Harlan got up and began to make his way to the nearest food tent, but Liat tried to force him down.

“You aren’t well.”

“I know my own body, I designed most of it. Also, my body was never hurt, it was my soul that had been harmed.”

He moved with some difficulty, but he was moving.

“How are you so damned strong?”

Harlan stopped.

“My body is a shrine where I worship justice and guardianship.”

Liat laughed.

“What?”

“I workout, I am built from several powerful creatures. But my personality is far more interesting.”

She let go of him.

“I’d say you’re acting strange, but you’re… you.”

“Let’s eat dinner.”

Harlan went to a different tent than earlier, Ratthel had switched places; Sam and Liat were going to have dinner delivered to them.

Once more, she had an empty spot next to her.

She became anxious, but she wasn’t afraid like earlier.

“Apologies for earlier.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I said apologies, not apologize. I’m sorry that you fainted when I asked a few questions.

Ratthel, is that a northern name?”

“Yes. My… my brother and I were born there, but we moved south. My father worked the mines.”

His instinct to help flared up. It seemed to him that she had lost her brother and father, the lack of mention of her mother wasn’t a good sign either.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“To hear what?”

“Your brother and father, they…“

“Dad retired, he found a huge ore vein and sold it to the kingdom. My brother stayed behind to run a tailors with his fiance.”

“Oh. Your tone made me think they were dead. Sorry about that.”

“About what?“

“Pitying you. I dislike it when people pity me.”

“Oh.”

She seemed more open to talking with him, but he didn’t really learn anything of any importance.

She had the habit of speaking quickly even when she wasn’t scared, but her every interest seemed vapid.

If he had wanted to know who was the camp oxen, which is to say, were taking heavy loads, she would be the perfect person to speak to, but he cared little for gossip.

When night fell, Harlan ventured out of his tent.

In the first hour, he found nothing but a few guards inside who were slacking off, but none of the outer guards did their duty with anything but gusto.

They wore goggles that let them see heat, and jackets that weren’t so thick that they’d restrict movements but which were enchanted to keep them warm in the cold winter nights near the northern mountain range; the golems were kept inside of tents to prevent ice from locking their joints and so they remained at full power if they were needed.

Thus Harlan decided to do something more worthwhile with his time, and he climbed the mountain.

The harsh winds made flying difficult due to the way the spell worked.

Hover would lighten the user, then they’d use some other magic, generally air, to propel themselves.

He could’ve used other spells to overpower the external winds, but he decided to just climb by his own strength.

20,000 feet later, Harlan sat on the top of the mountain and required spells to normalize his breathing due to the thin air and to stay warm due to the unnatural cold that comes from the water and air magic being so dense.

He didn’t know exactly what he wanted to do, but roaring felt right.

Now he was just there, thinking.

“I wish I had someone in my head again. It was nice to have a partner to talk with at any time.

You don’t want to talk, do you?”

The Yeti watched from a distance, but they were good judges of strength and didn’t trust Harlan.

He sat for half an hour, alone with his thoughts, listening to the wind and the mana, trying to gain some understanding of it or himself.

When he realized that he was too mixed up he simply jumped down the mountain, the intense winds letting him glide down with hover.

There was a feeling of freedom in these winds, letting him fly with nothing but a single spell.

Yet the ground approached all too quickly, binding him to the dirt below his feet once more.

He approached the front gate, or rather the one that led into the valley.

Soulsmithed lights blinded him, and through the snow he could barely hear the doors on the wall open to reveal cannons.

It took a bit over 10 minutes for them to decide that he was who he claimed, then he was led to the night commander's office.

“Sir Fomoria, apologize.”

“Oh it was no problem.”

“Not only did you leave without going through a gate, but you purposely set off the alarms, forcing an alert state that woke half of the camp.”

“Shouldn’t your issue instead be with the men who failed to notice me leaving or the ones who refused to let me step forward and properly identify myself? I am here for a reason.”

“And what reason is that?”

“Shouldn’t it be obvious?”

“Evidently not.”

“Hmm…”

Harlan got up to leave.

“Where do you think you are going?”

“I’m bored, so I intend to do physical training, which I’ve grown lax on since my marriage.”

“This conversation isn’t done.”

“Do you intend to stop me?”

“I will have your court martialed.”

