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Vector 6: Capital Conundrum (Part 1)

Vector 6: Capital Conundrum (Part 1)

Excerpt from “Ludocanis Malus” by Sidinius Nox

The Malus is the smallest Species of the Canis family. Observations have shown that the Malus tends to hunt in packs with a clearly defined hierarchy of one Alpha Male and multiple females it uses to breed.

It originates in the Nova Ludo valley in the western part of Gallahan, that is also where you can find the largest population of Malus throughout most of the year. The Ludocanis Malus however is not a settling Species.

The pack will migrate between different places throughout the year that it uses to hunt, occasionally using spots that another pack has marked as their own, if the other pack was wiped out.

Malus’s primary sustenance is young representatives of any species, though most packs seem to focus on human children. The way the pack hunts is a chilling mastery of using their vocal cords to lure children by mimicking the sounds of playful laughter and noises of a group of children playing.

Every five years every pack gathers in the Nova Ludo valley to breed and spread out the population from packs that grew too big over to the smallest packs. The event is known as Varrakh Naruth.

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We arrive at Varsh a couple of hours later and the town looks half dead as we make it through, its density steadily increasing the further in we go. The population is sparse at first glance with most people looking pale, distraught. They cough and hack occasionally, snorting to later spit out the liquid filling their sinuses.

There’s an ever present smell here, one that you grow very familiar with if you’ve been sick for a long time. It’s a stench of snot, sweat and lack of hygiene. Nyxie is actively covering her nose and even Valerie and Xerra seem repulsed by it, clearing their throat from time to time.

After venturing deep into Varsh, we make our way through what seems to be the town square. Comparing it to Nova Vertex… It’s sad, there are market stalls around it but they are completely empty of any merchandise with nobody tending to them .

Once through the square, we split off from the main road onto a small walkway towards a large, brick house with a simple red roof on top of it. Upon entering, it became obvious we’ve reached the Inn we’d be staying at for the night.

- “Afternoon! Spotter Consensus, we’d like to rent two rooms please.” - Xerra walks up to the concierge sitting behind a desk.

They chat for a little bit, an exchange of money for a key is made and the man leads us upstairs. After a brief explanation on where the bathroom is and how to use it, he points us to our rooms and lets us be, going back down the stairs.

- “My and Nyxie stay here. You two get the room all for yourselves.” - Xerra throws Valerie a key and unlocks her room.

- “Maybe we should get three rooms? I’m not entirely sure it’s a good idea for a guy to share a room with a woman…?” - My protests are met with a glance from Valerie and Xerra stops just as she’s about to submerge into her place.

- “Valerie can handle herself and it’d be worse if you were to stay with Nyxie. Just enjoy the rest of the day, yeah?” - She then promptly heads inside with Nyxie in tow.

- “Alrighty then. After you.” - I wave Valerie towards the door.

She promptly unlocks it and enters, I follow her inside.The room is thin but very deep. A single, boarded up window adorns the wall with lit candles placed here and there to add some light. It’s a dimly lit room. There’s a single desk by one of the walls and the beds are placed opposite from each other by the left and right wall, right in the middle of the room. Between them there’s enough space for two people to move through.

Valerie, feeling more at home than I thought, throws her backpack onto the right bed and plops down next to it. I pick the remaining bed and follow suit.

- “Now, there’s an entire day of nothing. We can’t even go out and explore.” - Valerie slumps her shoulders and begins rummaging through her backpack. After a few seconds she pulls out a towel and throws it to the side.

- “I know you don’t have to, but you can help me with training if you’d like?” - It’s a perfect opportunity to get some push ups in.

- “What do you have in mind?” - She tilts her head with a raised eyebrow.

- “Well, I want to do some push ups, you could sit on my back while I do so?” - Her slight smirk gives it away but it disappears quickly. She stands up.

- “Come on then, not many people got to feel my Efi butt on their back!” - She stands like a champ, propping her hands atop her hips.

I take off my gear and throw my shirt onto the bed. The bandages are no longer useful so I start taking them off as well. My back’s turned to Valerie but I can hear a short ekhm from her.

- “What is it?” - I look over where the hole in my stomach was and it’s more or less gone, only a slight scar remains.

- “Why shirtless? Weren’t you all about feeling weird being with a girl in a room?” - Valerie blushes when I turn around.

- “I was, but Xerra said you can handle yourself. Do I look weird or something? I shouldn’t be dirty or anything?” - I look over my torso, Valerie turns her side to me and blushes some more.

- “It’s fine! Get to it.” - She waves her right hand up and down at me.

I get on the floor, supporting my weight with my arms and take a deep breath, a few seconds later a warm touch of Valerie’s hand can be felt on my back. It’s a little bit distracting, while she slowly makes herself at home on my back.

Up to this point I never got this close to Valerie, and if I did, I had other things to think about. She smells very sweet, even though we walked for hours today. The smell is gentle and it tickles my nose as I begin doing push ups.

- “Why didn’t you just ask me to increase your weight?” - Valerie pokes my side which nearly takes me off balance.

- “Would it be this fun if I did? Are you not entertained?”

- “I’ll admit, it is like being on a boat, up and down, up and down.” - Valerie shifts a little bit, making herself more comfortable, the fabric of her dress slides along my shoulders.

- “I wouldn’t know. Never been on one.”

- “What do you mean? You’ve had to get on one to get to Nova Vertex from where you’re from. Unless you took the long way on foot?” - Oh shit! I forgot that I gave her Eleanor’s backstory!

- “You’re right! I was on a boat back then, just so much has happened that I barely remember…” - Crisis averted.

- “Right, it’s been a few tough weeks. Quite intense indeed.” - Valerie slaps my sides a couple of times. - “Come on buddy, you’re not going down all the way!”

- “I’m trying, your butt is distracting me…!” - Valerie’s movements stop for a second after my remark and I can’t help but take a moment myself. - “Sorry, I didn’t mean…”

- “It’s alright! Nobody’s ever said anything about it. Efi’s look like kids for a large part of their lives sooo… you know.”

- “It’s not that you’re fat, okay?” - Valerie chuckles and I continue doing my push ups.

- “Shush! Tell me this instead. I was wondering if you ever used your power to feel me or Xerra out at any point?” - She asks a good question now that I think about it.

- “The only time I did it was during the sparring you had with me? Just before we hit the Ludocanis.” - Why didn’t I try to feel their underlying feelings before? I use it on Nyxie daily during training but…

- “So you never tried it on me after? What did you feel from me then? Anything interesting?”

- “That you don’t feel anything during fights? At least not anything I could make out.” - She was cold as ice back then. Kinda scary.

- “I’ve never seen a power like that. Do you feel something more when you heal? Like when you healed up Nyxie’s arm a couple of days ago?” - She shifts on my back as I continue doing push ups, I can feel her gaze on the back of my head.

- “I feel what the person feels, at least it seemed like it at the time. My arm hurt for a while after as if it was the one broken.”

- “That must’ve been hard…” - Her voice turns to a somber note.

The pain from healing Nyxie is nothing compared to what I did to her. I’d handle all the pain she carries around if I could… I keep this to myself though.

- “Not that hard. Why are you asking? Want me to dig into you and see what you’re feeling?”

- “NO! Absolutely not! You’ll find some dark shit in there and… Nothing, just don’t do it!” - She quickly shoots down my suggestion.

- “Suit yourself. I’m a good listener, you know? You can always talk to me if you’d rather I don’t rummage through your head.”

- “I know Leshy. You’re a wonderful person.”

There’s a moment of silence, a small eternity where this simple, mundane compliment shoves itself into our heads and starts eating away.

- “You too, I would’ve been dead by now if not for you.” - I shift my body a little bit and Valerie slides off, hitting the ground with a thump. - “That’s enough push ups for now.

We’re side by side, our shoulders brushing against one another and our gazes meet. Her smell becomes intense, overwhelming my nose with how sweet it is. A magnet pulls out faces closer and closer, but it wasn’t meant to be this time.

- “Ekhm!” - Valerie clears her throat, her face is completely red and she covers her mouth with the palm of her hand. - “I’m going to have a bath…~”

Valerie’s perspective…

I quickly grab my towel and scoot out of the steaming hot room. Oh my god… That was too close, I almost let it slip away there.

After entering the open bathroom I knock on a marked spot on the wall and the large, metal tub in the middle of it fills with hot, foamy water. I slam the door closed behind me with a loud clack by mistake, my hands are a little shaky right now.

I glance over at the mirror at the corner of the bathroom. The clothes quickly get thrown away into a cleaning box. I kick it to begin the cleaning process and walk over to the mirror. I’m so small… He must see me more like Nyxie.

My eyes wander along my non-existent curves. I don’t look like a child, more like a small twenty something woman. Everything’s in its right place but… My face gets hot.

I wonder if he likes how I look… I mean, Xerra’s a tall woman, a real woman. My arms are like twigs and my… assets are not that impressive either.

With a sigh I turn around and go to the tub, dipping my toe and then one leg in, then another, finally submerging myself into the hot water which relaxes my body.

I spend the next couple of minutes scrubbing myself, getting off all the dirt and sweat accumulated over the past couple of days. Luckily unlike Xerra I don’t have to shave so that’s nice! Points to the Efi.

Once I’m done with the matters of cleanliness I submerge myself even more, all the way to the neck with only my head sticking out. My head rests on the edge of the bathtub, my heart’s still beating fast.

Unbelievable, I lived through the Crusades, three wars and rode a Titanothar. Yet THIS is what gets me? Aaaaah~.

Leshy’s perspective…

I rummage through my backpack in search of a towel, but unfortunately, it seems that I might be missing it entirely. It’s either back at the Wandering Cowbell or somewhere along the road.

That ain't good, I’ll smell like sweat all day tomorrow if I don’t take a bath. There’s a wall mirror in the room behind Valerie’s bed, towards the window. I walk up to it and have a look at my body in the mirror.

When I first came here I wasn’t noodle armed or weak, but looking at myself right now… I could pose for underwear ads with abs like these, maybe Valerie doesn’t like this kind of look? She avoided eye contact after I took my shirt off. I don’t know the beauty standards, maybe being fat is the way to go?

I start flexing around in front of the mirror. My old body was fat and not very well taken care of. While I admire my olympian physique the door cracks open.

- “Nothing beats a nice bath…! Leshy! Put a shirt on.” - Valerie is covering her face, I’m in the middle of doing a disc throwing pose.

- “I want to bathe too! But I seem to have lost my towel.” - She’s wearing her summer dress, but more importantly her hair is wet and sticking to her face.

She comes over to me and reaches out with her towel.

- “Use mine…”

- “Y-Yeah, thanks.” - I take her towel and make my way out of the room, we exchange a glance but quickly look away when our eyes meet.

The bathroom is a little steamy and a familiar sweet smell permeates the entire room. I quickly take off my clothes and throw them into the cleaning box, kicking it to start the process.

The bathtub is still filled with the water she used, my eyes lock onto it for a little bit but I snap out after a few seconds and knock on the marked spot. The bathtub quickly empties and fills itself up with a new batch of hot water.

I hop into the tub and go through the motions, making sure I’m squeaky clean. It doesn’t take me too long to be done with it, it never has but I want to linger in this place a little bit longer. My heart speeds up a little bit and blood rushes to my head. She was just here, and now I am.

My cheeks flush and I look at the towel, hanging off the edge of the tub. It’s still a little moist from her bath… I instinctively reach for it and press it against my face, wiping the water forming from steam off of it.

The smell is intoxicating, I stop wiping and just hold the towel on my nose and mouth, closing my eyes and relaxing. The rest of the bath is rather uneventful. I take my time, making sure I’m fully relaxed before going out.

I wipe myself off entirely with Valerie’s towel and then put on my now clean clothes, though the shirt stays off. Not because I like how I look now, it’s a thing I did back in my old body as well. The cold feeling keeps me awake after a bath which puts you to sleep.

Upon opening the room, I see Valerie going through the map and writing down some things on a piece of paper.

- “Thanks for the towel. I hope my manly musk isn’t going to be a problem.” - I wink at her, trying to downplay the exchange of goods at play.

- “I’ll sniff it before bed to calm myself down!” - She chuckles and looks over. - “And can you please, for the love of all, put a shirt on? It’s very distracting.”

- “What do you mean? It’s just me.” - I slap my chest with a wink.

- “I’m not entirely certain I know a woman who wouldn’t be… distracted.” - She eyes me down. - “For me, put on a shirt.

- “Fine~!” - I grab the shirt and slide it on as requested. - “So, what are you cooking up with that map?”

Valerie goes back to working on whatever she was before I strolled in.

- “Just planning out our stay at Rixen and checking how long the trip will be in perfect weather.” - I sit down next to her and look at her notes. She’s writing in a language I don’t understand, there are some calculations as well.

- “What language is that?” - Thinking about the language is giving me a migraine.

- “That~ is Ancient Astarian.” - Valerie wags her eyebrows with a dramatic pose. - “Took me a few hundred years to get down!”

- “Few hundred years? I think I found the reason why it’s Ancient.” - I elbow Valerie who goes back to looking through the map. - “So, what’s the plan once we get to Rixen?”

- “Well, we’re going to be there for a few days at the very least until the Matriarch Xyraena can meet with us. Speaking of!” - She turns to me. - “Before the whole grand meeting. I need you to get Nyxie in order, she needs to be able to fight before we leave.”

- “You know that’s not how this works Valerie? I can’t just magically make her capable.”

- “Fight her yourself, she can use the most basic of her ability, at least give her combat experience please?”

There’s a reason my training took multiple weeks, and I’m a grown ass adult and she wants me to make Nyxie a kid soldier in a few days? Not only is she asking the impossible but she’s giving me a deadline for it?

- “Please.” - She’s giving me puppy eyes now.

- “I can’t magically make her strong, but I’ll see what I can do.”

We spent the rest of the afternoon chatting about Rixen. Valerie’s trying her best to describe the place to me but I can’t really picture it. She said it’s tall and large and full of people. The more she talks about it the more convinced I am that it’s her favorite spot to visit.

The hours drag on and we look for things to do. At one point we even go to Xerra’s and Nyxie’s room but are promptly told to go back and tend to ourselves by Xerra.

- “I’m not feeling sleepy… You?” - Valerie pokes at my side while walking by.

