“I’m so glad you decided to stay,” said the spider.

Frozen Lowly didn’t reply. Ever since the talkative food entity had bitten him, he hadn’t been able to make his mouth move. It didn’t help that his body was wrapped tightly in the strange sinew the entity was able to squeeze from its round body.

“But there’s still something I don’t understand.”

Lowly knew what the entity would say next. The same words it had said many times before.

“How can you be so dry?”

It said that every time it tried to take his essence. The answer was no mystery to Lowly, of course. Controlling one’s essence was an ability all his tribe possessed, and though he was more accustomed to using it to send his essence out, it was not difficult to keep it in, safely tucked away from wherever the food entity punctured him.

He was still struggling with one of the two substances the entity had added to his essence though, the one that froze his limbs and made him numb. It was a familiar sensation, to an extent, similar to when Horrible encased Lowly in the solid essence of his people to enforce Rule. The other substance had burned and melted the tissues he held for the tribe, and something deep within had allowed him to destroy it before it did much harm. The legacy of the Old Ones could not be tampered with, and they supplied him with the strength.

Unfortunately, it seemed like the Old Ones didn’t care whether Lowly was frozen.

It’s time to move, the words in his head spoke again. There are no Rules here.

And then new words. There is no tribe here. Only…

Only what?

He had no word for the concept the words in his head were seeking. It seemed like the type of thing Strange would know. He had… only. Just that.

Only.

The word lived in his head now, joining the others. Lowly was afraid the words might multiply, might expand until there was no room, might threaten the legacy he carried, the container, the bait.

“How many stones are there?” he remembered Strange asking, using the wrong sounds as they seemed to do. “How many bodies in Wicked?”

Many. Bodies. Only.

The words moved in his head. Wicked had been as many as the Old Ones of his hands. Wicked was made of bodies. The wall bones had been three, and then Lowly had held part of them in his mouth. He understood the numbers, but their deeper meaning was elusive. The way these concepts beckoned and hinted at something beyond his grasp would have made him curl up, had he been able to move his body.

What was left when the tribe was gone?

Only...

***

The orc boy, Naduk, looked at Lilijoy, the elation slowly fading from his face, only to be replaced by surprise, and then…

Was that shame?

… he practically dove to the ground, heedless of the ominous cracking noises from the substantial layer of mineral crust that made this area of the Boiling Plains just a little safer than what Lilijoy had been navigating for the past hour. Lilijoy nearly jumped back herself, as people suddenly diving to earth was associated in her mind with explosions and flying things.

“Forgive, forgive,” the boy was mumbling under his breath. Lilijoy could see a flush of color spreading across his oddly spotted skin.

“Ummm. Hi?” she said.

“Forgive this impertinent male,” the Naduk the Vanquisher said in reply.

Riiiight. This will all make sense in a moment, I’m sure.

“I forgive you? And then, could you tell me what, exactly, I’m forgiving you for?” She thought for a moment before adding, “Oh, and congrats on the tempering!”

His face pressed against the hot sulfurous rock, his body stilled for a moment. “Forgive me for not recognizing you as female more quickly, for applying my gaze to your figure without permission.”

Aaand the orcs are feminist. Because of course they are, she thought. Frankly I’m kind of amazed he could even tell.

“Well, that’s easy enough. You’re forgiven. I have to say, it’s kind of understandable, seeing as how you just, I don’t know, defeated an enemy almost five times your level, fell from the sky, died, and remodeled your entire consciousness, not necessarily in that order.”

The boy remained pressed against the ground, so she continued. “You can get up now and look at me if you want.”

That also gave her a chance to get a good look at him. His face was broad and elongated, his fangs protruded up and down from his powerful muzzle. Rounded ears stuck out on either side of his head, and she could see them moving, swiveling independently. Broad spots covered his face as well, dark, almost red patches in a fuzzy chartreuse background. Standing, he was about five feet tall.

It took her a moment, but then she snapped her fingers.

“Hyena, right? That’s your totem animal?”

He nodded, his eyes fixed upon hers. “Urkaen. How may I serve you?”

