“Alright, listen up,” General Andra Kolein said, pacing in front of the hundred or so new recruits. “Your captain didn’t make it. He did however put his team in a position to win the highest honor in Gadvera. You are going to escort the royal family back to Mujenan and receive high accolades for the work you’ve done here.”

Her eyes snapped over to Farren, who had raised his hand.

“What?”

“Did we really do anything?” He said. “Last thing I remember we were charging, and then I got really sleepy.”

There was a general murmur of agreement.

“That was Ilethan mind magic wiping your short term memories. You fought like devils and overwhelmed them with sheer tenacity.” Andra said.

“Oh, oh. Cool.” Farren said, standing a little straighter.

“I see.” Calvin muttered from the repaired carriage, “Stroke their egos to raise moral so that next time they may actually fight like devils.” Add that to the playbook.

“Are the chains really necessary?” Kala and Ella asked in two different tongues at the same time, glancing over at Cal with concern. The two girls looked at each other with suspicion. The words had been from different languages, but the tone had been identical.

“He impersonated an officer. At least.” One of the remaining royal guard, a square jawed Legend named Horas said from where he kept an eye on Calvin. “I imagine the crown might forgive him given the circumstances, though.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Cal said in Genosian and Gadveran, waving off the concern of the two girls who had begun sizing each other up like chickens stretching their necks to see who was taller. Ella definitely had the advantage in the size department, standing shoulder to shoulder with Horas.

“I can wait out a little discomfort if it gets me to the…um. Why are we not going to Surrak?”

Horas kept his face straight, but Cal saw a twitch of repressed anger and guilt for opportunities missed. Hmm.

“Surrak has been taken by Iletha.” Kala said, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.

What is so scary about looking at me?

“oh, damn.” Cal stared at the ground, mind awhirl. “Are Jinnei and Karen okay?”

“I don’t know,” Kala said, grasping Cal’s hand, still not looking directly at him. “But I do know that wherever Karen goes, Jinnei will be perfectly safe.”

“Who is this girl?” Ella said, cutting between the two of them, nearly shoving Kala away. That act made the royal guardsmen nearby start fingering their weapons. “And why does she think she can touch you?”

“Who is this girl?” Kala said. “And why is there a magenta band between the two of you?

“Ummm….” Cal leaned back in his seat and laced his fingers around his knee as they looked at him expectantly.

“what color is Magenta?”

Wow, just threw that Talking to Girls Skill right out the window.

Kala paled and stepped back, attracting Ella’s curiosity.

“What is that?” she said, pointing at him.

“What is what?” Cal asked innocently.

“That…thing that rose from its slumber inside you for an instant.”

“My System?”

“That was not a System! That was a gaping wound in your soul that led into the purest evil. I can practically taste it. How are you sane?”

Tomato Tomahto.

“There it is again!” Kala said, pointing.

“Is she insane?” Ella asked.

“I don’t think so,” Cal responded. “And she’s a friend of mine from my home who seems to harbor at least a little bit of jealousy.”

“Ah, but did you ever have sex?”

“I think if we had, the people guarding her would have cut my head off.”

“Hmm,” Ella got a smug smile.

“We haven’t had sex either.” Cal said.

“She doesn’t know that.” Ella said, placing a possessive hand on Cal’s shoulder. “Why haven’t we, by the way?”

“Humans can breed with everything, that’s common knowledge. I didn’t need Calvin-brats running around making my escape harder.”

“Escape!?”

Whoops.

“You were planning on leaving me!?” she demanded, grabbing Cal by his loose-fitting Skovos shirt and hauling him up.

Cal raised his shackled hands in supplication. “I asked if you wanted to run away with me, you said no. What was I supposed to do?”

“Get off him!” Kala said, shoving Ella away with unprincess-like strength, sending Ella reeling backward.

Damn, this is getting good. Came a thought from Elliot, along with crunching and chewing noises. Think they’ll start tearing each other’s clothes off, or is that too much to ask?

Tell me you’re not evil.

Evil is subjective, call me self-interested. Besides, she’ll get used to it. Like riding a roller coaster, eventually it’ll be a turn-on.

I’m not one hundred percent sure what you just said, but it sounded evil.

“That’s enough!” General Andra said, her voice sending an icy trill of dread through their collective spines.

“Take her back to the cage,” she said, and Horas clamped an iron hand down on Ella’s shoulder, guiding her away.

“And you, princess, have forgotten your station and acted in the height of poor taste. Remove yourself from the boy until you come to your senses again.”