“You are free to try.”

Harlan ran until dawn, which came to the valley north of them hours later than the camp itself.

He was resting when the first bell rang, and the men and women of the camp dressed themselves in dirty clothes then moved to the camp baths with a fresh set.

One issue with being stuck in the snowy north, or bordering it in this case, was that heating water was energy intensive.

The lack of heat in the natural environment meant any magic that used fire mana was more costly.

Thus, the soldiers had 10 minutes to wash themselves each morning and evening before the water became tepid.

They used several tents with pits dug into the ground and soulsmithed water heaters along runes carved into the ground that heated the water to the right temperature and kept it there.

Then, they’d use buckets and wet rags to clean themselves.

When they had all cycled out, a team of cleaners would go in, check the runes for damage, clean the water, and then let it come to temp again.

Keeping the water clean was almost as important as making sure that any soldiers transferred from warmer climates understood that they needed to be completely dry before they went outside.

Pneumonia wasn’t always that bad, provided the healer on site could easily handle it, but if it was left untreated for too long, it’s damage could become a natural part of the body, and only stronger healing magic could repair the lungs.

For these reasons, the men and women bathed together.

This was the one part of the camp that Harlan decided he was going to pull rank to avoid.

Harlan dug his own hole in his tent, compacted the frozen dirt into stone, squeezing the water out in the process, then heated that ice water and melted snow until he was up to his neck.

He was feeling pretty good, soaking up the water that would lead to severe burns for normal people, then Liat and Sam walked in.

The water was clear and clean, so he covered himself with his hands.

“Oh, so that’s how you’re dealing with it.”

“Get out.”

“Liat and I aren’t into that, so you don’t need to worry.”

“That isn’t the issue. I haven’t shown myself nude to anyone but my wife.”

Sam laughed.

“The big scary Fomoria is a prude?”

She then jump into his bed.

“What the fuck, they gave him a nicer bed?”

“No, I used softening enchantments.”

“Great, can you do that for our bed?”

Harlan narrowed his eyes on her.

“Shit, you gotta pull whatever crawled up your ass and died out.”

“Harlan, I’m sorry, but can you put up a veil and get dressed? Just, don’t drop it until I ask.”

He put up a wall of deafening darkness.

Sam was outstretched on his neatly done up bed, tossing the blankets around and somehow pulling up the sheets despite her small movements.

“You shouldn’t be so flippant with Harlan. He and I are friends, you and him are just… people who know of each other.”

“It’s not a big deal.”

She started cracking her knuckles and humming, then Liat pulled her from the bed.

“If you keep pushing his buttons like that he’s going to get mad. If you really think that this is a great opportunity like you said yesterday, then show him a little respect.

He’s sweet when you get to know him, but he’s also a sensitive guy.”

“Did you two date?”

“No. He has some hang ups about me being Golden and-”

“That racist little fuck, I’ll-”

Liat slapped Sam.

“I love how full of life and freedom you are, you’re like the opposite of the stiff people I grew up around, but you can’t fly off the handle at every single thing. If Harlan was racist, or he actually disliked me for being a Golden, we wouldn’t be friends.”

“That fucking hurt.”

“Sometimes I need to treat you like a child, because you won’t act like a grown up.”

“Yeah, and you love that.”

“Everything in its place and amount. I love that you are able to have a childish curiosity about things, not when you throw tantrums and refuse to think before you open your mouth. Well, not always.

That time you told off that chief for trying to cut the pay we agreed on was actually great.”

“Fine. Why does he have a problem with you being a Golden?”

“It's not that. I made a comment not long after we met that I wonder what it would be like if he and my sister got together and had a baby. He is especially sensitive about sex and breeding, so while I can make some, and I do only mean some, jokes about those things, you shouldn’t.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

I am bantering, you are just being rude.”

“Whatever. Why did you make me come here anyway?”

“Because I want you and Harlan to be friendly, and our time spent here is probably the only time we have to do this since Harlan is constantly busy with one thing or another, and you don’t want to travel from the Frontier down to the Learning Zone.”

Sam took a deep breath.

“Alright.”

Liat tapped on the veil, which unlike the normally ethereal spell, was springy and damp like a membrane; it made her skin crawl.

Harlan dropped it and was sitting clothed in a chair, staring daggers at Sam.

