Tala walked in to the small, old city of Alefast.

Waning. It’s Alefast, Waning.

-When is it appropriate to add that? I know we’ve been thinking of it that way for a while, but is there a cultural standard?-

I don’t know, actually. I suppose as soon as the new city of the same name is open to be moved to?

-That makes sense, but it’s still probably worth asking.-

Yeah, fair enough.

There were fewer people around than she had expected, but a moment’s thought brought to mind why: A small horde of monsters was outside this gate, actively being slaughtered.

She had a moment’s thought that the citizenry would have fled further into the city, away from the danger, but she instantly dismissed that. People with that proclivity wouldn’t be in a waning city at all.

So, Tala turned around and looked up at the walls. Sure enough, there were dozens—maybe even hundreds—of people trying to watch the fight beyond the wall without getting in the way of the defenders or exposing themselves overmuch.

She felt a smile pulling at her lips.

We’re a pretty crazy bunch, aren’t we?

-Do you mean humans in general, or those who stay in waning cities specifically?- Alat obviously knew the answer already, but like she often did, she was prompting Tala so that the dialogue could continue.

Both, obviously. Tala was well aware that the alternate interface had set her up for that response, but she felt her smile stretch into a grin, nonetheless. She was proud of her people and how they approached the dangers of this world.

-Though, those people up on the wall are a bit crazy.-

Oh, undoubtedly. Many monsters have area of effect or long-range attacks, and some are of types that the city defenses wouldn’t instantly, completely block.

-Risk takers all around.-

Alat had messaged Master Grediv about Tala’s impending arrival, and she’d added another message stating that she was within the city, near the northeastern gate, as soon as she had stepped out of the gatehouse.

-Oh! Master Grediv would like to meet us now. Apparently, there’s a good place to eat… There.- Alat highlighted something in Tala’s memory, and Tala turned around until she found it with her eyes once again.

Standing rather near the city wall—but back far enough to once again be out of the way of any defensive efforts—was a tower with windows that were too large to be meant to be defensive.

-It’s a restaurant. There’s one near every gate, and they often fill up so patrons can watch magical beasts being driven back. At least, that’s what Master Grediv said. They apparently stay full with people willing to pay for a chance at eating while watching the battles. This battle is longer than most, it seems.-

So, expect crowds.

She shifted her shoulders, retaking stock of her strength and movements. The last thing she would want was to accidently injure someone as she passed by in a crowded space.

Let’s go.

Just as she’d expected, the place was busy, though there were few people coming and going at the moment.

The first few floors were utilized to house the lobby and kitchen.

Initially, she’d been approached by an attendant with over-the-top apologies, before it was explained that the restaurant was full up. Thankfully, when Tala mentioned that she was meeting Master Grediv, the harried seeming-server brightened and immediately led her to a clearly magical platform, which lifted them all the way to the top of the tower.

As they rose, Tala was able to catch glimpses of the various floors, and she noticed that each was arranged with tiers so that the maximum number of tables could see out over the walls. Every table was filled at that moment.

How did we miss this last time we were here?

-Looking through your memories, I think these might have been under construction? There weren’t very many attacks, and there shouldn’t have been enough to justify places such as this for at least another half-decade, at least if my guess is right, but things seem to have changed.-

Yeah, I think the cyclops we helped Master Grediv defeat was unusually strong for the timeframe. So, that continued?

-Maybe even escalated.- Alat sent uncertainty. She was taking a guess. -But the person who would know is awaiting us just above.-

Tala glanced up as yet another floor passed, and she frowned. I should have seen something this tall, this prominent from outside…oh, the defensive magics.

-Yeah, obscuring clear vision of what lies beyond the walls to prevent concentrated or directed fire.-

Clever.

-So it seems.-

Tala’s head lifted above the top level’s floor, and she was treated to what was clearly a far more exclusive view.

There were a dozen tables—each with only three chairs—arranged around the space. Each seat was positioned to have unobstructed views.

The tables were filled, and by the carefully controlled auras held just outside their skin, she could see that every one of the nearly thirty people was a Refined or Paragon.

The servers were a mix of mundane, inscribed, and Mages. The highest level server that Tala could easily see was Fused, and she seemed to be overseeing the others.

Yet, even among the powerful guests, Master Grediv stood out.

He sat at the central table, nearly right up against the glass, overlooking the wall, and it seemed like almost as much attention was on him as on the tail end of the conflict outside.

The attendant who had come up with Tala led her toward the Paragon, walking a bit ahead to announce her.

I wonder what they would do if I’d been lying?

-Probably just let Master Grediv deal with you.-

That’s… huh. Yeah, that’s probably true.

Master Grediv stood as the attendant spoke quietly, close to his ear, and he gave a smile and shallow bow to Tala. “Mistress Tala, welcome!”

Tala didn’t glance around, but her mirrored perspectives took in the whole room.

Every single Archon in attendance seemed to have taken note of her and of Master Grediv’s reception of her.

