It had been another week since he last saw anything interesting, so he was excited when he was contacted by King Fomoria.

He was less excited when he learned that he wanted to talk about decor for the castle, which currently was in the minimum viable state required for habitation.

But then he swung the other way when he told him that he both had a means to maintain contact without needing to go through Xol, and he was bringing someone from outside the veil.

While Harlan spoke with Fomoria outside, Velvet had already gone inside and started to look at the rooms; they found him in their parents room.

“Dreadful, just absolutely dreadful. You, how could you bring me to this place? I should tear it down and-”

“Velvet, calm down.”

“I just can’t imagine working with this. I mean really, a bed frame inlaid with vegetables? A painting of fields of wheat across the entire wall?”

“My parents are farmers, if that is what they want, then don’t complain.”

Velvet sighed and rolled his eyes again.

“Fine, it is your money going to waste.”

Harlan turned to his doppelganger.

“I’ll pay for this, you don’t need to do this for me.”

“I happened to be in the bath with Velvet and he mentioned to contact him if I ever had need for furniture, so I’m the one who started down this path anyway.”

He got strange looks from everyone.

“Things are different outside the veil, the Dague have a long history and a deep cultural connection with communal baths. I’ve taken to this culture, and Velvet just happened to join me. It isn’t like the tubs we have here that could only fit a single person, they are designed for larger groups.”

“Huh…”

His mother still thought it was odd.

“I’m not with him in that way.”

“You always were so prudish, and I don’t mind that in the slightest, I’m just surprised that you would change like that.”

“Change comes naturally in that place.”

King Fomoria looked away, and Velvet put his hand on his arm.

“You changed to be the King they needed, don’t feel bad about what this world needs you to be.”

“Thanks.”

As they walked to the next room, which would be the nursery, Harlan struck up conversation with himself.

“You mentioned a way for us to speak to one another without Xol, is that finished?”

“Ah, yes.”

King Fomoria had a satchel with him, which before he left D’if mocked it as being a purse, and he pulled a black crystal skull from it.

“Is this?”

“Yes, there is a blood gem layer over my skull.

When I try to connect to your mind, it will be focused on that skull, which is connected to one on my desk, and that one is a copy of the one in your hands. So it can’t work with the amulets unfortunately, but anyone could call you and then you can contact me.”

“That is interesting. I wonder, do our minds feel the same to us?”

“I can transmit the feeling through soulspeak and we can check.”

As it turned out, their minds were distinct from one another.

“Huh.”

They entered the room to find Adina was already waiting.

“Ah… I can go if you-”

“Nope, I’m fine.”

“Oh, then you found someone?”

“I’m figuring out if she and I can work out. She’s a bit… feral.”

“Well, I hope to meet her someday.”

Harlan and King Fomoria traded stories with one another as they made their way through the castle and though Velvet commented on seemingly everything, he went mostly ignored until they got to the royal children.

While King Fomoria stayed with Velvet to keep him in line, and to keep the royals in line, Harlan went back to the nursery.

“He seems well.”

“He does.”

Adina paused and handed Viviane to him.

“Is he well?”

“So far as I can tell, his emotions are calm and he is genuinely happy.”

“What is the issue with that King though? He is a very rude man, and I can’t imagine that you would be friendly with him.”

“He seems strange, like he is pretending to be more flamboyant than he really is.

He told Fomoria to not feel bad about how he changed because he did it to be a better king.”

“Maybe he found a real friend out there.”

“I hope so.”

Harlan rocked back and forth in a chair, putting Viviane to sleep with his humming.

Adina began to yawn as well.

Unfortunately she woke back up when Harlan had to hand her off so he could answer his amulet.

Harlan stood in the hall so Adina could put Viviane back to sleep.

“Hello?”

“The Reinoan rebel forces have amassed themselves into an army over a million strong. They know that they’ve lost, they just want to kill as many Reinoans as they can and rush the border into Ragne.”

“King Fomoria is with me right now, I will ask for his help.”

“What is he there for?”

