Gabrielle tapped her finger on the desk in irritation at that man that sat across from her. Each strike of her finger elicited a loud crack from the stone top.

“Where have you been,” she asked pointedly.

“Recovering,” Holton said with a shrug.

Her finger stopped as it descended again. Not because she wasn’t still mad but because the lip of the desk cracked off. Holton looked at the broken bit of desk and sat up straighter. “ELABORATE,” she demanded slowly, making the man flinch and clear his throat.

“…Well, I went to check on that cave, like you asked me to.”

She held up her hand, forcing the man to pause. “I told you to check it out after your head injury healed.”

“…Yeah, my memory is fuzzy about our actual discussion. I may have forgotten when you asked me to check it out and went shortly after our meeting.”

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Obviously something went wrong, explain.”

Holton squirmed in his seat. “Well, I arrived at the cave and found someone already there. At the time I didn’t recognize him, I tried to verify their identity by asking him what my name was…”

Another chunk of desk cracked as Gabrielle gripped the edge too hard. She would have to spend some time and energy fixing it later. “So all because of some stupid joke you were playing, our newest recruit is now dead? A man that only just recently saved you from a severe head injury? An injury that probably would have killed you if he hadn’t been there to bring you home.”

“No, I mean I remember everything now. And I didn’t kill him… Um, he actually got the better of me. Probably due to my poor decision-making skills at the time,” Holton started to chuckle but it died in his throat as he looked at her unamused face. “Ahem… anyway. We fought, he activated his gift and I was injured and left for dead. I guess I should be thankful that the boy isn’t as cold and ruthless as I am. After that, the kid left and I was forced to crawl my way back to the elven village to seek help. Cheap bastards refused me anything but basic assistance. I spent the month healing from the kidney wound the kid gave me, along with my head injury.”

“Why was he there?” she asked in confusion.

Holton started to shrug again but thought better of it. “Well, I’m not entirely sure. He was burning the items from the cave. So he lied to me about them being all destroyed, probably to get me to shut up about going back to burn then so we could get back to HQ after my injury. But he also had the gun barrel tucked into his belt and was reading some of the documents.”

“You think he’s a spy or a traitor?” she asked, wanting to scream but pushing that desire down.

“Nah, least I don’t think so. That kid has Chosen hero-worship written all over him. Probably just curious. I don’t know why we gotta be so secretive with the initiates. It always causes problems later on.”

“You know why,” she ground out. “Any idea where he might have gone?”

Holton grunted, “I didn’t really get to know the kid, didn’t want to get attached, ya know. He was chatting with Samantha though, so maybe she got him down in her book.”

“Wait here!” she ordered as she went to check with Samantha. She came back a few minutes later with the book in question. It wasn’t hard to find the entry as it was the last one.

She let out a frustrated sigh when she saw where his hometown was located. “He’s from the Silent Tower’s zone.”

“Wait, then why was he at the northern city?” Holton questioned.

“Probably easier to access, who knows. It doesn’t matter. I want you to head to his hometown and see if you can find him and convince him to return. And I hate that I have to say this. DON’T FUCKING ATTACK HIM. Am I clear?”

“I’m not stupid,” Holton muttered.

“That’s debatable,” Gabrielle snorted.

“And if he isn’t there? Or if one of their members finds me poking around?”

“Tell them you were looking for someone. I will give you a letter with my seal. If any Chosen from the tower question you, hand it to them and go see the old man. If you do get an audience with him, do not piss him off. He isn’t as forgiving as I am.”

“Hard to believe,” Holton replied.

“I mean it,” she reiterated. “There’s a reason the Silent Tower can do what they wish, and it's because of that man’s power. And I don’t want this to escalate into conflict between our two chapters. We would have to involve the nobility then.”

Holton frowned at that. “Yeah, ok. I don’t want to have to deal with those pretentious fucks either. I still say they had something to do with Leonard’s death. The guy was dumb but he wasn’t that dumb.”

“We’ve discussed that already, let it go. Even if we could prove anything, what would it change?”

“Fine.” Holton relented. “Say I do find our wayward lamb but he refuses to come along? Not that I would blame him if he did, would be pretty dumb to agree to come with a man that tried to kill him.”

“I don’t know,” she sighed, leaning back in her chair. “We need more recruits. The nobility is picking us apart year by year. Soon I don’t think we will exist anymore and their power will be absolute.” She rarely showed anyone how vulnerable she felt in these trying times, but she had known Holton since he was a child. It wasn’t until much later that she had recruited him to become a Chosen. The man was skilled with blade and gift but he was trying at the best of times. But he was damn loyal. “If he won’t return, give him alternatives. If he refuses all of those…”

Holton nodded, not needing her to finish those orders.

