Seth teleported.

Jim stared at where the boy had been with an open mouth. What had just happened?

Seth appeared in midair, hovering behind one of the wraiths with wide feral eyes. He swung a vicious hand capitalizing on their equal shock and his wild attack connected. He slapped the wraith and it shot across the distance and crashed into a wall.

That kind of power belonged nowhere near an Iron mage. Even at the cusp of silver the boy had no right to toss a silver beast that easily.

The second wraith turned to him and shrieked. For a moment they stood, quiet. Seth stood with a hunched back and hands dangling in front of him. He didn’t look confused. He looked wild. He looked like an animal.

As if realizing he’d just been challenged, he shrieked back.

Then he slapped the beast.

The wraith caught the blow with a clawed hand and returned the favor. Jim winced as Seth went flying through the air. he broke through a wall, bringing the building a step closer to crumbling.

“That’s got to hurt,” Nikolai said.

“At Iron, it’ll be a while before he's back in the fight,” Jonathan said.

“Iron,” Nikolai scoffed. “Where you not seeing what I was seeing. Whatever that boy is, he’s definitely leaving Iron right about now. And that teleportation speed…” he looked at Jim. “Has he always been that fast?”

“More importantly,” Jonathan interrupted. “Was that silent activation I just saw or did I miss him call out the skill.”

“It was.”

“Isn’t that something only Barons can do?”

Jim shook a confused head. “He can’t teleport,” he said, as if trying to convince himself.

“So where’d that come out of?” Jonathan asked, casually slapping aside a shroud wraith that stumbled too close. “And how did he activate a skill without a word?”

“He had a movement skill,” Jim said.

Jonathan frowned at the absence of an answer for his second question.

Nikolai rubbed his cheek and continued forward. “I’ve heard of movement skills evolving to something like teleportation but that’s usually Iron skills at gold. I’ve never seen that much of a leap in Iron to Silver, though. As for the silent activation, I wouldn’t think too much of it. Mages do the darnedest things when evolving. I once saw an Iron mage evolving to silver actually wound a gold beast in one hit. Evolution does the darnedest things.”

They continued after him, resuming their halted advance.

“But what was with his reia?” Nikolai asked after a moment.

“And there’s that strength, too,” Jonathan added.

“I think it’s because he's evolving right now. Though, he might not succeed, there were just so many things wrong with his reia. It looked…”

“Bad,” Jonathan finished for him.

They ventured into the pathway the gold reia oozed from, walking into its poorly lit confines.

“How bad do you think it’ll be if he evolves like that?” Jonathan asked.

Jim shrugged. “No idea. I’ve never seen the ki—”

A loud booming sound exploded behind them and they turned around in time to find Seth on top of a wraith, hand rising and falling in unbridled chaos. Beneath him the wraith erupted in blood with each strike.

Nikolai shook his head as they returned their attention to their task. “Something ain’t right with that kid.”

“Agreed,” Jonathan opined as they advanced.

“You still sure you want him to be your brother?”

Jonathan spared the man a scornful glance. “It will not stop me from finding out.”

Nikolai’s eyes glanced to Jim. Jim ignored it.

As they walked, the chaos of the hall before gave way to the chaos of the room ahead. Their ears were awakened to the sound of explosions and violent crashes. In the old world the explosions would’ve been the result of heavy artillery but only Nikolai was old enough to know this. Jim and Jonathan hadn’t been alive long enough to have seen that era.

Something swayed in the mixed reia that filled the air and Nikolai chuckled like a man refusing to laugh in a particularly hilarious show.

“How many golds is that?” he asked, still chuckling, his restraint waning.

Jim rubbed a hand down his face in resignation. “I count four.”

“And a Silver,” Nikolai laughed, beating a hand against his knee. “A fucking silver. Oh, this is going to be good.”

“And a Silver,” Jim confirmed, annoyed.

Jonathan shook his head in disappointment. “There were only two golds a moment ago, you can’t tell me the fissure’s still letting more out despite this crowd its already produced.”

“Lord Darnesh,” Nikolai said with the condescension of the old as he cleaned a tear from his eye. “You can’t tell me you haven’t seen what happens to a fissure when it’s left operational for too long.”

