Chapter Three

Andrea Pender thrived on these meetings. Unlike the world outside of these four walls, it was a controlled, orderly place. Here, paperwork reigned supreme, and bureaucracy was the only superpower that mattered. It was a bastion of paperwork, a sacred place where decisions were made.

The people outside this room had no idea how much the events here affected their lives. It was a kind of power all its own that had nothing to do with skills, weapons, or the System. It was here, in this space of meetings, that Andrea reigned. There wasn’t much to her place of power. A large meeting table, a simple carpet, a whiteboard behind the head of the table, and paperwork.

It wasn’t her office, which was her sanctuary, but people deferred to her in this place. Even Ambrose let her be in control here. Currently, the room was filled with four people, soon five with Ambrose on the way. A bored-looking teenage girl with hair that reminded Andrea of the ocean on a night sky, pale moonlight shining on its silken waves.

Her hazel eyes were bored as she doodled with a pencil. She had on an oversized hoodie; her fingernails were painted with strokes of midnight. Across from her was a broad-shouldered bald-headed man with skin of milk chocolate, and honey-brown eyes. His features were strong, lost features of some warrior king.

He wore a suit the shade of starlight over a silver pond. Then there was Thom…who was sleeping. Thom’s bronze weathered skin looked less weathered today, his long white beard was neat, and he wore flannel under blue overalls. His head was leaned back over the chair, and his snores were somewhat concerning.

The bald-headed man appeared to be trying very hard to ignore him. He wasn’t succeeding. His eyes kept flicking over to him, and his face would flicker with annoyance as he adjusted his tie and cleared his throat loudly.

Andrea suppressed a chuckle. You have more chance of waking a stone than Thom, Andrea thought, her lips quirking in amusement.

The man sighed,

“Can we please get this meeting underway? We are here to discuss linking your teleportation array with ours, Miss Pender. Not endure this man’s…” he winced,

“Snores.”

Andrea schooled her expression. It would not do to laugh at him she chuckled inwardly to herself.

“I’m afraid we must wait for Mr. Severen before beginning the meeting.”

The man’s strong features morphed into a scowl,

“And where is he? I would have expected him to show some respect by being on time.”

Andrea shrugged,

“Mr. Severen has always done as he wished. I’m afraid he is not a man you can rush, Mr. Akinyemi.”

He crossed his arms, chest rumbling,

“I am not a man to keep waiting. I control one of the largest towns in Africa post System. I am level on-hundred and thirty. I demand to be treated with more respect.”

His eyes flashed like an angry lion that had been roused from his sleep too early.

It was true. He was the second forerunner, the leader of New Kweneng. She hadn’t used [Analyze] on him as that was considered rude by many, but he had freely told her that his class was something known as a Desert Summoner.

For a moment, Andrea allowed herself to be fascinated by how quickly humanity adapted to what was quickly becoming known as the Integration. Already new cultural norms were being implemented. New Kweneng had even managed to get the monster population in their area under control.

They roamed all of Africa, bringing them to their town, and had more merchants than any other place she had seen, which wasn’t many. According to Ambrose, there were only four town seeds for four forerunners. Once one died, their seed appeared within a pre-designated spawn point by the forerunner and could be reclaimed.

That was how Ambrose had gotten his, taken from a safe once owned by Annie Hyde, the third forerunner.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Andrea allowed her eyes to land on the teenage girl. She didn’t speak much, but there was a subtle aura of danger around the girl. Ambrose had said that it was the feeling of spirit. When a spiritual skill was powerful enough, it sort of ‘leaked’ out.

Shortly after the battle, Ambrose had gone into the island depths for spiritual control training; as his spirit had become so strong, many within half a mile around him started to feel it, their minds crawling with worms of doubt and fear, as well as finding it hard to even move.

I don’t feel any of that from Akinyemi she considered.

That either meant his spiritual skill was not powerful enough, or he had iron control. The girl hadn’t offered her level or class; in fact, all she had gotten out of her was a name.

Tina Florence.

Andrea thought about the other fact about her: She was the leader of Britania, a town established in a massive forest in France. She had even spoken with a slight french accent, when she had spoken at all.

