“Ariock?”

Garrett’s distant voice was tinny and miniscule. It came through an earpiece, and it had to filter through Ariock’s vastly expanded awareness.

Ariock began the process of consolidating and compacting himself. Part of him was clouds. Part of him was marsh water. He was air, he was grass, he was mud, he was the living limbs of trees.

He withdrew and withdrew some more.

“Are you done over there?” Garrett asked. “Can I have a word in private?”

Ariock was not done. The brine-soaked wetlands were littered with debris from his tornados and waterspouts, but the Torth fleet continued to pound his Hero Fleet.

At least the local Torth were uncoordinated. They had no leader. Zai had teleported next to the Torth in charge, and beheaded him with an ionic bladed scimitar. Torth never saw her coming.

She was fast becoming Ariock’s favorite warrior.

“Where are you?” Ariock asked. He figured that Garrett was in the nearest secured free city. The old codger insisted on being on the same planet as Ariock, even when he wasn’t slated for battle. He had spent the past few days ghosting around on Earth in search of Thomas.

“TriSolstice City,” came the distant voice.

Sure enough.

“I’m near the mayoral lounge.” Garrett sounded tired. “In the tallest tower near the spaceport.”

If Garrett’s powers were drained from clairvoyance, then his life spark would not stand out as a vivid blaze. Ariock might need to ghost around to find his exact location.

“See you in five to ten minutes.” Ariock slogged across spongy ground. Mud sucked at his armored boots up to his calves. After being a titan who encompassed miles of air and terrain, his armor felt too heavy, his body too small.

The Torth of Mixed Marsh MetroHub were cut off from any possibility of aid. Their supplies and vehicles belonged to Ariock now, and their slaves were in full rebellion. They were conquered. Their military ranks just hadn’t fully admitted it yet.

People jumped in surprise when Ariock appeared in the makeshift headquarters inside a city spire. He was used to surprise. In some ways, his near-unlimited raw power was embarrassing. Frequent teleportation was like flaunting immense wealth, like arriving in a private jet.

“Do you have the conquest in hand?” Ariock asked the pilot commandant. “I need to leave for a bit.”

“The city is ours, Bringer of Hope.” The ummin hopped onto the rim of a morph fountain so he could face Ariock without needing to crane his head all the way back. “We couldn’t have done it without you.”

Ariock doubted that. It would have all gone wrong if Zai, plus a contingent of three warriors, had not rounded up every Rosy Rank in the city. The Hero Fleet was doing everything else. All Ariock had to do was act intimidating.

Well, perhaps he had prevented a few Torth from escaping.

“All of the Torth are on the inhibitor?” Ariock wanted to make sure.

“They are.” The commandant looked proud. “I have specialists scanning them with telepathy gas right now. They’ll sort out which ones are truly dangerous.”

Ariock could not help but marvel at how much things had changed. A few months ago, he never would have imagined ummins using telepathy in order to evaluate captive Torth. They were filling a role which used to be solely Thomas’s job, determining which Torth might become loyal penitents, and which Torth hid nefarious powers.

“Most of the Torth here surrendered even before their slaves rebelled!” the commandant said. “Isn’t that remarkable? The kneelers are becoming more common.”

“It is remarkable,” Ariock agreed.

His forces were winning battles again, even without Thomas’s genius plans. That was something to celebrate.

But Ariock knew it wouldn’t last. He kept having that recurring nightmare about the Death Architect and her bomb. She was out there. Scheming.

And the Torth Empire still owned ninety million planets; most of the habitable galaxy.

Maybe Garrett had good news to share? Perhaps he had found some hint of where Thomas might be hiding?

“Keep up the good work,” Ariock told the commandant. “And thank you.”

With that, he ghosted several hundred miles, across hummocks and islands and waterways that reflected the three moons of Umdalkdul. There was TriSolstice City, glittering like a jewel in the night. Ariock found the mayoral lounge. He flitted through adjacent rooms as fast as an eye blink.

Garrett sat alone in a zen-like meditation lounge with shallow canals and rock gardens and subdued orb lights.

Ariock avoided the shimmers of water. Anything reflective messed with clairvoyance. Even his armor was burnished, so he would not be too big a target for Torth assassins.

He had to focus high up, next to a sandstone wall. He pulled his body through to that location and fell heavily to the stone floor.

“Finally!” Garrett clasped his silvery staff. He looked like a delighted old wizard.

