There wasn’t any time to process what was happening.

Jonathan stalked forward, no room in his enraged mind for words. Even without his weapons, the way his muscles continued to grow and bulge, his physical height gaining several inches as he covered the few yards, Alex knew the man was deadly.

“Mark, you’re up,” Alex called. “Sam.”

“Got it,” they said in unison. Mark had already removed his shield and was positioning himself between their new opponent.

Alex wove a spell circle over his hand and changed his mind even as it formed. Glancing again past Jonathan, he saw the sect member wriggling free of her bonds. Thinking she was in the clear, she had no chance at all to dodge his spell. Even if she had been aware, he wasn’t sure she could have dodged, as he used the new targeted spell circle base that he’d developed. The spark rune from within the circle caused her to crumple back to the floor after the shocking effect had finished. He noticed with a grim sort of satisfaction how her clothes smoldered.

Olivia entered back into the cavern and took in the chaos. Simultaneously, Jonathan met Mark’s shield and his overwhelming force and Strength sent their tank sliding across the ground. Despite the power behind the blow, Mark remained on his feet and held his shield in position the entire time, prepared to adjust as needed.

“Dang, dude. He’s not holding back,” Mark said.

“Olivia,” Alex called. “[Shadow Step] and get her out of here and bound. Now.”

She cast him a single glance before doing exactly that. The result was a confused Jonathan, spinning in circles and calling out in anger.

“Mark, take another one of those.”

A grunt was his only response, but he resumed his defensive stance. Alex saw vines of thorns wrap around their tank.

“Sam, can you use [Purifying Bloom]?”

“I can try, it’s a slow cast. It’ll be hard if he’s moving too much.”

“All right, I’ll see what I can do.”

Jonathan was charging toward Mark again, his shoulder leading the charge again. Just as he’d done before, the bulky man collided with the metal surface of the shield and lifted with his shoulder, intending to shove Mark back with force.

The difference this time around was Alex’s anchor spell. He used the targeted spell on Mark, causing Jonathan to collide with what felt like a brick wall. Mark still grunted from the force, but held his ground. Thorns dug into Jonathan’s skin and drew blood, but as his momentum began to rebound from the shield, Alex cast his barrier spell behind the man.

He pinballed back and forth twice, giving Alex enough time to cast the anchor spell once more, this time on the barehanded warrior.

Sam responded with perfect timing, and through his mana sight, he could see the bulb of green mana bloom into existence over Jonathan’s head. His anchor spell ran out just as the purifying skill ended, and Alex breathed a sigh of relief.

That was, until Jonathan let loose with another savage yell and gripped the edge of Mark’s shield. He yanked it forward and launched his forehead at Mark. The crack of bone to bone was audible and seemed to echo in the cavern.

Mark stumbled, and his back leg seemed to lose all sense of strength. At the same time, Jonathan ripped the shield from his arm and tossed it aside.

“Fuck,” Alex had really wanted to avoid hurting the man, as there was truly no bad blood there. But if he did something to hurt Mark, there wouldn’t be any coming back from that. Just as the spark spell was coming together, a scream from the entrance to the cavern caused them to pause.

“Jon?” Sarah’s voice was heard clearly over the grunts and shuffles of the frantic melee. “What in the world is going on here?”

“Sarah, stay back!” Sam called, frustration clear in his voice.

Her head scanned the area, attempting to decipher what could have caused the current situation. When her eyes landed back on Jonathan and his clearly enraged state, she reached out a hand toward him. She didn’t say anything this time, just held her hand out while walking forward and removing her flute from her pouch.

The berserker stalked toward Mark, shoulders rolling with each step, only to stop dead in his tracks. He stood there for several long heartbeats, unmoving and looking down at Mark.

Visibly, his shoulders sagged, and his muscles began to shrink. Alex watched, astonished, as the transformation began to reverse itself, and it wasn’t until he heard several long notes from a flute that he realized what was happening.

Mark scrambled clear, even though the danger waned with each second that passed, it was clear to them all that Sarah’s music was having an effect on the rage that Jonathan was in. It felt like making any noise, interrupting the performance, might ruin everything.

When Jonathan sagged to the ground, he seemed drained, but not so much so that he passed out again. Instead, he looked around in confusion and shook his head. Even as he did so, he winced and touched some of the cuts on his arms that had healed partway.

“What—what’s going on?”