“Decor.”

“I don’t have time to question what that means.”

Harlan rushed down the halls, finding Harlan separating Velvet and Aster who had gotten into a heated argument about filigree and its uses.

“King Fomoria, there is an army in Reino a million strong and coming for the border.”

“And?”

“Can you help?”

“Of course I can.”

“WILL YOU HELP.”

His eyes went black.

“No, I can’t help.”

His tone was unhappy.

Harlan arrived at the border, finding that Alder, now general of the army, was already waiting inside a commanders tent which had both a shifting table that could replicate areas and be updated with the reports, and a large communicator in the middle which connected to various scouts in Reino.

“Sir Fomoria, reporting for duty.”

“You will go with a group of royal guards, your work will be to help protect them as they cast mass warmagic. Gate 300 north by 60 west.”

“How did such an army gather without us having more time to prepare?”

“The million are spread across hundreds of miles and in groups of tens of thousands, they aren’t a single massive wave, they are just moving east and trying to gather at the border while slaughtering whoever they can along the way.”

Harlan met up with Safira and a few other royal guards as planned.

“You know what to do?”

“I’m running defense while you cast large scale spells.”

“Good.”

It wasn’t just them of course, just as the other side had an army of fodder and their heavy hitters, the forces of Ragne brought their army of golems and their support units.

The royal guards joined their hands high above an army of 15,000, at their sides were many other warmagi casting counter spells.

The plan wasn’t spectacular, but it was on short notice and was presently just them trying to minimize damage until more forces could be properly mobilized and they were sure that this wasn’t also part of a ploy to move forces away from the front of the civil war in Ragne.

War magic clashed with war magic, men died by the dozens below him, but they weren't his problem, his job was to catch anything that made it past others.

Harlan had to avoid being too caught up in what was happening around him, he focused on what was in front of him.

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A crystal mass was launched at Safira and the others, but he didn’t do something foolish like blow it apart.

No, when faced with a large crystallization spell, the best bet would be to move it out of the way or slice it in half, either way, going head to head with it was a bad idea.

Harlan opened a gate and sent it back to the other side, where it was countered with a sound spell that shattered the crystal until it was too small to grow anymore.

The other warmagi did their work, and eventually, Safira’s spell blasted forward.

A giant orb of cold hit the other side, moving too quickly to be stopped and packed with too much power to be fought against.

Harlan felt the temperature drop a dozen degrees in moments, and around the spot where it struck, the blood of men froze in an instant.

Once the other side lost a significant number of warmagi, there was no danger of the royal guard being interrupted.

It became not a fight, it was just one side hitting the other with magic while on the ground the Ragnite forces just needed to hold them back, killing wasn’t their job anymore.

On Ragne’s side, less than a hundred men died, and three hundred golems were destroyed, but the rebel side lost 8,000 before they surrendered.

Harlan regrouped with the guards.

“Now what?”

“I call the generals and we get a situation report, then we are redeployed where we are needed most.”

Harlan listened in as she called to a large communicator not belonging to any single person, but rather in the generals tent where they received reports from the battlefield and updated a map table with the latest information they had..

“This is Royal Guard Commander Safira, where should we go next.”

“Wait a moment, we are still getting reports from… from all over. South sector pacified, south east sector pacified, go to the center north.”

“Two sectors have already been pacified? By whose team?”

“Not sure, large blue men with horns, and a dragon.”

Harlan decided not to introduce King Fomoria, lest he cause more confusion, but Safira knew by the description.

What Harlan couldn’t understand was why he had refused to help before.

“Perhaps we will be done by nightfall afterall.”

Harlan repeated his job as best he could, sometimes the number of Ragnite warmagi was simply too few compared to the rebels and Safira and her team needed to stop the spell more than once to dodge or block.

It was strange, sometimes he even worked alongside the Ascended to fight back the rebel forces.

This went on for seven hours, and because they were killing from the outside in, eventually the armies started to come together.

300,000 men formed a wall around the capital, holding off the Ragnite forces while also hammering the walls of the capital.

