When Igor said 'contact', I didn't think he meant quite what I expected. The Wild Fists, contrary to everything I'd seen them do, were acting hesitant to engage. Instead, our squad arrived panting at the edge of the treeline that led out to the farms Devon had described.

The elf's description almost didn't do them justice! Far far in the distance I could see another tree line bisect the area, but even from where we stood to there was more edible food than I'd ever seen.

The most surprising thing about that field, however, wasn't the mind boggling amounts of food. It was the small, heavily armed, group of people having a three way stand-off right over a plot of cauliflower.

On one side was Daniela, holding the part of the engagement entirely by herself. Shimmering waves of heat radiated off of her and there wasn't a spell chain in sight. Trampling all the food with their enormous mounts were a group of six boar riders. The spread of Attunements was complete sans fire, but the boars more than made up for it with the snorts of fire each time they downed one of the white vegetables around them. Unlike Devon's report, the team that appeared before Daniela was composed entirely of regular Fallen. However, what drew my eyes from our potential enemies was the unconscious form of Dai hanging like a sack from the flank of one of the boars. It took a lot of willpower not to turn hog and rider into a stone shish kabob on the spot. Something had to have stopped Igor the punch-first-consequences-later orc. It was clearly the third member of the standoff.

Where the boar riders seemed to border on tribal society, tassels and thick hides covering themselves and their mounts in rainbows of colors, the third group wore tasteful robes of muted red, browns and blues. They, too, had a spread of Attunements, but each was similarly outfitted with a spear ending in what looked like a barbed pinecone of all things. At the fore of that group was a human. As mundane a human as I'd seen since leaving the Bunker. The information that flashed on my Implant, however, spoke of a threat in disguise.

Even if the old man didn't have Skills or Gifts at his disposal, the raw Attributes that his Quotient gave him weren't to be underestimated; all of that was without taking into consideration whatever Traits he'd formed on his leveling journey.

My reverie of the situation was broken as vibro screamed. Something had landed on a nearby tree, yet there had been no sound. If it wasn't for the subtle vibrations carried through the large oaks around me, it would have certainly gone unnoticed. As it was, I spun and locked eyes on the guilty tree. Fievil flared with energy on my back, sending out a pulse of its Arcane Sink at the hefty price of 20% of my mana. I didn't mind, even if I hadn't been aware of the Trait being used like that. Leaves were calcified under the force of the Earth mana shift in the air and a youth stumbled out of the trees. Before anyone else in any of the groups had a chance to respond further, he turned into a streak of pale grey lightning and reappeared beside the old man. His serene expression twitched, but remained otherwise unchanged.

"You all didn't think I would just bring a bomb to a gun fight did you? I brought the whole arsenal!" Daniela cackled. She didn't move, but I could see her shoulders shaking with mirth -- and nervous energy if I read her posture right.

"Forward slow," I sent out via the Implant to the Fists and the other Busters.

Shield first, I pushed through the underbrush and into view. Both groups seemed to freeze at my appearance and then grow tenser with each person that exited the woods. When I arrived next to Daniela, I glanced at each of the leading members of both groups. "No one invited us to the kidnap party?"

That drew a series of snarls from the boar riders and concerned looks from the robed group.

"You think you speak with weight?" The lead of the boar riders, a Q5 elf, shouted, throwing a whole lot of saliva along with his words.

"I think I need to relieve you of some of yours," I spat back, leaving my point as clear as possible as I gestured at Dai with Fievil. The weapon seemed to draw the eyes of everyone present and it sent back an impression of goosebumps running down its mole avatar. With a fluid motion, I slotted the weapon back over my shoulder. "But considering you all had the presence of mind to gather for tea and biscuits, I imagine you didn't want this to end with dead people."

"You pose no--"

Instead of responding, I channeled mana through my helm and raised an between the riders and our squads. Everyone tensed even further, even the members of my group, but it wasn't a directly offensive action; I was tired of talking with aggressive, posturing meatheads.

"What is your part in this play?" I asked, turning to look at the old man who had a protective hand over the young lightning user.

"It appears that my grandson was in the right to intervene in the affairs of the Breakers," the man mumbled, something that I might have missed had my Perception not climbed as high as it had. "My name is Radolfo Zebelos. I am the leader of the Zebelos Family Faction in--"

The man didn't get to finish as a blash of superheated water struck my . As a testament to my own expertise with the Augmented Skill and Level 6 Quotient, only a few cracks appeared on the structure. In only the fashion that a meat head can deal with a blow to their pride, strike after strike impacted the wall until it fractured enough to topple back.

A shivering and steaming boar rider glared at me, but I barely paid it any mind. The elf lead was likewise glaring, but the only thing that looked exhausted was their mount. If they'd been intelligent enough not to blow up at the first inconvenience, they might have realized all they had to do was walk around the twenty foot barrier.