“Jon,” Sarah said, pulling her flute from her lips. “Are you okay?”

“You stopped me? How?”

“I… I just used my trait and a skill. I didn’t know it would work,” she said, stopping a pace or two away from him. “Are you okay now?”

“I think so?” He grabbed his head. “I’m so confused. I was over there, and when I woke up, I was with that tied-up girl. She said we were prisoners, and all of you were wearing dark robes and carrying weapons.”

Understanding dawned on Alex. “Illusions.” When the group looked at him, he explained further. “The Shadow Sect is great with illusions. Not all of them, but some of them are. I got my [Mirage] skill from them after all. When that woman came into the clearing earlier, when we were checking on you, she looked like Olivia…” he trailed off as he played the scene back. “Now that I think about it, she looked like Olivia, but her illusion wasn’t showing any mana. Not like my Mirage does. She still looked like a totally normal person. I bet she did some sort of illusion technique to make you think we were dressed differently or the situation appeared different from what it was.”

“That makes sense. But still… how did you stop me?”

“I used the [Aura Adjustment] skill that I’ve used with you in sessions before. But I’ve gotten another skill since we’ve been here training, [Soothing Pulse]. It seemed to have a really strong effect on you in that state.”

“Wait, so you can just pull me from {Rage} whenever you can use the skill?” His eyes grew wide, and the need in his eyes was startling to Alex.

“I guess so? It would probably take a few tests to see if it works like that.” She smiled at Jon then, and some amount of understanding passed between them, as she knew what he was thinking.

Just then, Olivia came back into the cavern while pulling along the bound and gagged woman. She was struggling to stay on her feet as she was roughly repositioned. “Well, that was a shit show,” Olivia said.

Sam checked on Mark and healed his broken nose, both standing and joining the group when the bleeding had stopped.

“Sorry about that,” Jon apologized. “Really, I thought I was fighting for my life there.”

“So-kay. Don worry abou it.” Mark’s voice was nasally, and he smiled at the way it sounded.

Alex looked at the woman thoughtfully. He saw the calculating look in her eyes and realized when she made her next decision. Her facial features changed, not through magic or techniques used, just through acting.

Her features softened, with both eyes widening slightly. She ducked her head slightly, causing several strands of her black hair to fall over her tan skin.

They made eye contact then, and she realized that he’d been watching her. She had the good sense to look somewhat embarrassed, but stuck with her look of meek and nonthreatening. “Liv, will you take her over there again and watch her for a few minutes? If she starts using any magic on you, feel free to let Nox siphon some mana from her. He doesn’t have to be gentle.”

Olivia smiled, and Nox growled from her shadow, causing the woman’s eyes to grow wider as she was pulled away.

“What are you up to?” Mark asked. “I know that look.”

“I need to charge the amulet up and ask Maelis some questions. I think I have an idea of how we can get her cooperation without needing to go so far. This might let us be confident in what she’s telling us, too. I just need a bit of time. You guys stay away from them. Check on Jonathan and Sarah feel out his mood. I know he is high up in the HA. I don’t want him to report us to his superiors for going after one of the aspects. If it seems like he’s going to be a stickler, we’ll need to figure out how to handle things. Please don’t give him more information than he needs.”

She looked conflicted, but nodded anyway.

Alex grabbed her arm. “I mean it. Please, Sarah. You know that Nox and Olivia need this. There are plenty of other Aspects. Letting Nox consume this one won’t close the Rift.”

Nodding again, she, Mark, and Sam joined Jonathan, who sat on the ground still recovering.

With that, Alex moved to his spot and began channeling mana into the Runic Apprentice. He closed his eyes and reached out to Valtherion for some help. His bond had taken to spending time in the hatchery in the lower caverns, near the spinner queen.

It had seemed childish at first, a form of protest over the last couple of days since he was now too large to reasonably hide during scouting missions. However, it had become apparent to them all that Val found the interactions with the smaller spiders entertaining and cared for them greatly.

Val, can you come up here? I could use some help waking up Maelis.

“Will you give me some mana?”

“Of course. And actually, I have something else I’ve been meaning to give you. It’s a gift from Edwin.”

He felt the sense of curiosity come through their bond, and with the ability to generally sense his companion’s location, he could tell that Val was already moving.

Smiling, he continued to dump his mana points into the amulet while removing the [Taste Refinement] skill book from his bracer.

