Her aim was good. Anelia could always feel it just before a shot was fired: that sense of perfection, or even its absence if she made the slightest error. In this case, before the bang resounded in her apartment and the kick from the ether rifle caused her shoulders to twitch, she could feel that she'd lined the shot up perfectly.

The gun went off, and in the intervening milliseconds that followed, she continued to stare through the scope of her rifle, expecting to see the man clutch his chest and fall down. Afterwards, she'd rush to her feet and scramble to get out and away before any heat fell upon her.

But something was wrong. Something didn't quite look right. Rather than a splatter of blood, there was instead a mass of orange flames just before her target. And in the mere instant that these flames persisted, Anelia's brain worked quickly enough for her to form a thought, one that was purely instinctual and not based on careful consideration. It was more of a guttural reaction.

Did I cause those flames?

No, she did not, as she now saw.

The flames vanished as quickly as they had appeared, and in their wake, a figure dressed in a large, baggy robe wearing a face-concealing hat stood with its hand extended, palm open. And all this happened in such a quick time that it took place before Anelia's bullet had even traveled all the way to the target. For this reason, Anelia's brain had virtually no time to process a thing it had observed. She reacted with confusion and surprise as the bullet she'd fired slammed into this figure's open hand then fizzled out into smoke.

What…just happened?

This figure then pulled off its robe and removed its hat, revealing a young girl with Elvish-like ears and golden blonde hair. And though Anelia was prone on the floor and perfectly concealed in shadow, this girl was staring through the window and into the scope of the weapon almost as though she knew exactly where Anelia was and was looking directly at her, eye to eye.

That's…that's princess…

Anelia froze—but only for a moment. Terror shot through her, but she overcame it. Her mind raced with questions of how, why, and when. What was going on? Had she been compromised? Clearly, she had. But no, no, none of that mattered right now. What mattered was that a Gods-cursed Elf was onto her. And not just any Elf, but the fucking princess of the entire race. And as if to confirm her fears, the girl, who must have been none other than Kalana Vayra, took several steps towards the street from the park, and then loudly shouted up to her.

"Come out right now! Don't make me come in there after you!"

Anelia took a deep breath. She was a professional. She'd been in close calls before. In one fluid motion, she stood upright while simultaneously activating Bank and Storage. Very quickly, she tossed her rifle in the chest and exchanged it for her best pistols. Then she dismissed the ability just as the entire front-facing wall was blown out with a loud crack as the young Elvish girl flew inside, rolling on the floor before jumping back to her feet.

She's extremely fast, Anelia thought, gritting her teeth.

She wasn't alone now, either. There were two other Elves with her: a young man with a white cloak and another young girl with a green one. The green-cloaked girl had a strange, rebellious appearance for an Elf. She had crimson red hair with stripes of gold and black, a spiked collar around her neck, and she'd used an ample amount of eyeshadow. The young man, on the other hand, was tall, broad-shouldered, and the prototypical image of a young, virile Elvish warrior.

"There he is!" the princess called, pointing at her. "Get him!"

All three attacked immediately, lunging at her. Anelia, peeling back her lips in frustration, turned her guns downward between her legs and activated Boomshot, pulling the trigger on both guns at once. With a bang, she blew out the flooring beneath her an instant before she was tackled, and then she fell into the newly created hole. Dropping straight down to the abandoned apartment beneath the one she'd rented, Anelia landed in a crouch on the floor below, whereupon she sprang immediately forward, leapt into the air, and dived out of the window, causing the sound of shattering glass to emanate from the apartment.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

Spinning her body midair, she flipped herself around in the direction of the apartment complex and began filling the air with loud cracks as she fired upon the three Elvish figures pursuing her. They were so fast that they were somehow already on her, sailing in the air across from her. All three raised their arms and guarded as her strongest shots failed to inflict any significant damage.

"Leave me alone!" she shouted as she fell.

"No!" Princess Vayra shouted. "Just surrender! We don't wanna hurt you!"

"Bullshit!"

She landed upright on the sidewalk below, and then she took off in a mad dash across the street. Her heart was now pumping intensely, so much so that she could keenly feel each beat in her neck. They were already on her, and they were so much faster. She veered hard to the right, sprinting into the middle of traffic, ripping straight through the DEHV crossing barrier and causing a DEHV driven by a young woman to crash directly into her. Even before impact, Anelia swore, as she knew it would not only destroy and crush the DEHV, but likely kill the innocent driver inside.

