There were four of them. Rory recognized Hakim, Marcy, Sylvia, but the fourth was an unknown quantity. They were approaching the market stealthily, a strange cloak of grey mist clinging to them despite the time of day. But then they stopped. Arelland had come back in view again, barring the Homeworlder’s way forward. The sudden tension in the air crackled like lightning.

Rory’s heart roiled at the sight. They were heading to where the Invigilator was going to meet them again, which meant there was a very real chance that Arkone would come hammering down upon Rory for not having everything about his business lined up yet. But now…

“I’m going to go talk to them for a second,” Rory said, gripping Viv’s arm tightly for a minute.

She had been too distracted talking to the others back at the palace to notice, but now that she did, she started. “Hold on—”

“It’s fine. We’ll just be talking.”

They noticed him before he even got close. Both the elf and the Homeworlders watched Rory approaching with wariness. Of course. Neither party knew which side he was on.

“Rory!” Hakim greeted him with surprise. “What is the meaning of this?”

There was no time for pleasantries. Rory clarified the situation as briefly as possible, though all he had to explain was his reason for being here. They could see the Corebeast for themselves.

“You want us to acknowledge a proper trading deal?” Hakim asked. He glared at Arelland. “When you’re in this sort of company?”

Rory took another step closer to the Homeworlders. “All I’m doing is ensuring I, and everyone with me, survive. Please, I need the deal and the letter of recognition.”

“Don’t force my hand, Homeworlders,” Arelland said.

The Homeworlders collectively tensed even more. Rory sighed and turned to the elf with a long-suffering look.

“Not now, Arelland,” Rory said, almost pleading with his friend. “Let me handle this.”

The elf didn’t take his eyes off the Homeworlders, but he subsided.

“Give it to them,” Sylvia said. “They deserve it. If it hadn’t been for their warning, for their efforts, we wouldn’t have been able to take care of the Revenants so easily.

Marcy rounded on her. “Are you nuts? We literally have proof—”

Rory pointed at the monster being kept busy by the Otherworlders. “That thing’s going to come this way before long. You’re hunting the Imps to get your revenge on them, right? They’re going to get here soon too. We don’t have time to wait. I can tell you what’ll happen next, something that will save your lives once more. But in return, I want the letter and the deal.”

Hakim’s face had gone even stonier. He stared at Rory as the other Homeworlders tried to put forth their input. Eventually, he shrugged the others off and pulled out a paper. What looked like electricity zapped out of his fingertips as he moved them over the page. When he was done, he pulled his finger to bite down on it before pressing the bloody fingerprint to the bottom.

“Does this suffice?” Hakim offered the paper to Rory.

With wide eyes, Rory took the page and began to read. “The Homeworlders officially recognize Rory McIlroy and the humans residing at Belcourt Palace as the true local merchant in the region around Hillhard. We will stand by the vendor’s policies with the terms of each deal depending on the exchange itself. Signed by Hakim, Second-in-Command of the Homeworlders.”

“Happy?” Hakim asked.

Rory raised his eyebrows at the paunchy, middle-aged man. “You’re the second-in-command?”

He was prevented from answering by the arrival of the Imps. Arelland shot them all a wide-eyed, furious look. Rory got the message. Whatever deal he was hoping to enact would be dashed if the Imps saw his presence. So, disregarding the loud protests, he dragged the Homeworlders to his and Viv’s hiding spot.

The Imps looked a lot more harried than the first Tundra Imp Arelland had accosted. There was even Molten Aglas among the group, his fires dimmed and his tail lashing from side to side in what Rory assumed was fear or anxiety.

“You have news regarding the Corebeast, elf?” Aglas asked.

“I have a proposition,” Arelland said.

“What proposition? Deal with the creature you brought over here?”

Arelland’s eyes smiled. “The creature you released?”

“Speak of your proposition,” said another, older-looking Imp. His body was a dusty brown and gold, a long, rocky beard tapering down from his chin. “Now is the time for answers, not more problems.”

Arelland nodded. “Wise of you to see it so. My proposition is this—turn the ones you are sheltering over to me, and I will ensure that the Corebeast does no harm to you or yours.”

