His experiments that had gone over his sigils were rather simple limit tests.

Could he switch his beam from harmful to not repeatedly while it was still through a person? Yes.

It was difficult, partly because of the speed of the attack, partly because it required him to control his emotions for the spell to change function.

The best he managed was three swaps in a single attack.

Harlan looked over his last subject; he needed to get ready for the dinner with Carmilla shortly.

It was a fox, white winter coat still on.

Yet now there were bits of black here and there like a man in his middle age.

It yawned, its mouth full of black tipped teeth, and then curled up again.

Dawn joined him to see his only stable subject that he had kept.

“So, how long?”

“Two days, and with the collar on its internal temperatures are level, no ball of fire for this little guy.”

Harlan scratched the fox under the chin and it rubbed its head against his hand.

“Concentration?”

“10% but I think I could get it up to 20% with a larger mana gem in the collar, 40 or even 50% if I put it in barding.”

“Well, this has all been interesting, but now we should go.”

“Alright, let me just get this to Joan.”

“Why her?”

“She seems like she would like a pet.”

“Does this have anything to do with you trying to woo her?”

“Did she tell you about that?”

“She had mentioned it.”

“I would like to clear things up between us, but I haven’t found a good time. She was right when she said it was just looking for someone to replace Adina.”

“I’ll talk to her for you.”

“I should be the one to admit my mistake.”

Harlan opened a gate to the hallway in his house which allowed both of them to enter their rooms and get ready for the dinner.

Harlan left the fox on his bed, he’d give it to her later.

To get ready for his dinner he replaced his thicker lab coat-like jacket with a black three piece suit, red vest and white shirt underneath.

He stepped out of his room and went to see Darrath.

When he got there Darrath was sitting in a corner of the ceiling and buzzing at the maids who were trying to get him dressed.

Harlan flipped his gravity and crouched down to eye level with the boy whose claws left deep gashes in the walls.

“Hey, it’s fine, it’s fine, let’s get you dressed up, I made sure that they made it with an open back.”

“I don’t like it, it should be a shifting suit.”

“I didn’t like wearing dress clothes at first either, but you get used to it.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Part of life is doing something you may not like for your own benefit. We are going to look nice because we were invited to a party, and it would be rude to not go looking our best, and I don’t want to be rude because if I am not rude then I can help people with Carmilla.”

“I’m helping people by wearing that?”

“I’m powerful, but I’m just one person, and she has a lot of people who can help me. Drang, that place with all of the dirty people, she has made it a lot better.”

Harlan held up the shirt and Darrath slipped his arms in without any further resistance.

Since she said to bring whoever he wanted, Harlan brought Dawn, Darrath, Mercedes, Joan, and while he invited D’if, it took a very short conversation to decide that he wasn’t going to be able to behave himself.

He thought back to his time at the academy, and realized that he needed to find some male friends.

“Welcome to my home, Harlan.”

“I’m glad to be here, Carmilla. Is there a reason we are using first names?”

“This is a simple dinner party, no need for pomp and pageantry. And who are these?”

“You’ve already met my mother, Dawn, and you already know Mercedes-”

“Oh this isn’t Mercedes. But of her body doubles, I recognize her. You did know, I hope.”

“Yes, I know this isn’t really the princess, but it helps with the Dague to say she is working under me.

But back to my introductions, this is my head of defense, Joan. And while you met I didn’t introduce Darrath to you properly before.”

“Hello, little one. How did you like the library?”

“It’s a lot of books.”

The words might’ve sounded boring from someone else, but Darrath really did enjoy his time there and his tone made it clear.

“Do you like sweets?”

“Yeah.”

“Good, because we are going to have plenty of desserts, and you’ll have other children to play with here.”

“Carmilla, who else is going to be at this dinner party?”

“Oh just the surrounding leaders of nations.”

“Have they arrived yet?”

“No, none of them have a gate mage, so they rarely are able to arrive at an exact time. But we have some snacks you can eat before the meal if you’d like.”

“Well, I do enjoy a good meal, and it does take quite a bit to keep me running.”

Carmilla smiled and led them to the ball room.

Using soulspeak, he asked Mercedes if she knew who was likely to arrive.