Or at least…in any other circumstance, that was what would've happened.

Instead, a split-second before the DEHV slammed into Anelia, there was a flash followed by the shattering of glass, and then there was another flash and another crack. Now, Anelia just had time to make out the sight of Princess Kalana dashing across the street with a young, confused, and screaming woman before the now-abandoned DEHV turned into compacted trash as it rammed into her body, crushing and totaling the vehicle.

"Are you okay?" she heard Kalana asking the woman. She was now on the other side of the street, putting her down. "I'm so sorry this happened to you." She then turned to face Anelia and glared at her. "Sir! Please don't run! I just wanna talk to you."

Anelia, raising both pistols, fired off several loud shots into the air, causing people all around to scream and cry out in fear. Then, using the chaos as a distraction, she bolted back across the street in the direction she'd come, slipping right past the other two Elves, who turned around too slowly to apprehend her. She then swerved and ducked her way between, around, and in some cases over the fleeing pedestrians, hoping to lose the Elves in the panicking masses.

This is bad, she thought as she reached the end of the street, turned to the left, and began fleeing down another. I never thought the princess herself would be after me!

Sprinting her way down another street while looking to her left and right for someplace to escape, she thought she found it when she spotted a lesser-known alleyway that cut across 15th and went straight to the garment district on 14th. Looking behind her and spotting no sign of the Elves, she ran as fast as she could into the alley, where it was damp, darker, and exactly the kind of place she was comfortable being in this kind of a mess. Up ahead, there was another alley that ran between another two buildings, and she went for it. Then she exited a third such alley on 14th and Junction, tried to get her breathing under control, and slowed to a casual walk, concealing her guns in the process.

Thankfully, very few people paid her any mind. Most were too busy focusing on their own despair. Numerous buildings on this street had been damaged in the bombing runs, and now there were people in rags sitting outside broken homes with misery on their faces. It was awful what war did to a place.

Not my problem, either.

Strolling casually down this street, Anelia tried her best to keep any sign of distress off her face. Chances were likely the Elves had split up to look for her, and a fast-moving, running target would draw their attention immediately. Even though she was wearing her scale armor along with a helmet that covered everything but her nose, eyes, and mouth, the Elves would likely be darting their heads around so fast searching more for movement than analyzing the specific details of every individual in a crowd. This, she knew from experience. This was not her first escape from a botched job.

Just keep moving. Slowly.

Rounding another corner, she made her way down a much more populated street, where hundreds of people were protesting with signs that read everything from "This is our home!" to "No Orcs in Shadowfall Coast!"

This was perfect. If ever there was a place to conceal oneself, it was amid an angry, lively crowd. Anelia, walking straight into the thick of things, navigated carefully around each person. The combination of their shouting voices, peacekeeper sirens, and constant eruptions of firecrackers meant she was exactly where she needed to be to lose her pursuers. The crowd, which was pushed back by the Lords of Justice peacekeepers, moved slightly down towards the end of this street, which worked well for Anelia, because it enabled her to slip inside a destroyed, burned-up luncheonette missing its entrance door.

Once inside, she moved just a little bit faster, then faster still as she hurried to its back entrance. She extended her hand, reached for the door—and then went flying as the door was kicked in with such force that it slammed into her and caused her to roll backwards several times.

"There you are!" Princess Kalana shouted at her.

Fear exploded in Anelia as she dashed upright, drew her guns, and attempted to pull the trigger for dual point-blank shots. But the princess, moving so much faster than Anelia could handle, threw up a front-kick that knocked the left gun out of her hand, then spun her body around and struck the opposite weapon with a spinning back kick. Anelia turned her eyes as she watched her pistol clack off the wall and fall to the destroyed flooring.

I'm unarmed, Anelia realized, shocked. I don't have any weapons! Then again, neither does the princess.

"Stop," the girl said, walking confidently towards her. "No more running."

"Fuck off!"

Anelia, reaching into her armor, pulled out a flashbang grenade, which seemed to take the princess by surprise. Pulling the pin, she let it drop straight down, and then she covered her ears and closed her eyes as it went off. Without even bothering to see if it was effective, she turned around, sprinted back out into the street—and then ducked beneath a hand attempting to clutch her throat.

"Get away from me!" she shouted at the young Elvish man and his punk partner, who nearly succeeded in tackling her.

