The sun tucked away behind the horizon while the moon peeped skyward in a crystalline glow over Leoris. A great wooden table was being arranged in the center of town. A round courtyard with enormous pits lit with chrism flame illuminating the terraces and rock trails leading out in all directions. Circling the perimeter was a full battalion of Union troops carrying rifles, swords and spears. Some had even taken guard on top of the surrounding buildings. All the people in town were home with their curtains drawn shut.

A hastily made dinner of stew, potatoes, and charred venison occupied the table. Arata set down a large bag beside him before he took a seat at the head of the table with Kurei to his right. Seated on his left were Keoma, Stokely, Hobe, and Walstaff. Sitting on the opposite side of the table was Cherry, with Desdin to her right and Demalyn to her left. Three chairs were vacant between Kurei and Demalyn and one chair between Desdin and Walstaff, with food laid out before them. The trio of drifters looked impoverished and crushed.

Arata sat with his chin resting on his folded hands. “I will begin with my new friends to my left. You are what remains of the authority of the town is that correct.”

Keoma’s arm was in a sling and Hobe still had his face bandaged from the other day. Stokely had his bare chest wrapped with dressing to cover his wounds. Walstaff was in full deputy gear. Keoma answered him, “There should be another, Ingrid, our new archivist.”

Desdin looked away. Arata grinned before saying, “Well, that is unfortunate. Going through two archivists in the matter of a single day. You will need a new one. I intend to send one of my men from the capital to take their place. Archivist is a delicate role after all. Also, I will have a representative of the newly established Special Guard to come out and take over the matters of the Hunter’s Lodge. It will be a descendant. No disrespect to your decorated muscle bound guy there but your people have been through enough. A descendant could easily handle any future encounters with the Fallen or likewise.”

“Now, with this arrangement, I’m going to ask that all of you disregard any other information you may think you possess about these vagabond saviors. They are who they told you in the beginning. In recognition of their service to the Union, we are planning to return them to the capital. Do I make myself clear?” Arata asked with eyes wide open at the four council members. None of them answered back. Arata continued, “Good, I’m dismissing the four of you. Thank you for your service to the Union.”

Walstaff got up first while raising an eyebrow at the three travelers. He acknowledged them sympathetically and walked away. Keoma passed by Desdin and placed his hand on his shoulder, letting it slide away before leaving him there. Keoma then put his arm around Stokely, who was sulking. Hobe limped up to Cherry and Demalyn. “I have no clue what the hell happened at the lodge. Perched on the hospital rooftop, I watched, bewildered, not understanding what unfolded before me. I appreciate your help all the same. The events that fate is weaving you into are beyond anything I will understand in my lifetime.” He, too, walked away without looking back, knowing he would never see them again.

Arata then rested his head on one hand and snapped his fingers with the other. Tukrit came out from the shadows and sat beside Desdin. The Union soldiers brought out two women and Rabbit in shackles and set them down before removing their restraints. Cherry looked at them with apprehension. “So, here we are. The Dakken Union, The Farland, The Regnum Lux, The Fallen, descendants, and a weird tree woman I can’t explain, all sitting at one table thanks to my efforts. I believe I’ve made history here,” Arata declared.

“I’m about to start and all of you will let me finish without disruption. I enjoy playing card games with high stakes. Most of the time, I play against myself. So, I’m laying every card I hold out, and then I will tell you all the cards in your hands that you can possibly play. Maybe you have one or two up your sleeve, but it doesn’t matter,” Arata said while gesturing with his hands and wearing enjoyment on his face at the sound of his own voice.