"I believe, for the sake of further engagement, that it would be best that I mediate this encounter," Radolfo said, turning his gravelly voice and pitching it more towards the squad of riders.

"Be happy The Sargon wishes for cohabitation," the elf ground out. "We accept this course."

Radolfo turned and faced me. His eyes flicked briefly over the glaring brunette, the stoic blond, the quivering elf and the scowling merwoman that flanked me. The grinning, one-armed orc not far to my right also drew his eye until they landed back on me.

I weighed my response carefully. I'd already demonstrated strength in two different forms; attempting to exert more pressure to take command when I wasn't aware of the specific of the groups before me was liable to cause problems. Plus, there was something about what he'd said about the lightning youth that tickled at my memory. My decision made, I gave a simple nod.

"Even the mighty giants bend the knee to the old hearth," the elf rider sniggered. I wasn't sure what that implied, but I was sure it wasn't any nice thing. Thankfully, the peanut gallery was locked and loaded to let me appear more magnanimous than I felt toward the man.

"Shut your windbag, knife ear. The adults are talking," Daniela shouted, each word marked by a gout of flame escaping her gills.

"You t--"

I caught Radolfo gesture to the youth beside him before a spell chain of grey mana appeared around his throat. "ENOUGH!"

The magically enhanced voice sent ripples through the ground my Harmonic Sinews picked up, but I was sure that wasn't the intended effect as the rider backed away from an insult match with Daniela. "Now, please state your grievances with the Breakers of Beasts, if you would."

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

Filing that tidbit of information away, I pointed to the slumped form of my friend on their mount. "Kidnapping of an innocent exploration party."

"Exploration the posterior of the great elements!" the rider called out, getting nods of agreement from his party. "This man and his companion nearly killed a dozen of our men and set us back months of taming."

"Companion?" Radolfo asked, quirking a brow in the direction of the elf. He did not look surprised in the least.

The lead of the riders, however, seemed to sputter for a second until he got his story in order. The man waxed poetic about how a single elf and lizardfolk had sauntered into their property, attacked their men and then been subsequently detained after the efforts of their beasts and riders. Through treachery and cowardice most foul, the elf had escaped and now brought more heavy handed contenders to argue for their undeserving freedom. Considering we had one of those men resting back at the observation tower, I could pick out just how much boloney he was spewing.

Sam, who'd been present with me during the talk with Devon, frowned deeper with each accusation. Daniela was on the edge of blowing up again, and the Fists were getting itchy. I could feel them shifting their feet as if limbering up for a fight in the subtlest way they could. Thankfully --even if I wanted to punch that man's face in-- Radolfo had the situation in hand.

"Considering these folks aren't familiar with our... arrangements, it would only make sense that we levy the minimum accorded reparations for this... misunderstanding."

"This is bull--" I clamped my hand over Daniela's mouth. She bit me, backing away when my Limestone Skin roughed up her tongue.

"What are these 'reparations'?" I asked, taking a step forward. Radolfo remained where he was, but I watched his entourage flinch and the mounts on the rider's side took two steps back.

"An Essence equivalent to the prisoner," Radolfo said simply.

Essence... Essence... Oh! They are talking about Infusions. But wait, they don't have Implants, how do they ascertain someone's Level?

"How would you go about determining that?" I asked, keeping my expression neutral in an attempt to draw out as much information as I could. It worked.

"It seems you come from even deeper in the backcountry than could have been expected, giant," the elf rider scoffed. "Everyone knows that you light your magic and gauge how it is drawn by the person."

Another point for Uncle Dale. You always learn more by being the dumbest person in the room, rather than the smartest. "Pray tell, then, what is your assessment of my friend."

With another dismissive scoff, the elf motioned for his companion to approach with Dai. The Life Attuned grabbed him roughly along the spines of his neck and I felt a growl escape my throat, unbidden. The man in question flinched, dropping Dai roughly which only served to intensify my glare on the man. The elf slapped the fae's hand away before reaching over with his own. Grey mana coalesced around it and it was slowly drawn towards Dai at a visible rate. It wasn't dissimilar to what happened when Gift Wrestling, but apparently higher Quotient bodies had an attractive property to mana I wasn't aware of.

"Clear flow, inches at a time. Probably at the cusp of the sixth threshold," the elf said. Wrong. He's already Q6, smartass. "But I already knew that. Anything less and he would have died already. So, how about we round up nice and neat. A sixth threshold Essence and we'll call it even, ye?"

The smile on his face was the slimiest thing I'd ever seen on a human being. Not even Kirby, with his twisted perception of humanity's chances, had given me the level of disgust the elf radiated. I glanced at Radolfo, who looked like he'd eaten something sour.

