Mayor Nelson signed his name, and stamped the requisition form. Yet another list of goods that would have to wait until Blackthorne’s Merchant returned. With the many bandits that died in the woods, Shadowvale’s resources and future earnings had dwindled.

Only some low-stratum climbers remained in the city, and their acquisitions were hardly enough to feed those left behind. Without new blood to line the forests, nothing would change. They needed more thieves to replace the ones lost, or the city just might go bankrupt.

He tried encouraging more to hunt outside the walls, but thanks to the domain of shadow, they had to range out much further than Mayor Nelson liked.

Panther and other predator meat was just not appetizing. Deer and boar both stayed far away from their region of the forest, and the round trip was leaving them with mediocre benefits. Then, most of their crops were mushrooms. He was sick of them.

His paperwork was interrupted with a knock at the door. “Mayor! You must hear this.”

“Come in.”

Turon walked into the room, the bear beastfolk man’s breaths coming in like he ran to deliver the news.

“What is it, Turon?”

“Our hunters found something alarming. The caravan–it was destroyed.”

Mayor Nelson gasped. “Destroyed? How?”

“It appears…it was wolves and spiders. There was evidence of both, the corpses mangled and eaten. However, it was strange. The goods and gold are all gone.”

Mayor Nelson frowned. “Gone? No monsters would steal those goods. Even if someone discovered the trashed caravan and took it, just who would go against Blackthorne like that? They should recognize the markings.”

Turon hesitated, before clearing his throat. “I don’t know. We haven’t heard from the nearby men of the forest in a while. It’s possible that, instead of being slain by the orcs, they had abandoned the force to strike at the caravan? They did have druids with them, we’ve just been unable to reach them. Then, there’s Frosthaven–they are our neighbors, after all.” He shrugged. “It’s not impossible for them to have targeted the caravan, they may have been mad about such a large Blood Price. Just how could they afford it, anyway?”

Mayor Nelson snorted. “How foolish if it were them. Send some hunters to spy on them to get to the bottom of it, then. Either way, it sounds like we need to request some reinforcements. As it stands now, we may face a Tribulation. I will contact Blackthorne.”

Turon nodded and left, his news delivered. After stewing for hours and waffling on his message for a while, he finally came to a decision. Opening his drawer, Mayor Nelson picked up the communication token.

The Ordeal would charge it over time, and allow him to make a report about once per quarter–or allow him to receive a communication, through the Alter of Subordination. If he needed to make one outside that window, he would be forced to use expensive essence crystals to power it.

It would cost nearly a thousand golds to make a communication if not fully charged by the Ordeal, and thus why they avoided using it unless absolutely necessary.

But before he could trigger it, the Sanctum’s communication token lit up, and Mayor Nelson almost leaped out of his seat in surprise. He wasn’t expecting to hear from Blackthorne anytime soon.

He was only a few weeks away from needing to report in, and he had just decided to make it early in hopes he could get news on Elrash’s whereabouts. Thanks to the orc’s victory in the forest of Silverbrook, they were in bad shape–especially thanks to how Blackthorne would penalize them for their failure.

Nelson suspected the next merchant caravan would collect far more people than Elrash wanted to give up–it would ruin all of his personal goals. Not that either of those were Mayor Nelson’s problem, anyway.

Mayor Nelson scrambled to grab the prerequisite crystals, and shattered them to power the token. The token pulled the essence in, filling its glyphs on the surface with a sanguine light.

“Mayor.” Blackthorne’s gruff voice echoed into the room.

“It is me. What can I do for your grace?”

“The merchant convoy still hasn’t arrived at Bronzehold. What can you tell me?”

Mayor Nelson was shocked, and had a sharp intake of breath. Blackthorne already knew? How? This was a tremendous failure, and his message he had carefully crafted in his mind was now forgotten, as he was now put on the back foot in this line of questioning. “I only learned of what happened just now. A hunter of ours found the wreckage, having ranged out to find food. I was just about to contact you.”

“I’m aware of what happened. Is there something you want to tell me, Mayor Nelson?” Blackthorne’s tone was threatening, alarming him.

“What do you mean, Milord? I was hoping to contact you soon, as we could use some reinforcements. I had sent a message with the caravan, but clearly that didn’t work out… Just how long before Lord Elrash returns? We could use–”

“Reinforcements? Why do you need any of those? Elrash is helping Thresh track and corral the Outlanders, it won’t be much longer now. They’ll be ours soon enough, but as it stands, it may be a few months before he can arrive back in Shadowvale.”

Mayor Nelson gasped in surprise. Thresh joined him in chasing the Outlanders? The man was in the third stratum, Blackthorne’s most valuable climber. He owned the Ordeal at Bronzehold, a dark kingdom hidden deep in the mountains to the Southwest. That Thresh had now joined them showed just how badly Blackthorne wanted these Outlanders. Why?

