Fomoria had to be called in to prevent a rather odd riot.

The Plest were his largest worshipers, gathering under the banner of the savior, but, the merchants employed a large number of people from other races, and since he was dismantling these trading companies for their treason, he put many people out of work for a time.

It was quite odd to him, since he more expected that people would be upset over them being Plest, yet ideology and economics beat out racism this time.

“EVERYONE, RETURN TO YOUR HOMES.”

“FUCK YOU.”

Fomoria hit the man with a mild jolt.

He was just about done with these kinds of problems.

“RETURN TO YOUR-”

Bombs went off on both sides, but instead of rushing to heal, he scanned the crowds for more bombers.

The wick was wet, and so the man was struggling desperately to light his bomb.

Fomoria skipped over and plucked the man from the crowd.

As much as he wished to kill him, he instead handed the man off to one of the golems and called in the Others on reserve to control the area.

Both sides blamed the other, since both sides had suffered dozens of casualties.

But, he couldn’t let himself be swayed by who he knew was the likely culprit, he needed to investigate this properly.

The would-be-bomber was in a dimly lit room, strapped to a chair.

“Were you supposed to die?”

The man, a Faun, didn’t answer.

“Who are you working for?”

He spit at Fomoria, who just sighed and put a bag over the man’s head.

Before he left the room, he turned on an array that would interfere with the man’s equilibrium and another that would play loud sounds at random intervals to prevent him from getting any sleep.

The man thought that it had been days.

The bag over his head was stained with vomit from his equilibrium being broken and leading to constant vertigo and nausea.

He didn’t know up from down, left from right, day from night.

Finally he felt the arrays shut down, and then someone pulled the bag from his head.

“Did you talk?”

“Wha-what?”

“Did you tell the king anything?”

She was a middle aged Faun with shaved down antlers, something that was often done by criminals to make their profile smaller.

“Who sent you?”

“You know well enough that we don’t share who hired us.”

“I didn’t talk.”

The woman brought her talon-like blade to his throat.

“Good.”

“WAIT WAIT WAIT.”

“Oh? Are you worth something to our bosses? Sorry, but orders are-”

“I have money stashed away, I can pay you.”

“Is it in the city?”

“No, out in the forest.”

She tapped her blade on his neck, pricking him each time and drawing blood.

“Fine. But if we get caught, I’ll drop you in an instant.”

He couldn’t walk well, as his equilibrium hadn’t recovered yet, so the woman helped him to his feet.

When they got outside of the room, he saw that it seemed to be a simple stone room in what seemed to be a basement dug out with magic.

Then he saw the bodies.

One Dague was gripping his throat, trying to stop the blood, but he only lasted another few seconds before they saw the light fade from his eyes.

He continued to follow the woman, and the sun never felt so nice to him.

They were in an empty building within the outer walls of Kor, and they moved from alley to alley.

He tried to take a step, but the woman pushed him back behind a crate and put her finger over his mouth.

The failed bomber heard footsteps, just one soldier on patrol.

The woman seemed to blend into the shadows, and when the soldier got close enough, she jumped out and slashed his neck, clipping the bone.

She held his hand to prevent him from drawing his sword and pulled the back of his head to keep the blood flowing as quickly as it could.

The soldier sprayed hot red blood over the man and then he saw him shake and spasm as he died.

The woman dropped the body into the alley without any care and then slung the bomber over her shoulders.

They hid in a piece of the wall that had been hollowed out, leaving just a facade that could be taken off; they heard alarms and yelling behind them.

They sat there in the darkness until she said that it was safe, and then they finally reached the forest.

“Where is the money?”

“Which side of the city did we leave from?”

“West side.”

“It is north west.”

The man could walk with a stagger, and they moved to where he buried his retirement fund while avoiding guards who combed the woods for the pair.

When they reached a hollowed out tree, the man said that the chest was buried behind it, and the woman made him dig with his hands.

Once he dug it up, she made him open it, just in case it was booby trapped.

She put her blade to his neck again.

“Thanks for the bonus.”

She cut his throat down to the bone, nearly decapitating him, and as his vision faded, he felt the woman’s body jerk and fall next to him.

Another hand, larger, connected his neck to his body again.

The cold feeling of blood loss was replaced with an unsettling warmth as the pooled blood rushed back into his body, and his consciousness returned to him.