According to her, there were three nations the next stripe over to the west, but she hadn’t met any of them before due to them being sparsely populated but large nations with little real power due to a lack of either magical, biological, or technological advantages.

Compared to what Yggdra had, the ballroom was modest, but it was still enough to fit a few hundred very comfortably, and looked very empty for just those there at the moment.

While the others were walking and talking as they moved forward, Harlan had stopped to admire the artwork on the ceiling, depicting the moon surrounded by blocky paintings of the False Undead feeding on their preferred prey.

“I see you enjoy art.”

“This is a beautiful piece.”

“Many believe it to be too dark, in both literal and figurative senses.”

“I like how it contrasts with the pale blue white of Aine, the paintings with their black have bits of lighter colors as if they are reflecting moonlight.”

“I had it painted a few hundred years ago, showing the races of Aine as they are, not constrained by the ideas of beauty that would have us look away from the bloody reality of what we are, what we must live on.”

“I enjoy that reality, not hidden away by lies.”

“Yet you follow the god of lies.”

“She is the god of choice, I choose to lie when I should, and to be honest when I should.”

“That is certainly one interpretation of her.”

“That it is the one I choose to have.”

Harlan and the queen shared a look with one another, then abruptly turned their heads away from the other and joined in to get some finger foods.

It was another hour before the others started to arrive.

Fomoria had seven kingdoms around it which Harlan was supposed to meet with, yet none of these people were of those kingdoms.

“So, this is the King Fomoria I’ve heard about.”

The man was in his 50s with a handlebar mustache and a short beard with clean shaven sides.

His clothes reminded Harlan of the Nightwatchers with their long coats and wide brimmed hats.

But his was more formal, having a vest and shirt combo not unlike what Harlan was wearing, along with his hat having a golden crown around its tower.

Harlan would’ve thought him Golden from a distance, but the human man was just well tanned from years of time in the sun.

On his side wasn’t a sword, but rather on each hip was a gun, black with floral golden filigree.

The man placed his hat over his heart and reached to shake Harlan’s hand.

“Colton Slade, Federal Lord of the United Territories. But you can call me Cole if you’d rather.”

“Nice to meet you then, Colton.”

“And this here is my wife, Anne.”

She wore a dress that was more like the nobility he knew back home, puffy and lacy, though she wore no corset.

“Good to meet you.”

Harlan motioned to Darrath.

“This is my son, Darrath.”

She looked between the two a few times.

“Oh, what… cute little boy. Is your wife here?”

Harlan’s face had his sorrow written on it, and Anne was resisting the urge to pity him, so Colton took him aside.

“I’ve heard much about you.”

“Carmilla talked about me?”

“That she did. A young man full of just plain cussedness and anger, tryin’ to be a king.”

Harlan wanted to argue against him, but he couldn’t.

“Don’t know what else I should be, considering everything.”

“She said you’re a cynic as well, and I understand, there are some bad things out there, but-”

“I was taken from my family to help with the development of magic to win a thousand year war at the age of 11, killing dozens of millions. At that same age I killed two men, once with intent, and once because I thought him a monster.

At 14 I was returned home and shortly after sent away to learn, spending 10 months a year away from my family, and I met a wonderful girl who I lost because of what I’ve done.

Since I’ve come here I’ve seen an Empire that would use child soldiers because they know I would be crushed by having to kill them, a kingdom that has broken its people so much that they worship rulers who leave them to murder one another for a stale loaf of bread while their nobles gorge themselves.”

Harlan shattered the glass in his hand, realizing what he had done, he got down to pick up the glass.

“Why are you a king?”

“Huh?”

Harlan had zoned out once he began picking up the pieces.

“Man to man, what drove you to be a king, to decide to keep on even with what you’ve seen?

Some drive for doin’ the right thing? Wealth? Just a want for power?”

Harlan was a little caught off guard by the question, he looked around as he thought of his answer.

“I want to make a world that my son can be happy to live in.”

Cole nodded his head.

“I had to learn why I wanted to lead my people into a better life, I got it when so many above me died testing out some new invention. Fools, thinking they could make a ship that flies. Whole thing went up in flames when a wyvern thought it was an insult for them to be up in the sky. Least that’s what I heard from those in the area.”