"I am willing to front our friend's reparations, however I only have a fifth threshold Essence. Perhaps a second could be--"

"The Breakers will accept nothing less!" the elf protested, throwing his nose up in the air. "We have already shown you more face than a bunch of no names deserve. Now, if you would be so kind as to remove yourself from--"

"Nothing was said about us being part of this conversation," I said, cutting in. With a tug, I freed Fievil from my back and slammed the axe-hammer into the ground blade first. With its weight no longer distributed to my feet, the head dug in almost to the haft. Both groups flinched when I reached into the pockets of my cargo pants, and pulled out the Infusion the Sturgeon Mother had dropped. Every eye snapped to it instead of me.

"I'm okay for now, but if they try anything funny, hit them hard and fast," I sent to the others via comm-plant. There was a variety of voiced agreements, but the one that put a smirk on my face came from Daniela. She simply said, "If you die, I will kill you." It was nonsensical, but very much par for the course with her. It was the last thing I needed to shore up my confidence.

Casually stepping over my hammer, I walked towards the riders. The boars snorted and tried to back away, but they were trained well and their riders got them in order. Instead of moving towards the leader of their group, I locked eyes with the fae holding Dai. The bead of Water Pith in my palm let out a gentle blue glow all on its own and the man couldn't help but shift his vision to it. I grabbed Dai by the tail and pulled him away with a burst of speed, tossing him back towards our group with the help of the Strength boost of my tower shield, but remaining in place.

This immediately had the riders in disarray. They'd had their hands on their various weapons, but my burst of movement had left them reeling and scabbling.

"Hey! Hey! You want your head blown off! That's not what we agreed on!" the elf leader eventually managed when his mount stopped trying to edge away. He was forced to dismount and stand to face me, doing his best to match my bulk with his lanky elven form.

Fetid? Figures. I reached out with my hand, palm up to offer the Infusion. Before he reached out for it, I tossed it lightly towards him. The elf instinctively tried to apply every bit of speed his Attunement gave him, but he still didn't manage to grab the essence before my fingers clamped around his wrist. coated my hand, locking it in place as I drew the man closer. A skunk's spray went off in close proximity, but I ignored it even as a blade of wind tore into my side. The magic flayed my side but was stopped dead by my Quake Osseum. Blood soaked through my shirt. I pulled him closer, fear making his pale complexion cloud-white.

"Do not mess with my friends. Ever. We understood, you fetid excuse of humanity?"

It took all I had not to crush the man's arm or scour him with a well placed . Apparently he could read my desires on my face well enough because all the bravado was gone and he nodded like a bobble head. With the sharp crack of stone, I released my Defensive Skill and stepped back.

The world around the two of us was one shade away from devolving into a melee. Daniela had an the size of my torso hovering over the group and the Wild Fists had a kaleidoscope of Skills locked and loaded to release on their next punches. Jolene had her gator skull gauntlet aimed directly at the elf's head and was ready to give him a high-pressure haircut. A thick obfuscating cloud of purple and orange mist hovered around where I'd thrown Dai, and with Samuel, Billy, and the lizardfolk in question out of view I had an idea of what had transpired.

Radolfo's group had reacted in a much more uniform fashion. The robed individuals had opened their cloaks and moved to surround the old man. Swords, daggers and a pair of axes flashed just out of sight, but I was curious about the crystals held under their robes; they glowed with the light of Attunements, but didn't appear to be Shards, Infusions or anything I'd seen so far. The man being protected had been pulled back by the young lightning user, who stood in front of the Q6er without a hint of fear.

"We're done, yes?" I said, turning to the riders. The elf leader had already remounted and was backing away. As if my words were the starting pistol on a race, the whole squad vanished in seconds. As soon as I was sure they were gone --and added ten seconds just to be sure-- I plopped to the ground with a groan. My Health had dropped almost twenty percent from the attack and my head swayed slightly from the gush of blood that had been released initially. Had my Slurry Ichor not already started to solidify, I was sure the pain radiating off my ribs would have been the least of my problems. Thank the Crystals for Traits.

Fowler, the healer of the Fists, approached me when I relaxed into the earth. The further drum of feet all around me was reassuring, as their presence reached me through both vibro and sight. Despite the tension of the encounter, I felt the corner of my mouth twitch up. I didn't need to glance in the direction of the robed group to know they were staring at us as if we'd all, individually, grown a second head. With the reality of Traits, I didn't know if that was a possibility, but I filed it away just in case.

When the posture of their feet shifted and their central guardee exited their enclosement, I finally opened my eyes. I gave the red fae a heartfelt thanks as he pulled his magically illuminated hands away from my wound. The bone was still peeking out through the flesh, but the bleeding was stopped and the overall width of the cut was down by three-fourths. I knew my passive regeneration would take care of the rest.

Radolfo waited patiently as I rose again to my feet, retrieved Fievil, and returned to stand before him as if I hadn't taken a nigh mortal blow for most and then bluffed a threat right into the hearts of the Breakers of Beasts. I could practically feel the questions fighting to escape his mouth so I gestured for him to 'Go on'. It was going to be a long and awkward meeting.