Harlan briefly considered keeping the girl, just because he thought she might have a better life here than in Reino. But he threw away that idea, he knew how ridiculous he was being. He would have no justification for keeping her, and no time to raise her, so she would just end up at the orphanage anyway.

Her parents did care for her, enough to break laws to get her the help she really needed.

Out on an open plain Harlan waited for the gate her parents would come through.

30 minutes past the appointed time, they arrived.

Then Reinoan military forces arrived.

There were only 30 soldiers, and they had some idea of what Harlan could do.

The issue for them was that what they were told were the lies sold to them by spies that painted Harlan as far more monstrous in ability than he was. He actually could do what they believed, but had never done so and left witnesses.

So this started a pissing contest where Ragnite forces saw Reinoan forces through their gate detection system and they didn’t care why Harlan was there, they just didn’t like Reinoans.

Had Harlan been smarter and asked Sepul for help with this espionage, he would’ve known that both sides kept track of gate usage within the demilitarized zone and his perfect plan was fatally flawed.

5000 men stood on both sides, ready to start up the war again if anyone so much as sneezed.

Harlan had called Rosewell just after 200 men were in the field and she had her father call Fragile Peace before this turned into a bloodbath.

The diplomats from both sides arrived and the two armies backed off.

Harlan made a rather nice table for them to sit at and hash out a deal, not that he was even sure what the deal would be about since nothing actually happened yet.

“Sir Fomoria, please, sit. Sir Hale, you may sit on the other side of him.”

Harlan hadn’t even known the man’s name, nor the girl’s.

He wasn’t supposed to know much about the family actually, and while he did feel slightly offended, he understood their worries.

“Now, we can come to a peaceful solution to this issue. Sir Fomoria, what can you tell me about your meeting with Sir Hale.”

“He asked that I devise a spell which could heal his daughter, without soul magic, and I did.

I am willing to share this spell to prove my innocence.”

“Could you go into detail about what the spell does, and how you crafted it?”

“There is a defect in her body, I worked with Xol the Lich to make this spell. Her body attacks her blood, her body was therefore incapable of fighting infection, disease, or properly carrying nutrients in her body.

My spell sends proper instructions to the body, letting it create instead of destroy these cells.

There is no soul magic involved, even a Reinoan could cast this within the confines of your laws.”

“Sir Hale, why have you done this?”

“My daughter, Lisa, has seen a great deal of doctors, but I have heard Sir Fomoria has experience with esoteric healing. I did hire him, but with the express order to not use any magic which was not acceptable to our people. I only hid his involvement as I am aware of his reputation, but I have broken no laws.”

Both sides called in experts and Harlan wasted a few hours, but nobody died.

“Thank you for your cooperation.”

Despite it being summer, and the fact that he didn’t need to be at the academy, he spent over a month there to heal Lisa and now he needed to get ready for something more important.

So Harlan gated back to his home.

“Adina. I’m sorry I missed today. I really thought that it would take 20 minutes, not 4 hours.”

“What happened?”

“I had to prove I hadn’t used soul magic to heal a little girl.”

“Did you?”

“Of course. She was born with a boon that turned into a curse.”

“Is that why you wanted a nice lunch for us?”

“I think I can finally heal you. I had this whole day planned out and they ruined it with-”

Adina kissed him to shut him up.

“Then let’s not stand on ceremony. Just start. I know you are trying to be the kind of person who does all of these big things, but I think it was better when you just did things without thinking about it.”

Harlan didn’t believe it, he was actually shaking with excitement when her curse reacted in the same way as the young girl’s. There was not a single adverse reaction to him reforming the boon into a proper shape, it just healed itself and every time he made the right change it would integrate it. Before now he was too afraid of what might happen, hence needing another subject before Adina.

On the first day she could see for the first time. She couldn’t tell depth, or color, or detail, but she could tell when there was a bright light in front of her face.

He only stopped that day because she needed to sleep. It was harder on her than it was on the girl.

