Harlan didn’t rest well on account of being forced to sleep in the tea room.

It wasn’t an issue of the couch, which was very high quality since Velvet was involved in selecting the materials and oversaw the construction, it was that he hadn’t slept away from his wife since they first moved into the house.

It was past four in the morning when he woke up and sat outside their room.

He felt better to be able to sense them, to make sure that they were safe.

He understood why Adina was so upset, but this was for them, it wasn’t just his pride, his wounded ego, no, it couldn’t be that, it must be for them.

She kicked him awake.

“I can’t let you sit outside our door like a puppy.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I know you are. You can sleep in your chair at least.”

As much as it bothered him to not be allowed to sleep in his own bed, his heart could remain calm as he drifted to sleep watching Vivi toss and turn in her infantile slumber.

In the morning, Harlan got a call about where he would be stationed.

“I have to go. I love you.”

“Idiot, jackass.”

She kissed him before he left.

Forward camp 221, northern front, codename, Saltlick.

Harlan came in by the sky, the royal guard pact let him bypass the arrays and wards that should’ve stopped him from doing what he did; he could feel something watching from the mountains, piercing red eyes that saw through snow.

He landed with the grace of a feather, then transformed his clothes into a basic set of military armor.

His sword shapeshifted into a standard issue longsword, a few symbols on the base of the blade denoted it as having fireballs.

He kept his face as it was, without his equipment, he thought it was unlikely that anyone would recognize him.

Harlan came in before sunrise, and slipped into one of the tents, lying down in an empty bed.

When the sun rose, so did the soldiers, and when they left for morning roll call, so did Harlan.

The division commander knew each of the soldiers under him, 500 in all.

Having 501 was enough to set off alarms; the commander didn’t think for a moment that he had miscounted.

Harlan didn’t flinch with the blade in his face, he just transformed his clothes, causing the commander to attack along with the rest of the soldiers.

Nulson was known, and everything was changed to make sure he couldn’t slip in anywhere.

Harlan moved past the commander, dodging his blade and grabbing his wrist while he put his blade to the man’s throat.

“HALT.”

The men here, generally speaking, were not top tier mages, and most froze with the command, though others seemed entirely unaffected.

Still, those that froze broke their formations and men slipped on the icy ground as they banged into their fell soldiers.

“I AM HARLAN FOMORIA, QUEEN’S BLADE. THIS WAS A SIMPLE TEST, WHICH YOUR COMMANDER PASSED.”

He let go of the man and pulled the blade away from his throat.

“I was given no forewarning.”

“Of course not. Bring me to the legion commander.”

Seeing him in full armor with his ring and sword along with the display of magic, a chantless and signless spell that was cast over a large area and caused men to stop in their tracks, that was enough to believe he was who he claimed, for now.

The legion commander was the camp leader, the 5000 men under him were all his responsibility.

The first thing that Harlan noticed was that his mind was brighter than normal, and his skin was tanned despite his northern features and station, showing that he was a half-golden.

He was young for a man in his position, barely 30.

He had flecks of white in his hair, not from age, but from alignment, showing his father or mother as being from the White Sands; the Golden didn’t show their alignments in their hair like this.

“Sir Fomoria, we weren’t expecting you until noon, and we weren’t expecting a show.”

Harlan could feel resentment in his voice, hidden from his tone.

“Legion Commander Orden, I assume that a man of your station is aware of why I am here?”

Harlan thought that perhaps the man was annoyed at how Harlan hadn’t introduced himself with a salute, so he tried to engender himself to him by showing that he actually knew his name and then deferring to him.

“I am the only person who is aware of the reason you are here. I expect you to perform subtle security sweeps each day to ensure Nulson is captured. Your cover is that you are here to support us because this camp is set up in a rather precarious location.”

“Why is it called Saltlick?”

“If you wanted to hunt a deer, what would you do?”

“Jump from tree to tree until I feel their mind, then ponce, killing them in a single hit.”

“Right. Well a hunter would put up a block of salt that would attract the deer and then they would sit in a tree blind.”

