“I’m sorry, but you don’t have the clearance to use The Archive. In fact, you are specifically banned according to…” the clerk’s fingers danced on the flat surface of her desk, her brows shot up, “Director Cruces…”

Est couldn’t see what his mother had noted in his file, but he could guess well enough. He tried a charming smile. “My mother,” he shrugged, “there was this thing and she got mad, so,” he gestured at the clerk’s terminal, “that’s her idea of punishment, but I need information for an important case I’m working. I don’t want to overstate it, but a young woman’s life is at stake if I can’t solve it.”

“You can access ninety percent of our nation’s information base from any terminal or your PID.”

“Right and I already did, but I still need more,” Est smiled, “maybe you can help me out. Maybe I don’t get access to the Archive, I’m cool with that, but what if you do it for me? I can pay. How does 100 Universal Points sound for a few hours of research?”

“That doesn’t violate the wording of the rules, but it does the spirit. The director specifically banned you. If it gets back to her that I—”

“Why would it? I certainly won’t tell,” Est mimed zipping his lips.

There was a glint in the clerk’s eyes.

Est had the feeling that he had her.

“As long as the information won’t harm anyone.”

“Like I said, I’m trying to save a life.”

“What do you need?”

“Everything we have on Sylvandria, familiar bonding and skarlings, specifically the red-backed variety.”

The clerk frowned. “That doesn’t sound like a few hours of research.”

“Then narrow the focus to skarlings and the bonding system. I’m interested in how a red-backed skarling can be gifted to someone. Is that a normal part of Sylvandrian culture? That sort of thing.”

“Okay, I’ll work on it on my spare time.”

“Time is of the essence.” Est was careful not to push.

“More points would be helpful to that end,” the clerk smiled primly.

Est sighed. “200.”

“300,” the clerk countered.

“Done,” Est stuck his hand out over the desk. He was not lacking for Universal Points.

The two shook hands and Est exited The Archive building. The massive, gleaming structure dominated this area of Manila. Much too overbearing for his taste. He walked briskly toward a quieter, quainter district with a few of his favorite eateries.

He passed vertical farms in almost two century-old office buildings and parking structures. His grandparents and other older relatives had the foresight to guard against the possibility that the food stores wouldn’t give out their goods indefinitely. They had utilized unused buildings like said parking structures, transforming them into farms for fruit, vegetables and livestock.

The advent of Skills related to such things made it possible.

The fact that the population of the world dropped drastically in the years after the spires had appeared gave them plenty of space and empty structures to repurpose.

Indeed the present day population numbers were nowhere near what they had been back then.

Est often wondered what life was like in such a crowded environment. Millions of people, densely packed together.

Ancient fossil fuel burning vehicles spewing their exhaust everywhere.

He remembered riding in his uncle’s ancient car, loud, smelly and not that comfortable. The magitech conveyances of the present day were infinitely quieter, smoother and less odorous.

All in all, Est was certain that the world of his grandparents’ generation was terrible in so many ways. It was probably why he never did well in his ancient history classes back in his school days.

Est walked along clean sidewalk streets, while said magitech vehicles zipped along. He was surrounded by others, humans mostly, but he didn’t mind it.

It was a lot nicer here in the nation’s capital compared to where he lived and worked in the outskirts.

He wondered if he should invite his mother over for dinner and a walk. It didn’t miss his notice that the rest of his family didn’t really spend a lot of time over there.

He couldn’t really blame his great-grandparents or his grandparents. The former were practically ancient and deserved their retirement after two centuries of fighting to build the nation. It was the same for the latter and they still fought out there in the multitudes. Establishing territories in other worlds and defending against all sorts of terrible monsters, entities and enemy polities.

Maybe you need to finally live up to your family name and join the fight. Haven’t your grandparents done enough? Isn’t it time for the younger generation to ascend?

Est scowled at the thoughts in his head. That didn’t seem like him. His grandparents had been completely supportive of what he wanted to do. It was everyone else that was a pain in his ass.

The voice in his head did have point. His grandparents needed to stop worrying about colonial matters and come home to be with their sprawling family. It had been years since they had last been back on Earth.

Est was in a fouler mood when he reached one of his favorite restaurants.

The smells brightened his mood as soon as he opened the door.

He took a seat at the bar and patiently waited for the server.

It was a little early for dinner and the place was still pretty full. A testament to the quality.

“Hey, Estelon! What’s new!”

He winced at his full name, but smiled. “Lola! You’re looking good! Getting younger everyday!”

“Ha! Flattery will get you my best cooking.”

“I thought you put your heart into every dish? Isn’t that what it says on the wall?”

