Justin, sword drawn, was about to head to the enemy camp when he heard a noise behind him, like the sound of a stick snapping beneath someone’s foot.

He froze. He didn’t turn around. Not right away. He pushed out his senses, using his Aura Sight. As far as his Aura Sight was concerned, there was nothing there at all.

Could it had been an animal?

The thought didn’t make any sense. There were no animals anymore—not exactly. The animals had all been turned into beasts. Even insects had become beasts. Their auras he could feel, but they were so weak they were barely worth mentioning. Besides, how could an insect snap a tree branch?

The branch isn’t just going to snap by itself…

He pushed his hearing as hard as he could. There was something. The sound was muffled. Small. Almost as though it was coming from very far away.

Was that someone breathing?

He whirled around, ready to cast Winged Flight and be up in the air out of melee range in less than a second if necessary. What he saw behind him, in the direction of the noise, was…

Nothing.

Then it was something.

A woman blinked into existence. It wasn’t a teleportation. More like a glamour was being released. The woman was wearing armour—some kind of military uniform? She had a great big smile on her face that dimpled her cheeks as she looked over at him.

She doesn’t look threatening. At least, not right now. Actually, she’s kind of cute…

He cursed inwardly. She was clearly an invader to his world! He could not think of her as cute. That wasn’t how you treated the enemy!

He quickly scanned the woman, trying to ascertain whether she was a threat. Though if she had been a threat, wouldn’t she have attacked him while he was invisible?

{Human - Level 10}

He relaxed a little. Once she’d appeared, her aura had become visible. It was somewhat weak, so he should have known she wasn’t very high level. Still, that didn’t mean she wasn’t a threat. The woman could easily alert others of his whereabouts if she so wished.

“Hi,” the woman said with a smile. “My name is Allegra. Do you want to be friends?”

Justin frowned. “What?” The tip of his sword was pointed toward her. This was clearly not a situation where one made friends. “You’re an enemy of Earth,” Justin said, feeling a little less sure, once more thinking, What would Xavier do? Would Xavier just kill this woman on the spot? But she didn’t appear to want to harm him.

Maybe she’s trying to trap me. Trick me.

But that seemed like a rather idiotic thing to do.

Allegra shook her head. “I’m not, actually.”

Justin frowned even more. “You’re not?” He looked her up and down, which made her smirk. He was only examining her armour! “You don’t look like you’re from Earth.” He hadn’t seen anyone from Earth with armour as good as hers, except for those in his party. Then again, he hadn’t encountered many people from Earth since they’d gotten back, so what did he know?

“Oh, I’m not from Earth! But I’m not your enemy.” She pointed toward the enemy camp Justin had been headed toward. “I just escaped from my home world.” Her face shifted. There was a look of anger on it now. “I do not want to be a part of what they do. I do not want to be a part of the First Army.” She shook her head violently. “They controlled every one of my actions. Tell me, would you want to live your life like that?”

Justin’s mouth fell open, not sure what to say. He cleared his throat. “Ah, no. I wouldn’t want that.”

She stepped forward. It wasn’t a threatening movement. Her face was no longer filled with anger, her expression softening. “I can help you take them down, if you like.” She nodded toward the camp.

“You would betray your own people?” Justin asked. He couldn’t in a million years imagine doing something like that.

The woman’s expression shifted, the anger returning. Though it didn’t last as long this time. “They came here to invade your world. Why are you taking their side?”

Justin didn’t really know what to say to that, although he struggled to see why he should trust someone who would so easily betray their own, he supposed he had no idea what this woman could have been through in her life to get to this point. She’d clearly run away for a reason.

And now, what, she wants revenge?

Justin tilted his head to the side, still wanting to get more answers from this woman. “Why don’t you just… run away? Leave them be?”

Allegra bit her lip. She looked away. “I sensed your power.”

My power? Justin thought. She says that like she thinks I’m strong.

“With an aura like that, you must be one of the most powerful people on this world.”