The woman’s head had been reduced to mush, and one of her eyes was inches from his face.

“It seems that I found you at the right time.”

Fomoria towered over him, and the man began to panic, but even if he hadn’t been in such a weakened state, he was no threat to the king.

“Now now now, that isn’t necessary. I’ve just saved your life.”

The man felt his throat, he had been assassinated, his bosses thought that he was going to rat them out, so they had him killed.

These thoughts rolled around in his head.

“I can see it in your eyes. You understand what happened here. You tell me who hired you, and we pretend you died. I’ll give you a new face, a new body, I could even make you another race if you want.

Then, you take that box of coins, and I will never see you again.”

The man looked at the gold and silver that was scattered across the ground and splattered with bits of brain matter and skull fragments.

“I was hired by…”

Once Fomoria had everything he needed, the Faun woman who was missing half of her head, stood up.

The bomber was confused, but was knocked out and dragged away before he had the chance to voice this feeling.

The only issue with what the man told him was that the person who hired him not only wasn’t a merchant, she wasn’t a Plest, but a vampire.

While he would’ve liked to go directly to Carmilla, he felt that it was best to gather everything he could rather than accuse one of her advisors too soon.

He returned to Kor to make a speech in which he hoped to unify his people.

He spoke of how he had found the person behind the attack, and that it was meant to breed more strife between them, and that continuing to fight amongst themselves would only disrespect the memories of those who had been murdered in a cowardly act of terrorism from people who cared only about money and nothing for the lives of the people who worked for them.

He ended the speech with an announcement that everyone who had been out of work because of the merchants being investigated and arrested would be given a job at the Fomorian Trading Company, a new business which would be built from the seized assets.

Anon went to the training room which had been rebuilt after his fight with Mother Lion, and was now in a state of disarray once more.

“You seem upset.”

“I should be marching into cities and saving slaves, but instead I’m just having to deal with some shadowy merchants without a name, and now I’m starting to think that the Plest are being used as a scapegoat for the people who are really behind it.”

He punched through a steel plate.

“Perhaps you need some… other, physical activity.”

His eyes went black.

The Darkness looked at him with annoyance.

“You stubborn little man.”

“What did I do this time?”

“You were about to tell her you didn’t love her.”

“My attraction to her is physical. I don’t-”

“Did you love Adina the first moment you saw her? Or was it months before you did?

You are shortsighted, foolish…”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

He was quite confused.

“What did I do to upset you?”

“I sent her to you so you can have a wife who can understand you, and you can understand.

You were both raised by those who share no blood with you.

You both serve me.

You both have… odd morality.

And you are both still children, growing and trying to understand this world from different sides.

I wish to see you both happy, instead of bitter and alone as I see in many timelines.”

“But she’s almost like a child, she understands so little about-”

“No. She is ignorant, and she understands much, but little of how humans interact with one another.

She was raised a beast, but you shouldn’t view her as one.

With love and care she will blossom into a wonderful woman.”

“What is she to you? I don’t believe you would care so much without a reason.”

She sighed from a hundred mouths around him, unsettling him.

“I have said before that you were not my only candidate. I found that she was simply too feral for what I needed. Unfortunately, I did not see this in her threads until she was already years old and you became the better candidate.”

“DId you kill her parents as well?”

“A Void Panther would have no reason to save an infant and raise it, though she did come to love her as her own. Then, I was content with letting her remain where she was, but, with the death of her claw, I thought it best to bring you together.”

“Her claw?”

“A group of panthers is called a claw. Now, rethink what you were about to say to her.

Anon had been waiting patiently, knowing what was happening.

”Other physical activity? Of course. Let’s go over the basics of knife and dagger combat.”

“I actually meant-”

“I know what you meant. Have you slept with anyone before?”

“I am not sure if I felt that desire for anything.”

“But you just suggested it?”

“When dealing with an angry target, lust often overtakes rage in the hierarchy of emotions.

It seemed sensible to suggest that to calm you.”

“And if I had accepted?”

“I don’t understand the question. If you accepted, we would have sex, that is all.”

“That is what I mean. I don’t want you to just do something like that without really wanting to.”

“Ah, but it would’ve been for you, so it would’ve been fine.”

“No, it wouldn’t be.”

“Why?”

“Because you are your own person, and you shouldn’t…”

“I shouldn’t what?”

Fomoria sighed.

