Many months passed. John delegated more and more work to Luten and the others, and began to relax a little. He got battle armor made for Sher Khan, that fitted him when he was maximum size. It was nice to watch the armor encase the big tiger, hovering in the air around him and fitting together in place. Sher Khan didn’t seem to like it though. He gave a piteous look at John whenever he was asked to wear the armor.

“Deal with it,” said John. “You’re a warrior now, all grown up.”

When he went back home, Aystrana was waiting for him, looking nervous.

“John,” she said, “we need to talk.”

“What about?”

“Having a child.” John groaned. He had been putting this talk off for a while. He decided to be ambiguous about his circumstance. Let her think whatever she wanted.

“I can’t give you a child for many reasons.”

“Which are?” she raised an eyebrow.

He couldn’t claim he was impotent. Medical technology was far more advanced here than on Earth. It could fix everything. “I have good reasons. There is something I must obtain, and it requires I remain celibate until I get it. I can’t tell you any more.”

“Then let us adopt. We cannot allow House Smith to die with us.”

Adopt? John had never thought of this before. “Let’s go visit an orphanage on Tanis then.”

“Orphanage?” she gawped at him. “No, we can’t do it like that. I have some distant relatives who might be willing to adopt their last child. They are a big family and mired in debt. Their son was born a month ago.”

“Would they really be willing to part with their own flesh and blood?” John was aghast. Were things like this normal?

“Of course. They have ten children and find it hard to provide for them. They would look on it as an honor if a Viscount was willing to adopt one of their children. They live on Tanis. When shall we visit them?”

“We might as well finish it up as soon as possible. Let’s leave tomorrow.” He had to go to Tanis anyway. The Empress had asked to meet with him personally, which probably meant he had some Dark Execution work to do.

Two weeks later they met the debt ridden family, who had been waiting for them eagerly.

“As you can see,” the father said, “he is very healthy. He will grow up to be a handsome young man.”

“Have you given him a name?”

“Likel, but you can change it if you don’t like it.”

John nodded and signaled for Aystrana to take over the discussion. She and the father discussed terms and an agreement was signed. They had brought witnesses and a notary with them, so everything was ratified then and there.

When they left, the mother suddenly seemed unwilling to part with her last born. The father had to take her aside and talk with her before she let her baby go. John felt a little bad when he looked at the mother’s teary eyes.

He left the hiring of the nurse to Aystrana and left for the Palace. He was now a father. It hadn’t really hit him until a moment ago. He now had greater responsibilities. He might have to take Aystrana and the child with him when he set off to Earth. It would be a dangerous journey but he’d keep them safe. They might have to live their entire lives on a ship. Or maybe he should just abandon them? It might be better for them. They could stay on Fi where everything was comfortable. He couldn’t just let all his hard work go to waste. His son would make a good Viscount, or perhaps even an Earl if he could talk the Empress into it.

“Wild Child,” the Empress was in the aquarium. She seemed to really like watching fish.

“My name is John.”

“I have a mission for you. Go to Dragir and execute Alua, the aide of Duke Pular. Pular is playing with the factional wars of Dragir. If he makes allies of the next ruling party it will not improve my situation.”

“Dragir,” John stroked his chin, “this will be hard.” The Drahig of Dragir were red skinned humanoids with black horns, and tails. They looked like the devils from the myths of Earth, only without the pitchforks. Most of them could use aura, and they were very sensitive at detecting it.

“I know it will be hard,” said the Empress, “but you have never failed me before.”

“If I could kill him openly there wouldn’t be a problem. The Drahig would see through my stealth immediately.”

“You will find a way, I am sure.”

John received the files from the Spymaster soon after, and the access codes to the stealth ship. He contacted Aystrana and told her there was something important he had to do. He sent her back to Fi without him. John then boarded the stealth ship and set a course for Dragir. It would take three months to get there. Dragir was on the fringes of Oor and Elven territory. It was so far away that it was of no strategic importance. The Drahig however, though small in number, were superior warriors.

The Drahig lived in a matriarchy. The strongest men were allowed a degree of freedom that ordinary men did not enjoy. This precipitated a lifelong competition between the men of their species. Duels were fought at the slightest excuse and the arenas were almost always busy. Their elemental weaving may not have been as complex as the Elves’, but their weaves were strong and their ability to detect aura much greater than any other known race. Darkness weaves would not be enough to shield him from their eyes.

Three months passed on the ship. John spent that time learning from the Sleeping Goddess, and practicing what she had taught him. He changed his appearance into a Drahig using a weave the Sleeping Goddess had shown him some time ago. She assured him that the Drahig would not be able to uncover his disguise. The initial energy to create the disguise was great, but the energy to maintain it was so small that it could not be detected by any creature in existence. This weave could also disguise his DNA, but he would need a sample first.

