I feel humiliated, truly. I was defeated, soundly beaten in battle, for the first time in ages. Even as King of Santa Barbara, I wasn’t strong enough to save my city.

The others continue to try and convince me otherwise, that it’s alright that I am weak, or that there were other circumstances preventing me from doing my best. But their attempts fall on deaf ears. Even though my ears are notably not deaf at the moment.

Instead, I sulk to myself in various corners of the ship.

Currently, the MS Zaandam is en route to the Land of the Rising Sun, known colloquially as Japan. Master Keitou was originally from this country, and assures us that we have a fighting chance, if only we can reach there.

Luckily, our current ship, Santa Barbara’s flagship, is equipped with advanced technology of all varieties. Most important for us now is the cloaking tech. Even if this is one of the largest ships to have ever existed on Earth, it is almost impossible to be tracked or spotted except with one’s own eyes. The ocean is a vast and mighty place, and we will surely be able to avoid capture even by the U.S. military’s great might.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many of us left. Most of the Santa Barbaran Army stayed behind to fight or surrender. Aside from the crew of the ship itself, there were only fifteen soldiers who managed to board the ship.

Among the Systemless Squad itself, our full party, even with an extra addition of two new members, remains a very small group:

Myself, Eryk Solbourne, also known as Amaranth, Sovereign Slayer, and as King of Santa Barbara, and occasionally mistaken for Blaze Blitzer;

Francis Bacall, my lover and the most popular streamer in the world;

Delta Rafati, my dear ally, grumpy as she is;

Julie Rafati, her intimidating wife, and a fellow North Spiran;

Esther Rafati, the mysterious baby;

Master Keitou, the old woman with an elven past;

The Goddess, reincarnated in half-human form and powerless;

Abby Faulkner, Surf Ronin;

and Pablo Rosas of Paso Robles.

Even counting little Esther who is too small to be joining in any truly dangerous missions, that makes nine of us. Not enough to win a war, not by a long shot.

But, in a group meeting with all of us, our de facto leader Master Keitou seems absolutely confident, in a way that does not seem foolhardy as it often does with me. We are gathered around in a circle, some of us sitting, some standing, all of us in cool poses.

“First order of business,” she says, “is our two new companions. Abby Faulkner. Pablo Rosas. May you step forward?”

They both nod and step into the center of our circle.

“Take the Systemless Pledge,” Keitou says.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

They both raise their right hands into the air, ready to recite the words of the famous Systemless Pledge.

Silence for several moments.

“Um, may I ask what a Systemless Pledge is?” Pablo asks.

Master Keitou snickers. “We don’t actually have a pledge. That was my prank to you.”

Abby grumbles out some swears, while Pablo nods as if he is fascinated to learn this new information.

“You are now officially members,” she says. “Welcome aboard.”

The circle rearranges so that the two inductees are no longer in the center, but the cool poses remain.

“The sooner we can destroy Joe Biden’s regime, the sooner I’ll be finished with my life’s work,” Abby says. “That man ruined King Solbourne’s life, and now his kingdom as well. I take that personally.”

“Well, if you want revenge, you’ve come to the right place.” Master Keitou gives a warm and inviting smile. “We will reach Japan soon enough. My hometown, in fact, is where we will be going. No, it’s not simply for my nostalgia. Instead, we shall be using the immense magical energy there to access the multiverse at will.”

My ears perk up at this. “You mean...”

“Yes. Right now, almost all multiversal travel must be done by going through The Goddess’s Domain.”

“No can do,” The Goddess says. “Since I’m dead.”

“The U.S. military has conquered that area, and there is a zero percent chance we will ever be able to take it.

The Goddess helpfully adds, “Also, with nobody manning the system for life and death, nobody is getting reincarnated, and the entire multiverse is going to start weighing down on its karmic energy until the whole thing causes a tearaway cataclysm. I don’t think the Americans are aware of that, but I think we probably should.”

“Okay, so there’s a time limit,” Francis says. “Extremely good to know.”

“Well, a two hundred or so year time limit. Unless the wars get really bad. Then it might be down to... Fifty or sixty? It really depends, though. If populations keep increasing naturally as they have been, it’s going to really... Oh, wait, everyone lost interest in the stakes now, didn’t they?”

All of us in the room try hard not to show our disinterest. We fail.

The Goddess sighs. “You mortals and your short lifespans really mess up with the timing on caring about important issues. Why do so many problems happen over a few hundred years, when most of you barely live a hundred? Very poor design, and I wish I could have fixed it before I was put in charge of this multiverse.”

“ANYWAY,” Keitou says, “There is another way to get around The Goddess’s Domain without alerting the enemy. We simply have to build it ourselves. There are four things we need before we can cross into Mystix and defeat Joe Biden’s forces.

“First, is an energy source large enough to power the bridge. We will have that solved as soon as we arrive. Mt. Osore is a famous portal between worlds, shimmering with more ether than we would know what to do with.

“Second, is a multiversal portal generator. The Goddess says that she can build this herself given the time and energy sources, both of which we will have.

“Third is a quantum decryptor. Without this, we are locked out of accessing the etherflow, the space between worlds. We can travel the multiverse, but only at Mt. Osore, and nowhere else. It cannot be carried to anywhere else, which will prevent us from performing to the best of our abilities. Apparently, little Esther over here has an idea for that one, and I await it.

“Fourth is something we cannot obtain simply by waiting it out in Japan; we need a real army. We need forces larger and more diverse than what Santa Barbara had. A multiversal army consisting of sympathetic warriors from all the worlds that the U.S. has invaded or will inevitably invade in the near future. Very soon, that is exactly what we are going to have to do.

“Any questions?”

One hand goes up. Julie’s.

“Yes, Julie?” Master Keitou asks.

“How dangerous will this be?”

“It will risk all our lives. I can only assume most of us will not survive.”

“I understand.” Julie lowers her hand and looks to her wife and daughter. She does not say anything else.

The room is as quiet as our poses are cool.

“I want to return to Mystix,” I say. “I know it’s the most deadly spot in the multiverse right now, but the thought of my homeland being further ravaged by war and destruction at the hands of royals of foreign lands fills me with righteous anger.”

“We will get there eventually,” Master Keitou says. “It is our final destination. For now, let us focus on a nearer future. Soon, we will arrive in Japan. Let’s be ready to face whatever lies there waiting for us. Good or bad.”

And with that, the meeting is over.