Aiden watched as blue, geometric lines flared to life on Halten’s body, locking his soul force and magic once more. It permanently drained all the excess aura and neara Halten had accumulated by eating third evolution meat, retaining only the maximum amount possible for the ring. It was bleak.

Still, his suppressed core was chiseled out of stone, allowing him to control his body without crashing, moving down to the landing pad.

It seemed like a smooth victory—until archers and soldiers and adventurers of all species and descriptions arrived with drawn bows and heavy chains.

It was not the welcome he had imagined.

Aiden screamed at the soldiers as he dismounted and then screamed at them some more when he and Halten were shackled in chains and hauled away. He then complained and threatened and swore when soldiers locked him to a chair and confiscated all the soul cores he had and interrogated him for eight hours.

“You’re going to die,” Aiden said as the guards walked away. “And I’m… strangely okay with that.”

“Unless you’re gonna tell us why the Bramble didn’t attack you, I don’t want to hear a word from you.” The commander inside the tent Aiden was in passed a letter he was reading to a soldier to look over. “And don’t you dare threaten us again. The Claustra aren’t here because they can’t be. The Defense Alliance’s backed by the Dante, so they won’t intervene. Tempt us—and we will kill you.”

Aiden laughed and shook his head and repeated himself. “You’re so fucked.”

The commander motioned to a soldier who walked over to Aiden and knelt beside him. “You think this’s funny? Hmmm?” The soldier threw a right hook and smashed him in the jaw—but Aiden didn’t feel it. He just hit the ground and laughed because his aura had turned him into an unbreakable rock.

The soldier didn’t find it funny. He whipped his hand around, holding his broken knuckles.

“Son of a bitch!”

Aiden laughed harder, which no one appreciated. Another unsheathed his sword and said, “Stop laughing.” The blade lit up with arrays, and Aiden suddenly fell silent, heart pounding.

“That’s what I thought,” the soldier said.

Suddenly, people started yelling orders, and Brexton and the Claustra family strode into the tent.

“You’re not allowed in here,” the commander said. “The ADA has authority here.”

Brexton looked at the man who was gripping his hand and the soldier with the glowing blade. “It seems your blade’s ready.” He turned to the man with the broken knuckles. “Kill this man.”

“Wait, what?”

“Didn’t you just hear me?” the commander asked. “This operation’s headed by Astermead. If the Claustra don’t stand down, we’ll summon the Dante.”

“I summoned the Dante—that’s why it took all day to get here,” Brexton said. “But now that I am—you’re dead.”

The commander’s body flexed. “I want to speak to my general.”

“Your general’s dead,” Brexton said. “She’s dead. You’re dead. You’re all dead. You know why? Because your people stole… this.” He lifted up the sunrise core, and the commander’s face drained of color. “And that’s a violation of the alliance—because he’s…” He pointed to Aiden, “a Claustra. That’s why the Dante and the Melhan and the Astermead Council just signed off on your entire battalion’s execution.”

“Hey now. Slow down.” The commander lifted his hands. “No one stole anything. We just ridded him of his possessions and tied ‘em down because there’s serious questions about his loyalty, and he’s refused to talk.”

Brexton looked at Aiden, who was on the floor, hands tied behind his back, mere moments before getting sliced by a guard. Then he looked at the man with the sword and back again.

“You think they deserve mercy?” he asked.

Aiden smiled viciously, thinking about the way the soldiers abused Halten. That was worse, in his mind, than what they did to him—and he was damn pissed about that, too. That’s why he looked up and said:

“Can you kill them somewhere else?”

2.

Brexton sat at his desk, examining the sunrise core with a fascinated smile. “You’ve changed quite a bit.” He looked at Aiden. “It’s not just the core but… gods, you’re buff now. What’d she feed you out there?”

Aiden felt aura wrap around his heart, threatening him with the soul pact he had made with Brexton. It was nerve-wracking—but he had prepared for this. “A lot of meat.”

“Second evolutions?” Brexton mused.

“Yes.”

“Any thirds?”

Aiden shook his head. “No.” That was true. Mira fed third evolution meat to Kline and the lurvines, but she didn’t eat any, let alone feed some to Aiden.

Brexton frowned. “Did she kill any?”

“Surprisingly enough, I can’t tell you anything about her combat.”

