“What you’re telling me,” Lenora said, “is that my little city is going to turn into a gold-rank battle zone.”

“Yes,” Anna told her. “Jason will try and take it out into the desert, but there is a good chance these invaders will confront him here.”

“They need to challenge him at the first opportunity,” Rufus explained. “To justify their presence here. They may be here already, but the condition for their being allowed on Earth is to remove Jason. If they don’t do so swiftly, they’ll be in violation of the Rules of Intrusion.”

“And if that happens?” Lenora asked. “The space police come and arrest them?”

“The Rules of Intrusion,” Rufus explained, “have always been in place. On my world they mostly apply to holy wars, where one faith invades the domain of another. But, as it turns out, they also govern dimensional invasion. There has been flexibility in the rules, going back to before the birth of our worlds, but that has changed. Recently. Cosmic law is much more rigid now.”

“Why?”

“The rules of the cosmos are enforced by something called the Cosmic Throne. It was damaged long ago, but the throne has been restored and the rules are more dangerous to bend, let alone break. I don’t know the consequences of breaking those rules, but entities beyond any of our understandings are wary of violating them. You can be certain that these pirates will be.”

“That was a really long way of saying you don’t know,” Gary said. Lenora happened to agree but said nothing as Rufus and Anna gave the young leonid a glare.

“Mr Remore,” Lenora said. “While I appreciate the context, my job is more concerned with the practicalities. Somewhere in there you said these people might already be here. We’ve seen no activity through the standing stones.”

“The magic circle here only serves as an anchor for the link between worlds,” Rufus told her. “It is both unnecessary and useless to the invaders who will have their own means of traversing the astral. Their dimensional magic will be more advanced than any that either of our worlds has access to. The only group on Earth that would have the ability to detect them would be Boris Ketland and his people, and they aren’t tracking magic globally.”

“That they’ve told us about,” Anna amended. Rufus nodded his acknowledgement.

“If they are here, then,” Lenora said, “we have no way of tracking them down.”

“Correct,” Rufus said. “Which is good, because we lack the power to confront them. Jason will be here in roughly three days, discounting any time anomalies in the astral. We should hope that, if the invaders are here, they remain wherever it is they are hiding.”

***

Jota Withers rather liked his current accommodation. The magic and technology were both incredibly primitive, not even integrated with one another, but there was something calming about the simplicity of it. It was the design he appreciated: a house dug into a rocky bluff, overlooking the ocean. Part of the house was atop the bluff to remain accessible, but most of it jutted from the cliff face itself, with glass walls to make the most of it.

He sat in a comfortable armchair, reading from a tablet provided by his hosts. He had spent his time on Earth learning what he could about his enemy. He had certainly found it odd that he was being hosted by a group called the Asano Clan, in a place called Asano Village, while he waited to kill a man named Jason Asano.

That anomaly was resolved when his sponsors on Earth started providing him with the information he requested. It turned out that there were three clans who used the name Asano on Earth. One was a historical clan of cultural significance, in the time before Earth’s magic was in the open. Another was an offshoot of that clan within one of Earth’s then-secret magic societies. This was the group currently hosting Jota and his crew. The third group had been founded by Jason Asano himself.

Asano Noriko was matriarch of the Asano clan hosting Jota and his crew. She had been making daily visits to check on his needs, along with the servants she had provided full time. As Jota had questions the provided information didn’t answer, he invited her to converse on one of her visits. She took a seat opposite him, with a table holding a tea set between them.

“What may I help you with, Captain Withers?”

“I have questions regarding the various iterations of the Asano clan on this planet.”

Her expression showed nothing but a woman happy to accommodate, but he could feel the swallowed bitterness in her aura. He suspected that, to her mind, there was only one true Asano clan. He didn’t particularly care, his only interest being an understanding of his target.

“My understanding,” he continued, “is that your clan originates in the nation of Japan, while Jason Asano’s originates here, in Australia. They were the ones who built this village, yet now your clan is here, and they are on the other side of the planet. In territory overrun with vampires, no less. How did that come about?”

“There was a lot of chaos in the first few years after magic came into the open on Earth,” Noriko explained. “During that time, Jason Asano created spiritual domains in Europe.”

“Spiritual domains?”

“I don’t know the specifics. Places of power that belong to him that have higher levels of magic than most of Earth. Most of his family and their various hangers-on relocated there, before the vampires took over. Also at that time, the major magic secret society went through a schism as magic went public. The government here sided with one of the factions, and that was not the one that had Jason Asano’s supporters.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“But it was the one your clan belonged to?”

“It was. You are an astute man, Captain Withers.”

Jota didn’t respond to the praise, instead gesturing for her to continue.

“In order to consolidate their relationship with the new faction,” Noriko explained, “the government seized ownership of this land from the remnants of the upstart clan, and gave it to the true Asano Clan. The dregs of the false clan fled to join the others.”

“And this happened only after Jason Asano had departed this world, I take it.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered. He was powerful, for a silver-ranker, but that is as far as it goes. He can’t fight an entire nation, even if he is gold rank now. Alien allies or no.”

Jota raised his eyebrows and Noriko paled.

“I apologise, Captain Withers. I meant no disrespect.”

“What of these spiritual domains? They are not the normal power of a silver-ranker.”

“Exploitation of unique magical conditions, using knowledge from the other world.”

Jota strongly suspected that her obvious grudge was leading her to dismiss the threat Jason Asano posed. He did not fully dismiss her position, however. It was possible that the people looking to eliminate the man had been oversold on his power. One particular point in the information he was given strongly supported the idea that they were overestimating Asano.

