“Think it through, Eric. You want to win this game, not scatter the pieces and lose by default. We still have plenty of moves left to win this round.”

Caliban’s words. Calm. Measured. In control. The counsel of a lawyer who knew exactly how to navigate the landmine his high-strung client now found himself in. As comforting as a winged leather chair, fresh clothes, and a snifter of brandy after days of fighting for one’s life in a holding cell. A voice that was, in its own way, just as soothing, just as reassuring, as his mother’s own.

A winter storm of desperate alarm momentarily froze him where he stood. “CONTROL, ERIC SILVER! Don’t play the fool now. Not when we are so close to claiming the board! Think of your sister, if no one else. Think of Elonia!”

Yet it was his mother’s hiss, far less controlling, but desperate, that slivered icy claws into white hot rage, sufficient that Eric’ fingers eased off the trigger.

His deadly stare promising not mercy... but rather a temporary stay of execution.

Even for the administrators glaring with such bitter hate, thinking he wouldn’t hear their mutual assurances between themselves to bring him down at all costs, for daring to threaten personages as glorious as they.

“Death for that monstrosity! He dares to bring an outlawed weapon to this conference? To brandish it before the ruling body of this continent? Death is too good for that criminal!” Snarled Administrator Vidrig as a half dozen administrators began immediately hollering for Eric’s head.

Until Eric’s hot gaze froze the words on their lips. Or perhaps it was Greed, his smirking countenance cracking to reveal the terror underneath. As if his frantic heart-rate hadn’t already given it away.

“Be at ease, my dear friends, associates, and… competitors. Be at ease. Ha ha! The boy here merely shows what he offers to trade in return for the criminals I have lawfully purchased, paying the bounty for their retrieval out of my own pocket, merely seeking just recompense down the line, ha ha!”

“What crimes!?” Rica shrieked, her voice cracking. “My friends and I did nothing! My daughter did nothing! She can’t even talk! And you’ve allowed her to starve. You’ve allowed us all to starve! We were kidnapped right out of Blue Quarter, before we were ever declared wanted criminals and trespassers! We did nothing wrong!”

“Silence, slaves!” Roared one of the ogres, slamming the cage with his fist, massive stony face widening in a grin when Rica’s words cut off with a cry.

Eric caught the smirking Ogre’s gaze. He dropped Greed and made his weapon vanish in the blink of an eye. “You and me. Arena. Let’s go.”

Eric cracked his knuckles and flashed a fierce smile, ignoring the words of his mother and counselor both.

Finally someone to face him in the ring. Finally someone to unleash his HATE upon!

And how surprised and frustrated he was, when the ogre, ten foot tall if he was an inch, actually blanched and stepped back, shaking his head. “The hell I will, freak!”

Even when it earned wide-eyed stares from the administrators. Even when the orcs and gnolls present snarled and glared. Before cringing at the sight of the giant pounding his own chest, glaring down the betas at the table. “We don’t have time for bullshit, losers! We have a deal to strike. Those fucking revenants will go wild and kill half the council if I snap his neck now, fools.”

Greed gave a sympathetic nod. “Stoney’s right. We’re also under oath. All of us here. No bloodshed till the moot is finished.” He flashed Eric a dark smile. “You’re lucky I choose not to take insult at your rough appraisal of my fine wares, so much better than your clan’s pathetic excuse for battle-mail.” He then grinned brightly. “But at least we know you do in fact have access to some rather specialized equipment! Equipment normally only found in the hands of elite scouts and others with a license to serve as custodians of such prizes.”

Eric chuckled mirthlessly. “You mean your goblin hit squads used to eliminate all the hard targets who won’t sign their souls away to your usurious contracts? Yeah… I’m afraid that branch of your operation has been closed.” His grin widened at the hot glimmer of fury he saw in Greed’s eyes.

“Permanently. Especially the ones at Greystone and Queensland.” Eric winked. “On the plus side, they now know firsthand just how effective their own weapons are.” He rubbed his chin in thought. “Or is that… knew?”

Greed’s features mottled with fury. “Do you have any idea of the cost involved in smuggling in those assets? For that offense alone, the cost of your whore and her friends has just doubled!”

