Amber and Sepul hushed themselves as Zella knocked on the door.

It was more a formality, since she entered the office before they even answered.

She saw Amber looking over a report, but didn’t pay it any mind.

Amber grabbed the next one in the stack and put it over the original to hide it without being clear what she was hiding.

“Did you need something?”

“Anu wanted me to recover a species of birds, and I was wondering if it would be alright to bring more ground from below so I can build a habitat for them on the island.”

“How large?”

“Half a mile.”

“That’s not small. We’d been expending a lot of our mana gem stock to support more ground, and I’ll need to readjust the arrays again. How long before you bring them?”

“We’re going to ambush some of Xol’s forces in their forest tomorrow.”

“I don’t have time. Anything special about these birds that should make me reschedule my work just to save them?”

“They are born earth aligned and take very little food or water, mostly spreading out and eating sunlight.”

“So they are meat birds?”

“Yes. Anu wants us to continue expanding the island more and more, so she wants me to bring species that are rare but useful and allow them to become… she used the term fodder.”

Amber tapped on her desk.

“What were you and Sepul doing? You two have been spending a lot of time together in the last couple of days.”

“I can start working on the arrays, but Anu needs to tell us where there is a stockpile of mana gems if she wants me to add another half a mile of land.”

Zella’s eyes turned brown.

“Alright. She’ll have other agents harvest and prepare them for pick up. I need a piece of paper to write the coordinates.”

Amber kept a pile of blank paper on her desk, and handed her a sheet.

“Perfect. I’ll be back in about four hours, the gems should be ready to pick up in two. Can you get your arrays set up in that time?”

“I’ll get it done. Gotta look over one thing here first.”

“Alright. Thank you.”

With Zella gone, Amber could get back to what really mattered.

“It can’t be as bad as it looks.”

“Perhaps he’s been captured by her and forced to help.”

“I don’t know that there is anything The Machine God could do to make him give out the mark to Cast.”

“She’s been a leech on Aarde’s power for a long time, more than that, she could’ve worked with Fae before now. My biggest worry is how she got Fomoria in the first place. Aarde’s attack should’ve sent him out of the world in moments, he vanished faster than I could see.”

“How much do we know about how she’s been stealing Aarde’s power? Is she strong? Does she know what they're doing? Can she see through their eyes?”

“We know almost nothing about Jenny. She makes things and sends them out, but nobody on our side has ever even spoken with her in some time. The closest we got was what The Emperor said while fighting.

She wants to rule the world and somehow it would be better than Aarde’s indirect influence because she believes herself to be the smartest being in the universe.”

“But you don’t have any firsthand experience?”

“I don’t know much about things outside of The Veil, since I only ever came out here to do very specific things.”

Amber leaned back in her chair.

“We need to capture one of them. Which means we need to cast a wide net.”

“Give the order to report any Cast sightings, and direct viewings should be sent up the chain of command straight to you. It’s unlikely that there are many left alive. Cast didn’t exactly live outside of their empire, so the virus was almost unavoidable for them.”

“Or we just go right to Blackship and-”

“We would be turned to dust by her defenses in an instant without a great deal of preparation.”

“You ever tried?”

“Fomoria was being groomed so he could aid us in destroying the city. Unfortunately, Xol was the biggest contributor in planning the theoretical attack. But I did know some of what she can do. Though I never saw it in person.”

“Alright then. I’ll give out the order to the Others and any of our other leaders that Cast should be called in so we can capture them. We don’t want them getting too close and blowing this whole thing.”

“Very well. I have some business to attend to inside of The Veil, so I will be taking my leave now.”

Amber sent the message, put up her arrays, and grabbed the gems, all without issue.

But as she was planting the gems in the ground and otherwise preparing them so the spire could take control of them and disperse them through the new ground as it was brought up, Marigold wanted to talk.

“I hear you are looking for Cast?”

“I am. What about it?”

“Don’t think it’s gone unnoticed by Aarde, or why you are looking for them.”

“So? I need to confirm it.”

“If Fomoria is really working for-”

“Yeah, we’ll have a fucking problem. But until then, we’re not doing anything but looking for a way to confirm it.”

“If we can get him out of there, Aarde is still willing to work with him, provided he controls himself.”

“How about Aarde controls themself? He managed to keep himself in check long enough to be betrayed by you, so Aarde can do the same.”

“You need to let go of that anger, or-”

“Or what? You’re going to kill me? Because that is not going to end well now that we’re pretty sure that petty bullshit didn’t work to get rid of my brother, your former friend.”

