The interior of the manor was done up in wood paneling and marble stonework. Pictures in frames of gold hung from the walls and I was treated to the family tree as I followed Trinadelle down the hallway. Twix brought up the rear, a silent shadow.

“The Mayor is willing to hear you out and will meet us in the library. I will warn you now though, if you attempt to hurt him in any way whatsoever or if you attempt to remove your shackles, I will kill you.”

I didn’t answer and he stopped and turned to face me fully.

“I am going out on a limb here, lad. I could have chosen to let the Captain kill you in that alleyway but I want to believe you have information on the recent attacks and I want to help if I can.” He turned back around. “I want to trust you.”

He was right. He’d shown me a good turn and I could respect that.

“I won’t try anything and I think I can help,” I said.

Trinadelle nodded and we continued. He led me through a large, high ceilinged room with a massive table taking up most of the space. A dining room I presume, but one suited for over a dozen guests. Our destination was through a small door, tucked discretely away in the corner.

“I expected more house staff,” I muttered to Trinadelle

He looked around the empty room frowning, before turning back to turn the doorknob. “You are correct. I haven’t seen any and a man in his position should have quite a few.”

“Perhaps that’s a sign of how good at their jobs they are?”

The old man hummed in acknowledgment even if he didn’t look convinced. With a wave of his hand, he ushered me into the room and I squeezed past him.

The Library was lit by the fire, which crackled and popped in the grate, and sunlight streaming down from windows high up on the walls. The bookshelves dominated most of the wall space. Chairs, overstuffed and soft looking, sat in a semi-circle around the fire. All were empty except one. A man sat facing the fire, only his arm and a foot were visible from my angle and as I walked forward the arm twitched slightly.

“That is close enough, prisoner.” The voice was smooth and deep, accustomed to giving orders and only having to say things once.

I stopped, my shackles jangling at the movement, and I affected a humble expression. Or I think it was humble. I don’t do that emotion very well, but I didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot and in this little corner of the world in this town on a hill, this man was king.

The chair creaked as the arm shifted, bracing against the armrest, and the mayor heaved himself to his feet. I was expecting him to be fat and dressed expensively. Maybe to be decked out in jewelry. Instead, I was faced with a man in his late thirties, a neatly trimmed beard lined his jaw. White hair mixed with his long curly hair and beard to give him a salt and pepper look that went well with the grey eyes. He was broad at the shoulders and trim at the waist, it was a body shape that made me think fighter, but there were signs that he had left his best days behind him. His shoulders were drooped and his posture more hunched. His clothes were simple but well made of fine silk and thick cotton.

I dipped my head in acknowledgment and he watched me without comment, those grey eyes not missing a thing.

“De’Vraga says you have something you wish to tell me, something you do not want to spread to the rest of my people. In the interest of my town and out of respect for him and his family I have agreed to this meeting. Tell me what is so important that I should forget you have murdered my people within my own gates.”

I took a breath, suddenly nervous and feeling small. This was all too much for me. I was just a thug from the slums, I shouldn’t be here sharing information that could prevent a war. I shouldn’t be here talking to someone of stature while hoping to save a world. I wasn’t the good guy. I wasn’t the bad guy. I was just Haha.

No, that isn’t right. I’m Alexander.

I let the breath out and with it all the negative emotions that could hamper my actions. I had never doubted myself before and I wasn’t about to start now.

“The Denvii are not behind the attacks on you and your people. I believe it may be orchestrated by someone completely different.”

I noticed Trinadelle straighten out of the corner of my eye as he focused all of his attention on me. The Mayor waved me over to stand before the fire so he could resume his seat. I noticed the barest trace of a tremor in his hands when he placed them back onto the armrests.

In for a penny, in for a pound.

I told him everything. From landing in the forest to meeting the Brood to the massacre of the Pack to the prejudice of Titus and his men. I could see Trinadelle open his mouth to ask me a question more than once but he would close it again, his cold blue eyes remained on me throughout the story though and I even caught Twix drift closer.

The Mayor sat through the story in silence, his eyes drifting to the fire as one finger tapped at the armrest. Once I was finished silence stretched out, the only sound the occasional pop and crack from the wood being burnt.

It was the mayor who finally broke it. His grey eyes moved from the dancing flames to land on my face, his expression almost bored.

“You expect me to believe all of this? It sounds like nothing more than a rambling excuse from a man fearing death. We know of the branch worlds and not one of them is called Earth.”

I didn’t know what to say. I’d told them the truth. All of it…well almost all of it. I hadn’t said I was the Champion. It felt a little too personal to reveal but I had come here accepting that I may have to show it to help form some sort of credibility.

“It answers many questions though,” Trinadelle said before I could tell them my final secret.