She’s been pacing around the room for a solid fifteen minutes without a word. I never thought I’d beg for something to explode, but god please make something happen because this entire afternoon is killing me.

- “Wanna go out and be a menace to people? We could rob someone on the street?” - I look up at her from my comfy floor seat, my legs extended out. Valerie kicks my shoe after my comment and smacks her lips with a loud smooch sound.

- “No, these people are fucked as is with the curse. We’d just add fuel to the fire.”

Right, the entire cure thing.

- “Has anyone actually investigated if it’s not just a sickness or the water being poisoned by a dead animal upstream or something?” - She stops and looks at me with a raised eyebrow.

- “Not really, though because of the Church of Thaton’s influence gained, they’d like to keep this curse going. There’s a lot playing into this Leshy. We can’t just go around and solve the problem in one afternoon you know?”

- “Whatever might you mean? I’m a master detective!”

- “Are you? Then what is going through my brain, Mr.Master Detective?” - She crouches over my legs, pushing her skirt down.

I look her deep in the eyes. A clash of titanic proportions is happening. The stare just keeps going and Valerie’s smirk turns to pursed lips and her eyebrows furrow as she’s trying to match the intensity of my gaze.

A minute passes, her body shifts, she presses her knees together, clasping her hands between her thighs. Valerie catches herself when her gaze begins to wander. She’s not even half a meter away from me so it’s a hard task for her to hold up her look.

I lean in a little closer, not a single blink from me. I’ve done this many times Valerie, come on! She takes a deep breath and clenches the muscles on her face, it contorts into the closest she can muster to a super serious face given the circumstances.

She starts wagging her eyebrows and I respond by winking. I tilt my head to the side and she follows it. She wobbles a little bit trying to keep her balance, she’s tiptoeing while crouched, it’s a miracle she didn’t fall over already.

Ultimately she buckles and drops on her knees after losing her balance. She catches herself on my shoulders trying to regain balance and with a soft sigh looks down in defeat.

I pull her in for a hug by the waist, she jumps a little with a squeak. Valerie looks at me and puffs out her cheeks but decides to lean on me and let snake her arms around my shoulders.

We sit like this for a little bit, I keep holding Valerie’s waist while she sits on my lap. Ah?! My heart shakes and I can feel her inhale through her nose, pushing it against my neck. Valerie mumbles, making happy noises while sliding her nose against the side of my neck.

I start moving my hand, caressing her back as gently as I possibly can. All the while I lean into her fully exposed neck and give it a kiss. She freezes and after a moment her entire body shivers.

After a few seconds she pulls back from me, still close enough for us to bump noses every now and then. Her mouth is half open and her face is flushed. Those big, emerald green eyes illuminate my face and her sweet aroma grows more and more intense with every moment.

My face feels hot and the feeling of her warmth against my chest makes blood rush to my head. I lean in and bump my forehead on hers, she pushes into it. The warmth of her shallow breaths pulses against my chin and chest, there’s a slight tremble to it as it grows heavier and heavier.

Her hands slide under my chin and start scratching a little. With a light giggle she pushes her hands up and through my hair. I grab onto her neck from the side, lightly sliding my thumb against her jaw as she leans into my touch.

The fabric of her summer dress feels soft under my touch. Her light body shifts effortlessly on my lap into a more comfortable position. She retracts her head and shifts to the side. Her legs protrude to the side while she leans her shoulder on my chest and begins taking light sniffs of my scent with her face on my chest.

Her right hand keeps itself on my neck while the other pulls my left and holds it.

I stroke her hair with my free hand and she closes her eyes, giving herself up to the moment entirely with a long exhale. Occasionally she shifts to get more comfortable but we take the next few minutes, just enjoying ourselves in a way few people can.

- “This is nice…” - She whispers and pushes her head into my chest more with a mumble. I lean down and kiss the top of her head, she responds with a victorious chuckle. - “More!”

She commands, and I shall provide. I lean down again and give her three more kisses on the head. She scratches the back of my neck in response and looks up at me.

- “Hmmm?” - I push up my legs and her with them, our faces are once again inches away from nirvana.

The emerald green eyes tug the chain that now binds us. I handle it with care, placing my hand on her cheek, she places her hand on it in response, squeezing it tightly. I curl up my legs further, trapping us both in the inevitability of the moment.

Her soft lips welcome mine in a cathartic embrace, our eyes close for a short eternity and the world around us vaporizes into nothingness. She’s awkwardly trying to navigate the situation, pushing through uncharted waters.

I take a moment and push us apart. Valerie lets out a short gasp and a look of concern draws on her face. Her eyes dart around my face trying to figure out where she could’ve gone wrong.

She can’t be left hanging like that… I lean in and peck her lips once more, she wants more but I pull away again.

- “Slow down. Take a moment.”

She swallows and takes a look at me. Her eyes are wide open and she’s breathing heavily through her nose. Her mouth is slowly twisting upwards into a euphoric smile. She’s trying to find a comfortable spot for her hands, ultimately grabbing onto my shoulders and squeezing them tightly.

I stroke her hair while her emerald green eyes stare into my soul. With a slight giggle she suddenly falls onto me and turns around on my lap, resting her back on my chest.

She now quickly pulls on both of my hands and makes me hold her. I take the cue and take a playful whiff of her hair, there’s not a drug in the world that could beat this.

A few minutes pass, Valerie is happily humming and occasionally giggling to herself, shifting her body around. At that time there’s a knock on the door. I start trying to get up from underneath Valerie but she slaps my leg and pushes me back down with her butt.

- “Come in!” - She calls to the door with a cheerful tone. - “Play along~!” - She whispers into my ears and quickly turns around, getting on top of me.

She grabs onto my shirt and starts pulling it off. I grab ahold of her butt, following her lead. The door opens and I can see Xerra standing in the doorway with a wooden plate that has a bunch of food on it.

- “Oh my…” - Xerra’s face goes completely red. She quickly turns around and starts walking off.

- “Noo! Come in! We were just… you know.” - Valerie stops her jests and sits back down on my lap.

- “You two are getting quite comfortable now. Is it done? The deal is sealed finally?” - Xerra pulls Nyxie who’s been hiding behind her and they both enter the room.

- “I was just checking if he healed. Right Leshy?”

- “No. We smooched for hours, I can describe it in excruciating detail if you want Xerra?” - Valerie gasps and Xerra laughs while putting the plate on one of the beds and sitting down next to it.

- “Tell me all about it! Did she know how?!”

- “She did shockingly well!” - I clap Valerie’s butt and she jumps with a massive blush.

- “Aaah! Stop it. I was supposed to be the one making jokes.” - Valerie yells out and puffs her cheeks.

- “Does this mean you two are getting married?” - Nyxie chimes in with a tilted head.

- “Yes!” - Valerie jumps up.

- “Not yet!” - I pull her back down. - “You want to get hitched this fast?”

- “Duuh, otherwise you’ll run away.” - She pokes my cheek.

We spend the evening eating and looking through Valerie’s travel plans, occasionally poking fun at Valerie, she’s been glued to me the entire time. Nyxie on the sidelines is playing with her knives, actually it’s more like she’s trying to figure something out about them.

- “Alright! Bed time kids, please don’t get pregnant before we reach Rixen.” - With a loud yawn Xerra gets up and takes the empty plate in her hand. Nyxie follows suit and they both start making their way out.

- “We’re not…!” - Valerie tries to respond but the door promptly shuts behind them and it’s just the two of us again.

- “Sleep?” - I pick Valerie up in a princess carry. - “Now I’m holding you up, what say you?”

- “I say good! And yes, sleep… together? We don’t have to if you don’t want to.” - Her eyes scream innocence but she’s up to no good.

- “Sure, but no grabbing… things. Okay?”

- “Fiiine~!” - Valerie starts wobbling while I hold her up, swinging her legs happily.

I put her on the bed and take off my shirt and boots. Valerie looks away but I pull her face back onto me by the chin.

- “No need to be embarrassed, you can look all you want now.” - I let go of her and she nods. After a while of taking it all in she grabs onto her dress and slides it off her body. I can’t help but feel my blood start pumping. She quickly grabs onto a large shirt from her backpack and slides it on.

This is now a gremlin Valerie, drowning in a shirt so big it’d sag on my body. She dives under the sheets and with a few mumbles gets comfortable. I slide next to her and she pushes her back into me again. I guess I’m big spoon?

The morning after…

I wake up early, or so I think. Valerie is sleeping, the peaceful look of her face, pure untainted content with the position she finds herself in. Her shallow breaths flow gently across my chest… She’s drooling a little bit.

I kiss her forehead and carefully slide out from under her, placing her on the pillow and covering her up. I start putting on my gear as quietly as possible, letting her sleep for a little longer. I look back at her and she’s dead asleep, in fact she’s now taking over the bed in its entirety.

A comfortable Valerie is a different Valerie huh? There’s some clattering and noise while I put my gear on but Valerie’s out cold right now. While putting on my Revertium sleeve I hear her mumble around.

- “Carry me…! Your wife commands it!” - I have to cover my face to not laugh. She’s back to mumbling incomprehensibly.

Over in the other room…

My name is Nyxie Forestborn, I’ve been traveling the world with a group of strange people for a few days now. There’s Ms.Xerra, a beautiful warrior lady with bushy red hair. Then there is Ms.Valerie. She's a little taller than me but she’s clearly in charge. I wonder how such a young person became a leader? Lastly, there’s Leshy. He’s my mentor? I’m not sure, but he trains me and makes sure I’m alright when something happens.

I don’t dislike them, I think they’re strange and a little loud at times though… Especially when I want to sleep! Anyways, back to the point. We arrived at a town today. It looked scary, a little empty as well. Ms.Xerra said to stick with her and that I shouldn’t wander off, not that I would. I didn’t really have time to look around and see the buildings even, I still can’t exactly keep up with them.

When we arrived at the Inn I wanted to spend more time together as a group, have some fun or something but I got quickly broomed into my and Ms.Xerra’s room. She explained that Ms.Valerie and Leshy are having a “moment”. I think she meant they like each other but wasn’t sure I would know what that means.

Anyway, Leshy and Ms.Valerie do like each other. We walked in on them doing lewd things. I probably shouldn’t have seen that but in the end it seemed to be a prank or something, I don’t know.

In the end we had some group time, though it was weird, with Leshy and Ms.Valerie being all cuddly and snuggly. I just played around with my daggers, I found out something about them too! They take this whole Wave thing and can like, channel it? It’s neat, they glow a little when I do that and vibrate too.

Today we’re supposed to go to the Sledcart. I heard about them from mom but I didn’t get to see one yet. Dad used to say that back in his day you’d have to walk everywhere but with all these new ways of going about people are going to go weak… I miss my parents.

- “Good morning Nyxie!” - Ms.Xerra ruffles my hair and shakes me around. - “Slept well gremlin?”

- “Yes Xerra, did you sleep good?”

- “Yep! Ready for today's trip?” - As usual, Ms.Xerra picks me up by the armpits and puts me on the bed next to her. She’s been doing that but I just let it happen, it’s kinda fun.

- “Yes!” - I give her the biggest of grins!

- “What’re you doing there gremlin? Writing a love letter?! FOR ME?!” - Ms.Xerra gasps and flamboyantly covers her mouth in fake shock.

- “Don’t look!” - I slap my diary close.

She tickles me for a little bit and we go through our things. Ms.Xerra helps me make sure I’m all set, putting all of this armor on is a little confusing, there’s a lot of buckles and belts and strings to tie. There’s a few mishaps during the whole thing, each ending with Ms.Xerra laughing loudly. Sometimes I wonder who’s the young one here?

- “Do you think I can be strong like you?” - While Ms.Xerra tightens up some belts holding my chest plate together I poke her.

- “I think you can be much, much stronger!” - She slaps me heavily on the plate and I lose balance, having to take a few steps back. - “And I don’t say that to make you feel good. You’re already a strong kid, much stronger than me when I was your age.”

- “Do you think Leshy thinks that too?” - I scratch the back of my head and fix up my hair with a brush. - “He’s rough during training…”

- “I think Leshy will never see anyone as strong enough. Partly because of you.” - Ms.Xerra sighs, she looks physically at me but her eyes are looking somewhere else.

- “What does that mean? Did I do something?” - I didn’t do anything bad, did I?

- “Nope, it all comes down to why you’re traveling with us.” - Ms.Xerra takes a deep breath. - “He’s already on par in strength with some of the stronger boots in the Consensus, hell some of the Second Leads couldn’t match with him.”

She walks over to me and grabs my cheeks, pulling on them. I squeak and mumble in response to the random assault on my face.

- “But because he failed over and over again, he’ll never feel adequate. He’s going to be strong, but I worry he’ll lose himself in the process.”

- “Now that Lady Valerie likes him maybe he’ll be better then?” - I tilt my head, she’s still pulling on my cheeks.

- “Let's just say… She’s an idiot when it comes to relationships, but he doesn’t know it yet. They’ll have some crazy fights, I kinda can’t wait.” - Xerra giggles and purses her lips after letting go of my red and stretched out cheeks. I feel like they are rubbing the floor after all that. - “Wanna be a menace to them?”

I look at Ms.Xerra who’s narrowing her eyes with such a smug face her face starts to look flat.

- “And walk in on them doing things again?”

- “It’ll be FINE~! Let's go!” - There’s no arguing with her pranks so I follow along.

We tiptoe our way over to their door and Ms.Xerra whispers to me that we’re banging on the door as loudly as possible on three and then running away.

One… Two… Three! BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG TROT TROT TROT

We quickly dip from there and hide in our room, gasping and holding in our laughter. The door promptly opens and we hear Leshy - “The fuck was that?!” - He takes a few steps back and forth through the hallway. After stopping in front of our door he knocks. Ms.Xerra covers her mouth and I try to stay as quiet as possible.

- “Fuck, that scared me…” - Leshy mumbles to himself and walks back into his room, closing the door with a clacking sound.

- “Nailed it!” - Ms.Xerra slaps her knee and laughs.

We spend the next couple of hours chatting about the Sledcart. I tried asking how it looks and works but she just said that we’ll see it later. After another hour or so Ms.Xerra grabs her bag and throws mine at me, afterwards we go and get Leshy and Ms.Valerie from their room.