Justin ran his left hand through his hair, suddenly feeling a little sheepish. “Well, maybe…” He liked the sound of that.

“The reason I left is because I wanted a chance to set my own course. And it’s not really fair, to invade a world like this that is just getting started, is it?”

“No.” Justin found himself nodding. “It’s not fair.” He remembered seeing all the people Xavier had saved back in that invaders camp. The ones who were not citizens of their base. “Are they holding any captives?” That had been the reason he’d come down here, and clearly she must have moved through the camp to get out here. She would better know what was happening within it.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Allegra nodded. “Several.” There was a bit of bite in her words. “Innocents don’t deserve to become slaves just because they’re weaker than others.”

“Don’t you have some sort of contract you need to adhere to?” Justin asked. “How can you escape so easily?”

She looked taken aback by this. “Contract? I’m not high enough rank in the military that one was needed, and I’m not a slave, even if I’ve been treated like one…”

Curious. Justin had assumed that a lot of other worlds would make their soldiers sign loyalty contracts. Maybe some worlds did. But he supposed that wasn’t always the case. He was glad for that, if he were honest.

So far, the Greater Universe seemed like a very cold place. That everyone out there cared for nothing more than power. Even he, for the most part, only cared about gaining more power—but the reason he cared about it was so he could protect those he cared about, not so he could control anyone.

He paused. “Innocents don’t deserve to become slaves… so there are people who do?”

Allegra nodded. “I think so.”

Justin wondered how that kind of opinion would have been received on pre-integration Earth. Then again, plenty of prisoners in America were forced to work. What was that but indentured slavery for the things that they’d done?

With his mind on contracts, he realised there was an easy solution to his problem here. “I want to trust you, Allegra. I really do. But you could easily be setting up a trap for me.”

“I’m not,” she said. “I’ve taken a risk, revealing myself to you. You could crush me like a bug if you wanted to.”

He supposed she was right, but that didn’t mean he could trust her just because he could defeat her. “Will you sign a contract with me?”

The woman took a swift step back. She clutched a ring on one of her fingers—it didn’t look like a Storage Ring. He wondered if that item was how she’d become invisible in the first place. He couldn’t imagine someone at Level 10 possessing a skill strong enough to allow her to do something like that. “I won’t become your slave.”

Justin raised his off hand in a placating gesture, which was a little difficult to pull off when in his other hand he held a sword. “That’s not what I’m asking for.”

She relaxed a little, realisation dawning in her eyes. “A truth contract.”

Justin nodded. He hadn’t heard the term before, but he figured that was what he was after.

A moment later, a notification appeared in his vision.

The notification outlined the details of the contract—for the next five minutes, neither party would be able to tell a lie, but they were allowed to refuse to answer something. He appreciated that last clause.

Justin signed the contract without another thought, then they questioned each other for a few minutes. As they talked, each of them grew increasingly relaxed. He hadn’t realised how tense the woman had been until her shoulders were no longer so stiff.

There was one thing she hadn’t been entirely truthful on the first time they’d spoken. Apparently she’d wanted to be a part of the invasion force—so she could finally move up in the world and increase her level. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that, but given the world she’d lived in… he supposed it made sense.

But when she’d realised she could just run away from it all, she knew she didn’t have to live by their values any longer. So, he supposed it hadn’t been a complete lie.

By the end of their conversation, they were both satisfied that they could trust one another. Justin had to say, he was glad these System contracts existed, even if he knew they would sometimes be used for nefarious purposes—like making others into salves—they were at least helpful in times like this.

“How long does that invisibility last?” he asked.

The woman touched her ring again. “It’s one-use. Lasts for an entire hour in total. I’ve only used a few minutes of it, but…”

“You don’t want to use too much of it,’ Justin said. “I understand.” He thought about things for a moment. If his aura was as powerful as she’d said, the enemy would notice him pretty quickly. “How many captives did you see in the camp?” He didn’t want to risk people’s lives.

