Seth grumbled awake the next morning with his eyes red and his head throbbing. The dream hadn’t been nothing. Dragging himself out of bed, he set forth to tackle to get ready for his long day. He stayed sour until he began to explore the wonders of the facilities his posh inn room afforded him.

The self-heating bath and the mysterious self- cleaning Latrine were a welcome surprise, and by the time he got to dressing in front of the mirror, his night of healing and climbing was mostly forgotten. Seth smiled at the handsome devil staring back at him. Dressed in tailored silk robes and well-polished shoes, he found he was in a less shit mood. Good enough to see the General without overthinking.

Seth took the Moving Platform down to the fifth floor ogling the runes all the way down. He’d found a note with a bright-eyed blonde maid at his door. It said to join Ellie and Atar for breakfast.

He saw Atar the moment the platform slowed down. He was wearing a blue suit, fancier than Seth wore, and swung around a red cane in the ridiculous way rich nobles did.

“I never fancied our Blackfire hero, a Runescriver.”

“I am not. I just like to pretend I am,” Seth said as he stepped off the platform and joined the man. “It’s more of a passing hobby than anything else.”

“Hobby or not, I say you shouldn’t stop at looking. You never know what might happen. Starting the Geese was a ‘hobby’ too. Now, look at it.” He waved his cane. Behind him were three restaurants, all with different themes. The floors sparkled, and the entire space was seemingly held up by large ornate pillars colored deep Azure.

“I suppose you have a point.”

“Excellent,” he chirped and started towards the closest and largest of the three restaurants. Seth followed. “I’ll introduce you to Anise Flintlock. She designed the Moving Platforms.”

Seth broke his stride and stared at the man. “Thank you,” he managed to say after some time.“You really don’t have to--”

“Nonsense,” he waved again. “You are a Hero of the Empire and Ellie’s brother. You’re practically family.”

Seth raised his brow at that. “How did you meet my sister exactly?”

They stood by the door of the restaurant held open by a pair of waiters. He gave Seth a meaningful look, but it came across as overly indulgent and said. “Oh, she hasn’t told you, has she? Well, I think think it would be better if the story came from her.” Then, he strolled in.

Please don’t be sleeping with him.

Seth sighed and followed after.

The restaurant was even larger on the inside than it appeared. Hundreds of empty white-laid tables, complete with flowers and chairs, and at the very back were two large waiters dressed in golden geese teal, holding open wooden doors that led to a lavish private room with a bar, receptionists, a podium for live entertainment. Ellie was sitting at one of the tables.

She was wearing breeches and a blouse, just different colors that she’d worn the day before.

“You look stunning, brother,” she said.

“I feel about the same too,” Seth said, settling down. They occupied each other with idle talk until the waiter brought them a morning spread of sausages, some eggs, honey bread, and a bunch of weird-looking pastries Seth had never seen before. He only allowed himself a few; he had the meeting with General later to think about.

What occupied his mind through most of the breakfast was Atar and Ellie’s banter. It was disgustingly chummy. Almost flirtatious, he dared say.

“You’re not trying the permission cakes?” Atar said to him with a sour face, some point into breakfast. “Your sister was so sure you’d like it.” His fork was half-raised, his coiffed hair ran down the side of his face. Ellie looked similarly occupied, her cheeks puffed with cake.

“Are you sleeping with him?”

Ellie coughed, nearly spitting back her forkful of cake.

“I mean, I don’t mind if you are…but he doesn’t exactly look like your type.”

Every man his Sister had ever dated had a bit more edge to them. Atar was round, soft, boastful. She didn’t like those things. He didn’t think any woman he’d met did.

I’m not sleeping with him.” She took Atar’s hand and gave one of her pretend smiles that was mostly for the man’s benefit, more than it was for him. “We are seeing each other publicly.”

“Publicly?”

Ellie looked to Atar and explained. His family wanted him to marry up and bethored him to business Savvy Seno -- probably one of Sera’s cousins -- but he wanted none of it. Ellie was supposed to his statement to his family.

“So you’re here to convince his family he might have something good with the savior of the realm,” he pointed at her with his fork and switched over to Atar, “And you are trapped in an arranged marriage to one of the wealthiest persons alive. I can’t imagine how difficult that must be for you.” He resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

Atar made a face as if he’d been rubbed wrong. “Don’t say that. You’ve heard of the Senos. They’re not exactly the most enjoyable lot to be around, and the Seno we’re talking about, Candace, is notorious for her business chops. I will not hand over everything I’ve built to a woman I barely know.” His face was slightly red at the end.

“I can appreciate wanting to protect your interests, but aren’t you too rich and mature for this nonsense.” Seth pointed out.