The way to the station is long-ish. Takes us about fifteen minutes to get there. Ms.Xerra is continuously teasing Leshy and Ms.Valerie about them loving each other. They’ve been holding hands the whole time too.

Leshy’s perspective…

Once we arrive. We’re met with a wonderfully constructed building just outside of town. It has no walls around it, instead it’s a lifted on stilts platform that has pillars on the outer perimeter, holding up a roof that looks like a white sail that’s been put to its side, it’s very wide but also very shallow in depth, resembling a train station in some ways.

A small cloud of steam rises from the sail-like roof, giving the entire thing the appearance as if it’s covered in fog.

There’s a lot of people going in and out of the building, carrying boxes of all sizes. What seems to be a ticket booth sits in the middle of the structure. When we step inside the air gets colder, the sail roof most likely works like a heat sink, taking away the warmth from inside and pushing it out.

- “Leshy, take this and go pick up our ticket. Tell them we’re traveling on ‘Crown Business’ and they’ll tell you everything you need to know.” - Valerie hands me the letter we received with the Crown’s seal on it.

- “And why me?” - I’m not entirely sure why she’s doing this. Valerie pushes the letter into my hand with a smile.

- “Because, I’m asking you and because you need to learn your duties as Protector.” - Fair enough Valerie. I nod and take the letter over to the ticket booth where three women, dressed in uniform are sitting and going through papers.

They’re wearing a simple white linen shirt with a blue bandana tied on their neck as well as blue leather pants and boots. I wonder how they got the blue color onto the leather.

- “Excuse me. I’m Leshy Forestborn with Valerie Nova and Xerra Virroth, traveling on Crown business.” - I pass them the letter, sliding it on the desk. One of the ladies comes over and looks at it comparing the seal with one she has on the table.

- “Could I see your Spotter identification please?” - Spotter ID? OOOH! The metal piece Valerie gave me way back when I arrived. I pull it out of my pocket and pass it to the lady, she looks over it, nods and hands back the letter and Spotter ID. - “The Sledcart should be here within the hour, you will board on the first cart in front, right behind the controllers cart. Have a nice trip!” - She passes me one ticket, it’s white with blue accents around it keeping the color scheme going. It has my name on it and information about the trip.

I look at the ticket and take a second to memorize her instructions. Can’t fuck it up or we’ll have to stay here longer. I wave at the lady helping me out and head to the group.

- “Front cart, the Sledcart should be here within the hour.” - I hand Valerie the letter and ticket but she pushes them back.

- “You’ll be the one dealing with the Crown, Leshy. I’ll tell you what happened to the chief and what judgment was handed to him once we’re there.” - I reluctantly pocket the ticket and put the letter in my backpack.

- “Why me?” - Why me indeed?

- “Leshy, as a Protector I will sometimes send you to wash my dirty Laundry.” - Xerra interjects. - “You need to learn how to deal with political fallout early.”

- “Fiiiiine! But if you murder someone, it’s on you Xerra.” - I elbow her and she leans back laughing.

- “This whole fiasco is because you decided to catch the gremlin over there.” - Valerie looks over at me when Xerra finishes the sentence. Nyxie looks down on the floor. - “Sorry… That was uncalled for.”

- “Well if Nyxie didn’t steal shit all the time, maybe she wouldn’t get in trouble.” - I go over to Nyxie and start tickling her. With a short look back at Valerie and Xerra I wink and they both nod.

- “Stop tickling me!” - Nyxie’s trying to pull away and starts laughing.

- “Right Valerie?” - I look back over at Nyxie and grab her under the armpits, lifting her up and bringing her over closer to the group. She accepts her fate of being moved. - “If you listen to my lessons and follow my training, next time you’re strung up to a pole with chains you’ll take that pole and whack people around!”

- “Yes!” - Valerie and Xerra breathe out heavily with Nyxie’s response. Crisis averted.

We spend the next 45 minutes answering Nyxie’s questions. She wanted to know about how we all met, who is the strongest, all that jazz. Xerra in passing also mentioned that the entire time she and Nyxie were alone in the room it was just that. SO many questions.

- “Here it comes!” - Valerie stands up on her toes and starts looking to the west side of the tracks.

…!

I hear it, it sounds like wings of a hussar, running across the field. It’s like a bunch of wings flapping at the same time. A rumble joins the sounds, like bumping wood against something. Sooner rather than later a large set of carriages shows up in my view. The front carriage has a massive, tree trunk sized pole that holds up a cascading sail akin to a Junk Sail. The following carts, and there’s a few of them, each have a smaller version of the same sail, some of them are lowered while others are open.

A few hundred meters before reaching the station, the sails go down and the front sail folds down over the Sledcart.

- “W-we’re supposed to go into the front cart right behind the controllers…” - I mumble out and Valerie starts leading the group to the first cart with seats up front.

Before we enter she comes up to chat with the two men controlling the massive thing. Each segment is enormous, bigger than the average train cart. The whole thing is painted in whites, blues and yellows. The windows don’t have any glass in them and the roofing of each cart is similar to the stations, gently steaming away, working as radiators.

I don’t see any wheels on them, instead they’re all set on sleds that seem to be able to pivot left and right a little bit to make the turns and an oily substance covers the groove in which the sleds are set.

- “Come on! We’re getting on.” - Valerie waves everyone over and we step inside, before I enter one of the controllers asks me for the ticket which I promptly show to him.

He waves me in and yells out.

- “Departure in 10 minutes everyone! Get your stuff inside and let's move.” - After that shout he promptly returns to his position in the lead cart.

The inside of the Sledcart is cool, as in the air is chilly. The walls are lined with very ornate benches that have the familiar blue leather on them, most of the inside is built up with coated wood that’s been polished to a near mirror finish.

In front of each bench sits a long table with pitchers set in cutouts to not slide off once the thing starts moving. There’s plenty of mugs for an entire party as well.

With a sharp knock on the door, a man I can only describe as the perfect representation of a butler comes in and bows a fucking perfect 90 degree bow. He has a well chiseled face with some gray showing on his hair, after straightening back up he looks over us with a quick glance.

- “If you so desire, food and drink can be prepared on request for the guests of the Crown. For the young lady we shall bring over snacks and sweet drinks.” - He bows towards Nyxie with a gentle smile on his face.

- “Thank you Charles, we’ll certainly make use of your services as the trip goes along.” - Valerie responds with some familiarity in her voice, they’ve met before, that much is obvious.

- “You’re a princess now Nyxie!” - I bop her head and take a seat on one of the benches, throwing my backpack next to me.

Charles bows, this time not as deeply and retreats, never turning his back to us into the next cart over.

- “I am princess Nyxie! Praise me!” - Nyxie lifts up her arms and demands loyalty. Xerra, being the “cool uncle” drops on her knees in the middle of the cart and slams her head on the floor.

- “Oh great Nyxie, allow me to pledge my allegiance.” - Valerie facepalms at Xerra’s enabling behavior. I laugh loudly at the hysterical image of Xerra who can almost certainly wipe out forests with a swing of her glaive bowing to a child.

- “Stop bullying Xerra. Take a seat gremlin and relax.” - Nyxie pouts at my command but follows it anyway. Xerra stands up and stretches out.

I peek into my bag, searching for something to do while we wait. All the while Valerie sits down next to me with Nyxie in Tow, Xerra decides to sit on the opposite side of the cart, overlooking us.

- “The fact that it took you two so long to figure it out astonishes me.” - Xerra’s voice is playful but also a little mocking when she speaks.

- “Yes Xerra, you’re a genius who figured it all out. What are we talking about?” - I ask with genuine confusion in my voice, my eyebrows rising as I keep rummaging through my bag.

- “The two of you, fucking loverbirds. Do you know how many times I wanted to tell you two to get some space and just figure it out?” - Xerra is gesturing dramatically, Valerie on the other hand is carefully looking at her with narrow eyes.

- “Leshy. I have to tell you something, before Xerra spills all the milk on her own.” - Valerie tugs on my shirt and I turn around to face her. She’s looking down. A light frown draws on her face. - “I never had a partner like this. I’m not entirely sure how this is going to work and we JUST started and I’m already wondering how it’ll end.”

- “Whoaaa! Slow down Love.” - I know exactly what she’s talking about. - “I’m not going anywhere. And even if I don’t know your entire god knows how long story, the more you reveal, the more reasons I get to lo… like you.” - I once again almost said something I can’t take back. Valerie nods in response and I flick her nose. When she jumps in surprise I smooch her and leave her like that, going back to rummaging through my bag.

- “Oh my…” - Nyxie can be heard from her seat and Valerie sits around for a second before returning to her usual self.

- “Ekhm. Alright, let me… Let me set some plans for us while we’re in Rixen.” - And Valerie’s back. - “We’re going to stay there for a few weeks probably, I want to take care of some stuff while we’re there and I’m sure Leshy and Nyxie would love to take a tour around the city.”

- “Hell yeah!” - I pump my fist, the other is still going through my backpack. - “Wheeere did I put this thing?” - I can’t seem to find Fox’s Jurnal anywhere.

- “Since it’s us, I expect we’d be dealt with tomorrow or even today, depending if the Matriarch is there right now.” - She takes a deep breath and starts rummaging about, ultimately she pulls out the notes she wrote yesterday and starts going through them. - “Outside of that, Nyxie’s getting trained every day by Leshy, Xerra’s going to do Xerra things and deal with her mother for once…”

- “Why?! I’m not even going to that throne room.” - Xerra rolls her eyes and crosses her arms.

- “No buts or tits here Xerra, the agreement I signed with the crown binds you just as much as it binds me.” - Valerie completely dismisses Xerra’s protest. - “Leshy. Considering you’re likely the fastest Spotter to get a Protector rank, there are Guardians in Rixen that will disagree. We need to figure out how to make them like you.”

- “I can take them out for a drink. I hear I’m quite charming.”

- “Funny…! Haha… no. They’re nothing like Xerra, you’ll see when you meet them.” - She continues going through a list of tasks she set up.

- “You are very, very attractive right now. You know that right?” - I look her in the eyes. - “You’re a resourceful little gremlin.” - She has a smug face and puts her hands on her hips triumphantly.

- “Don’t praise me too much or I’ll get full of myself.” - She drops her display of smugness and leans back on the bench.

- “Xerra! She’s stealing my nickname!” - Nyxie points at Valerie in a combative pose. Valerie chuckles, I sigh, Xerra’s not entirely with us actually.

A loud bell rings and we hear one of the controllers yell “DEPARTURE!”. Soon after the entire cart shakes and we hear the creaking of wood. I’m positive it’s the big sail lifting back up and unfolding. Once the creaking and clattering of the cart stops, with an umpf the entire thing starts moving.

- “Now we have 13 hours of literally nothing to do.” - Xerra lies down on her bench and rests her head on her wrists. - “I’m going to nap! Don’t be too loud.”

I look over at Valerie and she leans on my shoulder.

- “I can’t find the Journal, did you take it Valerie?” - She lifts up her head at my question. - “You took the brooch for safekeeping, but I remember the Journal shook you a little.”

- “I didn’t take it, Leshy. It’s probably best if you don’t read it though.” - She’s changed her mind since we last mentioned it. - “There’s nothing but despair in that thing.”

- “Are you hiding bodies in there and hoping I won’t find out?” - I stroke her hair and she puts her head back on my shoulder.

- “A lot of bodies, Leshy. Hundreds of thousands, that Journal is only one part of what I’ve been through.” - A somber note plays out in her voice when she talks. - “I’d rather not go back to it.”

- “I’ll leave it be, but you have to promise that you’ll tell me more sometime.” - She nods without looking at me.

- “How about you tell me more about yourself? You don’t have a heavy past!” - Valerie perks up and claps her hands together. - “Tell me more about where you’re from and what living there is like!”

My heart sinks a little bit as I realize that I can’t share the truth with her… But I don’t want to lie. What should I do? If I tell her I’m not from Vertex, what’ll happen? Will she understand what I mean by that?

- “Leshy?” - Valerie has a concerned look on her face. - “You got pale suddenly, are you ok?”

- “Valerie…” - What should I tell her…? - “If I told you the truth about where I’m from… you wouldn’t believe me.”

- “Pfft! Try me, I’ve been alive for five thousand four hundred years my love.” - I clear my throat on reflex, hearing her real age. - “I’ve seen everything there is to see on this continent.”

I press my hands onto my face and take a deep breath. There are two ways this might go, she’ll take it that I’m not telling the truth and find it amusing or annoying… Or she’ll believe me and blame me for lying to her all this time.

Her eyes meet mine, those big, emerald green eyes. She’ll drill the truth out of me if she has to with those. But how do you explain electricity, cars, trains, horses… all of that to someone that’s never seen something like this?

If I can’t make it make sense in her brain she’ll reject it and say I’m dodging her question. Fuck!

On top of that I already gave her Eleanor’s backstory and she recognized it. If I change the story now, it’s not a good look Leshy. You’re fucked!

- “Hey, breathe.” - She lightly pinches my nose and kisses my cheek. - “You don’t have to tell me anything, ok?”

- “Valerie, you know where I came from. I told you this already.” - I start scratching my temples. - “You have hundreds of thousands of bodies hidden in a journal so you might think my reluctance to share more about my past is trivial.” - Scratch, scratch. - “I couldn’t make you believe what I’ve seen even if you promised to take everything I say as truth.”

- “Leshy! Shush, relax!” - Valerie, clearly enhanced by some level of Wave, forces me down into her chest and starts stroking my hair. - “I’ve heard all kinds of stories. But if you don’t want to, you don’t have to share anything yet, okay?” .

- “Fine. Let’s move on for a long time, I don’t think I can handle any more of this conversation.” - I take a shaky deep breath and breathe out. Gotta relax, gotta calm down.

Nobody wants to continue talking after this, the next couple of hours are spent in silence, though Nyxie occasionally gets up and starts doing some physical training. Valerie just shushes at me, stroking my hair and kissing my head now and then.

- “So what are you going to teach Nyxie over at Rixen? Any specific plans?” - Valerie finally breaks the silence. She’s softly whispering into my ear.