“I have not, officer Nikolai.”

“Well, you’ll see one soon enough. As for this crowd. I think it’s done pumping out the small fries. Now, it’ll pump out some big fishes, maybe five to ten of them, then it’ll stop. If we don’t close it soon enough, we’ll be having an invasion on our hands.”

“You don’t want an invasion on your hands, Lord Darnesh,” Jim said seriously.

They stepped into a massive room wide enough to be the bedroom of a very rich man. Jim figured the young Lord’s room was perhaps this size. The only strange thing about it was the absence of a door. There were no broken hinges or any clear indication of a door ever having concealed the room.

“This is quite the large waiting area,” Jonathan commented.

In front of them an adventurer struggled against three beasts that were not shroud wraiths.

“That’s odd,” Nikolai observed. “Shrouds and big spiky dogs.”

“They’re called Cull Hounds, Nik,” Jim said. “You should really learn these things.”

“Well, someone should add huge to their name. Call Hounds doesn’t address the size of them. Their ginormous.”

In truth, they weren’t. Jim had seen bigger. But the man had a point. Standing as tall as any tall man, the beast was gargantuan when compared to any dog he’d seen. As the government official had called it, it was essentially a massive dog with spikes running along its spine and nothing but countless fangs for teeth. A few feet behind them was a tall tear in the world like a rip in a cloth. It was as tall as two men and from it oozed a white light that emitted white reia. Only when it spilled properly into the world did it mesh into a mix of silver and golden hues.

The Cull Hound swiped at the gold adventurer facing it and the man dodged with the grace of the nearly fatigued.

“I’m running out of time here, Silver,” The adventurer called out, dodging another blow. “If you aren’t going to be able to do it then we better retreat.”

Off to the side of the room an adventure with a heavy armor broken in enough places to reveal the leather protection he wore beneath staggered out of a hole in the wall.

He mumbled something incoherent as he stumbled forward.

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One of the remaining gold beasts charged the gold adventurer. Rather than simply evade as he was doing with his current opponent, the gold stepped back and activated a skill. A spear of fire forged above his hand and he chucked it at the approaching beast. It dodged to the side and the spear struck the ground but didn’t disappear.

It was a show of a strong skill that it stayed active even away from its owner.

The gold turned away from the third as it approached as well and activated another spell.

[Hade’s Guard].

An arch of fire erupted between him and the third beast, rising as high as the beast, and forcing it back. His initial opponent barked at him with a sound that shook the wall.

“Who’s a good boy,” the gold adventurer mocked, stepping back slowly, despite his bleeding face. “You are. Yes, you are.”

The beast took a step towards him and the spear of fire embedded in the ground exploded into a ball of spiked flames. One of them nicked the beast and its fur caught alight.

“He’s good,” Nikolai complimented as they watched.

The gold adventurer activated another skill.

[Phoenix Wings].

Behind him, reia coalesced into burning wings that beat once and pulled him away from another attack. He glided backwards. When he landed, the wings beat again and shot out a barrage of burning spikes.

Nikolai turned to Jim. “Does that count as a divine skill?”

Jim shook his head. “Divine skills tend to come with some kind of light affinity.”

“It’s got wings, though.”

“That just makes it flashy, not divine.”

Beside them Jonathan was beginning to look worried. “Shouldn’t we step in?” he asked.

Nikolai refused, mirroring Jim’s opinion. “Let’s wait a bit longer.”

“Why? They could get killed at this rate.”

There was obvious panic in the Lord’s request but Jim was impressed at his ability to keep it from his voice. He could’ve easily been mistaken for a king in a peaceful kingdom merely asking if he had enough soldiers to guard his room.

“You see that guy over there,” Nikolai asked without gesturing.

“The silver?”

“Yes, the silver. He’s quite famous amongst the silver adventurers, enough for the silver officials to have heard of him. Judging by his broken armor he’s been through quite a lot, and his harder to recognize. But that’s without a doubt Silver Knight.”

Jonathan’s brows furrowed in recognition of the name, but he said nothing and Nikolai continued.