“You could draw up a marital contract with her or have a marriage of convenience. I know for a fact, most people would give an arm and a leg to get married into the Seno family.” Though he didn’t mention it, he was more afraid of getting dragged into whatever trouble was brewing. He had enough on his plate already. He didn’t need the Senos breathing down their necks.

“It’s not as simple, Seth,” Ellie spoke up this time. “Nobles don’t just talk things out and shake hands. They prefer showing each other up with moves and wild gestures. All this will be over before you know it.”

He didn’t resist the urge this time. “I very much doubt that.”

“Don’t worry,” Ellie said, reaching out for his hand. “I can take care of myself. Besides,” she added with a smirk, “I’m making Atar pay tooth and nail for my services.”

“Wouldn’t expect anything less,” Seth smiled and rose to his feet. “I should get going.”

She wished him good luck, and just as he was nearly out of earshot, he heard Atar shout something about him protecting Ellie. He snorted at that.

Seth decided that he did not like Atar very much, nor did he like his sister taking the job ‘protecting him. His sister being as bullheaded as she was, probably wouldn’t have talked to Sera about any of it. He decided he would visit her as soon as he could and gather whatever information he could. It would be great to see her and Brick again.

The General carriage was waiting outside of the Golden Geese when he descended the marble stairs. A large coach was drawn by two of the biggest horses he’d seen with the General’s crest on the side. It was a mountain with a three-pointed peak with several golden glyphs swimming around it. The coachman was dressed in an elegant robe with a straight posture, and his rose perched a little too high.

“Master Seth.”

“That’s me,” Seth said with less certainty than he’d have liked. He was not used to someone calling him master.

“General Roko is expecting us.” The coachman held the door open. The interior was dark silk with gold trims and wood fixings. He hurried inside, and coachman joined him, and the carriage began to move.

For a long moment, he simply stared at the coachman, his mind racing with questions. In a bid not sound more of a bumpkin than he knew the man already thought him to be, he asked, “How do the horse know where we’re headed? I thought they needed a coachman to steer them.”

“They usually do,” he said, “But Hestills are no ordinary horses. They’re smarter than a dozen horses combined and worth their weight in gold. They remember every place they’ve ever been.”

Seth whistled. “That’s amazing.”

“Did you raise them yourself?” he asked while he still had the man talking, and it turned out Seth had him pegged wrong. He was eager to talk.

Seth learned a lot of useful things about Hestils on his ride, including what they ate, their mating seasons, and how they were trained. However, what delighted Seth most during the trip was the Hestill Grip, a runed bracelet that Collins only showed him after he playfully twisted his hand with his Hero status.

It had been gifted to him by General Roko’s chief Runescriver and worked through—and Seth thought he was joking--Sound magic. It sounded all very abstract, the coachman only understanding its basics, but it sounded positively fascinating. He was eager to hear more and made it a point to visit this master runescriver and the maker of the moving platform.

The carriage eventually came to a stop with a long whistle from Collins’s bracelet, and Seth stepped out and waved the man goodbye. He found himself standing in front of a white tower, hundreds of feet high with a small barracks, sprawling field, and dozens of open battle arenas with Knights dueling.

In the Ring closest to the tower, he spied two Terra knights who dueled each other with such ferocity, he’d thought they’d intended to murder each other.

The first one in a blue combat jumper, Seth dubbed Red and the other Blue. Red pumped his fist forward, ripping a piece of the ground and sent it hurling and blue blocked by summoning an earth spike. Both attacks collided with a crash, forming a dust cloud sending a smattering of rubble raining down. The second retaliated by launching a longer spike at him, and the first one whipped to the side to dodge and fired back.

And for nearly a minute, that was all they did-- lop rocks and spikes at each other-- neither man landing a solid hit. They flipped, dodged, tumbled, furiously attacking, both with savage grins on their faces.

Seth wondered how long it would take him to get as good as they were. He was partial to fire and earth, but heck, he would settle for anything. He lost himself in the rhythm of tangling limbs and rumbling earth. I wonder what that kind of power feels like.

“They are something else, aren’t they?” he heard a voice rumble in front of him. It took all of his self-control not to jump.

Before him stood a man he recognized from afar from his time at the Borderland. Harkness. He was dressed in training fatigues with both sleeves torn off to accommodate his muscles, and he was flanked by two guards wearing runes armor with Earth reinforcement runes. They clutched 7 feet long halberds that reminded him briefly of Malleck’s spear and held the large wooden double doors open.

Harkness eyes remained on him, and it was then he realized that he’d been waiting on some answer.

“Yes…they are.”

Seemingly satisfied with the answer, Harkness’s attention turned to the fighters who were ramping down. They’d seem to have out of Mana. “Your judgment is only a day away. You’ll be joining us soon enough.”

“Of course,” Seth said.

