Kay stared at Ahthia for a moment before sighing deeply. “So I’m right.”

“What exactly are you right about?” She asked, looking at him oddly. “I think I get it, but I’d like confirmation.”

Kay sighed again and stared up at the ceiling. He was tired, from the trip he’d just come back from, to the incredibly detailed account of it the Adventurer’s Guild people had wrung from him to this now. Thankfully Gemglass had agreed to look up some groups that could deal with the dinosaur monsters, not that they were dinosaurs, and then they’d send a team to check out the Dungeon.

None of that helped with the thoughts running through his head at that exact moment. Some of those thoughts were probably just paranoia or just anxiety creeping into his daydreams about what could be. But not all of it.

“Life is going to get interesting. In the Chinese sense.”

Everyone but Cindy looked confused.

“What do you mean?” Cindy asked with a small frown. She’d been roped into this leadership council because of how her vision had affected the expedition. Without Kay, she’d predicted, things would have been even worse. As bad as they’d been, Kay didn’t even want to know what the other possibility would look like. He wanted Cindy in as many meetings as possible at this point, just in case. He’d agreed not to turn her into some kind of tool and let her live her own life, but he wasn’t going to completely ignore the benefits of her rare Class either.

“From what Ahthia just told me, plus some things I’ve talked about with Eleniah, Torotia has been in a dark age for a while now. I’m pretty sure we’re in the upswing coming out of it at this point. So…” He shrugged, “Chinese interesting.”

“Oh.” Cindy nodded slowly. “I get it. An increased level of advancement and power that causes the kind of things that become historical events.”

“Exactly. And in a world like this, with Classes and everything that come with them…”

Ahthia leaned forward and tapped at the table, “You’re talking about what came before. People in ages past were more powerful and had magic, Skills, Classes, and pathways that have been lost.”

“Like less expensive ways of growing limbs back.” Eleniah added, “Or that there used to be a lot more people at the higher tiers running around.”

“Right,” Kay sat forward in his chair as he fixed his posture, “And if I’m correct, we’re starting to come out of that and head back upward. Like a sine wave,” He drew one in the air with his finger, “Things are great, then they get worse for whatever reason, then they start to get better as people recover.”

“The Necromancer Wars,” Ahthia grimaced as she started listing disasters that had happened, “The Fall of Ghisr, The Unknown Calamity.”

“I don’t know those last two, but yes. Those happened, people lived through it, there was a recovery period, and now people are starting to recover and get strong again.” He looked around the room pointedly. “I’m probably going to be a big contributing figure with that, and Avalon is going to get dragged along with me. And all of you as well.”

“We’re starting a new city with a Dungeon right next to us that’s perfect for training new adventurers and soldiers,” Meten commented softly.

“And we’re going to eventually wipe out a pirate haven that’s been plaguing the northern shipping routes. Probably make it into our own port.” Eleniah added.

Ahthia stared at the table while everyone took that in. She slowly looked up with an expression that mixed seriousness with wonder. “And Kay went out and found a Dungeon that was used by one of the civilizations lost in the Unknown Calamity. If we keep expanding into the peninsula, who knows what we’re going to find?”

Kay leaned in again. “Explain.”

Ahthia walked over to the shelves against one of the walls of Kay’s office and grabbed a rolled map of the continent. “We’re here,” She said, pointed at their approximate location on the peninsula, “But this whole area used to have multiple nations in it; some of them were pretty advanced civilizations from the legends. Then there was some kind of disaster that happened, and they were all wiped out. There were some survivors from most of them that escaped the area and formed new places after they left or joined ones that already existed.” She tapped the area marked as belonging to the Weathered Clans. “The Clans were one of them. The legends say that one of the smaller countries in this area started experimenting with something they shouldn’t, and that’s what led to the Calamity. One of my theories about why the Clans are so against new things is because of that. The refugees who survived were so afraid of what happened they retreated into the protection of tradition, and that shaped the culture they made.” She stared at the map some more. “Can I… Can I invite some people to come to Avalon?” She asked after a moment.