The intensity of his gaze and the earnestness in his voice made Lilijoy feel a bit flustered.

“Well,” she said.

He waited.

“I guess I need to get to the river?” she produced after a moment.

He looked oddly relieved, which only made her wonder what else she could have asked.

“Follow me,” he said.

Follow him she did. Though the route was circuitous, and the travel full of stops and starts as Naduk evaluated the landscape for safe passage, they ended up back at the river in less than half the time it had taken Lilijoy to navigate away from it. Granted, they were a good distance downstream from her friends, but she figured that wouldn’t be a huge problem.

“Beware the water,” Naduk told her as they began to make their way along the river’s edge. “It will try to eat you.”

“Where were you about two hours ago?” she asked playfully.

“Waiting for your arrival to fill the hole in my heart,” he replied. He said it quickly, as if it was something he had memorized long ago, his voice cracking in the process.

Is an orc… flirting with... me...badly?

She wasn’t sure which part of that thought was the strangest, so she shook it off and changed the subject.

“So my friends,” she started, “they’re girls too. Just so you know, they won’t expect you to grovel or anything. And one of them is part orc!”

He stopped cold and hissed, sucking air between his prominent teeth. “I…” he began. An odd quiver ran through his body, and then he shook himself. “That should bother me, but it doesn’t.”

Lilijoy was a little worried now, though. “What part of it? Because I have another friend who’s a half orc, and he-”

“Man is fine,” Naduk broke in. Then he realized he had interrupted her and flushed. For a moment, Lilijoy was afraid he was going to dive at the ground again.

“That’s okay, Naduk,” she said. “You don’t have to treat me like the orc women.”

He nodded, then shook his head. Then nodded some more. “Matrons,” he said. “But all women are respected. Except the Unjudged, like your friend. Or when the Matrons have ordered a crusade. Or when they are Outsiders.” He spat the last word, and Lilijoy decided she wouldn’t bring her confusing status to the orc’s attention.

She wondered how the orcs had managed to end up in such a fierce matriarchy. Probably because the males kept running off and getting themselves killed, she guessed. She was looking forward to finding out, but first she needed to follow up on Jessila’s situation.

“Male half-orcs are fine, but not female then.”

He shrugged. “With my soul came a different understanding. Before, were I to encounter an Unjudged, I would feel great fear and disgust.”

Lilijoy had many questions. “And they’re called Unjudged because?”

He shook his head. “That’s for the Matrons to know.”

“Do all orcs talk the way you do? So… formally?”

“I am using high-speak out of respect for you. Men speak differently among themselves.”

“How so?”

“Fewer words. More direct.” He lowered his voice, and his tone became rough and guttural. “Nadok kill giant bird. Find soul.” He cleared his throat. “That is what I will tell my fathers when I return.”

“Do you think they are worried about you? Do they know you are out here all alone?”

He barked a short yip. “I am dead to them. They have already mourned for me and all my brothers. Only those who find a soul may return, unless they wish to be stubs. So the Matrons decreed when we came to exile in this land.”

Lilijoy rolled this around in her head for a bit. “Stubs?”

“Servants. Their line has ended.”

Harsh. Like the land. Lilijoy felt a certain horrified respect for what the Matrons were doing though. If she understood their strategy correctly, they were slowly building an army of immortal warriors, forcing all of their male children to temper or die. Probably helps with scarce resources too, she realized. Someday, the Maasai clan would be in for a rude awakening.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

***

“Your former clan is in for a rude awakening,” Lilijoy told Anda.

They were in one of thousands of abandoned buildings at the outskirts of Guayaquil. Before the tribulations, it had been a sprawling city of millions. Now, most of the still substantial population was concentrated within and beneath the towering arches of the arcology, leaving over a hundred square miles of buildings abandoned to nature’s tender mercies. Weather and frequent earthquakes had succeeded in converting the majority back to raw materials, but those structures that remained were the sturdiest.

As far as Lilijoy could tell, this building had once been the headquarters of a construction company, so it made a certain amount of sense they would have built it to last. Her group was obviously not the first to use it over the decades, as it was filled with mostly broken furniture and trash. In the next room over Maria was softly singing to herself as she gathered dust and dirt into piles with a large push broom she had found. No one had asked her to do it, but it didn’t look like anyone was going to stop her either.

