Chapter 1

Kalex stood at his message interceptor awaiting the result of his request for supplies. As a former heir, he didn’t have the pull to leave the badlands but could still request aid from the benefactors of his family.

In the town of Mourtia, life consisted of hard labor in the mines, digging for torch ore and other less valuable metals, or tending the fields and livestock to keep the population fed. Kalex did neither of those. While fronting as an artificer, he spent most of his days keeping as far away as he could from other townsfolk. Avoiding any unnecessary interaction was key in Kalex staying in town without being noticed by the Mayor and his elite.

Mourtia was the fourth town he had been driven to. After gaining the attention of the previous town’s higher-ups, he was soon chased out with the threat of death if he returned. Each move had him starting from square one with all his assets seized and notes burned, but Kalex was confident that Mourtia would be different. The town’s hierarchy consisted of cast-offs from crime syndicates and their lackeys who would sooner take advantage of someone with a royal family than throw them out of their town. This fact gave Kalex some breathing room to live his life without conflict but the threat of being discovered was still an itch in the back of his mind.

As his supplies came down through his message interceptor and transitioned into motes of light that transferred into his storage cube, he felt a tinge in his mind which was always the telltale sign of the town's general scan protocol. Being born into royalty did come with its advantages. Although Kalex was shown to be a Seer and soon tossed aside and stripped of his titles and family name, he hadn’t used his time as royalty idly. In preparation for his day of awakening, he was tutored by the best his family could offer. As a child, he showed aptitude in presence control and a very advanced ability to solve complicated problems which usually was the job of many high-ranking researchers working in tandem. The result was a boy who was catapulted through the roof of what anyone thought was possible, leading to Kalex being named the heir of the Wounder Empire who would take his seat ten years after his awakening.

The tinge that had only felt like a small tickle soon began to intensify. “Are you kidding me? Those flops from the Empire finally caught up to me?” Kalex murmured while pulling his presence in close. “This is the last time I set up in a big city.”

A sudden booming voice projected to everyone in the town. “Seer Kalex Wounder, reveal yourself! I will not ask again. You will present yourself within two units or be forcefully found!” Kalex had dealt with the Empire's bounty hunters many times and was going to do precisely what he had done before. Store all of his essential belongings and hide in plain sight.

During his time as heir, he had taken extra time to study the art of manipulating his presence and nobody in the town or the Empire could detect his unique signature unless he wanted them to. Every living thing on Diat had a presence, from plants and animals to Beers like himself. Not many could alter their presence or even detect them without the use of mechanical detectors or very rare skills that only other seers could obtain.

Kalex knew that the bounty hunter was using one of those devices. He also knew how to get around their presence-seeking abilities. Kalex kept his presence close and exuded a false one. During his travels, Kalex made it a habit to copy interesting presence signatures onto his Lexidex to use in situations where he was sought after and had a perfect one for this town.

Kalex gathered his effects in his storage cube, swallowed it, and dressed himself in the rattiest clothes he had. “Now I’m on the clock to get out of here. The cube is not going to look pretty when I get it back.”

Two units came and went as the sound of screaming and light explosions started to be heard. Exiting a four-story home was a beast. He was of Beer heritage but had been bred to kill anything that came his way. The bounty hunter, standing at 4 rods tall with bulging muscles that looked artificial, armed with an extendable pole with a holorope at the end screamed at the general populace. “Kalex, I will find you and I will turn you in! I know your tricks, you cannot hide from me!” Kalex ran to the nearest fleeing mob in an attempt to blend in. That was a mistake. In his attempt to blend in, he had put on the presence of an odd beggar he had passed in a previous town. Mourtia was full of beggars and it seemed like the perfect disguise but there was one thing Kalex didn’t take into account.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Town signatures were very hard to see. Kalex had no issues seeing them and could see deeper into presences than the town signature resided, but no device created by anyone but he could see that far. To his knowledge, only another Seer would be able to parse a presence enough to gather where someone was from but almost every other Seer on the planet was shunned or outright killed. The fear that there was someone who could look into someone's presence and know almost everything about them caused the planet to melt down every time a new Seer was announced.