“Does it?” The mayor scoffed, his tone almost dismissive. “An organization here to steal our resources and are doing it by trying to incite a war to weaken us is more plausible than the Denvii deciding they are tired of us and doing somethi-”

The Mayor broke into a coughing fit. His body shook as he held a forearm against his mouth and hunched in on himself. It was a good long while before he stopped and when he did he shuffled his chair a little closer to the fire. Trinadelle had stepped forward to offer support but stepped back when he saw the man was okay.

“As I said,” The mayor continued, his face a little pale and his grey eyes a little unfocused. “you think that makes more sense De’Vraga.”

Trinadelle stepped around the chair to come and stand beside me. “I did not say it made more sense. I simply said it answered questions.”

“Such as?” The Mayor drawled.

I already had that sinking feeling in my stomach. He didn’t believe me, and I wasn’t sure if that was because he didn’t want to or if he simply wanted me to provide evidence.

“I’m the Champion.” I blurted out before Trinadelle could continue. The old man blinked at my remark before stepping back, his gaze suddenly flicking over me uncertainly.

“The Champion? Of what?” The Mayor asked.

“The Champion of Aeris!” I growled back, getting a little pissed at his condescending tone.

Trinadelle shook at the news before stepping forward and getting in my face.

“Is this true? If I get a stat stone right now will you bleed for it?” He asked me.

“A what? Bleed for what? Fuck…move back old man so I can show you my screen. Jeez!” I pushed him back gently. He was freaking solid and hard to move for someone so skinny.

I pressed the skin between my thumb and pointer and raised my palm so he could see my screen. There was a moment as he studied it, his eyes flicking back and forth. I felt like I had just pulled my junk out for everyone to see and wanted to close my hand but he grabbed my wrist and held it out towards the Mayor.

“Look! See! He does not lie!” Trinadelle sounded happy. I don’t know what his deal was with the Denvii and I intended to find out later, but he seemed thrilled that they weren’t to blame.

The Mayor's eyes scanned my palm, an almost hungry look on his face that I didn’t like for a second. He coughed again but didn’t bother to cover his mouth and dark blood stained his lip but he continued to stare at my hand, his smile almost splitting his face.

“I’ve found you.” The mayor said, his voice no longer smooth but a light tilting tone that sent a shiver up my spine.

“It was too easy.” The voice sounded sad now and the mayor looked up at me, his grey eyes welling with tears, but the smile on his face grew till it stretched from ear to ear and I could see all his teeth. The blood on his lip dribbled over and slid down his chin into his beard.

The trail it left wasn’t red though. It was black.

“Fuck!” I yelled and then I overclocked.

The chains snapped with ease, the little rings of metal flew through the air as I turned to push Trinadelle out of the way. I stumbled as the old man blurred, his body slipping around my hands with complete grace before I could even touch him. The rapier was in his hand before I could think, the point aimed at the ground as he tucked one hand behind his back.

“Hoe,” He said, and I was immensely pleased to see that he wasn’t looking at me like an enemy but was facing the mayor. “Mayor Hoe, what is the meaning of this?”

“Meaning?” The mayor slowly stood from the chair, his body moving in quick jerky frames. “Oops. Finer control goes out the window when I get over-excited.”

The mayor threw back his head and cackled. It sounded wrong; sick and twisted and perverse, it rolled from the Mayor's throat in great peals and went on and on, bouncing off the walls and scratching at my ears.

Twix appeared on my other side, her bow made of bone out, an arrow knocked. She wasn’t aiming at the mayor though, not yet.

“It’s like the Alpha,” I told Trinadelle. “He’s sick.”

“He’s nothing like the Alpha,” The mayor contradicted me, his grey eyes rolling around before focusing on me. “And he isn’t sick…you can say he’s just seen the light!”

There was that laugh again.

“Why is he referring to himself in the third person?” Twix asked. I almost jumped in fright. I forgot she talked.

“Maybe he’s gone bonkers!” The Mayor answered her, before laughing again.

“Gone what?” Twix asked, her hood turning to look at Trinadelle.

The old man shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t understand any more than you do, my dear.”

That sinking feeling was back. It was eating away at my stomach and I wanted to throw up. I had fucked up. Big time. This whole time trying to be all secretive and shit so the other people from Earth wouldn’t be able to track me down and I had just fucked it all up.

“You aren’t the mayor are you?” I said though it was more of a statement.

More black blood dribbled from the corner of the Mayor's mouth and he swiped at it with a forearm, smearing it along his cheek like a bruise. Those grey eyes were lined with black veins that were slowly creeping across the whites like a fungus.

“You’ve got it!” Cackled the mayor, one finger tapping the side of his nose. “Aren’t you the clever little one! Clever little Champion. Little Champion. Dead little Champion. My little Champion. Mine. Mine. Mine.”

“He’s insane!” Trinadelle said, his rapier rising to point at the Mayor's heart.

“Worse.” I said, “He’s from Earth…aren't you?”

“Me?” The mayor said in his original smooth voice.

“Or me?” The mayor said in the titling joyful cackle.