"Hold on," I said, rubbing my forehead to try to stem the headache that had been building over the course of an hour. "I was gone for less than a week!"

"Yes. And we were six very determined people," Sam answered, smug as can be, while looking down his nose at me. He shrugged helplessly. "Things needed doing."

I pointed an accusatory finger at the blonde. "You took down a literal magical bootleg soul poison factory."

"Don't forget freeing us," the young Death Tendril added in a squeak. She looked down the moment everyone's attention turned to her.

"Of course not. The saving is just par for the course when Sammy is involved." Then I tracked my finger to Daniela who was leaning casually on Devon and not even bothering to look anything but pleased. "You two crashed one of their distribution points and discovered parts of the conspiracy."

Finally, I glanced at Jolene and Billy. The latter was blushing furiously, attempting to hide behind the bangs that his growing hair provided and avoiding eye contact. The former was just shaking her head while chuckling at my reaction. "Then you two thought it was a good idea to go for a not-at-all light read in an old file storage room, but simultaneously ended up saving a caravan from one of the cities to the north which I had totally forgotten about thanks to everything going on. Then you brought the lynchpin of said caravan, who has a new form of Mana Shard application, so I can grill him with questions?"

"Hey, what?" Joe Kelly, the draconian, sputtered, confused by the quick turn in the conversation.

"He's being dramatic," Jolene provided, patting the draconian who was sitting between her and Billy on the shoulder. "You'll get used to it."

"Don't dismiss me! I am going to ask questions, especially after I get to tell you all my part of the last few days," I replied, somewhat indignantly.

"I'll take a guess," Daniela said, counting on her fingers with everything she said. "You fought some things, crafted something, had an epiphany about your magic, then got beat up to within an inch of your life by something you had no business dealing with yet still survived because you are more rock than human at this point?"

My mouth opened ready to rebut what she'd said, but then it clicked shut. Instead, I grumbled, "I had more than one magical epiphany, thank you very much."

The whole table, sans the recent additions, broke out into laughter. Despite the brunette's dismissive tone, I could feel the tension leaving her body with every second the conversation went forward. I wasn't sure if it was my presence, or the collective presence of the Bunker Busters finally being back together, but some of the burden Daniela had been holding was easing.

"All jokes aside," Sam said, leaning forward on the round table I'd created. His weird living vines felt at the surface of the stone, poking and prodding at every imperfection in the sandstone like a bored kid scratching at the dirt. I had to tear my eyes from the dozen vines to meet Samuel's eyes. "We do want to know where we stand. Word hasn't spread much, but we know you were key in the fight against the hurricane-- god, I can't believe I just said that."

"It's okay, rock brain, you can brag a bit," Danny urged.

I worked my hand idly through my beard, glancing at the Tendrils and the draconian kid in the room. They really had no business being part of the conversation -- other than the fact that they didn't have anywhere else to go-- but somehow I knew they were key to what had gone on in the city. Obviously, the Tendril siblings were intrinsically connected to the operation to give the people of Ocala Dreg Afflictions. While that, in itself, didn't make them trustworthy it meant they had a stake in wiping the influence of the Aberrants in Ocala and elsewhere. Joe was a ship without a dock, with insights untainted by our Bunker, Wildwood or even Ocala. It was entirely possible he'd brought his own prejudices from Starke, which probably had Aberrant problems of their own along with the world as a whole, but they weren't as sharpened by emotional attachments. It was a cold outlook to have for someone as young as the draconian, but it was a fact of the surface.

Until we were strong enough to make our might the right avenue for humanity, the Aberrants and the Wilds would contend.

The metaphysical shackle Gec said I'd placed around my soul with shook within me, rattling as if reminding me that I'd already taken a step towards tying my fate with Earth. The greater multiverse that the Metier Crystals contended on was a pipe dream if we even struggled with a city, but it made the conflict no less important. Just because humanity waged world wars overhead, it didn't mean ants stopped fighting for their colonies day to day.

So, I spilled the beans so to speak.

While everyone else's misadventures had been the effort of a day, I recounted the grind and the progression the storm brought. I mentioned the struggle of being the beacon of hurricanes -- without mentioning Sharon's succession struggles-- what the Anemoi represented for Florida and the world as a whole. Hurricanes weren't the only primal forces on the planet, which meant it was likely there were other Elemental Monarchs waiting around the corner to shank humanity the moment we encroached on their turf.

When I talked about the developments with Fievil, calling forth the mole and avian Totems for everyone to formally meet, I saw Joe's eyes widen comically. His hand was held to his chest the whole time I spoke about the manifestation of elements, how the elementals replicated and what that meant as far as the Aberrants which seemed to be a crippling valve for areas where they plied their influence.

"Wait, how would the Aberrants be 'crippling valves'?" Devon asked. "Wouldn't keeping the worst things away actually be good?"

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"No." "Heck no." Joe and I said simultaneously. Instead of answering, I gestured to the draconian curious to hear his thoughts. He coughed to clear his throat and delay enough to gather his thoughts. Very mature for someone junior to Billy. Then again, I guess the harsh environment of the surface forces people to grow up fast. All I have to do is look at Marie.

"The Battalions in Starke use the yearly monster spawns to let the new recruits cut their teeth. Not everyone makes it, but when they get sent to the frontlines they are at least ready to handle the strain instead of burning out," Joe explained.

"This frontline," I said, leaving the question open.

