'No guards,' Aya Reem said. She'd stopped using illusions to look like she had eyes around me, which I suppose was a sign of trust. Or maybe she just didn't see (get it?) the point when I knew the truth. Either way, the unwavering, white light in her sockets was unnerving, and not just because it was divine in nature. The light somehow seemed to follow me as I leaned forward to put my elbows on her desk, despite being featureless.

'Or, rather, "no guards",' the mummy continued. 'Nothing visible, no people following you around from a short distance.'

'Couldn't they disguise themselves?' Not that I was terribly happy at the idea of being surrounded by bodyguards, but it was only fair to explore every option. And, fuck me, but with how helpless I'd been feeling recently, the thought of competent people willing and able to protect me was actually comforting, for all that it made me feel weak.

'They could,' Aya said, clasping her hands rather than steepling her fingers. Decades of agents like me had made her wise up to anything that could be interpreted as a pyramid joke. 'But if said disguises were perceived-not even seen through-it would just encourage more people to come after you.'

I slumped in my chair at her words. I didn't want to be hunted, but I wanted people to die for me even less.

'David.' I raised my gaze to meet her burning one. 'I used you as a pawn once, and the only reason said gambit didn't fail utterly was because of Chernobog's spite. If it is within my power,' she seemed to grow both frailer and stronger with every word, like the power surging inside her was consuming her body as it became more apparent. 'I will not let you be harmed again.'

'Unless it is necessary,' I said softly.

Aya smiled humourlessly. 'We would all throw ourselves on our swords if it was necessary, David. You think we could do more to help, but don't want to? I cannot speak for everyone in ARC, but at least in my case, it's the other way around. We all have our chains, even if some look like crowns. Take Fixer, for instance. One of the weakest and most powerful beings we know of, able to do practically anything, unable to put out a forest fire without another starting in response.'

'Alright,' I said. 'If I was afraid of sacrifice, I'd have never entered ARC.' Now seemed as good a moment as any for the other suggestion.

I do not want to be presumptuous-or make you act presumptuously, or blasphemously-, but...do you think you could ask Thoth to...tutor me? I still have a long way to go when it comes to using Mimir's perception, and-'

'Why haven't you prayed to Yahweh for guidance, whether direct or through an angel?' Aya tilted her head at my surprised look, seeming slightly amused. 'I know Gabriel of the Cardinal Archangels is both usually free, and specialised in things like this.'

'I...' No point beating around the bush. We were talking about things that could affect everyone and everything. 'I was spared after my undeath. I wasn't punished for what I am since then, and...I was even brought back. I didn't want to act...'

'Presumptuously?'

'Yes. I've already been given more than most.' Another chance at unlife, at lessening the burdens of others. Friends. A father. And love.

'I can and will ask. Thoth is usually leery around "foreign students", but a chance to meet the eyes of a rival and friend, even if someone else bears them, might move him.' Aya crossed her arms. 'Now, it is my turn to ask you something.'

Oh, and just when I'd started feeling halfway relieved. I'd have even taken Odin's offer at this point, for all I was scared of Thor's brood shanking me and whatever bullshit Loki pretended not to have cooked up for me. 'Not order?'

'You don't have to be involved, though it does concern you.' Reassuring and straightforward, that's how we did things in ARC, folks. 'The last time my peers and I spoke about you, you were...in no shape to do anything, David. Would you like to join me now?'

'What would we speak about?'

'Mostly about what the two of us already have. Just expect more opinions, threats, and fights. Some might even be metaphorical.'

'Fights...?'

'You'll only get caught in those if you're bad at dodging. Don't worry.' Aya stood up. 'Are you coming?' I nodded, and she gestured for me to go outside. "I have a few things to wrap up, then I'll join you."

***

Quite attached to our adoptive children, aren't we?

I couldn't fail them more than I did mine if I tried, Aya thought back in reply.

Oh, I don't know...your ability to blunder has never failed to impress. It's almost like it grew when your bloodlust faded!

During the Crusades, which she'd began as a stupid girl, barely a few centuries dead and entombed, and finished with a taste of bitter ashes she had never managed to get rid of. Family feuds were always ugly. Identity crises made them worse, especially when both sides thought the other consisted of impostors.

Perhaps it did. A pause. You understand the assignment.

Request, came the correction. Yes, yes. Nothing visible, no people following him at a short distance. I have never had a problem with that.

One more problem would have been too much. I am still surprised you accepted. Do not mistake that for lack of gratitude, please.