The man seemed off, something about the way he spoke and carried himself. He could see why Ellie had a beef with him, and he would have too if he didn’t save his life.

“I heard you were the knight who rescued me from Tamir,” Seth said. “I thank you for that.”

“So that was his name,” Harkness mused, and Seth realized his half-blunder. He felt as though he should have kept that information from the man.

“I hardly got it before I crushed him,” Harkness said with a smug smile, rubbing his chin.

Ah, there it was.

“Come,” he said, suddenly business-like. “We wouldn’t want to keep the General waiting.”

Seth gave the odd man a nod and followed him into the tower. They entered a dark lobby with stone tiles so sheeny, Seth could view his own reflection. Their boots scuffed the floor as Harkness led up the stairs to the right, and for a long time, they climbed in silence until Harkness groaned out loud.

“We’ll be late at this pace.”

Harkness stepped off a random floor, led Seth down the brightly lit stone corridor, and stopped suddenly at a lamp. The walls around it were slightly scuffed, and Harkness asked with a mischievous grin, “Want to take a shortcut to the top?”

He didn’t wait on his answer and tugged the orb light lamp that hung high above, wreathed in fancy iron. It creaked and angled unnaturally, and with a long grating sound, the wall slid open to reveal a platform packed with even more runes than he’d seen at the platform at the geese. His eyes bulged.

There were different colors and elements, and he only considered rejecting his offer for only a second before he climbed aboard, and Harkness waved his hand on a rune sigil on the wall. The platform came alive, and before he had the chance to observe or prod, he felt the ground under him shift, and an instant later, he felt like his body just snapped hard into place. Seth keeled over and nearly lost his breakfast.

“Fastest way to travel in Brighmont, I would argue,” Harkness said casually. “The General and some other monsters can teleport, but for cubs like us, controlled teleportation is the best we’ll ever get.”

Harkness gave Seht a passing look as he moaned in pain. “Elemental reinforcement runes always help, but then again, you might come this way again.”

Seth clutched his stomach and stumbled onto his feet long enough to ask, “I thought that was Vampire sorcery?”

“Is it?”

Harkness stepped off the platform. He straightened up as he approached the double doors, clasped both hands behind his back, and tightened his gait. The doors were flanked by two full magic knights, who reminded him of Hanson. Red and Green-haired, both in augmented Light-bearer armor with short knives on their waists.

He hurried after Harkness to keep up.

“What do you mean by ‘If?” Seth asked. They were almost to the doors, but he couldn’t help but ask. It was clear the man was playing with him. Two magic knights stood by the door in full Light-bearer armor gave Harkness a quick nod, to which he returned in kind and fixed Seth with a curious smile. The doors before them, as if sensing their presence, swung open.

“It’s not my place to say. Maybe Father will have answers.”

Seth nearly caught himself glaring at the man, but he quietly proceeded into the chamber as soon as the doors creaked wide enough. They slammed shut behind him, and he struggled and failed not to flinch.

He stood at the very edge of a vast chamber packed with endless shelves of books, Trinkets, scrolls, and entire suits of armor glowing with multicolored runes. Floating orb lights filled with liquid mana bobbed mid-air, illuminating the room, and at the very edge of it, behind a Tapestry of a great scrimmage rendered to excruciating detail, sat a small mountain of a man seated behind the largest table he’d seen. Stacks of books half as tall as he was laid on either side of his table, and at the center, there sat a man furiously scratching into a bit of parchment while he reviewed something else.

He looked very busy. Seth was almost reluctant to interrupt.

“Come. Sit,” he rumbled. His voice carried through the expansive space, and Seth felt his chest tightened, suddenly realized who he stood across from. He hurried forward and took a seat in one of the three leather seats in front of the table.

Roko scribbled for another minute longer before he wrapped up what he was writing, sealed it, and snapped his finger. The message disappeared.

“It’s good to see you awake.”

“It’s great to be awake, Sir.” Seth nearly cursed out loud. It was such a stupid thing to say.

“I suppose you know why I called you here?”

Seth hesitated, his mind raced with thoughts before he answered. “Not…particularly.”

“You are an anomaly, Seth,” he began. “All four of you are. You should not have survived, but you all did. Hanson briefed me of what happened. To think you actually managed to kill those vampire knights.”

Only for the slightest moment, he entertained jabbing an accusing finger at the man and really telling him how he felt.

“We all nearly died, Sir. Several times--,” he said, his face flush with emotion. He opened his mouth and shut it, and finally spoke. “Any later, we would have died. The artifacts, weapons, and the weapons did make a difference.”

The General studied him for a while before he spoke. “It’s good that Harkness found you all in time, and the others did not quite see the state of your wounds before my healers had time to mend them. Mind healing is a very delicate and imprecise art. I can’t help but wonder what the vampire must have done to you.”