He spent more than two hours alternating back and forth with Valtherion to charge the Runic Apprentice amulet. Once Maelis was awake, Alex had pressed him for more information and learned a great deal. With his plan set, he asked Sarah to lead Jonathan out of the main cavern for some privacy.

“I really don’t think he’s going to like that,” Mark commented as Sarah walked out with the Crimson Warrior.

“I know, but I can really only deal with one problem at a time. He doesn’t need to know everything I’m doing in here. For now, I need to handle…” He paused and scanned their captive again, having forgotten her name.

He sighed, seeing that the system still considered her hostile, further proving that her submissiveness was an act.

“…Lin. I need to handle the Lin situation.” The mention of her name caused her to look up, and he saw a tinge of genuine fear in her eyes. “Look, I’m not going to hurt you. At least not while you’re tied up. I have a proposition for you. Okay?”

She didn’t respond.

“The way I see it, there are three ways that I’m willing to go through this situation.”

When she looked at him this time, part of her facade fell away, intrigued by the opportunity.

“The first is that if you’re absolutely unwilling to cooperate, I’ll let you go. But I won’t let you out of this cavern. We can fight here, and while you have a chance to defend yourself, I won’t feel guilty for fighting or killing someone from the Shadow Sect. The second option, if you’re unwilling to cooperate or to fight, I’ll hand you over to the mana spinners. If I remember correctly, they seemed to think of me as some sort of pet or livestock when we first met. If I tell them that you are one of the people who worship the same creatures that have been terrorizing their home for the last few years, I imagine that they wouldn’t treat you too well. I might normally feel bad about that, but with these other options, you’d be making that choice all on your own.”

His eyes flicked back and forth across her face, trying to pick up any small movements or changes in appearance. “The last option is that you can help my friends and me. You tell us what we need to know about the aspects and the sect.”

“I’ll do it,” she said a bit too quickly. “Senior, I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

“Wait, you can’t expect her to really tell the truth, can you?” Mark said in surprise.

Alex held up his hand while keeping his eyes on her. “I didn’t finish. You’ll need to swear an oath to tell the truth and not to betray me or my friends. With that oath… I don’t think you’ll be going back to your people for a long time, if ever.”

Again, with no hesitation, she agreed to tell them what they needed to know.

He sighed, frustrated that it seemed she was just agreeing with him and telling him what he wanted to hear. Mark, on the other hand, picked up on the implications of his using the term ‘oath.’

“Wait, you mean that oath?” When Alex nodded, he shook his head. “Dude, I wanna do that! I thought it was supposed to be a big deal, and Maelis said not to do it. But you’re going to use it on her?”

“He still doesn’t really want me to do it. But this is the best solution I can think of. Lin, you need to understand this oath is binding. It’s enforced magically by the System. I mean… by the Dao? Through qi?” He did his best to remember the terms that Eura had taught them were used by the people of this world. “It’s… It’s more than just words. You get that? There is Qi in this, where the words you say will matter.”

Lin seemed to think about it and nodded. “This one understands.” She lowered her head and bowed at the waist. “I am familiar with bonds and oaths. I would never break such a vow, if it saves my life, I’m willing to cooperate.” She said it so sincerely, Alex almost believed her.

Almost.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“I’m only going to warn you one more time,” he said. “This is stronger than you think. What you say will matter, and I’ll be choosing what needs to be said. You’re okay with that.”

She lowered her stance further. “Of course, Senior.”

He sighed. “Okay, fine.” He activated the bound item to remove the Planetary Title card from his chest. He channeled mana into it and held it in front of his chest, like Maelis had told him.

Even after they’d had the conversation on how to administer an oath, Alex had spent some extra time carefully thinking through the verbiage and running it by the spirit. Maelis poked several holes in the initial version, telling him ways that either party could take advantage of the words in a way that reminded Alex of a lawyer.

“We need to exchange something. An offering to the other. Lin, I offer you your life, since it is currently in my hands.”

The blunt statement made her shift her weight, and she looked unsure of how to proceed. “I uh, I don’t understand. Don’t I just have to say some words and then our qi touches on the others’ dantian?”

He shook his head. “You have to offer me something before the oath. Normally, it should be of equal value, but I don’t mind. Just grab a rock or something.”