“What’s the news?” Ariock asked.

“I found the boy!” Garrett said excitedly. “Kessa was right. He’s on Earth.”

Ariock instantly forgot all his worries. Everything else seemed insignificant. “You found Thomas?” He kept his tone low, aware that his deep rumbling voice could carry through walls.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Yep. I caught sight of him in Mongolia, if you can believe it.”

“Mongolia?” Ariock wondered if Garrett could be mistaken. Thomas had no ties to anyone on the Asian continent, as far as Vy knew.

That was why Ariock had only scanned New England. He had spent several nights ghosting in and out of the homes, schools, restaurants, malls, parks, ski lodges, lakes, and other locations which Vy had said Thomas had visited. Ariock had thoroughly explored the Dovanack mansion, which now looked like a haunted fortress, home to mice and bats.

He’d found no hints.

That was when he’d brought Garrett in on the search. The old man had the raw power, skill, and inclination to ghost in circles across Earth while Ariock teleported fleets and won battles.

“Are you sure?” Ariock asked. Garrett wouldn’t joke about something as important as this. Would he?

Garrett snorted. “Well, I wasn’t sure at first. The boy’s dressed like a native tribesman. I had to scan three times before I confirmed it was really him.”

“Okay.” Ariock still felt skeptical, but he was also excited. He missed talking with his friend. Plus, he really wanted to make sure Thomas was all right. “Where is he, exactly? Wait. You didn’t bother him, did you?”

“No,” Garrett said. “I think you’re right about that. He’s more likely to listen to a friend than to me.”

That was good.

“Show me where he is, on a globe,” Ariock commanded.

“I’m not so good at holographic illusions,” Garrett said, but he concentrated. A pipe appeared out of thin air. Once it was lit, he blew smoke.

The smoke took shape into a foggy white approximation of Earth.

The globe turned, showing Asia. Bubbly protrusions indicated mountains. Flat sweeps hinted at desert regions. Smoke curled around the hinted outlines of lakes and oceans.

Garrett used the pipestem to point at an empty slash. “That’s Lake Baikal.”

“Is that where Thomas is?”

“No,” Garrett said. “It’s just the nearest landmark. The boy’s more than five hundred miles to the south and east.” He wagged his pipe, and mist swirled into a knot around a nondescript location on the globe. “The middle of nowhere.”

Ariock tried to memorize the map. “Okay. Is he near a town? Are there any other landmarks?”

“Well, there’s the Khentii mountain range,” Garrett said in a dry tone. “But he’s not on a pilgrimage to the sacred tomb of Genghis Khan or anything like that. He’s about fifty miles from there, just roaming the wilderness by himself.”

Ariock wondered if he should be wary of any threats to his friend. Might there be dangerous Torth on Earth? Was that why Thomas was in such an unpredictable location?

As Ariock thought about it, he realized that Earth was likely rife with Servants of All. Some powerful rogues might fake being an American or a Brazilian or a Turkish citizen, rather than getting ordered into deadly battle at the behest of the Torth Majority—or getting consigned to the Mirror Prison and turned into zombies.

“Weird, right?” Garrett said.

Ariock didn’t think that anything was necessarily strange for Thomas. “I might need a few hours to assess his situation before I go to him.”

“Definitely,” Garrett said. “But, uh, I might have tipped the boy off.”

Ariock should have expected as much. Thomas was just about impossible to sneak up on. Still. “How?” he asked.

“My sphere of influence is not insignificant,” Garrett said.

“You were there?” Ariock narrowed his eyes. He had commanded Garrett to stay away from Thomas, should he successfully find the boy.

“How do you think I could find him?” Garrett said defensively. “I had to scan eight billion humans, and the quickest way was to assess their life sparks. Don’t worry. I didn’t let him see me. There was no contact.”

Ariock tried to relax.

“Earth is crawling with intense life sparks, by the way,” Garrett said.

That confirmed it. Hundreds or even thousands of Torth military ranks were creeping around Ariock’s homeworld. They were blending in with humans, perhaps even murdering them. Or breeding with them? Ugh. It was almost enough to give Ariock a mission, except he did not want to accidentally spark a Yeresunsa battle on Earth.

“The boy’s keeping himself somewhat drained of power,” Garrett said, “so his sphere of influence is very low key. Very hard to detect. Mostly, he blends in with the local wildlife. I mean herds of cattle. Horses. Goats. Wild gazelles.”

