For a moment, I panicked. The idea of something that could stretch its soul over an entire world… it was too terrifying to process.

Could even the general pull off such a thing?

Thankfully, it didn’t take me long to remember that I didn’t have to deal with everything on my own.

I was just about to tear into my dimensional bag in search of the communication device I had purchased when my brand flared. Brushing my fingers against it, I received instructions for the troop to meet near a notable restaurant in the western part of the city.

I briefly considered panic-dialing Glaustro anyway, but good sense prevented me. Maybe he was still in a meeting and had simply taken a moment to contact us. No, it was better to wait and convey my worries face-to-face.

Fifteen minutes later, I was pacing anxiously in front of the restaurant, waiting while the other members of my unit slowly trickled in.

It was an appealing setup. The restaurant’s large courtyard was blocked off from the rest of the city by a low fence, which was entwined so thickly in those red vines that it looked more like a hedge. Demons filled the courtyard, each equipped with a large parasol. They sat around elegant tables, chatting pleasantly while waiters flitted about with food and drinks. To top off the ambience, a small waterway cut through the establishment and sent a low mist cascading around people’s feet.

I could see why Glaustro chose the spot for our meeting place, but I couldn’t fully appreciate its appeal with a potentially world-ending secret on my hands.

“You are tense.” One of Mia’s claws poked me in the cheek, and I whirled around to face her.

She grinned like she had pulled off the prank off the century, then tilted her head at me inquisitively. Apparently, she thought she had trained me well enough to answer her questions without further prompting.

And she was right, damn her.

“I’m just a little anxious. Made a small discovery while I was wandering about on my own,” I explained, trying to wave off her concerns with a strained smile.

No point in freaking her out until absolutely necessary. It was enough for one of us to be losing their marbles.

She narrowed her eyes, but shrugged and just started pacing alongside me. Let me tell you, that completely kills the urgency and solemnity of a situation. Mia looked so endearingly serious, so ready to support me. I found myself relaxing simply because she was there.

“Fine, fine,” I eventually conceded. “We can go inside and get a snack or something.”

There wasn’t a single doubt in my mind that she had spent most of the day sampling different local dishes. I was tempted to ask how she had space for more food, but the smile my surrender earned me was enough to make me hold my tongue.

For the life of me, I can’t remember what we ate at the restaurant. I ordered one of the least exotic options I could find. I think it tasted like chicken. The food was good, but my thrumming anxiety left me little to no appetite. I ended up handing more than half of it over to Mia.

Bronwynn arrived shortly after we finished eating. He greeted us, but opted to join a group of demons he appeared to be close to. I had a sneaking suspicion he chose their table because a certain ice demoness was sitting there, but I held my curiosity in check.

Finally, finally, Glaustro showed up. He looked mighty pleased with himself, even if he was accompanied by his brother.

“Our intel has earned us enough recognition to be granted a compound,” the demon announced. “So, if you’ll follow me, we can get settled in.” Without another word, he turned and started walking away.

I valiantly resisted the urge to screech in frustration.

What was it with demonic officers making their announcements and then flouncing off like no one else mattered? I wasn’t sure, but I resolved that if I ever got enough power to claim an official standing in the legion, I would do things differently.

I would probably still flounce, of course. But I’d at least bother to ask if anyone had any questions first.

In the end, I didn’t have to wait long. Our destination was just a few blocks away, and it was nice. The compound didn’t have a separate home for the commander, but the dorm looked more like a very fancy hotel rather than a military installation. There were even servants waiting inside to offer their assistance with chores and gear maintenance.

The sight reminded me of my favorite hotel. For a moment, I almost considered ditching the place in favor of Apple Infernal. Then I glimpsed the two demon brothers heading up the main spiral staircase, and the reality of my situation reasserted itself.

“Can you please claim a room for me, too?” I asked Mia hurriedly. “I need to talk to the commander, and I would rather we don’t end up on opposite sides of the building.

The cat girl blinked languidly at me, then nodded. “I’ll be exploring the second floor for a nice room, so look for me there afterwards. East side.”

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She was as succinct as ever, but that just made me smile. Even if the world was falling apart around us, I could count on Mia to be calm.

Wait, that’s not quite true, is it? I mused as I wove between chattering demons, making my way up the staircase. I had seen Mia look panicked and angry before. The chewing-out she gave me when I almost died was particularly impressive.

Even the cat-lady can lose control sometimes.

Then the sight of my targets just one floor up drove all other thoughts from my mind. I decided to be rude and take the stairs two at a time.

“Commander! Please, wait!”

Glaustro turned with a furrowed brow, then relaxed when he realized who was approaching him.

“Ah, Hayden. Good timing, actually. I would have needed to talk to you sooner rather than later. Come along, we can have a chat in my quarters.”

I almost opened my mouth to tell him there was no time, and that whatever he wanted from me could wait. But that wasn’t true. The legion had been fighting the war on Lagyel for months now. As far as I understood things, the sand had been a factor the whole time. If it was a scheme by the jinn, then it didn’t seem to be a fast-acting one.

What were the chances their trap would close just because I took a few extra minutes to be polite?