“Let’s start with Cherry over there. You were a joke to my team at the capital. We didn’t take you seriously. And your royal family are enablers to your fantasy world of good guy spies and bad guy industrial government. We had no doubt that if we straight out killed you, then there was the possibility that the Lux would use that to start an international affair and drag everyone into it. Because your family adored you. So, we mostly slapped you on the wrist and sent you on your way. I thought we were pushing our luck when we sent you to Ouren’s. I thought it would be amusing if I stuck you on the same train as the Warden there who is also in his own fantasy world but has the devil’s own luck at his beck and call.” Arata looked over at one prisoner that wasn’t eating. “Excuse for a moment, I need to address something that is bothering me.” He walked over to her and bent down. “I warned her friend earlier to use her mouth properly. But she just didn’t listen. Won’t even eat the food I’ve graciously provided in good company.”

Arata grabbed her by the jaw while she stared up at him with hate in her eyes. He jerked her chin forcefully, snapping her neck. She slid back, lifeless, in her seat. A soldier came over and took her body away. Everyone at the dinner table except for Tukrit and Kurei was in shock.

“Now, where was I… Oh! So, your signal, we picked it up last year. I was curious because you were trying to smuggle out two high-value assets out of Dakken. Which I’m going to assume was Desdin here, and tree lady there. I figured I would catch up to you. Which I did. I picked up on your desperate signal right away this year. But that was after I had already captured three of your compatriots that also were using a careless signal in order to find you. Maybe this is a sign that technology developed for the good of all is not as ambitious as the technology we develop to keep the peace. Anyway, they had a message for you and were to extract you if feasible. Every subject from the initial awakening project was dead. Turns out injecting yourself with the world’s power source isn’t exactly healthy. They died from tumors and sickness if they survived the addiction. You were fourth generation in the program, though. So you might have some years left.” As Arata finished his statement, Cherry sat motionless. Rabbit had taken his fork and pried one of his teeth loose and clenched his teeth down hard.

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He lept atop the table with a purple gleam in his eyes. “You’ve said enough. I can’t with you anymore.” He dove at Arata with a blue flame surrounding his fist. Arata rolled back into his chair while everyone stood up. As he flipped over on the ground, Arata pulled a short sword from his bag. He grabbed the prisoner’s foot as he was leaping down from the surface and yanked him down to the ground. Arata made a cutting motion towards the prisoner with the sword. His arm split in two and Arata pulled a second short sword out and decapitated Rabbit. The blades of the two short swords gleamed red with Dragon’s Breath.

Arata placed the swords back in the bag while his men carried off Rabbit’s body. “I knew one of you had to be capable of awakening. I figured it was him. He should have done it before I stripped away his vitality. Hiding a pill of chrism in his tooth is clever. I’m also aware you have multiple methods for doping to reach the state. Injecting it intravenously allows you to use your entire body, making it the best method, correct?”

Cherry was unable to answer him lost in reflection. When she did look up, she was searching for ways to escape with desperate eyes darting around her surroundings. Desdin asked Arata, “Why do you have my swords?”

Arata grinned again. “We confiscated all the warden’s weapons. Those that joined the Special Guard received permission to keep theirs. Esthea gave you the sword that Jonah used to fight with the Oldest Ivalic. It was beyond our ability to repair and we were pretty sure you would die anyway, so we didn’t care at the time. I have to admit, I’m not ambidextrous like you. I’ve practiced with them, but I’m not as good as the rumors would lead me to believe you were.”

“Are you really okay with all of this, Kurei?” Desdin asked.

“Look man, I’m sorry. Some of us had families to go back home to and to take care of. The war ended for the rest of us with Jonah and you laying there. You and Esthea, you guys screwed us in that battle. Most of us blamed you. You can’t help who you love, but she choked in that critical moment because of you. We’ve all moved on and forgiven you. You can come back with us and join the Special Guard. Same deal as when you were a warden. The Guard are all descendants, but you would be a welcome member. The others miss you as well,” Kurei said, pleading with Desdin.