The others were on the roof, gawking at the enormity of the city-building. Since Lilijoy had been able to watch it on their approach, and Anda had seen it all before, they were taking the time to strategize.

“How so?” he asked.

“I don’t know how much you know about what the orcs have been doing all this time...” She let the statement hang so he could jump in.

“Not much, honestly. I know what I knew before. According to my people, and most Outsiders for that matter, the orcs were a savage horde that would periodically overflow the Great Savannah, destroying everything in their path. Nandi said I would make a good orc and then laughed, which still makes me nervous when I think about it.”

“Huh. That’s probably not exactly the truth. Not the whole truth anyway.”

“I assumed as much. Still, I’m more than a little nervous, to be honest. I’m still sitting on a little corner of the grasslands, ostensibly so Mr. Sennit can collect some materials and craft a few items for us, but I can’t help wondering if I’m just delaying the inevitable.”

“Are you allowed to tell me about your quest yet?”

He shook his head. “Not until I’ve completed the first stage. So tell me everything you can, please.”

She shared with him what she had learned from Naduk.

“Matriarchal, eh? That’s interesting.” His eyes widened with realization. “Nah,” he said to himself.

“What?”

“It’s just a thought. Being a half-orc and all, I’ve picked up a thing or two. Half-orcs are actually pretty common among the Insiders. I’d always assumed… you know,” he struggled with his words for a moment as Lilijoy looked at him expectantly.

“That it wasn’t… voluntary. On the part of the mothers, I mean.”

“That they were raped.” Lilijoy said. “Anda, don’t forget I have the entire twenty-first century internet as a secondary memory. It’s not like I’m innocent.”

He winced. “I’m sorry. But with what you told me, it sounds like orcs are trained to be perfect gentlemen from a young age. Maybe that’s why...”

“They get lucky? Could be.” She couldn’t help wondering what had happened with Jessila’s parentage. She had never gotten her friend to open up in that way, and now she wondered if it might be good to find out before they encountered Naduk’s people.

“You’re with Naduk now, right? Could you ask him more about how they treat half-orcs?”

She passed Anda’s question along, then relayed Naduk’s answer.

“Same as any male, he says. And.. hold on… oh, that’s interesting. Not a big surprise I guess.”

“What?”

“Sorry. This seems to be kind of a big deal to him. I guess he’s going to have the same basic issue when he returns. You’re going to have to establish your status with the other men. Each tribe is different though, so right now I’m getting blasted with information about the Urkaen, the hyena totem.” She paused again. “Man, that’s rough. Be glad you aren’t one of them. He doesn’t know as much about the Urglah as the other tribes. They seem to be more secretive.”

“Figures,” Anda said. “Cats.”

“Yeah. He thinks they ambush each other. Hope your Stealth is good.”

Anda shook his head. “Could be better.”

“I’m asking him if he knows anything about the top ranked Urglah. Mighty hunters, he says. The current Prime, I guess that’s the top cat, rose to his position when he single-handedly brought back … oh.”

“You’re doing that on purpose aren’t you?”

She waved him off. “He brought back a Source-Beast for the youngest Matron. I’m not sure what that is, but it sure sounds impressive.”

Anda made a sound of incredulity. “Monsters or beasts that have mastered an element to the extent that they have become a source themselves. They’re very rare, and very, very powerful.”

Lilijoy thought back to the vast leviathan of the polished granite plain that had risen to bequeath Jessila her source. That enormous being had possessed many sources.

Must have been a Source-Beast Supreme, she thought. Good thing it had an agenda that didn’t include eating us.

“I hope you aren’t supposed to compete with that,” she said.

“Hey!” Anda pretended to be wounded. “But yes. Typically it takes a very powerful group to conquer a Source-Beast. A clan might devote a large portion of their power when such an opportunity comes along. Though often that’s to ensure other clans don’t steal their prize. And no, I don’t need to rule the orcs, but I will need their help, and I’m guessing they won’t listen to me if I have no status to speak of.”