Ariock studied Garrett anew. No wonder his great-grandfather was exhausted. He must have visited Earth repeatedly, searching for that proverbial needle in a haystack.

“It’s a miracle I found him at all,” Garrett admitted. “It was just lucky timing. I happened to scan that region in the pre-dawn hours, when his powers must have replenished a little bit, after sleep. He stood out slightly. Very slightly.”

“Ah,” Ariock said. It seemed Thomas really did not want to be found.

If the Torth on Earth were busily scanning for ultra powerful life sparks…? Ariock’s sphere would wash out all others on the planet. That would be a dead giveaway that he had arrived, and that he cared about Earth.

“I’ll have to wear the new inhibitor patch when I go,” Ariock realized.

“Did you actually test it on yourself?” Garrett asked with disapproval. He probably thought the Twins had weaponized the patches in some traitorous way.

“Of course.” Ariock had tried out one of the stickers, and it had suppressed his powers. When he peeled it off, he regained his full power instantly, rather than having to wait three days. It worked like magic.

“You’ll need to be extra cautious.” A dark undertone in Garrett’s voice hinted at misgivings. “The Torth might detect you in the moments before you slap the inhibitor patch on, so you can’t spend too long enjoying a wilderness sabbatical. Just grab the boy and leave.”

Ariock gave his great-grandfather an annoyed look. Thomas was not a slave. He needed to be persuaded to return, not browbeaten.

Garrett sucked on his pipe. He seemed to be holding in a lot of possible criticisms or warnings. The fact that he was quiet…

Well, that made his intentions obvious.

“I don’t want you to spy on me,” Ariock warned, “while I’m on Earth.”

Garrett gave him a defiant stare. “I won’t—”

“Whatever conversation I have with Thomas,” Ariock said firmly, “it’s private. I don’t want you listening in.”

Garrett’s brows knitted in a deep frown. “Ariock, you’re going into enemy territory without your powers. I hope you realize that Earth is a danger zone right now. There are a zillion Torth champions who would love to—”

“I’ll have a supercom,” Ariock broke in. “In case of emergency. But I don’t want you there in any way, shape, or form.”

Garrett looked pained. “Don’t you think you might need backup?”

Maybe. But Thomas needed safety more than Ariock did, and he wouldn’t feel safe if Garrett was spying.

“I wouldn’t interrupt, I promise,” Garrett said. “I’d be out of sight, out of mind. But I need to protect you. You’re my great-grandson.”

“No.” Ariock considered pleading with Garrett to respect his privacy, but he was sick of pleading for his great-grandfather to be reasonable. Garrett ought to know that eavesdropping was disrespectful.

Wasn’t that how Garrett’s relationship with his daughter had soured? The old man had kept spying on Rose, ostensibly to keep her safe. His overprotectiveness had backfired. Rose had learned to mistrust and then even hate her father.

Yet Garrett continued to believe that his methods were the best. He saw himself as a guru, a wizard, a mentor, when he was actually a screw-up.

Perhaps he was just too corrupted by power?

“You’re right.” Garrett seemed to shrink. “You are absolutely right. I won’t spy on you.”

Ariock felt guilty. He stood within Garrett’s telepathy range, and he had forgotten to censor his thoughts.

Oh well.

In truth, he hated the need to revise and edit his own thoughts. That was one of the main problems he had with telepathy gas. The stuff was humiliating. With mind reading, it was far too easy to offend someone, or humiliate someone, by accident. Was it any wonder the Megacosm had turned toxic over the eons?

“Sorry.” Ariock did regret his unintentional insults. “But I think there’s good reason for you to not eavesdrop on my visit to Thomas. I need you to protect our lands while I’m gone. You should be focused on Freedomland and the rest of our cities.”

Garrett’s face creased in a rueful smile. “All right. You can count on me.”

“Thank you.” Ariock gently laid a hand on Garrett’s shoulder. “And thanks for finding him. And everything. You took on a lot of burdens while I…” It was difficult to admit. “While I wallowed in guilt and self-pity.”

Garrett gave a short laugh. “You’re a Dovanack. That’s what we do.”

Ariock offered a tentative smile. “And we’re protectors.” That was why Garrett worried for him.

“We are.” Garrett smiled up at him. “I know you’ll bring the boy back, safe and well.”