“Touching. You are skipping ahead of my talking points, Kurei, but it is fine. It is getting late, so I should cut to the chase. Tukrit here already knows his place. He is Fallen. He needs my protection to survive in the world. And I pay him by sending him hurtling after all these stray feral beasts that I’m ninety-nine percent sure are the fault of you three. I need to understand your role in the breaking of the Glass Road, and you will explain it to me. In exchange, you come to the capital with me. I will make you an officer in my division Cherry to play your games. Desdin will be in the Special Guard. And the tree lady can join us in research. Because I am entirely in the dark about what the hell you are, but I’m sure I can figure it out. The alternative is that I take you all prisoner here and now. Force you back with me. And then interrogate you.” Arata made quotation marks with his fingers when he said interrogate. “I would imprison you and experiment with you to discover the secrets your bodies hold.”

Arata sat back with his head held high. “I want to know what you did to Ouren also. By the time we got to the prison to attempt to put things together, he had retreated to the depths. And I’m smart enough not to go poking around in the business of the Oldest. So let’s finish the meal, and then in the morning we will board our respective vehicles and we will transport you to the capital where we will have a mutually beneficial contract.”

Cherry looked over at Desdin. “What are our chances?” she asked.

“Not looking good. Two highly skilled descendants. I think our estimates on Arata’s abilities were way too low. Both have Dragon’s Breath. An entire military detachment. Plus, we are beat to hell. Demalyn, how are you doing over there?” Desdin asked.

“Let’s bail,” Demalyn suggested without hesitation while poking around her food.

“Bail,” Cherry uttered, looking at Tukrit. “I should have died a long time ago. As long as I am coming with you, I’ll shake my sword in the direction you point,” Tukrit said.

“Bailing.” Desdin held out his arm straight and stiff with his fist closed. He glared at Arata and said, “The intel Jonah had on you Arata was that you were a sniveling, snot-nosed brat who thought he knew everything. I will take my swords back sometime in the future, you piece of shit. And I’m almost sure Cherry over there is going to tear your heart out. It would be her pleasure to do so and mine to watch. Even the Oldest, whom I hate and you adore, like me more than you. Ouren gave me parting gifts when I left his prison.”

Red rings formed around Desdin’s outstretched arm. “Ignition key.” Arata looked around puzzled and sipped his cup. “Was something supposed to happen when you said that?” Arata asked, grinning yet again. A loud rumbling made the air tremble. The van that the drifters had traveled to Leoris in hurdled through the sky, shaking the windows of the buildings they passed. The citizens of Leoris opened their curtains to the spectacle of a flying vehicle. Arata looked astonished. “Now, that is unexpected.”

The door to the van opened and Cherry and Demalyn jumped in while motioning for the remaining prisoner and Tukrit to join them. Desdin moved to get inside as well. Arata called out to stop him momentarily. “Esthea will be waiting for you in Dragonshead. I’ll be right behind you. The Fallen matriarch told you about it, right? I knew it was there for a while now. I need for Esthea to force her way into the city state to clear the way. And she is acting as I expected she would. As soon as she found the Roots of Dragsil were there, she made an angry bee line there. You don’t disappoint Warden. I can’t wait to see all the crazy shit we will get into once we are all together in Dragonshead,” Arata said calmly.

The van emitted a red glow as the door closed, with Desdin gazing out at Arata and Kurei. It hovered back into the sky and began burning through the night sky towards the west. The Union and the citizens of Leoris all watched in wonder. Hobe looked up and smiled, knowing that they got away. Elsewhere in the city, Keoma and Walstaff were doing the same.

Kurei asked, “Is this okay?”

“

Yea. We got to see something interesting. That van must have been Ouren’s. That may explain how they broke the Glass Road. We need to analyze the readings from the Hunter’s Lodge. I’m surprised Tukrit betrayed us. Something happened there. You mentioned he stayed very close to this Demalyn woman, correct? It is an old name. Very intriguing. And there is still the mystery of the reading of the Oldest before the battle started. We will load up and stop by the capital on our way to Dragonshead. It would be an overwhelming bore if I had been born in any other age, I believe,” Arata said, looking positively gleeful.