Eric gazed at the goblin for long cold moments. “You do know that if they aren’t all free of this cage before this meeting is adjourned, this will be the last meeting any of you shit-sucking assholes will ever attend. Right?”

Words that made the entire assembly roar and holler with outraged fury.

Yet whenever he turned his hot-eyed glare to face a particularly vehement protester, they uniformly blanched and looked away.

Even the ogres.

Every single one.

Eric pounded his fists together, glancing down at the arena sands. “Arena’s waiting for anyone who has a problem with anything I’ve said or done.” He flashed a mirthless smile. “Somehow, I doubt the nonaggression accords hold to duels agreed to by both parties.”

“As a matter of fact… you are free to duel whoever you like, without penalty,” Caliban assured with a cold smile of his own. “Indeed, I find it interesting that even the basalt tribe refuses your challenge.”

“That’s because this is neither the time nor the place!” the ogre known as Stoney roared, now glaring at Eric and Caliban both. “First, we take care of business, secure our prizes, and make sure those abominations below won’t tear apart Freetown if we snap that fey elf-boy’s neck! Then we’ll happily put that wayward pup in his place. Assuming Greed hasn’t already punched his number. Ha!”

“If you want your bitch alive and in one piece, you’ll hand over each and every arcane blaster rifle you’ve stolen from my people, and you will do it now!” Greed snarled, mask of bonhomie geniality now completely torn away.

Eric glared at the goblin for long hard moments before summoning forth one of his prizes.

And blasting the pen the goblin was still holding right out of his hand, delighting in the screams and shouts this earned, ignoring even Caliban’s hiss, and his mother’s mental roar.

“And give up this sweet, sweet killing tool so cheaply? Think again, asshole.”

Greed’s eyes bulged with fury. He clenched his crystal controller in trembling hands that had Erica, Ria, and Nelly all screaming in fear. All of them knowing what was coming.

Which meant that this abomination had taken sweet delight in making his woman scream. Her child scream.

Crimes Eric could never forgive.

“If you don’t surrender that weapon right now, I’ll send so much current through their collars that the baby will be a vegetable and your girl will be begging to suck me off just to get it to stop!”

Eric gazed at the creature for long moments, before flashing a madcap grin. “I think you know what happens then, Greed. And I’ll tell you this much for free.”

Quickness check made!

The goblin blanched when he saw the blaster in his open mouth before he could even blink, squealing just once and dropping the joystick controlling the pain collars… which Eric claimed in the blink of an eye.

Before whispering into a panicked Greeds flapping ear. “I. Won’t. Stop. Not till every goblin on Earth is dead. Not till every last seed you ever spawned, every woman you ever loved, is screaming for you to burn in hell before I cut their throats, claim their souls, and RAISE THEM FROM THE FUCKING DEAD! No matter how many worlds I have to jump to. No matter how many of your kind I have to put down, I WON’T STOP KILLING! Not until every last trace of your family tree, every descendant, every ancestor, is serving in my army of the dead FOR ALL TIME!”

Greed stumbled to the ground with a cry. His heart was hammering at a frantic pace, eyes wild with something beyond terror. Eric leaned over him, madcap smile firmly in place as he poked the goblin’s nose with the barrel of his gun. And not a single armored guard, guards who Eric now knew were children, over half already having joined his sister’s faction, even dared to approach.

“So. Here’s the deal we’re going to make. You free everyone in that cage. You swear an oath that they will forever be off you or your associate’s radars, and you swear an oath of nonaggression between your clan and the Sylvan Faction… and your oath that a binding oath will be made by anyone who would claim, use, or shoot under any pretext these weapons, that their targets shall never be elves or half-elves… and I’ll SELL you these Elite Arcane Anti Material rifles for a mere… 2,500 elves a piece.”

In the blink of an eye, Greed’s expression transmogrified from mortal terror to gleaming avarice. “Outrageous! I couldn’t possibly surrender more than 500 elves into your mother’s care for rifles as battered and abused as those are!”

Eric smirked. “Rifles with which I could take out every goblin in Freetown from two miles, easy, and we both know it.”

The goblin glared at Eric for long moments. “1000 per.”

“2000 per.”

“1,500. Same as the cannons!”

“Done.”

“And that includes any and every blaster rifle you have, sniper or bullpup variant, you bloodthirsty killer!”