He put his hand out and they shook.

“It’s been good meeting you, but King Tatton just walked in, and I figure as the-”

Colton abruptly stopped, honesty was his weakness.

“I’m not going to explain or make excuses, I’m terrible with secrets. But the prince was interested in meeting you.”

Harlan didn’t dwell on the lord’s odd leaving, and went to meet with the others.

They were Canis, and despite the mention of a prince, he was clearly a man well into his age, and the king looked ready to drop dead at any moment.

They wore rather light clothes, white silk along with gold and turquoise jewelry.

The king wore a headdress of blue and gold that had holes for his cropped upright ears, his pelt sprinkled with gray hair from his advanced age.

“Greetings, I am-”

The king tapped his son with his cane.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

“My father is aware of who you are and you should be talking with me. He has the title of king, but he understands that at his age he isn’t fit to rule.”

“Then you are?”

“Prince Jakel of The Great Sandsea.”

“I had heard you were interested in meeting me.”

“There was mention of you using Godtouched magic.”

“Yes, I actually just spent the last week testing out two new sigils.”

“Interesting. There was also mention of your shapeshifting.”

Harlan held up his hand and grew short black fur and claws to mimic the Canis.

“I also heard you can reverse the age of another.”

“I have a few spies who were elderly before I used my magic on them. But if you are going to ask for your father, I will warn that the most extra time added onto his life will be five years, any more than that and I’m liable to upset gods.”

“Even if he gained no more time, to be physically healthy once again would mean he could be a great grandfather who could play with his grandchildren. No cost is too great.”

“I only offer that to those who I believe I can trust.”

“Then we shall get to know one another as the night goes on.”

Harlan was glad to be able to just shake hands with people, but he had a bad feeling about the man, and believed him to have mentioned children to manipulate him.

He went over to the children playing together in the garden connected to the ballroom to check on Darrath, for just a moment.

“How are things going?”

“They are faster than the other children, it’s more fun.”

“Alright, I’m going to go back inside then.”

“Ok.”

Harlan came in to speak with Jakel.

“Colton seemed to say something about my being here, but then stopped himself and said he was bad at excuses. Is there something I should know about what I thought was a small family dinner?”

“If Carmilla didn’t explain, then I shall not mention anything.”

“What is your kingdom’s policy on slavery?”

“Those in debt or as punishment for a crime may sell themselves or be forced into slavery. But we are not like those iron tyrants, nobody owns the life of another and they are expected to feed them and treat them as a worker.”

“A good answer. Have you heard about Drang?”

“A cesspit, no place more vile which claims itself civil. Why do you ask?”

“If there is something she hasn’t said then I won’t say.”

“Spiteful, like she said.”

“I dislike her games, and both of us are pieces in it.”

“She tests people, but I don’t think she has any ill intent unless she thinks you are a harmful element.”

“Tests… that does remind me, and since you don’t intend to tell me why I’m here, I’ve heard something called tests being used as a threat against slaves.”

“The Cast found a tower, and it tests those who enter it. Sometimes someone comes out with something interesting. I think that last time was 40 years ago, there was a sword made of light which according to rumors that are more lie than truth it cut anything it contacted, including a hand.

Likely it ended up in the imperial vaults, a weapon like that isn’t very valuable to someone who can use the godly weapon spell, but for someone without Godtouched magic, it would instantly turn them into someone dangerous.”

“Then I assume anyone who doesn’t come out with something worthwhile just doesn’t come out.”

“You’d be right. But still the empire sends people in by the hundreds every day. The only stories that come out are from the ones who’ve beaten the test, so no real surveys have happened, and while children have passed, they’ve also lost Fingers and even a Hand inside of that place.”

“I might need to-”

Harlan heard a bang and rushed outside.

One of Colton’s children was showing off his revolver by shooting at some fruits on top of benches, which Harlan had no issue with, he looked to be 15 or so and he believed the boy had gotten some training.

But then he handed it to Darrath.

Harlan felt his blood run cold as he pointed the barrel towards himself and the boy reached to stop him, but having been distracted by one of the others he realized too late the mistake.