He shook off the detail, remembering that Shadowvale really could use some help–that he needed to convince him. With all of their second stratum climbers dead, and Elrash gone, things were not looking good. “Yes, we could use some reinforcements–all of our second stratum climbers are dead, and with Elrash gone, we may face a Tribulation before long. You see, we believe the orcs had killed all our assets in the woods between Silverbrook. When we sent our men after them, as per your orders, we expected that we would be victorious. But it seems they failed, and all our hideouts were cleared, besides–this was included in Frosthaven’s Blood Price, which they paid. On top of that, we haven’t heard back from our people in Silverbrook. They were supposed to report in just last week, but we haven’t heard from the usual runner.”

“So that’s your game.”

Mayor Nelson frowned in confusion. “Sir?”

“There’s no way a small unit of orcs killed all our assets, and now you’re telling me something happened to the Warden, of all people? That all our plots have come crumbling down in the area, all due to some orcs that wandered in? On top of all of that, you had met this orc–and you had gauged him to not be a threat.”

“W-Well, I…” Mayor Nelson did not like where this was going. No matter what, Blackthorne was blaming this issue on him. “The man was only almost level 15 at best!”

Blackthorne continued before he could scramble his thoughts together into a better defense, “So what is it? You plan on sharing the gold with the Warden, is that your plan? Where is he now? If you tell me, I just might spare you.”

“What gold? Y-You mean the gold from the caravan? No way! I just learned about what happened, surely it was Frosthaven, or some other–”

“Don’t lie to me, Nelson.” Blackthorne said his name hatefully, “I know you have the gold, the Altar of Subordination shows it’s there in Shadowvale–all of it. I wasn’t asking. There are already reinforcements in Shadowvale, just not for you.”

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Mayor Nelson stood in alarm, the news shocking. The building which taxed their essence was showing they had the gold? “This is a misunderstanding, milord. I don’t have the caravan’s gold, I swear it! We’re being set up!”

“Useless lies. Either way, I’m sick of your incompetence. Do it, Rorik.”

The shadows twisted, and Mayor Nelson yelped as a blade came out of them, and cleaved his head off of his shoulders. His head rolled and stared up at his assailant, a dark elf man with red eyes meeting his.

Rorik kicked Mayor Nelson’s corpse, and took his place in his chair. He picked up the communication token. “It’s me–he’s dead now. I have to wonder what his full plan was. I couldn’t find any sign of this rebellion as I came in, and the ruins of the caravan did look like wolves and…spiders, strangely. You’re sure it wasn’t someone else? What about this Frosthaven he mentioned?”

Blackthorne snorted. “Orcs are no good at subterfuge, and didn’t he say they fully paid their Blood Price? They are afraid of me, as they should be. Nelson was probably hiding his involvement. He’s the only one with the resources and contacts to make it happen. With Elrash not there, this was the perfect moment for him to take such an immense amount of gold and run for his life. We had druids in the forests capable of controlling those types of creatures. Then, he was just biding his time until just after the next check-in time before he ran as fast as he could. In the end, it’s not that important–he was a trash Mayor anyway, his incompetence leading to vast losses. Failure only breeds more failure, Rorik.”

He continued, “See if you can find where the gold is located, but report to me once you’ve squashed their shitty rebellion and reclaimed the goods. You and your men are welcome to plunder what you find in the city, but do not allow a Tribulation–it’ll ruin everything. Elrash will take care of the Ordeal further when he returns from his task. Send some of your men inside, I must begin my own climb shortly.”

“How will I send men inside? Elrash isn’t here to give us the rights to enter, and uh…the Mayor’s dead now.”

“Take the other token in Nelson’s drawer, and give it to someone you trust to become Mayor. It will allow him to override, now that the previous mayor is dead.”

His voice became threatening, some rage seeping into his voice. “I expect good news for when I come out. I will not accept any excuses, you and your men cost me a fortune. Death will be a lot less quick for you than it came to Nelson if you disappoint me.”

“By your will. My men and I are worth every gold, that I promise you. We will get to the bottom of this.”

***

“Something’s changed.”

Myron voiced his thoughts, after his divining tool suddenly cracked. Once he had settled on his Way, he had attuned a rare crystal that would be sensitive to the alterations of fate. And something must have shifted. Being blindsided by Elrash and losing two of his people previously had led him to take extra precautions, even if it meant using treasures that could no longer be replaced.

He would need to do another divination, but his heart throbbed in agony each time he used his tools. His body was becoming worse by the day, from all his efforts. Looking at the stars, he could see nothing useful.

Maybe he was getting used to these strange stars, or maybe his wife was helping him somehow, or his gut was telling him something. They needed to hurry, and he could feel it in his bones.

A sound of an angry woman’s voice filled Myron’s ears, her voice taking on a cadence and tone of a thug. “Where are your allies, huh? Tell me where the other raids are heading, or you’ll get a whole lot more of this.” A smash was heard, wood from a tree shattering, and the man whimpered before spilling everything he knew about his people.

Myron grinned. These bandits had no loyalty. Perhaps if they were soldiers of a nation, his people would have had difficulty keeping ahead of them. Thankfully, one of their elders had managed to learn the language of Orion Common, and crystallized their knowledge to disseminate it to their people to understand their enemies.