Eric smirked. “You gonna throw in 1,500 for the semi-auto sniper rifle I got from the gunner I took out?”

“Can you hit a moving target at 200 yards with it?”

“Only one way to find out. You volunteering?”

“Consider it bought, you little shit!”

Eric smirked, pulled out no less than six arcane blaster rifles and one modern looking anti-material rifle altered by a gunner’s not-to-be-underestimated perks.

“Well that’s about 10,500 elves worth of hardware right there.” Eric turned to a grimly smiling Caliban. “If you’d be so kind as to contractualize that for us?”

Greed scowled. “An addendum!” He said, raising one finger. “The Sylvan faction must agree to a peace treaty with the goblinoid factions!” He flashed his most winning smile. “Should we be willing to make these concessions, your 19,000 elves would have become nearly 30,000! A significant, yes, a very significant force.” Even hearing those numbers caused most of the humanoids and corrupt administrators present to glare and snarl their displeasure.

Greed chuckled. “And such a force will need supplies, entertainment, and access to all the economic resources of this world… and eventually, this galaxy! So I propose a treaty! Under no circumstances will the Sylvan faction attempt to overthrow goblin-held territories… and in no cases will Bloodtear Syndicate or any other Goblin Faction attempt to directly or indirectly take over Sylvan territories or accept contracts against the Sylvan faction here on Terra, or otherwise seek to assault, capture, or kill members of the Sylvan faction. In return, you will agree to us being trade partners!”

Aurelia glared at the goblin for long minutes.

Eric’s eyes widened in disbelief when she actually gave the tiniest of nods.

“Direct trade between our factions will be permissible. So long as it is understood that no third party mercenaries or factions may be hired, supplied, or encouraged to strike at us by any Goblin faction. Further, no loans, credit purchases, or gambling with any elf is to be permitted. Purchases will be ‘in the black,’ on a cash bases alone.” Her gaze turned flinty. “No interest, debt, or collar will be in any elves’ future. They will be bargained with in good faith, goods and services for coin or credits only.”

Eric’s thoughts where whirling when Greed slowly dipped his head. “Done!”

A small, furtive looking goblin Eric was alarmed to realize he hadn’t even seen, who had somehow been hiding in Greed’s shadow the entire time, hissed and glared.

Eric’s Interface immediately pinged the harmless looking creature he didn’t even know why he was staring at, such a worthless worm of a being… as an Elite Infiltrator Assassin.

“But master, usury and eventual enslavement is over 67% of our profits!”

“It doesn’t matter,” Greed hissed in a sub-vocal voice, glaring at what looked to anyone else like his hip. “Honest profit is still profit, and Aurelia will be up tens of thousands of elves! Instead of getting shot by them, I’d rather make money off them!”

The tiny… Eric frowned. Or not so tiny? Merely hunched over goblin hissed and nodded. “Of course, master.” The pathetic creature then glared Eric’s way. “And the bastard prince can hear every word we’re saying.”

Greed glared at Eric, then flashed his brightest smile. “Of course he can! So he knows that we are negotiating in good faith! It is to everyone’s benefit that the Snicklit and Sylvan factions profit off one another! Far better than us wiping each other off the map, and allowing other, less worthy foes, to take our places!”

Greed then turned to Caliban as if he was overjoyed to see the man now gazing so coldly back at him.

“If you would be so kind as to draw that addendum up for us, dear Caliban?” Greed said, as if he hadn’t been involved in setting the elf up to rot in an imperial holding cell for years, free only because Aurelia had clearly called in a favor, after Eric had effectively signed off on a half trillion credits he wondered if he’d ever see again. Or perhaps that had been the cost for Eric not being culled as the unorthodox wildcard now throwing so many elite clans’ plans into disarray that he so clearly was. The strikingly beautiful woman who Eric halfway thought might be just a half-step away from Gold had clearly pulled a string or two… a consolation prize Eric would gladly take, happy to see his friend relatively hale and whole once more.

If only the same could be said for the people he cherished who had been so sorely abused by his enemies.

Caliban dipped his head. “Of course,” he said, as casually as if he didn’t radiate the aura of a Bronze Tier Classer who had finally found the one responsible for setting him up.

