Chloe and I step outside into the heat of the afternoon sun. Even though it’s half past six, there’s still another two full hours of daylight, and the sky has yet to start its shift from blue to violet to the black of night. And it’s hot outside. Oppressively so, and the humidity streaming up from the gulf is making the air heavy and hard to breathe in. Even as Chloe and I take off, soaring a few thousand feet into the air, the ugliness doesn’t abate in the slightest. That is, until I weave a trickle of my [Ether] into an inverted [Heat] glyph to cool the air surrounding us.

“Sorry that took so long,” I say once we’re away from the hustle and bustle of the city noise far beneath us. “I was expecting it to be an hour or two. I never would have imagined they’d keep me up there for a full six hours. I thought I was going to die.”

Chloe giggles. “You’re so melodramatic sometimes, Sera.” She sighs. “But I guess that’s another of the many, many things I love about you.”

“Chloe,” I say, gently squeezing her hand.

“It was a lot of fun for me too,” she says. “There was a lot I didn’t understand about all the details of glyphs and stuff. But seeing you up there, completely in your element, talking about something you were passionate about. You seemed so happy.”

“I was terrified, Chloe!”

“Maybe those two things are the same thing for you.”

“But–” Yeah, I guess she’s right. The two things I like to do more than anything are fight monsters and study glyphs and… Oh goddesses help me, I’m becoming a total adrenaline junkie now! How utterly and absolutely uncivilized of me.

It’s my turn to sigh. “Yeah, maybe you’re right.”

“Maybe?” Chloe gives me a wink and a coy smile.

“Yep. Chloe is right. As she usually is.”

Chloe’s sly smile turns to that grin I love so much. “So, what are you thinking for dinner?”

“Well, I fear we might be a bit underdressed for somewhere fancy, since apparently the armor of a dragon isn’t considered high class.”

“I know,” Chloe says. “They have terrible taste. But, to be fair, the bandana is kinda goofy looking.”

“I’m not taking it off!” I say.

Chloe’s giggles break out into boisterous laughter and she starts cackling hard enough that I worry she might lose control of her flight. “Maybe if you dyed your armor a different color. Like teal, to match those eyes of yours.”

“I should…” Wait, no, that’s actually a good idea. Some research on glyphs I can do from the relative comfort and safety of home. Well, however safe home is when there are literal dragons flying about.

Before I can give a proper response, Chloe’s phone buzzes, quietly enough that I don’t think we’d be able to hear it over the gusts if not for our enhanced senses. She answers it quickly, though I’m not able to catch more than errant syllables out of the phone.

“Yeah… Okay… Like right now? Can it wait until tomorrow morning? Okay, I’ll let her know. See you then, bye.”

Chloe gives me a downtrodden look. “That was Nicholas. He says he wants to have a talk with you as soon as possible.”

I’m sure, from the way Chloe says it, that it’s nothing good. “Chloe, I know I’m again asking too much of you, but do you mind if we just get this over and done with as soon as possible? I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight with this hanging over my head.”

“I was actually about to recommend the same thing.”

And with that agreement, the two of us shift course, breaking from south to west as we make our way to the fortress-like compound on the edge of the city. In addition to the giant physical monument to our new reality glowing brightly in the light of the slowly fading sky, I see more soldiers patrolling along the outskirts. They appear to be smaller teams of four or five, fairly interspersed throughout the city perimeter, none more than a mile or two away from city limits. Unlike our patrol back then, which was designed to survey the wilds and get a better sense of the outside world, these are probably almost exclusively defensive in nature. And the soldiers probably go either home or back to base each evening.

As we get closer, my eyes are drawn to a strange parabolic array in the center of the compound. It looks a bit like a satellite receiver antenna, only much, much larger. And in the center of that array is… Something that looks like a giant muzzle. Did Nicholas commission the creation of some sort of Ether Cannon while I was away? Damn him!

We approach more slowly, taking care not to fly directly over the perimeter and instead touching down a short distance away from the entrance checkpoint. Should this be an unpleasant conversation that turns to blows, it seems best to not have that weapon firing down on us all the while. Playing along with the idea of a civilized discussion will buy at least a little time for me to think about how to deal with… whatever the hell that really is.

We make our way toward the checkpoint, and as we do, I tap Chloe on the shoulder and infuse my [Angel’s Grace] into her.

She gives me an odd look. “What was that for?”

“In case things get ugly in there.”

She takes a deep breath before turning to me with a resolute stare. She taps my shoulder with her own [Angelic Blessing]… which has now upgraded to [Saintess’s Blessing]. And then she follows up, protecting us both within her [Saintess’s Cloister] as well.

“Let’s try not to start a fight.”

“I rarely do. Just finish them.”

Chloe doesn’t get a chance to give me a retort before we make our way into the small entryway. Just a pair of uniformed soldiers and a pair of metal detectors… As though metal detectors serve any purpose beyond base security theater. I’m expecting an entire rigmarole of being scanned and patted down in humiliating fashion, but instead, we’re let through solely on our recognizance.