Kay opened his mouth to answer, then paused. “Why are you asking? I’m pretty sure a lot of people have already sent messages to people they think should join us.” He shot a look at Eleniah.

She shrugged unrepentantly. “If any of the people I asked decide to come here, it’ll help us a lot. Some of them even fit the openings we have for government positions.”

“They’ll get interviewed and tested like anyone else who wants to be an official.”

“I know.”

“I want to invite the group that encouraged me to leave the Clans with the others,” Ahthia answered him when he looked back at her. “They might bring a lot of people with them.”

“Explain that, please.”

“We weren’t, aren’t, the only ones not happy with the way the Clans are now. The stagnation that’s been setting in for generations is going to strangle the Clans eventually, and there’s been an unofficial group looking for ways to… deal with that, I guess is the best way to say it. They’re the ones who encouraged me to leave with the others, to give them a better chance.”

“And they’ll bring people with them that want to leave but didn’t really have a place to go.”

“Exactly,” She agreed eagerly, “Not everyone is brave enough to go out into the wilds to try and do what we were going to do. But a new village that’s going to grow into a town, and eventually a city, with all the benefits we have, including being led by you?” They were still avoiding bringing up the topic of his Title until the announcement about it. “A lot of people will take the chance, and that could help us and them.”

They had a discussion about the idea, Kay and his advisers. It took a while as they debated pros and cons, but eventually, Kay nodded at Ahthia. “Send your messages. Let’s see how they respond.”

As they took a short break for refreshments, Kay mentally worked on his ideas for the government of Avalon. He was basing it mostly on his own knowledge of American government from his version of Earth. He knew it would have to change somewhat to fit the world he was in now, but even in just this meeting, he saw some hope for his ideas.

Some kind of council at first, then as we grow, we expand it into a Council. Or a Parliament or whatever we decide to call it. I’m head of the version of the executive branch, and since I’ll probably have other nobles eventually, they’ll be under me in the same branch. Once we get a Judge for ourselves, we can start working on laws and a constitution, and we’ll set up a judicial branch at the same time…

He snapped out of his own musings when someone pushed at his shoulder. “What?”

“We need to talk about announcing your Title,” Eleniah said.

“Alright, what about it?”

“We should do it soon to counteract any bad news that comes from losing people on the expedition to Darkport.” She shook her head sadly, “People are used to bad things happening sometimes, but it’s better not to let them dwell on it, not when we’re as small as we are, and bad morale can spread more easily.”

“That’s fine; I can announce what happened officially as well and add that we’re going to help the families of the people we lost. Tomorrow?”

“That might be too soon. Let’s see if we can do it the day after, though.”

“Great. You hear that, Amanda?”

She nodded once. “I’ll start preparations. It won’t be difficult.”

“Fantastic. What else is on the agenda?”

╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦

Edric Ravenhome stared at the small table in the corner of his office as he always did when he started feeling melancholy. The scars in it, as well as the broken bits of tableware and cutlery, were exactly as they’d been when he’d stumbled into the kitchen and found it and exactly as he’d left them ever since. Enchanting all of it to reform itself to the correct position whether a piece was moved or damaged had been expensive but worth it.

He looked over his shoulder at the banner hanging behind his desk, with an image of a broken ceramic plate on it, exactly the same shape as one of the plates sitting on the table.

Edric Ravenhome could trace his ancestry directly back to the Truespeak tribe that had gone on to found the Bannerthrust Empire on both sides of his family. The Empire was now a multicultural place with many naming practices, but he was who he was, so while many might have named an organization to root out and destroy the evil corruption that had destroyed his hometown and killed his family, inspired by the broken state he’d found his family kitchen, they might have called it something else. But he’d named it the Truespeak way, and thus the Shatterplate Order came to be.

He pushed away the grief that would always be there and turned back to his paperwork. In the beginning, it had just been him, then a few others that had attached themselves to him as he hunted down the Vampyrs that had slaughtered and desecrated their way across the southern portions of the Empire. Then one day, he’d turned around, and there were hundreds of people following him. So they became a bit more organized. And with organization came paperwork.