Because business was business, and Blue Corp was nothing if not professional.

One of the orcs glared at Greed with bulging eyes. “You were supposed to get his rifles for free! Not pay another 10,500 elves for it!”

“Shut up, fool! It’s a pittance!” another one of the ogre Contenders snarled, glaring at Eric once more. “Do you want those guns in that freak’s hands? You saw how fast he moved! And you know exactly how he got those guns!”

The orc snarled. “My brother tribesmen the Blackfangs came so close to getting rid of these fey bastards entirely. Greed’s assassins had his bitch of a sister pinned!”

“Exactly my point, idiot. This wildcard’s a threat that needs to be defanged.” The ogre glared intently at Eric. “And watch your words. That freak might be listening in.”

“How fucking high can his stats be? He’s only level… What? I’m a Faction Contender. How the hell can his stats and level be hidden from me?”

“He cleared an orange tier territory solo. And the Ice Queen’s his mother. That’s all you need to know to get that he’s trouble. Trouble we need cleared from the board.”

The orc glared at a seemingly oblivious Eric in outraged disbelief. “I know he’s a thorn in our side, but how the hell did he clear an entire orange territory? I won’t touch the ones near our base. It would wipe out at least half our men just to beat those abominations back two miles for a little extra land to call our own. And it still isn’t ours until we clear out four hundred fucking square miles of predators triple the level of my Berserkers! Then we’d have to somehow goad high level adventuring fools to actually take on and clear out the dungeon bosses at least once! And why the hell bother posting any requests on the adventuring boards? Everyone here is far too weak! This continent has no green or yellow tiers to build up our men, or our recruits! We can’t even hire any delving rubes fit for task!”

The ogre champion snorted. “You have to ask? Look at his toys below. Fucking abominations. There’s a reason why necromancers are outlawed everywhere, save on their native worlds. They’re an infestation that must be purged!”

The orc shook his head in dismay. “Why the hell didn’t anyone tell us Earth was riddled with necromancers before the invasion? Those foul creatures killed thousands of my brethren!”

“Exactly.”

Eric carefully said nothing as the humanoids cursed his very existence. Now that he had regained his cool, now that Erica was just seconds from being freed, her desperate, hopeful gaze locking with his own… he didn’t dare risk losing his cool again.

His madness might have worked once, might be played off as off-the-cuff negotiation… but anything but cool, precise actions from this point forward could imperil the very lives he had been so desperate to save.

Eric dared not let himself gaze at Rica too longingly, dare not let his ache to comfort her show. No matter how she crumpled in the cage, lost between desperate hope and dread, tears streaming down her cheeks as she held her whimpering daughter close.

Eric kept his ice-cold gaze on Greed, who even as he was glaring down at the contract Morlekai had prepared with surprising speed, still had a cocky twist to his sharp-toothed grin that filled Eric’s gut with dread.

Yet the creature, with a final snort, eventually signed with a huff, before flashing both Eric and his mother a too-wide smile.

“There we are, Winter Queen, Bastard Prince! Consent for 10,500 more elves to pass through, with our former strictures in place… now inclusive of our own treaty, Aurelia, and of course, the surrender of your son’s pleasure toys!” He said with a showman’s wave at the cage, at which point it popped open and Rica was racing into Eric’s arms, so disconsolate she couldn’t even speak, just holding her little girl between them, sobbing her heart out on his shoulder for endless minutes even as Eric’s chest swelled with a killing fury for the simpering goblin that he kept under ice-cold control.

“Remove the collars,” he said. Guttural and raw.

“But of course!” Greed positively gushed, pressing the lowest button on the crystal device he held, all the slave collars of everyone in the cage instantly clattering to the ground.

As did those of the handful of half naked girls serving the snorting, cackling, pawing half-human beasts at their oversized stone table.

Half the girls froze and trembled, the rest dashed to Aurelia’s side, falling to their knees before Eric’s mother, sobbing for mercy. Sanctuary. Two, with fire in their eyes, whispered fiercely that they wanted to be paladins as well.

“What? You let the wrong slaves free, you idiot!” Snarled Silvis, as a handful of hard-eyed guards approached.