Of course not. Would you stand by and let an alien, literal and metaphorical, stomp through creation as it 'ordered' it? Shared goals only go so far, when purpose and intent differ so much. Imagine needing a reason to drown everything in chaos. No...David Silva will survive. His form and name and mind might not, but he will.

***

Drake headquarters, Beijing, China, 2031

'You seem stressed, Lung.'

Ying couldn't stop the growl from escaping his throat as his fangs clenched around his pipe. No "sir", or "boss", or "Ying".

Because the boy wasn't trying to be respectful, or friendly. He was emphasising the name China gave to his kind, both through words and-as he leaned against the tapestry depicting the country's formation and history-through actions.

A blunt visual cue. But then, Hiro had always taken after his mother. Was this going to be another rant about 'abandonment'?

'Whatever gave you that impression?' he asked, knowing Hiro could see his eyes through his sunglasses-narrowed in seeming amusement, not warning.

Hiro, in dragon form, gestured smugly at the suited man standing awkwardly to the side of Ying's desk. He had just been kneeling when the Drake Head's seventeen thousandth son had entered, and now didn't know what to do, dark eyes darting between Ying and Hiro under a mop of equally dark hair.

Ying sighed. Wang had always been a gentle man, built for helping, not confrontations, let alone confrontations between dragons. It was what had drawn the Ying to him, prompting a rare addition to his harem, as opposed to a one-night stand.

Surreptitiously patting his thirty-fourth husband's hand to get his attention, Ying mouthed "go", causing Wang to nod in relief, before bowing to him and almost exiting, then remembering Hiro, and shakily bowing to him as well.

After watching him leave-damn, that suit was fitted well-, Ying turned to Hiro, removing his shades to show his scornful glare. 'Proud of yourself now?'

'Maybe.' Hiro smiled. 'Did you send my mother away just as gently?'

'No, you moron.' Ying had never been able to stand scammers. Paying before sex, then being masked for more because 'it felt horrible'? Even whores got too big for their britches sometimes, he swore. 'You know that. Didn't you see the marks on her face, or were you too dazed when she shat you out on your head?'

'Yeah, I did. Big rings. Who'd you get them from? Other  secretaries?'

'If you think he's here because of nepotism, you-'

'I'm appalled you'd do it here and now.' The younger dragon bared his fangs, whiskers twitching. 'Who gives a flying shit about dignity and protocol as long as the Head gets his head-'

The halves of Hiro's skull fused back together in an instant, and he scoffed. His father, still in human form, had seemed not to have moved from his desk, but his silvery blood-covered hand spoke another story. 'Watch it.'

'Thanks for proving my point,' Hiro said drily. 'You-'

'No, you listen to me. You've reached your sixteenth millennium and think you understand life?' Ying shifted into dragon form, ignoring the "and here he goes on about age" Hiro muttered under his breath. 'I have saved this world more times than most of its inhabitants know, since before it was inhabited. You have no idea what Earth could have become, if the things in the hungry dark had managed to defile that womb of primal potential.'

'Ahhhh!' Hiro nodded in mock-realisation. 'I get it. Good deeds erase the bad ones, right? They even out?'

'As long as the latter are "bad" and not vile? Yes,' Ying said bluntly. 'I've seen people infinitely less worthy than my peers and I, with infinitely worse vices. I think such things would be forgiven, if anyone cared about them.'

'If anyone knew.'

Ying snorted, a small grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. 'Everyone who needs to know, does.'

'Most of the population doesn't even know the Heads' names,' Hiro protested. He knew about the importance of security, so Ying figured he was just being difficult for the sake of it, as always.

'No need to repeat my words back at me. Now,' his eyes glowed. 'Does your presence here have a purpose, beyond irritating me and scaring another of your step-parents?'

Hiro swallowed a comment at the end, by the way his throat bulged. 'The Mandate of Heaven.'

'Yes? Charming excuse for uprisings. What of it?'

'We have been failing rather badly lately. A sign?'

Ying threw his head back, roaring. 'Don't be absurd, boy! These are failures? Signs? Let me tell you a secret.' He leaned forward. 'When I saw this galaxy appear...gods, I was young, back then. I suppose that excuses some of the excitement, especially after two billion years of nothing but empty cosmic soup.'

Hiro said nothing. Interrupting his father's nostalgic stories only made them take longer.

'When I saw it form, many people were concerned that the universe's stars were placed in such faraway formations, rather than a single giant galaxy." Ying took a long drag from his pipe, then blew out smoke in the shape of a dunce cap. 'Worst part about such idiots? They often have the power to make their ideas reality. Now...daddy has reassured you. Nothing bad will happen, and if it does, we'll fix it. Now, off you go. Shoo.' He waved his son away, blowing him a sarcastic kiss.