He held out his hand as she grabbed a pebble and put it in his palm. She wore a small smile as she did so, and part of him wanted to warn her again that this wasn’t a joke. But there wasn’t much else to be done. She would believe what she would, and all he could do was adjust the terms in a way that he didn’t feel like he was taking a slave in the process.

“I, Alex Moore, holder of the Magician’s Title, swear to treat you with the rights afforded to any who swear their allegiance to me.

“I will not harm you unless you break this oath or attempt to circumvent it or its intent.

“I will not abandon you if you are honest in your duty.

“And I will protect you from those who would punish you for swearing this oath.” He finished the last line as Maelis had instructed. Some of the terminology used seemed overly stiff to Alex, and truly felt like he was swearing a knight into his service, as Mark had joked.

With his half of the bond finished, he instructed Lin on what to say. She repeated the words back to him without hesitation.

“I swear to speak the truth when asked by Alex Moore.

“I swear not to bring harm, sabotage, or betray him or those under his protection.

“I will not act against his goals while in his service.

“I will not disobey a direct order that weighs the balance of a life.

“And I will give no aid or information to his enemies, nor call for rescue or vengeance on my behalf.”

Alex felt something slide into place, and there was a feeling that could only be described as a sound. It was almost like two pieces of metal fitting together perfectly, a satisfying clink as they were married together.

A System window appeared in his vision.

He mentally selected no, and the next window appeared. However, before he could read it, he heard Lin yelp in surprise. Dismissing the window, he looked at her.

She yelped again and waved her hand in front of her face as if she were swatting at a bug. She swung her arm again, but this time tripped over her foot and fell backward.

“What is it?” Her voice grew frantic.

“Huh. She got a System window?” Sam asked. “I thought Rift dwellers didn’t have access to the System.”

“The oath gives her access while she’s a vassal,” Alex said seriously. He thought back through the conversation that he’d had with Maelis, and the question that Mark asked, followed the exact same line of thinking that he had.

“But what about when she’s not a vassal? Wait, what about when we leave? We’re only here for a few more months. Did you just waste a title slot on her?”

“I asked Maelis these same questions. No, I didn’t waste a title slot. I can have as many vassals as I want, apparently. It’s different than the Court, which is the people who hold actual positions and titles. The Inner Court is the people with the face card titles.

“But the uh… the other thing he told me was a bit of a shock.” He hesitated, but knew that he needed to get it over with and tell them. “When it’s time to leave the Rift, she can come with us.”

The group went quiet, the only sound was of Lin’s minor panic as she moved on the ground and attempted to get the magical window in her vision to disappear.

“She can what?!” Mark nearly shouted.

“Wait, for real?” Sam asked.

“No wait,” Olivia whispered. “How is that even possible?”

“The same way you could bind Nox and bring him out with you. She’s bound to me through the System, but the relationship’s a bit different.”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,” Mark said, his words tumbling over one another. “What the hell’s stopping you from swearing an entire army of these thugs to your name and walking out of the Rift with an army?”

Alex felt a weight on his shoulders and a pit in his stomach. “Nothing.”

Silence fell over them again.

“You’re serious?” Olivia asked.

He nodded. “Maelis explained it as the System doesn’t care. That’s what the titles are there for, and why there are intelligent species in higher rarity Rifts. If you’re skilled enough to enter, negotiate treaties, or positions of power, then they are a resource that can be used. He stressed that the titles are meant to create powerhouses for the world, and armies are often how that’s done.”

Sound about right?

“Yes, that’s right,” Maelis answered. His own tone was somber, and Alex could tell that he wasn’t pleased with what he’d just done.

“Dude…” Mark looked at their small circle. “That’s… insane. Are you going to have an army? How are you going to manage an army? Shoot, sorry— that sounded bad. But you know what I mean.”

“No,” Alex said.

“Yes,” Maelis said at the same time.

“Ugh, no. I don’t want an army or anything like that. Anyway, now’s not the time to worry about that. We need to figure out the plan, get Nox healed, then worry about you guys getting titles, then we can figure out the rest.”

“Okay, stop.” Olivia’s voice was firm and clear. “What the hell is going on. What was all of that and what do you mean she can come out of the Rift? Who can do this? What army?”

“I’m with you,” Sam said. “What was all of that?”

Alex sighed and remembered that he had only shared Maelis’s recent explanation with Mark. He activated a mirage and pushed his consciousness into it. The mirage of his form walked with them a short distance away and began to explain what had happened and what he knew about the Planetary Titles.