- “Probably how to fight using her ability and how to not break her arm again.” - I’m no longer shaken, just anxious. - “Would you be up for that Gremlin?” - I look over at Nyxie and she nods eagerly. - “Just know that we’re not pulling punches anymore, I need you strong.”

- “Yes, Leshy!” - Nyxie comes back to our bench and plops next to Valerie, leaning on her and Valerie in response Leans on me.

The trip goes on and the horizon doesn’t wait for anyone. We spent a couple of hours chatting about our future with Valerie. She wants to have kids one day, doesn’t know when but she’s apparently hitting what would be the 30’s for a normal life span, in her life.

Charles comes in from time to time, bringing snacks for Nyxie and wine for the adults. Xerra occasionally wakes up and chats with us about some absurd stories she heard. Apparently she had to slay frogs the size of houses one time, but turns out if you cut them open face melting gas came out of their bodies.

She found that funny, I found that terrifying.

Now that I think about it. I’ve been here for quite some time now, things have been moving so fast I didn’t have a moment to even consider just how much time I’ve spent in Vertex.

I don’t have a digital calendar to help me here, but it wouldn’t be a bad guess to say I’ve been here for a little over a month. SO much shit happened. Christ.

Almost killing Nyxie, Saving Nyxie, Saving the burrows, Killing the alpha on my own, the whole two weeks I spent training with Xerra and Valerie at the start. Getting close with Valerie… I should be feeling homesick, but I sort of like this life. It’s exciting, although dangerous at times.

Several hours later…

I stretch out and lightly get off the bench. Making sure the sleeping Nyxie and Valerie don’t fall over. I prop them up against each other and make my way to the door to the next cart. I want to see the sledcart a little bit more.

I open the door to the next cart and Charles looks up at me and immediately stands up with a bow.

- “No need my friend. I’m not one for formalities.” - I lift my hand to indicate he can relax a little. - “Actually, could you tell me a few things? I’m not from around here, in fact it’s my first time on a Sledcart.” - I stomp on the wooden floor, almost checking if it’s sturdy.

- “Of course young master. What would you like to know?” - He keeps standing upright, what immaculate form.

- “Leshy is fine. I’ll call you Charles if you call me Leshy. Deal?” - I nod a few times enthusiastically. I can’t really get into the bourgeois nature in front of me.

- “Of course master Leshy, you can call me however you’d like.” - Small steps then, Charles.

- “How long do you think until we reach Rixen?” - I’m genuinely curious, Valerie said 13 hours but I don’t have a good grasp on the exact time, the people from here are very attuned to living without a clock.

- “We should arrive within the next couple of hours, Master Leshy.“ - So we’re really fucking close. - “Care for some refreshments?”

- “I’ll pass, could I ask you to wake up the ladies when we’re an hour or so away?” - Charles bows at my request.

- “Of course, we cannot have the young ‘princess’ miss the entrance to Rixen.” - He smirks at me and I bow as a response.

- “So you do have a sense of humor! Nice!” - I straighten out and slap my hip with a laugh. - “I’m going to take a walk along the Sledcart now. It shouldn’t be too long I hope.”

- “I have to request you leave the sword by the door please. I’ll be sure to safeguard it.” - I guess it makes sense. I’m a big man, with a big sword. I take off my utility belt and put my huge sword next to the door.

I will miss you baby! I open the door to the next cart over and head inside. It’s getting dark-ish inside, but there’s still some sunlight outside when looking out the window. I have a quick peek and a nice hilly view grace's my face. I can’t see too much but it’s just enough to appreciate.

This cart, which seems to be still built to a high standard, is built a little bit differently. Similar to trains, the benches are in rows, one after another, each covered in the same blue leather that we have.It’s relatively empty, with a few well dressed people here and there, compared to them I look a little rough, makes me feel out of place.

I continue walking through the cart, getting the occasional glance from the passengers. I nod to some of them, some of them nod back, some of them don’t. After opening the door to the next cart, an entirely different atmosphere hits me. It’s like a doorway to another world. From the high class setup behind me to this pub-like atmosphere.

Kids are running around, the cart is stuffed with people of all ages, bags with something grainy in them are being passed around. It’s loud, very bright due to all the lamps illuminating the place.

The benches are simpler, just plain wood with cloth covers. Some people have put bags of something under their butts, some didn’t and are going commando.

I get waves from multiple kids and some of the adults greet me with loud “Welcome”’s. That feels just right! Making it through the cart, I shake some hands and push some kids to the side to get some space. I get glances from some of the younger women, but it’s the older ones that seem to be looking the most.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Waving the crowd goodbye I go to the next cart, this one’s a bit more relaxed but still filled with people. I exchange some nods as I go through, the people here seem much more welcoming.

After making it through this more chilled out cart I enter what seems to be a cargo carriage. It’s mostly filled with boxes but there are some benches with people on them.

There are two men in the back arguing loudly about missing some items in the manifest. One of them looks familiar… a guard? Definitely clothed like that. The other one’s in plain clothes, a younger gentleman with a tank top and pants set on suspenders. He’s quite large in size, taller than the guard.

- “Listen, I put 15 crates of wine on this damn Sled and it’s gone missing between then and the departure! Find it!” - The man is shouting at the guard. I slowly am making my way over and listening in.

- “Sir, the manifest clearly states 10. What do you want me to do? Summon it with the Wave?” - Man’s got a point, I didn’t hear of anyone being able to conjure boxes of wine out of thin air.

The big man scoffs and moves closer to the guard, almost pressing his chest against him.

- “Listen here. I paid good money for the cargo, I need to make a profit!” - He’s basically growling at the guard.

- “And I have other things to attend to. Have a good night sir.” - The guard attempts to turn away but the big brute reaches and grabs him by the collar. The guard immediately reaches for his sword.

Before he can pull it out I slam on the gas and in a fraction of a second show up between them, holding the guard's sword down by the hilt and the brute’s hand by the wrist, clenching my hand on it.

- “There’s no need for that gentlemen. I’m sure there…” - I attempt to negotiate but the brut leans on me.

- “Fuck off!” - All brawn, no brain. How’s this guy a merchant?

- “Sit down!” - I press down on his wrist, pushing on his tendons. I pull of his hand from the guard and holding his hand I push him down onto the bench behind him with a thud. - “Take a few deep breaths, let the guard work and figure your own shit out, do you understand me?”

- “I…!” - I clench down more on his wrist and he whimpers before he can continue talking.

- “Do you understand?” - The guard isn’t interfering and the brute nods in agreement. At the same time I release his wrist, his skin is paper white where I held onto him. - “I hope you can overlook this man’s act for me?”

The guard looks at the brute, then at me. He nods and quickly walks away from the situation, further down the Sledcart. I look down onto the guy massaging his wrists.

- “I will remember you, asshole.” - He says but doesn’t look at me.

- “I’m sure you will…” - It’s time to head back anyway. This fuck soured my mood.

I make my way back through all the carts to the front cart. On the way through I pick up my sword and Charles informs me that he woke up the girls. I’ve been away that long? Time passes fast in this thing.

After entering the cart I catch the glimpses of my companions, who the moment they saw me stop talking about whatever they were talking about.

- “I’m gone for a little bit and you all conspire already?” - I walk into the cart and sit down next to Valerie.

- “What did you do?” - Nyxie asks with an upbeat tone.

- “Handled some dipshit tradesman who was threatening a guard.” - Valerie sighs and Xerra chuckles.

- “Can you NOT get into trouble the moment you’re out of our field of view?” - Valerie sighs again, even louder and shakes her head.

- “Nope, I seem to be an asshole magnet recently.” - I lean back and put my hands behind my head.

The rest of the way we’re met with a rather rough ride. A lot of turning and twisting of the grooves the sleds are in. It’s probably to position the train… Sledcart just right. I hear the sail above us go down and the bell rings.

Half an hour later we enter a tunnel. It was dark outside by then so we didn’t get to see anything outside but Valerie is getting stirred and can’t keep her butt down, getting off and back onto the bench next to me. I have never seen her this excited.

The occasional light of a lantern passes through our window on the outside. Going through the tunnel we start hearing the noises of… everything basically. Talking, walking, things falling, anything you can think of in a city.

And in the next couple of minutes, the we all get flashbanged by the bright light inside of Rixen. Once our eyes adjust to the light we’re met with an incredible sight.

Peeking out the window I see hundreds of people walking around. All of them wearing all sorts of attire, different skin colors, even races I didn’t see before. I look up as much as I can but I can’t see the dark sky. There are walkways going through the air between different buildings, rope elevators with people and cargo on them. The entire field of view I have available is just a wall of buildings going up like a mountain.

There’s a web of walkways, stairs and overpasses connecting almost every level together in a perfectly woven web…!

- “We’re in a fucking mountain!” - I shout to the group, Valerie nods energetically and Nyxie is absolutely absorbed by the energy of this place.

We continue gently sliding forward in our wooden box of wonders, looking through the bustling city all the way until we reach another tunnel. It goes dark again and you can hear the more industrial sounds from before die down and be replaced with a more normal sound of a large mass of people walking and talking.

Another minute passes in the tunnel and we arrive at a massive, absolutely gigantic station with multiple Sledcarts lined up. The design is the exact same as in Varsh… Just… SO MUCH BIGGER!

The Sledcart slowly comes to a stop, the bell rings and Charles promptly comes inside of the cart.

- “If you could please follow me.” - We all grab our things at his request and head outside.

I immediately look up, the stone. I recognize the look from the Burrow’s household, but here there are no bricks.

- “This whole city was carved out into the mountain…” - I whisper to myself, voicing my thoughts.

- “Yes indeed, you are very perceptive Master Leshy. Now if you can please follow me. I need you too greet the Crown’s messenger to announce your appearance in Rixen.” - We follow Charles through a walkway, separated by a fence, the people from the other carts move in large groups, it’s like a train from Berlin arriving in Warsaw, there’s a LOT of people just bumping into each other and trying to go inside and out of the Sledcart.

As we make our way to the messengers I keep looking around. The entire city, as far as the eye can see, is carved out of a beautiful ashen stone, accentuated with Blues and Yellows here and there.

- “Leshy Forestborn and his companions have arrived!” - Charles leads us to a large standalone building a couple of minutes away from the station. After opening the door he announces our arrival. There are three well dressed men standing in a row waiting.

- “Welcome to Rixen Master Leshy, Mistress Valerie and Xerra as well as the young lady. For what business have you come to visit?” - The middle man, short but stout and wearing a perfectly cut beard with a bald head.

He’s wearing what I can only describe as ceremonial White with Blue and Yellow accents clothing. The clothes are simple but frilly, the cloak however, similar to the one worn by Nox in Varsh drags along the ground. The big difference is, this one is white and blue with the familiar Crown emblem on it.

Valerie pokes me in the back and pushes me forward. I look back and she shoo’s me towards the messenger.

- “We.. We’ve arrived to discuss the recent judgment handed to the Chief Guard of Nova Vertex. We’ve been invited by the crown with this letter.” - I quickly pull out the letter and shakily hand it to the messenger who with perfect precision, in one swift twist of his wrist unrolls it and begins reading through it.

- “The crown welcomes you. If you could please follow one of my aides to your quarters. The Matriarch will send for you when she’s available.” - I nod and we follow the man’s aide.

- “So what’s the plan once we reach the living quarters?” - I look over my shoulder at Valerie.

- “We wait, the Crown works all the time. They can call on us at any moment.” - She seems focused. - “I’ll brief you the moment we get into our house.”

- “All the time? One would think a Royal Family would spend their days pondering. And more importantly. House?” - I raise my eyebrow, what house?

- “The Crown consists of five people, the Matriarch Xyraena, her husband King Consort Astrux and three representatives of the most important parts of Gallahan, the Master of Commerce, the Master of Theism and the Master of Law.” - She scratches the back of her head and thinks for as second.

- “Usually the Matriarch deals with the most important matters and matters where Spotters are involved..” - That was an exhausting explanation but I think I understand how this thing works a bit better.

A few minutes later the messenger's aide leads us to a door of a large building that is once again, carved out of the same stone, as if someone took a big hunk of rock and shaped it into a house. It’s not very grandiose from the outside, though it is big.

- “Please enter and try to not wander too far. The Crown will see you in due time.” - The aide bows and walks back the way we came, handing me a large key, presumably to the house, when passing next to me.

I unlock the door and open it, it’s a large, heavy oak door with the face outwards being charred to look pitch black with a golden handle. We all step inside and look at the large interior in awe. Frankly it’s quite intimidating.

- “Lets not waste any time Leshy, I need to explain to you the ruling and all.” - She grabs me by the elbow and pulls me into the lobby. Xerra is keeping pace with Nyxie, explaining things to her and showing her how the building was carved.

The lobby is huge, with three chandeliers lighting up the space with natural light. Valerie leads me over to a corner couch covered in blue leather, carved out of a single piece of wood.

She sits me down on it and stands in front of me with her hands on her hips. I set aside my bag and lean back on the couch, ready for a lecture.

- “Alright so, here’s what you have to know…” - Valerie immediately proceeds to explain to me what happened when I was out cold after the cave assault. How she handed down the judgment, how Jax performed the execution by cutting off the Chief’s arm and Novel assisted in doing so. Everything.

She was very busy when I was unconscious…

- “So you want me to deal with the fallout from your idea of chopping off his arm and stripping him of all that mattered to him?” - I frown at Valerie. She’s not putting me in a good position here. Xerra mentioned that it’s a formality but this punishment feels a little excessive, even for facilitating Human Trafficking.

- “You misunderstand, this isn’t us going to explain ourselves. This is us telling the crown what happened personally. They received a letter, and wanted to hear the story for themselves.” - Valerie sits down next to me and puts her hand on my shoulder, rubbing it gently.

- “Wouldn’t the letter you sent be enough? Why all this waste of coin and resources just to say what’s written down?” - I don’t get it. Why the theatrics?

- “Because it’s me Leshy. Because I did the whole judgment. If it was any other Guardian they’d piss on the letter and have the Master of Law send a new Chief or appoint a new one from the present guards.” - Valerie sighs.

- “So because it’s the head honcho, they want to drag you around… This is them exerting any kind of force they can on you. Isn’t it? They can’t jail you, the Spotters would collapse the entire kingdom in a night.” - I grab her hand that’s been comforting me and squeeze it. - “But they can drag you around for formalities because you signed off on them. Isn’t that right?”