'There is something else,' Hiro said through gritted fangs. 'And, if you could not be a dick about it...'

'Listen to your advice first. I've seen you around others, so cheerful, so helpful. I know you're too poor a liar for that to be an act. Why am I different?'

…He really had to ask, did he? 'Have you read the stars lately?'

'As always. Why?'

'Then why are you not doing anything about Silva's situation?' he snapped, frustrated. 'You know-'

'I know that, if he hadn't been chained like this, he would have, at one point, end up in a situation where he can do nothing but watch, gnashing his teeth and wailing. Sometimes...you must accept that you can't help.' Ying shook his head, eyes going distant for a moment. Though, the fact the Black God hadn't simply killed him was baffling. A boon in disguise, but... 'And we have done everything we can, anyway.'

'His mate disagrees.'

'Bah! She hasn't even heard my reasoning, I'm sure.'

'And the worse she feels, the worse he does, and so on. How long until something breaks, besides his chains?'

Hmph. That could be...problematic. 'It won't come to that.'

'Well. I'm sure you'll be able to explain that to her better than me,' Hiro said, rising to hover half a metre above the floor.

'There's nothing I can't do better than you.' Ying took a swig from his tea gourd. It tasted like burning sewage, and stuck to his mouth and throat in a similar manner, but it focused the mind, if only by being so foul, one would rather concentrate on anything else.

Hiro rolled his eyes. 'You'll just have to prove it when she gets here.'

'Of course.' Ying coiled up on his desk, head in one claw. 'Do you have a single damned cheerful thing to say?'

'Maybe. A question first?'

'Fair trade.'

'How did you harm me? Dragons like us are impervious to anything earthly, and a celestial being like you would heal me with a touch, not...'

Hiro trailed off as his father smirked, raising and flexing his free claw, over which appeared a gauntlet of dark bronze.

'Straight from Yanwang's armoury. He hopes helping us on Earth will result in fewer morons stinking up Diyu.'

'What, he hates sinners now?' Hiro asked, eyebrows scrunching as he rubbed the place where the hidden, Hell-forged gauntlet had split his head.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

'Just stupid ones,' Ying replied and, as if a curtain had slid back in place, the gauntlet disappeared. 'Your turn.'

'Mhm. Something cheerful...well, there's this French dragon checking out the country, and she says our females would be beautiful, but for the whiskers. Not her type. Says they look male.'

'I swear, just because both their males and females are hatchling-faced...' Ying tapped his pipe on the edge of his desk. 'Tell her to stop being so narrow-minded. Facial hair has nothing to do with gender! All of us have moustaches. Why, my mother's is bigger than mine.'

'Huh.' Hiro frowned. 'Really? I've never met her.'

'Oh, yes...' Ying bent to rummage through his desk, before pulling out a life-sized oil painting of him and his jade, respectively pearl-coloured parents. 'See?'

'I can't really tell from the picture...'

'Come closer.' Ying tilted it so his mother's face was next to his. 'They don't compare.'

***

The seven thousand kilometres to Beijing took about four seconds of flight. Mia knew she was getting faster, closer to David's level, but not there, not yet.

Touching down in front of the Drake headquarters' front entrance, which was shaped out of gold, jade and pearl to resemble a dragon's yawning maw, Mia nodded at the dragons on guard duty. One of them, a dark purple male with a bronze moustache, nodded back. The other, an ice-blue female, just jerked her head at the bowl between them.

Trying not to grimace, Mia approached it, then downed the tea as quickly as possible. The now-familiar taste of smoky sewer hit her like a slimy meteor, though she swayed less than last time as the entrance's 'jaws' parted and she walked through.

They closed behind her with a boom like thunder, to announce that another one had entered. With her addled senses-the tea simply disgusted agents, but infiltrators would get burned from the inside out if they even sipped it-, it was worse than merely overdramatic.

Fuck, she really hoped Ying wasn't on a power trip today...HQ's halls could bend and stretch away into infinity if he didn't want you to reach his office.

Luckily, he did. After nearly seven seconds of sprinting, during which she could have circled most planets, Mia came to a stop before a set of crimson, gilded double doors. Ying seemed to be talking to someone.

'Why, my mother's is bigger than mine.'

'Huh.' The other voice sounded like...Hiro's? She thought? 'Really? I've never met her.'

'Oh, yes...' A pause. 'See?'

'I can't really tell from the picture...'