“Dear Greed, who is far less of an idiot than you, Silvis, did no such thing. It was a gesture of kindness. Of munificence. Added toys for my court, to celebrate improved relations and what just might be a very profitable trade arrangement. Is that not so, dear Greed?” Aurelia said with a too wide smile showing all her teeth.

So very many razor sharp teeth.

Greed swallowed, forcing his lips in a too wide smile, as if to match her own. “Of course! Of course… to trade relations!” He said, hurriedly raising a cup, and slinging it back.

Before turning to glare at a gnoll who had audibly yelped before the Winter Queen’s wolf-like grin.

“And don’t you dare call me an idiot, Silvis! You’re the fool who lost six of his Custos to just one of the boy’s revenants!” he hissed. Before glaring at the frozen girls just trembling at the table. “Well, what are you girls waiting for? You’re free! You’re all free, thanks to the munificence of the Snicklit tribe, the best, most farest traders in the galaxy, and let no one tell you differently!”

He glared at the remaining handful of girls and boys still wearing collars. Then glanced back at a coolly smiling Aurelia, who gave the tiniest of nods. “Well? Quit trembling. Get over here. There. You’re collars are off. Now go please your new mistress. You are free!”

Greed cleared his throat. “Now, if you would be so good as to hand over the contract to our dear friend Caliban? Wonderful!”

And Aurelia did just that, but not till after her glacial gaze had gone over the contract one final time, with a single stroke of her crimson pen as her eyes softened to an approving twinkle. “Well written, darling.”

Caliban nodded. “As is my job.”

Eric allowed the byplay to wash over him as Rica’s sobs eventually eased, and she speared his heart with her brilliant smile. “Thank you, Eric. Never in my wildest dreams had I thought, after all this time, that you would actually...” She swallowed and squeezed back fresh tears.

“Come for you?” he whispered, heart pounding when she trembled and nodded.

He chuckled softly, kissing her forehead. “Silly girl. Of course I came! Who else is going to help me train up my Javelin throwing to Elite status?” He winked at her mock outrage. “With you on my side, those 27 stat points are as good as mine already.”

She snorted, choking back laughter through her tears. “Thank you, Eric,” she said, trembling in his arms, too exhausted to trade quips, or laughter, her gaze haunted by horrors Eric could scarce imagine, both of their eyes turning with concern when Ria let out a pitiable cry.

Her features tightened with a mother’s worry. “Eric, my daughter… I… they hardly fed me anything. I don’t have any more milk to give her, and she’s getting so weak!”

“You’ve been through a terrible ordeal, child,” said a voice that made Rica flinch. “And for all my negotiations… your captors refused to clarify your state of health, or if they were feeding you or your child at all. So I’ve taken precautions.”

Aurelia’s unexpected words caused Rica’s eyes to widen in sudden alarm, before her look became one of sheerest gratitude as a young female elf in Sylvan uniform who appeared out of nowhere quickly brought Rica a milk bottle, of all things. And how her teary eyes lit up with joy and wonder when her daughter immediately took to the bottle, cute little button brown eyes widening with happiness as she began to feed, all her focus now on the bottle and the life-giving milk it contained.

Eric exchanged a look with his mom. “Dairyland.”

Aurelia nodded, before gazing down at an awed Rica. “Our territories now include a miraculous healing center with spiritual ties to hundreds of fairy nurses who, besides being excellent dairy maidens and confectioners, also have remarkable healing gifts. Gifts which I am almost certain incorporate magics and sustenance most suited to children in dire straights… such as your own.”

Rica just gazed at the bottle in wonder, lips curling into a smile that absolutely touched Eric’s heart, before a look of dawning comprehension overcame her features. She turned to Eric.

“You didn’t.”

Eric felt his cheeks blaze. He wisely said nothing.

“I mean, when I found out about what really happened in Newark, the sci-fi fantasy city it had become with like a million hydroponic farms, I knew that was you.” She bit her lip. “Me and Nelly might be able to reforge our bodies every time we level up. But you? It’s like you can reshape the world itself!”

She shook her head, both glaring and smiling at the milk bottle. “A healing hospital filled with… what… milk maids?” She snorted. “I’ll bet they’ve got jugs the size of… And I know just where you got that idea from! We were watching that anime in our suite, together, when you got so, well...” She blushed and smirked. “You’re such an otaku.”

