"Madam President, Mr. Whitman has arrived and is asking to speak with you."

Elania paused. Normally that man didn't want anything to do with the government, and if he did need to interact with it, he approached the Secretary of Defense. Despite that, she'd left clear instructions that if he ever arrived at the White House, she was to be notified immediately.

"Tell him it'll be five minutes," she replied, looking at Taylor, who was running the briefing. Her chief of staff nodded, and the Secretary of Homeland Security continued her report.

"Ultimately, Divination is going to make the job a lot easier, while Dimension is going to make the job a lot harder," she was finishing. "Will it be a wash? It's too early to tell."

"Thank you," Elania said, "we'll make sure to task some of our people to researching those two schools and relay that information back to you."

Taylor escorted her out and then turned to look at Elania with raised eyebrows.

"I have no idea," Elania shrugged. "But if he's here, he thinks it's important, and he hasn't brought anything frivolous or self-serving to us yet."

"Would you like me to bring him in?" Taylor asked.

"Please," Elania replied.

She focused on a brief from the Secretary of Agriculture, who was concerned about the number of crystals needed to raise when comparing the man-hours necessary to gather them against the man-hours required for more conventional farming. Apparently, her data actually favored the conventional farming method, but that was disregarding the time frame. She argued that the man-hours necessary for growing food, pound for pound, taking into consideration equipment maintenance and fueling under the new system, favored a more traditional approach.

Elania thought that producing a hundred pounds of food per five man-hours of work was a decent ratio, especially considering you didn't have to preserve it. Fresh fruits and vegetables on demand might be common for most Americans, but she was well aware that this wasn't true for the entire world. Given the new abilities to produce food, they wouldn't be able to export food, as no one would need it.

Taylor escorted Bob in.

Elania looked up and blinked. He was wearing a bright Hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts, and sandals.

Bob appeared to catch her look. "I'm stopping in here first, but I'm on vacation."

She shook her head, having been briefed regarding his newly discovered penchant for vacationing around the country.

"I'm sure you're eager to be about it, so how can I help you?" Elania asked.

"The King of Greenwold asked to see me," Bob began, and Elania immediately felt the acid swell in her stomach. "He introduced me to a man named Yorrick, who represents one of the heads of state of the Karcerian Empire."

Elania frowned for a moment. "The Evil Empire that owns the nice continents?" She asked.

"That's the one," Bob replied. "Apparently, they noticed that the population of the planet had more than quadrupled and came to talk about it. They delivered a no-strings-attached gift of one billion mana crystals to help with the process of putting people in stasis and offered Dungeon slots for five hundred thousand people, from levels five to thirty."

"A billion crystals?" Elania shook her head.

"They also offered to negotiate for further aid and requested to meet with the various governments of Earth," Bob continued, pulling out a folded piece of parchment and handing it to her.

"I thought these guys were evil incarnate?" Elania asked.

"That's the story we've gotten from the Church of the Light," Bob shook his head, "the guy I met didn't deny that they worship gods who pretty much embody the seven deadly sins, but based on his description, I'd say the society is more lawful evil."

"What do you think?" She asked. She hated to admit it, but in the few instances they hadn't listened to Bob, things had gone poorly.

"I think they're justifiably worried about the population of the planet suddenly shifting heavily toward the worship of the Gods of Light. The group of people that arrived on Thayland were apparently refugees from religious persecution on the larger, more habitable planet, Perceus. Their concern is that if the Church of the LIght takes over Thayland as well, they won't have anywhere to go," Bob explained.

"The religious aspects of this are such a pain in the ass," Elania muttered, to which Bob nodded his agreement.

"Personally, I'm not at all interested in visiting the Empire," Bob continued. "The King doesn't like them, but he didn't contradict the man either. You can probably do business with them, and the representative stated that the Emperor was interested in cellular technology, so maybe that's an avenue you could explore."

"The King's efforts to eliminate the less desirable heads of state, while deplorable, has resulted in a more cooperative and lawful environment," Elania mused. "Given the tacit threat made with his actions, I doubt that anyone is likely to step too far out of line."

Bob shrugged. "I'm just the messenger," he said, "I'm asking you to tell the rest of the heads of state because despite the King shanghaiing me into collecting crystals, I don't actually know how to get ahold of them. Your point of contact is a man named Yorrick Wrathsbane, who is staying at the King of Greenwold's palace."