'Come closer.' Another, shorter pause. 'They don't compare.'

Stupid tea...what had they even put in it this time?

***

'Sir,' Mia said, entering without knocking. The doors were unlocked, which meant Ying wanted to see her. She'd blame anything on her tea haze. 'Thank you for seeing me so fast. I...this is unrelated to my duties, so I know I shouldn't-'

'Nonsense!' Ying beamed at her, then turned to frown at Hiro. 'Out.'

The other dragon shrugged, mouthing "good luck" as he floated past her, the doors closing after him with no prompting.

'I am a keeper of this world's order, zmeu,' Ying said, smile becoming smaller, softer. 'I am used to sensing disturbances. So, yes, I know why you are here.'

Mia crossed her arms-clasping her hands would have made her look weak, like she was pleading-, making no attempt to sit down. 'Hiro told me...' Ying nodded knowingly, and she sighed. 'Is there truly nothing more we can try? Maybe the Fixer-'

'My heart goes out to you, hatchling,' Ying said in a tone he either imagined wasn't patronising as fuck, or knew it was and didn't give a shit. 'In fact,' he began digging for something inside his desk. 'I have something that can help you two.'

The dragon held up something small and oval between two fingers. It changed colours every moment. 'Happy pills! You take one, allow it to work, and you'll only think about pleasant things.' He gave her a sly look. 'Maybe even Silva, when he's not there.'

'I already have my imagination for that, sir.' And her fingers, among other things. 'But thank you for the offer.'

'Aahh...you children. Kicking away every last bit of harmless fun.' His disappointed expression was quickly replaced by a serious one. 'In this case, I have nothing else to offer you, Mia. Besides advice to stay patient.'

'Thank you,' she repeated, like a broken record. Except she wasn't right once a week, let alone a day. Hadn't been for some time. 'I...am not just concerned about him, sir.'

'I thought this was a personal issue?' Ying asked, spinning the pill on a fingertip.

'It is.' No point in lying, especially after admitting it. 'But David is a good agent. He can do more than act as a goddamn telescope-' Flames flicked out of her mouth with every word, so she snapped it shut, fangs grinding against each other. 'Apologies.'

'I agree,' Ying said, hopping off his desk and onto the marble post located next to his chair, to accommodate his true form, wrapping around it. 'He  can do more than act as a telescope. In fact, I highly suspect he is improving as we speak.' Had that been a brief, encouraging smile? 'And you know what would help him improve even more? Having you close, so he can know you are safe and calm. Your peace of mind might save his.'

Mia smiled at the dragon, the tea haze finally, fully gone. 'Thank you again, sir. I'll keep it in mind.'

'Yes, yes...' Ying's gaze moved from her to the pill. 'Are you sure you don't want some?'

'Yes, quite sure.'

'What about Silva? They're divine, they'd work.'

'David dislikes lying to himself, sir,' Mia said. 'Almost as much as having his mind meddled with.'

'Tch...' Ying smirked. 'You just want to make him happy all by yourself, girl-don't think you're fooling me. What, does Silva get jealous of your toys? Or devices, for that matter?'

Ugh. Seriously? Fucking condescending nope rope...

Before Mia could reply, the phone on Ying's desk pinged, the dragon reaching for it with a lazy-looking move she could only barely perceive.

'Speak of the devil...your lover's having a date with me first, Mia.  And all the other Heads.' Ying looked up from the phone, with an apologetic expression so fake she wanted to slap his face off. 'No hard feelings?'

'Depends,' she said, knowing she was pushing her luck. 'Can I come along?'

'So sorry, Mia. Security...you know how it is.'

***

Catalhoyuk, Turkey, 2031

'Collapse through religious war is a likely possibility,' Gerald Reyes said as he walked old streets rendered new and clean once more by his companion's power. He doubted the city had ever been so clean, but...the being striding alongside him had a soft spot for old settlements. They were the most likely locations for an appearance, which almost always resulted in a temporary renovation.

The other, older man, nodded, long, white plaits swaying in the dry wind. His bald pate did not reflect sunlight, for that would have taken corporeality.

'The extent depends on the cause,' Gerald continued, with the air of someone telling a dear grandparent about their looming, inescapable death. Before the Shattering, the analogy would have probably included cancer or the like. 'Most of our projections consist of David Silva being torn apart by a throng of zealots. Angry, hateful, vengeful, jealous, afraid...these change. But it happens, whether he fights back or not.'

'We will always go far for our gods, whether in their name, or while using it,' his companion agreed, her girlish voice at odds with the weight of her words, as she skipped over a crack in the road, pigtails bouncing.