Lin stared wide-eyed after his mirage, and looked between the two identical Alexes. “How do you know Mirage Double? That is a secret technique, only meant for the Elders of the sect.”

He knelt down in front of her and rested his forearms on his knees. “Look, that’s a story I don’t think you’ll really want to hear. I need you to start telling me some information about the sect and the aspects.”

“No. What is this? What did you do to me? My qi-shell should have blocked any oath bindings. What is happening?”

Alex noted how the honorific had fallen from her statements and how her eyes kept flicking to the System window floating in her vision. “What does it say? I’m assuming you can read it?”

“It says, ‘Lin Mei, the first of her name. Sworn vassal of The Magician.’” She swatted at the air again, fear growing into frustration.

“Pretend that the window is a person. Tell it to go away, or dismiss it.”

“Go away,” she said, relief following.

“Good. Now, you can do that with your thoughts. You don’t have to actually say it. Try to think about the window again. Think about being a sworn vassal.”

Her eyes grew wide as the System responded to her thoughts.

“All right. I’m guessing that it’s working fine now. I warned you that this oath was real and would be enforced.”

“Release me.” Her tone was demanding, with a hint of panic. “Please, I’ll do whatever you want. Just release me.”

He shook his head and felt the pit in his stomach increase. “No, not yet. The bond can be released, but it has to be mutual between parties, just like how the actual swearing had to be mutual. I warned you more than once that this was real, and you thought you had some way to get around it. You’ll give me the information I need, and after the mission is complete, we can talk about releasing you from the oath.”

She began to shake, and he couldn’t quite tell if it was from anger or fear.

Sighing again, Alex shifted his legs to sit on the ground next to her.

It is safe, isn’t it?

“Of course. That’s why I told you to word the oath that way. She can’t hurt or hinder you now, even if she wants to.”

“Look, let’s start with something easy. Will you tell me why you were disguised as Olivia? Were you trying to find our camp?” She hesitated and chewed on her thoughts, so he gave her a simple and honest compliment. “Your illusion was very good. I didn’t even know that you could prevent it from leaking mana.” He gestured toward his mirage for emphasis.

“I— it’s something that I learned to do because it is my specialty. I was just curi— huu. I just wanted to see what yu— huu.” Lin’s face scrunched in frustration. “I was told to infiltrate the group. I thought I could get you moving away from the area before she returned.”

Damn, she literally just can’t lie, can she?

“That’s what you made her swear, kid. Did you think this was as much of a joke as she did?”

Of course not. It’s just hard to believe.

“Who ordered you to infiltrate my group?”

“Sect Elder Wong.” Her answer came immediately, and she winced as she said it.

“This is a Shadow Sect Elder?”

“Yes.” Another wince.

“From what I heard, the sect has stayed splintered. Does your group follow one of the aspects?”

“Yes.”

“Which one?”

“The Shroud, the Aspect of Concealment.” Her eyes went wide.

He ignored her continued frustration and panic and felt his shoulders droop. He knew it would have been far too convenient if she had followed Unity. “Wait, why were you in that area, then? Isn’t that Unity’s area?”

She groaned and attempted to clamp her mouth shut, though the word “yes” slipped through her gritted teeth. She exploded with a sound of frustration. “How do you know that?”

“If you follow the Shroud, why were you in the Core’s area?”

There was a large physical effort on Lin’s part to keep her mouth closed. Alex watched patiently, only reaching forward with concern when he saw her draw a dagger from nowhere and attempt to plunge it toward her own chest. The blade stopped short, as she could not follow through with the attempt.

“Jesus Christ!” he exclaimed. He leaned forward and took the knife from her hand and checked her person again, finding no concealed weapons or jewelry. “Do you have a spatial item on you?”

“Yes, on the outside of my undershirt, stitched just below the armpit. Damnit!” She screamed the last word in frustration and drew the attention of the others.

Alex waved them off and tore the small flat pouch from where it was concealed. “Why would you even try to do that? Is giving the information to me that bad? You guys live in the woods and serve shadow creatures that want to consume your world. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I don’t care about telling you. It’s that I can’t not tell you. Gah!” She groaned again. “The path to power is littered with blood and sacrifices. I will climb to the peak and surpass my brothers and sisters. When I gain the power I desire, I’ll return to the lower branches of the sect and scour the worthless, grubby Elder brothers of the outer sect from existence.”