The General’s gaze bored into him, and his heartbeat spiked. Before his run-in with Tamir, he might have caved and actually considered telling him everything-- the dreams, the transfiguration spell, everything, but he was made of stronger stuff now, and besides, could he trust the man that sent them to their deaths?

Would he probably think me a monster? Or fresh new materials for his Runescrivers and Mages. I need some time to think on it before I share. He still knew too little. Besides, it could be nothing. But the voice in his head didn’t sound as convincing this time.

“Your sister must have briefed you about the story we’ve chosen?” the General asked, bringing Seth back to the room with him, and he nodded. The man reached a leather bundle stuffed with paper on a moderately short stack of books and pushed it to Seth. “Study it. You will find yourself needing to answer questions as more and more people approach you. You must commit your lies to heart.”

His last words carried more emotion than everything he’d said all meeting. Seth nodded, and the General’s attention seemed to drift back from his work. He scanned the sheets in front of him for a moment before he said.

“Your rewards will follow after Judgement. After what you’ve accomplished, I doubt there’ll be a need to complete your runes. Instead, you will receive two runes for your exemplary service and sacrifice.”

Seth’s eyes went wide, and he blurted out,” T-Thank you, Sir.” He fell to one knee and offered a deep bow.

“Rise,” he said with a casual wave.

“After receiving your runes, you will receive instruction for six months and hone your abilities. After then, you’ll be deployed along with a new unit. You will serve with the Empyrean guards, the Rangers, Royal protectors, or stay with us at the army.”

Many things stuck out to him, but he was mostly concerned about the potential change. “New unit?” He and the Ravens had been together for years, and he thought it only natural for their cooperation to continue on even after receiving their runes.

“You’ll be reassigned based on your runes and performance. I would have my best fighters work together to grow.”

“Of course, Sir.” Seth found that he oddly agreed with the man. It was the way of things, and he could already see how he’d be spending the rest of his year, but his mind hovered over his second concern.

“Sir, about the mission--” he wrestled to find the right words. “If we ended up back in the main army, how soon can we expect to face the Vraphen Army?”

The General looked up from his sheets and regarded him with a heavy gaze. “As soon as the Empire requires it. You must never forget that you’re a soldier, Seth. One beholden to Mormon and its people. Fear and hesitation will only serve to dull your edge. We live and die at Mormon’s pleasure. I thought you understood this when you took your oaths and joined the army?”

“I did sir-- I do,” Seth stuttered and tucked his eyes low.

He felt the General observe him for a long moment and said, “I don’t make a habit of sending my men to their death. What happened at the borderlands might not repeat itself until the direst of circumstances, and I always reward loyalty.” He leaned into his table. “You do not need to fear serving under my command, Seth.”

Seth nodded in understanding, but he couldn’t bring himself to look up at the man. He sensed no clear malice in his words or actions, but he felt no less vulnerable. The fight with the vampires had been brutally instructive. Seeing the General’s attention drift back once again to his work, he asked, “Permission to leave, General?”

“Not granted, soldier,” he said and finally set his papers to the side. “There is another matter we have to discuss.” He shut his book, and leveled his eyes with Seth’s. They were bright saucers of golden earth mana. “Give me a full report of all that happened and spare nothing.”

Seth sucked his breath in and played the story he’d settled in his mind one last time. He’d been expecting it. He started to talk and ran through everything that happened more or less in broad strokes, careful to skate around the transfiguration spells and his dreams, blaming a lack of tangible or clear information on memory loss.

The first question out of the General’s mouth had nothing to do with the areas he expected scrutiny.

“The others, they spoke of a grimoire. Do you recall seeing what happened to it?”

He blinked, almost freezing, before offering his answer. “As I mentioned, I recalled him unsummoning it at some point. Maybe he died with the grimoire?”

“Unlikely. That book is important to our work. Far more than you know.” The man narrowed his eyes, holding Seth’s for a moment too long.

“Come to me if you remember anything.”

Seth considered asking the man what Harkness had hinted at. The darkness rune and its relations with the books, but only a shaky voice spoke out. “Of course…I will, sir.”

“Your account has been helpful. You may leave.” With those final words, he leafed open the page he was previously occupied with and continued to read.

Seth hopped to his feet almost too fast. The door swung open and close, and a blink later, he was on the stairs, the very ones Harkness had ignored, eating them up two steps at a time.

He caught himself shivering more than twice when he thought back to how the meeting had gone. The General’s piercing eyes seemed to glean his secret without barely any effort. He had a nagging suspicion that his eyes gleaned everything, even the secrets he tried to hide. In contrast to Tamir, he thought he was the real monster. If he had interrogated him instead of the monster, he probably would have broken after the first question.