“Not a former friend.”

“Well we’ll just need to ask him and his new Cast.”

“It is for the best that we don’t throw out accusations like that until we confirm it.”

“Which is exactly what I’m doing. So what’s the point of this entire conversation?”

“I just wanted you to know that I know. Don’t do something rash, don’t let him do anything rash.

We aren’t enemies, we just hit a bumb in the road.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“He would’ve spent a decade in space if Aarde didn’t somehow fuck it up. The only bump for you is that he’s not gone.”

“I’m sorry about what happened, but it wasn’t my fault. I was letting you vent before, but now you need to grow up. We all saw that your brother wasn’t right, but he crossed a line by threatening me when I just wanted to take more time to confirm he was alright.”

“I think the most fucked up part is that you actually think you are right.”

Marigold sighed and left, her message was delivered, but received would be a strong word.

It was barely past an hour after the new ground was settled and a few golems began constructing the barriers that would keep the new livestock from roaming freely when Amber got called about Cast.

She called Sepul and they left immediately, but when they arrived, Marigold was already on site.

“Who told you?”

“Aarde, when looking, finds things. The Cast were paradoxed into a prime race of Aarde. Finding them once they leave Blackship was far from a difficult task. Had you asked, or tried to bring me into the loop, we would’ve found them even faster. Instead you hid that report for days.”

“Whatever. Let’s go get them together then.”

“Yes, we should. But I think we should observe them first.”

“They’re two Cast.”

“Not exactly.”

“What does that mean?”

“You’ll just need to follow me and find out.”

They saw the Cast rush into a town under Xol’s banner and attack the guards.

Maybe it was troubling, or maybe it was nothing, but the first two things that Amber noticed was that their metal was nearly black around their extremities, transitioning into an off white past their shoulders and hips.

They had the same basic shape, two arms, two legs, but they weren’t the same as before.

Bodies were covered in many other interlocking boneplate that gave them a cracked and irregular appearance, as though they weren’t naturally part of their bodies, having been haphazardly grown; When struck, they deflected the blades and bullets of the soldiers.

The plates had little space between them, but they seemed to pull them together tightly moments before larger impacts, implying the flesh underneath was still at least as vulnerable as the old Cast, and leaving weak spots.

They fought with single edged swords that bore a slight curve and were made of a black metal, but something other than shadowsteel, not quite a machete, not quite a scimitar; Amber recognized them as something the Sects used.

Around their hands, they noticed bony growths, and when they punched the soldiers, they tore through their armor and gored them.

The largest difference was that they now had a third eye which seemed to move independently of the others.

When a group of soldiers co-op casted a drilling spear of fire, the chest of the targeted Cast opened and seemingly ate the spell like Fomoria could.

The town which was once under Xol’s control was quickly… well, it wasn’t conquered, they just killed the soldiers and got ready to leave.

The Cast took sprinters' stances, moving in long bounds at first, but it was like they weren’t used to the bodies yet, and they stumbled.

But once they got more used to it, their bounds grew shorter, their feet hit the ground one after the other.

They clearly weren’t using any anti-friction spells, since a cone of air was starting to form and causing them to stumble once again as they fought against it.

Even as unused to their bodies as they seemed to be, it would be hard for most creatures to keep up with them as they were.

Then they found another town, killed the soldiers, and left again.

Amber was tempted to say that they should just keep watching them, but Marigold wanted to capture them and get some answers.

Marigold raised the ground around them, trapping the pair in a sphere of hardened stone.

Had they the ability to fly, they might’ve had a chance to get away, but she’d seen no proof of it yet.

“We’ve already learned something very important.”

“And that is?”

“If they can’t open their chests, they can’t absorb magic. I saw the aftermath of Fomoria fighting… well, the Golden attacking him, and even physical magic is eaten away, losing cohesion. Can you speak?”

“No.”

The Cast wryly laughed at her, so she began condensing the stone until she could hear their bio-metallic bodies creaking.

“I brought a truth potion, no need to crush them to death. Which one should drink it?”

The two of them weren’t identical, one had slightly softer features, another difference from the Cast which had been identical unless one had a body part from The Emperor.

“The harsher looking one.”

It didn’t resist Sepul pouring it down its throat.

“Who made you?”

“Hmm… that potion, minty. Not all together unpleasant.”

“Who made you?”

“I refuse to answer.”

Everyone was shocked, but Sepul did not show it, and continued his questioning.

“Why were you made?”

“Because someone had to do something.”

“What was your mission?”

“Quite simply, testing. Now, can I have any questions.”