“What do you know of the purported link between Jason Asano and the advent of the System?”

“That it’s utter nonsense,” Noriko said.

“I am inclined to agree. The System is a shift in the cosmic order. There is even talk of a new great astral being. What impact one gold ranker from a place like this could have entirely eludes me.”

“Exactly,” Noriko agreed, nodding her head sagely. “He is a man with a big mouth, low cunning and more than his share of luck. An opportunist.”

Having gotten everything productive he could from Noriko, he dismissed her. After she left, Jota’s first officer, Natala, paid him a visit.

“Jota, Kreegle is rabblerousing again,” she warned.

“When is he not?”

“The Rules of Intrusion mean we are cut off from the outside until we fulfil the conditions of the deal by removing Asano. This is a chance for Kreegle to make a move.”

“I can handle Kreegle.”

“He’s riling up the crew.”

“He’s bitter because he wanted the captaincy that went to me.”

“He’s not the only one who resents you. Many think that you believe yourself too good for the rest of us.”

“And what do you think, Nat?”

“Honestly, I think you do believe you’re too good for the rest of us. At least a little. But Jakaar put you in charge for a reason. Where you came from, the training you’ve had. You are just better than us. Some look at you and want to catch up. Most would rather just drag you down. If the normal crew complement turned against you, odds are that you could handle them, as long as one or two stayed loyal. But this extended crew gives Kreegle an opportunity. Sitting around for days on end, like this. You’ve been holed up in here, what? Reading?”

“Studying our opponent. Preparing to face him.”

“And while you’ve been doing that, Kreegle has been preparing to face you. Cutting deals and making promises.”

Jota waved Natala into the chair Noriko had vacated as he contemplated what she’d told him.

“He’ll have to make his move during the confrontation,” he mused. “While a few of the crew might be fully on his side, most will balk if he moves too early. Either at the prospect of open mutiny or of facing me undistracted. His best case would be making it look like I was floundering against Asano, and he stepped in to save the day. It’s not plausible, but it doesn’t have to be if I’m dead. So long as I am, and he’s in charge by the time it’s over, he can spin any tale he cares to.”

“What will you do?”

“I’m not sure. The more I learn about this man, Asano, the more certain I become that he’s not what we’ve been told.”

“How so?”

“Things that don’t add up. My information is coming from the people of this world, so I’m having to infer through the gaps in their knowledge. They’re so frantic to exploit the changes that have come to their world that they seem terminally incurious as to the underlying causes. Petty concerns over petty power. I suspect Asano to be an agent of the World-Phoenix, sent to stabilise this world.”

“How certain are you?”

“The information given to me is less than well-curated. But Asano was known for having two companions from other worlds here. The one they know the most about is a person from the connected world. The other they know less about. Asano was isolating from the local powers by the time they moved together more frequently. Her reported power levels are inconsistent, but would fit someone using different levels of avatar. And it’s almost certainly coincidence, but her name was Dawn.”

“As in, the former First Sister?”

“Yes. This would have been around the time she stepped back and Helsveth took on the role.”

“That…”

Natala shook her head.

“…that would change things. It can’t be that big. Can it?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “It’s a big cosmos. How many trillions were named after the First Sister?”

“Probably a larger number than I know the name for.”

“If Asano does have that level of connection, though, it would suggest a wider design to our presence here. Someone using the Jakaar Fleet — and us in particular — to make a carefully measured point.”

“What do we do?”

“We be flexible. These are just conjectures, and wild ones at that. If everything is as it seems, then we play it out as intended.”

“And if Kreegle makes his move?”

“Then we may have to make an ally of the man we came here to kill. In which case, we should hope that my conjectures are not so wild.”

***

Sitting alone in the dining hall of his cloud ship, Jason looked over at Jory, sitting with a group of his alchemists. They were chatting with Clive, Lorelei and some of their Magic Research Association members. In the time he’d been away, Jory had gone from small-town alchemist to a leader at the forefront of his field. Clive had gone from a disaffected member of the Magic Society to a formidable rival. Travis and Farrah had invented global telecommunications. His friends had remembered him, in his absence, but their lives still moved on.

So much had happened in his absence, and that was among the long lived of Pallimustus. On Earth, the changes had been massive, but his concerns were for a very small slice of it. The family he left behind. Isolated by vampires and the ambitions of the powerful. His niece had grown from a girl to a young woman, and he had missed it. He hadn’t been there to spoil her, or to give sketchy advice that her mother wouldn’t approve of.

He was beyond death, now, but he was not beyond time. In a few days, he would be in the most dangerous battle he’d ever faced, at least in a mortal body. He couldn’t die, but if his avatar was destroyed, the price would again be time. Again, his friends and family would remember, but again, they would go on with their lives.

Farrah slid into the seat next to him at his otherwise empty table.

“Why the sad boy face? Worried about this fight?”

“No. Just thinking about what losing would cost me. Reminding myself why I have to win. And I will. We will. I’ve been preparing for this fight for twenty years. No turning into a metaphor to fight the remnants of a god’s power. No super-powerful bird form, or spiritual war across my soul. Just me and my friends, fighting like adventurers. The people of Earth can’t understand what I am. They don’t have the frame of reference. With this fight, they’re going to see who I am.”

“Battle isn’t who you are, Jason.”

“Yes, Farrah, it is. It’s not all I am, but right now, it’s the part they need to see.”

“I get that. But it not being all you are matters. Maybe you should let them see some of that too.”

“Oh, I’ve got that covered.”

“Jason, what did you do?”

“Why do people keep asking me that?”

“Because we’re not from Earth, Jason. We already know who you are.”