“Yes, General.” Kala said, staring at her feet and shuffling away, her whole body radiating shame.

At least I don’t have to answer any awkward questions about my relationship with them.

“And you…” She said, pointing at Cal. “What is your relationship with those two?”

Well, shit.

“Kala used to visit my village.”

“I remember. Deinos, was it?”

Cal nodded. “We were friends.”

“I can see that,” Andra said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She leaned forward until her faintly scarred face was inches away from his own. “If we find out you’ve used any kind of Skill on the princess, your head will roll.”

Eep.

“What about the other one, the Genosian?”

“Well, that’s a bit of a long story.” Cal said.

Andra touched her sword.

“Which I will tell right now.”

Cal blurted out everything that had happened to him in the last three weeks at a record-setting pace. He skimmed over a few parts, like him and Ella grinding on each other, and the part where he killed Skovos, but Andra didn’t seem to care about him.

“I see.” She motioned one of the royal guard closer and whispered in his ear. The man glanced at Cal and nodded before returning to his duty.

“Your Genosian pet will be fine, and will continue to be fine in exchange for your good behavior.”

“Pfff, you think I care what happens to her?” Cal said.

“Jorgas, go cut off a hand.”

“I’ll behave.” Cal said, backpedaling hard. “I mean, that’s not too hard to do, right? No need to get extreme.”

“Interesting…” Andra said, peering at Cal’s eyes. “Your pupils have dilated, boy.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Cut off her head.”

Every fiber of Cal’s being rebelled at the idea, driving him to act, now, now NOW.

Fuck that!

Calvinian Summoning.

1/11 Bent Remaining.

A swarm of wasps leapt out of Cal’s hand, angling for the grey-haired woman, but the general lazily waved her sword, and the swarm fell out of the air in a rain of green goo.

Well, that was anticlimactic.

“Interesting. Belay that.” She peered into Cal’s eyes for a moment. “I imagine the girl would have the same response?”

“Probably.” Cal gritted out, ashamed at being toyed with. He could feel her intention to exploit this particular weakness radiating through her gaze like the warmth of the sun.

“Then be on your best behavior, and you have nothing to worry about. What can you tell me about Noeula, the concoction that drained your Bent and healed your wound?” She asked.

Cal frowned. “Why?”

“Because I said so, boy.”

“I don’t know much of anything, just that they make a special brew out of the black stuff that drips out of the ruin in the mountain, and it heals wounds.”

She narrowed her eyes for a moment, then pulled away from him, cold calculation on her face and in her gaze. The lady didn’t feel anything other than duty and how to achieve said duty. Knowing that behind the stony mask was a stony mind was making his knees shake. She would’ve killed Ella if that had been the most convenient thing to do.

Well, if you married Kala, that could work in your favor.

“Stay quiet until we get to Mujenan. I don’t want those soldiers seeing you. When we get to the city the Hash’Maje will decide what to do with you.”

She pushed him deeper into the charred carriage and closed the door on him. A couple minutes later, the carriage started wobbling, heading for the road.

Cal found himself in the middle of a blackened, yet still comfortable carriage, wearing manacles, with nothing to do but wait.

Hmm…

Cal settled against the carriages bumping wall and relaxed his body, trying to disconnect himself from the moment and ignore the distractions. He didn’t have the Bent or the energy to attempt an escape, and the Royal Guard were watching him like a dangerous animal, so getting away would be many times more difficult than it had been before.

The best thing he could do right now was work on his Meditation.

The carriage got onto the road, the crunch of dirt added to the sounds as they came off the soft grass. He let the bobbing of the carriage, chatter of the soldiers, and the constant crunch of dirt lull him into a trance, exploring his options, and hypothesizing on his future.

Cal had never been to Mujenan, but it was likely to be large, and well defended. The hope that the Hash’maje would allow him his freedom would be slim after it was revealed that he’d killed Captain skovos. So, most likely, he and Ella had a few weeks of interrogation to look forward to in regards to the Genosian threat, before they were both executed.

Impersonating an officer alone was punishable by death. Forget about killing them.

So, what do we do? Escape, or make ourselves too valuable to kill. These were the only two options Cal could see, and they were both very hazy concepts.

To escape, he needed to slip out from under the watchful eye of Legends like Karen, and he hadn’t the first idea of how to manage it. He could shapeshift into a young gadveran male, since that was the average, but the royal guard were a lot sharper.

Perhaps an opportunity would present itself when they entered the city and he was moved from the care of the Royal Guard to the more lax prison system.

The prison is more lax than the royal guard. Hah. Less challenging at least.