Once more in a wild, chaotic run, she pumped her fists as she fled down another two streets. And like before, she burst through another DEHV crossing barrier, though this time, she avoided causing any accidents. But she was becoming winded. She needed to find someplace to rest. She looked behind herself, checking to see if anyone was still pursuing. From what she could see, it looked like she just might have made a clean break.

And that was when she spotted a shadow moving fast along the ground beneath her, which caused her to look upwards and see the Gods-be-damned princess dropping down on top of her. Anelia, barely managing to react, threw herself in the opposite direction, rolled backwards along the pavement, and then quickly jumped up to her feet just as the Elvish girl landed on top of where she'd been standing.

"Stop!" she yelled again.

The command was pointless. She was wasting her breath. Anelia had only become so successful due to the fact that she never stopped. Her entire philosophy was in never surrendering under any circumstance. There was no such thing as "stopping" to her. If she had ever allowed herself to succumb to such weakness, no matter how perilous the job, she would have been killed or forcibly retired a long, long time ago. So, no—she wasn't going to "stop." She would fight with literally every ounce of her strength until she either escaped, killed them, or they killed her.

No stopping. No surrendering!

As the princess approached, she put her beliefs into practice. Gripping her left hand tightly into a fist, she pivoted on her hips and delivered a desperately powerful hook. But the princess ducked, managing to easily avoid her strike, causing her arm to fly over the top of her head and put Anelia off balance. Right after, the princess clutched her own hand into a fist and returned with a hook of her own, striking Anelia in her right side near her hip and cracking straight through her armor. The pain was unbelievable. She released a loud, involuntarily "ooooph!"

Of all things, this caused the princess's mouth to drop open and concern to fill her face. "Are you okay?" she asked. "Did I hit too hard? Oh no! Tell me if you need help."

Is she showing me mercy? Anelia thought, outraged. Feeling disrespected, she spit in the girl's face just as the other two Elves showed up. The male turned his head to see the glob of spit on Kalana's face, and then his expression morphed in an instant from neutral to enraged.

"Did…did you just spit on Princess Kalana!" he screamed.

"Trelvor, no!" Kalana shouted at him as his fist flew forward and bashed into the front of Anelia's helm, causing it to suffer a full break while crushing the nasal bone in her nose and sending her straight down and onto her back. She hit the pavement so hard that her head bounced off it and cracked a piece of it. Now, she struggled to breathe—and to focus, as the world began spinning.

"Trelvor, never ever do that again!"

"I'm…I'm sorry, Princess Kalana. But she spit on you."

"Okay, so? It's only spit. You could've killed him."

"Actually, I think she's a woman," the girl's voice said.

And now, the one called Trelvor gasped. "I just…hit a woman like that? This, I regret."

"You shouldn't hit anybody like that, Trelvor. I know you mean well, but what if you'd killed her? Oh, no, she's bleeding really badly."

Get up, Anelia told herself. Get the fuck up now! You don't quit. You don't let fucking Elves capture you!

Anelia, barely able to breathe, crawled up to her feet and then struck out wildly, swinging her left, then right fist. Kalana side-stepped each. "Stoppit!" she shouted, her voice almost pleading. She stuck out her foot, and Anelia, in pain and bleeding profusely from her face, simply could not see it coming. She tripped, stumbled forward, and went down hard for the second time, landing right on her face which was already wounded. But even still, she somehow picked herself up again. As she did so, she saw a puddle of blood from her broken nose, which continued to drip onto the sidewalk.

"Please!" the princess begged. "No more."

Anelia growled, screaming out as she again recklessly tried to strike the Elvish girl, who raised her arms and blocked each strike. Pain flared in her wrists. She was too strong. But Anelia didn't care. She did not quit. She punched even harder, and now, she could feel her own right wrist breaking as Kalana guarded against a right cross. She cried out in pain, but struck again with it despite it being broken.

Don't surrender!

"You're hurting yourself," Kalana yelled at her. "Why are you doing that? You can't win, so please, stop."

She's right, Anelia realized. I can't win. There's only one choice here.

Backing up slightly, Anelia reached into her armor, likely for the last time. She fished around for a small, sealed plastic bag containing two dark-green capsules. She opened the bag, spilled them into her palm, and then opened her mouth. As a bounty hunter, this was her responsibility to her client. She couldn't let them take her alive. She wouldn't. That was cowardly. It was time to end things. It was okay, though. She'd already made arrangements to ensure that, in the event she didn't survive this mission, everything that she had would go straight to Denisoa and Adim, the two loves of her life. Anelia had already earned enough to ensure they would live in prosperity.