“Maybe I am, at that,” he said with a chuckle, kissing her brow and holding her close.

Rica’s laughter turned to tears. “And now my daughter’s only alive because my boyfriend dreamed up a hundred milk maids! So what can I say? Thank god for healing faeries, I guess?”

Eric swallowed, blinking away the heat in his eyes, just holding Rica as she gazed down at her happily cooing daughter with a mother’s love.

“And I don’t even care if you...”

“I didn’t.” Eric flushed. “I mean I… but no. I created them. It would be wrong if I...”

Rica nodded. “A father’s instincts. Good. Then I won’t feel jealous while those big-boobed bimbos are playing nursemaid to my daughter.” She chuckled ruefully. “I’ll just be painfully grateful to them for the rest of my life.”

Aurelia gently stroked a trembling Rica’s cheek, Eric only realizing at that moment that his mother had, thankfully, put a sound shield around them. “I… apologize for the bad first impression I may have given you.”

Rica swallowed and nodded. “Well, it seems like you and Eric made up, and you two both...” She choked back a sob, shaking her head. “Me and my friends, we owe you everything!” Then she blinked. “Wait, where are Nelly and the others?”

“They’re in the car, darling. We’ll be taking them, and you your baby Ria, of course, to Dairyland. For even if our beloved nurses are indeed the product of my son’s fevered imagination, those faeries are now very real, very lively, and in all likelihood the strongest healers on Earth right now. At least in this part of the continent.”

Rica gazed at a smiling Aurelia for long moments. “Every boy in the territory is going to want to get himself a milkmade.”

Aurelia winked. “Only our strongest and most stalwart warriors… and allies… who dare the deepest dungeon depths and ascend to Bronze will be allowed to court the hands of our darling girls. All 375 of whom are most definitely looking for husbands. Fortunately, their own queen has agreed. She is eager for a Bronze tier husband for herself, and will accept nothing less for all the faeries under her care.”

Rica blinked in disbelief. “But… how? With portal monsters never ascending past level 20, with all the wildlands surrounding all the territories in contest so monstrously powerful that to step foot inside them sends my hunter instincts screaming that I’m suddenly on the wrong side of the predator/prey relationship, and I just want to flee for my life because I know I won’t make it five minutes in zones where the air tastes of sharp cinnamon and spices that shiver through my soul… in a world with beginning zones and end-game hardcore PvP zones, and nothing in between… how would anyone ever have a hope of even leveling up past 30?”

Eric coughed awkwardly. “I sort of made a dozen endless delves that spiral upwards forever. There’s no real limit as to how far you can actually ascend, because they’re sort of a multidimensional bridge between worlds.”

Rica gazed at Eric for long moments. “Of course you did.”

Eric smirked. “But I’m not allowed to enter them myself, since I’m sort of the fulcrum for their existence. Even if they will last long after I pass on… for as long as our worlds spins around the sun.”

“Please don’t,” she said with a shudder. “Please don’t die on me, Eric. Not after you saved me and Ria. Not when I’ve only just now found you again.”

Eric winked. “I wasn’t planning on it.”

“Good,” she said, squeezing his hand. Her dusky cheeks blushed. She lowered her gaze. “It’s been four months. Even though we only had four glorious nights… I never stopped thinking about you.”

Eric swallowed. “Same.”

She bit her lip. “Eric? There’s something you should...”

Aurelia cleared her throat.

Rica’s eyes widened, catching the intensity of Aurelia’s still gentle smile, quickly taking in her environment. Her very hostile environment.

“All the enemies of man. They’re right here!”

Eric grinned. “Yeah, me and mother dearest are hustling these fuckers for all they’re worth.”

Rica blinked, shaking her head. “Of course you are.”

“And you need to be someplace safe,” Aurelia soothed. “Though you may be an adventurer, and congratulations on your Advanced Class, darling, your daughter and most of your friends are most definitely not.”

She gestured at the pair of elven soldiers standing at attention in military uniforms with sabers at their hips and fine mesh mail shirts underneath their formal attire. “I would like for you to accompany your friends, to reassure them of our good intentions as we bring you all to our private hospital.” Aurelia gazed down fondly at a still ravenously feeding Ria. “Fortunately, the milk’s very nature will prevent gas and bloat, and I do believe your little one will soon be feeling much better.” Her gaze grew pained. “But she behaves more like an infant than a child who is nearly two years old. Clearly, she suffered an extremely traumatic ordeal.”

