The world pulsated with a vigorous heartbeat. The two First Green in front of Mahon were clearly visible to Mahon’s Flow. They had a very similar rhythm, proof of their amazing coordination. But to Mahon’s eyes, they could as well have been two complete strangers now, and it wouldn’t make a difference.

He had entered their rhythm. He was the rhythm. The Flow highlighted every single motion as clearly as if Mahon was reading a partition. And It was telling him everything. Mahon knew with absolute certainty where they would be five moves from now.

In such a situation, they will try to shorten the distance and attack together.

The sentence reverberated in his mind without any tempo.

The next instant, the beautiful rhythmic world started to crumble in front of his eyes. For a full second, Mahon felt too confused to do anything.

Fuck it! It’s over.

In a desperate reflex, he raised his sword in front of him.

Another second passed.

Nothing hit him. His vision cleared up the next instant, and he finally realized what had happened. Relying on their keen senses, the girls had felt something coming and, instead of attacking, went back a few steps to a defense position. Mahon immediately understood what had happened because he had seen it. In the Flow.

A different foot angle, indicating a retreat rather than an attack. The lowering swift noise of their tunics in the wind, as they had moved farther away. The taste of fear lingering in the air. And their rhythm had missed a beat, showing their incertitude.

How did I miss all that?

As Mahon noted yet another failure with the Flow, he repositioned himself in a defensive posture whereas the two women were advancing for the kill, realizing he had been bluffing before. Ashamed to have fallen for such a trick, a rictus barred the faces of the girls as they rushed him.

Let your experience dictate your instincts and not rigid rules. That’s the missing piece.

The advice from the Nightmare veteran came back to him as the distance between his opponents was shortened to a few meters.

Nonsense! I’m already relying on instinct. On experience. They were in a strong position, they should have gone forward! That’s what everyone sho…

A flash of understanding interrupted his thought while the distance between him and the inevitable end of the fight shrunk to two meters.

No. Not everyone... They made a mistake. And I saw it. They were clues to their action. And yet I still acted as if they would go for the best move. Forcefully. As if they were binded to do it.

The first woman was now less than a meter away from him. Already starting her next strike.

Experience not rules. I understand… but how?

Mahon acted instinctively. Like that first time he had felt the Flow.

He closed his eyes.

Breath in.

A sword he couldn’t see rushed to his unprotected side.

Breath out.

He ducked just in time for the sword to graze him without damage. His eyes still closed, Mahon felt the world beside him. The pulsating rhythm cocooning him wasn’t something to see. It wasn’t something to rule either. It was something to feel.

That’s it!

After months of absence, Mahon dived in with an exhilarating pleasure. He smiled.

Without using his sword, he moved between the First Green weapons with disarming ease. They were so close and yet so far. Mahon felt the wind pressure on his skin, but never the weapon’s bite. He was too fast for them. They were too slow for him.

His smile turned into a laugh. A genuine, happy laugh. The laugh of reuniting with a friend after a long time. A friend who knew who he was.

Avoiding yet another strike, Mahon walked leisurely to the First Green in front of him. The scene appeared almost choreographed for how close the swords went to touch him. As if they had agreed in advance which move they would do.

And to Mahon, it could as well have been true. He knew everything the girls would do. They were the music. He was the rhythm.

Mahon opened his eyes, and raising his sword, he put an end to the fight. Just like that. He broke the songs from the inside. Changing the rhythm just so the girls couldn’t do anything but false notes. One each was enough for Mahon to bring down the two First Green.

An eerie silence accompanied his victory. Every student of his group eyed him with awe as he walked to Zac with calm. His friend’s wide open mouth turned into a happy smile, a mirror of Mahon’s own smile.

“I think I’m cured.”

“Oh, really?”

“It feels good.”

In the evening, Mahon and Zac left the school to join Ash at the Hungry Alligator Inn. Mahon’s steps were the lightest since he came back to Ratho. Now that the Flow was back, he felt whole, in harmony with Ratho. The smile on his face hadn’t disappeared since his first fight in the morning, even though he hadn’t used the Flow after that and assisted Zac with his own training instead.

He could have won some fights with the Flow, but it was not his goal. And he was satisfied at having Flowed once. Truly Flowed.

“Please stop smiling like that. You look like an idiot. Or a boy who got his first kiss. Anyway, you look stupid.”

“Yes, Zac, don’t worry, I’ll teach you.” Mahon answered, smiling even wider.

At his side, Zac sighed loudly. “Oh, Fada… You’re a lost cause.” He pushed the door and the two friends entered the tavern. They climbed upstairs and sat down at their usual table near the alligator.

A minute later, they waved to Ash to join them as she entered the place. Another minute and three fresh beers clung together.

“Cheers!”

“It’s nice to see you guys! How have you been doing?”

Mahon and Zac exchanged a quick look.

“Good! Mahon is still getting in trouble, and I have to keep him in check. Nothing new.”

“More like I’m taking responsibility for the mess you’re inevitably causing.”

“Hahaha! I’m really glad to see you.” Ash flashed a genuine happy smile. “And what about the concert for your parents, Zac?”

“Oh, right! We’ve got time to train before it happens, but we really need to practice together first. You’re still up for it?” Zac asked while throwing questioning looks at the other two.

“Yup!”

“Yes.”

“Perfect. What about we take a day to practice at the end of this week, then? We have a day off with Mahon, no patrol planned.”

“Sounds good. We can use my shop. I’ve a lot of song books and the perfect room for practice.”

“It’s a deal then!” Zac raised his mug and Ash bumped her own into it. The two smiled at each other, eyes stuck in the other’s gaze for a bit too long, lost in their own world.