“Well… good luck? I’ll help if I can.” On the Inside she watched Naduk pull a long pole from his inventory and use it to hurdle a small stream of bubbling mud where it flowed into the main river. If the weakest orcs are like that, what are the strong ones like? she mused. Anda’s going to have his work cut out for him.

“On a completely different topic, how’s the hunt for an airship going?” she asked.

“Not well, I’m afraid. I’m on to plan… what is it now?” He counted on his fingers. “’D’ I think? My friends in Tesla couldn’t help. Renaissance wouldn’t help. My sources in the gray market here know to keep an eye out, but there’s nothing available. I’m afraid that even if there was, we wouldn’t be able to afford it.”

“Expensive, huh?”

Anda grimaced. “Like you wouldn’t believe. Not many clans have the Inside resources to construct them, or the Outside infrastructure. You would think that it wouldn’t be much of a stretch from hovercar to a small airship but it seems like the Inside disagrees.”

“Doesn’t Lone Star have actual planes?”

He nodded. “Yes. I have no idea how they achieve enough energy density, but they do. That’s a total non-starter though. They protect those things with everything they have, plus I’m pretty sure they don’t have the range we would need.”

“So tell me about Plan ‘D’”

“You won’t like it.”

There was a tromping of feet as Nykka, Attaboy and Mo returned from the roof, interrupting whatever Anda was going to say.

“I still don’t believe it,” Attaboy was saying. “All of that came from the Inside how?”

“You can’t build the things that build the things unless you get the stuff,” said Mo.

“Nicely said,” Anda chimed in.

They all looked over at him. “I was telling boy wonder here about how the world works,” Mo said.

Lilijoy was still trying to figure out exactly how Mo had ended up in their little group. She was just going with it for now, since he didn’t have a system, and also because she had already infiltrated his body with Tao System Satellites. If he put one toe out of line, she was prepared to take a variety of actions, none of them good for him.

In fact, she had done the same to Nykka and Maria.

There is no trust. There is only verify, she thought, as she watched them banter. Nyyka’s system was hardened against attack, but Lilijoy’s satellites could report on all her external activities and her physical state and intervene on a gross physical level if necessary. It wouldn’t be hard for her to, for example, block the nerve signals of the spinal cord.

Maria’s situation was quite different. There, Lilijoy had already taken measures to shore up the gaping holes and back doors left by Doctor Quimea. She hadn’t decided whether she should try to give Maria the Tao System itself, but there was no way she would allow someone who could be instantly coopted to be close to her. It was the right thing to do as well, she supposed.

“It’s not that I don’t understand the mechanics of it,” Attaboy replied to Mo. “It’s just so screwed up. I can’t believe you don’t see it.”

Lilijoy nodded in agreement.

“So what? What would it matter if we found it as strange as you do? Should we write a stern letter to Guardian?” Mo said, rolling his eyes.

From the other room, Maria gasped. “Don’t do that!” she called.

Mo got an apologetic look on his face. “Sorry,” he whispered. “She takes these things very seriously.” He rushed into the other room.

Now Nykka and Attaboy rolled their eyes.

“So, Nykka,” said Lilijoy, “have you been here before?”

Nykka shook her head. “Never left Sinaloa territory. It’s supposed to be neutral territory here, but that doesn’t mean the clans don’t get up to mischief. They just try really hard not to get caught. Quimea never comes here anymore; too paranoid.”

“I was just about to tell Lilijoy about the tournament scene here in Guayaquil,” Anda broke in. Lilijoy gave him a quizzical look, which he ignored. “It’s quite a vibrant part of what passes for culture in the Corp.”

Anda, she thought, if you tell me the only way to get an airship is to win one in a freaking tournament, I’m going to strangle you.

“Where do I sign up?” asked Attaboy.

***

In the end, she didn’t have to strangle Anda, for which she was grateful. Apparently, the tournament structure was organized solely by rank, with the grand prizes often being bugs for the next rank. This seemed oddly elegant to Lilijoy, as it kept the same competitor from winning year after year. Within a given rank, the competitors would have matches throughout the year, which meant that Attaboy would not be able to participate, to his great disappointment, as they had arrived at the midpoint of the annual event.