I should've listened to you, Denisoa, she thought, the regret slamming into her. Now you'll never even know what happened to me.

"Princess Kalana!" the one called Trelvor shouted out. "Those are poison pills!"

"Wh-what?" Kalana cried. "She wouldn't!"

Realizing they were onto her, Anelia moved as fast as she could. Yet somehow, through some means, Kalana was able to tackle her so fast that even with her hand only inches from her mouth, the girl managed to send her several feet backwards and rolling against the pavement. From the atrociously awful pain in her midsection, the princess had likely broken a couple of her ribs, too.

No stopping. No giving up!

Her hand, having clenched tightly into a fist, still had the pills within them. Laid out on her back, she once more attempted to swallow both, which should grant her a fast, painless death. But the Gods-be-damned princess was now sliding along the ground towards her, and with a dexterity that Anelia could not match, she somehow got both of her legs around Anelia's scale-covered arm while her own arms wrapped around Anelia's hand and wrist: an armlock.

"Drop it!" she cried frantically. "Don't even think about doing that. Let go!"

Anelia only tightened her fist and growled. She struggled, but the Elf was too strong. The other two Elves surrounded her as though worried she might somehow escape yet again. And the male said, "Don't take any chances, Princess Kalana. Break her arm before she kills herself."

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"That's a good idea," the girl said. "You should break her arm."

Kalana tightened her grip on Anelia's wrist, and her thighs pressed even more tightly into her shoulder. The pain was unimaginable. "Please don't make me," she begged Anelia. "I really, really don't wanna break it. Please. I'm begging you. Don't make me break it. You don't understand how bad I don't wanna hurt you."

"Fuck you, Elf! Break it!"

"No! Don't make me! Why are you fighting so hard? Just stop!"

Anelia never stopped. "Kill me!"

"I won't!"

"Then I'll kill me!"

She screamed as she tried with all her strength to move her clenched fist to her mouth, but Kalana was not letting her have so much as an inch. Still, Anelia wouldn't stop trying. Even if she tore every muscle. Even if she could never use her arm again. Even if the princess ripped the entire limb off her body. Anelia never quit. Never!

"I'll break it to stop you from killing yourself. I really will. Please don't make me. I don't want to. I'm begging you not to make me do it."

Anelia didn't stop. She struggled, and struggled, and struggled—and then, at last, Kalana made good on her threat. She could hear the sound of her own arm breaking, and Gods, it hurt so fiercely. She tried to stop herself from screaming to avoid giving her enemy the satisfaction of hearing her pain, but it hurt so badly that she couldn't control it.

"Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh!"

"I'm so sorry," Kalana said as her hand popped open all on its own. The princess then took the pills out of her palm and handed them to the girl she'd called Seiley, who herself handed them to a nearby peacekeeper as though for evidence.

"We have high-level cuffs," said a voice from somewhere.

Disoriented, bleeding out of her face, and writhing on the street with broken ribs, a broken arm, and a broken wrist, Anelia only first realized now that the entire street was teeming with peacekeepers and Elves. At least ten additional Elves had shown up.

"Princess Kalana," one of them said. "Did you hear me? I said I have the high-level handcuffs. She won't be able to break out of these."

"No, we can't," the princess said. "I broke her arm."

"They'll still fit."

Kalana shook her head—or at least Anelia thought she did. Her vision had become blurry. "That'll be too painful for her."

Kalana was now sitting on the ground right next to where she lay on her back, and she was hovering over Anelia as though warding the others off. Like she was "protecting" Anelia or something. What in the name of the Gods was wrong with this girl?

"I don't want anybody doing anything that's gonna hurt her more than I already did. She needs healing. Where's my mom?"

"She's coming down here now," the one called Trelvor said. "Apparently, anyway."

"Okay, well umm, I'm staying with her the entire time. I don't trust my mom not to use torture to get answers."

"Princess Kalana, if she orders you elsewhere, you must obey."

"I won't! I caught my mom torturing someone when I first got here, and now I don't let her do interrogations anymore unless I'm there. I'm the one who made this arrest, and nobody's allowed to talk to this woman until she has painkillers and healing."

Anelia was so shocked she wondered if everything she was hearing and seeing was some kind of last-minute hallucination before death. This girl was so kind it was actually disgusting. "How are you Zach's girlfriend?" she asked. "You're nothing like him."

