I sat alone with my legs crossed in a room full of complicated patterns. Green flames swirled around me, pushing back against an invisible pressure bearing down from every direction. The blue veins of the room glowed with increased intensity as wave after wave of energy crashed around me. Beads of sweat formed on my skin as I struggled to maintain the flames for as long as possible. Every second that passed, the strain on my talent became higher, and the focus required to push back the energy in the room increased.

After less than two minutes, I became unable to bear the weight bearing down on my body. it was as if I was shouldering an entire mountain. My talent could not handle it anymore. I gasped for breath and slammed my hand down on a specific section of the patterns in the room. The pressure bearing down on me instantly vanished and my flames flared back to life brighter than ever.

I took a moment to admire the effects of the Preateritum training as my flames flowed through complicated designs. I had sacrificed some of my power yesterday in order to heal my injuries. I had thought it would take five days to return to my previous strength, but with the help of this room, I would probably be able to completely recover in just two.

The flames in my hand took the form of a butterfly as I thought about just how close I had been to killing myself yesterday. The Guardian showed me what the golden flames could become, but not how to achieve it. Without control, the flames were just as much a danger to me as they were to my enemies. I clenched my fist and the figure of the butterfly dispersed.

Straightening my disheveled clothes best I could, I exited the training room. Switching places with my mom, I joined my dad, the mercenaries, and Donte in our morning sparring practice before having a bath and sitting down for breakfast.

Once again, all we had was a single piece of hardtack to eat, but I had eaten so little the day before, I was no longer as picky about the lackluster food as I had been the day before.

“This place gets more and more amazing the longer we are here,” my mom said with a big smile as she handed out what little remained of our rations to the mercenaries. Her hair was still wet from enjoying a long soak in the bath. “The training rooms are one thing, but I never expected the baths to also have an effect on the body. A single dip in the tub and all the muscle fatigue from this morning’s exercises is completely gone! If we had this kind of place to train back in the Novus military, the army would be full of super soldiers by now.”

Donte had a big grin on his face as he began to talk about his new favorite subject. “Dragon’s Nest really is amazing! I cannot activate a lot of things, but every time I turn around, I find something new. Did you know there was a forge and metal smelter in the back tower? I just found it this morning before practice. There is another room next to the baths that seemed to be designed for mixing large quantities of some liquid. The entire room is basically one big cauldron.”

“I just wish I could understand whatever language those books are written in,” Charly said with a sigh.

“You do not need to be reading right now anyway,” I replied, “You still have not caught us a single bird to eat after two days. At this rate, we really will starve all the way to Kala.”

Charly tossed his crossbow at me with a huff. “I would like to see you try if you think it is so easy.”

I shook my head and passed the crossbow back. “I can’t use glyphs to adjust the power of the crossbow bolts. If I fired it, the bird would simply be blown to pieces.”

“If you can’t help, then don’t complain,” Charly said, taking the crossbow back, “Except for that stupid hawk of Irene’s hardly any birds fly over the island, but just wait, I will catch one for sure.”

“I hope you do,” my mom said as she peered into the nearly empty box. “We ate the last of our dried meat last night. All that is left is about one and a half days’ worth of hardtack. Once that is gone, we will be completely out of food.”

“There is always the horse,” Esben chimed in, earning him a glare from Charly. Esben shrugged as finished eating his piece of hardtack and Charly stormed out of the room to resume his target practice on the local birds.

Donte finished eating and turned to me. “There is not much else to do, want to continue our sparring practice?”

“Maybe later,” I replied as I forced the last crumb of the hardtack down my throat and washed it down with a glass of water, “First, I want to have a chat with our special guest.”

“Do you want us to come with you?” my mom asked.

I could see the concern in her eyes, but I shook my head. “This is between me and her. It is best it stays that way. I do not want any one of you to become another of her targets during her next attack.”

I could feel the eyes of my parents on my back as I left them in the dining room. I walked through the Preateritum ruins with slow measured steps as I considered what I could say to get any useful information from Irene. Up the stairs, at the top of one of the towers, I found myself standing in front of the stone door for several minutes. With a sigh, I pushed open the door to reveal the top half of the corpse lying on the floor.

At the sound of my entrance, the empty eye sockets of the corpse turned towards me. “Finally decided to come and talk to me Aurielle? Or is it one of the mercenaries, come to take up my offer for a chance at life?”

“Just me Irene,” I replied as I sat down on the floor and stared at the corpse.

“Too bad, I would have enjoyed turning one of your protectors against you. It is not a problem though, because unlike you, I have plenty of time. My undead will never allow you to land this floating mansion you had hidden away. You will be stuck up here until the day Envy comes, unable to do anything but watch as he destroys everything you tried to protect.”

“And what do you get out of it?” I asked as I leaned closer to the corpse, “This was once your home as well. Why help Envy destroy it?”

“You mean besides the joy of seeing you suffer?” Irene replied with a crackling laugh, “Envy has promised me what was stolen long ago. He has promised me my Empire!”

My eye narrowed as I glared at Irene. “You can’t be serious. You served in the Thirteen Divisions. You know how Demons are. Envy will never leave you this planet.”

“It is because I understand Demons that I know he will!” Irene shouted with another laugh, “I may not have always been on the front lines like you were, but I served the Divisions for centuries.. What I saw there showed me that we will never win the war. Even with the Archdemon gone, it changes nothing. How many millions of soldiers have fallen in the name of victory? How many more must we sacrifice? I know you understand this. It is why you never brought power to this realm despite all the technology of the Divisions. You did not want to drag it into the war, but even then, the war still came. We cannot escape it. So why must we try? Demons are not stupid. They need humans to replenish their numbers lost in the war. Culling an entire realm might give them a large short-term benefit, but it cannot compare to what they gain if they are more patient.”