"I think Billy said you call them Territories," the draconian said, looking to the elf Partial for confirmation. "When the big cities started to die out, it meant the beast populations started to climb nonstop. I wasn't really alive at the time, but my uncle told me that was when the Battalions were set up. When they were able to secure one of the Monster Wombs, they were able to grab a hold of a territory and push back the edges. Keeping them there against the other owned Wombs is difficult, no matter the city that I've heard tell of. Ocala was lauded as a sanctuary because the cities to the north blunt the effects of the frontline while also benefiting from the south of the state flooding."

I blinked, giving the deluge of information a second to process in my brain, before nodding. "Right. The Monster Wombs are the Monarch monsters who are cooperating with a Metier Crystal. One like this one?"

When I pointed straight in front of me at Hec, Joe nodded enthusiastically. He followed up with "When we destroy one, the crystal usually just gets added to the core district of the Battalion and not split like this. I've actually only ever seen one from afar until seeing the Ward outside Ocala."

"Right. So, Devon, by messing with the normal balance, the Aberrants are skewing the scales against humanity. They turn beasts and humans alike into Tendrils, which means things don't level up like they should and instead bust their Traits into Afflictions or full on conversion. If we don't keep up with our own Territories like Wildwood is slowly managing to do, then when the Aberrants shift their attention or we push them out we are left underpowered for what a 'normal' Attuned Earth can hit back with."

"Ugh. This is why I just scout. Clara is much better at these big brain discussions," the elf complained, rubbing his nose even as Daniela patted his knee for comfort. The obvious PDA made my eye twitch, but I pushed past it. She was grown up, and the conversation required more attention than that particular aggravation would allow.

"To bring this back, it is likely that elementals and Mana Shards are meant to be the balancing agents for Earth. Because the Aberrants are throwing a wrench into the mix, the Metier Crystals had to step in to try to bring it into alignment," I said, summarizing my point regarding the impacts of the multidimensional war I very much tried not to think about. Just because the ants need to focus on the day to day doesn't mean that the soldiers fighting overhead can't drop a grenade on the colony...

As if affirming my conclusion, Hec pinged with a clear note that filled the whole embassy with thick ripple signatures. Everyone at the table except for me and Billy flinched. The youth and I exchanged a glance before looking to Hec. The conversation with the Entity was fast moving up my list of to-do's, but I needed to get everyone in my squad on the level first. "But, whatever the normal balance is doesn't matter. It's not what we have. So, we need to deal with the reality. The Aberrants aren't just wild animals; they are schemers. Wildwood suffered under one of its leaders that had turned, and here in Ocala it is obvious that because they couldn't get enough of a foothold they are resorting to underhanded tactics."

I turned towards Billy and Jolene. "You guys gave us the first red flag."

"The timeframes," Jolene added, nodding.

"What does the timeframe of something matter to what they are doing?" Tucker asked. The Fire Tendril had a frown on his face that would scare a grotesque. "They are hurting us now. Why do we care about before?"

"Because it's not us we need to convince, but the whole of Ocala," Samuel said, placing a calming hand on the man's shoulder. "Ron's intent for calling the conference was meant to bring Hec, and the other large Metier Crystals in general, to the attention of everyone. Even if they aren't on board with what we represent as Dreg Warriors, they need to know they have been exploiting a living thing. If they don't react like the Zebelos and the Nash, then that speaks volumes of them."

"Instead, now we've got to deal with this food that's been rotting in the back of the fridge," Daniela huffed. "If they weren't our neighbors I would just go in guns blazing."

"And what would that accomplish?" I asked, shaking my head and leaning back. Blobby shifted, supporting me perfectly so as to not aggravate my injuries, and I gave the slime a gentle pat. "True, when we beat that Death Aberrant that had been leeching off Gec things got better but where did the Tendrils that survived go? Where did the Appendages go? That one is more concerning for me. Based on what you have described Tucker, on top of the fact that there are dozens of other Tendrils living seemingly ordinary lives, I am inclined to believe you are pawns."

"I'm nobody's pawn!" Tucker yelled, rising to his feet and washing the room in a blaze of heat when his entire upper body ignited. I was wondering why he wasn't wearing a shirt... In response, Jolene dropped a miniature on his head. The sputtering Tendril was yanked back into his seat by his sister, which glared at him through the steam rising off his body. Joe, who'd been sitting besides the Tendril, wiped some of the water off his scales.

"Dude, I'm the youngest one here and even I could tell the boss man was talking in context," the draconian said, shaking his head. "I don't get why you included us three in this conversation though."

"None of this should be secret knowledge. Whether you help us or not, I want us all to be on the level. Which means building our argument, and I want it to get grilled from all perspectives," I said. "The rest of everyone here knows I'm not what we would call the most diplomatic of negotiators."

"That's an understatement," Daniela snorted. The other Bunker Busters, sans my favorite Billy, let out knowing smiles.

"But I don't think I can get out of this one without some extra hands. To be honest, until you guys told me what you discovered I was just going to shove the reality of the situation in their faces and hope for the best. Since you guys took the city by storm while I was in the storm, we can actually come up with a measured approach."

"Who are you and what did you do with my friend?" Samuel asked, covering his mouth as if he were scandalized.

"He got shown a sliver of what is out there, and he didn't like it in the least," I said, bringing the mood rocketing into the underworld. I hadn't wanted that to be the case, but unfortunately it was the reality of the situation. If I had years to build Fievil and my new avian friend, Eurus could have been manageable. If I had a whole team, they would have also been manageable. However, things didn't exist in a vacuum. I needed power yesterday, and that came in the form of existing factions until the Dreg Warriors could hold their own.

"We are with you," Jolene said, placing her soft hand on my forearm. "Let's keep going, then. The timeline."