Harlan skipped over, putting his hand on the barrel and turning it towards himself instead.

Yet the gun hadn’t gone off, and Harlan carefully took it from Darrath’s hands.

Harlan looked at the boy, his eyes aflame with rage.

Harlan crushed the revolver and grew to 12 feet, taking a form closer to that of a drake than a man.

His clothes tore and his skin became covered in black scales as he let out a low bellowing.

Carmilla stood by the threshold, watching to see his reaction.

But Harlan looked at the boy who fell back in fear and closed his eyes, looking skyward as he took a deep breath.

The bellowing stopped and he looked down as he spoke with a booming voice that was trying to be quiet enough to not harm the boy’s ears.

“Be more mindful of handing a weapon to a child.”

He then moved on all fours to Carmilla, being mindful of his tail.

“I must return home a moment to get another set of clothes. Apologies for the disturbance.”

When Harlan went through the gate Colton went down to his son and slapped him in the back of his head.

“Idiot, giving a gun to a boy without keeping a close eye is how one of you gets dead.”

“You shouldn’t hit him.”

“Darrath, right? He did something stupid, almost got you hurt-”

“But I’m not hurt.”

“Well that ain’t the point, he could’ve gotten hurt, and do you think you could’ve stopped the bullet and been fine? You say how your father reacted, what if you really were hurt? Would he have hurt Ned?”

Darrath made a strange face as he went deep in thought.

“No. I don’t think so. Papa always says accidents are for learning, and papa is really good at fixing people and I’m stronger than I look.”

Carmilla put her hands on Darrath’s head and when she removed them there was a hardlight structure which looked just like him.

“Darrath, this is just as hard as your head, I’m going to put it over there and then shoot it, we’ll see how much you would’ve been hurt.”

Colton handed her one of his guns and she fired it and had it back in his hand before most of them realized what had happened. Yet for Colton who had seen it before, it wasn’t a shock.

When the bullet struck the hardlight through the eye, and another at the forehead, the first went in, but then didn’t go out, and the other cracked the hardlight, but didn’t pierce it.

“There, we have the answer. If you shot yourself in the eye, you would’ve died almost instantly. Your father, no matter how good a healer, cannot bring back the dead.”

Dawn rubbed her neck and tried not to draw attention to herself in the moment.

Harlan returned shortly wearing his shifting suit made to look like the suit he had before.

Cole approached him with his son in tow.

When Ned didn’t speak immediately Cole pinched the back of his neck.

“I’m sorry for-”

“How old are you?”

“16.”

“All things must be given respect for what they are. A child may hold a sword improperly and cut themselves, they may grab a gun improperly and fire it without meaning to, I dislike them for that reason.

When one learns a spell they must speak the words and use the hand signs for a time before they can cut one or the other, there is a process to the damage they may cause, rarely does one go off without intent. They are a sheathed blade, a gun that must be loaded first.”

Ned just nodded and Cole let him go.

They stood there for less than a minute with Cole tapping his glass before he spoke.

“I’m sorry again, you could’ve been hurt if-”

“No, I wouldn’t be.”

“Now, I’m not certain what guns you’ve seen but-”

“Just give me your gun.”

Cole was more than a little annoyed.

“Fine, shoot yourself in the foot if you’d-”

Harlan grabbed the gun and put the barrel in his mouth, firing and then spitting the bullet out.

Carmilla watched this display as she sipped on her wine mixed with blood.

“Now that you’ve had your fun with Colton, why not go meet our last guests, she is a Cerast, a snakewoman, one who you are certain to find interesting.”

Harlan made his way to the entrance and saw something odd, when he heard snake women he still expected them to have legs.

“Sssir Fomoria?”

The queen flicked her tongue, tasting the air, getting his scent.

“Yes.”

She cleared her throat after getting a drink.

“Apologies, cottonmouth, makes me hiss. I am Queen Fangrae Maldrea, of the Wastes. But those close call me Copperhead on account of the patch of scales on my head.”

She stood nearly 15 feet tall and had to bend down to eye level for him to see it.

Harlan stood and admired her form, her sandstone coloring that was broken up by the crown of metallic scales which spilled over onto the horns which Harlan first believed to be jewelry of some kind; a species of snake that Harlan was not familiar with had been used for her creation.