Due to planetary law, Every new Seer that was discovered had to be put on a registry and either assigned to a post where they wouldn’t interact with anyone and earn meager wages for mundane tasks until they died or be put on the block immediately.

Kalex was lucky to be born to a royal family as he would not be murdered because of his status. He was to care for wild Nurdles in a sanctuary. Kalex didn’t like Nurdles, their tiny four-toed claws never sat right with him. In terms of Seer’s lifetime posts, taking care of animals only went to the wealthy or the well-esteemed and was seen as the best option. Kalex had been told to be happy to have such a post and that it was better than having your head chopped off, but Nurdles were too much for him to have to live with for the rest of his life. He made it 14 units at his post before he snuck right out. Within a unit, a bounty for him had been broadcasted worldwide and only got larger the more time he spent uncaptured.

In the bustle of the moving bodies all around him, Kalex glanced in the direction of the bounty hunter and paled at what he saw. Another figure appeared behind the brute, a lithe woman in a marble white robe who extended her presence almost as far as Kalex could—another Seer.

___

Tora wielded her presence with the finesse of a Seer who had spent their entire life honing the art. Finding a discordant town signature was supposed to be equivalent to child’s play but Tora was having issues. Her Lexidex held the registry of Mourtia and leaning on that information should have had the abhorrent Seer stick out like a sore thumb, but only the opposite was true.

Every resource showed that this town was free of Seers other than her, even the rare Wounder Presence Warner, which was salvaged from Kalex’s laboratory after his departure, showed only civilians in a four-thousand rod radius. Tora saw red. Being the Elder Seer brought upon certain advantages, most namely, not being killed outright for publicly using her powerful presence.

Although in name, she was the most powerful and most experienced Seer, she was used mostly as a hound forced to sniff out rogue seers. Due to her station, she was treated with more respect than any other Seer would, but today was the fourth failed attempt at finding the ever-elusive Wounder Seer. This needed to stop and Tora needed to say something. As she was turning to crush the eardrums of the bounty hunter assigned to her today with the force of her presence she could exude with her voice, she spotted something that seemed off, like an empty spot that was out of the ordinary.

Finally, her search was over, Kalex was right in front of her the whole time. In an attempt to keep her face and posture passive, she turned to the brute with her. “Imbecile! Still nothing after the fourth town I’ve been dragged to! This is an outrage! When we get back to the council, you will be getting a very poor review!” She glanced back to the crowd where Kalex hid and looked directly at him. “These good people have suffered through enough and now they think there’s a Seer on the loose! Head back and give your report, I will stay back for a few units and try to smooth this over with the Mayor.”

___

Kalex let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding after the proclamation on the Elder Seer. Although she looked directly at the group he was hiding in, it seemed like she hadn’t spotted him. He was in the clear.

Ten units later, he was strolling out of the front gates with some civilians and guardsmen sent out to create a barrier in case the rogue seer showed himself. Splitting off from the group was simple, as the trees gave cover and his presence could make him seem invisible. He needed to find a secluded spot to regroup and retrieve his storage cube.

As the Sun began to set, he extended his presence, noting that he had traveled about five thousand rods away from anyone other than a few animals who roamed the wilderness. “Okay, that was crazy. For a moment I thought I’d been spotted. Improbable, but still, that had been the closest anyone has come.” Kalex pulled his presence back to his person. “Even if they did figure me out, I could’ve taken them on.”

He sat down against a tree to ponder his presence. Even when he was on the run and didn’t have his royal instructors telling him to concentrate on what his presence had shown, he always found time to consolidate what he had learned. He noted a Nurdle creeping up behind the tree he was occupying and heard something that should never come from the creature. “I always told you that speaking your thoughts was a bad idea.”