Daniel’s forehead throbbed when he heard a scream—in his bedroom. It wasn’t the scream of someone dying—it was the scream of a woman who turned and found a spider. The guard immediately rushed into the room and let out the same sort of cry, followed by coughing and asking, “What do I do?” as plumes of black smoke poured into the corridor.

“I-I think we should go back,” his caretaker said to herself, turning the wheelchair. Daniel could only move away in disbelief, gripping the chalk, knowing that someone didn’t believe his routine—and sabotaged him.

2

Sara looked at Raul with a dull smile, responding to his question of what she had planned to do about Daniel: “Not kill him.”

“What type of answer is that?” Raul asked.

“Just wait. I should get a letter by tonight.”

“You can’t just leave things like that….”

“Just… wait. It’ll be better if you don’t hear it from me.”

He and Emma reluctantly let it go, following Sara over rock and stream in the forest, moving over brush, through meadows, and up unstable inclines that had rocks that gave way when the montas ran up them. The sun quickly passed over the horizon, and they set up camp in silence, building a fire and eating meat that they had smoked and salted. Only once they calmed down did Sara reach into her spatial ring and pull out a series of letters.

“That’s quite a lot,” Raul said nervously.

“It best be,” Sara said. She shifted through them until she found the one from Edico and opened it with clammy hands. Then, she read it silently before reading it aloud.

-

“Lady Reece,

I’m writing to report that your foresight regarding Lord Winters’ security has proven prophetic. Reea discovered an unloaded combustion circle on the floor today when she attempted to load the healing circle you’ve ordered to be drawn under his bed. It’s truly hard to believe that people would want Daniel dead, especially in his condition, but your insight that he was involved in closed-door activities seems to be valid.

In response, we have increased Lord Winters' surveillance and protection and added a detection ward for capturing mana fluctuations. Please let me know how you wish to respond further.

Sincerely, Edico

-

Sara smirked and pulled out an invisible pen and scribbled in the air with a haughty air. “Dearest Edico, I am greatly disheartened to hear this news, but I’m glad that we were able to avert the crisis. Please double, triple, quadruple down on people watching him and keep him locked away in a room until my return. Please increase array monitoring and listen for sounds of movement in the room. I want to check his condition with my own two eyes before even letting him breathe fresh air. Love, Sara Lenena Reece, Head Advisor to King Alecov Escar the First.”

Raul’s eyes widened, and Emma’s mouth opened. Then he chuckled, and they exchanged glances.

“What?” Sara asked. “You think I didn’t make a dozen contingency plans?”

Raul smiled ruefully as he looked at the ground. “Sorry.”

Sara shook her head. “Don’t apologize. I also ordered people to execute him if they discovered that he’s been intentionally faking his vegetative state.” She paused and looked away. “He’s way too dangerous. If I’m not there, I’m not sure anyone can stop him.”

Emma’s smile faded, but Raul nodded pensively. “That’s fair.” He turned to Emma. “You okay with that?”

Surprisingly, Emma nodded. “If he actually does something, it makes sense. I just… don’t want it to be unnecessary.” Daniel was a vegetable—killing someone like that just seemed paranoid.

Sara nodded at both of them. “We cool?”

Raul nodded and checked with Emma before saying, “Yeah. We cool.”

3

Daniel struggled not to chuckle like a madman that night. He was returned to his top-floor room, and Reea (the woman who was always nice and talked to him while she worked on the hydration array) swept the room for hidden arrays like a minesweeper. The bitch was obviously the woman who set up that combustion array, but she had the audacity to half confess that night.

[Sorry,] she had said. [I know it was better down there, but it’s too dangerous. It’ll only be two months till Lady Reece’s back. Then, you’ll be safe. That woman… no one’ll touch you when she’s around.]

The urge to laugh was so extreme that his ribs ached. It made something clear: Sara wanted to see his condition with her own two eyes (something he was certain would lead to his execution) and wouldn’t give him a chance to escape. That meant that he had two months (or less) to live, and he needed to get the fuck out of there while she was away. Even in his condition, he could kill soldiers with magic. Not being able to walk downstairs was just too damn inconvenient.

[I didn’t want to do it….] Daniel thought to himself. [I didn’t want to do it….] He repeated that like a mantra that entire night. He had plans that weren’t so bad; God knows he didn’t want to return to the days when he did terrible things for a bright future. That haunted him, and as much as he wished he could be a Joker-esque psychopath who had no remorse—he wasn’t one, even when he had locked his actions away from his mind. He wanted to retain his humanity so he could enjoy the world he would reverse time to create.