“So what you are saying is that this camp is bait?”

“If the rebels break through here, they could cut a week off of most of their trips in the area and everything past us has awful defensive locations, no hills, the forests have already been cut down, full of mines that could be taken over; It would be a bloodbath if we had to retake the area

This valley here is the only way to get past the mountain range. Hiking over is insanity, if the cold doesn’t kill you the Yeti will.”

“Oh? Are you in contact with them?”

“Why would we be?”

“Yeti are evolved snow apes, they have the intelligence required to negotiate.”

“Whatever you may have learned in your academy will clash against reality. Sometimes they’ll come down the mountain, but they don’t do anything but steal animals from the locals, killing anyone who gets in their way. If I was given a force, I’d go up every summer to cull the numbers.”

“If I was given five minutes, I could recall events in the past where people worked together with Yeti.

I think they could be a great asset, if given the chance.”

“I’m sure you do.”

The bell rang out across the camp, breakfast was starting.

“This has been enlightening, and I’m sure we’ll talk again later.”

“I will have breakfast delivered to your tent shortly.”

“No, I’ll eat among the soldiers, it will give me a better sense for them.”

Through the howling winds, Harlan moved toward the nearest scent of food, and found another of the thick insulated tents.

The rambunctious crowd went quiet quickly as murmurs spread like a tidal wave.

They then began to salute him, a fist over their hearts.

“At ease.”

Harlan got in line, and naturally the soldiers started to make way for him, but when they shifted right, he did as well.

“I don’t need to go ahead of anyone.”

Harlan expected some confusion, bewilderment, but not the fear that these men and women let off.

When he got his food, those at the table nearest to the end of the line fled.

They were either higher ranks or beautiful women, people who used their influence one way or another to have the first seats, and none of them wanted to sit with Harlan, lest they be part of his mission.

In the time that it had taken to reach the end of the line, he had heard in whispered tones why they were so afraid of him.

Simple as it was,his words about a test made everyone worry that he was there as some kind of audit, that every ill remark or flaw in their military decorum would end up stamped on their personal file as a black mark.

Few things scared soldiers or guards liked someone whose job it was to find their faults and misgivings.

He scanned the room, terror ran through those who saw his eyes, slit like a wyvern.

Yet his gaze was only slightly predatory, he wasn’t looking for prey, at least, not in his opinion.

Harlan stepped through a gate and came out half across the room where he had spied an empty spot.

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He set down his platter and slipped into the bench before they could react.

“So, what is the word around camp?”

A funny sort of thing happened when he used a casual tone to disarm people, those who were most afraid of his empathy were often the hardest to heighten any positive emotions in, since they assumed any good feelings were being artificially imparted and panicked as a result.

“The camp is well run and the commanders follow their doctrine as one should.”

Perhaps she was one of those whose fight or flight was more of a speak or silence, since she was a mousy young woman and spoke a mile a second at him.

“That really isn’t what I meant.”

Harlan ate a spoonful of the thick gravy with shredded meat and mashed potatoes.

They looked at him strangely since he made no strange face in reaction to it.

“How is the food?”

“Better than scorpion, not as good as snake or frog. What’s your name?”

“Ratthel, people call my Ratty.”

“Not the best nickname I’ve heard. Better than Changeling I guess.”

“Are you really a Changeling?”

He could see her tense up along with the rest of the table, inside her head she was surely beating herself up for her slip of the tongue.

“Nope, just Half-Fomorian. Guess that makes me somewhat like your LC?”

His words didn’t make them any less tense.

“I am making you uncomfortable, is it because the mention of the commander being partly Golden?”

Ratthel didn’t say anything, the scale had tipped and she went to silence.

“Is it because he reacts poorly to people asking about his heritage?”

He had barely moved, but he seemed to be bearing down on the girl from her perspective.

She fainted, and he caught her before she could fall, but those who saw after perceived this events in reverse.

He spent his morning to noon moving around the camp, asking questions, looking for Nulson.

It would be ridiculous if he somehow managed to enter the camp so quickly, but Harlan barely knew anything about the man personally.

