Sydney knew that awkward not-a-smile expression on Randidly’s face. She had spent far too much time knowing him, watching him grow, to miss how ill-equipped he felt to deal with this conversation regarding his romantic desirability. Even though he had taken a lot of steps forward as he adapted to the System and grew in confidence, he hadn’t transformed into an unrecognizable form.

At moments like these, the old Randidly peaked through all the Stats and Levels and images and it made her both happy and depressed. His pained reactions hadn’t shifted that much.

Yet in the next moment, a change came over him; Randidly relaxed. All the tension he carried in his arms and shoulders vanished. He raised his head and his eyes were piercing emerald and he projected palpable confidence. The air around them seemed to swirl inward, as though he was breathing in and the force of that action tugged them nearer to him. Sydney’s eyes widened; it was as though their teasing conversation had triggered some sort of womanizing transformation in Randidly.

With a fluid grace that seemed impossible, even to Sydney’s empowered senses, Randidly pivoted and stretched a hand out toward Neveah. His grin was winning and assured. “Let me change your life. At least for a night.”

Neveah snorted but willingly took his hand. “You’ve already done so when my soul was secreted away inside of a Raid Boss; are you confident that you can do it again? Here, with no preparation.”

Randidly’s grin widened. Sydney could feel the air around him change again, an outward pressure instead of an inward tide. That energy flowed through their hands, going from Randidly to Neveah. However, even witnessing this transfer, Sydney was unable to truly understand what he was doing. Meanwhile, Neveah sucked in a ragged gasp. “Oh. Oh oh. Of course. Of course! Why the hell didn’t we see it before?!?”

“Both of us are a bit… limited,” Randidly said slowly. Still holding Neveah’s hand, he offered a small bow to both Tatiana and Sydney. “That’s why friends are important; to help you notice when your perception is insufficient.

“Neveah and I need to do a bit of last-minute investigation,” Randidly continued. His eyes flicked back up to the sky. He had deactivated most of the furious storm that had thundered above the island in the past few weeks, but low, wispy clouds slunk across the horizon, as though just waiting for his bid to return. “Tatiana, if there is anything you need, let me know. But… be careful. Someone else is going to try and make a storm of this party.”

Tatiana’s face shifted. “...I assume you’ve heard about the situation with Alana?”

“What happened with Alana?” Randidly’s face creased into a frown. Then he shook his head. “Well, if anyone can take care of herself, it would be her. It’s just the significance.”

“There are massive worms of it,” Neveah whispered. Her face had gone unnatural pale. “Slithering toward us, even now. Their mouths are open and they-”

“Heh. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I guess,” Randidly bared his teeth at the sky. “You want to take a bite? Ah, what is this? Someone is wielding a luck-based Skill against us? I think they will find… the scales on which I operate aren’t so easy to tip.”

*****

Alana sat in the small cell with her hands folded in front of her. Sunlight streamed through a high window on the far wall, providing a small spot of well-illuminated grey in front of her. It was a single rectangle of variance in a uniformly dour and heavy grey room. The walls, ceiling, and doors were made of the same heavy stone. And underneath that, Alana could feel the familiar bite of darksteel, sapping at her image.

Yur sure ya don’t need a rescue?

Alana pursed her lips. It was the fourth time that Hank had sent a similar message and just like the others, she didn’t reply. She sat and considered his question, pushing down the small cramps that crept up in her legs as she remained in a single position.

Even with the heavy material used in this cell and the darksteel that lay beneath it, even without her spear and dressed solely in a simple cotton shirt and pants combo, Alana felt confident that she could generate a spear of righteous indignation and rip her way out of this situation if she wanted. Her considerations had enough potency to shift the spectrum of light streaming through the window, making it orange and raw, the gaze of a wrathful god ready to smite the unworthy.

Yet I will not. Alana thought to herself. Why was Huang Li the pursuer? He is a moderate; the Zone 7 leader trio has been trying to ease tensions along the border for the last year. And also, it is exceedingly unusual that word of an intelligent, humanoid Chimera spreading. Is the first with more to come? Some sort of sick experiment like we’ve seen in Zone 1?

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

No, I need to remain here. That was why I allowed them to bring me in; to stay close to the pulse of this mystery.

However, even Alana was getting impatient. She had already sat in this cell, without being spoken to or given food or water, for a week. At the very least, a breakout attempt would get her some good exercise. Plus, she possessed a distant curiosity as to whether Huang Li could rival her, as long as he gathered the whole image of Zone 7 before the clash.

She cooled her thoughts and restored the sunlight to its more mundane form. Even through the darksteel walls, she felt the attention of her jailers grow more pointed as it had intensified. They sensed the influence she possessed and it worried them. Clicking her tongue in something like exasperation, she allowed that to recede.

