“Where are we going this time?” Viv asked as they reappeared next to a tall water tower.

Everything behind them was flames and ash and devastation. No longer were the Otherworlders trying to keep the Corebeast’s attention off them. No longer were they free to watch it get distracted while taking care of other business. There were being chased to their deaths.

No matter how far they moved, the Corebeast still followed. It had thumped through several areas of Hillhard, leaving nothing but rivers of chaos in its wake. Rory, Viv, Arelland, Alex, and the Homeworlders had been driven all the way to the edge of the town. In a sense, it was good that they were pulling the monster out of Hillhard. They didn’t need it to rampage around the whole town like that.

“Just a little farther,” Arelland said.

“To where?” Viv demanded.

“To whom, would be a better question.”

“The Invigilator? How are we supposed to find—”

“Not just the Invigilator. We need to find my comrades.”

Rory’s heartbeat spiked. The rest of the Otherworlders. Of course. If they were going to meet Arkone, he needed to be prepared with letters of recognition from both sides of the war.

“Otherworlders!” Marcy hissed. “A trap!”

“No traps,” Arelland said, firmly. “Just a meeting. No one here means any harm.”

Sylvia had her ethereal weapons out again, but thankfully, Hakim hadn’t acted yet.

“A meeting for what?” he asked.

“To help our mutual friend,” Arelland said.

Any further discussion on the matter was cut off when the Corebeast behind them let loose a tremendous roar. Three ear-rending roars, in fact. All three of its heads had opened their jaws wide, their breaths pooling around the long, sharp teeth. They all stumbled where they had paused, the buildings around them shaking fit to topple.

“Move!” Arelland shouted over the vicious noise.

“I’m running out of Mana.” Viv’s eyes were distressed. She looked around frantically, as though Mana would pop out from their surroundings.

Alex’s body, limp so far as they’d focused solely on travelling away from the sites of destruction, now struggled against the elf’s clutch on them. Rory’s heart stuttered in his chest. He wanted to pull his child off Arelland’s shoulder, the indignation of the pose making his face heat up. That was no way to treat an adult.

Not that the rational part of Rory really minded. Arelland was keeping everyone safe, including Alex. If that was how they needed to be held for the moment, then they would have to bear it.

“Use my Mana,” Arelland said. “I have some I can sp—”

If the elf was going to give Viv his Mana, there was no chance to do so. He twisted all of a sudden, staring at the monstrous attack headed in their direction. The Corebeast had thrown a combination of its devouring purple smoke and the incredibly hot flames, all held together by a mesh of red lightning.

“Let’s go,” Arelland shouted.

“No!” Rory didn’t move. He held his hand up high, the image of Weaving glowing on his hand as he activated it. “We’ll run out of Mana eventually, and then we’ll be screwed. Let me handle this. The rest of you need to find Mana.”

As the three-pronged attack reached them, Rory activated his Weaving and sent it outwards. It was easy to focus on the destruction headed in their direction. As he concentrated the white lines on the mixture of smoke, fire, and lightning, the rest of them immediately started gathering what little Mana they could scrounge up from their surroundings. It was good that the dome of protection provided by his Weaving was large enough.

Rory’s heart hammered in his chest, his fear and anxiety rising as the devastating attack got closer. But they were safe when it finally reached them. His Weaving worked. As soon as the Corebeast’s attack touched the bubbled of white lines around them, it disappeared.

Of course, the force behind the attack meant the roiling mix penetrated deep into Rory’s cloud of Weaving. He had made it large enough to protect them, though. The Corebeast’s attack was peeled away layer by layer as it plunged into the cloud of white lines. First went the smoke, then the fires, before the lightning flickered out, all dissolving into little sparks of energy that coalesced into Rory’s hand.

A Sigil was forming, but there was no time to check it. The system didn’t bother showing any descriptions of it too, apparently understanding that their danger wasn’t over just because the Corebeast had halted its attack.

It did give them a tiny break, though.

The stress made Rory stagger. He was breathing heavily, his body feeling like it wanted to drag him to the ground. Rory hadn’t expended much energy moving—it had all been Viv’s teleportation—so the toll had to be mental.

His back met something solid. Tearing his eyes from the enormous monster preparing another salvo aimed at them, he found himself looking up at Alex.

“Dad,” they said.

Rory swallowed. “Alex.”

They embraced. Rory sucked in a heavy breath, feeling his eyes sting with tears. Another set of arms joined them—Viv her sobs muffled, likely against Alex’s heavy jacket. They were back together.

