That morning, Tatiana woke up from her daily one-hour nap a few minutes early, because she felt a slight nudge against her psyche. A direct touch that somehow was also feather-light. She sat up in her bed and considered the sensation; it was not her Skill relating to the actions of Randidly, but it felt quite a lot like it.

After quite a bit of self-searching, she realized the feeling originated from the Nether Ritual Randidly had planted within Expira. Once it had her attention, it began nudging her constantly, desperately trying to convey a message. Unfortunately for whatever consciousness existed in the Nether Ritual, two factors prevented its meaning from being clear. First, the Nether in the Alpha Cosmos continued to remain thin and sluggish; Randidly must have been scraping his reserves to the bone if it so affected even the Alpha Cosmos.

Second, Tatiana possessed a surprisingly shallow connection to the Nether Ritual, considering her power and influence in Expira at large. It was barely as much as the average person. She suspected it was because her Skill connected her so directly to Randidly, who had woven the working to purposefully not include him. Her Skill meant she had been partially excluded.

However, after a few seconds of concentration, she could feel the general gist: some very powerful associates of Randidly were coming, who she needed to entertain with a dinner. Tonight.

Tatiana looked mournfully at her almost empty liquor cabinet, the one containing the premium bottles of spirits that could intoxicate even a powerful image user, if they gave themselves over to the embedded image in the liquid. She only had two bottles of her vice left and it would be two months before the brewer released the next batch.

Randidly Ghosthound, the fucking things I do for you… She scowled at her bare feet, but it was an expression without teeth. At the very least, following behind the Ghosthound and neatening his messes all these years had kept Tatiana from ever wondering about her own purpose in life. She could do real, meaningful work this way.

Some part of her felt vaguely ashamed her life was so directly dependent on another’s for meaning, but she comforted herself that the decisions and positive changes she made were things that the Ghosthound couldn’t do. That was exactly why he needed her, just as badly as she needed him.

Besides, she was damn good at it, too. No one could deny that, as Kharon became the premier institution of learning in the entire Alpha Cosmos.

She went to the bathroom, shedding her silk nightgown and leaving it on the plush carpet behind her. The first step onto the cool tile was a jolt, but rapidly her mind began to whirl and the chill marble floor became invigorating. Tatiana splashed water on her face and brushed her hair. She applied a hint of mascara and then added small dabs of color to her cheeks and lips.

Tatiana clicked her tongue in distaste as she leaned back and examined herself. Even to her gaze, she seemed stiff. Obviously, the System pushing off aging is a godsend, but now that the entire Kharon Academy is raving and spending a slot on the Natural Physical Glamor Skill… it suddenly looks like we are running a prep school for models, not the best damn place to get a mundane or System education.

Hah… is it vain that I want to get it too?

Tatiana moved to the body-length mirror next to the shower. She reached up and cupped her breasts, pushing them up on her chest. She turned sideways and sucked in a deep breath, looking at her body in profile. Essentially the same body she had possessed prior to the System, working in the nation’s capital for the demanding senators.

When she sighed, her body sagged with the exhale. But she decisively turned away from the mirror and walked to her dresser. After putting on a professional suit, she approached her terminal and dialed a number. The recipient picked up after only two rings.

“Frankie, I need a favor,” Tatiana opened with a winning smile.

The restauranteur, who three years ago had just been a young man operating an exquisitely ramshackle street cart before Tatiana plucked him out of obscurity and offered him a loan, now greeted her with a vaguely indulgent grin. “Tatiana, you know I hate when you spring things on me last minute. I have to juggle a lot of balls already.”

Considering that he wasn’t her only choice for food, just the poshest location, she decided to jump straight into the request. “I’d like your entire top floor reserved for tonight. A group of special political guests will be in town. It is hard to overstate how important this night might be.”

He protested immediately, just as she suspected he would to drive the price higher. “The entire top floor? The weather has been saying tonight will be the first clear sky and weeks! I’ve had reservations for the viewing platform for months! You can’t expect me to just-”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“You know I pay my debts,” Tatiana said quietly. She didn’t feel like haggling, not today. Not when she was more powerful than him in every way, except that he had converted one of the top of the skyscrapers into his restaurant and she had only invested a small amount. His idea of ‘leverage’ was too much of a farce to indulge. “Do you want my business or don’t you?”

“Tatiana, if you had given me some warning-” She hung up directly, unwilling to subject herself to any more of his meaningless words. He would do it if she offered a price high enough. A year ago, he would have laid his bottom line on the table directly, instead of waffling and wheedling for a better bargain. As she stared at her own reflection on the inactive terminal screen. In a rare showing of frustration, she hoped the restauranteur looked at his reflection and felt inadequate.