The other option was more attractive. Running away from the Gadverans left him an enemy of the state, but if he could come up with some kind of leverage that forced them to forgive his crimes, that would work out much better in the long run. Not blackmail, but a Skill or knowledge that only he could do.

Calvinian summoning came to mind. It was useful for large groups of individuals, but people with a lot of Breaks and experience most likely had counters to it. Andra being the case in point.

Maybe I can request leniency in exchange for service on the battlefield? Would they even go for that, considering I can change shape, and they know it?

If I were general Andra what would I do?

…Exploit the Guya bond, and leverage utility from me and Ella on the threat of harm to the other and promise of being reunited.

Cal tapped his fingers on his knee.

How can I circumvent this?

Escape impractical, and likely to result in damage or death to one or both of us.

…Politics?

I can see general Andra using me as a chess piece to quietly swing a battle in her favor or assassinate some unlucky Ilethan Noble. This is all assuming I’m not executed, but the look in her eye let me know she intends to use me, and the bond between myself and Ella as ruthlessly as possible.

I must establish a character, and make it more impressive than Andra’s character. Only then will I have the ability to shrug off her control. It’s either that or a daring escape with Ella.

Meditation has reached Level 5!

Level 5: Boosts ability to ignore distractions and disassociate. 25% correction.

+1 Will

Please choose an ability or mutation from the list of compatible ones.

Shadow boxing: Allows the user to practice any Warped Skill up to the level of Meditation, at 1/4 speed.

Useful for practicing Bent dependent skills or being imprisoned with time on your hands.

Disconnect: Allows the user to disconnect from their senses and the flow of time.

Useful for demon summoning, battles of Will, or retaining your sanity after a thousand years in prison.

^ Editor's choice!

Sherl*ck vision: Plan your moves out in advance with a solid sense of the near future.

Elementary.

Mutations:

Bent Regeneration: Flat 20% Boost to Bent regeneration.

Useful, if boring.

Eye of the tiger: Enter flow state at will. +50% combat and learning effectiveness. The inverse of a barbarian rage. May make the user overtired with extended use.

~Adriaaaan!

Medi-tating: Enter a deep trance while the body repairs itself at (Meditation) times normal speed.

Hiber-Nate!

Cal scrolled over the choices in his mind, organizing them by effectiveness.

Shadow boxing was very appealing, as it would allow him to get Chained Spirit, Fishing and Genosian Language to level five (and their first mutation) without needing a summon, a partner, or a pond to fish in. After that, though, the effectiveness would rapidly dwindle until he raised his Meditation even further.

Meditating was intriguing at first, but at lower levels, it only healed at five times normal speed. It would allow him to recover from an injury in maybe three days to a week, which would be useful, but not fast enough to bounce back at the kind of speed Calvin would hope for.

At higher levels, if he ever got Meditation to level 20 or 30, he could use it to recover from an injury overnight, or a matter of hours, and that would be the level of speed he wanted.

Cal settled on Eye of the Tiger. He didn’t know what it meant, but a flat 50% boost in performance was difficult to ignore. While the return of Shadow boxing would eventually peter out, and Medi-tation was only useful in a safe place after getting wounded, Eye of the Tiger would serve to prevent wounds from happening.

The others were interesting, but situational. He was sorely tempted by the bent regeneration, but the 50% learning increase gave Calvin an idea.

I choose Eye of the tiger.

Bum, Bum bum Bum. Elliot started humming bars to a strange song.

User will be rendered unconscious while Mutation is taking place.

...Did my time, took my chances♪

Should I ask? Cal thought a moment before he lost consciousness, feeling an odd aching in the back of his head and neck.

When Calvin opened his eyes again, the carriage was still rattling down the road, the sun still pouring through the burnt holes in the ceiling. He blinked the gum out of his eyes, and spat out the taste of charcoal from where he’d had his mouth open, then closed his eyes again.

Eye of the tiger.

Distractions seemed to not fade, but blend into a perfect, uniform background upon which he imposed his mind, a perfect dot at the center of the fabric of space.

Cal started meditating, using the forced flow state to drastically speed the training of its primary skill. At level ten he would grab Shadow Boxing, and at level fifteen he would take Medi-tating, gaining each of them at the level they could be of use to him.

Why settle for one thing he wanted when he could have all of them?

By the point he got Meditation to fifteen, his Will would be nineteen. Then he could use Shadow Boxing to raise Chained spirit to level five, bringing his Will up to the cap.