Oh… politics… I suppose I should have expected that. She needed to give an appropriate, measured response, “Master Grediv, thank you for your welcome. It is always a pleasure to see you.”

She didn’t raise her voice, but she also didn’t do anything to suppress it either.

Master Grediv clearly heard the nuggets that she’d put into her response and his eyes almost seemed to twinkle with mischief. It would now be clear to everyone listening that they knew each other and had interacted a fair bit before this.

Tala stepped forward. “May I join you?”

He motioned to the two empty chairs at the table with him. “Yes, please.”

As they sat, Tala taking the chair on his left, Master Grediv placed his hand on a sigil inscribed into the table, which activated what seemed to be a privacy barrier around them.

Tala examined the working around them, and if she understood it properly, it didn’t do anything to visually obscure them, but it would prevent them from being overheard.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“That was well done.”

She shrugged and smiled. “You seemed to have a purpose in making such a public welcome, so I thought I’d go with it.”

“Well, thank you. With Rane well beyond his apprenticeship, there are opportunists circling.”

“Oh?”

He shrugged. “I have a good track record for having my apprentices reach at least Paragon. I can’t claim one hundred percent effectiveness,”—he grimaced—“but of those who survived, all have reached Paragon, or are seemingly on their way without obstruction.”

“Like Rane?”

“Precisely.”

“So, why would I matter to that? I’m clearly not a mageling.”

He smiled. “Most who try to get my help are Refined. No matter how often I tell them that by the time you’re Refined it’s just a matter of time and thought to reach Paragon, people are impatient.” He huffed a laugh. “Which shows that they aren’t ready regardless, but I digress. Many also have relatives that they want tutored, if I’ll consent, which I won’t.”

“So, if people think you’re working with me, they leave you alone?”

“If only.” He shook his head. “But it does fill their minds with questions about who you are, and why you’re here, so I’ll get a little reprieve. I might even be able to get some more things done while they try to figure you out.”

Tala felt her expression fall into a neutral one, bordering on annoyance. “Are you telling me that I just signed up to be bothered, so you could get some space?”

“Absolutely.”

She was not amused.

He grinned back at her. “Welcome to the games of immortality. We’re either fighting beasts of legend or trying to grapple with the tedium of eternity.”

That caused her to lean back. “Is that—”

A soft ding resounded around their table, and their attention was drawn to a server standing just outside the privacy screen.

Master Grediv motioned, and the man stepped forward, entering the space with a flourishing bow. “My apologies for the interruption, Mistress, Master. Is there anything that we can provide?”

Master Grediv glanced to Tala, and she shrugged, “I could eat, but I don’t need anything.”

He smiled. “I think you should try a few things. I am happy to facilitate such.”

“Then, I place myself in your generous hands.”

The Paragon ordered a few things for their table, and the attendant departed with quick efficiency.

The topic had been derailed, and Tala found herself looking out the window, over the wall, and to the last vestiges of the battle below. “This can’t be that enrapturing, can it?”

“Yes and no.”

“Even if ‘yes,’ it happens so rarely. How can this place stay in business?”

He smiled at that. “These are magical displays as much as windows. When there is no active repulsion, it shows previous clashes. When the defenders fight near the other gates, these will show those conflicts as if you were in that tower instead.”

That made a lot more sense than she’d assumed. “Even so, people enjoy the battles that much?”

“They are rather interesting to observe, yes.” He shrugged. “People stay in waning cities for gold and glory. Seeing such clashes is a part of that.” He smiled slightly. “There is lots of betting on how long various engagements will take, what damage the terrain will sustain, and things like that. Often times, if a threat is noticed early enough, there is betting on who will fight it, sometimes even what the threat actually is, if it isn’t obvious.”

That was a lot more extensive than she’d considered. “So, these facilities crop up in every waning city?”

“Most. The southern forest cities operate differently enough that such constructions aren’t effective. Though, similar facilities are put together, so the effect is the same. Also, this type of service usually isn’t established for another decade or so. It will be interesting to see if people get sick of the spectacle.”

Tala found herself frowning. “Another decade?”

-So, I underestimated.-

That’s alright. We’re learning.

“Yes. At this time in the waning, we usually only have to deal with a magical beast every month or so. Here? Now? In the last six months, we’ve been experiencing increasingly frequent attacks. It is now not unusual for there to be one every week or so.”

“That seems… bad.”

He snorted. “It isn’t good. The levels of magic in the area don’t justify the spike, so the only reasonable option is that we have an unusual number of unknown cells degrading.”

She blinked at him in confusion. “What?”

He stared back at her for a long moment. “You really don’t know.” He grimaced again and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “You haven’t been properly inducted as an immortal, have you…”

“Since I don’t know what you mean, I’m going to go with ‘No.’”

He sighed. “Well, I suppose that makes sense. Your Refining was a bit rushed, due to your particular circumstances. You needed to go through the process quickly, and fully, so that there was time to correct any errors if the process didn’t end with proper results. Blessedly, it did end well, so the extra time our haste bought was unnecessary.”

“So… what is this induction? Do I have to have a death-battle with someone?” She chuckled nervously.