The only reason she even knew that much was the teleportation array. It had cost a lot, but with their mining operations, it had been doable. It allowed one to teleport to other teleportation arrays controlled by System recognized towns. If the town leader allowed it.

Even so, you could see it, and its name, and its general location. Andrea really didn’t like that because it meant anyone wishing them harm would know, but she couldn’t do anything about it currently. Reigning in her annoyance, she pressed her lips together into a firm line, then addressed Akenyemi.

“While I am sorry you have kept waiting, there really is nothing for it, Mr. Akenyemi. You’re welcome to bring up your concerns with Mr. Severen when he arrives, but I cannot rush him.”

Akenyemi blew a slow breath out of his nose, and he stood.

“Perhaps I should simply leave then. I have no need of this place to be connected to my array, after all.”

Andrea cocked her head,

“Is that so? You must have all the resources you could ever need in Africa, then. Maybe you’ve found every treasure you need there. There is certainly no benefit then, of you having access to this area.”

His jaw worked, his eyes becoming boulders. Andrea wanted to stretch like a satisfied cat who had just lapped up cream. She crushed that desire with a mental effort. It wouldn’t do to gloat.

She knew she had him. Avalon was the only town in the once-great nation known as the USA. Eric Delrosa’s town had not put up an array. Likely because their leader was in another world.

The System had spread out resources, treasure, and dungeons all around the world. Dungeons were recently discovered places, and idly, Andrea wondered about the team they had sent to one found on the mainland. I hope they’re okay she worried.

Akenyemi sat down. Tina kept doodling, unconcerned with the confrontation.

The door opened, and Ambrose Severen entered.

If you had never met him, and even after doing so for some, Ambrose was best described as a teenage nerd’s fantasy character. He had a cloak of white like fresh snow, lined with midnight black lines, with a hem of fur the color of lightning during a winter storm.

His hair was wildfire, his single eye the green of fresh grass in a meadow, flecks of the sun itself within it. His features were those of an ancient Irish king, and his beard was spread out like a living flame. His left eye was covered with a black eyepatch emblazoned with runes like moonlight and powdered silver.

He wore armor that Andrea would have sworn was forged from molten lava and brimstone straight from hell. All of that would have been a sight in itself, except for the fact that he was also solid and huge. He dominated the room like a giant Viking from Norse mythology.

A pang of sympathy rang in her heart for him because a subtle cloud of loss hung around Ambrose Severen, like a lonely rain cloud in a blue sky, shunned by its cheerier brethren. It was a hard thing to notice. You saw it in the set of his shoulders, the ever so slight frown of his lips, and the ghost of it in his eye.

You felt it as he looked at the children running around, or noticed the embrace of a couple.

Here was a man haunted by profound loss.

And driven by an anger so deep it was as if it was a demon manifest.

Andrea noticed as Akenyemi went instantly on guard at his presence. His body tightened, and his feet set themselves firmly, ready for action.

Tina continued to be bored.

“You want access to our array. I want to know why you have been unable to close the Incursions in your areas. Let’s hear it.”

Akenyemi’s response was hot iron,

“No apology for being late? You just barge in and hop right to it, demanding information?” His eyes flicked to her,

“You have a strange way of showing respect to your guests, Miss Pender.”

“I don’t show respect to adulterers and spouse killers, Kellan Akenyemi. Tell me about your Incursions, before I decide something bad should happen to you.”

If Akenyemi’s voice was a hot iron, Ambrose’s was the far-distant_ rumble of thunder before a storm.

Akenyemi acted as if the Knight of Avalon had cut him down right there. His chocolate brown skin whitened, as if he had seen a ghost, his eyes widened.

“How?”

Tina began to laugh, showing the first sign of interest in the proceedings.

“Oh, I like you,” she said, looking up.

Ambrose’s green eye landed on her, and Andrea saw it now. A hellish gleam that burned in the center of his eye for just a moment.

“Tina Florence. Be welcome on Avalon,” he said, a tinge of respect in his voice.

That gave Andrea pause. Ambrose hardly ever showed respect to anyone. Whatever he saw with the skill he had just used, it must have been something. A fey smile played on the teen girls lips, and she inclined her head.

Ambrose turned back to Akenyemi.

“I’m waiting for an answer, Kellan.”