A family again.

“What happened to you?” Rory asked, pulling himself off his child and staring at them.

Alex looked like they had just come out of a warzone. Their heavy brown jacket, one Rory had seen them wearing proudly for years now, was torn and smudged with blood and dirt. Their dark hair had grown long and unkempt, matted with more dirt. A ragged beard adorned the lower half of their face. Rory recalled how much they hated letting their facial hair grow out too much. The circumstances had to be dire indeed to let it grow to that unruly of state.

“What’s going on?” Viv’s grip on their child was a vice that promised she had no intention of ever letting go. “What were you doing with the rebels?”

There was a bite to her voice, a plea that she needed to understand what in the world Alex could be doing with Rory’s enemies. With beings who had promised to see his dreams destroyed.

With a group who Rory had all but sold off to the Invigilator.

But far from looking guilty or anything of the sort, Alex’s face had grown hard. “I—”

“Now isn’t the time for this,” Arelland said, stepping up to them. “The Corebeast is preparing to attack again.”

Rory whirled to see that he was right. This time, along with building up its attacks in its three jaws, the gigantic monster had raised one enormous paw as well. His eyes widened. Of course. It must have figured out that if its current attacks didn’t work, it could always crush them like gnats under its massive weight.

“What do we do, then?” he asked. “My Weaving can only work so far.”

“We’ve gathered some Mana,” Hakim said as he came over, Sylvia joining them from the other side with a handful of glowing blue crystals.

Arelland ignored them all. His eyes were focused only on their enormous adversary. “Any moment now.”

“We don’t have a single moment,” Viv said. “We’ll teleport, then decide what to do.”

“I can help.” Light flashed on the back of Alex’s hand. “I can—”

“The Invigilator,” Arelland said in a breathy whisper.

They all turned to see that the Corebeast had paused. Strange pulsing light worked across it like a strobe. It screamed out, its attacks dissolving in its mouth and its gigantic leg falling back to where it had been a few seconds ago. The impact made the entirety of Hillhard shake, but it was muted, the miniature earthquake dampened far too quickly.

Rory found the cause of it without trouble. The Invigilator had indeed arrived. Arkone was slowly floating towards them down the street.

He pulled his eyes away from the approaching Invigilator and watched the Corebeast. The creature had been completely nullified. There was no sign of effort from Arkone at all. If the Invigilator had actually acted directly against the monster, there was no indication that the effort had cost anything.

Any and all thoughts of opposing the Invigilator fled and died.

Beside Rory, Alex stiffened. Of course. This had been Arelland’s plan all along. He had intended to draw out the Invigilator because he had known Alex was part of the rebels. But it had also drawn the Corebeast after them, for it had used their essence to hunt Rory. They were in the middle of an insane confluence.

The Invigilator came to a stop before them. “Greetings again, Rory McIlroy. I find you in stranger circumstances than before.”

Rory swallowed. Alex hadn’t moved a muscle beside him. He wasn’t sure if they had even breathed. Around them, the Homeworlders had frozen too. Rory wondered how much they knew about Invigilator Arkone. He was going to have to handle this delicately.

“Good to see you again, Invigilator,” Rory said. Try as he might, he couldn’t muster a smile. His heart was pounding too hard against his chest. “What brings you here all of a sudden?”

The Invigilator’s wide alien head swung to Alex. “I am here to finish my business. How fortunate for me that I can end this all at once.”

Rory swallowed. He supposed Arkone intended to end both the rebels and him altogether.

“You’re not taking anything.” Viv stepped before both Rory and Alex, brandishing her sword of lightning. “This is my family. You and your system tore it apart once with your apocalypse. I am not allowing it to happen again.”

The Invigilator regarded her without reaction. Rory had no idea if Arkone showed emotion physically the way humans did, or even felt them the same way. But no, the Invigilator had professed something like regret to Rory during their last meeting. Even further back, wasn’t giving Rory a Sigil of Weaving a sign of emotion as well?

But the important thing was that Viv was no threat to the Invigilator. Not even close. Rory looked up at the Corebeast, which had grown deathly still. If the Invigilator could nullify a creature like that without even doing anything, Viv might as well try to make the planet rotate in the other direction.

“I will warn you this once,” Arkone said. “You may leave and warn the rest of your kind of the debacle you have sunk yourselves into. All I wish is for the end of your illegitimate Safe Zone and the capitulation of all these so-called rebels.” There was a minuscule note of derision in the Invigilator’s voice. It went away quickly, though. “What is your decision?”