"But you think that the overall goal of the Empire is to convert people to worshiping the Dark Gods?" Elania asked.

"I think they'd probably be happy with people not worshipping the Gods of Light, but given the desirability of Divine Magic, that's pretty much a non-starter, so they'd prefer neutral gods then Dark. Or at least that's the impression I received from Yorrick, who as a Warlock is not involved with the Church."

"Certainly something to consider," Elania sighed. Ideally, everyone who took refuge on Thayland would come back to Earth after the integration was complete, but she knew that was a pipe dream. The Old Guard alone represented almost three million people, most of whom were unlikely to return, at least under the current government policies and regulations.

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That ten percent tax, and the lack of bureaucratic oversight and regulation, was a temptation that was difficult for some people to ignore.

"In my opinion, and remembering that I'm a physicist, not a politician, I'd say that we really should avoid upsetting the current balance. The Kingdom of Greenwold and The Karcerian Empire haven't ever been at war, at least not that I could discover. I don't think it's a good idea for Earth to upset the balance. Try and encourage people to go for the neutral deities, like Logos, Gaia, Oren, or Maelstrom," Bob shook his head. "Just my opinion, though. Do you need me for anything else?"

Elania shook her head. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention, I'll relay it to the United Nations and make sure the representatives are aware of the new opportunity."

Bob nodded and headed for the door, where Taylor met him and escorted him out.

She was back in the office a few seconds later. "Handed him off to the service," she explained.

"What a mess," Elania groaned, leaning back in her chair.

"I think Bob's right about the non-interference idea," Taylor offered. "We're going to get crucified if we end up starting a war and starting a religious war?" She shuddered.

"The problem is we aren't the only ones going over there, and we're far from the most populous nation," Elania grimaced.

"I think you'll need to make a motion before the U.N. proposing a resolution that will prevent that conflict," Taylor said. "If presented correctly, we should be able to pass a mandate. It won't help with the people who've already taken divine blessings, but it should prevent further imbalance, and hopefully, the vast majority of those who have already taken a divine blessing from the Gods of Light will be coming home anyway."

"I hope so," Elania muttered softly, closing her eyes for a moment. Truthfully, she couldn't see a better solution, and with the rapid influx of people heading to Thayland, a good idea implemented now was better than a perfect idea implemented later.

"Get the Secretary of State on the schedule," she told Taylor before switching back to the Secretary of Agriculture's report.

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

"I love that shirt. Did you pick it up last month?" Amanda asked.

"I did, at the little stand at the end of the beach," Bob replied. The shirt in question was pale blue with brilliant yellow and orange flowers. It had seemed a little garish, but Monroe had liked it.

"So, you seemed a little bit off when we were setting up last night," Amanda said quietly, "anything you want to talk about?"

Bob looked over the valley below them. They were camping along the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Smoky Mountains were living up to their name. They were five thousand feet up, and fog as thick as smoke filled the valley below, leaving only the top of the next peak over visible. The fog swirled and flowed in eddies as the light breeze whispered across the mountains.

The sun wasn't up yet, but there was just enough pre-dawn light to see.

"More like something I need to talk to the group about as a whole," Bob replied after a few moments of silence.

"Alright," Amanda replied, giving him a smile. "I'm going to start getting breakfast ready. Did you bring your Feline Overlord's meals with you again? Or should I do up some eggs for Monroe?"

"I brought his meals, but I doubt he'd say no to eggs," Bob shook his head. "He's not a terribly picky eater, but he likes variety."

Amanda nodded and stood up, laying a small hand on his shoulder before heading towards the camp they'd set up.

They'd rented SUVs for the trip rather than a single large van like they had in Utah. They provided more room overall, and the group wasn't particularly worried about fuel costs, so it was worth it. They'd all opted to use their swags again, and Bob had taken Jessica's advice, purchasing a folding cot, or 'stretcher' as she called it, to set the swag up on. Combined with the mattress, it had provided a great night's sleep, right up until Monroe had decided it was time to use the litterbox, which was, in this case, the great outdoors.

He'd woken up just as the sky had started to lighten, and after Monroe had finished his morning ablutions, he'd remained awake. Watching the sunrise was something he'd taken a liking to, and he wasn't sure what it would look like with the clouds above and the fog below, but he held high hopes that it would be beautiful.