“Can’t’s a presumptuous word.” Brexton rolled the peak third-evolution core around his knuckles, placed it on the desk, and slid it across the wood to Aiden. Then he reached under the desk and pulled out bottles of liquor, and poured them drinks. “The word you’re looking for is won’t. It’s not part of your deal, but you can.”

“I can also lie to you,” Aiden said, sniffing the green drink and examining it. “I’m also never going to drink anything you give me again, even if it’s just Amorok.”

“Hoh? You know your stuff.”

“I have a book on poisons. Let’s just say… you inspired me.”

Brexton smiled.

“It’s funny,” Aiden continued. “I used an information request to ensure I didn’t spill unnecessary secrets to you. And you know what it said?”

Brexton’s smile widened. “What’d it say?”

“That I should just remind you that Mira swore me into secrecy on certain things, so pretty much everything I tell you can be a lie.”

It made sense. He had to tell him certain things about Mira, and he didn’t know which things he needed to tell the truth about. So, as long as he was answering questions, everything was suspect.

Despite that, Brexton’s smile didn’t fade.

“My, my. That is a good point. But…” He looked up. “The best option’s usually to exploit that opportunity to seed… falsehoods. But… there’s a few things wrong with that. And you know them, right? The part where I’ll kill you if you lie to me?” Brexton smirked. “The part where you’re not good enough at lying to make a meaningful ploy. So… keeping silent’s your best option.”

“Until I slip in the wrong thing.”

“Okay.” Brexton cheered the air with his drink, clanked the bottom against the desk, and then took a drink. “Whatever helps you sleep. Now then. Let’s talk about the things that she did tell you.”

3.

Brexton sat in his office after the meeting with a manic grin. His investment in Aiden was turning out to be a gold mine.

He opened his Guide and went to the legacy tab, opening the lecture requests. He had a meeting with Romulan.

“I guess it’s about time.” He took a large drink, swirled the ice in the glass, and then hid the glass under the table as the time ticked down. By the time Romulan arrived in his suit and domineering look, Brexton looked like a businessman.

“Patriarch.” Brexton got up and shook the invisible man’s hand before kneeling. “It’s a pleasure.”

Romulan nodded.

“Would you like a drink?”

His patron nodded, and Brexton opened a cabinet and pulled out imported liquor from the Fifth Domain and poured a drink for Romulan, who copied it and sat down.

“Time runs short before the Harvest,” Romulan said. “So let’s begin.”

Brexton mixed himself a drink. “Mira requested that Aiden keep her battle secrets under lock,” he said. “Same with the light.”

Romulan’s eyes narrowed. He wasn’t happy Brexton made a deal where Aiden could withhold information—and that Brexton didn’t tease it out.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“That said,” Brexton said, “he was an open book about everything else, including the fact that she had six mostly teal cores, and she threaded them.”

Romulan’s stern gaze disappeared. “What evolution is she at?”

Brexton grinned. “I don’t think she was evolved. Aiden said she was splashin’ around the river just fine.”

“Interesting…”

“And that’s not all.” Brexton laced his fingers. “Her cat’s alive.”

“Really?” Romulan finally took a drink. “Her pet?”

“Yes.” Brexton gratefully drank one himself.

“How does he fight?”

“I don’t know. They’re either really close or have a guardian pact because Aiden didn’t need to talk about his battle capacity. But we know he’s evolved he has an ethereal form that can chew through second-evolution hides with ease. He also avoided the river.”

Romulan contemplated his words and then looked at his watch and clicked his tongue. “What’s critical?” he asked.

Brexton grinned. “Three things. Mira’s staying in the forest, she knows about Aiden’s information pact, and she still invited him to stay. She’s lonely. And I think we can exploit that.”

Romulan nodded and stood. “Work on it.”

“One last thing.” Brexton pulled out the sunrise core. “Aiden tried to buy Halten’s freedom with this.”

Romulan glowered at him. “You refused,” he said with the inflection of an order.

“Of course I did. I told him that he was out of his mind if he thought we’d release a third evolution monster into the Bramble right before the Harvest.”

His patron didn’t relax. “Then what are you telling me for?”

“Because the Claustra are duty bound to auction it—and he wants to do it tomorrow.”

Romulan scoffed. “Tomorrow? He wants to do it tomorrow? Refuse him.”

Brexton took a deep breath, smile hesitant. “I cannot.”

“Why… not?”

