[-=Nox=-]

The Baron’s magical eye tried to wrestle with my soul. An invisible war raged between it and me. I kept actively smacking its information-harvesting threads away. Naughty, naughty.

“How are you doing by the way, guys? I see you got a little toasted? Sat too close to a fire? Or are you just dressing up like mummies today for fun?” I turned to Tamara and Nicodemus, pretending to ignore the Baron’s harassment. The two injured Rimmer Archmages didn’t look like they found my comments amusing. My little healer certainly did a number on them.

“You…” Zimmerman fumed at me, his all-observing gaze attempting to peer right into me. I showed him the cold infinity of the Void within me, the empty nothingness between the distant stars of information.

“I don’t owe you anything.” I interrupted him, smiling at his failure to observe me. “You have no power over me. There’s nothing from you that I want.”

“I can put you back on Magra and leave you there!” his bony knuckles cracked.

“You won’t though. You need me.” I smiled as the ship sailed away, Magraterra growing smaller behind us. Soon the death moon faded amidst the colorful currents of magic that sparkled on the shield surrounding the ship.

“I’ll put you in the brig if you keep acting like a disgusting, uncooperative savage.” He glared at me with his human eye. “Do as I say, girl.”

“You do not command me,” I said.

“I see exactly what you’re doing.” He hissed. “Your lewd tactic of forcefully contorting my authority won’t work here. I am the Captain of this ship, the Baron of the Rim and a high Archmage! You’re just a level five Sextant slave healer we’ve rescued. What are you trying to accomplish by prancing naked in front of me? Seduce me? Are you going to spread your legs for me next? Your deviant pandering and weaponization of sexuality is painfully pathetic, obvious and awkward.”

“Oh, I’m soooo sorry for my deviant ways!” I laughed. “Silly human bean! You’re missing the big picture. Can you open Void dungeons on your own, Zimmy? Do you know a single Void spell, perchance?” I looked at my nails. They were indeed extremely grimy, caked with dry blood and dirt. I looked back at Zimmerman, raising an eyebrow. “Without me, you are nothing. You came to Magraterra, came to ME, because you could not resist me.”

June gave me a look from behind that could only be described as “what the hell are you doing?” I gave her a reassuring smile. She did not look like she was reassured. I really needed to re-establish her as my chosen acolyte.

Baron Zimmerman was done talking to me. “Tamara, put her to sleep.” He ordered.

Tamara looked at him nervously. “I…”

“You what?” He snapped. “You and Nicodemus are both Archmages and you’re acting like little children when you’re around her! What is going on?!”

“I’d really rather not agitate her.” Archmage Keppler shook her head, likely concerned that I would boink her on the head again. “She’s not what she appears to be, Baron.”

“She is a level five healer! Fine! I’ll do it myself!” Zimmerman pointed his hand at me. “Sleep.”

I accelerated my blood the tiniest bit and knocked his spell out of the air with the mech-control ring manacle. It didn’t control the mech arm because the Void bomb had killed its battery, but the magisteel composing it was pretty good for stopping direct, basic spellfire. “Is that all you got?”

“Baron. I told you, she’s the one who destroyed the Convent of the Light with a single spell. She can do things beyond her level, beyond the level of ANY Archmage we have in the Rim." Tamara added more coal into the blazing furnace of my personal worth.

“You’re a fool, Keppler! She likely had accomplices. If you didn’t see her spellfire, then the Convent was clearly destroyed from within,” the Baron snapped at her. “We dropped a Void bomb on Magra! She can’t possibly do magi…”

I lifted my hand and wove a tiny circle above it. It exploded with a brilliant flash and a thunderclap, sending everyone present into a blinking frenzy.

“Behold...” I said. "Magic."

“What?!” Zimmerman’s mouth fell open. Nicodemus and Tamara only looked slightly less befuddled than Zimmerman. They expected crazy bullshit from me, but not this exact kind of crazy bullshit.