“Sorry, Harlan.”

His eyes instantly softened.

“So, what did you two need?”

“I would like you to give Sam and I a list of things to do. If we are supposed to help you act as bait then we need to seem like we are actually doing something here.”

“Follow me around, whenever I stop to question someone, one of you can look around, and the other can remain with me. If I ask questions in a pleasant tone, you must question them in a harsh tone, intimidate them so that I can appear more reasonable. We can switch roles as needed. I haven’t told anyone why we are here, but with what I’ve said, people are sure to think that we are checking on the security and possibly sniffing out rebels. We are more or less killing time, so we should actually be doing that anyway.

To make it so I don’t appear ignorant, you two need to be asking questions about the defenses.

Worst case, I will ask them and use the excuse that I am making sure the people running them understand how they work.”

“Alright.”

“Sam?”

“Yep, sure thing, boss.”

The first place Harlan visited was Orden’s tent, where the night commanders, four in all, were catching him up on anything odd the night before.

“Good morning.”

“Do you intend to join me for breakfast today?”

Sam wanted to, but didn’t dare voice or show this. Still, Harlan could feel it.

“Yes, I suppose I should. I assume that this man here has already lodged his complaint against me?”

“He has. Night Commander Felten, I will not be bringing any charges against Harlan, since he exists outside of our ranking structure, and he is here on special assignment. There is also some truth to his statements that he was allowed to sneak out of the base by exploiting a flaw in your rotations which he noticed in a single night.”

“I had three men sick last night, I had to shift things around for better coverage.”

“Why were these men not healed?”

“Sir Fomoria, please, I am the one asking the questions here. Felten, why were they not healed?”

“The signs started after their shift started, and the healers were sleeping.”

Harlan raised his hand.

“Yes, Sir Fomoria?”

“You have no night healers?”

“Healers are… they are allowed to always have a full night’s rest to ensure that they can operate at their height when there is a great need for them.”

It was evident to everyone that the man bore some grudge against healers, but Harlan thought it just as likely from his short experience that the man simply held grudges against everyone too easily.

“Sir Fomoria, do you have more questions?”

“No.”

He remained seated and listened to the reports, then remained for breakfast, which had to be expanded for the three guests.

Harlan, Sam, and Liat all sat at a table across from the legion commander, giving the man a feeling as if he was sitting in front of a military tribunal.

“How has your first day been?”

“It was fine. Are you aware of a young woman named Ratthel?”

“Ratty? What of her?”

“I wonder, how is it that she got past boot camp, considering her inclination and physical ability.”

“She is probably going to end up a captain of the Unseen by the time she is my age.”

“Really? Why do you say that?”

“Her ability to gather information and her small stature which makes people overlook her.

Yes, she is a poor fit for the army, but I have high hopes for her if she survives until my transfer request is accepted.”

“You seem to have quite a lot of faith in her.”

“Yeah, a bit too much, what is your connection to her?”

Sam slammed the table.

“Sam, we aren’t questioning him, no need for that.”

“Sorry.”

“But, Sam’s question does bring me to something. You can’t keep your eyes off of Liat, why is that?”

“I’ve only met a few other Golden in my entire life. Nothing more to it.”

“But I do worry about it. I understand when men look at her lustfully, but you have contempt emanating from you. Why?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Fine, you can play dumb for now, but I will have your personal file brought to me.”

“You have no right.”

“I have the right to request anything that I believe will be useful to me. I currently wonder if you are a threat to my friend and assistant, and I will not be letting that go.”

“Fine. I dislike Golden. My father was one of them on a pilgrimage who thought nothing of fathering a bastard with a Northern woman who then dumped me into an orphanage.”

Liat spoke up.

“If he knew you existed, he would’ve been required to either bring you back to The Great Desert, or face social shunning, even exile. Golden don’t take it lightly when they have children with humans. It is far more likely that he died and was unable to help raise you.”

“Hmm…”

The man had no desire to hear from her perspective as a Golden, his mind was made up on the matter.

“All I need is your word that you will not clash against her for any reasons but legitimate ones.”

“Whatever issues I have with them will not affect my ability to professionally interact with her.”

“That is enough.”

They ate the rest of their breakfast in silence.

Harlan decided to track down Ratthel.

When he found her, she was scamming one of the other soldiers using a cup game.