A knock at his door had him looking up, grateful for a respite. “Come in.” It wasn’t that he hated the paperwork or was bad at it. He would just much rather be crushing Vampyrs. Or any of the other monsters or beings that liked to prey on people in their own homes.

A young woman, human just like he was, stepped into his office and stopped at a respectful distance with a perfect Order salute. Caught in reminiscence that seemed to be the theme of the day, he once again compared the face of his daughter to his long-lost sister. They looked so similar, with the same light blonde hair and sparkling green eyes, and he often wondered if this was what she would have looked like if she’d managed to live to be an adult.

“Hunter Ravenhome, reporting, sir!”

“Alice, I’ve said before, you can cut the formality when it’s just us.” He chided her lightly.

She relaxed a fraction. “Senior Hunter Tibult said you wanted to see me, sir?”

Edric frowned, “No? I mean, always, you’re my daughter, but nothing official.”

“Oh.” She relaxed completely and stepped forward to sit in one of the chairs in front of his desk. “Maybe I misheard?”

“Could be. How was your trip? Your sister still alright?”

“Melody is fine, although she complained about you not coming to visit too.”

“As soon as Maurice gets back and can cover for me, I’ll head down.”

“Better take mom.”

“Of course, I’m going to take your mother.” He mock-shuddered. “Just the thought of what she’d do to me if I didn’t is terrifying.”

Alice laughed at the old joke and started telling him what happened on her visit to her sister.

She was forced to pause in the middle of a story about his eldest grandchild getting into the kitchen of a restaurant and eating all the sweets he could find when someone else knocked on the door.

“Come in.” He called out.

Alice straightened into a sitting position of attention as one of Edric’s assistants stepped inside.

“A message, sir, Senior Hunter Tibult said it was important.” He handed over a sheaf of papers.

“Thank you.” Edric started to read over the message as the assistant stepped outside. Alice started to stand, but her father waved at her to sit back down. “Stay; I want to hear about the rest of your trip.”

She sat down quietly.

Eventually, Edric grunted.

Alice recognized the grunt. “What is it, dad?”

“This is actually two messages. The first one is pretty standard, if annoying. Probably Vampyr sighting coming from somewhere in the Concord and heading east. The other is more interesting.” He started to read that portion of the message again.

Alice waited patiently, quite used to her father’s need to read and reread things to suss out details.

“There’s a new town up in the northeastern peninsula that’s just been founded apparently. The noble that founded it is claiming that he’s a Class Line Progenitor. People are already flocking that way according to the information our people gathered.”

“That’s interesting, but why are they sending it to us in a priority message?” Alice recognized the deep red color of the paper as the one used for more important messages sent within the Shatterplate Order.

Edric looked up at his daughter with a contemplative look on his face. “He’s claiming he’s the Class Line Progenitor of Blood Shaping.”

Alice stiffened in her seat. “That’s…”

“Interesting, isn’t it?” Edric rubbed at his mustache, “And there’s a reported Vampyr headed in that general direction. I might just send a hunting team that way to check things out and see if they can find that Vampyr too. Anything with blood-related classes might mean Vampyr involvement, so it might be connected…”

“I can take my team, sir.”

“Uh?” He blinked at her, then shrugged, “Maybe. I’ll have to talk to some of the Senior Hunters and see who’s available and all that, but there’s no reason it couldn’t be your team. It’d give you some good experience and let you travel some, so I don’t see why not. We’d definitely have to send some Inquisitors, too, though.”

Alice sighed in an unhappy way.

“Yes, I know, everyone dislikes the name because it makes our people sound all evil and tourturey when they’re just another kind of investigator. I didn’t name the class.”

“I know, it just makes people uncomfortable, and then it’s such a pain to get them to talk to us.”

“Yes, well, that’s for later. Tell me about the rest of your trip. What did little Edric do when the sous chef found him?”