But Sara didn’t give him a choice.

So he’d play her game. Her move was strong, but his willpower was stronger at that point. He’d be careful, lay still in bed, not even exercise if Renti wasn’t helping him, and meticulously learn the new schedule.

Daniel gripped the chalk in his hand. Then he’d act decisively. It wasn’t a matter of morality—it was a matter of survival.

4

Sara felt much better after placing Daniel under strict house arrest. As someone with the authoritative power of a monarch, when she asked people to watch and monitor him around the clock and give her reports—they obeyed. She got half a dozen reports a day from various people, each saying that Daniel barely moved if he wasn’t prompted to, which eased her mind. With that out of the way, they continued their journey, trusting in Big Brother to keep Daniel in place.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

The next morning, they reached the Galsk Trading Post, which lay in the center of the expansive Callarm Forest. Jesters performed gravity acrobatics for the “Weelma Bura,” a religious period (similar to Ramadan for Muslims) where practitioners of Jemma—a major religion in the West—celebrated the Original Harvest by only eating fruits, herbs, and vegetables. Raul frowned when he learned there wasn’t professionally cooked meat in the town, but when he joined the “Wild Nut Feast” in the town square and tried stuffed mushrooms, tarts with berry sauce, and spiced vegetables that almost tasted like sausage, he fell in love.

Emma sat to his left so she could hold his left hand while he ate with his right hand. Sara couldn’t help but chuckle because Emma wasn’t dexterous enough to eat with her left hand, so she made a mess.

That night, they took an hour hike with a group of twenty into the nearby woods, where they found a hot spring by a cliffside. There, they basked in the moonlight, meeting people who told stories of travels long past. It was a wonderful night.

Before they left that day, they paid a guide to take them foraging through the forest, showing Raul and Emma where to find certain mushrooms, herbs, and berries—and the ones to avoid. It’s something that Raul would’ve never done before, but Sara hadn’t seen him smile so much since he came to Reemada—and that made her smile again.

As they mounted their montas that afternoon to continue their trip to Sayon’s crypt, Raul chuckled. “You know…. I gotta admit. I can see why you love traveling so much.”

Sara nodded. “It’s pretty special, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…” Emma said with a gentle smile.

“Come on. Wait till you see Trollin.”

They nodded and trotted on a merchant’s path, moving toward civilization—and the artifacts that would turn Emma into a battle asset.

5

Daniel memorized his guards’ patterns. There was a two-hour period around 4 a.m. when there was only one guard, as many in the castle were waking, and the threat of an attack seemed lowest. Now, it was only a question of what their protocol was in the event of a disturbance. So that night, he waited until the second guard had been gone for thirty minutes and then started groaning.

The response was instantaneous. The guard burst into the room, looking around for intruders [before] calling for the doctors—perfect.

Now, he’d just have to practice drawing [the array]. Once he could do it in an hour, he would strike.

6

After a two-day ride from the Galsk Trading Post, Sara and her group reached Trollin—the capital of the Elcalore kingdom. It was a truly picturesque city, a fantasy sight in the truest sense. It was built with its back to a rockface, making it impossible to attack from behind. Colossal blue and white spires of the castle provided sharp contrast against the tan rock walls, and even from a distance, Raul and Emma could tell that all the buildings were curved into cylinders instead of rectangles.

Sara smiled when she saw it, glad she had found the right angle to prevent them from seeing the crypt from above. She wanted to see their faces when they realized it was in the city—and what it looked like. She’d cherish it.

“Why are all the buildings… cylinders?” Emma asked. “That just seems… harder to make… and I can’t think of what it’d improve.”

“Same,” Raul said.

If they were all igloo-like domes (there were some), the buildings would be extremely functional, distributing the weight of snow and maximizing coolness without the need for air conditioning. Yet they weren’t. They were just flat-topped cylinders.

Sara shrugged. “Opulence. They’re showing off.”

“Seriously.”

“But why?”

“The same reason the Egyptians built the Great Pyramids, or Rome built the Colosseum.” Sara looked at them seriously. “To prove they were powerful.” She turned back to the city. “Besides—that’s also why Sayon and Halkon built elaborate crypts. Come on, let’s go.”