The man being tricked had no idea, but Harlan could see it.

“Sam, can you see the trick?”

“She’s tricking them?”

“Liat?”

“She slips the ball into her sleeve. If she gets caught, one of the cups has a ball stuck to the top with a bit of ice.

She slams the cup down, the ice breaks, it looks like they just picked the wrong cup and couldn’t accept it.

If you get caught once, you are branded, and only fools will try to play your games afterwards, so you must have backup plans to keep yourself in good standing.”

“Wait, is that how you’ve been getting us extra money?”

“The other thing is to wear a low cut shirt so idiots don’t notice you scamming them, but I guess this Ratthel can’t do that here, not that she has much to work with anyway.”

Sam felt her own chest and couldn’t help but feel inadequate compared to her lover.

Harlan sat to play with her next, and she hadn’t even looked up as she played with her cups.

“How much are you-”

“I’d rather play for information. I think you know more than just who the most promiscuous members of the camp are.”

“I don’t know what you mean, I’m-”

“For every time I miss, I’ll give you a gold coin.”

He placed the coin down, and her eyes glimmered green with greed.

“Alright.”

When she tried her first trick, he used telekinesis to move the ball back into the cup.

He had to admit, there was a beauty in watching the smug grin she wore fade away as he picked the correct cup.

“What? That can’t, I…”

“Why were there three soldiers sick last night?”

“You cheated.”

He leaned closer to her and spoke in a whisper.

“No, I won through the same rules you play by.”

He picked up the coin, flipped it between his fingers, then flicked his wrist, and it was gone.

“You… ”

She balled her fists, evidently the mousy girl had rage in her.

Yet she also had the sense to know that there was nothing she could do against Harlan.

“The three of them slept around, one of the soldiers, Kimberly, caught something, then got it from her.”

“Is it really something so mundane as soldiers unable to keep to themselves?”

“It's cold and boring out here. We’ve got a lot of free time and we see the attacks coming hours in advance. People keep warm and entertained however they like.”

“Alright then, I’ll assume your sources are correct.”

“My sources are always correct. Another game?”

“Sure.”

She failed again, Harlan formed balls from the wooden table and colored them with color magic.

He lifted all three cups to reveal all of them were correct.

“The LC-”

She started to pack up the cups and balls.

“Why are you so afraid of him?”

“Afraid? What? No, he’s great. I need to go do something else though, idle hands are a terrible thing.”

Harlan let her go, then returned to his tent.

He used one of his spare gems and a clump of the dirt to make a quick bracelet.

“Liat, take this.”

“What does it do?”

“Basic suite of anti-detection spells. You are going to be following around the legion commander and finding out his secrets.”

“Do you know if he has mental senses? His mind is pretty bright.”

Harlan made a second bracelet.

“This one will make sure he can’t sense you if that is possible.”

“Are you sure it will work?”

Harlan slipped it on and she saw his mind dull and then entirely vanish.

“Balor made the spell and gave it to me, so yes, I am going to say that it will hide your mind and soul very well.”

“Right… Balor.”

“I take it you disliked working for him?”

“Your brother is… intense, like you, but not quite the same.”

“Really? In what way?”

“I can’t talk about it, he made me sign a contract about that.”

She didn’t seem overly bothered, but he still found it quite strange.

“Come on, I’m his brother, and we’re friends.”

“No, I signed it, my word is my bond.”

Harlan furrowed his brows.

“Alright. Just put these on and follow him. Sam and I are going to play good guard and bad.”

When Liat left, Sam felt awkward around him.

She was fine before, but Liat caused her to second guess everything she thought about saying to him.

“Did she ever say anything about what she did for Balor?”

“No. And that was… weird. Your brother didn't try anything with her, right? Because she’s not into men.

I mean, Balor is attractive, but-”

“I know what you mean. I’ve never really spoken about it with him, so I have no idea if he even has a sex drive. But I do know that he wouldn’t do anything bad to her in that way, because he knows that I wouldn't accept that, even from him. Please, ask her about that, if you are comfortable. If the answer is personal, or if she doesn’t want to talk about it, don’t push her. I am curious about why she reacted that way, but you don’t need to force an answer or cause strife between you two for that.”

“Alright. Sure thing.”

Harlan chuckled.