The changes were fading. Something...was deteriorating. He dearly hoped it was just the being's mood.

'Yes. What gods they worship change, too, but...again, the results are the same. Then there are the monsters angry over "kill-stealing".' Gerald rolled his eyes, taking off his glasses and beginning to polish them. A nervous tic that came with the nostalgic affectation-his senses had grown sharper than any human's since he'd started tapping mana in his twenties, to the point he now did it passively. He could have probably done it in his sleep, if he still did that. 'And, of course, the Black God, and his cults. Whether starting or inciting carnage, they appear very often, too.'

'You make them and the others sound mutually-exclusive, our boy.' The being's dusky features twisted into a broad, open-mouthed grin as he ran a hand through his dreadlocked hair. 'You know what assumptions make of us.'

'We have not discounted that possibility,' Gerald said, perhaps a tad waspish from the implied criticism. 'In fact, a combination of the three scenarios is not out of the question.'

His companion hummed approvingly, gracefully jumping over the remains of a fallen house. Her pale body was flawless, though Gerald's eyes did not linger on it. It would have been like someone staring at his glasses.

'The less likely scenarios...are also worse. We are talking about singularities, paranormal, technological, or both, resulting in wars that see this world's people devouring it to slaughter each other. Or drowning in their own magic, unable to bear it. The appearance of uncontrollable psychic powers or mutations. The world as we know it destroyed or twisted beyond recognition by a disaster or monster incomprehensible to us.'

His companion sighed, his long, white beard almost brushing the cracked ground as he walked under a broken pillar, his waxy-skinned, stooped body meaning there was no need to crouch. 'Dire ends, indeed. But we already know about these, for they were predicted by humans, therefore by us. So. Why come here, to tell us in person?'

'Oh, you know. It's my love of redundancy at work. I'm a bureaucrat at heart. As for why here? You've always liked old cities.'

'Gerald,' the being said in a tired voice, tugging at her grey-streaked red hair.

'You already know my answer, so why ask?' he shot back.

'Because we loathe seeing humanity scared,' the being said, looking up at him with an infant's deep, wide eyes. 'We thought to reassure you, and talking is familiar to you. We will not lose to these, or whatever else we foresee in the future.'

Gerald pursed his lips, looking up at his friend's weathered, leathery face, as the being put a hand on his shoulder.

'We have survived worse when we were weaker, and we are not just talking about the Atlanteans. The Ice Ages, the plagues your ancestors had no names for, the genetic bottlenecks that followed them...we have magic now, and technology they could not have distinguished from it. Powers. Allies. We will succeed. And if not...' The flayed warrior smiled a death's head grin as he squeezed Gerald's shoulder. 'We will drag whatever kills us down into oblivion with us. All of mankind's deeds are carved into our core, whatever paths our children have walked, and how much of their beings and bodies are ours. They know not what they play with.'

Gerald nodded, trying to keep a straight face. It did not help. He did not tremble, or sweat, but a few small tears still fell from his eyes. 'I am sorry,' he whispered raggedly. 'We should not have let things fall apart to this point. I...I do not want us to be the last generation you know.'

'You won't be,' the being muttered, wrapping brawny, ruddy arms around him as she laid her head on his chest. 'You are one of our greatest champions past, present and future, Gerald. You are the Lawmaker. Do not forget that.'

He hugged him back, wishing the tears would stop. 'What shall I call you today?'

'Logos,' the being answered, and the universe trembled in confirmation, as a new name was added to the tally. Then, she smiled, pulling back from Gerald, favouring him with a teenager's impish, gap-toothed grin. 'But enough of this old one's ramblings. You are soon going to be called upon, Gerald.'

The Camelot Head's phone buzzed just then, and he took it out to see his peers had agreed to his meeting proposal.

Then, he looked at the ruins of Catalhoyuk. He had arrived at dawn, spending several hours speaking with Logos about the accomplishments of mankind and those adjacent to it, for such things delighted the being, like a parent hearing both themselves and their children praised at the same time. Then, he had begun to talk about the possible futures, and Logos' mood had soured, for every blow to humanity left a scar on its shape.

It was night now. A fire burned where Logos' incarnation had disappeared, logs blackening and burning as smoke rose from the coal in the furnace, electricity crackling as the fusion engine hummed.

And, beyond the fire's light, he saw the things in the darkness, as hungry and mocking as they were bloated and wary. They had always been there, Gerald knew. Unless humanity changed, they would always be.

And now, it was his turn to walk away from the fire, and stand between it and the shadows.