The woman came to stand beside him. They both faced the direction of the camp. Allegra rested a hand on her hip. “Twenty, maybe. I wasn’t really paying attention—I was just trying to get out of there as fast as I could.”

Justin nodded. “That makes sense. I wouldn’t have wanted to stick around long either.” He tapped his foot on the ground. Before she’d come, his plan had been to run into danger. That didn’t seem all that smart, however. And he didn’t want her to think he hadn’t thought this though.

Allegra was still touching her ring. “If I help you with this, will you allow me to join you? You’re strong—you must have friends here. Others like you.”

Justin wasn’t sure how much he should tell her. They hadn’t sworn each other to secrecy, after all. “I’m not sure that’s up to me.”

She blinked. “Not up to you? You aren’t the leader of your people?”

Justin laughed. “No. I’m definitely not the leader.” He smiled. “Though I like that you thought I was.” This Allegra was definitely inflating his ego. “Would you be willing to sign a contract of secrecy? There are things we don’t want others to know.”

“Are you bad people?” she asked.

Justin shook his head. “I don’t think we are. We just want to protect our planet.”

Allegra nodded. “That’s honourable. I can understand that.” She released a sigh. “All right. I’ll do it.”

“Then I’m sure you’ll be welcomed.” He paused. “In fact, I’ll make sure of it. We could use all the help we can get. There’s a lot to be done on this world.”

Allegra smiled. “It’ll be good to be useful.” She raised her hand, the one with the ring on it, and took it off her finger. She held it out to him. “If you activate this, they won’t be able to sense your aura, and you’ll be invisible. You’ll be able to walk straight into the camp.”

Justin hesitated before taking it. “You’re trusting me with this?”

The woman shrugged. “I want it back, and I expect you not to use any more than you need. But yes. I am.”

He still didn’t feel right taking the item from her. The way she was looking at the ring, it was precious to her, though he hadn’t asked how she’d gotten it. Something told him it was personal, and he didn’t want to push. “I’ll use as little as I can. I promise. But what will you do?”

Allegra released a sigh. “I will be a distraction.”

Justin slid the ring on. At first, he’d worried it wouldn’t fit his finger, but it magically adjusted its size. When he focused on it, he could feel its imbued ability. All he would need to do was activate it.

He looked over at Allegra. “Thank you for this.” This was all feeling a little too good to be true, but the contract had ensured that she was telling him the truth. He was still waiting for some kind of catch. “Why did you decide to escape now? Into our world? What… what was it that made you think you could?”

“A severed head flew through the portal I was guarding. Then the portal disappeared.”

“A severed head?” Justin asked. “That’s… whoa. Who would do something like that?”

She blinked. “Someone who’s trying to send us a message—that this world isn’t for them.”

“Another invading world?”

She shook her head. “No. This isn’t something they would do. Whatever happens on this world… it doesn’t affect the greater political situation. Not to a great degree, at least. That would violate the treaties that are in place. Not that they haven’t been broken in the past… But for someone to send a head through the portal, well, it feels far more personal. It must have come from someone on your world.”

Xavier, Justin thought. Would he do something like that? The answer came to him immediately. Of course he would. In a heartbeat.

Allegra took a step toward him. Her eyes narrowed. “What’s that look? Do you know who did it?”

“I think so.” He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, thinking about the captives in the camp ahead. Maybe throwing a severed head through a portal wasn’t all that crazy. Especially if a message like that already got one of their soldiers to defect…

Those people need saving.

He touched the ring. “I’m going in.”

Allegra nodded. “I’ll be right behind you. I’ll get their attention before they ever know you’re there.”

Justin cast Winged Flight. Wings grew from his back, expanding to his sides.

Allegra’s eyes widened. “Whoa.” She took a stumbling step back. “You can grow wings? That’s awesome!”

He smiled. He’d been hoping for a reaction like this. Much better than the reaction he’d gotten the first time he’d used the spell…

He flapped his wings and rose into the air. Then he activated the skill, becoming invisible. He would come down on them from above.

And they’ll never see me coming.