Ultimately their goal was to kill Fragile Peace, who they saw as a traitor, selling the country to Ragne because she left it so weak it couldn’t even defend it when the seawall was breached.

There was a limit to how much Ragne could help, since there could only be so many men in the surrounding area.

They decided to call in the newly formed air force, five bombers loaded to full and three smaller escort planes that would deal with any flying threats along the way.

10 minutes out, the pilots started reporting a black dragon was flying along with them but despite their attacks, it just dodged and didn’t try to counter.

Harlan’s eyes flashed.

“Call off the planes.”

“Why?”

“Because I am under orders to stop them from dropping their bombs, peacefully or not.”

“General Alder, I have just received a call from King Fomoria, the black dragon in the sky by our planes.

He says that he is under orders to stop the planes from attacking. It is likely that our god-”

“Pilots, fire on the black dragon.”

“HOLD THAT ORDER.”

“Safira, if Sir Fomoria intends to counter my orders again, remove him from my tent.”

“Don’t let your pride get in the way, he is going to destroy those planes.”

“Continue with my order, fire on the dragon.”

“Those men are going to-”

“Safira.”

“Harlan, don’t make me drag you from the tent.”

He stepped outside, the veils prevented him from hearing what was happening, but he knew that those men were dead the instant the order came through.

Harlan heard afterward the details.

The planes were fast, they were well armored, they were maneuverable, but they might as well have been paper against the black flames of the horned dragon.

When the bombers fell, it wasn’t on the enemy side, they went down in flames right on top of Ragnite forces, killing 20,000 at least, but they were still working out exactly how many died.

Afterwards, the dragon dive bombed the rebels, burning them and itself up with those same black flames.

Harlan was called before Rosewell and Alder.

“Explain to me what exactly happened?”

“Sir Fomoria and this King Fomoria must’ve-”

“Alder, silence.”

A power in the room stopped her oldest brother from speaking.

“Harlan, is there an explanation that doesn’t have you tried for treason?”

“Fomoria said he couldn’t help us-”

“But I have reports saying that a black dragon and blue horned men were on the battlefield killing traitors.”

“When I asked him about helping, his eyes went black. The Darkness must’ve ordered him not to help Ragne. When we were speaking about Reino becoming a vassal state, Titania and The Darkness had a conversation that none of us were privy to, it is possible this is related.”

“Contact your god.”

Harlan’s eyes went black.

King Fomoria was already waiting.

“Before you get upset, I gave them the chance to live, it isn’t my fault that Alder is still such a prideful little shit that he killed those men to spite us.”

“We both know you could’ve let them live if you-”

“I was ordered to stop them by any means necessary, that I called you at all and tried for a peaceful solution was a courtesy. But, when I was denied peace, I was ordered to make an example of them.”

Harlan didn’t even see The Darkness, but he knew that she had to be lurking somewhere in there, Fomoria couldn’t have the ability to set up such a fake world by himself.

“Did she say why you had to do this?”

“There is something under the capital that would’ve been damaged, woken up, or set off, that is the best answer I got. I wish I could say more.”

He sighed as he awoke.

“She didn’t answer me, but King Fomoria was there. He said that he was ordered to stop the planes, and that he wasn’t required to do so peacefully, but he contacted me out of courtesy.”

“Alder, were you warned about the dragon before it attacked?”

“I don’t think that we-”

“Yes, or no.”

“That isn’t the point-”

Rosewell signaled to Safira, who backhanded the former first prince, sending him to the ground and cracking his teeth; she held back, but was annoyed with the man.

“This is not a business deal, or a negotiation, and I am not someone who will be intimidated by your position. Yes, or, no.”

He staggered to his feet, spitting blood onto the carpet.

“Yes.”

“Then why did you decide to antagonize the dragon?”

“We should not bow to the threats of foreign powers.”

“Did you already know that both that dragon was King Fomoria, and who that is?”

“Yes.”