“Now, I’d taken a guess that the gold adventurer is new to the authority. Most likely just a few days old. But he’s smart, and, apparently, good at what he does. I think he knows Silver Knight is just a step away from evolving and is buying time for him to evolve.”

“The error, however,” Jim added, “is in thinking two newly evolved golds will be able to do something against three gold beasts.”

The gold’s wings beat again, pelting the Cull Hound that had avoided his spear in a rain of fire. In mere moments two hounds had parts of their fur burning.

“He’s really good, though,” Nikolai mused.

Off to the side, Silver Knight heaved once in his broken armor. He picked up a halberd with a massive blade that had been discarded to the ground at some point, and charged one of the burning hounds as another erupted from the obstacle of a dying wall of fire.

“[Thunder King],” Silver Knight roared. as he charged.

Streaks of blue lightning erupted around him, coursing through his armor and the leather beneath him, and he ploughed into the hound ahead of him. He was a raging force that proved strong enough to force the beast off the ground. He rolled to his feet immediately and raised the halberd above his head. Lightning spread from his armor to run through the weapon and he struck the beast with it.

The first blow hit with a loud boom. The second did the same. The weapon came down again and again and the dog whimpered with each one. It wasn’t until the fourth blow that blood was drawn.

One of the hounds turned to its oppressed accomplice and the gold adventurer chucked another burning spear at it, wings of fire still spread from his back.

The spear pierced its hind leg and burst into a ball of spike that shattered it instantly.

The dog let out a painful howl but remained standing. However, its attention returned to the gold whose wings continued to attack the other beast.

“I’m your dance partner,” he mocked. “The other guy’s busy.”

“There it is,” Nikolai said, giddy. “Evolution in the midst of battle.”

“You sound too excited,” Jim said, watching the same silver mage.

“What can I say, I haven’t seen it in too long.”

Above the bleeding hound, Silver Knight roared, back arched and weapon still in hand held out to his sides as golden light erupted from armor. It wasn’t necessarily bright, more as if someone was trying to plate the thing in gold and was failing utterly.

He looked like a man in pain, though Jim knew better. It wasn’t necessarily pain that caused it. The adventurer was simply struggling to contain the new rush of power. For the briefest moment, his evolution would give him a new burst of power. However, there was a reason people tried not to evolve during battle if they could avoid it. A mage was vulnerable to an opponent who was not below their authority when they were evolving.

The bleeding hound was on its feet now free of his constant attack and it struck him with enough strength to send him breaking through a wall again.

“I swear I thought you were going to help him,” Nikolai said to Jonathan.

“Why?”

“Well, you’re the one that wanted to help. And there’s no way you didn’t see that coming.”

Jonathan shrugged. “I knew you also expected it. So did Jim. I figured if no one was going to do anything about a mage evolving in front of his enemy, then he’d be alright.”

Nikolai agreed with a grunt and they watched the gold adventurer with the dying wings of fire at his back hold off three gold rank reia beasts as he stole glances at the wall Silver Knight had gone through.

“Are we stepping in now?” Jonathan asked. “Or are we waiting for him to go through a wall too?”

Nikolai sighed. “Anyone ever tell you you’re no fun, kid?”

“My brother Jeremy.”

Nikolai stepped forward and lowered his club from his shoulder. When wisps of colored reia with golden hue began seeping out of him in Jim’s gold eyes, he knew the man had removed the shroud over his core. The very act tingled the senses of every reia bound living thing in the room and the Cull Hounds turned their attention to the new threat.

“Time to leave the kid alone,” Nikolai said. Then he activated his skill.

[Call of the Wild]

The skill was summoned in a loud bark that stung Jim’s ear and sent the hounds into a wild fit. At first they growled and stamped, then their teeth snapped the air, biting at nothing. Then they charged.

The gold adventurer fell to his knees, spent.

Nikolai was a mage with skills designed to physically augment him for strength. It made him a strong tank and a tough man to kill. Unfortunately, as much as he’d have loved to see the beasts struggle to kill the man, they were here to close a fissure and he needed to take Seth from here.

He hefted his halberd from his back and held the its haft like a javelin and aimed at the fissure.

“What are you doing?” Jonathan asked beside him.

“My job; closing a rift.” He held out his other hand to the young lord. “Now hand me that dilator.”

