Somehow, the upstart realm of Blackwood had grown to be home to almost twenty thousand people. Somehow, it had survived and was still standing. It was even expanding. And changing.

Guard Captain Goreth had changed at least as much as the town he called home. He had recovered from being infected by the Lycan but had been irrevocably changed. The transformation wasn’t outwardly obvious, but he possessed a power that he hadn’t before. And of course, he could transform into a giant wolf, though he vowed to never do that, afraid that would mean truly giving up his humanity.

These thoughts flitted through Guard Captain Goreth’s mind as he leaned against the wall of the newly renovated Blackwood Guard House. It had actually been a storage barn when Blackwood had been on its home planet of Tierra, and that was why it had been chosen for its current function. Aside from the chapel and town hall, it was one of the few original buildings that had stone walls.

Goreth puffed on his pipe as he watched nighttime fall over the town. He wasn’t quite sure if it was a large town or a small city at this point. All he knew was that Blackwood had achieved the unbelievable. It had survived the celestial assimilation into this New Zone, and alongside Malvas, it was even becoming a powerhouse in the region.

Every day, more refugees arrived at the town’s outer walls. It was amazing that Termulain hadn’t discovered their location.

Yet.

A shadow flitted over the moon, and there was the lonesome cry of some strange bird. Goreth looked up, his hand automatically moving to his belt where his great axe hung, always ready to be used.

War was coming. He could feel it. Termulain was the bridgehead for the Older Zones, such as the Elder Realms that all the trollish races and the Lamakai, among others, had come from. They were all looking hungrily toward this latest New Zone and sharpening their weapons. What better way to head toward ascension than to defeat those weaker souls down here? To claim a few cities and thousands of slaves?

Will we be ready when the war comes? Goreth didn’t know, and he was annoyed that some of their most-advanced heroes—Finn, Rosa, and Tobias—had left Blackwood on this errand for Finn’s sister.

Finn is our Realm Founder, for Ascension’s sake. He belongs here!

He allowed himself to feel annoyed for a long moment. He could never stay angry at Finn for too long, but there were certain things about the Earther that just irked him. Finn, for all of his skill and power and advancement, was still young. Early twenties, maybe? Not that you’d guess that from how athletic and powerful he looked after advancing twenty-plus levels.

Goreth was certain that Finn didn’t realize just how his home town felt when he wasn’t in it, taking the Hearthstone with him. There was a sense of tension. A feeling of being on your own against the vast night when the Realm Founder wasn’t actively walking and protecting these streets.

“Guard Captain?”

There was the softest of movements from behind him, and Goreth startled, spinning around to see a figure standing in the courtyard that had been made after creating a long barracks hall out of the old granary.

The figure was inside the courtyard, inside the Blackwood Guard House, which was gated to the outside.

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They also wore a large, heavy cloak with the hood drawn over their face.

“Who are you? A messenger? What do you want?” Goreth demanded, settling his hand on the pommel of his axe. Quite frankly, this figure gave him the creeps.

“I am a messenger, Captain Goreth. I come bearing news of a very great evil in your midst, one that will bring your realm down in flames and blood if you do not do something about it,” they said.

Their voice was cultured and mellifluous. It wasn’t one that Goreth recognized from the scouts and messengers that Mayor Marr had appointed, but then again, there were a lot of new people everyday, weren’t there?

“Who sent you?” Goreth grumbled. He wasn’t particularly a fan of vague warnings of impending doom.

The cloaked figure shifted a little, as if shrugging. “That is of no matter. Associates. People who are regarding Blackwood with great care. What matters is the warning…”

“Pfft!” Goreth squinted. He didn’t have time for people who wouldn’t say who they were or where they were from. “Raise your concern with the day sergeant tomorrow morning or tell the night sergeant if there is an immediate threat to someone’s life. They’ll have a team sent out right away.” Goreth was about to turn back to his pipe and his contemplations, but something made him pause.

He didn’t want to turn his back on this man.

“Fool! This is indeed a life-threatening situation, Guard Captain. It threatens every life in this New Zone!” the figure hissed, stalking forward as barely controlled rage oozed from their voice. Their hood fell away, and Goreth saw that their skin and eyes were a pale blue, and their face was twisted with contempt.

They’re not a citizen of Blackwood. Goreth was sure of that. He also didn’t appreciate the aggressive stance.

“What’s your name?! Who sent you?!” Goreth snarled, straightening his shoulders. Was this just a fear-monger or an actual threat?

“Esther Callahan,” the strange, blue-skinned man said. “Esther Founders-Sister. You know who I mean. She is a threat to the entire New Zone!”

Goreth blinked at his audacity.

“I see you know precisely what I am speaking of. You must have seen it, or sensed it, too? That power she has. It is cursed. It means the death not just of you and your realm, but all of us!” the blue-skinned messenger said.

Goreth felt a shadow of doubt run through him. He had seen what Esther was capable of. He had seen that lurid, toxic green power swirl out of her, consuming the trolls. It had seemed like it consumed her and was out of her conscious control. The Guard Captain knew only a little of what had happened to her—that she had been kidnapped by some powerful Adversary in the early days of the assimilation, and that Finn had damn near torn apart the world to get her back again…

“You know it! You have to kill her, immediately, if you wish to save yourselves!”

Even with his concerns, that was going way too far. Goreth stared in horror. Kill her? Kill Finn’s sister?! He shook his head. His loyalty to Finn swept aside his doubts.

“Guards! Seize him!” Goreth roared, lunging at the strange doom-monger…

…who was suddenly not there. They had backflipped with a skill and a grace that Goreth had only seen in Rosa Lux.

“Hey!” he shouted, hearing the answering calls from around the Guard House.

The cloaked figure was leaping again, clinging onto a window ledge as booted feet ran into the courtyard.

“There!” Goreth shouted, but the mysterious blue-skinned creature was already on the move again. They had flipped themselves to the roof’s edge and ran across the tiles, disappearing over the apex of the Guard House as quick as a bird.

“Get him!” Goreth called as he started for the courtyard gate, two of his burly guards running toward him. Their faces were full of worry and alarm, looking between Goreth and the empty roof.

“Does this have to do with the attack, sir?” one of the guards, the slightly younger and smaller one, asked.

“The attack? I wasn’t attacked!” Goreth snapped.

The two guards looked confused.

“No, sir, the attack near the River District. We’ve just come to tell you. Two guards have been…well, roasted, sir, or poisoned. They were found just a little while ago.”

“Roasted and poisoned?” Goreth suddenly pulled back his lips in disgust. He didn’t want to imagine it, but somehow, he could…and that was because he had seen it before, hadn’t he? Bodies that were horribly twisted by some terrible spasm, their skin burnt and melted but somehow still solid.

Esther’s magic. It was Esther’s qlippothic powers, wasn’t it?

Fear pierced Goreth’s heart. He ordered one of the guards to take him there and the other to awaken the rest of the night shift reserve immediately.