I froze, and my vines froze with me. A woman took this chance to swing a saber at my neck.

“Cease!” Brian bellowed. His words boomed, making the broken glass on the ground shatter again. Golden robes covered body, which had put on a fair bit of muscle since the last time I saw him. A square jaw and wide shoulders would’ve made him look like a young ruler, if not for his covered eyes.

The saber wielder tugged back on her blade as hard as she could. The saber stopped a centimeter from my throat. She stumbled into me, almost knocking me over. She crawled down the disk, somehow keeping her head down the entire time. She groveled in front Brian, “I’m sorry!”

He ignored her and stepped forward. His foot hit her groveling face, and he tripped, “Huh?”

His upper body tipped forward. Er Yi lunged and stabilized him. “Your Majesty, are you alright?”

The lady on the floor rubbed her face into the dirt. “I’m sorry!” She cried, “I’m sorry!”

Brian stepped forward again, “Vincent! Is that really you?”

I hopped from the wheel and landed in front of him. “I thought I’d take longer to find you,” I smiled.

He chuckled. The chuckles became laughs. The laughs became guffaws. Tears poured down his face. “Five months! I finally found somebody from my old class, and it’s you!”

“Father,” Jing said behind me. “Do you trust him?”

“Yeah,” I pointed at the sky, “and the school is coming.”

Jing waved her hand dismissively, “Esha’ll take care of it.” She turned to Esha, “Tell them we captured the king, and they surrendered to us.”

The snake slipped off my neck and slithered under Esha. He transformed into a dragon and they flew away.

I took a closer look at Brian. I’ve known him since preschool, but I’d never seen him cry. I wasn’t surprised though. Spending a week alone had been enough to make me hopeless. He’d spent five months. I hugged him, “Let’s go somewhere more peaceful.” I motioned at the broken metal and glass that littered the floor. I realized he couldn’t see my gestures, and I stopped.

I was about to lead him away when a different voice interjected, “I was wondering why she told me now would be a good time to talk to you.”

Allison was sitting on a decorative boulder not far from us. The boulder’s weight anchored it to the earth. The grass and everything else had been blown away by the fight. She talked confidently, but she wouldn’t make eye contact with me. Her red hair reached her torso this time, and she wore a matching red tunic.

“You two gay?” she asked.

I stared at her. What a question to ask. This confirmed it, she had zero social skill. “No, we’re not. Now, what are you here for?”

“Who’s this?” Brian asked.

“Allision. You know, from our physics class. She’s not with me, and I don’t know why she’s here.” I did know why she was here though, because of my talk with Mark.

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“So,” her eyes decided my feet were a good place to stay. “A bunch of us teleported, and I’m planning a gathering so we can meet each other. Could you two come?” A brief pause. “Uh, please?”

I said, “When is it? And where? And why?”

“In five days and at noon, at the top of the Grand Flame City’s central volcano.” She seemed to gain a bit of confidence, sitting up straighter and her eyes lifting to my chin. “And it’s because I’m afraid. I don’t want us to fight. You’re all too powerful. Anything you guys do will involve too many people and cause too much destruction.”

I softened. Allison was like me, just trying to avoid a fight. Maybe I should give her some more credit.

“I’m too weak to keep peace on my own. Please come,” she said. I glanced at Jing, who was staring at the ground, refusing to look at me. I had to go. Sophia would be there, and chances were they would create a plan to kill Jing if I didn’t stop them. “Thanks for listening. I’ll leave now.”

“I’ll be there,” I called when she got up to leave. She smiled and walked away.

I turned back to Brian. “Isn’t that great? We might be able to prevent all the fights in the future-” I stopped, remembering he was the one who attacked the school. I frowned at him. I would need to ask him about that. “Come on, let’s get to my place.”

His tears and laughing had stopped. He responded to me calmly, “Sure, let’s go.” He reached back with his hand and beckoned his army. “Come. These are friends.”