“I’m sorry, did you forget that I’m a Void mage, Zimmy? A Void nullifier bomb doesn’t affect Void mages. I invented the damn things, I would know. I bet you’ve found and raided one of my warehouses and you can’t build any more of the things yourself. Seems like a real big waste to drop one on someone whom it can’t even affect.”

He stepped back from me, twitching.

“You’re going to sign a contract with June for one million Reius and you’re going to give me the control ring of this ship.” I said. “In return, I won’t vaporise you on the spot with a Void ray for your insolence and maybe even open a Void dungeon for you." I offered the human the carrot and the stick.

“You dare…?” The Baron hissed.

“Don’t argue with her.” Nicodemus whispered to him. “You’ll only make it worse.”

“Two million.” I raised an eyebrow. “See, Nikki knows the game already. Go ahead, argue with me."

The Baron of the Rim gritted his teeth, his magical eye spinning wildly as he seemingly lost control of it. He likely very much needed me to win the war of dominion against the Sextants and the Virtuous, whatever had remained of the latter in Europa. The little, angry Baron would likely trade ten ships like this one just for a chance to find more Void bombs.

“Oh, and give me your fancy coat too.” I said, demolishing the last remaining thread of his personal worth. Bossy humans needed to be put in their place.

[June Rim Maldiver]

I stared at Nox, who was now wearing the poorly fitting, fancy coat of the Baron of the Rim. The metal epaulettes on it kept jiggling every time she moved. I couldn't remember if I met him before or knew about him, but I felt like I had. I’ve had a real unnerving feeling when I was around him, as if his menacing, magical eye was trying to dig through my thoughts. As soon as I hid behind Nox, I instantly felt better, as if his freakish, all-seeing eye could not pierce through her.

“Holy shit, how did you do that?” I asked her, still feeling quite bewildered.

“To which of my many miracles do you refer?” She asked.

“You… not being afraid of them. Being stronger than three Rim Archmagi, while being totally naked. Wild stuff!” I confessed. I felt weird, unnerved. It was like I remembered Nox but I also didn’t. Dying and forgetting four years of my life was definitely a bummer. Nox smelled like my favourite candy that my mom used to make from crushed sweet berry reeds. She smelled like home. It was driving me crazy. This had to be some sort of mental manipulation magic. Was she manipulating me like she manipulated the Rimmers? Was she a mind Archmage or something? It made a lot more sense than a Goddess.

Nox leaned back on the couch with a sigh. She had kicked Nicodemus out of this cabin and told him to bunk with Tamara. She looked a bit worn out, tired. I stared at her tantalizing breasts, then back at her face, then away from her because I was starting to get butterflies in my stomach. I crushed them. I didn’t want to be mentally influenced into something… weird.

“You don’t look like you trust me.” She finally said.

“Yeah…” I nodded ever so slightly.

She frowned. “Well this sucks for me. Aight. I’m exhausted from blowing up a mountain and this is awkward as hell. I’m peacing out. Hang out with Yul. Wake me up if you run into trouble. Toodles.” Her head slumped down onto the desk, then rose again in seconds.

“Where are we?” Yul said, looking around worriedly. Her posture, her voice, the shade of her eyes looked slightly different and I noted all of these minute changes almost immediately. “On the bright side, I don’t have pleasure coursing through my body. So, she actually agreed to my request?”

Ah right… Yul had a message for Nox. Whoops.

“We were rescued by a Rimmer ship. They, uh, dropped a Void bomb down on Magraterra. I’m assuming we are heading back to the Rim of Europa. Hoo boy this is going to suck.” I scratched my head.

“Why?” Yul asked.

“Because I’m going to have to re-learn everything that I forgot.” I sighed. “It’s school all over again for me.”

“At least you’ll have a friend this time… um. Friends.” Yul commented.

“Two friends for the price of one.” I smiled. “You guys are soooo weird.” I shook my head, avoiding looking in her direction. It was very difficult. Why didn’t she take the Baron’s pants too?