“Would you like to touch them?”

She had noticed how he stared.

“I shouldn’t.”

“Please.”

Harlan got the feeling it was more for her sake than his, and touched her scales.

He could feel a pull on his mind, and he responded back with a small strike, not enough to cause pain, but enough for her to realize he didn’t like what she had done and she recoiled back from the unexpected reprisal.

“It is very rude to try doing something with the mind of another. Do not let it happen again.”

Fangrea looked at him in an odd manner, her rattle drew the attention of the other guests; her guards moved ahead of their queen.

Carmilla stepped between both parties.

“Harlan, she meant no harm, she is a shaman of sorts, she judges people based on their feelings.”

“Little Shadow, Deathless One, Unthing, Formless.”

“I haven’t heard those last three before.”

“Not safe, not safe, bloody rivers flow from him.”

She barely seemed like the same person, having fallen into a trance of sorts with glazed over eyes.

Carmilla snapped her fingers in a rhythm, and Copperhead seemed to come back to herself.

“I seemed to have… apologies, King Fomoria.”

“Harlan, I would like us to have a chat, in private.”

“Fine.”

Carmilla led Harlan away, but he walked backwards for a time, not breaking eye contact with the serpent queen or her guards using eyes that moved independently.

In a small side room Carmilla poured them both a glass of wine.

“I don’t drink.”

“Just a few drops of blood then?”

He held out his hand and dispensed the blood by opening a vein.

She swirled around her wine and didn’t say anything until after she drank.

“You’ve performed quite admirably. But you like being the fox, not the chicken.”

“So what is this? You show me off to your friends and then judge if I am a threat? How much of what happened was organic? Did Ned hand that gun to Darrath and then fake a distraction?”

She had a sour look on her face.

“Mind your temper with me.”

“I asked for some respect between us, and you couldn’t even do that. Is it because of my age? Pride?

That you are a powerful vampire? Or do you just enjoy fucking with people?”

She downed the rest of her wine, and her gaze was hard enough to sit him back down in his seat.

“Do you think any of them might survive the empire?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“I doubt they could maintain the population required to fight against them in a protracted war.

Colton and his people don’t seem to have magical power just judging by his family, Jakel I’m not sure of, but he while projects an image of power, I could feel he was afraid of me.

Fangrea might have something, but beastkin tend to reproduce more slowly than humans as a drawback for their other power. They’d make good elite units if trained right.”

“And then you claim that you can make weapons that can cast their own spells, golems from enemy bodies, return men to their youth, teach magic to those who believe they cannot learn it.”

Carmilla drank both glasses down one after the other.

They sat in silence for another short time as she contemplated if she should continue, if Harlan could be trusted, but she came to the conclusion that she really had little choice.

“I do have one more thing to ask. Could you change the landscape? Turn a desert into a paradise?”

“Inside of the veil we have what we call The Great Desert. A stretch of land long enough that nobody outside of the people who live there are said to have ever seen its end.

And for over a thousand years, people have been trying to turn it into a place where anyone could live.

The family who has led these efforts the most are the ones who a great friend of mine married into, and I have looked into these efforts as a matter of conversation with her. Unless there is a magical effect which prevents it from working, I believe I could turn a hundred miles of desert into fertile soil in as little as half a century, a thousand into workable soil in that same timeframe.”

“I expected better.”

“You don’t seem to understand the difficulty of turning a place from sand into dirt, or crap dirt into good dirt, it takes introducing animals and plants and letting them grow and deep rooted and short rooted plants and tilling soil and a lot more. Now, it also depends on how many mana gems I could get, and how much I might advance in golem creation and Darrath’s own unique magic that he has but I need to teach him to first understand for himself and then turn into magic anyone can use.”

“I need these nations to turn into ones able to hold off the empire in the next 20 years.”

“Not possible.”

“Why not?”

“Because people are slow to change when they don’t understand what is at stake. In 20 years Tatton will be dead, Colton will probably be dead, and I don’t know how long a Cerest lives for.

Why do you need it in two decades?”

“How long do you think I’ll be alive for?”