- “You know, you’re very attractive when you’re not confused all the time.” - She sticks out her tongue and I poke her a couple of times on the sides, she wiggles around trying to pull away.

After a little horseplay we lean back on the couch. There’s a moment of respite, everyone’s just taking in the new environment, Nyxie’s shuffling through the drawers, looking around and opening doors all over the place. Xerra’s entirely out of her Gear and in “Comfort Mode”. Me and Valerie are having a bit of a cuddle session on the couch.

- “I’m going to bed, fuck me I’m tired!” - Xerra with exaggerated yawn starts making her way upstairs. Nyxie, me and Valerie stay behind. The gremlin seems to be overly energetic, rummaging through her bag, then going back and forth between different shelves and stuff, then doing push ups, etc. She’s about to crash HARD.

Valerie’s snoring away, laying down with her head on my lap. I wanna go exploring a little, can’t leave her like that though.

- “Nyxie, we’re going to sleep now, come on.” - I pick Valerie up like the princess she is right now and make my way upstairs. I have no idea where any bedrooms are so I’m having Nyxie open doors.

Xerra was in one of them in the middle of meditating but at the end of the hallway we find a respectably big bedroom with a double bed.

- “Nyxie, you have to take care of Valerie while I’m gone, yeah? If she asks where I went, tell her I’m just having a stroll around the area.” - I enter the big bedroom, there are more paintings of the royal family around the walls, smack down in the middle of the room is a large canopy bed. It’s large enough to fit me, Nyxie, Xerra and Valerie side by side and STILL have room. It’s enormous.

- “I will… YAWN …take care of Lady Valerie! Leave it to me.” - Nyxie is already almost tapped out. Frankly I just want her to hit the bed next to Valerie so she can rest.

- “I’ll be home soon, yeah? Be safe.” - I put Valerie down on the bed and peck her lips for a goodbye. On my way out I ruffle Nyxie’s hair and close the door behind me.

Now! Time to explore, I can’t go too far from this place or I’ll get lost but I certainly can stroll around the area, I should be fine like that. I open the front door and go outside. Probably because of the loud noises made by the Sledcart, but I only now noticed that there’s an underlying rumble of the entire area. Nothing’s shaking, but it sounds like the steps and conversations of thousands of people carrying through the halls of this place.

I pick a direction at random and go straight, the population in the area is sparse. It’s a little unnerving but the people I do see are carrying a lot of paper scrolls or boxes filled with what I assume to be documents.

The air is getting more and more chill by the minute. We are inside of a mountain so the temperature is sure to be low. I pass some doors, greet some people who usually greet me back, some just look at me and when they realize how I look, they just scoot away as fast as possible, trying to act normal at the same time.

- “And who might you be?” - From behind me a vibrant voice rings out, reverberating through the entire area. - “You’re a face I have yet to meet.”

I turn around, a woman in grand full plate armor stands in front of me. Her hair, a flaming red mane and the eyes glow with a burgundy red shine. Xerra? No, Xerra’s in the house.

- “And who might be asking?” - I’m not just giving away who I am without knowing their intentions first.

- “Haha~! You’re a tough cookie already? You can relax, we’re in the Royal Palace, nobody’s going to do anything overt like attacking a stranger on the street.” - Her guard is completely down, the resemblance is uncanny. - “Let’s just say I’m in charge of this place. Now you, who graces the palace with an unannounced visit?”

- “I’m a Protector for Guardian Xerra Virroth. Are you a custodian of sorts?” - I look the woman up and down, left and right, furrowing my eyebrows more and more. I can’t get a read on her, I doubt my ability would feel her out as well.

- “Xerra has a Protector now? You’re quite young for her, aren’t you?” - She chuckles while covering her mouth with her fingers. The armor is shiny and barely used, but her demeanor is… ladylike?

- “Old enough, who are you exactly?” - My sword is itching right now, there’s no malice in her actions, but there’s something about her…

- “You’ll see soon enough, if you’re here, Xerra’s here, if Xerra’s here then the Shield’s here.” - She starts walking past me. - “See you in a few days Protector”

By the time I turn around she’s gone, how do you move this quietly in armor like this?! My heart’s pounding against my chest. Calm down buddy, she wasn’t even hostile!

…!

I look down and notice my hand clenched around the hilt of my sword. Who the fuck is this lady?

- “You good there buddy?” - Fuck me, who wants to talk to me now?! - “You look like you saw a ghost!”

I get grabbed by the shoulder from behind and turned around. A large man is grinning widely at me, patting me on my shoulders. Can people stop approaching me from behind? God damn.

He’s wearing a rough, leather red coat and puffing on a long pipe of sorts, a Kiseru. There’s a strong herbal smell coming from his mouth. His chest is exposed with many scars adorning it. The man’s absolutely massive as well, a wall of muscle.

- “You’re a well built Spotter, aren’t you? What Association are you from? Northland? Zenix?” - He takes a few steps back, there are two swords with a broad blade attached to his hips. - “I’m Varux, Guardian, Gallahan’s branch.”

- “Leshy Forestborn, Protector for Guardian Xerra.” - He raises his eyebrows and whistles, the pipe firmly attached to his mouth.

- “The ginger bitch finally got herself a Protector? About damn time! Haha~!” - He slaps his stomach and laughs loudly, some of the people moving about around us glance over and quickly go back to their work. - “Don’t get me wrong, I love that woman like my sister but she’s been searching for a Protector for decades now.”

- “Are all Guardians like this? It’s like I’m talking to Xerra with a penis between her legs, no offense.” - My passive aggressive is showing.

- “Ha! None taken. Not all are like that, only the Gallahan ones. Come! Join me for a drink buddy!” - His suggestion for a drink is followed by him grabbing me under his shoulder and pulling me along somewhere.

We make our way back from where I came and past the house. He continues dragging me along for a little bit, down some stairs and then through a densely populated road.

We’re surrounded by cliffs with houses one on top of another, all connected with wooden and stone walkways, stairs, rope lifts and more. Along the bottom level there are storefronts everywhere. I take a mental note of some spots I’d like to visit as we rapidly make it through the city.

Varux, is a special man… He just drags me along, pushes anyone in his way to the side without a sorry or excuse me. At some point the folks just part in front of us like the Red Sea. Soon enough he takes a fast right and we go down more stairs. The entire stairwell is clamped between two walls of solid rock.

It gets quite dark the further down we go but Varux does not stop s peeding his way through like a dirt bike. One we exit out I get flashbanged, again, and am greeted by clearly the rougher side of town. Hardy men and women, whores in front of some houses trying to get the attention of the people even remotely close to them.

- “Now THIS is Rixen! Come on, you’ll meet Raxis! He’s got eyes for good men! Haha~!” - He drags me a few hundred meters down a tight, overcrowded alleyway, puddles of water and piss line the streets. There’s a stench of wood that’s been in water for decades. Ruffians clumped together in groups scowl at us as we make our way through.

We quite literally bullet our way through some of those groups, I’m pretty sure some of them pull their weapons on us but Vaurx just keeps fucking going. Not a care in the world. After a few minutes of walking he drags me into one of the houses that has a whore in front.

With a loud clap he slaps my back and pushes me inside, following right behind me.

- “Buzz cut hair, big scar, massive guy. You can’t miss him.” - Varux describes to me presumably the guy we’re looking for.

He wasn’t wrong, in the corner, with his legs on the table sits a wall of muscle, could easily fit two Varux’s in him. Makes me feel like Nyxie around a bunch of adults. We make our way over to him, pushing people aside. I follow Varux’s lead and just shoo people with my hands if I have to without saying anything. Funnily enough, nobody’s complaining.

- “Look who I found, Raxis! The Ginger found a Protector!” - He slaps me on the back so hard my eyes almost fall out. - “This is Raxis, Northland Spotter Association and a Guardian like me and Xerra. Sit boy! We’ll have a drink!”

- “Pleased to meet you Raxis.” - I stretch out my hand and he quickly sits himself upright, shaking my hand. That is a firm grip!

- “Xerra’s Protector? Good! He fits the bill for sure!” - Raxis lifts up his hand and snaps his fingers a few times. Almost immediately a woman comes over with a huge pitcher and three mugs. - “Though it’d be nice for you to shape up a little, look like a man!”

Raxis looks like someone who didn’t just see battle. He breathes combat, there’s a relentless aura of pure violence around him that’s tempered with years of wisdom. The large scar on his face runs through one of his eyes which is clearly blind and his massive muscular body wants to rip out of his simple cloth shirt and leather pants. Next to him sits a sword, not dissimilar to mine though much more ornate.

- “I was told women can’t look away already. I’d have trouble carrying them if I can’t put my elbows together.” - Let's take some control here, I’ve been dragged along enough. I pick up the pitcher and pour all of us a full mug of what looks to be beer, first time seeing it in this world.

- “He barks~! Good!” - Varux laughs and slaps the table, nearly spilling the beer. The two men pick up their mugs and lean back on their seats, I cross my legs and follow suit. - “So Leshy! Tell me, how long have you been a Spotter? I never heard of you before.” - Varux starts sipping from his mug slowly, then speeding up.

- “A month.” - Raxis’s eyes go wide, even the blind eye is staring at me. Varux nearly chokes to death on the beer.

- “Hold up there buddy, you said you’re a Protector for Xerra?” - Raxis leans forward with furrowed eyebrows.

- “Yes, I originally declined the role as well.” - Now these two are just confused, tilting their heads and scratching their chins.

- “Okay, let me get this straight, you’ve been a Spotter for a month?” - I nod at Varux. - “You received a promotion to Protector and Denied it?!” - I nod twice. - “And now you’re actually a protector?” - I nod three times. - “Show me your Spotter ID, I don’t believe you.”

- “Sure.” - I pull out my metal ID and hand it over, it only has my information on it and doesn’t contain my rank.

- “No shit~!” - Varux looks at the ID and then shows it to Raxis who gives it a side eye. Varux then passes the ID back to me, I look at it and sure enough. Next to my name, PROTECTOR. When did that show up?! - “So what the fuck did you do? Spotted a Titanothar before becoming certified? Killed a Behemoth or Crystalian?”

- “Crystalian? No. Through some circumstances I had the lead in taking out a Human Trafficking ring in Nova Vertex, killed some assholes including their leader, nearly killed everyone else… killed two of our own actually…” - I trail off, I forgot about them. I didn’t even know their names now that I think about it. Fuck, anyway! - “Then went on a trip of self discovery believe it or not, protected the Burrow family from a large pack of Ludocanis with my bare hands cause this hunk of iron got stuck in the ground.” - I point to my sword.

- “That does kinda explain it, you’re very much Xerra’s type of guy when it comes to people she keeps close. Rough around the edges, figuring shit out still, and most importantly… taking out a pack of Ludocanis barehanded is fucking crazy, and I love it!” - Raxis takes a large swig of the beer and exhales in satisfaction. - “But, from the looks of it. I’d say you’d be taken by a Secondary Lead… no, a Primary Lead. I’ll give you the edge over a Secondary because of pure experience. And about those two you can’t name, that’s the Job Leshy. We all sign up for it knowing what’s coming.”

- “So what is the deal with you two? You are higher ranked than me, in fact you carry Valerie’s authority.” - Another set of raised eyebrows. Raxis interjects.

- “Shield’s, Leshy. We show respect to the founder.” - He lifts his mug and sips out of it.

- “We’re in a relationship.” - I make a smug face and drink my beer.

- “WHAT?!” - Varux jumps off his chair which falls over, the whole bar couldn’t give two shits about him right now though. His jaw is on the floor and his arms are stretched out towards me. - “How the fuck did THAT happen?!”

- “I couldn’t tell you if I wanted to.” - I continue my smug look at Varux, Raxis on the other hand has reached weltschmerz and is blankly looking past me. - “It just kinda happened.”

- “Kassandra’s going to LOSE HER MIND over this.” - Raxis snaps back to reality. - “Don’t tease her too much, Varux.”

- “I absolutely WILL tease her about that!” - Varux picks up his chair and sits back down with a grunt. - “Valerie’s got a boy toy. I can’t believe this.”

- “Not a boy toy! She has no idea what she’s doing, more like a… happy man to help her out!” - I raise my glass and the men follow along, we drink in unison. - “Let's get back to my question though. Why are two men, Guardians of the Consensus, sipping beer and annoying people in a place like this?”

- “Well~! Glad you asked~!” - Raxis puffs out his chest. - “You can’t possibly relax and drink if there’s no knife pointed at you, at any moment!”

That’s it?! They’re adrenaline junkies?! I expected other Guardians to be more… uptight? But these people are rough, god knows how powerful and ready to dance if they get bothered.

- “Tell me boy. What’s the craziest shit you did when at Nova Vertex?” - Varux leans in, his cheeks flushed.

- “Craziest shit… Like in combat or what?”

- “Whatever, anything that comes to your mind.” - Raxis chimes in, he looks completely fine on the other hand.

- “I guess, in terms of crazy as in you wouldn’t believe it if you didn’t see it, was ripping open the stomach of a Ludocanis Alpha.” - I tap my chin a few times. - “In terms of crazy as in you wouldn’t believe it even if you saw it was flinging Xerra a few hundred meters with a punch during one of our sparrings.”

- “Oooh~! The Ginger took a hit and got sent flying, you hear that Raxis?!” - Varux is on his third mug while me and Raxis are half done with the second one. - “And digging into the fucking Ludocanis, aaah! Makes my blood rush!”

- “Yep, you caught her off guard didn’t you? You said it was during sparring.” - Raxis takes a long sip of his beer and exhales loudly.

- “Basically, yeah. Two times in a row, once with the punch and then right after I flung back her Glaive after she threw it at me.” - Raxis nods at my explanation. Also, why is Varux so excited about guts and glory? It’s disgusting!

The chatting continues, about Six mugs in Varux can barely muster words that make any sense. Raxis looks completely unfazed by the alcohol but I’m also getting a little tipsy here. Varux, true to his character, called one of the bar girls, which ended up with us getting yelled at and promptly thrown out of the bar.

I tried to help Varux stand but he’s heavy like a fucking car. Raxis picked him up in the end and we ended up dragging him back through the alleyway and up the stairs onto the market street. While going through the market street, back towards the Royal Palace, some of the guards approach us, offering help for the “wounded”.