"You…know him?" Kalana looked at her. Then her eyebrows raised. "Wait a minute." She pointed down at Anelia. "Are you the woman from the dragon raid? Hey, I remember you. I watched you on the media when that was happening. How come you're here? I thought you and Zach were friends."

"I don't know about 'friends,' but we've worked together. I saved his life last week. He'd be dead if not for me."

"Really?"

She nodded, causing more blood to spill out of her nose and over her face. "Yeah. So you owe me one. If you really love him, you owe me. Let me go."

"Nah-uh. You're a murderer."

"But I saved his life."

"Thank you. But you're still a murderer."

Anelia growled. "As soon as I can move, I'm going to tear you all apart! I won't stop fighting until you kill me!"

"We'll see about that."

******

Vim was clenching so hard that his teeth began to grind into one another. "How? How did they know? Were we compromised?"

Haisel Ragora lowered his head and voice. "I believe so."

"But how?"

"My guess? Lord Alex Oren. He's the only one I can think of who could've sabotaged our mission."

Vim swore, loudly. "Of course. That prickly-hearted science bitch! It had to be him. Fuck!" He turned around and changed Comm frequency. "Connect me to Lord Oren," he said. "Tell him I want to speak to him. Now!"

*******

Alex sighed as the sound of a screaming, ranting, and irate Gnome filled his ears. "…traitorous-fucking-lab-rat!" Alex could actually hear him gasping as he inhaled, only for him to release a string of insults, each one sharper than the last. "…should be back in Whispery Woods mixing potions, but instead you're here, fucking up everything for me! I know it was you, Lord Oren! I know it was!"

"It was," he confirmed, saving Vim the trouble of guessing. But by this point, Vim had exhausted himself screaming and could only make one or two additional insults against Alex's deceased mother, neither of which he took personally.

"So, you admit it? You admit you sabotaged me?"

"Certainly, provided you admit that you hired a bounty hunter in violation of the UCH's resolution of peace."

"So, you want to be a smartass, huh? Well, guess what? I've already been in contact with your guild-leader, and High-Lord Besh says he never cleared you to do this. So that means you betrayed my guild as well as your own."

"Perhaps," Alex said to him. "But you betrayed basic decency, Sir Alazar. You inflamed tensions, and you caused blood to spill in peaceful streets. Exactly what do you believe would've happened even if you'd succeeded? Do you really believe you would've fixed these problems with more killing? All you'd do is cause the next slew of level-1 resistance leaders to rise up from the bodies of the ones you had assassinated."

Rather than consider his questions, Vim reacted with pure negativity. "What do you know, Alex?" he asked, no longer even bothering with formality. "You're, what, twenty-four years old? You're a baby. You don't know shit. How dare you get in the middle of my operation!"

"Your illegal operation, Sir Alazar. Your criminal operation."

"Spare me your bullshit. I'm not going to forget this any time soon. Because of you, I now have to hire an assassin to assassinate my assassin!"

"Or, here's a thought," Alex said to him. "You could just come back to the negotiating table, and in exchange, I can make sure that none of this is ever released publicly. The people never have to learn of what you've done."

"They agree with what I've done!"

"Maybe in Giant's Fall. But the rest of North Bastia is calling for peace and calm. Any revenge you believe your guild is entitled to, you've already had it. You've killed so many more people than ever needed to die. In the name of decency, it's enough. Come back to the bargaining table, or this escalates."

There was silence for a while, and then, in a hopeful sign, Vim said, "Very well. But just know you have no proof of my involvement." With that, he disconnected. Alex, who was sitting at a table in the middle of a large tent erected just outside the city, stood upright and began walking towards an armored transport vehicle. Kalana had personally requested he interrogate the bounty hunter, as she knew that he was firmly against torture and wouldn't dare inflict pain as far too many were willing to do. He also knew that the only way to get Vim to cooperate would be if he acquired a recorded confession claiming that the Royal Roses had paid the bounty hunter to assassinate the resistance leaders.

"I hope you know what you're doing," High-Lord Besh said, standing beside him.

Alex placed his hand to his chest and bowed. "Thank you for trusting me."

"Just make sure you remember that, officially, I had no idea what you were up to. I can't have my relationship with Sir Alazar souring. Not when he's going to be in charge of humanity's primary shipping port once we reestablish global trade."

"I understand. And I assure you: right now, he believes me to be solely responsible."