He had been happy to hear, though, that there was a thriving underground tournament scene, as well a parallel set of competitions focusing more on particular combat skills for those who wished to see how their Inside experiences measured against the real world. Or maybe it was the other way around?

She tuned out and focused her attention on the Inside while Attaboy and Nykka were interrogating Anda and hatching their own plans to earn fame, glory, and serious bodily injuries. Skria had arrived minutes before, and she and Naduk were doing an awkward social dance, which almost made Lilijoy wish she had a third reality.

When she realized that she did, in a way, she turned her attention to the ongoing search for Lowly in her Trial Space. Small parts of her consciousness had been surveying the twisted warren of tiny caves for over a day, without success.

Let’s see, she said to herself, reviewing a summary of all that had been found. That looks interesting, some kind of sealed burial chamber? I wonder what’s in that urn? Ooh! Is that corpse holding some kind of scepter? What’s all that goo?

Reluctantly, she dragged herself away, though not before making a note to come back later, and continued reviewing the highlights. By and large the tiny passages were empty. Though she did find an old acquaintance lurking in a bewebbed chamber at the very edge of her search radius.

Hey, is that Starcoil? I wondered where she’d gotten to…

Lilijoy had tried to find the spider before, out of nostalgia more than anything. Starcoil had been Lilijoy’s first real opponent on the Inside, and she remembered the encounter with a chuckle.

I wonder how she would like a visit from ‘Gandalf’? Or would that just be cruel?

As before, the remains of Starcoil’s previous meals decorated the space, hanging from stalactites throughout the chamber, wrapped husks of cave beetles and…

Oh no. That’s not good.

An approximately Labyrinthian-sized bundle was nearly hidden by a mess of extra webbing, as if this particular meal had received some special attention. After an instant of guilty panic, Lilijoy was able to sense a faint infrared glow, and then an even fainter heartbeat. She breathed a sigh of relief. It had to be Lowly, and he was, barely, alive.

Immediately she began extracting diamond energy from her soul vortex and reached out with her glowing hand to pull him out. She was concerned how Lowly might react to, well, everything about the Boiling Plains, but this was clearly a life or death moment. Trauma could heal. She tugged on Lowly, but the webs tugged back, tying his body to her Trial Space. She tried to reach within the cocoon, to pull him from the silk’s embrace, but she couldn’t find a space to work her grasp between web and flesh.

“What’s that!?” she heard Starcoil exclaim. “Who’s jiggling?”

Lilijoy ignored her and redoubled her efforts, but she was barely able to budge the webby bundle in the orthogonal dimension that connected to the Trial Space.

Crap. Double crap!

Starcoil scuttled over to Lowly’s cocoon and wrapped her legs around him. “Are you waking up?” she asked. “Do you need more help staying still?”

This is bad. Poor Lowly.

Lilijoy couldn’t help but feel responsible, and she knew it was too much to ask that Lowly be miraculously tempered at the last minute. His situation was quite a bit different than Naduk’s. For one, she doubted he was even conscious. She narrowed her options down to two.

I can pull Starcoil out, before she accidentally kills him on purpose. Or I can…

She blocked out everything, the room where Attaboy and Nykka were still talking with Anda, the sulfurous riverbank with Skria and Naduk, and focused all her attention into her hand. As she had in the white plane of death, she filtered out the data her system was sending back, all except that from her diamond coated hand.

And then she pulled herself to it.

There was an explosion of diamond light, inside her mind and out. Then darkness, absolute for a tiny fraction of a second, until data began to pour in and the darkness became a cavern strewn with spiderweb.

“Hey Starcoil,” she said. “Long time, no see.”

***

On the bank of the fuming Southfall River, two very surprised people, still blinking back the effects of a flash of brilliant light, looked at the place where, until just a moment ago, a third had been.

“What...?” said Naduk.

Skria shrugged. “You’ll get used to this kind of thing. Come on, let’s find Jess.”