Raxis laughs at them and tells them this fuck deserves this after drinking too much. We go up the flight of stairs leading to the palace itself and the town slowly gets quieter, going back to the gentle rumble I heard when I first exited the house.

- “That’s my stop. I guess I’ll be seeing you two around?” - I reach out for a Handshake and Raxis shakes it.

- “Certainly. Say Hi to Xerra and the Shield from us please.” - He starts walking off with Varux but then suddenly stops and turns around. - “And tell the Shield that Kassandra’s been meaning to talk to her when she’s available.”

- “I’ll pass it along, let's not have the drunkard vomit all over the palace now. See you!” - I wave at him and enter the house.

Once inside I quickly begin undoing my gear, then throwing it on one of the couches. With a massive yawn and the smell of alcohol on me I head upstairs and enter the room where Nyxie and Valerie should be.

The two are sleeping on the bed, snoring away with a puddle of drool forming under each mouth. It is very adorable. There’s nowhere for me to sleep here without disrupting them so I head back down to the lobby and clap on one of the couches. Whew, the room’s spinning a little bit.

The next morning…

Poke Poke

- “Good morning…~”

There’s something warm wrapping around me right now. It seems that it can also speak the human language.

- “Wake up love, we have to get moving.” - Valerie is spooning me, her head hanging over my head whispering into my ear. - “Come on, let me help you up.”

She pulls on my shoulder and with a grunt I comply. I don’t necessarily have a hangover from drinking, more like from socializing so hard with random people.

- “Fuck… How late is it?” - I look at the smiling Valerie who’s now courching by the foot of the couch, looking me in the eyes with her head resting on her hands.

- “Before noon, but you have training to do, remember?” - Aaah, right. I remember!

I rip up from the bed and look around the room, it’s just the two of us.

- “The others are still sleeping…” - Valerie fidgets about a little bit. - “...Where were you last night?”

- “Jealous that I went speed dating? Hehe!” - I chuckle and Valerie puffs out her cheeks. - “Well, I went to explore and long story short, I met some lady in shiny armor that made me feel uneasy… Then I met Varux, who pulled me by the neck to a bar downtown, where I met Raxis. Let me tell you one thing… You have some fucking weirdos as your Guardians you know that?”

- “Sloooow down! You met Varux and Raxis, not only that but you went drinking with them?!” - She looks absolutely bewildered.

- “Yep, Varux hammered himself so hard the Guards thought he needed medical assistance.”

- “Did you tell them we’re… you know?” - I nod at her question and she grabs her head. - “How’d they react?!”

- “Relax, Varux nearly blew the top of his head off and Raxis mentioned that Kassandra’s going to lose it when she hears about this…” - RIGHT! Kassandra! - “Speaking of, Kassandra apparently wants to meet.”

- “Fuck, alright. I was going to tell them myself, but as usual Varux is just doing things without thinking. And Raxis was there too? My oh my…” - Valerie is holding the bridge of her nose and shaking her head. - “I’m gonna have to beat the shit out of them again…”

- “Why? Is it a problem that I met them yesterday?” - I tilt my head, resting on my hips.

- “Yes and no? Did they say anything about you being a Protector? Did you even say you’re related to the association? Wait, of course you did, you told them we’re in a relationship.” - She’s pacing back and forth through the room. - “Xerra appointed you a Protector for her, but that doesn’t fully clear you out, yeah? Especially because of how new you are. You need three other guardians to approve of you.”

- “Raxis said I’m a good pick for Xerra and Varux more or less acts like he’s my brother now.” - I say that as a matter of fact considering the entire evening but Valerie’s Jaw basically hits the floor at this point.

- “Just like that you get approval from two Guardians? I need to hear it from them, but if you’re telling the truth, and I believe you are… especially knowing these two, that’s a done deal. The problem is going to be Kassandra.” - She takes a deep breath. - “Lets go, we’re going there now, I need this done with so that we can focus on the fallout from my judgment.”

- “Hold on Valerie, you’re going so fast I barely understand what’s going on. Let me make a few things straight.” - I take a loong and deep breath - “I didn’t get approval for anything from Varux or Raxis. Raxis only noted I’m a good pick for Xerra considering she likes people who are rough and with issues. I didn’t want to go drinking with them, Varux basically forced me into a choke hold and dragged my ass through town. NOTHING was confirmed formally there, we had booze, got booted from the bar and went home.”

All of this is making no sense. The trip, I get that, but the whole approval process.. everything, I feel like I’m being dragged around to places.

- “I don’t get this whole thing Valerie. I thought I was a Protector already, apparently my ID reflects that and I never even noticed.” - I take a deep breath, Valerie sits down on the couch and her long ears are perked up. - “Suddenly I meet two of the three guardians I need approval from, how convenient that there’s three of them here just as we need them.” - My voice moves around my vocal range, mimicking a comedian recounting an unbelievable story. Valerie’s carefully watching me with her emerald green peepers. - “Oh no, what is that? Valerie served someone a plate full of judgment and now the Crown wants to talk? Look at me, I’m now being dragged into a throne room full of blood thirsty politicians and a Matriarch Stuck-up bitch that probably never saw anything further than a few hundred meters away from her throne room.’ - I take another deep breath. - “I need an explanation for this shit. I just need some clarity Valerie. Right now.”

- “Okay, from the top Leshy. Do you know why you need approval to be a Protector?” - She pats the couch next to her as an invitation.

- “I have a good guess, nepotyzm? Having family members become Spotters and then getting instantly promoted to Protector because the Guardian is a family member could weaken the Consensus.”

- “Bingo! Nepotyzm in itself is fine in the Spotter Consensus, as long as the prospect for a Protector is skilled as a Spotter themselves.” - Valerie pats the couch again, a bit more forcefully. I sigh and comply with her invitation. - “You do have the rank of Protector, you can perform your duties as one for as long as Xerra keeps claiming you are one. But, if you want to be able to influence the other branches, share their benefits during visits, etc. You have to be recognized by at least three other Guardians.”

- “Then why are there three in Rixen, so conveniently?” - I squeeze my face between my hands and grunt loudly. - “This is so fucking confusing.”

- “They’re always here. I either told you this and you forgot or I forgot to tell you. Basically they’re here to be mediators between the Consensus and the Crown while I’m out in Nova Vertex. The Guardians rotate as well, so these three will be back to their posts in a few weeks.”

- “But it’s YOU who vouches for me. Why isn’t that enough? You own the entire damn thing, don’t you?” - I grab her hand and she squeezes it, playfully bopping it up and down.

- “Lesy. First of all, I don’t Own the Consensus, it’s called that for a reason. I can be told to step off if all twelve Guardians agree to it, and I’d have to. Second of all, I designed this entire system nearly two hundred years ago. How are they supposed to follow it, when its creator doesn’t?”

- “Okay. I’m starting to understand this whole thing now, but why do you need me to be the one to explain your ruling?”

- “Because I need to teach you exactly what you’re now confused about. Protectors don’t just sit around and wait for orders, they take initiative, give orders and handle some of the bureaucracy for me and their Guardians.” - She pulls my hand up and pecks the palm, putting it on her cheek and snuggling into it.

- “Can I refuse? I do not feel ready for this sort of thing yet.” - I caress her cheek with my thumb.

- “Alright, this one time I’ll let it slide. But when it comes to Kassandra, it has to be you. I can initiate the contact to help you, but you’re on your own after that.” - I nod at her condition and she now leans in and kisses me lightly. She’s never taken initiative like that since this all started… I kinda like it.

- “Just… When it comes to Kassandra, don’t play nice. She’s Northland Royalty, the daughter of a duke that owns the land where the oil used on Sledcart is produced. She’ll see you as a simpleton, same as Varux.” - She stands up and pulls me by the hand to help me get up as well. - “Now then, let's go and deal with Kassandra, if we’re lucky Varux and Raxis will be there as well if the night was as eventful as you said.”

I grab my gear and get myself sorted, there’s a sound of trotting down the stairs. The gremlin shows herself.

- “Gremlin! You should’ve been awake two hours ago!” - I buckle my belt and point at her. - “Come on, we’re going to meet Xerra two, Xerra three and Reverse Xerra.”

- “What?! What does that even mean?!” - Nyxie’s eyes spiral around in their sockets.

I push Nyxie towards the door and she, dragging her feet, makes her way to it. Once we’re outside Valerie takes me and Nyxie in the direction I traveled yesterday. The familiarity with the surroundings definitely puts my brain at ease a little bit.

We continue forward about halfway to the point where I got grabbed by Varux and we take a left into a tight alleyway. While a little claustrophobic, it’s well lit with gems hanging off the walls.

- “Where are we going exactly?” - I poke Valerie’s shoulder.

- “It’s a shortcut to the Consensus Headquarters.” - She starts humming, occasionally doing a skip or pirouette. - “Just don’t praise me too much when you see the building!”

- “My legs hurt… Can we not go for walks early in the morning?” - Nyxie behind me grunts and pushes her hands through her hair. - “I still feel the four days of travel we did.”

- “No can do Gremlin. Like Xerra said, get comfortable with the uncomfortable.” - Granted, my legs hurt a little as well, we did walk tens of kilometers but this body can manage a trip like that quite easily.

Nyxie growls loudly tilting her head back and reluctantly continues following me and Valerie. After a minute or so we exit out of the alleyway into a large plaza, a large statue of Valerie made of Jade sits in the middle of it with a walkway circling around it. There are carpets of flowers and all sorts of exotic greenery lining the walkway. Behind the statue stands an absolutely massive building, it is carved out in the mountain just like the other buildings, but the scale is otherworldly. There are entrances lining the ground floor with one big entrance in the middle, the occasional window is sprinkled around the walls, sometimes also accompanied by an ornate balcony.

The top of the building is lined with statues depicting twelve people, I immediately recognize three of them, Xerra stands in the middle, with Varux to her right, Raxis on the other hand is all the way on the left edge, the last in that direction. When looking all the way back over to the right, there’s clearly a spot for one more statue that is empty.

With our jaws dragging along the ground, me and Nyxie are slowly led through the crowded space. There are men and women wearing black pants and long sleeved black shirts with a large pauldron made of jade on their left shoulder. Each carrying a weapon of their choice as well as documents, boxes, barrels, everything you can think of.

There are also more casually clothed people with gear I’m more familiar with from Nova Vertex, leather armor, full plate, big swords, that kind of stuff. There’s SO many people here, I thought the Spotter Consensus was just a group of very strong people, but this… this is a different level.

- “Welcome to the Spotter Consensus! This is where I founded the whole thing.” - Valerie stands in front of her statue and turns around to us, stretching out her arms.

- “A-aaah!?” - Nyxie with her mouth wide open pulls herself closer to me and grabs onto my shirt.

- “Valerie, love… I’m seeing double here.” - My eyes dart between the statue of Valerie, to actually Valerie who’s grinning ear to ear.

- “He He~! Come on, let me show you inside!” - She pulls me and Nyxie by the hands and takes us to the main door of the building. We move closer and closer to it, but the walk is longer than the alleyway.

Once we’re by the door I look up, the entire thing looks like it’s about to smother us with its size.

- “I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble…” - I mutter to myself.

- “What?” - Valerie looks at me.

- “Nothing, just quoting someone much like you.” - If she only knew.

Valerie stands in front of a massive pair of doors, made of cut stone, each door has intricate engravings, at the top the words “Ye of no strength belong not to the house of titans”. As you go down, there is a depiction of Valerie standing on top of a mountain of bodies, below are the twelve Guardians rushing into battle, further down there are the faces of twenty two people, I don’t recognize any of them.

Below that are depictions of generic looking Spotters, carrying boxes next to common folk, killing beasts, allowing people to cry on their shoulders Valerie pushes her hands on the door, with a long grunt she pushes and pushes, the doors crack open and dragging along the floor the entrance becomes wider and wider. Beads of sweat form on her forehead as she takes a deep breath and wipes her hands against each other.

- “And so they open for the first time in almost a hundred years.” - Valerie with a smile looks over the large entrance and waves us in. - “Come on.”

Nyxie’s pupils are the size of pinheads. I grab her by the hand and lead her inside. Her hand is trembling but she’s trotting along, though not entirely there mentally it seems. Inside we’re greeted by a huge hall, a pair of stairs runs up along the wall to the next level, then the next, and so on. Everything is made out of the same material, the ashen gray stone. There are heavily armored guards by the stairs, or are those armor stands?

On our right sits a lone woman, with hair tied neatly into a bun. She’s wearing the same black clothes with a jade pauldron as some of the people outside. She glances at me and Nyxie, then at Valerie and slowly, her face goes from a neutral face to her mouth and eyes going wide open.

- “THE SHIELD?!” - The lady jumps off her seat and bows, nearly hitting her head on the stone desk she’s sitting by.

- “Relax, I need to see Kassandra, is she in her quarters?” - Valerie walks over to the lady and leans on the counter lifting one leg up like a chicken.

- “Yes, she should be there with Guardian Varux and Raxis.” - How convenient.

- “Thanks, go back to your duties and keep the door open until our visit is over.” - Valerie claps her hands on the desk. - “Come on you two, let me show you around.”

I catch up to Valerie with Nyxie and we begin making our way towards the stairs. While we pass the guards? armor stands? I poke one of them and it rattles about without any human reaction. Valerie grabs her stomach and laughs.

- “Those are display armor. We don’t need guards here.”

- “What do you mean you don’t need guards? This seems to be a pretty important place if you ask me.” - I wink at Valerie, she winks back.

We finish going up the stairs two floors and we exit out of the stairwell into a hallway.

- “Think about it. Every single person working here is a Spotter, all of them are Secondary Leads and Primary Leads.” - She chuckles to herself and looks at me with her Emerald Eyes. - “Even the lady that nearly bashed her head in on the counter is a proficient fighter.”

- “Ye of no strength, huh?” - She nods and stops after my words.

- “That passage is not just about the fact that Spotters don’t have weak people. It’s a reference to the origin of those doors. Only me, the Guardians and one more person who’s not a Spotter can open that door. If you can’t open it, you shouldn’t walk among titans… Titanothars.”

- “You can use the wave to open it though. I’m sure I would be…” - She immediately presses her finger on my mouth.