“You speak as if you can control it,” Aglas said haughtily. “Such a thing is impossible.”

“I agree. But as I said, all I intend to do is prevent it from causing any further harm.”

“How would you perform such a thing?”

“That I cannot say. You have little time to make your decision. The Corebeast will soon approach.”

The Imps didn’t look happy, but they started conferring among themselves. Rory didn’t get to hear what they said at that distance. If Arelland did, he gave no indication. Closer at hand, Viv was still reassuring the others back at the palace that they were all right.

“Yes, none of us are injured,” she said into the walky-talky. “No. No. No, not at all, Dez. Yes, fine, we’ll keep you updated.”

Despite the situation, Rory grinned at her as she pushed the walky-talky away from her face rather forcefully as the call cut off. Viv saw his face, then scowled at him.

“Are they getting a little anxious for our return?” he asked.

“They’re definitely getting antsy.” She sighed. “For good reason, too. We’re still not safe.”

Rory found himself following her gaze to watch the monster in the distance. The Homeworlders were all watching it too. Its thunderous stomping was still making the entire area shake. They weren’t under its deadly scrutiny for the moment, but it was only a matter of time before the Otherworlders pulled back. So far, they’d done nothing other than annoy the Corebeast. It would get bored with them, eventually.

When that happened, Rory would once again be its primary target.

“What’s going on back in the palace?” he asked, to take his mind off that impending moment. “Are they all alright?”

“They’re fine,” Viv said. “The fires didn’t get past the Safe Zone’s boundary, though it did destroy everything around it, so…”

Rory sighed. “We’re going to have a lot of cleaning up to do, huh?”

“Let’s just focus on surviving for now.”

Good suggestion.

Ahead of them, the Imps had finished their little impromptu council. He had no idea what exactly the monsters had been discussing, but their expressions said they had come to a conclusion they didn’t like.

“We will bring you the ones you seek,” the Desert Imp said. “But you must state your intention regarding them.”

“I’m certain you know,” Arelland said, with no little impatience. “After all, that was the trick you depended on for the Corebeast to kill your enemies for you.”

The Imps gasped in unison, almost theatrically so. “We did no such thing.”

Arelland shook his head, clearly not believing. Rory wished they’d start speaking more specifically instead of vaguely. He wanted to know how the Imps were targeting the Corebeast upon him too.

“Never mind,” Arelland said. “Bring them in, now. I only need the Homeworlder.”

“There is no Homeworlder,” Aglas said.

“Now is not the time to be splitting hairs. Bring the mortal. The human. Whatever you wish to call it.”

Rory and Viv exchanged wondrous glances. Beside them, the actual Homeworlders had tensed again. Why were the Imps holding a human among them? There was a lot going on here that he didn’t understand, but it felt vitally important somehow.

Rory’s heart started hammering as the Imps left. It didn’t take long for them to reappear. There were people with them too. Most were Otherworlders—a couple of elves without nothing on save shabby tunics and their masks, and a dwarf wrapped head to toe in dark bandages—but the last one they brought in was curious.

The man they brought in wore dirty rags like the rest of them, his dark hair mussed up and his skin unwashed, sallow, and waxy. There were deep, baggy shadows under his eyes. He looked familiar for some reason, though. Something about his gait, about the way his head moved, and his eyes—

Rory had been trying to place where he had seen the man when he gasped. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing, and his whole body felt like it was vibrating fit to burst. Beside him, Viv had frozen stiff. She had come to the same realization, the same recognition, that he had. The Imps’ human captive was no man in truth.

That was Alex.

“Who is that?” Hakim asked.

Rory swallowed. “Our child.”

“But… how?” Viv shook her head slowly, trying to understand what exactly they were witnessing.

Rory couldn’t help her there. His brain had turned to sludge. All this time, he had been wondering whatever could have happened to their only child in the apocalypse. Even sending out Arelland to determine the truth from Dwellmont had proved fruitless. There had been no trace of Alex anywhere. It was as if they had disappeared.