Then switch gears and focus on his Stability skills, Genosian Language and Fishing. Getting each of those to level ten would take his Stability to fifteen, allowing him to raise those skills just past fifteen, bottlenecking at seventeen Stability.

Then he could use his spare time to practice Read Expressions, Talking to Girls, Acting, and Sense-grafting, bottlenecking at 14, because Stealth was already capped.

14 Int, 17 Sta, 20 Will, then I need another Break.

Cal didn’t know how long that would take him, but the upside was it didn’t require freedom, only time.

Next Break he would receive 27 Warp. That was just enough to raise his Body by four and his Mind by five, uncapping skills and allowing them to reach the next ability or mutation. If he did it perfectly.

Went the distance now I’m not gonna stop♪

Elliot’s caterwauling slid around the edges of Cal’s consciousness, unheeded as he sank into deep meditation.

Meditation has reached Level 6!

Level 6: Boosts ability to ignore distractions and disassociate. 30% correction.

….

A strange sound tickled the edge of Cal’s little bubble of consciousness, alerting him that something was wrong. He snapped back to complete wakefulness, listening to the clamor from outside.

The Gadveran soldiers were shouting to each other with nervous energy, and the Carriage was now moving roughly half again as fast as it had been originally. Cal braced himself against the seat to stand and peek out the rear window.

A line of Ilethan riders were chasing after them, four abreast, several hundred deep.

The door of the carriage slammed open, revealing the grey-haired general. She roughly hauled up his hands and unlocked the manacles before dragging him out into the open, the wind blowing through their hair as she held him on the edge of the door.

“Do your wasp trick.” She said, pointing at the riders. “I want you to hit them when they break into a gallop to overtake us.”

“You think they won’t have a sorcerer?”

“Wizards aren’t exactly common in any culture.” She said. “Now make those guars toss their riders.”

That’s odd. Cal had seen plenty of street magicians when he was twelve, although they never did much beside duplicate a few things with flourishes, make things vanish. That was real magic, right?

Maybe Calvin was luckier than he thought.

Calvinian Summoning.

0/11 Bent remaining.

An overpowering swarm of wasps flew from his hands, then settled in the grass on either side of the road at his command.

A few moments later, they leapt upon the riders, stinging their guars and causing them to go wild with fright, scattering and bucking, trying to dislodge the wasps by any means necessary, incidentally dislodging their riders, causing hundreds of men to become wounded and dozens dead, bringing the charge to a complete standstill.

Andra gave a short, huffing laugh, then drew Cal back inside the carriage.

“You do good work, little…whatever the hell you are. Keep it up and you could be a captain someday.”

“I already was a captain. It was alright.” Cal said.

“That’s right, you were.” She regarded him for a moment, a tiny flurry of emotions just barely brushing the surface, too nuanced for Cal to make heads or tails of it.

“Skovos was garbage, brother to the man who tried to kidnap Kala. If there’s any way I can keep the responsibility for his disappearance from falling on your shoulders, I will do so.”

Cal could tell she was being honest, but at the same time, wanted to use him toward her own ends.

I hate nuance.

“Could I ask a favor?” Cal asked as Andra was about to step out.

“Oh?”

“Could you not use Ella and I as leverage against each other like I can see you planning to do? Otherwise I’m afraid I might be compelled to Skovos you.”

She stared at him for a moment, and Cal could feel the steel in her resolve as she weighed the options and did the math in her head. Cal couldn’t tell what conclusion that she drew, but the surety of her decision was tinged by a tiny bit more respect for him than it had been before: He’d effectively read her mind, and that was nothing to scoff at.

“You’ve got some ungodly Intuition, kid. I’ll take it under advisement. If we make a more formal arrangement, I think we could work something out.”

She turned and left, leaving Cal alone with his thoughts again.

I hope that worked.

Cal returned to his meditation until the sun went down, and beyond. The art of not thinking about anything unsurprisingly wasn’t very energy intensive. It was almost like taking a nap, and by the time they set up camp for the night, he had already reached level eight.

Meditation has reached Level 8!

Level 8: Boosts ability to ignore distractions and disassociate. 40% correction.

A soft screech of charred wood brought Cal out of his trance as someone opened the door of his little moving cell. Outside, he couldn’t hear anything but the crackling of flames and the wind in the leaves.

The door opened to reveal Kala, not wearing a scrap of clothing, the light of the moon reflecting off the curves of her breasts, creating enticing shadows along her toned stomach.

Calvin’s heart began to pound in anticipation.

“Umm…Hi?”

Her body burst into a cage-like maw of barbed fangs.