First Lieutenant Firenz Altena stood guard by his portal on the planet Nasrien. He had a halberd in his hand, gripped tight, though the wood was slick where he held it from the sweat on his palms. He looked over at the other guards by the other portals.

Most days, the guards had barely bothered to show up for duty. They each covered for the other, but Firenz was pretty sure their superiors had been aware of the situation—not much gets past them.

But since those severed heads started tumbling through the portals, and those invasion camps had been taken out, things had changed.

Firenz was feeling spooked. Which was the last thing he expected to feel. Guard duty had been nothing more than a laugh till now. They’d all known there was no way anyone would come through the portals that wasn’t one of their own. They weren’t here to guard, they were just here to monitor activity.

Otherwise they would have put E Grades, even D Grades, by the portals. Not Level 10 F Grades like himself.

When he’d first got this duty a couple of weeks ago, he’d wanted nothing more than to step through that portal and join the invasion force. But that hadn’t been an option.

He hoped it would be in the future…

Someone came through his portal. His eyes widened. He dipped his halberd, the spearhead on top pointing forward, ready to fight whoever it was. And if it ended up being one of his own? Well, he could take the ridicule of being a little spooked.

He’d heard the rumours, after all. Heard about the information packet that had been doing the rounds. Words spread fast in the First Army.

There’s a True Progenitor on Earth.

But the person who walked through was someone he instantly recognised. Someone who’d gone missing the day before. He’d heard she’d been at one of the invasion camps before a man with wings had come to wipe it out.

No one had known why she had been there. Honestly, it hadn’t made any sense to him. The reports made it sound like she’d come from somewhere else on the planet Earth, as she’d stepped into the camp from the forest. But that shouldn’t have been possible.

“Allegra?” Firenz straightened. Placed the butt of his halberd on the ground. “Where have you been?” He scratched his head. “Thought you were, well… dead.”

Allegra glanced around, saw the other guards, the remaining open portals—only about four of them. She didn’t look at Firenz. Didn’t reply to him either, which he thought was a bit rude. But what can you do. He was used to being ignored by women. Not usually while he was working, though.

Allegra tilted her head to the side, almost as though she was listening to something, then finally she looked at him. There was pity in her eyes. “Sorry about this, Firenz.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Sorry… about what?” The sweating of his palms did not subside.

Someone stepped through the portal. Several someones. He didn’t recognise them, but from the emblems emblazoned on their armour and stitched into their robes they were clearly soldiers from Nasrien.

But something about them didn’t look right.

He didn’t have much time to think on it, however, as purple mist shot forth from one of them. It slipped into his nose, his mouth, his eyes, even his ears.

What the hell?

“The area is secure,” the man with the scythe-staff said. The man who’d cast the mind control spell.

Secure?

Firenz tried to sound the alarm. Tried to communicate with his superiors. He had a Communication Stone for just this purpose. His direct superior didn’t appreciate being disturbed—she said she disliked his voice, and the last thing she wanted was to hear it stabbing straight into her mind when she was in the middle of something—but as this was an emergency, he figured he would be forgiven.

Only the Communication Stone didn’t work. Or rather, his mind wouldn’t use it. There was a command locked deep inside his subconscious that was preventing him from using it.

No matter what he did, no matter how much he pushed his mind, he simply wasn’t able to make a difference.

Invaders had come to his world from the planet Earth, and he was useless in defending against them.

~

Guardsman Thom Ande stood at attention at the Off-Worlder Prison. The prison was a few miles from the Invasion Force Division’s First Army Base, a place he’d much rather be. He’d trained hard to get to E Grade. He certainly hadn’t done it so he could spend his time standing in one spot all day. Didn’t they know he was meant for something more?

Honestly, as much pride as he had in his world, sometimes he wished he’d never come back when he’d went on those training missions to other worlds. He now understand why rogue adventure parties and guilds were such a big thing within the sector—groups of people that had no ties to any particular world.

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They simply roamed all over the Silver River sector looking for beasts to fight and loot to grab.

Sounds like the life.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d fought a beast.

He scuffed his boot on the stone beneath him. Sighed. Then looked over at the people heading his way.

Odd.

There had been a lot of visitors at the person lately, something which was unusual because despite the fact that this place had roughly one hundred guards, nothing ever actually happened here.

Nothing interesting, anyway.

Thom stepped aside. They were all wearing armour or robes emblazoned with the emblem of the First Army, and going by the way they looked, they were in a hurry. The last thing he wanted to do was stop them and ask why they were here, even if that was protocol.

The last time he’d followed protocol he’d had the crap chewed out of him by a woman who could probably crush him with her pinkie finger.

Not something he wanted to experience again. It doesn’t pay to piss off someone more powerful. He’d learnt that the hard way.

That’s how I got this damned position in the first place.

The soldiers passing him didn’t so much as nod, something which he appreciated. Though he did wonder what all of the commotion at the prison lately had been about.

~

“That was easy,” Howard muttered. “Little too easy.”