A deep part of Rory had been scared that his child was dead, that he would never see their kind, grey eyes, their soft smile, the way they waved goodbye and hello whenever they saw him or Viv again. He was afraid Alex had been killed by a monster somewhere or lost in the midst of this silly war.

Yet, there they were. Alive. Whole. Mostly unharmed, at least physically.

“This is the one you sought, yes?” Aglas asked.

Arelland nodded, never taking his eyes off Alex. “This one is coming with me. Any objections?”

Aglas hesitated. He shouldn’t have. Behind them all, the Corebeast shook all three heads violently and blasted out a terrific roar. Rory’s ears died a little, though he couldn’t muster the energy to cover them up. Then the Corebeast stared straight at him.

No, not at him.

All three of its heads were pointed at Alex.

“Too late,” Arelland shouted.

He reacted with the speed of a praying mantis. He nabbed Alex too fast for anyone to react. The Imps could only yell out in anger while Alex was too stunned to do anything as they were slung over the elf’s shoulder. In a second, Arelland had twisted and was rushing right at Rory and Viv’s position.

“Time to be off!” he yelled at them. “Use your lightning. Hurry.”

For a split second, Rory’s brain refused to work. Then he spotted the Homeworlders had shaken off their torpor. The strange mist started enveloping them, while Hakim summoned his electricity and Sylvia had ethereal weapons in her hand.

“Hold it,” Rory said. “Just trust us.”

“Trust?” the unknown guy shouted back, mist thickening around him. “Only fools trust their enemies.”

“We’re not—”

“Go!” Arelland yelled.

Rory’s mind was still a little foggy. Apart from his shout, he was slow to react, as were the other Homeworlders. Thankfully, Arelland had been talking to Viv, who still had enough of her wits about her. Though, the way she moved, it looked more like an instinctive action instead of a conscious reaction.

Just as Arelland reached them, Viv’s crimson lightning arced into being around them. The Imps finally began to react. Aglas had summoned balls of lava to throw, while the Tundra and Desert Imps had used similar powers, orbs of ice and sand in their hands.

Nothing lasted. Viv sent a scarlet bolt crackling off into the distance, and Rory disappeared.

When Rory found himself on solid ground again, he saw that, apart from the Imps, they all had teleported a couple hundred feet to their left down an alleyway. Distant detonations and cries signalled the spot where the Imps were bemoaning their loss at Arelland’s hand. But their cries didn’t stop. Instead, it grew in crescendo, turning from anger and dismay to pure terror.

Rory saw why a second later. The Corebeast had launched a blistering salvo of attacks from all three of its mouths. There was no way anyone could avoid that unless they had something similar to Viv’s teleportation powers. The stream of ravaging fire, noxious purple cloud, and virulent red lightning all coalesced into one white beam.

When it struck down, the entire area went up in an enormous explosion. Rory had to shade his eyes from the brilliant spear of light shooting into the sky. Fire and smoke belched out like a birthing volcano, the purple gas forming a cloud over it that rained red lightning into the blast zone.

“Where’s Sontag?” Marcy stared around, eyes wide. “Where’s Sontag?”

The other two Homeworlders stared at the explosion with stricken explosions. Rory’s heart sank. Sontag must have been the unknown guy.

And he hadn’t teleported with them.

“We need to move,” Arelland said. He stuck close to them, this time, apparently content to rely on Viv’s teleportation, now that he no longer needed to lead them anywhere. “Let’s go.”

“Not yet,” Marcy protested. “We’re not leaving Sontag behind.”

“His Mist Cloak,” Sylvia said. “It must have stopped whatever—”

Arelland cut Sylvia off. “There’s no time.”

Hakim’s expression was grim, but he nodded. “Let’s move.”

Behind them, the Corebeast grumbled as it prepared another blast. Neither Rory nor Viv could take their eyes off the body slung across Arelland’s back. Alex hadn’t moved, but now wasn’t the time for tearful family reunions. Rory’s heart ached to simply touch Alex’s back, but the apocalypse demanded his immediate attention. Their attention.

Once more, Viv used her lightning to shift them away. Just in time before the Corebeast destroyed the area they stood in.