Overhead luminescent plates of various lanterns reflected off the crystal balls of the palace. From every side, Nathan could see eyes staring at him: Omarn, Zayen, and several nobles dressed in fine silk clothing.

Nathan's heart hammered in his chest. Not because of the people staring at him, but because of the woman approaching him at that very moment.

Rami strode toward him, her hips sashaying from side to side.

“Nathan!” she said. “I’m so… surprised to see you.”

“Oh, Rami.” Nathan glanced at Zayen. “Sorry about ditching you. I didn’t mean to do that; it was just an unfortunate set of circumstances.”

At the mention of the word ‘ditch,’ Rami’s eyes twitched. It was microscopic, so small that Nathan might not have noticed it, if not for his superhuman reflexes.

“No, I understand. Things like that happen,” Rami said smoothly.

One of the members of the royal court glared at Nathan. “Who is this man?”

“This? He’s a… friend,” Rami said, leaning in toward Nathan. “We haven’t seen each other in some time.”

Nathan pursed his lips. She didn’t seem particularly disappointed to see him there. In fact, she didn’t seem to be having much of a reaction at all. What was happening? What had he interrupted?

“You claim he’s a friend, yet none of us recognize him?” the man who’d objected earlier said.

Rami shrugged. “I believe that he’s been with my cousin.”

"Is this true?" the man said. "My King, do you know this man?"

Zayen, who up to this point had remained silent, hesitated for several seconds. Finally, he said, "He is."

"And why, exactly, is he allowed into the throne room?"

"He's my... royal plant expert," Zayen said.

"Plant expert?" Another noble scoffed. "Then why does he look like he’s been in a war zone?”

“Uh, gardens can be very dangerous," Nathan said. "You never know when a rose might attack."

The court fell silent. Someone coughed. Meanwhile, the plant on Nathan’s arm seem to shift around at Nathan’s thoughts.

"My Lord!" A minister stepped forward. "We are your trusted advisors! How can you not share with us the true nature of this man's presence?"

It was in that moment that Nathan realized he might have been played. Or, at the very least, Rami was taking advantage of his presence to sow dissent between Zayen and his ministers.

But how? What was it about Nathan that would cause trouble? Was it the fact that he was a foreigner? Surely such a minor thing wouldn’t make Rami so happy. Unless Sandara’s culture was far more xenophobic than he’d realized.

Nathan stared at Zayen, unsure what to do.

“You are trusted,” Zayen said. “But for the sake of national security, there are some things that I am unable to tell you. Regardless of what Rami claims.”

“Cousin, I’m not claiming anything. In fact, I support you.”

Nathan’s eyes widened. Rami had been cunning. Technically, she hadn’t done anything subversive at all. From an outsider’s perspective, it simply appeared that she was asking questions. In fact, Zayen was the one who seemed paranoid and defensive in how he was treating Rami.

“Cease with your deceptions!” Omarn said. “Do you not think we can rally the full might of the Sandara Kingdom against you? You foolish woman!”

Zayen’s stoic mask cracked at Omarn’s exclamation. “Omarn!” Zayen said.

Omarn froze like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He bowed his head, dodging the gazes of everyone in the room.

In the background, whispers traded between lips like darts. The noise grew louder and louder, like an oncoming wave crashing toward the shore.

“My people,” Zayen said, “Is the information of one man so important to you that it would break your trust in me? Am I still not your king?”

There was a beat of silence. Nobody spoke, but based on the expressions on everyone’s faces, Nathan had the feeling that Zayen’s plea wasn’t as effective as he’d hoped.

“He’s working with that damned research team, isn’t he?” someone from the crowd said.

Zayen’s fist clenched.

“He’s not denying it!”

“Once again, his head is filled with foolhardy ideas!”

Off to the side, Rami’s grin stretched from ear to ear.

Nathan’s heart sank. He needed to help the king. Yeah, this was probably going to happen no matter what he did, but he still felt partially responsible. Besides, if Nathan wanted continued access to the royal archive, he had to help protect the king’s power base.

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But to do that, he first needed to make sure he understood what the issue was. He tapped on someone’s shoulder.

“If I might ask,” Nathan said, “What is the issue? Why is everyone against the idea of ending the Dustend?”

The woman whose shoulder he’d tapped sneered at him. “Of course you would think there’s nothing wrong with it—and I suppose there isn’t. But it’s a waste of resources, and everyone knows it. The Dustend is a force of nature. You can’t stop the wind, and you can’t stop the Dustend.”

“That’s rather cynical, isn’t it?” Nathan asked.

The woman rolled her eyes. “Foreigners.”

The court resumed whispering. Zayen had a droplet of sweat building on his forehead. Omarn didn’t look much better.

Something had to be done.

For a second, Nathan considered giving a speech, but he knew his strengths. He wasn’t particularly charismatic, and he doubted anything he said would change their minds. The only reason the mushroom people and werewolves listened to him was because of his accomplishments, not his eloquence.

For some reason, Nathan felt that multiple people would disagree with him on this point. He ignored the feeling.

But if he couldn’t convince them with words, what could he do? He had one thing—his actions.

A distraction?

It had potential to go either way, depending on how he played it.

Before he could doubt himself further, he caught sight of Zayen’s eyes. They were pleading, staring directly at him.

Nathan decided to act.

He willed the vines to grow from his arm, down his back, through his pants, into his shoes, and into the ground. The vines spread through the rocks, crunching and breaking through the gaps in the building’s structure. In under a minute, the entire foundation of the palace was covered in Nathan’s vines.

Nathan tugged.

The building shook violently. Dust fell from the roof, and the pillars wobbled dangerously.