High-Lord Besh smiled at him. "You did the right thing, Lord Oren. I'm proud of you."

"Thank you, High-Lord Besh."

With that, he made his way inside the vehicle, eager to introduce himself to the bounty hunter. "Kalana," he said after switching Comm frequencies. "I'm heading over to you now."

"It's a bit early, though," she replied. "I don't wanna let anyone bother her while she's resting. I feel so bad for what I did, Alex. I hurt her so bad. I never hurt anybody that bad before."

"Is she being treated for her wounds?"

"Mhm. And I made sure they gave her a nice pillow, too."

He smiled as the APC took off and moved towards the city. The crueler the world turned, the kinder Kalana seemed to become. But he worried about her as well, because amid that kindness, there were those who would take advantage of her. He hoped she would learn to recognize those people and not to be fooled by them. Kindness unchecked could unintentionally lead to weakness.

"How's your mother reacting to all this?" he asked her.

"I'm not sure. But I won't let her torture the woman."

"That's good of you, Kalana. Hang tight. I'll be there soon."

********

"That was…amazing," Prila said, rolling onto her back and pulling the covers over herself. "You're so different now. You're still you, but…but you're different."

Adamus laughed. He was lying in bed next to Prila on the top of the tallest mountain in Dragon Squire. The temperature out here was many degrees below zero and not quite breathable, so he'd erected a barrier around them: an artificial atmosphere that warmed just the area around the bed, which he'd also conjured via elemental manipulation. It was easy to do once one understood that the only thing separating any two elements was the number of protons balanced by electrons. Borrow a few from here or there, and it was easy to fabricate matter from the air itself. In the old days, they called it "nuclear alchemy," a type of transmutation that had been vital in the creation of the system.

Turning over onto his side, Adamus smiled warmly at her. He'd forgotten what it felt like to be young. His body, having become completely rejuvenated, was now exactly as it had been shortly after his eighteenth birthday: six-pack abs, big, muscular arms, and a chiseled jaw. His hair was once more a thick, rich, and vibrant blond in color. His energy level had skyrocketed, too. But it was his sexual drive that had really gone overboard.

Of course, it wasn't for no reason that he'd allowed himself to become old, withered, and subdued. It served as a sort of "check" on his youthful impulses. Therefore, it was important to remain vigilant. He needed to question himself constantly, to make sure he was not violating his own principles. Such things were easy to do amid the passions of youth.

"Do you like the view?" he asked.

Prila sat up and looked out into the distance. Adamus watched as her face filled with delight. He could see the awe in her eyes, and in some ways, it flattered him, as he'd personally sculpted many of the sights she was now admiring.

"You made all those mountains?" she asked.

"I worked with a team, but yes, I had a large influence on all of it."

"You're incredible." She hugged him. "Hey, did you mean what you said earlier? That we can go anywhere?"

"Well, mostly, yes."

"So, can you show me the Tier-3 planets? The ones you said were more beautiful than anything my mind could conjure?"

Adamus looked at her. She was so hopeful, so beautiful. It was tempting. He truly wanted to make her happy. And his youthful impulses cried out for him to bring her there. But alas, he knew it would be unfair. His brain, which had the wisdom of thousands of years of life, knew that it was a request he could not yet grant.

"I wish I could," he said. "But I regret I cannot. And no, it is not for lack of ability, but simply the case that it would be unfair to the participants in the system if I allowed anyone, myself included, to enjoy those planets without having gone through the trials and tribulations to earn such a privilege. It is important that these worlds remain perfectly preserved and untouched until or unless the adventurers can find a path to them."

Prila looked disappointed, but only for a moment. She pressed her lips together in a silly, but cute way, and asked, "What about the Tier 1 planets? Or planets that aren't part of the system?"

"That is another story. Where would you like to go?"

"Mars! Can we like, just go there?"

"Of course we can."

He snapped his fingers, and she held on tight to him as a black void appeared around them, collapsing them within it. Then it expanded, letting in light, sound, and scenery. Now, they lay together in bed on a red planet, void of any life, with skies not all that dissimilar to those on Earth. Only, here, there was a massive storm, one so powerful it would pose a danger even to an adventurer. One of these regional superstorms was visible in the distance, causing dust to rise up from the surface and into the sky. Even from what was likely a hundred miles away, a dark, coppery sheen from the storm managed to cover up the sky.

"It is not very nice here, is it?" he asked.

"Nope," Prila said as she hugged him again. "What about Earth? I've never been there."