“Uh… So… what about the nobles, Zac?”

“Ah? Oh, yeah, yeah. The nobles.” Zac came back to his senses. Pointing to Mahon with his thumb, he continued to face Ash. “Because of the last lunacy of this fool, he is in dire need of lessons about nobility and how the world truly works. I hope you don’t mind?”

“Hahaha, go on, go on. Seeing you two bicker about anything is one of my favorite pastimes nowadays.” Ash answered with an innocent smile.

“Ah, well… Whatever. Let’s first start with the basics. You remember what I told you about the three leading heads of Ratho?”

“No.”

“...”

“You talk about Ratho a hundred times a day! How am I supposed to remember everything?”

“By the Fada…” Zac threw a pleading look at Ash, trying to find some support, but the woman was trying so hard not to laugh that Zac ended up taking his head in his arms in false disarray. When he finally raised his head back a few seconds later, he had trouble hiding an amused smile.

“Well. Let’s start again, then. There are three main factions fighting for the control of Ratho. When I say fighting, I don’t mean literally. They are plotting for more power, trying to push their ideas first while ignoring the others.”

“That much is obvious, Zac. No need to explain what fighting means when talking about politics.” Mahon intervened.

Zac eyed him with an annoyed look and continued.

“The factions come from the people with the most power in Ratho. That is, the Council, the high noble families and the queen.”

“But the queen is dead.”

“Yes. That’s why her faction is the least powerful of the three at the moment. Even though she is dead, there are still people believing in her cause and working for her. Rumors come that the princess might turn into queen in the next hundred years or so. Anyway, the queen faction has always been mysterious and hidden. Mostly because the queen never leaves her palace. But they are still powerful.”

“What is the queen’s goal?” Mahon asked, taking the lesson more seriously as he would have to know all of this if he wanted to obtain clues about the cultists’ backers.

“Hard to say. The prosperity of mankind? She always acted from the shadows, so it’s hard to tell exactly. Usually, her faction plans long-term goals, such as more schools or safer districts. But what their real goal is, it’s hard to say for sure.”

“I heard that she really is trying to improve our life.” Ash interceded. “Most songs and chitchat I heard praise about how the queen was benevolent and caring towards her people.”

“She has that image, yeah. But it’s politics. What is her faction’s real goal? Only she knew. Anyway, from what Jorik says, the queen faction shouldn’t be involved in the Fada cultists. Not their style.”

Mahon nodded, and Zac took the gesture for a signal to proceed further, starting a long monologue under the focused looks of Mahon and Ash.

“The second faction is the Council of the 12. Since they are the people with the most authoritative power in Ratho, they obviously are the most powerful. Although their jobs are mostly administrative, some of the counselors are not without any ambitions.”

“Blue and White counselors are scheming and plotting every single day, but it’s not really important stuff. Let’s say they are taking their job of improving Ratho at a personal level. Most think they are with the queen faction, and even if it may not be true, it’s close enough. Green and Yellow are neutral or don’t care about politics. On the other hand, Red and Black are the heart of the second faction.”

“They have money, power and ambition. They act like kings and do whatever they want. Usually for their own personal gain. They aren’t into large-scale operations, nor care about anyone else than themselves. Again, they probably have nothing to do with the Fada cult.”

“That brings us to the last important faction. The noble families. They have no real power within Ratho, but, truth is, they control important resources and have a lot of manpower. The noble families kind of wage war against each other for the highest place. Nowadays, it’s the Theodred family that holds this position.”

“Besides important physical resources, being the highest family usually means having the most commanders in the army. The nobles and the army are often paired together. Whichever leads the nobles, controls the army. Which means, the war.”

“The noble families are always striving to undermine the other families. They live by the credo ‘There are two ways to be at the top. Either you become the best or you make the others worse.’ Whatever advantage they can get, they go for it. A win for them or a loss for you, they don’t care. As long as they move higher than you, they’ll do it. That’s probably why Jorik thinks the Fada cult is…” Zac stopped himself while glancing at Ash. “... what it is.”

The woman was smart enough to understand what was going on, and she stood up from her seat.

“I’m gonna order the next round, I’ll be back in a couple minutes. But let’s talk about something more… cheerful after that, ok?”

“Ah, yeah, sure. Sorry.” Zac said with an apologizing smile.

“Don’t worry about it.” She answered with a kind smile before grabbing their empty mugs and walking downstairs to the bar.

Once she had left, Mahon directly asked his friend.

“Why would the cult be backed up by a noble family? Can’t the cult just be there for themselves? Not everything revolves around paranoid nobles, right? To me, it seems it has nothing to do with Jorik.”

“Jorik, no, not directly. But Ravatoris? He is the heir of the Theodred family. Remember how I say they may have found a Last Green badge just for him? That would be the Theodred family plotting. They want every advantage they can get for their heir. That means the other family wants the exact opposite. Discredit him. So, creating a false Fada cult that appears easy to handle but is not, just to show how incompetent Ravatoris is, is well within their bounds. And you can bet that, the instant Ravatoris fails to stop the cult, another noble heir will come with a miracle solution to end the cult and rise in status. That’s just how the high families play their game.”

Mahon shook his head in disbelief. “That’s not really how I had imagined it. Aren’t we supposed to protect people? Help them? And you’re telling me the noble families are creating false threats and killing people just to get a possible advantage over their rivals?”

“Yeah… But let’s enjoy this short break with Ash first, and we’ll talk about it later. Maybe even in Nightmare? We still have a lot to discuss, and something tells me the next few days are gonna be really short otherwise.”