There was true hate in her eyes, and despite her dirty appearance, Alex didn’t doubt the blood lust in her expression for a moment.

“Fair enough. I won’t stop you if that’s your goal. But we’re on a time crunch, and learning what you know about Unity is crucial. Will you stop trying to be so resistant?”

“No, I will keep testing ways to circumvent the oath… Thunder strike me like a dog!” The last line came out like a curse of frustration, and she threw her hands in the air before grabbing her hair.

They continued back and forth like this for some time. Alex teased out small bits of information while his first vassal tried different ways of dodging the question or withholding a response. Each time, she was compelled to answer with the truth and not hinder Alex in his goal of preparing a plan for the attack on the Core.

By the time he was finished, Lin had generally accepted the fact that she would need to answer what he asked. Even when she attempted to stop talking altogether, the System considered it a direct hindrance to his goals.

Unable to stop his magical curiosity, he asked her one more question before they were finished. “I want to go back to something I mentioned earlier. How did you make it so that your illusion didn’t show any mana?”

She looked at him suspiciously.

He jerked his head toward the mirage. “You already know I can make the mirage. So just give me a hint. You can’t be doing it with a skill, which means it’s possible to learn.”

“Possible, but someone like you couldn’t possibly learn it.” She sniffed loudly.

“I’m pretty sure I can. Why would you say that? Other than just being spiteful. You saw what I did with the oath, and you even mentioned that the mirage is an advanced technique. Just walk me through the general principle.”

She struggled for the first time in several questions, attempting to hold in the answer. “You must disperse your qi.” Lin deflated.

“Hmm. I can pull my mana in.” He did so to demonstrate. “Like that? I’ve tried it with the clone, it doesn’t work.”

The look on Lin’s face said more than any insult. “Of course not. All you’re doing there is hiding your qi within your soul. It’s challenging for most, but any respectable Shrui could do that before their second testing.”

Alex held up his hand and sat in silence. He reached within himself and sensed the mana within his core. It generally filled the confines of his body like a shell. There wasn’t enough volume to have an effect, but it was a side effect of him pulling his leaking mana within his body.

Disperse it?

Curious, Alex pushed on his mana. Rather than pulling it in, he pushed it outward. It flooded out from him in no particular order, filling his mana sight.

Lin’s eyes grew wider.

“Ha! Did I do it?”

She shook her head. “No, but that it a lot of qi. What grade is your core?”

“Huh?”

Maybe this is something that they don’t understand about stats.

“So this isn’t it?” he asked.

“What? No. Of course not.”

Alex frowned and hunched his back forward. There wasn’t time to waste on learning a skill like this, but he felt that if he made her explain more, he should be able to learn something, manipulating his mana faster than most.

“Show me,” he said. “Let me see you do it.”

She glanced at his eye, but eventually gave in and performed the technique.

To his Heavenly Eye, he watched her mana change before his eyes. It did spread to a small area around her, and then… it thinned?

At the same time, he manipulated his mana to mimic hers.

No, that’s not right. It’s not getting thinner…

He changed his mental image of the mana around his body. Instead of trying to water it down or spread it out, he thought of smearing it. Almost like two colors of paint against a canvas. He wanted the color of his mana to mix and combine enough with the surrounding mana that—

“Ah!” Lin’s startled yell was enough to pull Alex from his thoughts and interrupt the process.

He smiled at her and didn’t need to ask if he’d done it correctly. Instead, he looked down at the mana around his body. It was faded and slowly coming back into view, but there wasn’t a doubt in his mind now that he could replicate the technique with some more practice.

Better yet, since he could do it with his natural control and didn’t need a skill, it meant that his mirages could eventually use it.

“Thank you,” he said sincerely before standing and leaving Lin stunned where she sat. He took some time alone to think hard about the results of the oath and its implications.

I really need to be careful with this. I intentionally didn’t want to make her oath anything over the top, but there’s a lot of freewill lost even by what I did use. I wouldn’t want to do this with an actual friend.

Maelis, I’m worried about what this sort of thing will mean for my world. I can see so many ways that something like this can be misused. Even with the oath needing to be mutual. What if someone is captured and tortured, or starved? After some time, wouldn’t swearing an oath seem like a mercy? What if it’s mutual, then? I’d assume that it works just the same as here. Lin agreed to swear the oath, but didn’t really believe that it would work, or that she had a way around it. How can that be any different?