"That's not a very nice planet either, my dear. It was, long ago, but I'm afraid Moldark destroyed it out of spite. A pity, too. It was a beautiful, wondrous planet, and all of its beauty was formed naturally. As far as I am aware, no God or Goddess brought about such a world. It was the result of nothing more than timing and chance. Naturally, the ancient religions would disagree with me on that point, but I've always believed it to be unguided and random."

Adamus watched as Prila sat up and moved towards the edge of the bed. She stared out at the reddish expanse, her eyes filling with wonder. It had been thousands of years since he'd genuinely felt love and affection towards another, and it softened him in such a way that he became reckless. Very reckless. For this reason, he spoke words he knew he should not.

"Can I tell you something, Prila?" he asked her.

She turned her body around on the bed, straddling his left thigh. "Sure."

"It's not a good thing. It may make you reconsider how you feel about me. If not for all these hormones and all this energy rushing through me, I would never speak of it."

"What's wrong?" she asked, her expression becoming concerned.

"I did something, Prila. Something horrible. Something I can never undo. Something no one in this world knows, nor have they ever known."

"What did you do?" she asked. "Whatever it is, I'll forgive you. I promise. We've already come this far."

"I don't think you will, Prila."

"I will. I promise."

Adamus knew he was being foolish. He knew what he was about to say was so horrible that it would hurt to even speak it alone, let alone in front of Prila. But after such a long time of keeping it inside, he wanted someone to know. And if Prila ever attempted to say a word of this, he would stop her long before she was able to act.

"The Great Ones did not leave Galterra," he whispered.

"They didn't?"

"No. I killed them. All of them."

The color drained from her face. "But that's impossible."

"It's not," he said. "I faked a bunch of data and convinced them that an ordinary black hole was a wormhole leading to another galaxy. Then I watched as they flew into it, one by one, passing beyond the event horizon, a point in which escape becomes impossible, as not even light can return. You see, Prila, every single Great One who chose to abandon me was rewarded for their treachery with death. Only my wife and I remain. And if she knew this, she would seek violent revenge, the one thing she has yet to do. And even though I would surely triumph, our battle would likely destroy Galterra and everything in it. And yet, even knowing this, she would pursue such an outcome simply to quell her rage."

Prila was silent. She said nothing. But she did not recoil or turn away from him. She merely rubbed his chest and sat there quietly, likely needing time to really process what he'd said to her. It was a lot to take in.

*****

Francis Calador held his breath as he dived deeper and deeper into the ocean located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean known as the Mariana Trench. He was far too strong to succumb to the pressure, but he was not so strong that he could survive for long without access to oxygen, so he needed to move fast and hold it for as long as he could. Initially, he'd attempted to dive down here with an oxygen tank, but it'd been crushed like a soda can. Thus, he had to use the only advantage he had: his superhuman speed.

Where is it? he asked, sending his thoughts all the way to Galterra.

"I'm not sure."

You can see everything I can see, right, Eilea?

"I can, but so far, I sense nothing. Try swimming along the bottom."

It was incredibly dark down here, and the temperature varied greatly. It ranged from extraordinarily cold or, when swimming over a hydrothermal vent, it was close to boiling point. Francis didn't mind the extreme temperatures, however. His only concern was oxygen. For all his power, it was the one thing he could not overcome. Even the dark posed little obstacle to him, as he could turn his entire body into light, casting bright, illuminating rays in every direction while causing strange, otherworldly fish to scatter and swim away.

I'll have to come up for air pretty soon, he thought to Eilea.

"Come up now, then. It's better to discuss the situation while you're above the surface."

Okay.

Francis angled his body so that it was straight up, and then, kicking powerfully off the bottom, he blasted upwards through the water so fast that he caused the water temperature around his body to become superheated from the sheer vibrational energy coming off him. In a matter of seconds, he flew upwards almost seven miles' worth of distance, and now he inhaled a breath of fresh air beneath a reddened, lightning-filled sky as he rose above the surface.

I don't think it's here, he thought, treading water. The coordinates might've been wrong.

"No, I was very meticulous with the book."

After her unfortunate mistake with Peter I, Eilea had sent the Book of Elemental Chaos away. Where? She herself did not know, as she'd purged her memory of it shortly after hiding it. But she had left a trail of clues and breadcrumbs so that she could find it again once she had need of it. And for this reason, Francis had been traveling across various planets going from one location to the next.