“Because Mira Hill has left a message for the Harvesters—and everyone needs to hear it.”

4.

Aiden entered a private car on the train to Astermead, the largest city in the First Domain. Mira had trusted him with a strategy for avoiding war, and while he threw the idea to Elle and she said, “Well, it co~uld be good, but unless she’s a ruthless monster under that pretty little skin, I’m going to go with… prob~a~bly not,” he still promised Mira he would. So he was going to do it, no matter how nerve-wracking and terrifying it would become.

5.

Evolving my soul core was vastly more difficult than evolving my mana core. The mana core just required me to expand my core—this spell required me to reweave the aura wrapped around my core and to rewire my neara network, which just so happened to affect my brain, hormones, and nervous system.

I weaved in and out of consciousness, entering trances where I became a Lignan bug and then others where I was the beast they killed. Things would get violent until a root or plant or resource would drift to my core like a life raft, making it disappear and thrusting me right back into the typhoon around me.

Water splashed around me from all angles, hitting me with mist as the water trembled and quaked and sent mist everywhere. It was cold. So cold.

Yet medicine pumped through me, and I felt relief and moments later, as the sheer speed of my moving core made me queasy, I would get another hint of foreign near and get transported back to another place and time and memory, experiencing emotions and hell until yet another resource healed my soul and my core caught up, blending the neara to bits.

It was hell.

But I pressed on, letting the hours drift away, praying I would wake up in time for the harvest.

6.

Aiden awoke in Astermead, a city that made Theovale look like a backward town in the Ozarks. It was the size of New York City, but it looked magically futuristic, with flying carriages that moved between buildings alongside flying mounts and smooth streets tattooed with arrays that made objects moving on them hover and move faster.

The two had breakfast at a restaurant that served soup in large eggshells and went to a tailor to get Aiden fine clothing for the auction. Then, they burned a few hours around the city before meeting up with Everen at a restaurant.

Aiden ordered the most expensive items on the menu for spite and listened to Everen complain about how everyone was trying to rip him off despite using the Claustra name. Brexton told him that he was stupid for expecting powerful people to bend down to other powerful people and the conversation went on until the food was done and the waitresses had served coffee. Then they got to business.

“What’s the credit system,” Brexton asked. “For the auction?”

Everen’s eyes turned cold and distant. “Intra-domain credit. One-month payment window. Release upon payment.”

Brexton’s eyes widened. “You can't be serious.”

“I’m… Look, Brexton.” Everen leaned in. “People’re pissed. Okay? You can’t just… throw an auction of this proportion at the last minute. No one’s got the funds. This’ll crash the investment market today, and businesses would grind to a halt. It’s not just the families, Brexton. Regulators were threatening to shove a sword up my ass if I did this—especially since we’re hosting representatives from every domain. It’s a scandal and we can’t just do what we want. Intra-domain credit puts the price window too high for the small fry to tank their business. We’re taking an us problem and making it a them problem. It’d be one thing if it wasn’t a family issue, but it’s not. We already know who’s buying it—so what’s the harm?”

Brexton pondered it and said. “You’ve done some research.”

“I have. You do information—I do business. I may be new but the Oracle’s given me everything I need to start multiple operations already. So just… let me cook.”

Brexton rubbed his forehead. His hunched posture, deep breaths, and sullen eyes told Aiden that Brexton was going to get chewed out by someone who could grind his bones to dust.

“Not sure what that means but… fine. Just stay out of the rest of it. Whether you like it or not, this auction isn’t about you, okay? Not about you or Aiden. It’s about politics. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have gotten the clearance. Got it?”

Everen looked between Brexton and Aiden. “What’s going to happen?”

Brexton grinned. “Nothing good. Nothing good at all.”

7.

The conversation between Everen and Brexton painted a vivid image of the hoops it would take to free Halten and obtain his own freedom. Just like in his world, Reemada was all about business and politics, stock markets, magic, and power. Setting up a single auction had multi-domain-wide consequences that forced even someone like Brexton—who had the power to execute commanders who dared to hurt one of his people—to yield.

Things were complicated, so if Aiden wanted a chance at defeating these people, he needed two things: power and resources. And that night, he found himself sitting behind the stage on a chair, hearing how astronomically rich he was becoming.

