“M—me?!” Audrey stuttered. I felt a wave of panic resonating from where the plant summon sat on my shoulder. Ironically, more than when she’d kamikaze charged the snake. She was strange that way. Rarely, in niche situations, I’d use my summons to speak for me. Either to communicate over long distances or speak to people in situations where discretion was required.

“Your… friend?” I said slowly.

Even as I said it, I finally placed the face with a name. Brett. I’d found him in the early days, held hostage by a den of monsters on one of the early floors of the Adaptive Dungeon. As a naturally suspicious person with the only key to the dungeon in my possession, I’d assumed he was a dungeon construct, same as the monsters, drummed up to create a sense of urgency. When that was proved wrong, it created something of a conundrum because I didn’t have the mask back then, and my side objective to not reveal myself to other Users was already in effect. Instead of playing along and being forced into a scenario where I either had to aid Brett directly or let him die, I’d gone an alternate route. Used Audrey to communicate and aided from the shadows while she appeared to save Brett single-handedly.

It was such a minor event amid so many cataclysms that I’d nearly forgotten it. Clearly, he hadn’t.

“She came to my aid while I was running for my life. Unexpected, but I’m not the type to turn down help in a crisis. I take it you know each other,” I said.

“Classic Audrey.” Brett grinned. “Back when everything kicked off, this petaled lady pulled my ass outta the fire. Even told me about the Adventurer’s guild. God knows where I’d have ended up without her help.” His smile faded. “Do you… not remember me?”

I shifted my shoulder slightly, jostling Audrey.

“WHAT DO I SAY?” Audrey’s voice echoed loudly in my mind.

“You remember him, right?” I asked.

“YES.”

“Then stop yelling and start there. Beyond that it’s up to you. He’s your friend.”

“I—uh. Yes. You… um… let me have all the meat. Very tasty once I learned to skin them and did not have to worry about the fur. Yum.” Audrey said.

I suppressed a groan as Brett rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

“There’s an image I was trying to get out of my head.” He shifted his head from side to side. “But who cares. And if you’re helping out this guy, I’m guessing you’re doing well mate. Good on ya.”

“Thanks?” Audrey said.

“Tell you what.” Brett walked along the perimeter, refreshing the fire mines, simultaneously talking over his shoulder, “Stick around after the battle. I’ve gone back and forth on ways to pay you back if I ever saw you again, and I think you’ll like what I came up with.” He grinned, then seemed to remember himself. “If you can spare her.”

I shrugged noncommittally, and Brett took that as a yes, giving an enthusiastic thumbs up before he waded back into the fray. My eyes narrowed at that. He was either beyond confident, or he knew something I didn’t.

Almost as soon as the thought crossed my mind, twin comets of plate armor landed with considerable impact, scattering the surrounding chimeras in a shockwave.

The first was Tyler, the massive leader of the Adventurer’s Guild. And the second was Nick. Tyler looked the same as he always had. A good-natured grin split his lips as he spotted me, intact and whole. “Sorry for the delay.”

“You good, Matt?” Nick called over.

With a single-handed sweep, his massive blade—really more great sword than long sword, but he insisted on wielding it with one hand—carved through three chimeras, bisecting them diagonally in a shower of gore. His golden aura burned most of it away before it hit the ground. Even under siege, surrounded by countless foes, he looked every bit the hero.

I nodded. “Caught the tail-end of an explosion but nothing permanent. Where’s—”

“Iris—Lipreader is at AG headquarters with Sae and your mom.”

“Safe?” Last I’d seen her, she’d been borderline catatonic.

“Shaken but yeah. And before you ask, Aaron’s over there.” Nick finished, pointing over his shoulder.

My jaw dropped before I could rip Nick a new one for abandoning him on the battlefield. An unarmed figure in five-hundred dollar shoes, slacks, and a button-up shirt was walking through the throng unimpeded, hands in his pocket. Other than the fact that he looked like he jumped straight off the cover of Forbes, there was little noteworthy from this distance. Until I noticed the barely transparent bubble, shielding him from harm.

“That’s new.” I said numbly. Up to this point, I’d believed Aaron was a civilian. That he held the helm of the Order through guile and planning alone. “Since when was he a User?”

“Not sure that he is.” Nick lowered his voice, leaning dangerously close to a row of mines. “Still reads as a civilian in the group screen. But if he was keeping his status on the down-low, I think it’s safe to say he’s not hiding anymore.”

We both knew a person’s status in a system screen was anything but iron-clad. Which meant Nick was basing that assumption off of something else, something he’d likely tell me later.

“No fuckery in the negotiations?” I asked.

“Smooth as silk.” Nick confirmed, bashing a bear-chimera in the head with his shield hard enough that its skull cracked and it fell to the ground. “Twenty-six!” He yelled at Tyler.

“Thirty!” Tyler yelled back, smiling wide. He heaved his massive-berserk style blade in a half-circle, obliterating a half-dozen chimeras. “Gonna need a bigger sword if you want to keep up, kid.”

“Size doesn’t matter you bastard!” Nick hollered back, redoubling his efforts.

It was insane how quickly they’d found rapport.

Tyler was a close ally, but he’d always regarded me with a certain degree of caution. Between his now mostly defunct truth-sight ability and uncanny judgment of character, there were likely more red flags in the mix than he was comfortable with. He saw my value, and appreciated what I’d done, but he’d always held me at arm’s length. I suppressed a flash of jealousy at the ease with which Nick had slid into the Guild Leader’s good graces and focused my irritation where it was actually due.

Aaron continued through the throng, approaching the center, maintaining the same casual gait. The force field that surrounded him was unlike any I’d ever seen. More offensive. Instead of simply passively repelling attacks, the chimeras that approached him were seized by invisible hands and uplifted, their limbs, necks, and even tails twisted mercilessly until the creature was broken and discarded, writhing on the asphalt.

Since the dome came down, I’d seen plenty of high-level magic. But nothing quite like that.

Aaron came to a stop at the center of the melee. When he locked eyes with me, it felt like staring a shark in the face. Slowly, he nodded in appreciation.

He knows.

It was jarring, and more than a little alarming. I was used to my machinations slipping by under the radar. Making plays that no one would notice, tweaking things in the background so they came to an ideal outcome while everyone else was none the wiser.

But Aaron saw the play. And I had a strong feeling he was about to make himself the star of the show.

When he spoke, his voice emanated from everywhere and nowhere, booming, unyielding.

“This region is now under the joint protection of the Adventurer’s Guild and the Order of Parcae. Hastur’s will be done. Begone.”

As his voice rumbled, the chimeras alone trembled, as if the earth beneath them was shuddering. And collapsed into piles of gore.