Viv, of course, stood her ground. “I will not be abandoning my family.”

Alex raised their hand in protest. “Mom—”

“I will not be moving.”

Rory decided it was time for him to step forward. “Our Safe Zone isn’t illegal. I’m an official merchant now, so I’m allowed to live in a Safe Zone.”

The Invigilator’s regard landed on him fully, like a million bees buzzing silently up against him. “Are you truly?”

Rory’s eyes landed on Arelland. There was only one message he got from the elf’s implacable gaze—he needed some more time. Sighing, he turned back to the Invigilator and presented the little page he had received recently. “This is my letter of recognition from the Homeworlders. We have also pre-formed trade deals.”

The Invigilator didn’t proffer any limbs to receive the page, but at a slight tilt of Arkone’s head, Rory let the letter go in mid-air. Instead of dropping to the ground, it floated serenely up to the Invigilator. Before Arkone could question anything, he walked up to Arelland.

“And for the Otherworlders,” Rory said. “I have what I need to offer them.”

He could feel the Invigilator’s attention shifting from the page to his back. Rory simply met Arelland’s eyes. The elf sighed, then shook his head. He had no idea when the rest of the Otherworlders might get here.

Rory’s heart pounded as the silence stretched. He was starting to wonder if he could make the elf draft a rough letter of recognition as the Homeworlders had done when the ground began shaking. His eyes widened, the motion matched by Arelland. Hoping against hope, he looked up past the nearby heads and higher, past the rooftops around them.

A giant’s head was peeking over them, drawing closer all the while.

“They have arrived,” Arelland said.

The ground started shaking at regular intervals, though not to the extent that would have been caused by the Corebeast’s activity. Hakim and the other Homeworlders tensed as Delic rode in on the giant Urg’s shoulder. Thankfully, they didn’t attack. Rory’s heart was pounding fit to burst already.

“Greetings, Invigilator,” Delic said as he climbed down from the giant’s shoulder. “We’re just here to perform a small task with Rory over there, and then we will get out of your way.”

Urg rumbled deep in his throat. “Excuse us, Invigilator.”

Arkone gave no sign that the Otherworlders had caused any offence. Rory dared to hope for a second as the dwarf and the giant approached. The Sigils he had intended to give them were in his hands, held out for them to take it. Delic grabbed it, pocketed it without even looking, and offered a sealed envelope to Rory with a smile.

With slightly shaking hands, he took the letter and opened it. His whole body went still as he read it. Everyone else was silent as well.

“I’ve got it,” Rory said. “The trading deal and the recognition from the Otherworlders.”

His body hardly believed what was happening. In what felt like automatic, robotic motion, Rory turned and dropped the document near the Invigilator, where it once again floated up to Arkone’s head.

“That’s it, right?” Viv asked. “All that’s left is the enterprise thing from the system itself. We can figure out how to do that.”

The Invigilator let the papers float back towards Rory. “The enterprise is granted by me.”

Rory could hardly breathe at that. This was one complication he hadn’t foreseen. “Since I’ve fulfilled all other requirements, you can grant it to me then, right?”

Arkone said nothing. It almost looked like the Invigilator was keeping them in suspense on purpose, just to make it more excruciating. Rory was starting to think that, however aloof the Invigilator appeared, there was definitely a layer of near humanlike emotions working underneath the alien mask.

“Granted,” the Invigilator finally said. “You are now the official merchant of this locale.”

[Congratulations! You have now been approved as a System Merchant.]

New Achievement!

System Merchant! Now that you have integrated your growing business into the system itself, you are one step closer to achieving your dream—an immortal monopoly!

Rewards

First 10 exchanges in System Hub will receive a 50% bonus.

“Did it work?” Viv asked.

Rory stared at her with the biggest smile he’d had in ages. “It did. We’re official!”

Viv’s own smile grew just as wide as Rory’s. Relief flooded him, and he almost wanted to flop to the ground. He looked around to see the Otherworlders standing with satisfied smiles, though Alex and the Homeworlders looked a little confused and wary. He was going to have to take some time to explain it all to them.

“With that concluded, I will finish the rest of my business,” the Invigilator.

Before anyone could react, a bloom of strange colours washed out of the Invigilator and Alex disappeared.

Rory stared. The whiplash of emotions left him numb and unable to do anything at all. His child… Rory shook his head, having trouble believing what he was experiencing. His child had vanished. After only just meeting them again, after barely securing their safety from the Imps and the Corebeast, they had been taken.

Alex was gone.