“Yes she did,” Rica conceded, worry plain in her voice.

“And you’re no doubt aware of the adverse affects that prolonged malnourishment may have on a child’s long-term development.”

Rica swallowed, blinking back tears. “I know.”

Aurelia smiled reassuringly. “It is my hope that if the healers see her in time...”

Rica’s eyes lit up with fierce hope. “They might be able to repair any neurological damage Ria might have suffered?”

Aurelia smiled. “It is my hope. Fortunately, we now live in a world of magic and wonder.”

“Shaped by your son,” Rica whispered, giving Eric a fierce hug, and a kiss, gazing at him with intense dark eyes. “I don’t care where you’ve been, Eric Silver. All I want to know is... do you still have feelings for me?”

Eric swallowed, squeezing her with such exquisite care. “You know I do.”

“Good.” She girded herself, gazing up at Aurelia, an inch taller than her son. “I would be grateful for any aid your healing maids can give my daughter.”

Aurelia regally dipped her head before gesturing to the pair of saluting soldiers. “Then by all means, join your friends. And don’t worry. The company of troops who will be keeping pace are there for your safety, though you will primarily going through my… I mean, my daughter’s territory.”

Rica nodded, gazing off past the utterly still revenants, looking at the handful of velimobiles parked in the fields beside the massive arena.

“I guess this is goodbye, again?” She said with an anxious smile. Her soft brown eyes gazing so intently into Eric’s own.

He felt his cheeks flush once more, an ache in his chest rekindled. “I’m sorry.”

She shook her head. “Don’t be.”

Before frowning down at the assembled revenants. “Those aren’t living things, are they?” Her eyes widened. “Those are orcs. Undead orcs! Just how fucked up are these monsters you’re negotiating with?”

Eric awkwardly cleared his throat. “They’re sort of um… mine?”

She blinked, gazing at him in slack-jawed disbelief. “How?”

Eric winked. “Master Necromancer class.” He sighed. “And if that changes things...”

She gave him a tight squeeze. “It changes nothing! And fuck if you’re not stronger than me now. What’s your strength, Eric Silver?”

Eric felt his cheeks flush. He quietly whispered a number that earned a disbelieving blink.

Rica stared at him for long moments. “Are you fucking serious?”

Eric nodded solemnly. “Yup.”

“I was stronger than you, the first time we made love.”

Eric’s eyes twinkled. “I know.”

“Eric.” The girl in his arms swallowed, cheeks flushing so prettily, before lowering her head, gently stroking her daughter’s happily slurping cheek. “There’s something we need to talk about, you and I.”

She then winced at the sound of Aurelia clearing her throat.

Eric caught sight of the increasingly impatient humanoid abominations and administrators. As far as Eric was concerned, there was little difference between the two groups, but it was foolish to make them wait… or allow them to get an all too close view of Eric’s clear vulnerability.

“Rica, I...”

She bit her lip and nodded. “I know. You have to negotiate with monsters and skin walkers. And I need to see to my daughter.”

Eric blinked. “Skin walkers?”

She glared at the administrators. “Monsters in human form who sold out our entire race for rank and power. The things I’ve seen some of them do to the girls...” She snarled and spat, not hiding the hatred she held for the cold-eyed men and women sitting so comfortably beside humanity’s enemies.

Eric nodded. “I get it.”

She sighed. “And I’m sure you’re in the middle of some world-altering negotiations so this grateful girl you gave up a half dozen very sweet looking rifles for is going to go before she causes you any more trouble.”

Eric grinned at her teasing smile. “No trouble at all.”

A trembling Rica squeezing him tight a final time. “Thank you for my life. My friend’s lives… and most especially, for my daughter’s life. I love you, Eric Silver.”

Eric opened his mouth, stunned, but with a final feather-soft kiss she fled his gentle grip and quickly made her way to her friends in the Velimobile waiting for them, waving back at Eric with a smile.

Eric smirked, and gave his assembled troops a command, all thousand revenants abruptly slamming fists to chest and crashing to one knee, bowing their heads before the startled elven convoy and a furiously blushing Erica.