At each location, there was a clue, which came in various forms, such as data on a laptop or an ancient, inscribed stone. And this clue contained something that only Eilea would know, preventing Adamus from following the trail. The last clue, located on a very, very old machine in Shadowfall Coast, had contained a name: "Secret Base Zeta." This name was meaningless to Francis, but it held great significance to Eilea. Apparently, when she was in her early teens, she liked to go to very remote locations and build forts, such as on the moon, or in the atmosphere of a gas giant, or the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

"It's true," she said, reading his thoughts. He could feel her smile. "My parents would get so mad at me. I'd go missing for weeks at a time."

Were they as gifted as you?

"No, sadly. They were afraid of me, I think. But they also loved me. And as parents, they naturally became upset when they found out their seven-year-old daughter was 'playing' inside of an active volcano or building castles in space."

That is an incomprehensible amount of power, Francis thought. Even to me.

"Adamus is even more powerful," she said. "And your descendant has the potential to be as well. But not soon enough. That's why we must find this book. I will use it to destroy the World Eater before it ever spawns."

Why did you make it so hard to find, though?

"Grief," she explained. "I hated it. I hated what it did to Peter. I hated myself, as well, for having done it. I sent it away with the intention of never seeing it again. The fact that I left behind a trail was only due to a small bit of sanity that lingered in the background of all my pain."

Francis tried not to dwell on the incident involving Peter I. He did not blame Eilea for what happened. Adamus had manipulated events as though to teach her a lesson. Yes, technically the error was her own, but she had been guided to that error by Adamus's machinations and cruelty.

Eilea, I have to be honest with you, he thought to her. We most likely won't be able to find it before the World Eater spawns. I still think our primary focus should be on ensuring the boy and his friends are prepared to face it.

"It is, Francis. That is our primary plan. The book is simply a backup. Besides, there are other, more important uses for it as well. I still have hope in my heart that we can save my brother before it's too late."

Francis nearly sank beneath the water as she said that. Nervously, he looked around, expecting Adamus to appear suddenly and attack him. He sent angry feelings to Eilea. Never, ever say that aloud, and never even think it, either!

Gods, the woman could be so foolish. If Adamus knew that Olandrin was still alive and trapped in a stable, but slow descent just beyond the event horizon of a black hole, they would lose what could ultimately turn out to be their most significant and important advantage against him. It was a truth that needed to remain secret: one of such vital importance that the fate of existence could hinge upon Adamus remaining unaware of it.

But yes. Not only did Eilea and Francis know that the Great Ones had been murdered, Eilea had actually been told this by none other than Olandrin himself, the only one of them to have survived. Supposedly, he had reached out to Eilea fifty years ago during a rare, nearby magnetic storm, which amplified the range of his ability to communicate. He'd told Eilea that he was still alive and that all the others were dead, but that he would hold on for as long as he could; he'd also expressed a blunt acceptance that there was very, very little chance of rescuing him, but that if she could locate the book, perhaps she could use it to summon him here. Eilea, who had only disposed of the book a few decades prior, must have been miserable to have done so.

But…but all of this was something that was forbidden to say, let alone even think. To even think it put them both in such magnificent danger. The fact she'd even told Francis such a thing was incredibly stupid. Christ, if Adamus had any idea whatsoever, he would immediately seek to kill Eilea just to prevent the very possibility of having two Great Ones oppose him at once.

"I'm sorry," she thought to him. "It's just that you cannot imagine how much I miss my brother. It is another reason I cannot ever forgive my husband."

Olandrin Vayra, the musician, storyteller, and goofball—he was a favorite of the adventurers and Elves alike. Francis had actually met him once, back when he was first beginning as an adventurer. It was shortly before Olandrin had "departed" Galterra for another galaxy. He was the kindest man Francis had ever met. There was so much energy and vibrance in him. How anyone could willingly send a man like that to his death…it made no sense to Francis. But more importantly, what mattered was not even thinking about it.

Yes, if the situation arose in which it was possible to save his life, Francis would of course be willing to act. But until or unless such an opportunity presented itself, he would do everything in his power to forget he'd even heard this at all, because no one could say for sure when Adamus was or wasn't prying. The man was extremely powerful, and no secret was one-hundred percent safe if he went probing for it.

Diving back beneath the water, Francis set out to continue his search. Yet even as he swam to the bottom, a chill unrelated to the water temperature came over him. Eilea was far too careless.