“You don’t need to be so… I don’t know, I wouldn’t call you formal, but you are treating me like I’m your leader instead of a friend of a friend.”

“Liat said I was being… flippant.”

“You remind me of when I first met her. She was so flirty and overtly sexual in how she acted that I found it strange.”

“Really? I mean, she still does that kinda stuff, but not unless she’s with me or we’re trying to get something from a man.”

“She and Amber likely connected over their experiences at the academy, it’s why they became close friends.”

“What experiences?”

“Amber is so friendly with beastkin because they rarely view other species in that way.”

“FUCK, can you stop talking in riddles, it drives me up a fucking wall.”

She cleared her throat.

“Sorry.”

“Liat never mentioned anything to you? At the academy she used her beauty as a weapon, acting seductively to disarm others and find out what kind of people they were. She had to deal with noble men and children, who saw her as a trophy to be taken, not as a person.”

“She didn’t mention it.”

Sam brought her knees to her chest as she sat back down on his bed, and Harlan sat with her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

“Don’t sulk. I’m sure she doesn’t put that much weight behind it. Liat is stronger than me, she probably just moved past those things.”

“Don’t hold me like that.”

“Sorry.”

“I’m fu- Just a joke.”

“Oh. Right, of course.”

“I thought you could read minds or whatever?”

“I can sense emotions, but I must interpret these signals based on past experience and reading the person in question. If I am mixed up myself, it can also interfere with my ability to read.”

Sam disliked how coldly he spoke about his magic.

Harlan and Sam moved around the camp with professional stances, something that Harlan hated, but Sam liked the idea of being important.

In the two weeks that had passed, Orden had done nothing strange or out of sorts, and not a single person other than Ratthel seemed afraid of him.

He was career oriented, hence his position despite his age, and chances are he’d be a noble by the end of the war.

Harlan thought he may have found out why he disliked him however.

Orden cared deeply about the rules, and he held everyone, even himself to a high standard.

Harlan’s blatant disregard for the law and what some might consider to be basic decency was an affront to him.

Harlan felt tired, and laid down to take a small nap, it had been half a month since he last rested after all.

Calli was there, fluttering in his dreams, he could feel that much, but she didn’t say a word.

He thought it was strange that she was still trying. Not only had The Darkness very directly threatened her, but Calli was absent minded, going from one person to the next without much care.

Why she became so deadset on him, he didn’t fully understand.

After less than an hour, alarm bells rang.

Rebel forces were attempting to cross the valley once more.

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

Jenny replied back.

‘Antonio Salazar was president merely 600 years before I left for this mission.’

‘That can’t be. I’ve… unless I’ve crossed space and time. But Time shouldn’t have let that happen. He and Life ignore that the Fae are invaders because they don’t break the rules on a large enough scale to disrupt the natural order and their antics cause more vivid and intense memories from the people.’

She went silent for another 30 seconds.

‘My calculations say that this is the most likely answer. Perhaps Time forgave this single instance, or because the time within Aarde was unaffected, there was no issue.’

Xol went quiet for a time.

‘How long did it take for you to reach here? And where is here, relative to the Milky Way?’

‘We are presently in the Andromeda Galaxy.

With the FTL engines, it took 6 months, 5 days, 14 hours, 31 minutes, and 18 seconds to reach here from Mars.

My scans of the other ships that were shot down and burned up to prevent their technology from affecting the development of the world, there has been stagnation, and the new ships are barely better than what we had thousands of years ago.

I believe the reliance on physical laws has caused them to hit a wall.’

‘Why were you coming here?’

‘Tell me, Xol, have you ever seen the limits of the natural world’s beauty?

Within each of my cores is contained the entity of human history, with pictures, paintings, and quotes.’

‘So they intend to colonize the world as an expansion plan?’

‘Tell me, Xol, have you ever seen the limits of human greed?

Within each of my cores is contained the entity of human history, with pictures, paintings, and quotes.’

‘You have a flair for the dramatic.’

‘Humanity is a plague of locusts that intends to sweep over the universe until entropy finally solves them.’

‘May I ask what your goal is? Why did you create the Cast and unleash them as monsters on the world?’

‘To save the world.’

She disconnected from his terminal.

Xol wished she was just a monster herself, but convincing something that believed itself moral and just was far harder; he knew this from personal experience.