“What was that?!” someone yelled.

“Is it the Dustend!?”

Several people darted their eyes toward the windows at the top of the dome. The sky was clear, not a cloud in sight.

“Earthquake!”

In moments, the room had completely cleared, save for Zayen and Omarn.

“Uh,” Nathan scratched the back of his head. “Hi.”

----------------------------------------

“So, I take it that you were responsible for that particular incident?"

Omarn looked down at Nathan from the bridge of his nose, a sneer curling his lips.

"I'm pretty sure I had nothing to do with it." Nathan brushed a root off his shoe and walked away, leaving nothing behind but a branch embedded in the ground, flush with the floor and nearly invisible.

"I see," Omarn said.

Zayen sank his head into his hands. "What a disaster," he muttered. "It's clear they've been looking for an opportunity to depose me for quite some time."

"You haven’t figured that out yet?" Omarn asked dryly.

Zayen glared at him. "Of course I knew that. But I thought, given the crisis, they’d be a little less proactive." He turned his glare on Nathan. "And frankly, you didn’t help very much either."

Nathan bristled. "Excuse me?"

Zayen stiffened, then shook his head. "I apologize. This has been wearing on me to a great degree. You are not to blame. This was going to happen at some point."

Nathan pursed his lips.

"Apology accepted. But you know that miraculous earthquakes aren’t going to save you all the time."

"Indeed," Zayen sighed. "Unless something changes soon, my days as king are numbered."

"Would that be such a bad thing?"

Zayen laughed bitterly. "For me? It would be a blessing. I could wish for no greater gift than to lose this crown."

"So why don’t you?"

Omarn, who had been staring at the door everyone had exited through—including Rami—answered instead. "Because there are worse things in store than mere factionalism. Even ignoring that the next ruler would be a most… cantankerous sort of sovereign, Zayen is the rightful ruler. And everyone knows that. He provides a unifying force for this kingdom. If anyone else were to rule, the kingdom would fall into civil war immediately, with all his cousins claiming to be the one true ruler of Sandara."

Nathan looked at Zayen. There were deep lines around the boy’s eyes, and the crown seemed to weigh heavily upon his brow. Had his frame always been this thin? Nathan got the feeling Zayen barely ate—if at all.

The realization struck Nathan: Zayen wouldn’t have looked out of place drawing pictures with that farmer’s daughter. Instead, he was upon a throne of glass, surrounded by daggers on all sides.

"Well," Nathan said, "I think I can give you at least some good news."

Zayen’s eyes lit up. "Yes?"

Nathan reached into his inventory and pulled out a tablet. "I got this while I was out adventuring. An ally told me it says something about the Dustend."

Zayen took the tablet from Nathan’s hands, studying it intently. "What is this? I don’t even recognize the language."

"I don’t know," Nathan admitted. "But it’s a lead, isn’t it?"

"That’s not something we’ve had in a long time," Zayen murmured, handing the tablet back. "Please deliver this to the researchers as soon as you can."

Nathan nodded. "Of course." He turned to head for the stairwell.

"And Nathan?"

Nathan paused, looking back. "Yes?"

"Thank you."

Nathan waved dismissively. "I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about."

Before Zayen could reply, Nathan disappeared down the stairs.

----------------------------------------

Nathan dropped off the tablet with little fanfare, though his fellow researchers showed much less restraint.

"I think I can make out a few characters," Amir said.

"Where did you even get this from?" Layla asked.

"I found it in a den of crab gang members."

"What?"

"Never mind."

Figuring he’d only get in the way, Nathan wandered back into the royal archives. As he was heading in, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"What’s this?"

Kamil stood there, holding a scroll. "Well, I’ve been tracking what you’ve been researching," he said. "It seems like you’re looking for a specific skill, am I wrong?"

"Yes, but…" Nathan hesitated.

He hadn’t told anyone about the skill he was searching for — specifically, an upgrade for Ocean’s Embrace.

"Were you just tracking me? That’s kind of creepy."

"It wasn’t intentional," Kamil replied. "I know this library inside and out, so I can usually figure out what someone’s been looking into just by seeing which books are missing or checked out."

"But how would you know that?"

Kamil pointed toward a nearby shelf where a single book was conspicuously missing. "For instance, I can tell that Amir took out that specific book about the study of languages."

"Well, that one’s easy," Nathan countered. "I literally just came in talking about a mysterious tablet in an unknown language."

"Fair, but you see my point."

Nathan shrugged and, after a few seconds, accepted the scroll Kamil was holding out. He held it up and examined it. It seemed related to a skill for healing. Perhaps this was the breakthrough he needed to upgrade Ocean’s Embrace?

"Thank you," Nathan said.

Kamil nodded. "Anytime."

Nathan walked back to his room, shutting the door behind him. He unrolled the scroll and began to read. As he did, he felt a soothing warmth bloom within him, a gentle flow of energy that traced loops through his core. The scroll described a more efficient way to circulate the energy in his body — a way to channel it to affect the world outside.

Closing his eyes, Nathan focused inward, feeling the flow of energy within himself — his soul power, or whatever it was. He directed it in and out of his core, over and over again. As the warmth intensified, growing hotter and hotter, something inside him suddenly cracked. A wall shattered, and power flooded through his veins.

[Ocean’s Embrace (Bronze) has evolved into Ocean’s Warmth (Bronze+)]

Nathan exhaled deeply. A cool blue mist shimmered from his breath, dissipating into the air. He raised his hand and clenched it into a fist, excitement coursing through him.

He couldn’t wait to see what this new skill could do.

Just as he was about to head out, a window appeared at the bottom of his vision.

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