The matronly woman laughed heartily. “Why not both?”

“True.”

“The usual?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Anything to drink?”

“Just calamansi juice… this is a working dinner. Er… Lola, I’m going to be here for awhile. Is that okay with you?”

“You know the rules, Estelon. I can’t break it for anyone, even you.”

“Of course… I guess I’ll be eating a lot tonight.”

It didn’t matter much to Est. His metabolism was beyond a normal human one. Which meant he could put away a lot of food in a single sitting.

He settled in to wait.

It was a stroke of good fortune that Miss Darkwillow’s home was within a few miles of the restaurant. He could conduct his astral surveillance without attracting any unneeded attention.

His only worry was that one of his relatives might notice that he was in Manila.

It wasn’t easy to mask his thoughts while astral projecting.

While physical Est ate and occasionally conversed with others around him, astral projection Est floated to Darkwillow’s home to wait for the skarling to go on its semi-nightly jaunts.

He hoped that it wasn’t going around killing anybody.

That would be a terrible mess for him to deal with.

Hours passed as the night grew darker.

Est finished his meal, had a second and a third.

He was in the middle of his ice cream when he spotted the tiny skarling crawling out of what must’ve been the young woman’s bedroom window and scampering off into the night.

It moved fast, really fast.

Est struggled to keep up.

To his surprise the skarling didn’t go out into the rain forests on the outskirts of the city where animals and monsters could be found without much difficulty. It went toward the center of the city. To one of the state-sanctioned combat arenas scattered throughout.

Est had mixed feelings about the arenas.

On the one hand it provided a place for people to practice their Skills, spells and powers. The spires system being what it was, struggle and conflict were required to gain levels, which meant that the arena battles were intense, violent and painfully bloody. The only thing that wasn’t on the table was death thanks to the healers and healing materials on hand thanks to his family’s patronage.

It was an added bonus for healing-type classes to get practical experience to increase their own levels.

On the other hand Est had concerns about how people were being desensitized to the violence. No matter how injured they got there was quick healing on hand. In a real fight outside of the arenas there were no guarantees of superior, nearly instantaneous healing.

Est watched as the skarling scampered across the ground easily avoiding the dozens of people streaming toward the arena for the night’s fight card.

The more he watched the more confused he got.

The skarling entered through the fighter’s entrance.

The attendants clearly saw it, but paid it no mind.

Est’s astral projection floated in after the tiny creature, invisible to all physical eyes and most magical ones.

The skarling entered the fighter ready area and clambered up to an open registration station.

“It’s the Red Terror, back again!” the attendant grinned down at the skarling. “You open to fight anyone and anything, like usual?”

Est was beyond confused.

The attendant was talking to the skarling, Rose, he remembered her name and it appeared that she understood. As she bobbed her head in what looked like an affirmative nod.

He really needed to find out everything he could about skarlings and Sylvandria’s familiar bonding system.

“Let’s see,” the attendant consulted his terminal, “I’ve got a Level 23 Brawler with an open challenge in 15 minutes and a Level 35 Warlock’s Skitterlax demon familiar, just the demon, the warlock is strictly off the combat ground for this one, in 30 minutes. I’ll need to check with them to see if they want to challenge you.” The attendant placed his hands in front of Rose, “left hand for the Brawler, right hand for the demon.”

The attendant waited patiently, while Rose appeared to weight her options.

After a few moments she tapped the attendant’s left hand with a paw, claws carefully retracted.

“You sure like fighting the humanoids don’t you,” the attendant grinned. “Let me query the guy’s PID, see if he’s interested,” the attendant tapped his fingers in the air over his desk. They didn’t have to wait long for a reply. “Looks like you’re on. You’ll be fighting in Number 11 tonight, same procedure as always. Good luck!”

Rose chittered and hopped off the desk and scampered away.

Est followed.

The skarling was a lot more intelligent than he had anticipated.

The combat chamber was a circular space roughly a hundred feet in diameter. The floor was covered in soft, sandy dirt. Probably to make soaking up and cleaning spilled blood easier.

It was recessed into the ground and surrounded by stands, which was sparsely-filled with spectators.

Est had followed Rose to the fighter ready area before floating up through the ceiling to find a clear space in the stands. He made sure to keep his distance from the other people. The last thing he wanted to do was accidentally enter another person’s body.

There was a fair amount of fanfare that proceeded the fight.

A dapper young man stepped out into the middle of the combat chamber and bombastically announced the combatants.

The Brawler was first. The young man was covered head to toe in the latest metallic-fabric armor weave. Lightweight, flexible, yet tough. The only visible weapons the man had were a pair of spiked gauntlets.