“Do I hear ten million? Ten million going once, going—Twenty million. Do I hear twenty one million? Going once—going… Thirty million. Do I hear…”

The auctioneer worked at record speed, passing through ten, twenty, and fifty million golden hawks as if they were mere informalities. Then that number swelled and swelled until people groaned and bowed out, moving closer and closer to the end until they finally hit three hundred million hawks, and the area fell still.

“Sold to Hadrian Dante for three hundred million hawks. That concludes this night’s…”

Aiden’s pounding heart drowned out the rest of the night. His mind was going white, and he felt light-headed. Breathe. When was the last time he breathed? He didn’t know and suddenly couldn’t and—

“Aiden.”

Brexton touched his arm and passed an unnaturally soothing technique through his body, easing up his mind.

“Huh?”

“You’re up,” Brexton said. “They’re waiting for you.”

“Oh…”

“You’re okay. I’d offer you some booze but…”

“Give it to me.”

Brexton shrugged and pulled out his flask. Aiden checked to see if it was just alcohol with his book skill and then pounded at least three shots worth before exhaling and shivering and forcing himself up.

“Easy guy,” Brexton said. “Just remember. The Claustra may be your enemy—but they’re also your guardians, protectors, and friends. Most people hate us. But we follow our word. So don’t worry about retribution or getting heckled. You’re just the messenger… so make it count.”

Brexton led him to the side of the stage and gave a signal to the host.

“And now, what you all’ve been waiting for, a message from Aiden Roe, the tamer who conquered the Bramble and brought this core back from the pits of hell!”

Vibrant applause rocked the amphitheater as Aiden hesitantly walked forward.

“You got this, guy,” Brexton said.

Aiden shielded his eyes from the burning stage lights, trying to think past the sound of feverish clapping. He was famous, he thought. Actually famous.

“Come over here,” the host said.

Aiden followed the directions and walked into a magic circle. It glowed when he stood on it, and it amplified the sounds he made like a microphone.

“Thank you for coming here,” the host said. “Why don’t you tell us about yourself?”

“Ummm… what do you want to hear?”

“Anything.”

“Oh… Ummm…” Aiden felt suffocated under his collar and suit and just wanted to run and hide. But he remembered his promise and pressed on. “Hi… Ummm… My name is Aiden Roe. I… conquered the Bramble and… had the pleasure of… Ummm… Spending a week with Mira Hill. The girl in the forest.”

Excited whispers met his words. The anticipation was palpable.

“She, ummm… I’m really bad at this.” He chuckled nervously, and the crowd did as well. “But I’ll try. Mira… ‘s… moving. No, I mean… not alive. I mean… she’s not… in a cave somewhere, hunkering down. She’s walking around that forest like she owns the place, collecting plants and making elixirs from them. A-And I’m not talking about the Bramble. I mean north. Really north. Places that take over a week to reach. I watched her ride north, and she returned with herbs that, like… repaired body parts. Just… naturally.”

His words hit the patrons like a scandal, and they burst into furious chatter and scheming. He had just confirmed their every desire and ambition.

“B-But. There’s a point… Quiet down. Please… quiet down.” Aiden paused until they fell silent. “I-I’m telling you that because it’s important to understand the message she left for you all.”

Dead silence befell the room, cloaking it with an eerie aura that made Aiden nervous, but he fought past it.

“She said… I’m your supplier now. You put in orders, and I’ll bring ‘em. But… if anyone tries to stay past the Harvest… if anyone burns the forest or causes trouble—she’ll never do business with them again… and she’ll blacklist anyone who works with those people, um… too. They’re dead to her. A-And… And she doesn’t trust I’ll convey that well… um… so she gave me this to read to you.”

The audience murmured as he fished a folded sheet of paper from his pocket. It wasn’t hers, but he had Elle record it. He cleared his voice and spoke:

“Quote: I’m living in the forest. I don’t give a fuck about your money or your reputation or literally anything else. If you fuck up, you’re out. Forever. And if you don’t think everyone won’t gang up on you to keep the gravy train flowing—you’re out of your goddamn mind.

“Areswood is my territory now. And you better tread lightly. Because if you don’t play by the rules, I’ll take any action and make any deal to destroy you. So drop your egos and play like adults. If you fuck around, you’re going to find out.”

A terrorizing silence followed his words. He could cut the pressure in the room with a blade, and he really wished that he had paraphrased. So, after what could’ve been two seconds or a whole minute, he added:

“End quote.”