“Well, that’s not how to close one. And if you’re trying to help Nikolai, you’re aiming in the wrong direction.”

Despite his complaint, Jonathan put the device in his hand a moment before he felt what Jim was aiming for and his eyes widened in horror.

“Yes,” Jim answered as he felt the device on his palm. “Leave a fissure open long enough and anomalies occur. I haven’t seen one of these come out of a fissure this weak before, but I have no intentions of fighting a baron rank beast today.”

A head twice the size of the hounds pushed through the fissure. The moment its snout came into view, Jim activated his skill.

[Frost Burn]

A bonfire of white flames erupted from his hand and engulfed the halberd. With a burning hand, he threw the weapon with all the strength of his authority.

The halberd was still on its path when he charged forward, both hands burning in flames of the cleanest white. His weapon pierced the snout in an eruption of sound that sent a shockwave through the room. Its force pushed the beast back into the fissure and he arrived at it a moment later, unhindered by the hounds too focused on their failed attempts at killing Nikolai.

He placed the dilator, a square unassuming device with a single soul fragment at the center and activated it. A small crack appeared on the fragment and the device burst into work.

Jim stepped away from it as he watched reia leave it in strands and reach for the fissure. Slowly, with the efficiency of the patient, the strands of reia began stitching the tear back together like a surgeon’s stitches sealing a wound.

Now all they had to do was kill the remaining beasts. Nothing else would be coming from the fissure until it was sealed.

“Fissure sealing in progress,” he announced. “Estimated time of closure is three minutes.”

“Good work!” Nikolai called out as he deflected a hound’s paw with a swing of his club and bellied another with his large stomach. A rune lit up on the stomach of his armor at the contact and it sent the beast reeling back.

“Does the government consider this task done?” Jim asked.

“The government considers the contract satisfied.”

“The adventure society and hunter association considers the contract satisfied,” Jim said, then turned to Jonathan.

Jonathan frowned at him. The young Lord knew exactly what he was doing. According to the rules of the Dead Accords, all representatives were not allowed to leave the confines of an observed fissure until a majority vote agreed that the task was done.

The look on the lord’s face showed he knew Jim was going after Seth the moment he left the room. So despite the ferocity Seth had displayed in their presence, he still intended to confirm the identity of the boy.

“Does the Barony consider the contract satisfied?” he asked, meeting Jonathan’s glare.

There was a moment of silence filled only with the howls of the hounds as Nikolai beat them back and the ringing sound from each rune lit up on his armor that sounded like a loud gong.

In the brief moment of silence that ensued, Jim watched question fleet through the young Lord’s mind. Jonathan, as talented as he was, was still a child as a gold. Four years was nothing in the vast measurement of his twenty years and Nikolai’s twenty-two years.

Jonathan had no movement skill so he wasn’t stupid enough to believe he could catch him if he fled the room. Jim discarded every option the Lord could take until the boy chose his final option.

Jonathan leveled his spear at him in a fighter’s stance and prepared himself. “The Barony considers the contract fulfilled,” he said.

It was a poor decision.

“Is it safe to assume you need no help with the hounds?” Jim called out to Nikolai.

As if to prove a point, the government official took a moment to turn his attention to them and let out a loud guffaw before whipping one of the hound’s head with his club.

“I’ll be fine,” he answered, returning his attention in time to avoid a snapping teeth. “Go do whatever you have to do.”

Jim nodded once. His halberd was somewhere on the other side of the closing fissure. The young lord stood before him with a spear rumored to be an artifact. Jim’s mind went to the shortsword at his waist in passing and he ignored it.

Lord Jonathan Darnesh was a talented gold and a powerful mage. His arrogance was fitting. But he was still a child, there was much he didn’t know. Jim was only a gold because whatever enlightenment was required to step unto the authority of Barony was hidden from him. If there was a peak of the gold authority, he stood on it. He was it. This was not a fight the young lord understood, and he did not intend on offending the Baron so he would go easy on him.

The flames of [Frost Burn] were dying on his hands, evaporating into nothingness, but were not completely gone. He allowed the last vestige of them stay.

Then he removed the shroud from his core completely.