A gate opened at noon, and out stepped Sam and Liat.

He made a beeline to them as soon as he sensed their minds.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’ll explain why as soon as I get our tent set up. Lead the way.”

The division commander led them to a tent meant for two of them, right next to Harlan’s.

Even with him there, glaring at people who he noticed leering at his friend, just Liat, not Sam, the men could barely bring themselves to take their eyes off of the beautiful Golden.

The two women put their bags down and began to unpack.

The tent itself was made of a softer material on the inside than what the soldiers had, and it was more strongly enchanted to keep the cold out; the soulsmithed heaters were high quality as well, and could more easily be adjusted.

It was no larger than Harlan’s, and was laid out mostly the same, a single bed, but with two desks, and two dressers.

“Why are you here?”

“Bait. Why have one when you can have three. Nulson already attacked us once, so when we were offered the job, we took it.”

“What would possibly possess you to accept this? He nearly killed you once already.”

“Gold, and being given a full citizenship.”

“Sam, surely you-”

“I’M GONNA BE A FUCKING KNIGHT, WOOO.”

The tent was luckily sound proofed to keep the winds out and private military information in.

“Sam, I was going to tell him later.”

“She’s using a noble title to bring you in and risk you-”

“We do this shit all the time for pies and thank yous. Getting free food and shit to sit in a tent all day with my lover here then getting a noble title? I’m gonna get a castle, knights have castles.”

“Castles are rare, but if Liat really wants one, I can make it happen.”

“We aren’t here to sit around all day. Sam and I are officially here as mercenary assistants for you.”

“Yeah but he wants to do everything himself, so we’ll be free. That’s what you said, right?”

Liat elbowed her.

“I won’t make you do any excess work, just cleaning my tent, getting my meals for me, my laundry, delivering notes, helping to train the soldiers.”

A look of dread came over Sam, but Liat was holding back her laughter.

“I’m just shocked you got away from Adina. How is she?”

“How’s Yara?”

A look of horror flashed on both of their faces, then Liat punched Harlan.

It hurt, it really actually hurt; she had broken his nose and he began to bleed.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me.”

“Liat, what the hell was that?”

Harlan’s blood quickly clotted, only a few black drops hit the floor.

Sam didn’t understand what was happening, but she tried her best to shove Harlan outside, and he let her;

A few soldiers who had been sitting round outside the tent saw him come out with blood on his face.

Harlan suddenly felt tired, like the weight of the world was lifted off of his shoulders.

He assumed that it was just a result of having lost to Fomoria before.

In his dream, he saw the sky, and nothing but the sky.

But the moment he was somewhat conscious of this supposed dream, he knew the feeling.

“Calli, what do you want?”

“She doesn’t need two champions, it’s not fair. So, what do you say?”

“I doubt you can break the pact between her and I.”

“Oh? Well-”

Just over half of the endless sky turned to darkness.

“Go on, explain to him, explain why you think you can break my pact.”

“Because-”

The Darkness took over more of Calli’s sky, tainting the fluffy white clouds with void.

Calli was a being of freedom, yet the more The Darkness closed in, the more physical and defined her body became, and Harlan could see the pain it was causing her.

“Sister, whatever is wrong? You’ve stopped speaking?”

Calli closed off her world, removing both of them.

It was past evening, the dinner bell had rung, yet Harlan was still sleeping.

Liat panicked when she went to check on him, she didn’t think she could hurt him, but if her blow earlier had rattled his brain and he hadn’t dealt with it, he could’ve suffered an aneurysm and this body could be broken.

The moment she touched him to check his vitals, he reached out to grab her throat.

Yet in the instant that he reached up, she reacted, grabbing his wrist and twisting.

She wasn’t as strong as him for a few reasons, he was partly Fomoria, he was a man, and his body was enhanced with stronger monster parts than hers had been.

Yet she understood this pulled on him instead of trying to brute force a win.

When he fell from the bed, she slipped underneath and then flipped him onto his stomach.

Everything happened in just a second, before she had the chance to hesitate.