A faint glow emanated from the man’s gear, visible to Est’s astral projected eyesight, which suggested low-level enchantments or investment.

It appeared that fighting in the Arena was pretty lucrative on top of the gains one obtained through the experience.

Rose was announced next.

The tiny skarling was practically invisible on the dirt floor from the top of the spectator stands where Est was floating.

A large screen over the combat chamber focused in on the vicious little creature.

It did a great job at capturing the growing bloodlust in Rose’s demeanor, especially in her beady eyes.

Sharp claws appeared when she flexed her forepaws to join the wicked-looking one’s on her raptor-like hind legs. Razor-sharp fangs and teeth seemed to glint in the bright lights. The blood red color on her armor-plated back stood out like a beacon.

The skarling looked much more dangerous in her close-up on the big screens.

The announcer went through a short introduction for each fighter.

Wins. Losses. That sort of thing.

Rose had been busy and she had been doing well.

Est looked around.

If anyone thought it odd that a tiny creature was fighting in the arena they didn’t give any indication that it was out of the ordinary.

Est had figured that animals, summoned creatures, demons, spirits saw fight time with the assorted Beastmasters, Summoners, Spirit Callers that fought in the Arena. He was surprised to learn that the companions could fight on their own as well.

He found himself dreading the impending battle.

Rose was about the size of the Brawler’s foot.

The announcer left the combat chamber and a countdown appeared on the screens overhead.

The bell rang and the muscular young man shouted out a barrage of skills as he dashed forward.

Est blinked.

The young man stood still for a moment.

Blood spurted out of his neck where he lacked armor.

The young man’s hands clamped around his fountaining neck as he fell to his knees.

“Healer!” the announcer’s voice filled the chamber.

One came rushing out of one of the side doors to tend to the young man.

Rose was primly cleaning the bloodied fur around her mouth and paws.

What the hell had happened?

“Let’s see that again in slow motion,” the announcer said.

Eyes went up to the screens.

Est followed along.

The replay ran at a tenth of real-time speed.

Rose darted across the dirt floor with a tiny cloud of dirt in her wake. She zipped up the Brawler’s legs, his chest, to tear at his poorly protected throat with tooth and claw.

Holy shit! This wasn’t what I was expecting, Est thought.

Well, at least now he knew what the little skarling was up to when she disappeared during the night.

All things considered this wasn’t so bad. It could’ve been so much worse. At least the skarling wasn’t killing random people. Wasn’t killing anyone really thanks to the quick and skilled healing response.

Indeed, the Brawler was already sitting up.

Rose had departed the combat chamber, perhaps to return home, perhaps to book another fight.

In any case, Est’s stakeout was done.

He floated his astral projection back to his physical location. Carefully avoiding other people. He was almost out of the Arena when he caught snatches of a conversation between two dangerous-looking people.

A man and a woman chatted as they sat in a crowded bar.

The tightly-packed space meant it was loud and difficult to listen to others talking.

Not a problem for Est.

“We’re getting close to manufacturing the amount we need.”

“How much longer? I’ve got the delivery system ready to go.”

“Three days, maybe four.”

“Perfect. Just in time for the weekend. People will be out and about. Maximum impact.”

“I’ll push the crew harder. We can work around the clock if need be.”

“Not at the expense of quality. We can’t afford any mist— wait, do you feel that?” the woman stuck a hand in her pocket.

“What? No, nothing,” the man said in alarm.

“Something’s watching… someone,” the woman pulled a small gem out.

Est frowned.

She crushed it in her hand.

Blindling light was followed by a blinding headache.

“Estelon!” Lola called out in alarm.

Est blinked. His brain pounded with a pain unlike any other. The back of his head throbbed.

He was looking up at the restaurant’s ceiling lights.

“Are you okay?” a fellow dinner helped Est sit up.

“Yeah… just fine.”

“You don’t look it.”

Est waved him away. “Thanks, but I’ll be alright. Lola, it seems that I need to go, charge my meals to my account like always.”

“Are you sure you don’t need a healer?” Lola said with concern.

“No worries,” Est’s smile was more of a grimace. “The cool night air will probably fix things,” he staggered out into the street and hailed a flying taxi.

That conversation had raised enough red flags that he couldn’t ignore, which meant that he had to see his cousin immediately.

“Where to?” the taxi driver said as Est climbed into the back.

“Guardian headquarters, please,” Est held his PID up to the scanner.

“Got it, strap in. I’ll get you there in no time.”

Est closed his eyes and tried to stop the spinning as the taxi floated into the sky on an anti-gravity generator from another world.