“Where’s Aella, is she here? I’m kind of hesitant to see her again, I don’t think she’ll be super-happy with my progress with the chain, yet despite that, I have missed her.”

“With unknowing ignorance, we do not know, Hunter. We sought out Most Honoured Walker as soon as we arrived, so that he might attempt your retrieval. Neither Darina, Cad nor I knew what had happened; it is fortunate that my brother had seen such a portal created by Most Honoured Apex of the Infinite Blades.”

Looking at Riffa, I realised that Walker had probably come for me as soon as they returned, only a few hours before, and since then, they had been standing about in that hall, waiting for us.

“You guys only just arrived? What time of day is it? You guys must be tired, running all that way. There wasn’t much I could do about it, but I am sorry for vanishing, for what it’s worth.”

“With astute observation, it was the crystal lock, in some way?”

“Yeah, got it in one, Reff. The guy that took me, I met him on the first world I visited, when chasing the Shadow F – Shade. His name is Lucas, the Paragon I told you about? Anyway, he wanted to talk again when I was done delivering the phoenix egg. I didn’t know if he had a way of checking up on me, so I started taking it out, thinking he’d come through and talk to me, like Walker does. But he reached through and brought me to him. And then didn’t know how to get me back.”

“What is a, ‘Paragon’”?

"It’s that world’s equivalent to an Apex. They don’t cultivate there, they do a thing with magic circles. They’re mostly the same at first, they only start to personalise their powers later on. It’s really different to cultivation.”

“And this... Paragon wanted to speak to you?”

Darina’s voice held a hint of familiar mockery, and I grinned at her before replying.

“Yeah, it’s seems like I’m in demand on many worlds. He – and Dee Yu Kay Three, a Construct-”

“’Construct’?”

“-Another world’s version of an Apex, they completely replace their bodies with... stuff. Like my arm.” I held up my crystal and gold arm and my friends stared, as if only just noticing it.

“Anyway, they wanted to try to figure out why I could go to other worlds without exploding.”

I had just started to explain the world I had ended up on for more than a month, as well as the experiments – and getting my new arm - to my friends when Bo Ai’rong made a quiet – but booming – announcement.

“It would seem the Paladin has arrived.”

“Are you sure, Bo? I sense nothing.”

Walker’s voice, contrary to his words, did not carry any actual doubt. It made me wonder whether the Unfettered Frame’s Domain might expand further than the others, but nobody I had yet spoken to had mentioned that possibility, and I was starting to get a good idea of the general size a domain encompassed. If Ai’rong’s domain was greater, that was going to really throw a wrench into that burgeoning idea.

“I hear the trumpets.”

I saw the Apexes of the Mending Flesh, Sonja and of the Crystal Drake's, roll their eyes exaggeratedly, and I swear that I could feel my dark mentor’s eyes rolling behind his blindfold. Not knowing what to expect, I turned back to my companions who all offered shrugs.

“I’ve never met the Apex of The Sun’s Judgement, my Master and I spent the majority of our time in seclusion.”

“With curious elucidation, I do not believe the Apex of The Sun’s Judgement has visited the Citadel previously.”

Reff looked to his sister for confirmation and she looked thoughtful for a moment before offering a slight shake of her head.

“If you accompany us to the nearest balcony, you will likely be able to see the palace.”

Walker spoke again, gesturing to an arched doorway a short distance away. I will admit to an almost visceral desire to see the horizon, the desert or anything that was not entirely indoors. The presence of my friends had distracted me, but at the mention of a balcony, the need to see the outside again hit me like a wave.

Almost skipping, I followed the Apexes with my friends until we arrived at an arch leading to a wide exterior balcony. Rushing ahead of the others, unable to resist any longer I leaned against the waist high rail – for a risi – and peered out through the gaps, sucking in a deep breath as my eyes drank in the vast horizon. The sun was setting, throwing glorious reds and oranges out across the black desert and into the sky, like the world was on fire. It was beautiful, and I felt my breath catch. Living with super powers made it easier to forget the simple wonders of the world, but my time away, locked away at the bottom of a dead ocean had brought back the beauty of the world into sharp relief. I did not think I would have any trouble cultivating later.

“Where's that monstrosity of a palace?! If you could hear the horns, it should be visible by now!”

There was no reply to Jorl’s question, and we all stood looking around and waiting for what was a huge golden palace to appear on the horizon. A minute or so passed as we all gazed about, before I saw the heads of all four Apexes snap towards a single point. Following their line of sight, I had to shield my eyes as they were all looking directly into the setting sun.

“Waited for sunset, she did. Of course.”

Sonja’s voice was dry and mocking and even Bo Ai’rong offered a chuckle. We watched for maybe twenty minutes as the sun slowly sank below the horizon, and as the world faded towards twilight, we saw the finally saw the wheeled palace of Chian Jilow. The structure was huge, though nowhere near the scale of the Citadel on which we stood. Rolling across the black sand on massive wheels, the golden building was festooned with lights in bright white and yellow which the polished gold sent scattering back out across the dark plane.

“It’s... very golden.”

I wondered if it was actual gold, gold plated, or some other material all together. Regardless of what it was made from, it seemed to be an actual palace in terms of size, not just a big house or painted wagon.

“With vague curiosity, how does it move? Is it perhaps driven by an alchemical solution? Or is it moved by an aspect of the Honoured Apex of the Sun’s Judgement’s own cultivation?”