Then she sat and watched the light coming through the window slowly shrink, and then vanish. Another day passed and became night. The memory of that bright spot of light shimmered across her retinas, an enduring phantasm that she with which she toyed, using her imagination. The lids of her eyes gradually settled shut.

She didn’t stir physically until a little after midnight when she felt the guards’ consciousnesses abruptly vanish. Her eyes opened. The trio waiting outside of her cell took her a bit by surprise. “Huang Li, a pleasure as always. And Raina, it must be your lullaby that has whisked away the watching eyes… but Ghost, it has certainly been a while. If you came, it must be serious.”

Light flickered across the square drone’s display panel. It had treads beneath its square frame and two stubby arms. “The conservative faction flipped Phirun. Likely not for the long run, but when it comes to a vote to push for a harsher definition of ‘Citizen of Expira’, he’s likely going to follow. I still cannot see their exact plans, but I can guess. Border settlements in the Danger Zones, constant armed presence, to maintain security.”

Alana grimaced, even though she wasn’t surprised. Tension had built between the political ideologies for a while; this was inevitable. “Twenty or so new municipal governments, sitting at the borders between worlds, throttling the flow of information back to Expira itself about what happens within them. And also a foothold for the Zones to start monopolizing and exploiting resources in the Danger Zones… but King Phirun never struck me as greedy. He understands the responsibilities of power, not like some of these new Orders. Why would he agree?”

Huang Li stepped forward. “The Chimera woman wiped out an entire city in the Northern portion of the Great Sea. At least four thousand dead. I was in the area, noticed the loss of life, managed to subdue her before she could wander around and continue her killing spree. And at the time, I noticed her strange innocence; she seemed to hold no guilt over the killing. On the journey back, she seemed genuinely surprised that taking life was bad. She said-”

“A Chimera running wild in populated areas is a tragedy. But something we’ve seen before. The conservatives think we will let them start marginalizing a score of worlds just because this latest monster shows humanoid intelligence?” Alana’s mouth twisted.

But Huang Li shook his head slowly. “I should have led with this. She told me that she had been raised to view humanoids as disposable. Some of Zone 7’s other agents went to investigate and corroborated the Chimera’s story. A certain subset in the Frogpeople’s world had found the innocent and intelligent Chimera and understood how she could be used. She was taught to slaughter humans and then deliberately released into that area of the Great Sea, where there would be very little oversight. If I hadn’t happened to pass by, the death toll might be closer to a hundred thousand before it was discovered.”

That number rang out in the grey cell for several seconds. Even with all the liberated Bubble Cities, they had lost far too many in the arrival of the System to sniff at a loss of a hundred thousand lives.

“A terrorist attack.” Alana huffed out a disbelieving laugh. “From a non-human group.”

Raina sighed. Her glossy blonde hair and its pink stripes felt garish next to the grey of the cell. “That’s why they called me. To persuade the culprits to reveal any… outside influences. As far as I can tell, there are none. This was really just a malicious group of frogpeople who primed and released a Level 99 Chimera with the idea that it should kill a certain human.”

“We were busy hiding the Chimera here until we could figure out how to handle the situation.” Huang Li whispered. “Now the jailbreak has become an enormous news story. The actions of the trio from Kharon Academy… just took us by surprise.”

Alana licked her lips. “How lucky for the conservatives. Several times in a row. Oh, did you say one particular human?”

“The Ghosthound.” Ghost’s tinny voice released the unsurprising answer. “The Chimera had been taught to harbor deep resentment for the Ghosthound. And as far as we can tell, it just didn’t know humans enough to tell the difference between them.”

Alana closed her eyes again. Her brain ticked through the branching future paths with a mechanical precision. “They’ve begun spreading the information about this Chimera through the news channels, then.”

Raina nodded. “The usual group of talking heads are doing much fist slamming over the lack of security on Expira and the rise in crime since the portals opened. Much of it is pretty direct attacks on the Order Ducis for failing to police the works of the Ghosthound. Considering the business opportunities the portals represent, they would keep up this refrain for long, but right now they are broadcasting a constant low thrum of alarm with System Skills. Even individuals who don’t regularly consume those sorts of news programs will absorb it just by proximity to those who do; by that point, it will be through the basic human pattern of mirroring their peers and they won’t even be able to sense a Skill at work.”

“They will need something else though,” Alana said slowly. “A nail in the coffin to silence the opposition. And based on their sudden luck-”

“Today is the first day of the Ghosthound’s bbq,” Ghost chirped. “Based on my observations, a lot of bodies are heading to that event. A lot of different races will be there. If something were to happen… then I suspect the conservatives will beat us to establishing a World Government. And one that discriminates very overtly against anyone but them.”