“I don’t know. But after 1600 years, I’ve thought about dying for the first time in a very long time, and maybe your arrival in this place is a sign.”

She twiddled her thumbs, for the first time looking weak and uncomfortable.

Harlan had some disgust written plainly on his face, and she looked furious about it.

“I’m going to end this here, because I don’t think either of us are going to like where this is going.

I’ll help, because it is the right thing to do, and worst case, I wait until you die of natural causes and take over.”

She regained her composure, the facade rebuilt.

“Then let us get to dinner and tell the others.”

It bothered him greatly that even with his powers, he couldn’t tell if it had been an act or not.

They moved from the side room to the ballroom and then finally to the dining room.

“I see we’ve made you wait to eat.”

Copperhead sat coiled on the ground closest to Carmilla on her left hand, on her right were the people of Redhaven, though Harlan hadn’t shared names with any of them but Carmilla and oddly enough, Liyana was there as well, and she seemed very nervous.

The pecking order based on who sat closest to the queen was clear: her people, Fangrae, Jakel, Colton, and then him.

Dinner was kept light, personal stories were told and personal questions were asked, many of which caused Harlan to pause before answering.

But then after dinner, the children were sent away other than the heirs to the nations.

“Now that we have moved past the pleasantries, I will explain why I’ve called a council meeting.

Drang has fallen.”

There was a heavy atmosphere in the room.

King Tatton spoke up first.

“How long til the iron tyrants are at our doorstep?”

“Hopefully decades still, I now rule over almost all of the former Drangic territory.”

“You conquered them?”

“No, Harlan did. Over the course of a morning and afternoon, he slaughtered all the nobility, some of their army, and placed his own forces in the cities to keep a manner of order.”

All eyes were on him.

“Boy… no, King Fomoria. How and why have you accomplished this? And why does she now rule your lands?”

“The how is easy. I have gate, I can shapeshift into forms unlike anything you’ve seen, and I have magic which so far as I know has never appeared outside of the veil, every mage I’ve met outside of a Finger and Carmilla has been inferior to me. The why is even easier than that, I sought alliances with the nations around me, and I went there only to see the horrible conditions of the people and then the things that the nobility were doing at a party. If you have not heard already from Carmilla, my goal is a world where slavery is entirely gone. And she rules these lands because I simply lack the forces to run each of these cities.

My nation is currently two cities and a few towns, but before Drang I had one city and roughly 15,000 people, almost all former slaves who would need to be trained from the ground up for mayoral positions.”

The rulers conferred at the table, leaning over to one another and whispering, but Harlan’s ears let him pick up what was being said.

Eventually a vote was called by Carmilla, head of their organization.

“All in favor of adding Fomoria to the Council of Free Nations, raise your hands.”

Queen Maldrea was the only one who disagreed.

“Then King Fomoria and his nation are now part of the council, should he accept.”

“I do.”

“Then first order of business, trade between nations. Are you still having any issues with food?”

“I looted an imperial city dry over a month ago and we’ve been fine since then, the winter harvest will sustain us along with what excess I’ve gained from trade with you thus far and what I looted from Drang. But I do have an excess of luxury items, fabrics and furniture, things I can’t easily break down into something more useful.”

“Good, then we shall move on to what you can do for everyone else. You should all receive training golems from King Fomoria.

Lord Slade, you must learn magic, because your lands have been too safe and that has made you rely on your mechanical weapons which will not stand up against Cast.

Prince Jakel, you would benefit greatly from technological advancement, which I’ve not discussed, but I believe King Fomoria has access to.

Queen Maldrea, your people are physically powerful but your magic is esoteric and unlikely to be helpful in combat, King Fomoria has mental magics of his own and may help refine yours along with enhancements to your elemental magics.

King Fomoria, I trust there will be no issues with my asking you to visit each nation and assess how to grow them into forces which can hold off the Cast without either of our intervention outside of Fingers and Hands?”

“How long do you all plan to stay here in Redhaven?”

“They will be here for three days before they must return. I hope you can accompany one and then go to the others at your own pace.”

“That will give me time to set my affairs in order.”

The topic then turned to what each nation could do.

To them, if Carmilla trusted Harlan, then that would be enough.