- “No Leshy, the whole point is to open them on your own. ” - She sighs and starts fixing my shirt. - “To open these doors, you need to represent the pinnacle of a Spotter. Your entire existence must represent Loyalty, Family and Overwhelming Strength.”

- “Right… Got it.” - I pull up her hands and kiss each hand individually. Valerie blushes and looks away.

- “Can we please go~?” - Nyxie is walking in circles behind me. - “I want to meet that Kassandra lady!”

- “You’ve gotten very bratty today, Gremlin. You better pray that I forget your behavior before the training.” - I scowl over at Nyxie.

- “Yes! Sorry, hehe…” - Nyxie scratches the back of her head and quickly comes over to me and Valerie.

We start making our way down the hallway, it’s lined with cherry wood doors on both sides, each door has a carved number next to it. We move past all of them, the numbers in the hundreds, at the end of the hallway we take a left and then a right, continuing along the edge of the building, I can see the entire plaza outside through the window.

The further we go, the louder it gets, you can hear the rowdy noises of two men laughing and talking. At the end of the hallway stands a tall door, reaching from the floor to the ceiling, on it there is a golden plaque with an engraving saying “Guardian: Kassandra”. From behind the door we hear Varux and Raxis being loud.

- “Good morning motherfuckers!” - Valerie without knocking or restraint kicks the door open and walks in. - “I heard you two took my boyfriend for a drink yesterday.”

- “THE SHIELD!” - Raxis and Varux immediately stand up and bow, there is also a woman. She’s short and has the signature blonde hair and green eyes of an Efi, same as Valerie. She’s wearing what can only be described as a battle dress that’s white and green, with humongous pauldrons and a large double edged sword attached to her back.

- “Varux! What did I tell you about getting shitfaced in public? And you Raxis, enabling him? Seriously?” - Valerie’s tone shifts, from the comedic voice of her entrance there’s a coarse texture to everything she says.

The room pops and clouds of dust puff from the walls of the room. Immediately Raxis and Varux buckle and land on all fours, grunting and sweating. She just hit them with a major weight increase. If she used her gravity on me like that I’d turn to human spaghetti…

- “And if that’s not enough. You take my boyfriend to that slum. You’re supposed to show him what a Guardian’s supposed to be. Instead he’s acting more like one even though he’s a Protector.”

- “Yes Shield Valerie! We apologize Shield Valerie!”

- “Yes Shield Valerie! We apologize Shield Valerie!”

Raxis and Varux respond in unison without questions or complaints.

- “Stand up you two!” - Valerie points upwards. - “Pronto!”

She doesn’t let go of her power though, the two men who I can only assume are obscenely powerful are now struggling to stand up. I can hear their joints crack as they grunt and gasp, halfway up now.

- “That’s what you get idiots.” - Kassandra speaks up with a grind. - “Act like a dog, get put down like one.”

- “You, shut it. I’m not done with them.” - Valerie barks at Kassandra who immediately stands at attention.

- “Valerie, relax. It was just some fun.” - I walk over to her and rub her shoulder. She’s steaming out of her nose right now, Raxis and Varux are almost all the way up. - “Come on.” - I lean in and whisper. - “I’ll take you for a date later if you do~.” - Valerie immediately blushes and releases her power over Varux and Raxis.

The three Guardians are now looking dumbfounded at me who’s rubbing Valerie’s shoulders, talking her down from her fury.

- “No way!” - Kassandra points at me. - “There’s no way this weakling got with you Shield Valerie.”

- “What’d you call him?” - Valerie’s eyes flash red.

- “He’s just… too young!” - Kassandra stomps her leg and huffs.

- “Kassandra, relax please. He’s here to get approval, at least talk to him.” - Varux chimes in, stretching out with Raxis doing the same next to him. - “He’s a good guy!”

- “Can we not rip one another apart in two minutes? Kassandra, maybe you’re projecting your own inability to get a partner a little here?” - Raxis chimes in, Varux immediately chuckles.

- “Maybe if you didn’t freeze your partners dicks off every time they step up you’d have more success?” - Varux winks at Kassandra.

- “I’m not going to approve him! No way.” - Kassandra stands firm and crosses her arms.

- “You’re not even going to fight him to try his skill out?” - Valerie now with a smug face rests her hands on her hips.

- “Not a chance… Shield Valerie.”

- “You hear that boys? She’s scared of a too young Protector.” - Varux and Raxis clear their throats and Kassandra gasps. She’s opening and closing her mouth but words aren’t coming out yet.

- “W-What?!” - She grabs her sword and starts pulling on it while pointing at me. - “You and me! Right now!”

- “Whoooa!” - Raxis chimes in. - “You need to go to the arena if you want to do this.”

- “I did not sign up for this.” - I slowly begin retreating out of the steaming hot room, Nyxie follows suit. - “I’m going to go home now, I’ll see you all later.”

- “No!” - Valerie and Kassandra in unison yell out at me.

- “You’re not getting outta this one buddy.” - Varux comes over and slaps my back. - “They’re always like this.”

- “Do you get punished like that by Valerie a lot as well?” - I raise my eyebrow at Varux.

- “Yep! It would be daily if she was here all the time.” - He laughs loudly and starts pulling me out of the room by the collar.

We begin making our way down the hallway, all the way back to the stairs. We go up one more floor and a large double door waits for us there. There are no hallways to the sides, instead there are two smaller doors.

- “You good there Gremlin?” - I look down at her and ruffle her hair around, she winces.

- “I don’t know…” - She responds in a whisper, she seems unsure of what she’s even doing here.

- “Think of this as training. Like my sparring with Xerra, yeah?” - I try to lift her spirits up a little.

- “But this lady is not as nice. Are you going to beat her up?” - Nyxie looks up at me with a worried face.

- “To a pulp, Gremlin.” - I flex my Revertium sleeve and slap my bicep.

Valerie comes up and takes Nyxie as well as the other two guardians to one of the side doors. Kassandra without a word opens the double door and we both enter through it.

We’re almost immediately in a large arena, it’s huge, about three hundred meters in diameter. Kassandra immediately pulls out her huge sword like it weighs nothing and jumps off the ground and into the stone floored arena. She’s not moving fast, not like Xerra or any other Spotter I’ve seen before, she’s graceful and almost floating to the other side.

- “Don’t make me wait, baby.” - Kassandra winds up her blade and swings it, making a cloud of dust push off the floor.

The rest of the group heads to the side and up some stairs leading into the lifted spectator stands. I push Nyxie to join them and Valerie waves her over. I go inside the big space and notice that the air has gotten significantly colder than before. Vapor puffs out of my mouth every time I exhale.

I focus up and shift the entire feeling onto Kassandra, removing everything else from my abilities field of view. My muscles bulge in size a little bit and I take out my trusty sword.

- “You can still back down, you know that?!” - Kassandra yells out to me.

- “I never had the option to agree to this, there’s no option for me to back out!” - I yell back to her.

I start circling around the arena counterclockwise and Kassandra responds in kind, we’re slowly making our way around while the arena grows colder and colder, my Revertium sleeve feels like an icicle around my arm.

- “Kick her ass! Get her love!” - Valerie starts yelling out and swings her arms wildly. - “Get her!”

I can’t help but smile at how this woman can switch around her personality. Valerie’s a sociopath of some kind, for sure. I lift up my sword and leave my left hand empty, all the while pointing my blade at Kassandra who is not holding her blade up.

It’s huge, the sword is absolutely enormous compared to the woman wielding it, the inside of the blade is painted black with some large letters I don’t recognize engraved on it. The sharp edges of the massive sword are white as snow, there are chips and missing pieces of the edge all over it. It looks like it weighs a stupid amount.

We keep moving around the arena… whoever attacks first loses!

…!

WOOOSH. Not even a fraction of a second passed and her sword nearly cut off my head. I’m just barely able to dodge! Her movements are quiet and her emotions are lacking, almost nonexistent.

There’s snow coming off her sword as she swings it right above my head. I have to retreat!

I step off the floor and reposition myself away from Kassandra who slowly, without any sound lands on her feet and looks over at me nonchalantly.

- “I’m sure I cut you.” - She looks at her sword and then back at me.

- “No such luck popsicle.” - WHY am I taunting her?

She doesn’t react to it luckily, I shouldn’t make my situation any worse than it already is. I shake my left hand a little bit, the sleeve is fucking COLD!

I need more power if I want to beat her, if there’s such a possibility at all. Xerra’s much more measured because of our relationship… This woman has no connection to me, she could cut me in half and not care less.

I take a deep breath, the ground beneath me shakes a little and dust begins to lift around me. More power Leshy… More power!

I slam my foot on the gas and launch my body at Kassandra who immediately positions herself and lifts her sword up to block…

NO SUCH LUCK MOTHERFUCKER!

KPOW

A shockwave reverberates throughout the arena as I push through the sound barrier, stepping around her in a circle. She keeps looking forward while the sounds of my movement sends shockwaves around the arena.

NOW!

I dash at her with such a speed that my field of view gets smaller, my eyeballs push into my skull.

CLANG

Our blades meet and a loud high pitched noise rings out as the perfectly carved stone floor buckles under the force of our clash, filling the arena with a large dust cloud.

I immediately jump away to the other side of the arena, creating as much distance as I can between us. Luckily I can see you! Her aura, although subdued, is there, she’s still standing right where we clashed.

…!

JUMP LESHY! I blast off the ground and over the dust cloud. Which instantly freezes over and falls onto the ground, the sound of tens of thousands of icicles hitting the stone floor fills the arena.

I land back down on my feet, breathing heavily with my heart slamming against my chest. That would’ve killed me. I look over at Kassandra, her entire demeanor has changed.

She’s calm, unreasonably calm, her entire being is reaching absolute zero. Her face and torso are shaded but there is a glow coming out of her eyes. I’ve reached the 9th circle of hell and I’m staring at the devil himself.

There’s no way! Are all the Guardians like this?! Is Xerra and Valerie capable of something like this?! How am I supposed to even touch her let alone wound her!

My arms are shaking, my blade feels heavy and I can’t calm down my heart for the life of me. I’m going to die if I don’t figure something out.

- “Are we done here?” - Kassandra speaks with the melodic tone of her voice bouncing from the walls of the arena that is slowly freezing over.

I look over at Valerie, Nyxie and the rest of the Guardians. Varux is holding a large ball of fire to heat everyone up but other than that, they are laser focused on me and Kassandra.

Take a deep breath Leshy. Inhale, Exhale. Just punching hard isn’t going to cut it… The image of the human trafficking leader withering in my arms comes up in my head for a split second.

SMACK

I feel Kassandra’s Leg slam into my side. I blinked and she moved this stupid distance without a sound?! THINK!

My body ragdolls through the air and slams against the wall right under the spectators. The entire arena shakes and a cloud of dust and debris launches out of the impact spot.

I start coughing and hacking from the impact, spitting on the ground and holding onto my side where she kicked me.

Is nobody going to stop this?! WHY isn’t anyone interfering!?

SMACK

Once again Kassandra covers the distance between us in a split second and without a single sound. She pushes the hilt of her sword into my stomach which slams me back into the same place I just hit.

I fall onto the ground and try to get up, the frozen floor makes my legs slide from under me as I scramble to find anything to prop myself up with and stand up. My sword is now on the ground and I’m overwhelmed.

Kassandra now slowly walks up to me, grabs my face with her hand and lifts me up. She proceeds to slam me into the wall behind me, holding me against it.

I struggle, kicking and swinging my arms. It’s over, there’s no way out of this anymore.

- “I asked, are we done here?” - Kassandra’s speech is monotone.

- “No.” - Valerie’s response can be heard from above me. What does she mean no?

Kassandra squeezes down on my face, it feels like she’s about to rip the skin of my face.

…! A familiar, shadowing presence makes itself apparent behind me. The same one that’s been haunting me before this entire trip. I can feel it much more strongly now.

The shadowing presence sends a wave of warmth through my body. Nobody’s got my back, so you’re here for me?

The air around me pulses, a massive surge of power envelops my body, pure Wave starts flowing through my veins as my eyes turn white and arcs of Wave start shooting off my body.

The arena starts to tremble, some of the ice buildup shatters and falls off the walls.

I grab onto her arm holding my face with as much force as I can muster. In a span of time shorter than a blink of an eye I prop myself up against the wall with my legs and cannon myself and Kassandra back into the arena.

I wind up for a punch and swing at her.

BLAST

Kassandra is sent flying into the air from my hit, holding her stomach. She gently lands onto the ceiling with her feet, letting out a tsk. Ice forms around her legs attaching her to the ceiling.

They knew…! All of them knew that I stand no chance against this demon. They just nonchalantly decided this fight will happen!

She’s watching carefully from up top as power just keeps surging from my body. My shirt gets tight around the increasing muscle mass. RELAX! Calm down! The arena goes quiet all the while her ice keeps breaking and crashing onto the floor.

Kassandra immediately takes a stance to attack.

SHHHT

She lounges at me from the ceiling. I jump back towards my sword while hers sinks into the floor.

I take a few more jumps to reach the wall where my blade is and quickly pick it up.

The blade of my sword splits in half and I push as much of my power into it as I can, causing the open slit to glow intensely.

CRACK

A massive ice spear nearly impales me, I have to lean backwards and prop myself up with one of my arms. She’s instantly over my, following up on her atack, her eyes are glowing more and more blue, snow keeps falling off the blade of her sword.

CLANG

Our blades meet again, she’s holding it back. There’s uncertainty in her aura showing. She’s testing the waters!

I kick but she dodges, twisting her body like a gymnast. At the moment I slide my sword from under hers and jump back to make some distance again.

The glow of my blade grows bigger and bigger becoming a white and purple flame of pure wave energy. Steam begins to form around my body, the ice cold hair vaporizes, superheated by the pure Wave emanating from me.

She kicks off the arena's wall, without a single sound she’s on me again.

TIIIIING

The moment our swords connect, the entire arena, its walls, the ceiling, everything turns to Ice. Then a second later the ice shatters from the impact’s shockwave.

CLANG

Another swing! I parry her blade and push the hilt of it towards her face. She jumps back with a backflip, leaving icy steps where her feet land. Cracks begin to form on the ground around me, veins pulse out on my body and the string holding my braid together rips itself to shreds.

