Balthazar sat down in an office chair he conjured for himself and let out a sigh of relief. The hardest part was over. Well, the hardest part so far. He kicked a leg off the floor and spun himself around in the chair until he got dizzy. After several rotations, he dropped his feet and stopped himself, nearly falling out of the chair, and he giggled like an idiot.

“Are you quite finished?” The voice of Melchior crept through the room.

He spun the chair completely around to look at the man. “Leave it to the Earthlings to create one of the most fun devices in the galaxy and then shove it into an office park.”

Melchior crossed his arms.

Balthazar spun around one more time and stopped himself. “Ok, now I’m finished…” he paused. “Wait. What are you wearing?”

Melchior stepped forward and thrust his arms outward. “It’s a coat and slacks I picked up on Earth. I quite like them. And the shoes! The shoes are so comfortable.”

Balthazar shook his head. “No, not the college professor starter kit—the hats. Why two?”

Melchior reached up and pulled the two baseball caps from his head, freeing his wild gray hair. “This is how they were sold. What do you mean?” He pulled the hats apart and looked at each individually.

Balthazar rubbed his forehead. “You may be the most observant man I have ever known. You can tell me, with precise measurements, the angles of the veins in a leaf you picked up off the ground a hundred years ago. Did you see anyone else wearing hats like that? Couldn’t it be that maybe the hats were sold as a pair because that’s just how bulk commerce works?”

Melchior placed the hats back together and returned them to his head with a look of defiance. “I think they look good this way. You don’t have to be mean about it.” He conjured his own office chair and sat down. “What is the word on Belmont?”

Balthazar chuckled and shook his head. “You nailed it. He’s got some real anger issues, and he doesn’t have much of a filter, but he’s a good kid.” He watched as Melchior smiled and nodded. “And you were right about the hearing. Sort of.”

“He mouthed off?”

Balthazar drew in a deep breath and whistled. “Oh, yeah. In his defense, though, the judge was a genuine piece of work. Some Luminis named Chasan. Ever heard of him?”

Melchior raised his eyebrows. “A Luminis judge in a prison? I bet he was a shitbrick.”

Balthazar giggled. “Shitbrick?”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Yes, I heard Belmont say it a few times, and I liked the sound of it. What was the ruling?”

“He was granted passage. That wasn’t the problem. The actual issue was the riot that broke out while he was there. He left his cell and took a kid with him, whom he intended to rescue.”

Melchior clenched a fist and smirked. “I knew I picked the right one. And the ring?”

“No problem. I don’t think the judge would have found it anyway, but with Belmont getting in his face the way he did, the judge was completely blind. There was a moment where I thought he might actually try to kill Belmont.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. He screamed for the judge to do it, and I think if I hadn’t been there to witness it, he may have actually done it.”

“So, I assume there has been a punishment for his ill-timed tongue.”

Balthazar gave a dire shake of his head. “Not a punishment. He earned himself a mark of judgement.”

“Branded for all to see. And by a Luminis, no less.” Melchior cleared his throat. “Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

“That isn’t all, though. The judge has him in stasis above the planet, where he will be held for the next century.”

“A century!?”

“Not a long time in the grand scheme of things, but it lines up almost to the day with the formal closure of the world. Any time I would have been able to spend with him in training is lost. He’s going to wake up on that planet alone, and there won’t be anything we can do to help him.”

“He’ll have Gaspar, and that should be enough until we are allowed to return. That reminds me. What of his loyal companion, Mephisto?”

“They are bound! Can you believe it? The judge himself suggested it after he declined the tier boost I proposed.”

Melchior shouted, “Ha! Perfect. Well, then, I think we can rest assured that Belmont will do just fine.”

“I believe so. He’s got his issues, but in the game, he’ll need all of that anger and rage. It is not an activity of good-hearted leisure.” Balthazar looked down and twisted the ring on his pointer finger with his thumb.

“But a good heart can prevail,” Melchior reassured him.

“True enough, my friend. But, tell me, what is the word from the guilds?”

“Sour news, I’m afraid. Mythra is liquidating, hence the rush to harvest the little remaining resources of the Earth. That can only mean one thing.”

“War.”

“Precisely,” Melchior said. “Looking at liquid assets, they have close to fifty billion in Aether. Not a number to spit at, but not enough to fund a war on their own, either. I don’t know their play, and the rest of the guilds are being tight-lipped about it, but I think this may be the shift we have been waiting for.”

“Well, we have a hundred years to figure it out.”

“Even so, let us not dally. Time is fickle in eras of war.”

Balthazar sighed. “What will you do, then? Go back to the guilds?”

“Yes, I’m not looking forward to spending more time in those treacherous palaces with lecherous kings, but I believe there is more that I can learn. I’ll press the courtiers and see who else has skin in the game, literally. I have a hard time believing Mythra is acting on their own. And you?”

“I’ll do some looking into the other Lasters and the guild representatives on Eon. The Lasters in particular may be a real hurdle for him. If war is coming, I don’t think there is any way to discount a crop of guild sponsored sovereigns. They’ll be trained killers since birth. Without a sponsor of his own, Belmont will be behind the power curve in more ways than one, and all the rage in the universe won’t overcome a skill gap like that. I may not be able to help him directly, but when the time comes, I don’t want to arrive empty-handed.”

Melchior nodded. “A sound plan. Very well, then, until we meet again, Balthazar.”

“Safe journeys. Until the next time. I pray there is still a game worth playing.”