7

Raul walked around Trollin in a state of awe. Builders brought in large slabs of stone into a public area with dozens of massive arrays tattooed on the ground. Once they dumped them onto the largest array, mages put their hands on the outer circle. It glowed bright red, and the rocks dissolved to dust, separating themselves by mineral type. “Pick up the pace!” a foreman yelled. Men shoveled minerals into wheelbarrows and brought them to women, who mixed the red and white and gray minerals into a pile like they were making a cake. Lastly, they dumped the mixture onto a second array. Instead of breaking apart, all the dust turned into solid rock again—this time in cylinders.

“So that’s how they do it,” Raul said.

“It’s so cool! Let’s watch!” Emma grabbed his hand, and he blushed but followed her without question. Once they got close, he turned and saw Sara at a seller’s stall, buying a hat. It was strange but he shrugged and watched the builders for fifteen minutes before turning to Emma. “You hungry?”

“Yeah,” Emma said. “Where’s Sara?”

“Dunno. Let’s go look around.”

Raul grabbed Emma’s hand this time and led her through the streets, passing by eateries oddly reminiscent of Japanese ramen trucks, housing small tables with seating for six. Sara was sitting at one of those stalls, drinking a purple drink from a wide-rimmed cup like a fishbowl mixed with a margarita glass. They almost didn’t notice her since she was wearing an adventurer’s hat (for lack of a better description), which was wide-brimmed like but made of a felty tan texture. When she saw them, she just flicked her hand in a “Fuck off” gesture. Raul smiled strangely and nodded at Emma. “Let’s give ‘er some space.”

“Okay….” Emma said shyly.

That’s when they went on their first date, eating vegan options (since he was still vibin’ after the Wild Nut Dinner) and strange custards that came in multiple colors. Then they just people-watched, studying merchants walking around in silk robes and the street performers hustling them.

“I’m glad Sara’s better,” Emma said abruptly, voice low as if someone turned the knob on the volume adjuster to the left. It kinda spoiled the mood, but it was something that was eating at them—and that was dangerous when they were about to enter a crypt that required teamwork.

“Yeah,” Raul said.

“Do you think’ll last?”

He paused and watched the musicians playing in the restaurant. “I’m not sure…” he said.

Emma caught his inflection and looked him in the eye. “But what?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. Now she’s got me paranoid.”

“Me too….”

“It just sucks because…. God. What if?”

Emma rubbed her palm against the table. “Yeah…. So what do we do?”

“I… I don’t know.” Raul looked at her. “Trust her?”

Emma’s eyes jerked up to his. “What does that mean?”

“Yo, chill….” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I know you [trust] her, but…. I don’t know. I don’t think we’re taking her seriously. It’s hard to imagine that Slightly-Better-Than-Average Daniel could actually be strong like Sara. And now he’s a vegetable. And all that just makes it hard to think he’s dangerous. But I mean…. Sara locked Kye and Tiber away somewhere instead of protecting them because she’s that terrified of this guy. Shouldn’t we trust her on this?”

Emma bit her lip. “And what? Kill him?”

Raul paused. He didn’t want to fuck up his budding relationship with Emma, but it was weighing on his chest. “No, not necessarily. But look…. If I went on a rampage, I could prolly take out half the heroes before they stopped me, and I’m nowhere near Sara. If I was pillaging—she’d tear me in half without a second thought. I doubt she’d express any degree of uncertainty. So what could someone who scares her do?”

Emma looked at the table. “Do you think that he’ll massacre people?” It wasn’t a rhetorical question—she really wanted to know. It looked like it was weighing on her, too.

“I don’t know…. I just know he can.”

“Even as he is?”

“I don’t think Sara needs her hands to use spells.”

“So what do we do?”

Raul shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

“Oh….”

Raul scratched his head. “In the meantime, let’s just… trust Sara. We’ll hit the crypt tomorrow. Work together. Bond a little. And then we’ll decide. Just consider the options. Okay?”

Emma bit her lip and nodded. “Okay.”

Raul smiled guiltily. He wasn’t going to [think] about it. The second they finished the crypt, he was going to write Edico and tell him the truth.

-

[A/N: So I've released the story I've been working on for the last four months, and I'm a bit nervous. It's called Riftwalker, a realistic apocalypse novel that takes place in post-apocalyptic Seattle. I wrote it with two things in mind: creating a realistic world with magic like Summons, where there's a bit more action, more magic, more character wins, and fewer morally gray situations. So, if you like Second Summons, you'll probably love it, too. Just be kind. I'm going through a rough patch right now, so a little love would go a long way.

Love, Neon]