John read the file on Alua, the man he was supposed to kill, several times. Alua was very gifted in diplomacy. He was a political genius. He was also rumored to be a gifted martial artist, but had never fought a duel in public since his student days in the Academy. John wasn’t scared of martial artists. Once he got the Blue Lightning Body even Ovin the Destroyer wouldn’t be his match, but the Sleeping Goddess Inashta said it would still take a few years. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to have children after changing his physique. The goddess had just laughed away the question when he had asked. That was one of the reasons why he’d let Aystrana adopt Likel.

John landed outside the capital city of Dragir. He spotted a lone man walking on the road and mugged him. He needed his clothes. He hadn’t been able to buy any Drahig clothing on Tanis. The Drahig wore very distinctive clothing, made of a material only found on their planet. John also got a sample of his DNA. This was probably overkill, but John was being careful. He was a father now. He had to stop being reckless. This was easier said than done.

He walked into the city without facing any issues and moved towards the building where Alua was staying. It was heavily guarded. The guards were hidden but John could spot them all. There were twenty three guards in all. While he was walking around, a big Drahig on the road purposely bumped into him.

“You dare?” the Drahig roared.

“It was you who bumped into me,” said John.

“Not even admitting your mistake?” The Drahig used aura to form a fiery whip. John wanted to fight but he couldn’t create a scene here. He ran away, while the whip wielding Drahig chased after him. John managed to move into his realm and stayed there until nightfall. He couldn’t move in reality while he was in his realm, which was very inconvenient.

Once it was dark enough, John walked through the streets and went back to Alua’s building. He went towards the back of the compound, and jumped over the wall. He masked his aura with his modified stealth circuit. He phased past the first guard, and crawled into some bushes. The guard had felt something, but the energy of phasing was so small that the guard didn’t bother to investigate. John breathed out a sigh of relief and phased past the second guard. He scaled the wall and jumped down into the central courtyard. He peeked through the windows of the second floor and found Alua sitting in a large room, talking to two Drahig women.

“The Duke promises to lend you fifty frigates and five battleships for your coup,” Alua said. “That is as plain as I can make it,” he seemed a little irritated. The talks were evidently not going well.

“Does he expect my loyalty for so few ships?” the Drahig at the head of the table laughed.

“He has already promised you money. He cannot be seen to openly support you. To have a mercenary fleet this large is already pushing the limits of incredulity.”

“I’ll take the ships but I’ll need twice the amount of money he promised to take control over everything.”

“Very well.”

Suddenly, a voice rang out from below John. “Who are you? Stop and surrender.” It was one of the Drahig guards, and he was flying up towards John. He had covered himself in weaves of darkness. John had not noticed him. The people inside were immediately alerted. John drew his imli daggers and barged through the window. The sound of broken glass was drowned out by the sound of screams and gunfire.

John jumped on Alua and tried to kill him, but Alua was already alerted. He had created a shield from internal energy and his martial projection was circulating behind him. The women fled the room while John battled with Alua. Several guards entered and grouped up with Alua to take John down. Weaves of fire and wind struck John’s aura shield, but fizzled out. John was much too strong to be stopped by the likes of them. Alua however, was another story. John wove the Beam of Balance while he battled Alua with his daggers. When he unleashed the Beam, Alua disintegrated into dust. John thought he had controlled the blast very carefully so that nobody else would be hurt, but half the house ended up disintegrating behind Alua. The two Drahig women Alua had plotted with were now probably dead.

John flew out of the window and contacted his stealth ship. He could hear sirens engulf the city. The ship appeared three minutes later. It was too slow. The Drahig had already mobilized their air force. John destroyed the warcraft around him and entered his ship. He activated stealth as soon as he could and escaped from the planet. Unfortunately, a missile hit the holographic stealth projector.

The Drahig ships kept firing at him. John made it to the hyperspace beacon with half his ship crippled, leaking fumes and fire. He entered hyperspace and sighed with relief. Then something went wrong with the hyperspace tunneler. It was malfunctioning. His ship got hurled out of the hyperspace pathway and into the aether. John hit the controls in frustration. What would he do now? He was lost in the aether, with no way of getting his bearings, and lacked the technology to exit the aetherial ocean even if he knew where he was. John calmed himself. He would get back somehow. The Sleeping Goddess wouldn’t let him just live the rest of his life lost in the aether. John went to sleep, hoping to contact her.

The Sleeping Goddess did not disappoint. “I can teach you how to move in the aether faster than a spaceship. I can also teach you how to see your position in real space while within, and how to enter and exit.”

“But?” asked John.

“It will take many years.”

Many things could happen in the years to come, but John didn’t have a choice.