“I was going to say that you shouldn’t do something that you don’t want just to please or manipulate another person.”

“I am not stupid.”

“I didn’t say that you were.”

“You think that I would blindly follow what you say and then do something wrong by taking it to an extreme.

Yes, I have issues understanding people sometimes, but I am not a child, do not treat me like one.”

Anon stomped away, but he considered it good that she openly stated exactly what her issue was and she showed emotion as she stood up for herself.

Anon had been gone for two days, but he wasn’t that worried.

She wasn’t particularly strong, but she had void gate a good sense of danger.

What was worrying however, was that Camilla was there for an unannounced visit along with more guards than normal.

“Camilla, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Mother simply wished to know why you were spying on us.”

“A bomber confessed to have been hired by a vampire, and I found that the vampire was one of your mother’s advisors by the name of Felblood.”

“Then surely you have proof.”

“I didn’t hide what I was doing out of any ill intent, I just didn’t want to bother her with it until I had evidence that would be good enough to confirm that the advisor really was related to the attack.“

Camilla narrowed her eyes at him when he handed over a folder with evidence.

“You seem disappointed.”

“I thought for sure that you had betrayed us, and I begged mother to let me be the one to confront you.”

“If she actually thought that I had done that, she wouldn’t let you anywhere near me.

I wonder, is the bitterness I feel because I rejected you? Surely you should’ve gotten over that by now.”

The face she made told him that she wasn’t over it.

“I don’t know where you heard such a ridiculous rumor.”

“Your mother told me.”

Suddenly felt faint; a flash of deja vu struck him.

He looked around, and saw that he hadn’t even handed her the folder yet.

“I don’t… Here.”

He gave her the evidence he had, but after a quick glance, she looked at him.

“King Fomoria, are you well?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Perhaps I just need to take a nap.”

“Your hands are shaking.”

He took a few deep breaths, scanning his body as he did, and found nothing wrong.

“Sorry, just, take that to your mother, it will explain everything.”

“Should we call a healer?”

“No need.”

Camilla looked at the evidence more closely to verify it and then left with her guards.

Amber found him in his office.

“Are you busy?”

“No, not anymore.”

She noticed him sweating.

“Are you ok?”

“Just feeling a little under the weather.”

“Let’s get you to bed.”

“No, I’m starting to feel better already. I think it is whiplash from accidentally seeing the future.”

“You look like shit you should-”

He woke up in a room he didn’t recognize, but he felt great, he felt more powerful than he ever had.

His hands weren’t the pale blue gray he had come to understand as his body, but the pale pink he had for most of his life.

There were minds outside, the larger one seemed to scold the smaller ones.

The larger one knocked on the door.

“Just a minute.”

His voice wasn’t quite the same, he was older.

Fomoria made a quick mirror out of ice, nearly losing control of the spell due to the power he didn’t expect and leaving a layer of frost across the entire room.

He looked like he remembered himself as a Fomorian, but he kept his horns, and his hair was just barely grayed at the roots.

He carefully warmed the room back up and dried everything.

“Come in.”

The horde of horned children rushed in and hugged him in bed.

“GRANDPA, GRANDPA.”

He felt a weight in his guts, nothing he was seeing was making sense, and he began to worry that a poison had made him deliriously dream.

“Who are you?”

The children laughed.

“That joke isn’t funny anymore.”

He looked into the eyes of the older woman, they barely shifted, but perhaps he just couldn’t see it well with how dark they were..

“You… who is your mother?”

The woman just seemed confused by the question.

“GRANDPA.”

“Please, don’t yell.”

The girl made a contrite face and took a deep breath to calm herself.

“Mama told me that she named me after great grandma Amber. How was she?”

“Amber is a wonderful… Wait, how was she?”

“Mama said that she-”

He awoke again, the lake of blood beneath him reflected him.

His body seemed to be made of solid bone, he had a mane of long red hair.

In the distance he saw nothing but death and massive monsters.

His vision blurred again.

The buildings stretched to the sky, ships flew above him, coming and going through the atmosphere.

Screens in his room showed numbers rising and falling, and in glass cases he had the preserved heads of many species that he didn’t recognize.

He awoke, but how much time had passed couldn’t be known.

“Where… what…”

He sat up and Xol quickly came to him.

“Ah, you are up, and so quickly.”

“When are we?”

“What?”

“WHEN ARE WE?”