She promised herself she wouldn’t let this color her judgment when his business license came up for review next year. But she would make a small note to the health inspector to be especially thorough.

This matter settled, she cleared her throat and banished that thought and dialed the number for Selene.

Commissioner Arrietti’s new wife answered her terminal with hair that seemed to indicate she had either slept in the middle of a windstorm or the Commissioner had opted for a vigorous fulfillment of his husbandly duties that morning. The relaxed and sleepy smile Selene showed seemed to indicate the latter. “Tatiana? What’s up?”

“I’d like to reserve your restaurant for tonight.” Tatiana tried a winning smile once more.

Selene snorted. “Ha, my restaurant? What, did your first few options reject you?”

Tatiana’s smile deepened, in spite of herself. “What? No, this is a simple matter of procuring the best food in Kharon for special guests. Even after sampling B’s Crossing, no one can stop talking about your home-cooked meals. You aren’t the most pretentious, but you are definitely the tastiest.”

“Ha! It’s just that I use the most butter. Tsk, well, being the last girl picked for the dodgeball team doesn’t feel great, but for a friend, I suppose I can swing it,” Selene sucked on her teeth for several seconds. “Of course, I can’t just do it for free. Cook me and the hubby dinner next week. I’m tired of having to make my own food.”

“You got it,” Tatiana barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

Later in the day, Tatiana began receiving emergency reports from Zone 1, detailing the total annihilation of both a squad of the interior enforcement office and a fleet of drones. Apparently, the images used were so overwhelming Zone 1 hadn’t stood a chance.

Tatiana released a deep sigh and walked to stand by her window. “Randidly, what the hell did you get me into now…?”

*****

Ghost remotely operated a small dragonfly scout drone, observing the whole of the confrontation between the strange trio and Zone 1’s forces. At the time he had prepared to mobilize his own secret army, but had noticed that the trio brutalized the group but didn’t kill them.

As such, Ghost had been content to observe from on high. Even if one time the metal Xershi had looked directly up at his drone and seemed to pierce right through and see Ghost directly, which gave him a heavy dose of existential dread that he hadn’t felt in years.

He also observed as Delilah, daughter of Annie and Dozer, arrived on the scene and led the trio South to Kharon. Ghost hummed. This was likely the best outcome. Further interactions between Zone 1 and these three would only lead to escalation. Based on the casual posture of the trio, such an event would end in Zone 1’s destruction.

Ghost kept his dragonfly in the area for the shock troopers from the Orchard to roll through. They arrived with swords, axes, and flamethrowers, an eclectic mix of Classers that had gone through special forces training and behaved professionally. The score of professional soldiers might not seem much more capable than Zone 1’s interior enforcement agency on paper, but the quality of training was worlds apart.

The group landed and began combing the area almost immediately. Several specialized in image tracking began to try and summon an example of their new quarry’s image. However, as one sallow man did so, Ghost observed his posture going rigid. The Aether around the man began to swirl in a strange pattern. A flash of mauve light emerged from the ground, a carefully laid tap triggering.

As the light dissipated, nothing seemed to have changed. The grizzled captain of the squad looked around warily. “Report. Anyone notice anything different?”

“I think it was just my Skill, captain,” The sallow face man said, shrugging and taking a step toward his superior officer. “When I tried to track the image, it made note of it.”

The captain grimaced. Ghost’s dragonfly drone buzzed and swooped down to intervene, but it was already too late. “So they know we are on their tail, but what of it? We will catch them anyway. So-”

The captain blinked in surprise as the sallow-faced man’s hand touched his face. Right at the moment of contact, he turned and saw a strange mauve haze in his subordinate’s eyes and tears coursing down his cheeks. Then the captain’s body went rigid as whatever strange ability spread.

To their credit, the rest of the squad noticed the threat immediately and spread out to contain the duo. But the captain was the strongest of them all by far and all he needed was skin-on-skin contact to infect new squad members with the mauve light and crying eyes. Ghost pulled up short and observed.

Within four seconds, all of the physical Stat-focused Classers had been infected. The remainder sent out distress beacons, but the Captain calmly raised his communicator and spoke into it, his voice even despite the tears coursing down his cheeks. “Belay that distress beacon- the bastards left some sort of electromagnetic interference here that damages Manatech. That’s likely why the interior forces had such a hard time.”

All the rest of the squad were infected before anyone could deny that claim.

When they all had mauve eyes and shuddering shoulders, they straightened and looked up at Ghost’s drone. Once more, he felt a deep fear. All these separate soldiers smiled as one. Then they turned and ran in every direction, very obviously intent on spreading this mental plague.