A horse climbed out of the wreckage. Its fur glowed bright orange, and flames came out of its nostrils. Brian climbed on. I lead him to my mansion where Hui Ming was still hiding.

We entered our living room and I sat on one of the leather couches, guiding Brian to sit as well. Jing took the chance to plop down next to me. The horse stayed outside, but the rest of his soldiers came in with us. “You guys can go wherever you want in this mansion.”

They looked at me but didn’t move until Brian said, “Go.” They spread throughout the mansion, leaving us alone. Light came from the oversized windows and the glowing rock hanging from the ceiling. Sounds of Jing’s animals playing outside made it into the room. My hands rubbed the couches. As expected, they had just the right amount of bounce.

“I’m happy to see you again,” I hunched over, “but that wasn’t the best way for us to meet.”

“No, it wasn’t,” he agreed.

I gripped his arm, just enough to make it painful. “Why did you attack the school? One of my students died.” Unlike me, Brian almost never lied, especially about important things. I could trust his answer, no matter what it was.

“I get it,” he tensed his forearm. I let go. “Get the leech!” he yelled. A girl in a short black skirt dashed in, placed a slimy leech in Brian’s lap, and dashed out. It was the same finger-sized leech that tried to poison me at the Black Library. He placed it on the underside of his forearm, which was covered with circular scars. He winced, leaving the leech for a few seconds before taking it off. Blood trickled down his arm.

He took out a rag to plug the blood flow. “I’m guessing everybody got a unique ability, and yours can control plants.”

“Yeah.”

“Watch.” The leech spit a pool of blood onto the floor. The blood wiggled and expanded on the hardwood floor, taking the form of a fifteen year old girl. “Go upstairs with the others,” Brian commanded.

“As you wish,” she bowed and walked away.

“That girl I just created is one of the weakest soldiers I’ve created because she was for demonstration, but you get the idea. My ability allows me to create soldiers. In other words, it’s the perfect ability to take control of a place and improve it. And that’s why I was attacking the school,” he said. I didn’t respond, so he continued. “You know. Weaken it here and there, then take it over.”

“You killed hundreds,” I said, “and that’s your excuse?”

“A few lives don’t matter in the big picture, and we’re in the big picture now. I can’t do anything without killing a few hundred people. Just imagine us as giants, literally as tall as mountains. We wouldn’t be able to take a single step without killing a few squirrels or raccoons,” he said. “Look, you can’t expect me to do anything on a large scale without killing people. It’s just not possible. You’ve killed for your own goals too.”

I glowered at him, although I knew he couldn’t see it. “Sucks. You’re not touching this school. You already killed one of my students. You’re not doing anything else.”

“I may have stepped another giant’s pinky toe,” he whispered audibly. He put his hands up and raised his voice back to normal, “I get it. Damnit. All that work, straight down the drain.”

“May I ask you a question?” said Jing.

“Sure. Who are you, though? Did you call Vin your father?” he asked. Jing told him about our relationship. Brian nodded after she finished, “I understand now. What were you gonna ask me?”

“Why did you send that fire mage to get captured by me?” she asked.

“Strategic reasons. The school and The Family were being pains in my side. The school had seven Dao Journey experts on their side, so I had to get them off my back. I knew Geodude-”

I was supposed to be mad, but I couldn’t resist cracking a smile. “You call your rock elemental Geodude?”

“As if you could come up with anything better. Anyway, I knew Geodude was calling me his king when you guys interrogated him, and I also knew you guys would be more afraid of attacking a king, so I sent people to be captured. I commanded them to talk about serving a king after being captured. There were other reasons too, but that’s all that’s important.”

“How about when father overheard your people talking at the square ranked student’s mansion?” she asked.

“That was you?” he said. I guess it wasn’t planned, then.

“One more question,” Jing said.

“Ask away.”

“I think you’re kinda schemey and evil, but that’s ok." She pat her chest, "We'll fix you. Can you be my uncle?”