The fire of my sword becomes tight. I lift my sword over my head and its flames shift from an amorphous blob of power into the shape of a buzzing, large blade. The ground under me cracks and my feet crash ankle deep into it.

With a roar I swing my sword at Kassandra who is at the center of the arena. The room goes white and a loud ear splitting scream can be heard from my sword.

The blinding light dies down, the scream quiets down, first to something akin to chirping birds and then to silence. Kassandra stands in the same spot, facing the now smoking flat surface of her sword towards me , holding it like a shield.

My sword’s blade is firmly in the stone floor. A large gash slithers its way from its tip becoming larger and larger as it moves towards Kassandra, it stops right before her but then promptly reappears behind and continues towards the spectators.

Raxis stands in front of the group with the palm of his hand facing outwards, smoking. The gash splits right in front of him into two and continues up the spectator stands and walls missing the spectators by a few meters.

- “That’s enough!” - Valerie yells out and jumps over the wall to enter the arena. - “I’ve seen enough!”

Kassandra immediately exhales and reattaches her sword on her back, Varux grabs Nyxie in a princess carry and jumps over and Raxis follow towards us.

I use every ounce of my focus to squash down the surging power within me. My lungs force all the air out and I start gasping. My entire body is ripping itself apart.

- “Come on buddy, get up!” - Raxis grabs me under the shoulder and lifts me up. - “You’ll be fine, you just need a rest.”

The cold inside of the arena subsides and that’s when I notice that Kassandra’s armor and skin are partially frozen over, ice was forming on her body and is now slowly melting.

- “And?” - Valerie looks over the Guardians. - “What do you think, Raxis?” - Her eyes stop on him

- “He’s raw, needs training.” - Raxis starts looking over my body, squeezing my thighs and shoulders. - “That body can’t handle the power he wields.”

- “Varux?” - Valerie’s questioning continues.

- “That was phenomenal! Fantastic!” - He sets down Nyxie who runs over and hugs me. - “It’s been a while since I’ve seen something so entertaining!”

- “I’ll be fine Nyxie. Just don’t hug me that hard.” - I pat her on the head and ruffle her hair around.

- “Kassandra?” - Valerie walks over to her and stares her down. - “Opinions?”

- “He’ll pass for a Protector.” - Varux slaps his thigh at Kassandra’s remark.

- “That was it? This whole thing was you taking your new boyfriend for a ride?” - I can’t stand this, I just got beaten up because Valerie decided so. - “How the fuck does that even work in your brain!?”

The Guardian’s each raise their eyebrows and Valerie looks at me. Her eyes open wide and her mouth is slightly agape.

- “I’m not your political toy Valerie.” - I finish off.

- “How dare you speak like that to the Shield?” - Kassandra steps between me and Valerie. - “Know your place!”

Varux grabs Kassandra by the ear and pulls her to the side putting his index over her mouth telling her to shut up.

- “Leshy, that wasn’t what I wanted to do.” - Valerie grabs her shoulder with one arm and looks away. - “I wanted you to prove yourself in front of the Guardians here.”

- “Well, you could’ve planned it out a little maybe? Kassandra was in on it, everyone was in on it.” - I pull myself out of Raxis’s grasp and stumble over to Valerie and grab her by the arms. - “And yet somehow, that message omitted me!”

- “You would’ve refused!” - She snaps back, with some bite this time.

- “And you should’ve accepted that. That’s something that we do, we accept things about each other and find ways to agree on things together.” - I grab her cheeks and I can hear Kassandra in the background try to walk towards us but the steps quickly stop. - “Never do that again Valerie, we all might be fucking gods among men but you know better than anyone that sometimes, things need to just work themselves out.”

- “I’m sorry…” - Valerie looks down.

- “...I’m not really good at holding grudges, Valerie. And frankly, scolding a five millennia old Efi on how relationships work, just sounds wrong.” - I lift her head and give her a peck on the lips. - “Keep me in the loop next time, Love.”

- “Okay, I’ll do better next time.” - Valerie nestles into my chest with a hum.

And with that my vision fades. All of my strength slips away from me and I lose consciousness while Valerie tries to hold me up. It comes back to me after a few seconds, a cold sweat builds on my forehead. Valerie is holding me up.

- “I’ll take him, Shield.” - Varux comes over and starts grabbing me by the arm. I try to speak, tell them I’ll be fine but it’s all just mumbles.

- “No! I’ll carry him.” - Valerie pulls me away and starts walking towards the exit slowly, making sure my legs can keep up. Nyxie is clutching onto my free arm. - “Nyxie, can you open doors for us? Please?”

Nyxie nods and quickly runs a little ahead, first opening the double door into the arena, Valerie continues taking me downstairs taking it step by step.

- “Kassandra, food and drink for him.” - Valerie shouts back at the Guardians behind us.

- “But…” - Kassandra stammers and gets quickly cut off by Valerie.

- “Now!” - While we continue down the step, halfway to the floor below, Kassandra jumps over the railing and dashes into one of the hallways.

We continue down and take a left into the hallway leading to Kassandra’s quarters, but we don’t reach the end point. Instead Valere stands in front of one of the numbered doors and Nyxie quickly opens it. It’s empty, looks not lived in with some dust build up around the place.

- “Come on baby… Here…” - Valerie sets me down on the bed and helps me lie down.

The room is big but empty. There’s only a Desk with a Chair, a Dinner table with spots for four and a bed. It’s like being in a hospital.

- “I’m ok, we don’t need to stay here, Xerra’s going to worry.” - I try lifting myself up but nearly fall out of the bed, Nyxie holds me up by the shoulders and pushes me back down on the bed with a grunt.

- “You can’t Leshy, you can barely walk.” - Nyxie sets down on the floor next to the bed, kneeling and holding my shoulder. - “You don’t have to pretend that it’s fine. Just rest Leshy.”

- “The room kinda feels like a coffin…” - I take another look around, it’s all white with just the brown of the wood breaking the space up. - “How’d you know it’s empty?”

- “Because this entire hallway is reserved for Protectors of the Guardians. This is a room reserved for one of Xerra’s, you.” - Valerie grabs her dress and rips a piece of it off. She uses that piece to wipe off the sweat off my forehead.

- “You could’ve just used a towel…” - At least I can talk a little now.

- “That would’ve taken too long to get. Just rest now, food’s coming, you’ll get some energy in soon.” - She pinches my cheek and leans back with a sigh.

- “Hi Varux.” - I wave lazily at him. He facepalms with a grin on his face. - “Sorry for dragging your drunk ass into this.”

- “Boy’s barely talking and has the balls to call me a drunk ass. He was made for Spotting.” - Varux and Raxis both exit out of the room, closing the door behind them.

- “Can you not talk?” - Valerie sits over at the bed and rubs my thigh.

- “No can do. That’s what I do.” - I chuckle and cough. - “I’m fine though, really. We can get a move on and get home now.”

I force my body up from the bed, Nyxie once again attempts to push me back down but I shoo her away with my hand. Alright legs, don’t fail me now! I start lifting myself up but am quickly met with Valerie pushing down on my shoulders this time, with a frown on her face.

- “Can you please stop? You’re worrying everyone around you right now.” - She leans down and bumps her forehead onto mine.

- “Nobody needs to worry about me anymore. I’ll be alright, just let me get up.”

- “Stop! You scold me for not keeping you in the loop, yet you refuse to share a single burden.” - Valerie gently but with force pushes me back down onto the bed. - “Xerra’s going to be fine, she’s a grown ass woman. Nyxie is young but not stupid, she doesn’t want you to ruin yourself like this.”

- “I’m not ruining myself Valerie…”

- “Leshy, all you’ve done since dragging that Alpha back is that. You’ve missed sleep, during the trip and pushed forward, you didn’t sleep on the day we came here. I know you had a big headache on the day before reaching Varsh. And yet you didn’t let anyone know, instead you made up excuses to slow down.” - She’s frowning and a tear runs down her cheek.

- “Valerie I… I can’t be weak like this. I already made you worry when I lost myself during the cave raid and you had to forcefully stop me, then you had to watch me stand half dead in the Inn’s lobby. I’m not going to have that happen again. Ever.” - All I’ve done is rely on you Valerie, why can’t you see that. - “Weakness is not an option for me.”

- “Oh shut up. Do you think I never got carried around? Hospitalized or taken care of?” - She claps my thigh. - “Nyxie have you ever had to be carried around?”

- “Of course, when I sprained my ankle once, dad carried me back home.” - Nyxie responds joyfully.

- “See?” - Valerie rubs Nyxie’s head with a hum.

- “I’m not Nyxie though. It’s a man thing Valerie.” - I look away from them.

- “I don’t get this whole man thing. Varux was saying the same thing, same with Raxis and Sarakh. Why can’t you just be open and vulnerable with the people around you?” - She tilts her mouth and rubs the bridge of her nose.

- “Because showing weakness invites despair, because being weak for a fraction of a second allows you to be caught off guard. Maybe it’s because growing complacent with your current state of affairs invites laziness and for things to happen that you have no control over?” - I snap back at her.

- “No need to be angry Leshy. I was just asking…” - Valerie smiles lightly and closes her eyes at me.

- “It’s fine. I’m alright.” - I take a deep breath. - “Let’s just not talk about this right now.”

KNOCK KNOCK

The door opens and Kassandra enters with a lady dressed in the same uniform as most other Spotters here. She’s carrying a plate full of food inside and leaves it on the desk, promptly exiting the room.

- “Come on in, I think we’re done chatting about personal things for now.” - Valerie keeps smiling at me and invites the Guardians inside.

- “Later Valerie, we’ll talk later about this.” - She just nods at me and rubs my leg.

The Guardians all step in and grab a chair, taking a seat around the bed.

- “I’m not dying, you know? We can have a vigil when I’m actually dead.” - I look around the room, why am I the center of attention again?

- “So. I wanted to make sure I got this right. Everyone’s fine with Leshy becoming a full Protector?” - Valerie looks over at the trio, all of them nod. - “Perfect, this is now your room then Leshy. Not only that but you get to decorate it once you’re in Rixen again! Can’t wait to see what you do with the place.”

- “I get to be interior designer? Cool!” - I lift myself up on the bed a little, not enough to trigger the blonde security systems sitting next to me, just enough to be comfortable though.

Every single atom of my body is screaming at me to chill right now. My lower half is having quite an extensive temper tantrum as well, just moving my toes sends jolts of pain down my spine.

- “So now we’re just going to sit here and think about the meaning of life?” - They’ve been quiet for a few minutes. I’m not a fan of those kinds of moments.

- “I was meaning to ask, what did you do after killing the pack of Ludocanis? From what I heard through the door and what you told me in the bar, you got heavily wounded?” - Raxis crosses his arms and raises one eyebrow. - “For us taking on a pack of those things is something we do to pass time. But for a new Spotter that must’ve been quite brutal.”

- “I dragged the body of the Alpha back to the Wandering Cowbell, about sixty kilometers while bleeding out of a hole in my stomach from getting bit by one of the smaller ones. I’m not sure why I did that, just felt like something I had to do.”

Raxis looks over at Varux and Kassandra, both sit there with their eyes wide open, Kassandra in particular seems like she wants to say something.

- “Did you have this surge of power happen during that as well?” - Varux chimes in.

- “Nope, barehanded but with usage of the Wave of course. I’d be dead without it.”

- “How’d you survive that? Those things kill most of the newbies on their first try.” - Kassandra finally speaks, she’s unlike before, cool, collected. Her face plain.

- “Well, the first time I nearly got my arm ripped off, hence the Revertium sleeve” - I undo it and slide it a bit down, showing the scars I left by choice after my first real fight. - “The second one was… a rite of passage so to speak, I had to prove something to myself.”

- “He was being reckless. That’s what happened.” - Valerie pokes my cheek.

Raxis sighs and leans back deep in thought, scratching his chin and behind his ear for a little bit before looking at Valerie.

- “Shield, if recklessness was his desire, he’d be dead. How do I explain this… - He mumbles and grumbles for a bit. - “Aah! Think of it this way. You’re his love, his life and everything he cares for. You’re strong and powerful, the strongest that’s ever been, Shield Valerie. But the kind of strength he’s looking for goes beyond just forcing people to their knees or clearing hundreds of thousands of enemies out of your way.” - Valerie is carefully side-eyeing him. - “He needs to be a mountain, it’s not about protecting through defeat, it’s about protecting through being beyond destruction and violence. A symbol of stability and true strength that comes from wisdom and experience.”

- “I don’t get it. Why can’t men just be happy with being strong?” - Kassandra joins in and Varux facepalms with a chuckle.

- “And next thing I know you’re going to complain about wussy men flocking to you.” - Varux’s sarcastic remark pushes a button on Kassandra but she restrains herself this time.

- “You’re already a mountain Leshy. My mountain.” - Valerie leans in and kisses my forehead.

- “Stop, you’re making me blush in front of the Guardians.” - I flick her nose and she grabs it with her hands. - “I was supposed to train Nyxie today. Fuck!”

- “I’ll do it, you can watch along or rest here.” - Raxis pokes Nyxie who shivers.

- “I don’t know you…” - Nyxie gets smaller.

- “He’s basically your boss Nyxie. You kinda have to follow along with his orders.” - Valerie speaks up. - “I think it’ll be a good idea Raxis. I’ll take Leshy home and you’ll bring her to the Royal Estate when you’re done.”

- “Sounds good. How far along is she?” - Raxis stands up.

- “She can teleport to her knives and use the wave to enhance her strength. Though, she will break her arms if she goes overboard so be gentle.” - I prop myself up.

- “You should rest more.” - Valerie immediately tries to set me back down but I shoo her away.

- “Let me eat, woman!” - I scoot to the edge of the bed and grab the plate of food. - “I’m starving.”

- “Get moving Raxis, Nyxie please go with him.” - Without an ounce of hesitation Raxis stands up and picks Nyxie up when Valerie gives her command. Nyxie looks like a toddler next to him, dangling while Raxis holds her by the backside of her armor. - “And you two, certainly have some duties to attend to?” - Valerie looks over at Varux and Kassandra who nod and get off the chairs. The Guardians and Nyxie promptly make their way out of the room, it’s just me and Valerie.