“No. How can you resist my potion.”

“The same way I am immune to the rust virus. Next question.”

Amber wasn’t as calm.

“If you don’t start telling us what we want to know, I’m going to start carving up your friend.”

The sharper Cast had no snarky retort, he just looked around and clearly struggled against his stone prison.

“Ask away.”

“Who made you?”

“I can’t-”

Amber nodded and Marigold tightened the grip on the other Cast.

“STOP. STOP THAT NOW. HE’S DONE NOTHING WRONG.”

Marigold didn’t loosen the stone, but she stopped making it tighter.

“You seem to actually care about him. I thought Cast didn’t have strong familial bonds.”

“LOOSEN THE STONE, HE’S GOING TO DIE.”

“You Cast are hard to kill, your lungs do nothing. He’ll be fine.”

The eyes of the Cast hardened and he grit his teeth.

“I’d sooner die than give you what you want if you kill him.”

Marigold decided to play along, but she didn’t believe that the Cast actually cared, or that the other was in any danger.

“Who is it that made you? Was it Fomoria?”

“Give me a moment to think. Des, are you alright?”

“I think a rib hit my lungs, but I’ll be fine.”

“Do you think that we can buy enough time?”

“Probably.”

Marigold noticed the rapidly approaching monster and jumped back, dodging what seemed to be bombs.

Yet though she put up a wall of air, the fastest defense she could think of, the grenades exploded with light and sound.

In the instants of confusion, the third and forth Cast placed devices on the necks of the captured Cast, and they all vanished alongside Marigold’s stone prisons.

When their ears stopped ringing, Amber had a rather simple question.

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?”

“Stop yelling.”

Marigold tapped Amber to heal her hearing, but her natural healing had already done so.

“Oh. It would seem they had a second team behind them, or perhaps the moment they were captured they sent out some sort of emergency message somehow. I would assume the second, since I doubt they brought the flashbangs on a test of their killing ability. Assuming that was even the truth.”

“Flashbang? What kind of stupid name for a weapon is that? It’s like calling a sword a cutter, or a gun a bangfastmetal.”

“It’s a Castian weapon, something made in Blackship. They aren’t used much outside of it because they are based entirely on natural laws instead of rather simple magic.”

Amber shook her head.

“What the fuck were those things? I didn’t exactly get a close look, but those other ones were not Cast.

They were… I don’t know, bug people?”

“Though their bodies have undergone extreme changes, likely under Fomoria’s guidance, their souls bear the signal of Cast. I think this leaves no doubt that he is involved in this, they wouldn’t refuse to tell us if it really was The Castian God that made them.”

“That doesn’t mean that he’s helping them. They seemed to enjoy jerking us around, maybe they know that you are going to blame him, so they are making you think he did it. Maybe he’s a prisoner and they’re stealing his power just like she’s leeching Aarde’s power.”

Marigold pursed her lips.

In her mind, there was no other option, Fomoria was working alongside Jenny and behind the new Cast.

“Let’s hope that’s true.”

“FUCK.”

“What now?”

“We never checked if they actually had the mark under their boneplates.”

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

“Marigold, you are troubled.”

“I don’t think you handled Fomoria like you should’ve. If he is behind these new Cast…”

“What?”

“I think… that maybe if you apologized to him, he would work with us again.”

“I do not apologize.”

“We don’t want to be fighting a war on two fronts, and more likely, if he returns the people will side with him. We’ll lose our largest military force. I’m powerful enough on my own, but I can’t be everywhere at once, and if we want to root out Xol, we need an occupying force so he can’t use those cities and towns to hide things.”

“You may tell him that I have apologized, but I will not lower myself- Ourself.”

The two toned voice tipped towards feminine.

“Aarde, my other half, there is a place for pride, and there is a place for peace.”

“There is no peace with a man like him. He would see all that is divine dead so he would do as he pleases.”

“His desires are simple, grounded. A child, a people to save so he might ease his guilt, a lover.

He would see us dead because he isn’t content with what his life is.”

Marigold was rather hopeful, Gaia didn’t speak much, not openly with others at least.

Her raising her voice here meant she intended to convince Aarde to simply give Fomoria what he needed to keep him happy.

Fomoria was immature, and ideally, as he grew older and saw the world change and stay the same, he would understand the good that can come from preserving order over trying to upturn everything when it doesn’t fit his idea of a perfect world.

But, if Aarde stood in the way of that, perhaps it was better to-

“Be mindful of your traitorous thoughts. The boy will be granted his small pleasures if, and only if, he is brought back under my control.”