The boon of her bloodline was to grant a sort of magical compound eye that allowed one a full field of vision and magical senses. Had Adina been born ‘correctly’ she would’ve sensed from birth just like Harlan.

Along with minor future sight, enhanced kinetic vision, heat tracking, minor invisibility see through for both being under the effect of invisibility and for seeing others who were under invisibility.

A general boost to health was far less complex and such a boon had been given out to thousands of families during the old empire.

He carried Adina back to her cabin. She was still very tired, but more than that, she wanted to be carried.

“Stay for a bit.”

“Sure.”

After a few minutes of silence, she went to sleep and Harlan went back to his room.

He got three steps away before a void gate pulled him in.

Physically being inside of The Darkness’s small world was an odd experience, it looked small, or possibly infinitely large, since all Harlan could see was teeth and eyes and claws and there wasn’t even ground to stand on.

“You need to cross the border in the Confederate State of Kalak, and kill a Kalak mage.”

“Why?”

“I am telling you too.”

“Alright then, anything I should know?”

“He will be gone for two days. I am giving you the mental image of what he looks like. And anything you find after killing him is yours if you can get away with it. This should be very easy for you, don’t make a mess of your first work for me.”

“Of course.”

Harlan was dropped off in the middle of a swamp about 200 feet in the air.

His first mission was to actually find the lab.

It was actually easier than it sounded, the defenses were designed to keep anything out, and that naturally drew in mana to feed such a series of wards and arrays and the swamp was devoid of life, which Harlan didn’t immediately see the issue of.

“Know anything about bunker cracking?”

“You’ve thought about how people would kill you for years, why not use that experience here? How would you keep you out?”

“An escape tunnel. You’d be mad not to have one.”

He was mad, and he had a dozen.

While Harlan searched for the escape tunnel in the hopes that it would be the easier way to break in, the other Harlan was talking with Garad.

Being in two places at once was taxing on his mind, normally his thoughts would be on a handful of projects, now it was entirely occupied by moving in two places and talking in one.

“With the annuities from the Orelend family, we are barely breaking even. This train project of yours needs to receive a very large investment. Have you thought about selling Golem armor and shifting weapons?”

“I am currently working a job, hopefully it should tide us over until the Blackstone party. I hope to get investors after I show off the train system as it currently exists.”

“Your other work handles all project costs, except the trains. Between rails and the boxcars, it is a money pit on materials alone.”

“Then everything is better than I thought.”

“No, this is not better than you thought. You are making back money on your other projects, but you are also losing money on the orphan village. Have you thought about putting in a real village, with taxable residents?”

“I can make it work.”

“Which part?”

“The village. I’ll put out the word that I am accepting residents, 6 months with no taxes, they pay for materials and my golems put the homes together.”

“I should’ve just talked with Balor. You are economically impaired.”

Back at the swamp.

“Alright then. The hatch was hidden, not a ward or array to be found. Why not?”

“They could be relying entirely on mechanical traps.”

“I was talking to myself.”

“Oh. I just thought you wanted some advice.”

“I’m trying to be more independent.”

“Really?”

“It is an exercise from Xol’s book. The idea is to let each body develop a pseudo mind that can do things without me needing to step in. I’m stressing my mind just keeping up casual conversation with Garad while I’m searching for the traps here. Xol can maintain several other entirely separate personalities that are almost new people and not have to think about it.”

He telekinetically reached inside and disconnected the wire hooked to the explosives.

“Didn’t Kleon try to kill you? Are you sure having more than one you running around is a good idea?”

“Good point.”

“You are also likely to end up killing yourself to take over your own life.”

Harlan paused before he responded.

“Why don’t I get back to these traps?”

Once he was inside he reattached the wire.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“So, what do you think we are killing him for?”

“We? I’m just here to watch. If this gets you killed, what happens to me?”

“Move to my amulet and send yourself to another amulet. I have one on each of my bodies. Try it now.”

She found herself with the boring Harlan who was getting a lesson in economics from Garad.