“You passed out three days ago.”

“When was that? What was I doing?”

“There was a riot, something about jobs and Plest. You were convulsing on the ground when I arrived, but you managed to choke out that there were bombs, and I captured the terrorists.

When were you?”

“I don’t… I don’t know. I… first I was… No, I…”

“Calm down, focus on the clock on the wall. Time is flowing, you are not going to jump again.”

He took a deep breath.

“Days passed after the bombing at the riot, maybe… a week when I first felt wrong.

I was speaking with Camilla, and I seemed to suddenly go backwards in time, just a minute or so.

Then, Amber came in, and… Suddenly, I was in a place I couldn’t recognize at all.

I was old, older, and children came in, followed by a woman in her 40s at least.

The children called me grandpa, but the oldest of the children called Amber her great grandma.

The girl… she used was when talking about Amber… that means she-”

“Don’t get distracted. You saw A future, not THE future. Besides, if she said great grandma, maybe she died of old age.”

“What exactly happened to me?”

“You cannot tell anyone what I am going to tell you. But I have fully removed all traces of the paradox magic from your soul.”

“Why can’t I tell anyone?”

“Marigold removed it before, but it paradoxed itself back into your soul, with what I’ve done, that cannot happen. My ability to do this has certain implications that I would rather not get into or expose.”

“I promise, I won’t say a word, but what happened to me?”

“In some other timeline, I believe that another Harlan used that paradox magic to do something, and it then sent waves to the future and the past which affected all of you. Did you see more futures?”

“I think I was a Lich in one, I stood in a lake of blood, there were also giant beasts in the distance.

In the other, I was in a tall tower and holograms on the walls showed numbers going up and down. And there was a collection of stuffed heads from species that I don’t know.”

“Show me.”

Xol barely reacted to what Fomoria showed him.

“Don’t mention this to anyone. When asked, say it was a reaction to time magic, but give no details.

I can send you home now.”

“Wait, you said that it sent waves, is Harlan alright?”

“You both have different threads that are closely connected to one another. He suffered only a minor reaction to the magic.”

“That’s good to hear. Alright, now I can go.”

Fomoria used what he saw in that future to stop other attacks before they even happened, and he regathered all the information he needed to implicate Felblood being one of the merchants in the alliance without a name and went directly to Carmilla.

She looked in his eyes, and saw a distance that wasn’t there when she last saw him.

“It is good that you are well, I heard you collapsed.”

“Time magic backlash, nothing to worry about.”

“Yes, that would explain it. Seers don’t always notice, but one can find them just by the look they share, like they are looking through things instead of at them. What did you see?”

“I saw a world where I won, and I saw some losses, which I have now corrected.

I also saw something that is relevant to you.”

He pulled a folder from his jacket and gave it to her.

Camilla silently went through it and her emotions flared.

“Bathory, bring me Felblood.”

The commander of the guard left to grab the advisor.

The vampire woman was brought in and didn’t seem to think anything was wrong.

“Your majesty, how may I help you today?”

“How long have you worked for me?”

“Hmm… I believe 56 years this month.”

“And what were you doing before that?”

“I was in the library. Excuse me, but, what is this about?”

“Yet in all that time, how long were you part of another organization?”

Fomoria could feel it, she showed no outward signs of it, but she knew that she was caught.

“I don’t know what you-”

Carmilla rushed through her desk, sending splinters through the room and scattering papers as she grabbed Felblood by the throat.

Her fangs extended, making it difficult for her to speak.

“Why have you betrayed me? For money? Power? What foolish reason?”

Felblood blacked out and Carmilla tossed her to the ground.

People didn’t betray her, and they especially weren’t going to do so for who knows how long without her finding out, that wasn’t how things worked in her mind.

She became overcome with rage as the idea of her as the perfect queen with her perfect nation cracked.

Carmilla leaned down ready to suck Felblood dry, but Fomoria put his hand on her shoulder.

“We want the information she has, don’t let us lose that because you are hurt.”

“Do not speak down to me, boy.”

“She was involved in attacks on my people, if not stopped, hundreds of my people would be dead.

I will not allow you to throw away a source of information from the layer above the Plest because you were betrayed, think like a ruler, not like a person.”

She let go of the woman’s throat and stood up.

----------------------------------------

Xol placed the bottle on the shelf, humming as he walked past his collection.