We’ve found quite a bit of Nether on your planet, Mr. Ghosthound. Some of it in some very… unusual places.

Randidly kept his expression very neutral as he tried to figure out whether Captain Quill’s last statement was a threat. Very purposefully, he spread the fingers of his hands open, keeping the movement as inconspicuous as possible. Randidly winced when his left arm flickered and the metallic limb froze in the process.

Two facts were suddenly very concerning to Randidly. The first was the fact that Randidly couldn’t read Captain Quill’s expression at all. His features shrouded in mist made him a mystery. Despite the very obvious focus that could be detected from the Captain, Randidly understood this was probably artifice; it was completely controlled by the Captain himself. Putting his faith solely in that was foolish.

The second fact was that Wuva was standing a little bit behind him and one meter to the left. As he arrived, this positioning had seemed deferential. Now it seemed a little bit more sinister. Should the aide move, Randidly didn’t believe he could escape unscathed.

Setting aside the issue of the Aether formation he had admired on the way into the tent...

Randidly had the urge to unleash a little bit of his image as a way of posturing, but his grip on his images was iron. That instinct was driven by fear. Even Yggdrasil groaned ominously as it prepared to release its power, but Randidly wasn’t sure yet what Captain Quill’s intentions were. His wording was ambiguous. Likely purposefully.

Releasing a long breath, Randidly said, “Is that so. Do you, in your professional opinion as a Captain of the Xyrt Brigade, believe that this Nether presence on Earth is… dangerous?”

Captain Quill seemed to consider for a while before replying. “In terms of amount… no. Perhaps not even in terms of current usage or strength of the Nether. But… these things inevitably have a way of escalating quickly. One fool doesn’t realize the danger of Nether and soon huge stretches of land are destroyed or corrupted when he or she makes a mistake. A steady hand is required to deal with the Nether. A firm and disciplined hand. Consider this advice from an elder; our presence here might very well save your hide, kid.”

Randidly’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Captain Quill. Wuva standing behind him still set his teeth on edge, but he realized that the problem was solely the smoky formed Captain. “We might perhaps disagree on that count, Captain Quill. I believe the Earth is capable enough to handle the smaller threats on its own. If you agree that this threat is manageable… perhaps the Xyrt Brigade’s presence is unnecessary.”

In this case, Randidly was unsure whether ‘the Earth’ in their conversation referred to himself or truly just the influence of Nether on the Earth generally. But either way, Randidly believed that he could handle a few escaped Nether Gatekeepers. Or, if it was him, his own Nether experiments. Besides, there were several activities that Randidly had been avoiding for as long as the Xyrt Brigade remained on Earth. He didn’t want to put those off for much longer.

In fact, Randidly didn’t dare delay for more than a few more days. The former Special Investigator couldn’t be allowed too much time to plot.

After Randidly spoke, the pressure around Captain Quill intensified. As he looked at the smoky Captain in his trenchcoat, Randidly could understand what Wuva had meant about creating a template. In the area surrounding Captain Quill’s body, there was a pattern of complex… indentations in the air. They were so faint that Randidly couldn’t perceive enough of them at once to understand the greater shape, but it was clear that these lines buzzed with potential energy in this tense standoff. At any moment, they could erupt and very quickly unleash the full power of Captain Quill.

But that didn’t happen. Instead, the Captain shrugged and shattered the tense weight in the air. “I just thought I’d try to do you a favor, kid. If you truly think you have the situation under control… I don’t mind leaving. I was just hoping to give you a little boost so you would owe me later…”

Captain Quill turned to Wuva. “Wuva? Recall everyone. I suppose we’ve been thorough enough.” Then he turned back to Randidly. “We will be out of your hair in two hours, Mr. Ghosthound. A pity I’ll have to leave your planet without eating tonight… but I suppose it was simply bad timing.”

As Wuva guided Randidly away and out of the tent, he heart Captain Quill call one last sentence after him. “Oh! Mr. Ghosthound, if you ever want to enter into the Xyrt Brigade… look for me.”

Then Randidly was back on his island, staring at the maroon tent and trying his best to capture the shape of the Engravings that Randidly had seen defending the tent. If he could capture even a fraction of that for his labyrinth beneath the Kharon Academy…

But even Neveah’s avid curiosity was having a hard time understanding. Apparently she recognized some of the Engravings, but they were from a different section of Yxtrix’s tomb. For now, they would have to wait until he repaired his left arm.

Even so, Randidly had to keep his hands from twitching, as though even now he wanted to reach for a pen and begin revising his previous drawings. Even though he had only three floors completed and one in the planning stage, Randidly might very well need to start all over again in order to incorporate ideas from these new Engravings he had seen.

Of course, he would need to experiment with them first… and consult Neveah…

But again, Randidly suppressed his thoughts about the Kharon Academy and frowned toward the large maroon tent. Then he turned and walked away. In a way, Randidly suddenly felt very unsure if the conversation with Captain Quill was the one he thought it had been as they had started speaking By the end of it, Captain Quill had made it seem like the Xyrt Brigade had remained in order to help the Earth. But from what?

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Perhaps Randidly had just been trained to expect powerful individuals from the Nexus to want something from him. While it was better to be suspicious than naive, that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be costs to that outlook.

Some part of Randidly suddenly regretted not agreeing to the dinner. But as with the situation with Mareen, those social avenues had never been Randidly’s Path. Perhaps now to his detriment, but still…

Randidly planned on staying true to himself. There were things that he was good at and things that he wasn’t. And that was fine.