“It is pulled by the Legion. She says it shows devotion to Weilou, who holds Dominion over Stars.”

Walker’s voice was dry, even for him, until he mentioned what I assumed as the name of a god, at which point it switched to respect.

“She has her army pull her palace?! Wow...”

It was definitely the most pretentious thing I had heard since my arrival, and I was starting to see why the other Apexes seemed to dislike her. They all at least appeared to be relatively down to earth, especially when compared to Lucas who lived inside a giant opal. But even Lucas did not get people to carry his house around. Of course, Darina – being somewhat more entrenched in the social system than me – had a somewhat different perspective.

“... They show proper respect to their Apex.”

“For Chian the respect is not. A religious order, it is... The head of it, she just happens to be.”

The reply came from her master, who sounded like she only half believed herself. I was starting to dread meeting this Apex, because as polite as I tried to be, a lifetime of being around people who generally could not reduce me to my constituent parts had left me with a tendency to being somewhat less reverent to those around me in my second life. So far, it had mostly worked out fine, other than Lucas occasionally freezing me in place, but that did not mean it always would.

It took almost an hour for the palace to draw up alongside the Citadel, looking tiny in its shadow. The distance from where we had first seen it to the great stone pillar was not that great, but it seemed like the Legion had been taking it pretty easy. I wondered if there was for a reason for it; I thought an entire army was probably capable of running with even so heavy a weight, but I could think of several reasons why it might be a bad idea.

When Walker, Reff, Aella and I had first arrived, we had been met by a guard captain. I thought I remembered her name being Tel, but I had not seen her since. But that had been when Raaf and Sonja had been busy with those sick with the Phoenix Plague. Now, at the arrival of the Apex of the Sun’s Judgement, my friends and I - as well as the Apexes with us - went to meet her. As we descended through the towering castle of living rock using the curiously smooth stone platforms, we were joined by others, including our host. The first to join us came with Reff and Riffa’s brother and was perhaps the sharpest contrast I could imagine. Standing no more than four feet tall, with more muscles than I even knew existed, was a being with skin the colour of fresh blood. He was decorated with swirling lines in black, grey and white and wore only a kilt of bronze scales and a headdress of metal feathers. The short figure was bald beneath the headdress, with eyes of bright green and a jaw that looked like you could forge weapons on it. Raaf introduced him to us as Burning Cloud, Apex of the Cinder Storm.

All we got by way of greeting from Burning Cloud was a grunt, which Raaf seemed quite pleased by. He was, apparently a man of few words. I was deeply curious about his abilities, as his Apex name was damned cool. I imagined some kind of firestorm, with the tiny red man floating within its eye.

Next came a woman that smelled deeply of salt, with salt and pepper hair underneath a wide-brimmed leather hat that looked like the result of an union between a tri-corn and a Stetson. She introduced herself as Lin, Apex of the Unbreaking Wave with a crisp accent and a sharp bow. She seemed nice, if a little uptight; she and Darina took to each other immediately.

“It is my pleasure to make your acquaintances. It has been a long time since any but Chian have taken apprentices, and I look forward to you fulling your potentials.”

“You honour us too greatly, Most Honoured Apex!” The apprentice slammed her hands together and immediately bent herself into a right-angle. To which Lin replied by bowing at what looked like exactly ninety degrees.

“It is gratifying to meet somebody who appreciates propriety. Order is important.”

We moved on, with the two of them discussing the finer point of comportment, which is how the group of us – four lowly mortals and seven of the most powerful beings on the planet met with the final two of the arrived Apexes. We were nearing the ground floor when the final two Apexes emerged from a side corridor, talking in low voices.

Vin D’brusang was almost skeletally thin, with skin like ivory and hair the colour of old bones. His eyes were as red as Burning Cloud’s skin, and when he spoke I could see sharp teeth like fangs peeking out past his pale lips. He introduced himself languidly, the words dripping off his tongue lazily as he looked us over with a tiny, wry grin. He called himself the Apex of the Calling Blood, and I had a very sneaky suspicion that he might be a vampire. He seemed nice enough.

“It is... my pleasure... to meet you all. I am sure you will all make... simply delicious additions...”

I did not know quite how to reply

His companion on the other hand was somebody I had heard mentioned before quite recently and was a strange mix of bubbly, effusive stillness. Gia, the Apex of the Wild Bounty had wild, curly hair that looked like honey falling almost to her feet over a rich, golden tan. She wore a short dress of what looked like woven grasses with flowers blooming seemingly at random in every colour imaginable. Her eyes were a shocking shade of blue, like looking into a perfect summer sky. She was breathtakingly beautiful, as she stood swaying in an unseen wind, and in a way wholly different from what had become the standard for the people in my new home. The people there were all gorgeous, as Experience worked to perfect the body, but Gia was stunning in the way the sunset had been, like a walking natural wonder.

“Please forgive Vin! He likes to play up the whole vampire thing. He doesn’t eat people. Well, he might sample them sometimes, but it doesn’t hurt, or kill them. Anyway! I’m really glad to meet you all! You must be really skilled to be taken on like you have!”

I chose to keep the fact that I had mostly been taken on as a curiosity and it had mostly developed by proximity after that. If everyone wanted to assume I was awesome, I was going to let them.

Descending to the last, giant room I recalled from my first visit, I watched as the complex door opened and I watched as the golden palace was dragged inside by a vast number of metal-clad soldiers.