“Miss Mortensen, Miss Jacobs, it’s good to see both of you again,” a familiar voice says.

Who is… No, I do recognize her, although her hair is a little lighter than I remember. “Private Tracey? Is that you?”

“It’s Private First Class Tracey now!” She stands before us, beaming at me in particular.

“It’s good to see you again,” Chloe says. “I’m glad that you’re well.”

“Ah,” Private First Class Tracey looks down. “I’d love to stay and catch up, but I’ve heard the Major is already expecting you.”

With that, we take our leave and make our way to the command building in the center of the compound. We’re not stopped a second time. Guards quickly move out of the way, with the exception of a pair of sentries who escort us directly into the back room. Scarcely a minute later, we’re allowed into the back office, where we’re again greeted with the face of a former comrade— and, hopefully, not a future enemy.

“Good afternoon, Sera, Chloe,” Major Nicholas Richardson says in an authoritative tone. “If you would like a seat, please take one.” He gestures toward the pair of empty chairs on the near side of his rather expansive desk of mahogany. The one new feature I notice in the room is the pair of flags flanking him, one bearing the United States flag, and the other which I believe is related to the regiment he serves as vice-commandant.

Chloe sits down. I hover just off the ground, this being a bit more comfortable than trying to jostle my wings around the back of a chair. Plus, if the situation turns ugly, I’d rather not be sitting down. I hold [Repulsion] at the forefront of my mind, not fully Manifesting its effect into reality just yet, but ready to do so in an instant.

“Might we know the reason you’ve summoned us here?” I ask.

“Your interview earlier this afternoon was… quite something.”

Sort of figured that was the case. I’m sure the entire city— probably anyone who cares to search the internet— has heard of the crazy yet confident teenage girl promising a grand future for Ethertech while publicly announcing her intentions to conquer the local Tower Gauntlet. I’m just not sure if Nicholas is happy or displeased by my announcement. And his facial expressions are controlled enough that I glean no hint from looking at him.

“I meant every word I said,” I say. “I hope that you didn’t call us here to try to stop us.”

Nicholas furrows his brows. “I know you well enough to know that the only way I’d be able to stop you is to attempt to physically restrain you. And while I do think you are being foolhardy and risking your life based on mere speculation, the only way I’d stop you is to order Alexey to beat you to within an inch of your life and then tie up your semiconscious body for the rest of time.”

A gruesome picture and disgusting thought, but I suppose his point is made.

“You say you don’t intend to stop us, and at the same time, I doubt you’re prepared to throw away government resources after what you see as a wild goose chase. I think we’ve done enough for you already to warrant a straight answer as to the reason behind our summons.”

“Very well, then I will be frank with you. While I don’t agree with your decision as a matter of risk-reward tradeoff, you of all people, Miss Mortensen, may stand a sliver of a chance at conquering the Tower Gauntlet. Given that, I want to provide what resources I can reasonably spare in order to improve your chances of success.”

“What’s in it for you?” I ask. “You’ve never seemed the type to hand over resources without getting something in return.”

“Information and security. Although we’ve yet to see the tower take any hostile actions, we cannot discount the threat that the tower represents. Not just the military threat of what might lurk inside, should those creatures choose to attack. But also the threat to the peace of mind of the nearly one million people who live in the greater metro area.”

“I see,” I say with a chuckle. “And what kind of resources are you preparing to offer?”

Nicholas reaches into one of his desk’s many drawers and pulls out a pair of small books, setting them on the desk near Chloe.

“I believe you know what these are,” he says.

“Skill Books,” I respond.

It’s not the first time I’ve seen one of these. They are strange artifacts of the System which implant knowledge of new Skills or abilities directly into the reader’s mind. However, it’s virtually impossible to figure out what they do before reading them. The only hint I’m aware of is that the covers depict what types of classes can use this; if I try to read a book containing a Skill I can’t use, I’ll only get a headache for my trouble.

“And you’re just going to give them to us for nothing?” The offer seems a bit too good.

“None of my special forces can make use of either of these two, and I would rather not hand them over to subordinates who lack your drive for growth and self-improvement. I suspect you two have classes that can make use of them, and if not, I believe you, Seraphina, are in the best position to try to decrypt some information from them.”

“I understand,” I say, slipping the books into my knapsack. “But my accepting these isn’t an indication that I owe you any favors.”

“Very well,” Nicholas says, unfazed by my remark. “Will you be staying on base tonight, or will you be departing?”

I’d like to stay, just so I can try to figure out what that Ethertech weapon is and how it works. But it’s late, I don’t want to drag Chloe into even more work, and I’m getting really, really hungry.

“I think we’re going to head home,” I say.

Chloe gives me a nod of approval and a sly smile; I get the suspicion she wants to repeat the events from two nights ago, though I might not be able to last as long this time around.

“Very well. Thank you for your time, and I will keep you no longer.”