She was loath to give those instructions but a rogue Chosen was not something the King or nobility would put up with. It's why they always had a member near the city of the ancestors. If they didn’t intercept the new Chosen before the King's spymaster or someone else did, the Chosen would vanish. Perhaps some were kept alive to serve the crown, but Gabrielle doubted that. With her financing coming from the crown, she couldn’t make too big of a stink about some nobles causing trouble not that she knew what their agenda was anyway. The King never much liked the Order and he would most likely side with his kin on any issue.

“I’ll leave at first light,” Holton said, getting up.

“No, take a few days to recover. He’s been gone a month, a few more days won’t change anything.”

Holton grudgingly nodded one final time before exiting.

***

Lydan cursed his shit luck. Originally when his boss had come up with this scheme to steal from the idiots that went into the cursed city, he had agreed to it. It was easy at first. People were always showing up to strike it rich in the city. The few that survived usually left with nothing but occasionally some lucky fool would get something.

They were just going to rob these idiots on their way back to the city. But after scouting the camp, the boss came up with an easier plan. They simply waited until people made the run and gathered up anything that was left behind. They didn’t earn as much but nobody really complained, at least not at first.

The first problem came when someone bailed halfway to the city. A fight ensued when he and the boss got into it over the items left behind. Unfortunately for the boss, the man was connected and the boss was soon hanging from a rope in town.

Forced to improvise, Lydan took over as leader. He didn’t have the boss's charisma though so he had to take on the hard job of doing the run.

At first, he hung toward the rear, to make sure nobody chickened out. That almost got him killed though when he found his way back cut off by one of the monsters. Quick thinking and an unlucky fool that was standing too close to him at the time saved Lydan’s skin.

From then on, Lydan was at the front of the runners. He left a watcher at the markers. Then he just had to make sure few people returned. It worked out surprisingly well for about two months. Then that damn kid nearly spoiled everything. Lydan still wasn’t sure who tipped the beasts off on that run but he managed to survive in his little hidey-hole for two days before finally making a break for the barrier.

He was the only survivor of that run out of forty people. Turns out one of the people was the son of some bigwig and soon after, armed guards were placed to prevent anyone from entering the city unless they had a special pass.

That last part was due to that stupid researcher. She jabbered on and on about how dangerous the beasts were when the official showed up. Then she left.

Lydan wasn’t discouraged though. After so many trips into the city, he knew where some good loot was located. Seeing as his crew had scattered to the wind as soon as the guards got involved, he figured he wouldn’t even have to share it with them.

Slipping past the inattentive guards during the night was easy with his experience avoiding the monsters. He could also make them out better at night so was able to slip past their notice as he made his way farther into the city.

He was making his way to the items he had stashed when his eyes caught a faint blue glow emanating from a crack in the ground. It was something he would have easily missed during the daylight hours. Curious and a bit greedy, he risked a look. He moved to the crack and peered down. Far below was an enormous crystal that floated above a stand. His eyes widened and a grin grew across his face. Finding an intact ancestral item would propel him to fame and fortune. He immediately abandoned thoughts of going for his cache, this one item was worth a thousand times more than all of that.

He looked for a way down and saw a set of stairs in the opening. He looked up to estimate what building they were located in and found the partially intact structure.

It was a gamble that the stairs weren’t blocked by rubble but he risked it anyway. He slipped inside the building through what was probably a window. A quick search brought him to a rotten rug. The rug wasn’t more than moss at this point but the center had caved in where it had once covered an opening into a basement.

Thankfully the stairs below were made from the white stone and not wood or metal. Even then, they were broken and treacherous.

He made his way down, making sure to stay quiet, and eventually he found the stairwell hidden behind a rack that had long ago rotten away. Lydan knew the item must be precious if it was hidden this well.

The stairs grew more stable as he descended and the blue glow made it easy to see as it poured in from missing sections of the wall where it had broken away when the rift formed.

Lycan eventually came to the room with the blue floating crystal. It was even more beautiful than it looked from above. He slowly crossed the floor and reached out to grab the object.

There was a pop and the now inert crystal fell to the ground and shattered. The only thing left in the room was a haze of pink dust.

***

Somewhere in the city, a beast was patrolling. It had been stuck in this loop for untold time not that it was aware of the passing of time. As it was walking, it paused. Something had changed. It looked out past the edge of the city and turned in that direction. As it got near the outskirts it could still feel the pull that prevented it from leaving but it was weakened in this section.

The beast pushed past the feeling, parts of its skin and muscle burning away and forming a dull grey pool on the ground. But it pushed through the field and found itself standing outside the invisible dome of energy that had trapped it for so long.

Its body was damaged but that did not concern it. Commands that had been suppressed by the field started to activate. Some of the damage was restored to the host body, allowing it to continue. It had no feelings, no desires, just one goal… kill and replicate. It ran into the night and searched for its prey.