“Then you know that our father also worked alongside The Darkness, and that her champion is no longer under our banner. You’ve been reading the provided dossier of what we can gather from his spymaster as well?”

“Yes, I have read the-”

“Then at which point in the process of making that choice did you decide that you wanted to sacrifice five bombers and three escorts for your foolish pride.”

“I thought that-”

She signaled Safira again.

“You were made general of the army because it is tradition, but you have lost that title because you let your own ego get in the way of doing a mission with the lowest cost to us. Take him away.”

“To where?”

“Somewhere he will be still until I’ve decided what to do with him.”

She dragged Alder’s unconscious body into a guest room and placed him under guard.

Rosewell cleared the room.

Harlan couldn’t deny it, he was worried that the crown was becoming too heavy for her.

“Do you think I was too harsh on him?”

“No, your majesty.”

His professional tone wounded her.

“Harlan.”

“Yes?”

“You don’t have to kneel, it’s just us.”

“Us and D’if you mean?”

The man stepped out from the shadow of a pillar.

“Come on, don’t you have any loyalty to him?”

“My faith in his state of mind is rather shaky right now.”

“Whatever, I’m supposed to make sure queenie there stays alive, no better way to do that than to counter assassinate.”

Rosewell quickly found an issue with this.

“Shouldn’t you be working with Balor at the moment?”

“Well, if there was just one of me, sure.”

“Harlan, King Fomoria is not welcome in Ragne for the foreseeable future.”

“Understood. Should I contact him to remove D’if?”

“No, he is useful. But the current body count as a result of his actions cannot be ignored.

Perhaps if he helps us with something else, we can officially forgive him. Until then, he cannot appear anywhere in my borders.”

When all was said and done, Harlan didn’t know what to do, he just went up to the roof of his castle to think.

His amulet glowed.

“Hey, been a while.”

“David? Where are you?”

“Ah, you should know, Nemain won’t let you find me, so you shouldn’t bother with tracking.”

“It's not too late to-”

“I’ll let you ask three questions, no more, then we have to talk about your little bundle of joy.”

Harlan nearly asked if was really too late to convince him to change his mind, but he realized that would be a wasted question.

“Where is Magruder?”

“Dead, he threatened to kidnap Adina and kill Vivi, couldn’t let that happen.”

“Thank you. Why’d you defect?”

“From the nobles or from Ragne?”

“The nobles.”

“I realized that their goals and mine weren’t as close as I made myself believe. I wanted to destroy the nobles because Yggdra was the king, and he ordered my mother to be killed, but the nobles aren’t any better, just small people trying to push around those weaker then them to feel big.

But you know what I mean, don’t you?”

“The strong should protect the weak, otherwise, that strength is wasted.”

“When you destroyed that bandit camp, I felt like shit. I could’ve stayed, could’ve helped, but instead I ran, and those people would’ve been killed or used as playthings by bandits if you weren't there.”

“If it changes anything, I don’t think you would’ve been that helpful considering what I did in the end.”

“It doesn’t. It would’ve been better to have at least tried.”

“Is that what this is? You trying to do the right thing?”

“That is your third question.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah, it is. I think that the current institutions of power are corrupt and self-serving to the point where we can only tear them down and rebuild, rehabilitation isn’t an option anymore.”

“And since I’m part of that?”

“You know how this has to end, don’t you?”

“Don’t say it.”

“We’re both unstoppable forces, eventually we’ll clash, and only one of us is going to walk away from that.”

“This is my fault, isn’t it?”

“You already got your three questions. Just… if Shelly asks, if it comes to that, tell her that there aren’t any hard feelings, but I couldn’t bring her along with us.”

“I can get you a new face and-”

“Nope. How is Vivi?”

Harlan knew that he was right, both of them were too headstrong to really be stopped, and if they changed places, Harlan would never be turned away from changing a world that he thought had to be torn down and replaced with something better.

So, he talked about his little girl, how she was walking so soon, how she would laugh whenever he cast magic, how she was so mild mannered for an infant, how… fragile she felt in his hands.