“Be careful of what you say, Patriarch. You have much to lose. Your power is well known, but the forces who follow you are scarce. You wouldn’t emerge unscathed from a war against me,” the Sloan Matriarch stated.

She was indeed right. It was clearly visible from the assortment of buildings which constituted it that the Alpha Perimeter was relatively poor in both resources and number of people.

The inhabitants related to the Miller Household were incredibly competent archumans and this ensured their position and relevance in front of the other Perimeters, together with the presence of Tobias. They specialised in elimination of powerful targets, like geogenais and deviant beasts.

On the contrary, the Beta Perimeter, at least according to my original design, was vast and relatively highly populated. It was guided by the Sloan Household, which was responsible for most of the regulation of the commercial routes between Perimeters. Its members fought in the wastelands against beasts in order to gather ether, they supplied it to the Delta for weapon and commodities production and they also took care of transportation.

I couldn’t predict the outcome of a war between the two Households. Tobias had an advantage in terms of strength, but the Sloan Matriarch was stronger in terms of numbers and resources, and probably also in terms of the support she could get.

The stand between the two lasted for a long time, but ultimately the matriarch was the first to yield and lower her gaze.

“We won’t inconvenience your protegé, as long as he doesn’t bare his fangs towards us,” she stated at last.

“I won’t shield him from the consequences of his own actions. It is for him to pave his own path”

The matriarch sent a last hostile look in my direction, then turned around. She opened her mouth and her shout travelled far into the distance.

“Return!”

To her word a mass of people, both from the small waiting crowd and from inside the Perimeter, packed up their properties and set out for the wastelands. Every single one of them moved to a single world of their matriarch.

Belonging to a Household meant belonging to its head. You were given a position in this world but in exchange you offered everything you had. That was the reason why it was so important to distinguish yourself while you still could. It was far better to have a patron than an owner.

“She yielded quite easily. I would have imagined her to be more proud,” I said to Tobias.

“She is wiser,” he responded.

It took a moment for me to understand what he was trying to say, but I was able to decipher his words in the end. The war would be damaging for both sides, but it was irrelevant from her point of view. The only thing that mattered to her was that she wouldn’t survive the conflict, as Tobias would make sure to get her.

“Anyway, I guess I should thank you for your help? Although what you did to me doesn’t change,” I added.

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“I simply behaved as I willed,” he simply stated, before turning his back on me and starting to walk away.

After a few steps, he stopped and gave me a warning.

“Do not lay your hands on the Torchbearer. He was at fault this time, but he is still needed. He is also a rising sun I’ve been observing for quite some time. One day, the two of you will clash, but it won’t be before the menace hanging over this world is vanquished”

After saying these words he resumed walking and left me alone in the middle of the field. His words resonated with me. I was aware of the fact that with each passing second I was experiencing growth. Thanks to Tobias’ intervention I had managed to make for myself a stable albeit growing body, but my mind was still unsteady. He was right when he said I didn’t know what type of person I would become with the passing of time.

Before he completely disappeared, I shouted towards him.

“Did they already go to the Otherlands?”

Tobias turned for the last time and spoke a few simple words.

“In a few years they will,” he answered.

Finally, after experiencing the temporal anomaly, I had the confirmation of a thought that had been brewing for quite some time in my mind. Encountering a Lily still relatively young had given me a hunch of where I was along the timeline of the main story; but now the hunch had turned into a certainty.

Of the roughly three parts the story was split up in back when I had created it, I was still solidly in the first. The first time I opened my eyes in this world was not at the start of the story, but in its past. I evaluated I was now roughly synchronised with the main timeline.

I waited for him to disappear into the distance and then made my way towards the Perimeter. There was a person I wanted to meet and my best bet for finding her was to go there.

I reached the border, where people were leaving and joining the caravan heading towards the Beta Perimeter. The crowd of onlookers had almost completely dispersed, but there were still three people standing still: Isaac, Caleb and the alluring girl.

I stopped in front of the three who were clearly waiting for me.

“What?” I said, showing off how I was bothered by them. The day had already been too eventful and I didn’t want any more conflict.

Caleb’s expression turned into a grimace. He tried to open his mouth, but the girl spoke before he could.

“We would like to apologise,” she spoke kindly, a small smile appearing on her face.

I raised an eyebrow. I had almost killed her friend and yet she was saying they wanted to apologise to me. It was strange.

Caleb flinched at her words and his face reddened. She then continued.

“You protected a person dear to you. Caleb did something many would consider unforgivable and yet you showed mercy. For that, I personally thank you”

She bowed to me, her red hair moving like a curtain to the side of her head.

“Please, let me heal you,” she added, raising her gaze.

I looked at the severed arm I was holding in my remaining hand. I had completely forgotten about it.

“No need for that,” I said.

I raised my right arm and pressed the wound to my shoulder. A fizzling sound could be heard while the limb reattached to the body. I immediately started to regain sensibility.

Dumbfounded expressions appeared in the faces of the three people in front of me. The girl soon regained her polite demeanour.

“I see. I can quicken the process, please let me repay your kindness”

Although I thought she was overdoing it, I relented and offered her my right shoulder. She lightly placed her hands over the suture. A warm aura flowed from her body and through her arms. It reached me and permeated through my skin.

The sensation it gave me would have been pleasant, like soaking in the heat of a campfire, had it not been for the discharge of pain travelling through my body. An adverse reaction affected me and I started to lose blood from every orifice. I could see part of my skin turn greyer and fall down to the ground in the form of dust and stones.