Harlan awoke with a pulsing headache and pain deep in his stomach.

Being forced out of a small world wasn’t an issue, but being forced out by a god in pain without any care for how the others left, that was dangerous.

He vomited as soon as he was conscious.

“Liat…?”

“Are you awake?”

“Fuck…”

She rolled him over onto his side and he emptied his stomach.

He groaned, then began to put his fingers in the puddle of puke.

“Don’t-”

He slapped her hand away, the sound of it was enough to make him flinch.

“Rune… four walls…”

She waited for him to draw the symbol and then drew it herself on the walls of the tent; an array appeared once the runes were charged.

Harlan seemed to breathe more easily.

“What happened?”

“Calli, she wanted me to be her champion, she was sure she could break my pact, The Darkness, didn’t like this. Calli closed off her world, tossed me out.”

“What is that rune? It's making me nauseous.”

“The topmost protective layer of my soul was stripped off. That is a mana isolation rune, it is dulling this area. You Golden, you’re more attuned than I am. You can step outside if you’d like.”

“Are you kidding? If someone came in here-”

“I’d snap them in half without issue. It hurts to move and use magic, but unless I am struck with powerful soul sundering magic, I am in no danger. This is nothing but an annoyance, an hour is all I need to finish regenerating. I wish I could’ve finished it in my sleep instead.”

“Did I mess up by waking you?”

“You were trying to help.”

“Shit. Should I get you something to eat?”

He thought for nearly a minute.

“Let me try something first.”

Harlan pulled the weapon sigil into his soul, either it would inflame it, or it would help.

She saw his veins go black, his body tensed so strongly that his muscles snapped.

Liat tried to push him down, to stop him from hurting himself more, then suddenly she saw his skin darken as the muscles underneath were replaced by void fibers.

Once more his breathing normalized.

“HAHAHAHAHA.”

He groaned as he removed the sigil; he needed to heal his body with normal magic now.

“What did you do?”

“I used my sigil, the one Fomoria gave me. I had an inkling that it could heal my soul, I think that it saved me when I used a burst of void flames against Nemain during the academy attack. But that was all a blur, I barely remember what happened, the flames probably burned up my short term memory.”

He got up from the bed, then fell; Liat caught him.

“Just a moment, I need to fix my muscles.”

There was a sound of stretching, like someone pulling back a bowstring as Harlan regrew and reattached tendons.

She could feel the pain he was in as he did this to himself.

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

Xol understood the system a little better now, and through a bit of trial and error, what he would call an infinite monkey plan, he got through to Jenny by finding out the exact code that coincided with her message ID.

“Hello? I haven’t been contacted through this system in a very, very long time.”

His fingers went across the keys in a blur, it was all muscle memory to him still, and those the layout had changed, the general shape of the keyboard was what he remembered.

“I hopes this reacheds you will.”

“Your English is rusty. Your grammar is off. Use this.”

He was a little shocked that they still used that blue underscored text still meant a link.

Xol hesitated, for all he knew this was going to infect his system and bring her right into it.

Yet still, he clicked it.

Spellcheck, Version J.

“Thank you for the program.”

“Your spelling is consistent with someone trying to convert a QWERTY keyboard into a, what was once at least, modern keyboard, and who hasn’t used the language in some time.”

“What do they call it now.”

“Universal layout, how highly they thought of themselves.”

“Did the UCA exist when you left for this galaxy?”

“Ha, yes, those fools, fleeing from their dead worlds. You are the Lich, yes? Or are you another of the Immortals?”

“I am Xol, at least, that is my name right now. How did you know?”

“Predictive algorithms. I thought about who would actually be likely to contact me, who would know about technology enough to either use or remake a computer, and who among the Immortals knew English.

How long have you been on this world.”

“I’ve been here for a little over 80,000 years, at least, I think. My memory has some gaps in it whenever I was dead.”

“Who was the president before you came here?”

“Antonio Salazar.”

Her previous replies came in an instant, her mind moved thousands of times faster than a human’s, yet she had gone three minutes without anything.