“Oh, nothing like that. More: you should have had certain information shared with you. It wasn’t Mistress Holly’s job to do so, so I am unsurprised that she didn’t.” He hesitated for a moment before nodding to himself. “Now that I think about it, it usually falls to your master, or whomever she delegated the responsibility to upon her death.”

“But I didn’t have a master.”

“Exactly.”

“Ahh…” That was an obvious shortfall in the system. She’d slipped through the cracks, again, because she’d elected to work around the need to ever have a master.

“So, I’ll be brief, and we can discuss more later. We’ll be joined soon, and I don’t wish to exercise the level of circumspection this topic would require in his presence.”

“Alright.” Is Rane joining us then? It would be nice to see him again.

“First, many of humanity’s enemies throughout our history have been too powerful to fully destroy.”

She nodded. “That was my understanding. They were buried in the ground, right?”

He chuckled. “Well, yes and no. Do you really think something that I couldn’t kill would be kept confined for centuries by even a few miles of dirt and rock?”

She hesitated. She hadn’t thought of it that way. “Oh, I suppose not.”

“You are right. The long and short of it is that they are stuffed into a section of reality that is stretched and pinched closed, much like a balloon. The connection point is then moved to a secret location with extra precautions put in place to maintain containment.”

“Like the Black Legion.”

His mouth thinned. “Yes, though we should not discuss them, here.”

“Fair enough.”

“So, while the magics involved are powerful to the extreme, they aren’t eternal, and the seals invariably begin to fail.”

Tala tilted her head to the side considering. “So… they just break out and plague another generation of humanity?”

“Not at all. There are generally warning systems in place that help us find the entrances. We can assess the threat contained at that point. In some cases, we decide that we can now permanently deal with the issue. So, we open the prison and destroy the contained threat. Though, to be fair, that is very rarely the case.”

“What about in most cases, then?”

“We add their location and magics to a regular rotation of maintenance. It is never quite as secure, which is why we monitor it more closely going forward.”

“Why not do that from the start?”

He gave her a sad smile. “Well, as much as we’d hope that humanity is united, often, there are those insane or selfish enough to align with some of these threats. So, if their location was easy to discover, they might be set free by sympathizers.”

Tala found herself nodding. “But this way, by the time the prison entrance resurfaces, no one really remembers them, so they are just a threat that no one has an established interest in freeing.”

“Precisely. It isn’t a perfect system, but it’s better than others we’ve tried.”

“So, how many of these are there?”

“How many are there? I have no idea. How many have degraded to the point that we have to maintain them? A few thousand.”

Tala felt herself pale. “A few… thousand?”

“That’s right.”

“There are a few thousand existential threats to humanity, that no one, not even Master Xeel, is capable of dealing with permanently?”

Master Grediv held up a finger. “That we are aware of.”

Tala felt like she was going to be sick.

That, of course, is precisely when the food arrived, preceded only by a familiar ding.

It took a bit for the food to be situated and the two Archons to sample the fare Master Grediv had ordered.

Each dish was delicious in its own right, and Tala was soon glad for his offer of providing the selection.

Once they’d settled down a bit and their eating had slowed, Tala brought the topic back up, “So, the prisons degrade. Why does that lead to more magical beasts at a waning?”

“Well, it affects the integrity of reality, and that is the greatest driver for magical creature aggression. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the prisons, the best beacons we have for knowing when one is degrading are much like scratches in reality, pointing the way to the prison in need of maintenance.”

“That sounds… damaging.”

“Oh, decidedly. It is fixable, though, and impossible to obscure, so there’s no fear of us missing one. That would be far worse.”

“So, there are a few around?”

“Hmmm? Oh there are some three hundred known in the area that we are maintaining, and we suspect at least that many again that are still well contained.”

She cleared her throat, still unable to truly grasp the scale that that entailed. Even so, she pressed on. “So? Where are they? How can we start patching them up?”

“Oh, I understand. No, none have degraded sufficiently to be findable yet. We expect them to reach that stage within the next few years. Our resident expert guesses that we’ll add at least twenty to the maintenance list this cycle. Though, we’ll also have to do maintenance on another hundred or so before the waning is complete. Busy times all around.”

Tala thought for a long moment, then felt herself nodding. “This is one of the purposes of the waning, one of the reasons we allow cities to go this far.”

“Well, yes. There are many, many benefits to be extracted from a city around the waning, but stress-testing the area’s prisons before we leave them unattended for a few centuries is one critical piece.”

“Fascinating. Would there be a use for me in all of this?”

“Oh, absolutely. But we will have to discuss that later.” A soft ding announced someone outside the privacy barrier. “Our third has arrived. While I hadn’t really intended for you to be here for this meal, you made excellent time, and I didn’t want to keep you waiting.”

Tala turned to see an attendant patiently waiting beside a man a few years older than herself in appearance. He was also familiar as she’d seen him twice before.

The privacy barrier was dropped, and Tala was filled with conflicting emotions as they were joined by Furgal, Rane’s older brother.