I slammed my fist into the ground. Green flames scorched the rock as I screamed at the corpse in front of me. “You would turn your home into one of the Demon’s cattle farms!”

“Would that be so bad?” Irene shouted back, “I was promised forty years. Under my rule, the people of this realm would be able to live forty years in peace. Forty years without having to live in fear. True, they would have to give their lives to the blood mist when those years were up, but let me ask you, how many teenagers did you send to their death in your pointless war? Do you not think those children would have rather lived another twenty years of peace instead of dying in pain and agony against an enemy they could never defeat?”

“Those who died in the war are heroes that fought to protect their home. You are just a coward.” I said, barely containing the urge to obliterate the corpse in front of me.

“And you are a hypocrite,” Irene replied with a chuckle.

The rage inside me fell to a smolder as I let out a sigh. “Have you ever actually seen a Demon’s cattle farm?”

“What?”

“They are not usually found on the front line, so I doubt it, but I have. As the Five Calamites under the Fifth Division, we were often sent behind enemy lines. We spent more time among the realms belonging to the Demons than we did anywhere else. I have seen hundreds of their cattle farms. You are right, in the beginning, it might be a life better than the war on the front lines, but that peace does not last long. One bad defeat and the Demon controlling the farm will suddenly demand half your population be sacrificed. Afterwards, when you fail to meet the yearly demands of sacrifices, and you will, the people will be stripped of any rights as humans. You say that you can give them forty years of life, but before long the Demon will start lowering that number. While you might be given the title of Empress, you will be nothing more than a puppet to the Demons. Your throne will become your prison.”

“You are lying!” Irene shouted.

“You know I am not.”

“Envy has promised, I will be given full control of my Empire…”

“Yes, because Demons never lie,” I said with a tone dripping in sarcasm, “You know what I am saying is true. You have fooled yourself into thinking you can trust Envy, but the truth is the Demons can never be trusted. They may be smart, but they are not rational. Demons are ruled by their emotions and hatred. Even if you win this war and everything goes exactly how you wish, it will only be a matter of time before Envy turns on you.”

The corpse was silent for nearly a solid minute before it started laughing again. “I will admit, you are much more eloquent than I expected, but your little speech changes nothing. I have my ways of keeping Envy in check. I will regain the birthright you stole from me and my empire will flourish in a way yours never could. If you were hoping to turn me against Envy, you failed the day you slaughtered my family.”

I shook my head, before remembering the corpse could not actually see me. “I do not care what path you choose Irene. I still plan to kill you before that day ever comes. Whether you believe me or not is irrelevant. However, I am feeling generous today so I will give you a little bit of proof of what will happen to you if your plan succeeds. In the church records, look for a document from five hundred and sixty-two years ago, written by the leader of the Eighth Division. The article will be a stupidly long fluff piece about justice and law or some such nonsense. Take the last letter in each word and flip the text. There, you will find a true report about what happens in cattle farms. It was even written hundreds of years before I was born, so you know I did not tamper with the document in any way. That report will show you, no matter what path you choose, your life will be filled with pain and regret.”

I stood up and straightened my clothes before turning to leave the room without another word. As I closed the door behind me, I heard Irene shout a few muffled words I could not clearly make out. I ignored it and made my way down the tower. My thoughts were heavy with how to best deal with Irene. This would not be my only conversation with her, but it was all I could stomach for now.

While lost in thought, I wandered out of the mansion to look at the horde of undead following behind. My hands instinctually clenched into fists as I thought about the plans she had for the people of this realm. She had no idea how bad the rule under the Demons really was. If she succeeded, there would be no end to the tears shed. However, I had planted the seed of doubt in Irene's mind. I never expected this one conversation to sway her, but I gained more than Irene knew. By telling me that Envy wanted to turn this realm into a cattle farm, I now had some idea of how the invasion would start. I had faced off against Envy enough times that even that little bit of information was enough to let me guess a few of his upcoming tactics. I would definitely have to spend more time questioning Irene and see what else she would let slip.

As I stared out at the horde, lost in thought, Charly fired his crossbow into the air. There was a short squawk that was quickly cut off as a burning mass of feathers fell to the ground. “See, I told you I would catch one today!” Charly shouted in excitement as he ran over to pick up his feathered prize. He held up what looked like what might have been a pigeon with his chest puffed up in pride. There was not going to be much meat on such a small bird, certainly not enough to feed the twenty people currently in the mansion, but I saw no reason to damper his spirits and gave Charly a big smile.

“Good job. I knew you could do it.”

Charly bounced up to me excitedly. “Now we do not have to eat the horse, right?”

I hesitated for a second trying to think of a way not to make Charly upset. In the end, I just gave up and told the truth. “It is a good start, but that little bird will probably not even be able to feed a single person for a day. If you want to stop Esben from killing the horse, you probably need to catch thirty or so of those birds every day.”

“Thirty!” Charly blanched as his shoulders drooped, “How am I supposed to catch thirty? I am not even sure there are that many birds flying over the mansion every day.”

“Maybe you can think of a way to lure them to us instead. Hunting them might not be our only option. Didn’t the mercenaries still have some camping gear left in their wagon? Perhaps we can use that to set a real trap.” I said, thinking of the left-over hardtack I did not eat the day before. Mom would probably be mad at me for wasting food, but it would be worth it if Charly caught a few dozen birds. I told him about my idea and Charly became excited. It was not long before we had gathered all the supplies we could find for our trap.