Winter had come. The first monsters that attacked his city were not very fearsome. John’s sentry droids took care of them before they could hit his city’s walls. As the months rolled on, more and more ferocious monsters attacked. Some could fly above the walls and had to be shot down with missiles. His frigate also fired at any large gatherings of monsters it could spot from orbit. John stood on his city’s walls as he inspected the latest invasion. Let them come! There would be even more monster meat for his people to dine upon.

“It looks like our sentry droids won’t be able to handle this wave,” he said to Spiz.

“Our guardsmen are ready.”

John’s soldiers watched in silence as the monsters came closer and closer. When the monsters came into range, Spiz ordered them to open fire. Lasers, bullets and rockets decimated the monster wave. Only the largest of them were able to make it to the city walls and they were quickly cut down by his martial artists. It was too bad John couldn’t learn martial arts. It looked very cool when martial artists cast their giant projections behind them. John was very short for his age and it rankled. If he had a giant projection he could summon, people wouldn’t look down on him all the time...both literally and figuratively.

The men the Empress had loaned him treated him with respect, but many of the newer soldiers they had recruited gave more respect to Spiz than they did to John. He supposed he would just have to prove himself in battle. Fighting and killing monsters was the easiest way.

A second wave of monsters charged towards the walls. John uncovered his glaive and jumped down the wall, meeting the monsters head on. He swung his glaive, the aura glow so bright that it was blinding. Wherever he phased monsters fell. He finished the entire wave on his own. The soldiers on the wall were cheering.

“Wild Child! Wild Child!” they chanted.

“That kid’s pretty good,” he heard one of the newer soldiers say, as he floated up to the wall again.

Kid? Who was he calling a kid? John was a young adult. That soldier was probably one of the invaders in disguise. He’d have him investigated thoroughly. Hmph! Kid!

It was getting harder and harder to carry out surveillance on his citizens. Colonists were coming in like a flood. There was lots of work to be had on Fi, and John paid them well. His refineries were running at full capacity. Prince Taromi had been as good as his word, sending John a regular supply of ore in exchange for grain, fruit, luxury goods, medicine and chemicals.

The monsters on Fi multiplied exponentially as winter continued. John didn’t know where they hid in summer, but the winter truly was hell. They attacked his city almost every day. The latest monster waves had been an assortment of creatures, giant rocs fulfilling the role of an air force, heavy giant lizards as heavy infantry, an assortment of cannon fodder in all forms and sizes, and particularly creepy boulder throwing apes with red fur and black eyes. Were different monster species getting along with each other now? These new monsters seemed to have evolved a primitive intelligence, but their instinct to kill sentient beings had not diminished at all.

“Capture some of the monsters alive this time,” he told Spiz. “There is something strange about these new ones.”

He watched the ensuing fight, and left satisfied with the outcome. The enemy outside was easy to take care of, but the enemy within was a constant threat. He was enjoying himself too much being baron, and had almost forgotten his primary motive for becoming one. Earth was just too far away. He wondered if he should give up and live a comfortable life here on Fi. He wrestled with doubts and even his dreams reflected it.

Just as he was slipping from one dream to another, the Sleeping Goddess Inashta appeared.

“You are very conflicted inside,” she said to John.

“You could have knocked first,” said John. “Don’t invade someone’s dream without permission.”

“Would you have let me enter?” Inashta laughed. “I have come to make you an offer. I can help you find Erth?”

“How? You don’t know anything about it,” John didn’t take her words seriously. She was just trying to trick him into fighting her brother. “You can’t even pronounce it right.”

“I can give you power that will help you in your search. Imagine, being able to scan a hundred star systems with a single glance, or being able to make clones of yourself and explore a thousand places at the same time. I can make you so powerful that no demon hegemon would dare stand against you. Even an entire human empire would let you do as you wish for fear of angering you.”

“You can’t be that powerful.”

“I am. I can train you to be just as powerful.”

“All these things would require aura reserves the size of a planet. It’s just not possible.”

“They’d require energy the size of a star to be exact. I shall teach you how to swallow stars and use them as an energy source. What do you say? Will you be my champion?”

John hesitated. Her offer was tempting. His instincts told him to reject it, but this might be his only chance of ever going home. “All right. It’s a deal.”

“Very good. I will have to train you in gradual steps. Your mind would explode if I taught you everything at once. First, I shall show you how to expand your aura reserves with greater efficiency. Also, those monsters you are fighting. They are being controlled by a sleeping demon hegemon. He is like me and affects dreams, but can do so only during this planet’s winter. His control over the monsters is tenuous, but enough to cause you headaches.”

“Where is this demon hegemon?”

“In the far north of your planet. He is sealed and cannot escape his prison. You are no match for him now. Leave him alone until you are stronger. He will make a good practice opponent later on.”

John woke up a few hours later and practiced what the goddess had taught him. He noticed immediate improvements. Her lessons were really effective. He couldn’t help thinking that he had just made a huge mistake, but he pushed that thought to the back of his mind, stifling it until it stopped nagging at him.

When the next wave arrived a few days later he decided to handle it on his own. He weaved Dark Rainfall, one of his favorite weaves. The rain was so thick that it looked like a curtain of black with lightning blue sparkles. The monsters stood no chance. His men gazed at him with astonishment. They had never seen such a sight before.

“Just a small trick,” said John. “No need to look so surprised.” He went back to the command center feeling good about himself.

A month passed and one of the native tribes begged for entry into the city. The monsters had ravaged their people. Only half their number remained. John immediately let them in and arranged living accommodation for them near the walls in a less populated part of the city. He couldn’t have them stay in the city’s residential zone. There would be a clash of cultures and too many misunderstandings.

Word seemed to have gotten out that John City was a safe haven for the tribes. More and more of them started showing up at his gate. John allowed them all to enter. He built schools and got teachers to educate the native people. He demonstrated modern weapons to them, and put them on guard duty on the city’s walls.

A year passed in the same manner. John was now powerful enough to create his own realm and become a true realm master with Inashta’s training. He weaved space and time superimposing a brand new dimension within himself, or a realm as the elves called it. He then created a second pseudo body within the aether. This pseudo body would be able to absorb the aether without undergoing any degradation. He carefully attached the pseudo body to the space and time hollow he’d created. He felt elemental energies of all types flow into his aetherial pseudo body. Using it as a conduit he filled the dimension he’d created within himself with earth, sky, water and light. He then transformed a part of his pseudo body into a Dimensional Eye. As long as he had the bearings he would be able to sense his position and his surroundings in the multiverse. He would absorb a star into this space once goddess Inashta thought he was ready.

John disappeared into his realm. It was only a hundred square feet for now. It would grow bigger as his aura reserves increased. He peeked out through his Dimensional Eye and saw his room. Phew! He hadn’t made any mistakes. John jumped out of his realm and scanned himself. Nothing had changed. He was now a bona fide realm master.

He contacted Sor Al to tell her the good news.

“Jehun,” her avatar said. She seemed worried from her tone. “I was just about to call you. I’ve just learned that the Viscount of Amar and the Baron of Orath are about to make a move on Fi.” Viscount of Amar? He was one of Duke Pular’s lackeys.

“Do you know how they’re planning to attack?”

“No. We just know that everything is ready and that they’ll soon begin.”

With monsters tiring his guardsmen with their consecutive attacks this was probably the best time to attack. Luckily, John was prepared.