“That’s a fucking absurd class, Eric Silver!”

“You know you love it, Rica Lightfoot!” Eric shouted right back.

Then his girlfriend and the entire elven convoy was off, Eric feeling a tiny piece of his heart leave with them.

Aurelia sighed, gazing at Eric for intent, awkward moments. “Now I understand.”

Eric flushed. “Understand what?”

His mother shook her head. “Clearly we’ll need to have a talk with your three future wives. I think… yes… we can make this work. I’m sure of it.”

Eric blinked at that. “Mother...”

She held up her hand. “We’re back in play now, my son.”

She flashed a fierce hard smile when Greed’s simpering grin turned malevolent once more. “I do believe our dear little goblin thinks he can still claim this round.”

He turned to glare at the goblin’s too wide grimace, seeing the dangerous glint in the four foot tall creature’s eyes, Eric’s guts twisting painfully with sudden apprehension. It was all he could do to fight the urge to smash in the goblin’s teeth before Greed could choke out a single slithering word that would change Eric’s soon to be triumph to bitter ashes once more.

Yet the cool look Caliban gave him, not to mention the unbreakable grip of a Silver tier queen gently resting her hand on her son’s shoulder… froze him where he stood.

“What interesting developments and twist we’ve enjoyed this day, ha ha!” Said the smarmy goblin, bowing once toward the assembled administrators and humanoid Contenders. “And how wonderful it is that we’ve successfully secured so many unexpectedly powerful pieces, working together to facilitate so many mutually beneficial trades. Including a wonderful trade accord with our dear friends, the Sylvan Alliance! Now, isn’t it wonderful to think that this might signify the beginnings of hatchets and hammers being buried between so many competing races? Why not a free and open world where the lightest of administrative touches allows for us all to profit beyond our wildest dreams? And few could handle that role as delicately, gracefully, and profitably as my own humble kind, ha ha, but such is a conversation for another time!”

He clapped his hands, flashing his widest smile yet. “Soon, we shall complete our glorious trade for cannons and revenants which have no place on this field, in return for administerially-sanctioned permissions for thousands of fresh, still wet-behind-the-ears, troops to bolster dear Aurelia’s faction, so her daughter’s devastated forces might survive the challenges to come. But one must ask, in the spirit of giving, in the spirit of compassion… are taking on those nearly thirty thousand soldiers you might soon be bringing on board wise? Prudent? With winter just a few short months away?”

The goblin’s eyes positively twinkled with dark glee. “Why burden yourself with thirty thousand hungry mouths who have no idea of what hardships to expect, what it means to campaign with hardly any food for months on end, when you could just as easily secure yourself over twice that many slaves!”

Eric froze, his heart hammering with a mixture of dread and fury when he met the goblin’s beady little eyes.

Greed lit up another giant stogie, smiling with just a bit too much smug satisfaction for Eric not to suspect that a trap was about to be sprung.

“Make your offer, Greed, but don’t waste my time with trivialities or prevarications,” Aurelia snapped, in full Winter Queen mode once more.

“Of course, my dear Aurelia. Allow me to present to you the bargain of the century!”

Greed’s cruel chuckle washed over them all as he nodded to a pair of shamans who had appeared seemingly from nowhere, just two of a full score now positioning themselves on the arena sands. All of them were chanting words that scent fresh knots twisting in Eric’s guts. Nonetheless, he strained to hear, to understand, Unified Perception now making out countless streams of unspeakably powerful cosmic energies being expertly knotted up into multiple shimmering disks of pristine darkness broken up by flashes of obsidian flame… before revealing a scene right out of the darkest of faerie tales.

The portals were connected to massive cages of black iron linked and interconnected and stretching several football fields wide. From what Eric could tell through the portals, each and every massive, interconnected cage was hovering over what looked like a cauldron as massive as any volcano crater, all of it filled with liquid metal that writhed and bubbled below.

And the contents of those cages?

Children. One and all.

Children gazing up at the portals suddenly forming with wide, terrified eyes. Children possessing the upswept ears and silver gold hair so common among the Sylvan population… and countless thousands of human children as well.

And all of those caged children were about to be dumped into an enormous vat of liquid iron.