There was little she could do there, so she went back.

“How did you know that was going to work?”

“Why wouldn’t it?”

“Why would it?”

“Because sending messages is sending a mental signal. You are a mental signal. Don’t you feel it pulling on you whenever you talk?”

“Not at all.”

“Must be because I have greater mental senses.”

“Really? It is pretty empty in here.”

She pretended to echo and Harlan had to stop himself from bursting out in laughter.

Back home Harlan spoke with Balor about the train project.

“Put everything on getting the tunnel to Blackstone’s home finished. If we get funding, we can put that towards paying off everything else.”

“Ah, you talked with Garad.”

“Yes.”

“Then don’t worry for a moment. He only handles our legal funds. I can clean a bit of the dirty money and prop up our project.”

“We have dirty money?”

“Please don’t tell him anything too sensitive. He is a lawful man, one not suited to my work.”

“Alright then. Let’s say I come back here with a lot of… I’m working in my other body to kill a mage, The Darkness said I can keep anything I want once he is dead.”

“I’ve got fences to sell off anything we don’t need.”

“How deeply are you connected to illegal activities?”

“Do you remember it was a year, maybe a year and a half ago, Ava and Breken were breaking up a crime ring that was just starting up? I sent the tips that got many of its members arrested or killed and then I took over everything. I am running 8 organizations in different baronies. I was inspired in part by that mayor, nobody knew who Dagger was, out there they call me Dagger now. Me and two dozen other people, men, women, Ibexaians, Humans, I even found a Golden who needed the work.”

“Really?”

Harlan walked down the tunnel, feeling the twisted minds inside.

“What the fuck?”

“Watch your language.”

“Sorry, mom.”

“Don’t worry about it, honey.”

He would like to correct himself, it was a slip of the mind, but he knew how happy she was to hear it.

“So, what’s wrong?”

“I think I know why this guy has to die. I can feel minds like orcs. But they aren’t.”

“In human terms?”

“He has been stitching together monsters in body and soul. Remember what The Darkness said about me making hybrids?”

“So long as they are infertile it is fine.”

“I’m guessing these aren’t. We should get inside.”

“You are referring to yourself as more than one person again.”

“Another exercise. Each body is me, but each of them cannot be the same me, Harlan must exist as an idea, not a singular man.”

“Ahuh, right.”

“Anyway. I’m seeing Stonesteel, seismic senses aren’t picking up anything. What kind of madman would only boobytrap a single door to the escape route?”

Harlan had traps to the escape tunnels, and then every forty feet inside of the tunnels.

Mechanical, chemical, alchemical, magical, biological, illogical.

His money troubles didn’t stem from the train project, they stemmed from all of the security that never got used and the train project.

When he picked the lock with telekinesis, he thought back to the story he heard about new magic spreading and causing all sorts of problems. For this magic, it was that thieves learned it and started opening locks from the other side or picking them by just forcing the tumblers to tumble.

When he opened the door, he saw what he knew was the fault of his magic spreading.

It was caged up and had two heads, 4 wings, 2 arms, 2 legs, and a large tail.

it was a full dragon, or rather two creatures turned into one.

It woke up the moment it smelled Harlan.

“Kill… me.”

These words spoke from both mouths.

“Do you want revenge?”

He saw fire burning inside of the creature, then a collar on its necks activated and it howled in pain.

It panted and went back to sleep, Harlan could hear its plea echoing in his head.

Harlan had heard the story of the dragons, the truth behind their disappearance.

The Titan of Aarde, Wyrmwood, was born disfigured and thrown to the sewers where it lived on rats, watching its kin take to the skies as the apex of magical creatures.

Yet unfortunately they were slaves to the humans who could devise spells to subjugate them.

The Fae arrived, and a titan of violence and rage was needed to burn down the world and then crush those still alive on the weakened Aine.

The beast of malice made one request, that it be the only dragon left. Thus were born Drakes, Wyverns, Wyrms, and Wurms. Each lacked an aspect of what made one a dragon.