“It’s not kid. The unfortunate answer is the same as it was before. The System doesn’t care if people are good or bad. The goal is always about growth. Suppose someone performs morally corrupt acts, but is personally growing strong, or growing his vassals stronger in a way that could help pass the integration. In that case, the System doesn’t differentiate between how that growth is achieved.

“No matter the world, no matter the race, no matter the time… there will always be those people who sacrifice others for their own gain. Even the way this girl was just speaking. Imagine if she had this power to swear others into unbreakable oaths.”

Alex shook his head.

What do I do?

“Nothing should change about what you’re doing. Stay on course and don’t let those thoughts of easy or accelerated power cloud your vision. Focus on yourself and your friends. They are good people and will keep you grounded. It will be invaluable to have people like that close to you. The more power you gain, the more people will attempt to get into your good graces and suck up to you. You’ve got to avoid those people. They might have their uses in a following, but not as your Inner Court.”

He agreed and pushed the thoughts to the side as Sarah and Jonathan reentered the cavern. Jonathan stopped near the entrance at Sarah’s prompting while she approached him directly. Just by the expression she wore, he knew she was up to something.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Am I so easy to read?”

“Like a book,” he said with a small smile.

“Jonathan wants to join us. I know you said not to tell him anything, so I didn’t, I swear. But he’s not stupid, Alex. He must have been awake for a bit and heard us talking before.”

“Fuck me,” Alex rubbed his face. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea. He’s so high in the HA… is it really smart to bring him along? Won’t he have an issue with breaking the rules?”

“He said the rules were made to keep the Rift open. Killing one more aspect to save Nox and Olivia won’t close the Rift.”

“We think it will save Nox and Olivia…”

“Even still, from what we know, it should work. Also, he’s not that high in the Association. His team is highly ranked, but that’s mostly for their PR. Remember the elite groups? They’re higher-level than Jon and his team are by a good bit. Plus… he wants to see what fighting is like with a team.”

“I mean that’s another thing altogether, isn’t it? We’ve spent months learning how to work as a team and get you and Mark caught up. Jon seems like he needs an entire strategy built around his wrecking-ball style of fighting.”

She was already shaking her head before he’d finished. “Not for a little while. He doesn’t just snap like he used to. He’s invested almost all of his Free Points into Willpower, and it helps him control his emotions and the {Rage}. Even if we do want to let him activate it, I think I can make it turn off with my skills.”

“Hmm.” The point gave Alex pause. “That’s a decent point.”

“Come on, you saw how quickly it stopped before. Only a few notes, and he was stopped in his tracks. Olivia’s not out of the fight, but she and Nox aren’t in their prime. You can’t tell me he wouldn’t be an asset going into such a big fight.”

There were a few moments of silence as he thought through the idea. “All right. I’m willing to consider it, on the condition that we go up top as a team and test the composition with him in a few fights. We’ll need to do it today or tomorrow if we want to keep on the timeline to fight the aspect.” Alex used his thumb and forefinger to pinch the bridge of his nose.

“Thank you,” Sarah said genuinely. “He’s a good man, Alex. A really good man. And the Integration hasn’t been kind to him, or his family.”

“I believe you. Just make sure he understands that I’m in charge of the team. I know he was the lead for his own team before, but we might do things differently than he did. I don’t necessarily want to change it. We’ll see how the test fights go.”

She thanked him again and walked over to Jonathan. They spoke quietly for a few minutes before crossing the cavern to join the rest of the main team. Alex stayed alone for a bit longer, thinking through all the information that he’d gained from Lin.

Part of him hoped Jonathan would fit well with the team, as he’d seen the berserker fight on two occasions and knew him to be powerful. Not only that, but if the last few months of pairing and fighting had shown him anything, it was that their composition could sorely use a melee fighter. A few times, he’d been forced to pull out his jian and fight alongside Mark to prevent larger groups from breaking into the back line.

There’s a lot to figure out if we’re going to be able to react before Unity and Concealment attempt the convergence. The combined numbers of sect members will be troublesome, but worse than that… is the way that Lin described the corrupted ley lines.

He sighed and stood, dismissing the clone as he crossed the group to his friends. As the second consciousness rejoined his mind, he pushed it toward the spirit.

Maelis, let’s keep working on those runes while I fill everyone in.