The whole Karcerian Empire thing had him worried. Yorrick had seemed pleasant, friendly, good-natured, and reasonable, but Bob wasn't the sort to be taken in by charisma. He could spin it all he liked, but any place that held up the seven deadly sins as something to aspire to was a place to be wary of.

The real issue was that the majority of the population lived in the Karcerian Empire. That meant that if he extrapolated the number of higher-tier individuals out, they represented a much more dangerous force. A tier five going up against a tier six was going to lose. Two tier fives going up against a tier six was going to be dicey. Five tier fives against one tier seven was an auto loss, and he wasn't sure that any number of tier fives could take on a tier eight.

Affinity Crystals helped to bridge that gap, but that only went so far, and considering that Yorrick had indicated that people sold themselves into indenture to get Affinity Crystals, he could safely assume that their existence was well known and documented in the Empire.

Conflict between the Empire and the Kingdom was something that needed to be avoided, and barring that, returning to Earth, or finding somewhere else to be, might just be the better alternative.

Yorrick had treated the King of Greenwold like an equal. That meant that despite his appearance, he had to be tier eight or nine. It was safe to assume that the other five pillars were equally as powerful, with the Emperor leading them slightly.

The very idea of five people, each equaling the King's level of power, was terrifying. He knew he was probably being paranoid, but he had to wonder if taking refuge in Thayland might not have sealed the fate of Earth. All it would take was one of the five Pillars of the Empire to decide to make Earth their home, and they wouldn't have a hope of resisting.

He shook himself out of his thoughts as the clouds started to go from purple to red, to pink, then to orange. The fog in the valley below acted like a darker mirror. It was stunningly beautiful.

"Good morning," Jessica said quietly as she sat down beside him, taking in the view.

One of the many things he liked about Jessica was her willingness to appreciate nature's beauty without needing to fill the silence with words.

He'd noticed yesterday that she wasn't being quite so touchy-feely with him, which he appreciated.

Soon, the smell and sizzle of bacon drew them from the sunrise and into camp, where they joined Dave, Amanda, Bailli, Erick, Eddi, and Wayna.

Bob paused and remembered what he wanted to talk to Eddi about.

"Eddi, could you explain this?" Bob asked, handing him the laminated parchment he'd gotten from Renee.

"Yeah, it's a copy of the rules," Eddi replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "We wrote out a bunch of them, and Mike had someone waterproof them for us. We've been giving them out to everyone who comes over because we know that not all of them are going to have good shepherds like you."

"That's fine and somewhat flattering," Bob pointed to the bottom of the parchment, "but I was referring to that bit at the end."

Jessica leaned over to read it, and Bob hastily looked away.

"I get The Reef bit, we saw the memory, but what's this 'He Who Walks Before' thing?" Jessica asked.

Eddi looked pleadingly at Wayna, who shook her head. "Don't look at me, I'm not even a member of the Endless."

Eddi sighed. "So," he began, "there's a girl named Anni, she was going to be a priestess because her mother was, but she didn't really feel the call. Her parents were convinced that it was her best path, and she was going to end up going down it until you showed up and told us about the Path of the Endless Swarm and how it would work with an Affinity Crystal."

Bob frowned. "She was one of the first batch, wasn't she?"

Eddi nodded, "she was, and she was awfully grateful to not end up taking a path that didn't call to her, you know?"

"I'm glad to have helped, but what does this have to with that?" Bob pointed to the sheet again.

"Yeah, well, you wrote up the pamphlet and farmed up the crystals for us, and then you figured out the Path of the Ever Victorious Legion of the Light, and she sort of decided that you were a kind of prophet," Eddi was talking faster now, "sent to guide all of us on the path to enlightenment? So she started calling you He Who Walks Before, and some people agreed with her, and they started doing it too, and then someone made a statue, and they decided every Endless Tower should have one, and thisisnotmyfault!" Eddi finished in a rush, then he hid behind Wayna, who was laughing at him.

"You're a bleedin' religious icon, mate," Jessica laughed.

"Bob, patron saint of our Feline Overlords?" Dave grinned.

"Oh, the statue has Monroe sitting on Bob's shoulder, looking all majestic and stern," Wayna added.

Bob closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Fuck," he grumbled as the rest of the group laughed.