe or not!

The trained voice of an announcer rang out over the arena. He spoke with a fair amount of dramatic flourish.

"Today, we gather to witness Ser Androk of Ossipee attempt to earn his wings!" He boomed.

"This timeless challenge has roots dating back to the founding of the Empire before the Divine Law of Zeus reigned supreme! There is no truer test of a person's mettle than to go up against one of Stormbrood themselves! A Galestalker!"

The audience roared in agreement. It was becoming apparent to me that being a Galestalker was a big deal. I knew it must've been, but they were yelling like it was Zeus himself who had arrived in the arena.

"We have the honor to be joined by Eunike, famous for her imprisoning of the Lord of Everflowing Flesh. She'll be administering the Trial for Ser Androk. May she be as merciful as she is powerful!"

Shouts from the crowd accented each of his words. When the identity of the girl in casual dress was revealed, there was an audible oooooh throughout the stands. I'd never heard of her before and I was beginning to think that my upbringing was more sheltered than I'd realized. I was also unfamiliar with Ser Androk of Ossipee, but he'd gotten much less of a reaction from the crowd.

I'd misjudged the situation initially. Eunike, the one who I'd thought would get torn to pieces, was actually the favorite to win the bout. She was the Galestalker, not the man with the gaudy weapon. Being so heavily favored that you didn't feel the need to wear armor was a level of confidence I aspired to have one day. It felt like ego to the point of foolishness. But, I wasn't going to question a hero of the Empire. She probably knew something I didn't.

Plus, if she was anything like Delta, it wasn't like Androk was going to be able to permanently hurt her.

The audience was spoiling for a fight. There was a palpable excitement in the air. I'd say it stuck to your skin like a fog, but, that might've just been the heat from how densely packed the seating around me was.

"Combatants!" The announcer addressed the pair below. "Are you ready?"

They both nodded. Then, Eunike brought her hands together and cracked her knuckles. She gave Androk half of a bow, then leaned back onto her feet and assumed an unarmed fighting posture. Androk returned her bow with a much deeper one of his own and then drew his axe from his belt.

"Let the Trial Commence!"