I forced myself to relax a tiny bit. Informing someone of a potential threat? Absolutely a good idea. Screaming about it in my commander’s face? That was taking things a step too far.

So, I shut up and followed them up the stairs to predictably fancy accommodations. The entire top floor was one single, massive suite. From the large central chamber, I could peek through the many open doors into the surrounding rooms. I glimpsed an office, a luxurious bedroom, and a glamorous pool-like bath before Glaustro closed the suite’s main door and reclaimed my attention.

He settled into one of the central chamber’s plush couches with a contented sigh. “Right, then. Before I get into why I wanted to talk to you, you had something to tell me?”

“Well… yes.”

I hesitated, my mouth suddenly very dry. What if they knew about this already? What if it was just an odd trait of the sand, and it was one of the reasons the legion valued it so much? For all I knew, it was a soul-like substance demons liked to huff or whatever.

“On with it, then,” Glaustro urged, an amused smile on his face. He seemed to have misunderstood the reason for my hesitation, because he followed up with, “If you have some kind of request to make of me, don’t hesitate. I can tell you now that unless it’s excessive, I would feel inclined to help you.”

“No, no, it’s just…” I took a deep breath, fidgeting with my hands like a schoolboy as I scooted to the very edge of my seat. “I visited the Absorption Station today, and I upgraded my sword.”

Glaustro blinked. “Congratulations?”

I winced. I was messing this up. “Thank you. However, after I did that, it made me… introspective, so… I was thinking about some of the stuff that happened, and I remembered our fight against the golem, as well as our arrival on this world. When we got here, I was curious about how tough the sand was, you see. I found one of those large, rough grains, the ones you can really roll around between your fingers, you know? And I tried to cut it with my sword.”

Glaustro’s amusement seemed to increase at my mention of the golem, but switched to confusion as I meandered. “Go on…”

“Well… my sword cut it. Effortlessly. Except, well, the blade was extremely dull at the time. And then we fought those scorpion things, and, well…”

I trailed off again, then simply decided to do a show-and-tell. I pulled out one of the exoskeletons, then drew my sword. Both brothers gasped in admiration at the sight of the weapon, but they frowned as I ran my blade over the scorpion piece with no effect. I followed that up by extracting one of the aforementioned large sand-grains, then easily sliced a small piece of it off.

“See? The problem is… my sword is only this effective against living things. Things with a soul,” I wrapped up anxiously.

I watched as they slowly processed my proclamation.

If their suddenly grim faces weren’t indication enough that something was definitely wrong, what happened next clinched it.

Alert!

You have a new Merit added to your service record:

Lagyel, world exploration (Ascendant Merit x1)

I stared blankly at the notification. “Why did I just get an Ascendant Merit? I’ve been stressing over this for a while now!”

My exclamation only made the brothers more tense. Glaustro outright cursed, while Graighast scowled deeply.

It was the latter who answered my question. “The Abyss does not pay attention to every individual soldier all at once. It can’t. It does, however, keep track of acknowledged military officials. That’s why merits register once you share information with them.”

“And the fact that the Abyss reacted means this information is both new and important,” Glaustro added, cursing again. He turned to his brother. “You realize we’re going to have to talk to the lieutenant general again, right? And this time, he might not be happy with what we have to say.”

Graighast grimaced. “At least we found out now. Still… do you think it’s all of the sand that’s affected by this? If I followed Hayden’s story correctly, the last time he performed this… test was near your original entry point to Lagyel. That was close to a city. Very close. Could they be doing something to monitor our settlements?”

“That would only be slightly better,” Glaustro retorted, looking constipated now. “Sure, we wouldn’t have to worry about the entire world’s worth of sand coming alive to obliterate us. But it would mean all of our intelligence, our troop movement… it’s all been under enemy observation. And let’s not forget Crewe just ordered our troops to mass nearby in preparation for the march on that jinn base. If the sand is the work of the jinn, then they’ll know immediately. Our cities would be vulnerable to ambushes, too.”

“This could be how they knew where to attack us in the first place,” Graighast mused, his scowl deepening. “Other than the city you reinforced, all our settlements that have been attacked were either wiped out or reclaimed by the jinn. They knew those cities were only lightly defended.”

I was getting used to Glaustro cursing like a sailor, but he broke out particularly foul phrases for the occasion. “The lieutenant general will be furious. Furious. And we need to tell him.” Glaustro paused, then visibly shook himself. “At least we’ll be the ones to alert him. Even if he loses his temper, we won’t bear the blame. If anything, he’ll probably reward us. I do pity the scout division, though.”

Even Graighast looked grim on behalf of those demons. “We can expect this to blow up, yes. Give me a moment. I need to make a call to see if Crewe can meet with us right now. He’s busy, what with all the prep, but I’ll make sure we at least set a meeting time, and soon.”

We watched the solemn demon stride into the office space and shut the door behind him. Glaustro rose and started pacing, still muttering curses under his breath.

I, meanwhile, felt like a burden had been lifted from my shoulders. The situation wasn’t ideal, but I had done my job.

It was up to much more powerful individuals to prepare us now.