To make a dragon through artificially means very likely angered Wyrmwood, and Harlan hated to think what would happen if he finished this job.

Harlan walked around it, and felt the lives growing inside of its stomach.

Fused creatures like this were abominations, but souls were powerful things, and as they got in sync they could form something which was more viable.

The first orcs had two sets of everything as well.

Harlan put his hand on the creature and tore apart its soul, then the souls of the babies.

From what he could gather, the mage really did expect just being in the swamp a dozen miles from any other people and then putting up arrays that scared everything away was good enough. Inside it was nearly unprotected, from the doors to the safes. Well, as unprotected as multiple inch thick vault doors could be.

He found 4 generations of the creatures, the thing that knew only pain in its life was the best result after 8 years of work.

He looked over a log book; they had tried out many different combinations, but some species were simply incompatible.

Harlan walked room to room and killed each of the other experiments.

He barely felt like robbing the place, but it made him feel better that these materials would go to making his own situation better.

After he started gating out couches and boxes of metal and coins and gems, Harlan wondered how he was going to get the bodies of the experiments out.

One of the bodies was a Stone Drake and a Storm Wyvern fused together, and both of those creatures, majestic as they are, had things inside of them that he wanted in himself.

Golems came in and out day after day breaking down everything in the place so that it could fit through the gate.

He couldn’t bring it home, so he moved it to the maximum distance he could with gate and built a temporary shelter.

Balor’s people would then go to this place, pick up everything that could be sold, and sell it.

The materials that Harlan could use would instead end up at his home with Balor using merchants under him to make transaction reports that said he bought them. Even if Balor had never been audited, and not a single person had asked a single question, he wanted to make absolutely sure that everything looked above board.

He was terrified that Harlan pissing off the Dyad family would come back to bite him some day even if they were now in business with one another.

“Do you think he is going to notice everything is missing? Or do you plan to kill him outside?”

“I’m going to confront him as soon as he enters the door. I’ll have runes carved everywhere in here so that if he does kill me somehow, I can crush this place to the size of a coin. If not, I might keep this place, I’m sure I can find a use for a bunker in a swamp. Just as soon as I put some real defenses in it.”

For anyone who wasn’t already skilled in such an art, or who wasn’t a paranoid madman, these defenses were easily enough to hide from most people. If Harlan hadn’t been told there was a base here, he would’ve never noticed it even if he was standing on top of it. Oddly flowing mana in a place that was so heavily aligned to water and earth could easily be written off even if Harlan believed that he would’ve sniffed it out immediately.

This Harlan wasn’t the original that was put here, he didn’t want to risk losing his armor and body, this one was meant to possibly die. So now he just had to sit in the one chair that hadn’t been stolen, yet, and wait for the Kalak to return. He thought it was a real shame that the first one he met was also one that he needed to kill. But he wasn’t shocked by this, the Kalak were a strange people, beaten down and broken by the war decades ago, but still so full of pride, they never seemed to understand the message that they were not a master race, they were just a race.

Back home Harlan was going over the list of items stolen and deciding alongside Balor what went where.

“Gems, mundane ones. Let’s just sell them all off.”

“No, you are thinking too small. These gems are worth more as gifts than the coins they are worth.”

“Furniture. Don’t need it, displaying it would be a bad idea. Sell it off.”

“Crimelords love stolen art and furniture. Again, gifts to them can be worth more than coins.”

“Alright, and these crimelords, they aren’t targeting on the downtrodden, because you and I are going to be having a very short conversation in that case.”

“There is a certain limit to how much good I can do, but I can offset a lot of bad. I attempt to keep them away from some things, forced prostitution is among the crimes we do not deal in and I’ve had to kill more than a few of them for ignoring my rules. We try to keep our work solely to the people who choose to be involved with us.”

“Desperate people get involved in a lot of things that they shouldn’t or wouldn’t normally be involved with.”