When he returned to his shack, Randidly didn’t even let himself go inside to be tempted into doing a small amount of work. He knew himself better than that. He made a few mental notes on the Engravings that he had seen then he sat down to meditate. Truly, he had tirelessly been improving his plans for too long. Even if it was relaxing, the effort was starting to dull his edge.

So he settled down to wait until the Xyrt Brigade finished their preparations in left. Once they were gone, Randidly planned on once more putting his and Neveah’s plan into action to draw out and defeat Kaan Swacc. Perhaps even more than the Xyrt Brigade itself, this was the threat that Randidly felt was the most pressing.

Because even if Octavius told him that the Smog Clan wasn’t sympathetic to the Swacc Family, could that be true of each one of its members? Even if it was just a report of Randidly’s activities sent out to the Swacc Family…

Kaan might currently have lost his support of the Xyrt Brigade, but that didn’t mean that the Swacc Family had forgotten about its enmity with Randidly. So what Randidly planned on doing was eliminating the source of that information before the Swacc Family could find a new way to move against his home planet.

*****

Richter looked up from his training regimen and frowned at the individual who was standing in the doorway to his room. The soldier shifted uncomfortably underneath Richter’s gaze. “President Greyman asked for me? Is she…?”

Richter didn’t bother to finish the question. Since receiving word about the sudden destruction of Mjolnir two days ago, Theodora Greyman had literally thrown her desk through her wall and then refused to meet with anyone, claiming that she was engaging in ‘strategy meetings’ with her staff.

This was news to her staff, who decided that it was best to go along with the claim and refuse to comment until the President herself made her official announcement on the sabotage of Zone 1’s greatest weapon. This, in the midst of the impeachment proceedings for how Theodora Greyman had handled the treatment of refugees from the borderlands, made most of the people currently employed by the Zone 1 administration believe that this presidency was on its last legs.

Not that any of the senators who were sniffing around the Presidency really cared about the treatment of refugees. Even Senator Firefly had softened some of his open border stances as the number of people flooding toward the established Zones from bubble cities rose by a factor of ten. No, all they really cared about was the scent of blood in the air.

Theodora Greyman, the woman who had done everything right for a world before the System, had not been able to keep up with the changes the System demanded. As such, she was becoming the scapegoat for the fact that Zone 1 hadn’t lived up to the lofty promises it had given its population of its own superiority.

The soldier who had come to Richter’s room with the summons seemed more confused than worried. “Honestly… she… seemed completely normal. Like the past two days hadn’t happened at all.”

To Richter, that was more disturbing than if she had continued to unleash a tirade of racial slurs and broadly-aimed expletives that the entire staff had heard when she threw her desk through a wall. But orders were orders.

Wheeling himself forward, Richter followed the guard through the maze of hallways to arrive at Theodora’s personal quarters. As he rolled over the heavy lip of the threshold into the room, Richter couldn’t suppress a wince. Despite the fact he was paralyzed from the waist down, his recent training had made his legs extremely sensitive. But only in all the wrong ways. The jolt was agonizing.

As the soldier had indicated, Theodora Greyman glanced up at Richter from her paperwork. The only evidence of her previous explosion was the fact that her desk was different. Compared to the grand thing that she had shattered to pieces, it was plain. All the different folders and stacks of paper made the desk seem cramped. “Ah, good. Please, come in. I would like to discuss something with you.”

Richter wheeled himself another few meters forward and then waited for President Greyman to begin. But even if she had come to some magical realization, not everything had changed; she made him wait for a while before addressing him.

President Greyman’s hands were like a machine, methodically signing the papers on her desk and then moving them over to a different stack. Likely this was the work that had built up in the time when she was isolating herself. But while she dedicated herself to the task, it gave Richter the chance to carefully examine his employer. Both with his eyes and with his delicate image senses.

What he immediately noticed was the determination and peace in her expression. Her image was still weak, but it shared a similar fatalistic acceptance. Whatever had changed with Theodora Greyman, it seemed she was finally was willing to work on her own power.

Eventually, the papers ran out. President Greyman looked up at Richter. “Okay, finished. Let me give you your next assignment. After receiving a tip about the location of the Runic Tablet, we will be cooperating with Zone Seven and King Phirun. You will be Zone 1’s representative while I stall the impeachment proceedings. When you locate the Runic Tablet… you and the others that have had such impressive results with the unusual Skills will slaughter the others and seize the Runic Tablet for Zone 1. With that victory, I have no doubt that the impeachment proceedings will sort themselves out.”

Richter suddenly felt very cold. “You want us to… betray the other Zones? If word gets out-”

“Words only matter between two parties of similar power.” President Greyman said. Her gaze was very steady. “That is what I have learned from Randidly Ghosthound. Those deviant Paths your group has taken… its only been a few days, but I’ve read your reports. The results are very impressive. The joint venture will meet in eight days, assuming other information regarding the Runic Tablet doesn’t appear in the meantime. You have that time to make sure you are a dominant force.”

“The power of Nether…” Richter thought about the ache he felt in his legs any time he jostled them or activated the power. “It has a high cost. In such a short time, others will… succumb to the pain. And that’s setting aside the problem of giving that energy a portion of your body in exchange-”

“Richter.” Theodora tilted her head to the side and regarded him curiously. As though he were a math problem that she didn’t quite understand. “Our way of life is threatened. The rights of our people are being suppressed by foreign powers because we are weak. Of course there will be sacrifices to change that. But what choice do we have?”

President Greyman steepled her fingers. “One more thing. If you need more bodies… just send word. The Order Valorem is very interested in our current experiments. You are dismissed.”