It took less than a week for the summon to arrive. I received it from Reuben at the border of the Gamma, in an area far away from prying eyes. Not a word was exchanged, only a small piece of paper enclosed in a bronze tube.

I removed the upper metallic cap and unravelled the parchment. It was a simple map of the surrounding territories, with an arrow pointing at a location in the southwest, and the distance written in kilometres. I made some rapid computations in my head. The location was quite far away and even by marching at full speed it would take hours to reach it.

“So, what do you want to do?” Faye asked. She had accompanied me to meet Reuben and was currently inspecting the map while standing by my side.

She knew I had to attend the meeting between the archons, but this didn’t lessen her concern. She may have faith in me and my strength, but Tobias and the others were considered absolutes in this world. Danger may still befall me.

“I’ll go,” I confirmed my intentions to Faye.

Refusing the invitation wasn’t an option in the first place. If I didn’t heed the summon, they would simply come to me and if things took a turn for the worst the Gamma would be in harm’s way.

“Can’t I come with you?” she asked, worried about the situation.

I didn’t bother responding verbally and simply gave her a tiny smile. It was most likely Tobias’ courtesy if the location of the meeting was so far away from civilization and in particular from the Gamma.

“I promise I’ll return. So wait for me without worries in your heart,” I vowed Faye, setting off towards my destination.

I walked for a few minutes until I met someone along the way. He matched my pace and became my travel companion, walking beside me. The only reason I had been able to leave the Gamma without too many concerns was that I had seen him peeking out from behind the horizon before departing.

“Good morning John. You exceeded my expectations,” Tobias politely addressed me. He had never been rough in his way of speaking, but the way he spoke to me was qualitatively different. Now, he saw me as an equal, not as amusing entertainment.

“How long did you think it would take?” I asked, just to make conversation. Soon, we would start running and chatting would become impossible.

“Four decades. As in the old days,” he answered concisely, making a reference to the age of history that came before the current one.

His few words, combined with what I had learned from Jonah’s mother, contained an interesting piece of information, that is, the rate at which archs reached maturity nowadays was far slower than that of ancient times. Most likely another result of the meddling of the external force.

“Can you assure me my absence won’t put Faye in harm’s way?” I asked my most pressing question.

The response was quick to come.

“Yes. Everyone is in wait. Nobody stayed behind,” he assured me.

With these last words, I prepared to depart for real. I lowered my barycenter and prepared myself to kick the ground.

“You should have more faith in the defences of your domain,” he lastly added, seemingly amused by the state he had found the Gamma in. It was indeed a unique land, which would respond to Faye’s pleas in the time of need.

The next moment, we exploded our strength and set off for our destination. He matched my pace and we tread the wildlands side by side. He bore himself more elegantly than me. He kept his body upright and unlike me, he didn’t sink his feet in the ground to get traction, but lightly tapped them to maintain the speed. While I was running, he was skiing along the hills.

My attire fluttered in the raging winds but remained intact. After the experiences of the previous days Faye and her new genai assistant had prepared for me a set of clothes woven in fabric which was both highly resilient and resistant to high temperature. Although it had excellent mechanical properties, it couldn’t be compared with my skin and so it didn’t serve any protective function aside from guarding my dignity.

We ran like this for a little over an hour. A group of three people appeared on the horizon and we decelerated until we reached the subsonic regime, finally coming to a standstill in front of them.

The surrounding region was completely barren. Besides five of the six most powerful beings currently walking the surface of the planet, standing in a circle and looking at each other, there wasn’t anything in the area, not even a rock protruding from the ground.

Beside Tobias, there were two familiar faces: Mia Deleon, which I had encountered for the first time just a few days before, and Amina Sloan, covered in a thick suit of pelts. The former gave me a benign smile, while the latter gave me a scowl. Our first encounter hadn’t been positive and she made her hostility clear for the years to come.

Every single one of the three had a knife hanging from their side. The weapons were simple, without any signs of ornament and they appeared to have been carved from single blocks of ivory materials. They were a little less than half a metre long, with Sloan’s being the longest.

I turned my attention to the last attendant. He was different. Although he appeared to be older than the other three, he didn’t give off the same air of antiquity which accompanied the others.

He was heavily armed and armoured. His entire body was covered with a layer of innumerable obsidian-coloured scales, which adhered to his skin so tightly they could be considered a single fabric. The scales reached up to his neck, while the rest of his head was left to the protection of an integral helmet of the same material he was currently keeping in his hand.

From his left side hang a gladius and a sickle, while from his right hang a whip sword. A set of three different pole weapons, shorter than their original variant, peeped from behind his back: a spear, a halberd and a war hammer. All these weapons were made of the same material as the armour.

This person was covered head to toe in artefacts of the Legion of The Black. Such a suit of weaponry was most certainly unmatched in the entire world. It enabled its wearer, who I sensed to be the weakest of the bunch, to stand next to these powerhouses as an equal.

“At last we meet, usurper,” Alexander Sandoval, the infamous ruler of the Epsilon Perimeter, spewed poison at me.

“So it seems, mistake,” I held his gaze and matched his tone.

The moment I saw him, I became unable to reign in my hostility. His body reeked of that sickening energy used by the underlings he had sent to my door. I only felt revulsion towards him and didn’t wish for anything but to have him disappear from my sight.

“Calm down. This is to be a peaceful occasion,” Tobias intervened, taking control of the situation.

“Yeah, come on, let’s try to be civil,” Mia joined in, helping Tobias.

Sloan didn’t say a word and continued to look at me with a frown. After a few minutes of silence, the situation de-escalated and a temporary tranquillity was established. The enmity between me and Sandoval was still present, but fighting on such an occasion would have been inappropriate, so we both reigned ourselves in.

“Let’s start this extra ordinary session of the board meeting then! After all these decades, can you believe it? A young adult has finally matured! Now then, the question is: what do we do with this youngin present here today? Embrace, exile or execute?” Mia’s ringing voice sounded out.