“Some of these funds are used for welfare programs, more than what the kingdom has already. Soups and breads, healing, fixing homes, getting clothes. Much of the stolen food is fed to those who couldn’t afford it and only after someone else already bought it so we aren’t out robbing farmers.

We have also been tied to several revolts, but that is neither here nor there.”

“Were they ever successful?”

“Some mayors and guards died, but not a drop of noble blood fell.”

“You sound upset.”

“I would never attempt to overthrow the kingdom, or even set up an independent state, but I am not happy with the state of nobility. Having the people kill off a few of them would send a strong message.”

“I understand. Now, why don’t we talk replacing these crimelords with flesh clones that use their bodies. So, I was thinking about the ones that…”

Harlan went over a list of things that were unacceptable, and Balor mostly agreed with him, though it was going to hurt their bottom line to remove some of these people after extracting information from them to maintain the cover.

The last day passed rather quickly and Harlan could see two minds heading towards the base.

When the elderly Kalak man and another elderly man stepped inside, Harlan was still sitting in the chair, but with someone else’s face.

Harlan shot a spiral void warspell at the pair, he had already cast the spell and had been holding it for some time. The Kalak tried to put up some defenses, but the concentration of void to radiance was too large to cancel it out. It was a bit annoying that he had blown a hole through the wall of the bunker, but what could he-

Oh, he recognized the old man just before he disintegrated.

“I wish it was the real Dearil, it would get a weight off my mind.”

“Ah, but you remember his mental signal, right? Perhaps you can divine him now.”

“Perhaps. But a project for another day. I also wish I didn’t break that crystal.”

Harlan was patching the hole in the wall and getting the swamp water and mud out when The Darkness contacted him.

“What do you wish to be your reward?”

“Is learning void gate an option for a reward?”

“It is rude to answer a question with another. If you know that which grants gate, what grants the void gate?”

“I see. I have truth, but I need more.”

“The second truth can only come through knowledge, not wisdom.”

“Then for my reward, can I have Dearil’s location?”

“He is in the Kalak city of Kala.”

“Great name.”

He ended up being void gated to his bunker without warning.

Once he was back home he switched bodies and got to work with Adina

If two bodies could work two jobs, two bodies working a single job was twice as efficient.

“What did you do?”

“What do you mean?”

“You smell like mud.”

“I’m still Harlan, but this body was somewhere else until just a few minutes ago. I am controlling more than one body at a time, but I put the other one to sleep so I can give you my full attention.”

“Remember what happened last time you tried this trick?”

“You didn’t give me the chance to explain yet, I walked in and you immediately knew something was wrong.”

“Fine.”

“What’s wrong? You are being… oddly hostile.”

“I don’t like you splitting your attention between me and something else.”

“Whenever I was with you, the other body only sat in a chair and waited. Is there anything else wrong?”

“No, don’t worry about it.”

“Hmm… alright. Oh, and everyone else is going to be away, Isha is trying another maiden festival, Kass is picking up seeds and saplings to plant. Garad and Lydia are eating by themselves. So I’ll just gate us to a city to get some food at a restaurant.”

“Alright.”

Harlan cut the session short, he didn’t want her so tired she couldn’t go out.

“How is your sight? Can you read this at all?”

It was enchanted paper with glowing letters in a large font.

“Just barely, and I love you too.”

“Then let’s go.”

Harlan gated to Dullen, he liked the restaurant that he had taken Sara to after the court case.

They ordered their food, ate, kept conversation light, and then returned home..

“This has been nice.”

“Oh, before you go to sleep, I have one quick vision test, just to make sure that your vision is remaining active.”

“H, A, P, P, Y… How did you know? I never told you the date. Never mind, I don’t even care.”

“For the record, I’m very happy you are alive.”

He had broken into the records office at the academy during the summer to look at her file.

The defenses were the same, but there were less guards patrolling around and less staff.

He had actually tried bribing someone for the date, but luckily they didn’t take it.

Had they taken the bribe, Harlan would’ve reported them anyway, he couldn’t trust someone like that working there after all.