Even if it was just so they could interrogate them, it was a valuable thing to know if they were going to stay on this world for any length of time.

They didn’t really learn anything all that useful from interrogating this man in particular, but it seemed this small unit was corralling his people, like many of the others, as he predicted. Wanting to spend a little bit more time with his daughter, he journeyed with her to take on this smaller unit.

And he couldn’t be prouder. She crushed them with her tetsubo, the large studded and spiked bat weapon breaking their bodies with every swing. If only she could cultivate, she’d defeat even their strongest enemies with ease.

Having answered his daughter’s questions, she left the man alone as promised.

The man’s bones were broken, and he was weak and disabled. No doubt he was fated to die to the creatures in the savage wilderness soon. And if not, it wouldn’t matter. The bandits didn’t bother to heal their brethren, and it would take far too long for him to heal enough for him to matter in the upcoming conflicts.

Shara arrived with a satisfied smile, dusting off her robes, cleaning them with bursts of Qi. However, she caught the look on his face, the smile replaced with a look of concern. “What is it, father? You look worried.”

He gave his daughter a sad smile, and showed the remains of Crystallized Fate, which had shattered. “Danger lurks. We were making good time, and nearing our goal of reaching the mountain. Just around a month to go, the giant peaks already beginning to tower over us. However, it seems we need to speed things up. I want to arrive in two weeks, three at the latest.”

“Speed things up? But this forest is already too dangerous, Father. Half the reason we’re able to proceed here is because we keep baiting the monsters into the bandits, and they cannot move in large numbers easily because it attracts the worst monsters. If we push any faster, we’ll have to defeat most of the monsters ourselves.”

“I know this, but something has changed. Perhaps, the enemy has received some more reinforcements once again. Dangerous reinforcements, like this Elrash.”

Shara’s face twisted, lifting up her club as she turned back to the broken man. “That guy was holding out on me. I’ll break his fucking legs!”

The man whimpered in the distance, and Myron couldn’t help but chuckle–his daughter was cute when she was angry, just like his wife. “Again, you mean? You already broke his legs.”

Shara blushed, and Myron continued, “I don’t think this is anything the underlings knew about, the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, with them. This just happened. It’ll be tough, but we’ll need to speed things up if we want to reach the destination. Even if we lose a few people, it’s a price we’ll have to pay.”

“F-Father. I…” She embraced him, hugging him tightly with her bat braced behind him. Myron was engulfed in his daughter’s larger body, and he couldn’t help but chuckle once again at her duality. She was a lion to their enemies, but a soft kitten to her family.

“I know, my little treasure. The day we must part is nearing. It is sad, but such is the will of the heavens. Turmoil and conflict have always been present in our lives, our clan losing many brethren in countless battles. This is no different.”

Shara’s face twisted once again, only this time, it was like she ate a bitter bug. “I know. But… these… thugs. They… are so weak and pathetic, they haven’t even created their cores, just barely at Foundation Establishment at best. Are they really going to destroy our clan? You’re a powerful Nascent Soul elder! If this was back in Starhold…”

Myron grinned at the thought. “I’d crush this entire scrub army in mere minutes, even without your mother’s help. Together, she’d only need a single swing of her tetsubo to destroy them, body and soul.”

Shara took on a look of utter delight, imagining their enemies being destroyed. Myron continued, “But we fight these bandits not to defeat them, but to flee so that our clan can live on. We might be in dire straights now, but we believe in you, daughter. That you will find your Fated and flourish in our new home. To bring a new chance at prosperity to our people.”

“I know. But without you…”

Myron did his best to motivate her, even if he was just speaking platitudes. He knew his days were numbered, even if they got out of this. “All is not yet lost. When I chose our Way, I had to resolve myself to die to get the outcome I desired. That does not mean that I will die for sure. I will fight until the bitter end so that I may see my grandchildren if I can. This is my order as your father and Patriarch. If I tell you to go on ahead, leaving your brethren behind, you must. I know you can fight, but this world has taken away our true strength. You must find a new Way for our people.”

“I will, Father. I will do as you require of me. It’s just so…pitiful. Death in battle when we can’t properly fight for our lives… It’s like we’re fighting with both hands tied behind our backs!”

“It’s painful, but I know you will. You’ve always been a filial daughter, and seeing you crush these scrubs today only cemented my trust in you. You didn’t even leave any enemies for me, and many of them were at Foundation Establishment, or what they call the second stratum.”

Shara once again blushed with her cheeks becoming a darker purple, but gave him a proud smile as she hugged her tetsubo lovingly.

Myron said, “Let’s return to the others. We’ll get them ready to march and I will do a new set of divinations.”

Shara nodded, and leaped up into the trees to head back to their clan. Myron looked to the stars with a grimace. It felt like he was blind, like this world took away his ability to see. Now, he could only stumble in the dark.

Just as he was about to follow her, he saw a light blaze above the mountains, just where they were headed. It was like a shooting star, a beam of light that blazed across the heavens. A good omen.

Seeing the light, he couldn’t help but wish for a miracle.