The guard hadn’t stopped them, like Allegra said the man would. He had barely looked at them. He’d just let Howard, Siobhan, and Melissa step right through, and Xavier wasn’t even there to influence the man with his mind control powers.

Melissa gave him a sharp look. He almost laughed, seeing the expression. It was the kind of look his wife would give him when he spoke in the middle of a movie at the cinema. A death glare of silence.

Except Melissa wasn’t Kelly, and they weren’t at the cinema watching a movie. They were on an alien, hostile world, and now was not the time to laugh.

They had someone they needed to save.

Melissa led the way through the narrow halls. She might not be as high level as them, but she was quiet on her feet. Xavier had given her the Blood Tracker, and she was following it now—Howard wondered how the guard might have missed that ball whizzing past him.

Seems like he was barely paying attention when we arrived. Seemed bored, to be honest.

Howard had done his fair share of guard details in his time. More than once he had been tasked with babysitting a crime scene, which amounted to standing in front of the crime scene tape and putting his hand out to stop people going on, or raising the tape to let them pass.

He’d never once had to use force to stop someone from going through. It wasn’t the most stimulating part of his old job.

Sometimes the detectives would nod at him as they went through, other times they would barely even notice he was there. The crime scene techs were a bit nicer, but just as focused.

He could see how this man might have gotten bored.

Doesn’t mean you can’t do your job.

Allegra had told them the layout of this prison. She hadn’t known this was where Justin would be, but she said it was the most likely place for them to hold him, and the Blood Tracker had confirmed it after they’d secured the area around the gate.

If it wasn’t for the contract that Xavier had with the Allegra, Howard would be worried they were walking into trap.

What a perfect way to get the most powerful Denizens on Earth out of the way.

Well, if he were honest, he still felt like they were walking into a trap.

If she breaks the contract, it will cause her death, but how many people have blindly died for the things they believed in?

There were far too many to count.

Howard gritted his teeth and walked on his blood running hot through his veins as he considered what they would do if this whole operation went pear-shaped.

Xavier should be here. With us. Not off trying to get revenge.

Howard had always been one to fight for justice, not vengeance. But the world had gone and changed on him, and now vengeance seemed a far more reasonable goal than it ever had.

~

Justin sat at the far wall away from the bars in his cell. His arms were wrapped around his knees, his head down, buried between them, and his mind was roiling with the words that woman had just told him.

The Silver River sector knew that Xavier Collins was a True Progenitor. He’d left earth. Made a statement in blood and death. Trying to tell the sector that Earth was off-limits.

And for the most part, it appeared as though the sector was willing to listen.

But now they know I’m a part of Xavier’s party.

The woman had simply smiled at him after she’d mentioned Xavier’s name. Justin hadn’t been able to hide his surprise at the name. It was the last thing he had expected the woman to mention. How could he hide his shock? So she’d known.

That’s when the torture had started.

The woman had opened the bars to his cell. He’d tried to go invisible, but the woman had him by the throat a split-second after he had. Then the cell’s bars had closed behind her.

No escape.

He’d become visible again. No point wasting the invisibility if there was nowhere to go. If he was already trapped.

God, he hated being trapped.

Justin wasn’t going to betray his world. Wasn’t going to sign a contract of servitude. But the pain he endured… it was too much. And the woman wasn’t asking him to serve.

Not yet.

No. She had simply been asking him for information. And wouldn’t it be better, to speak the truth through a contract, than to endure such pain? What did it matter what this world knew of Xavier Collins, if there was no way of them getting to him while the restrictions were in place?

He’d felt a deep shame as her words began to make more and more sense through the haze of pain. He’d thought, as he grew in levels and power, that he’d become better at enduring pain. Both his Toughness attribute and his Willpower attribute helped him withstand pain, after all.

But this woman was experienced in the delivery of anguish. Apparently, she’d been an Inquisitor before she’d been a member of the council, and torturing people into contracts had been what she’d done best.

There was a wicked smile on her face the entire time she worked on him that told him she’d missed her old job far too much. Told him that this woman was only getting started.

He’d rather die than serve this world in any capacity. Something he’d told her several times. But she’d told him that death was a reward he didn’t deserve. That death was something he would have to wait a long time to receive, but relief from his pain could happen at any moment he wished.

He’d cracked. He hated himself for it. But he’d cracked. And he’d given her everything. Told her every little detail he knew about Xavier. Now that Xavier had exposed himself to the Silver River sector, Justin didn’t think it would matter that she knew. At least, that’s what he tried to tell himself.

He hated that he’d done this. Hated himself for doing it.

Howard was able to withstand the contract that he’d been forced to take. Why couldn’t I withstand this one?

But he knew that it wasn’t always that easy. He hoped that Xavier would forgive him. Assuming he would ever see the man again.

I only signed a contract of truth, he told himself. I would never sign anything worse than that.

But he knew that wasn’t the worst thing. The worst thing, was that they intended to use him as bait.