POV: Herolax Vrelas

The false sun was rising over the city-dimension now. The rays shining down on the lilac-colored gardens on either side of the trail. The flora around me had been carefully selected and placed, that much was obvious. As the patterns they formed told the story of the hosting house's rise through a series of still scenes of hunt and battle. Not only that, but the flowers had also been arranged in such a way that the breeze coming from the southern portions of the dimension would bring out a swirl of pleasant, calming odors. A canvas of sweet, mellowing scents that came together to ease the tension within whomever was walking in the premises.

It was the kind of display that told me they were very much aware of their image and that they wanted to give off an appearance of strength. Both in the financial sense and the literal sense. As well as showing to all their guests that they were aware of the fads our elder ancestors had indulged.

A gesture that, should the right time come, would not prove worthless. Eons may have passed, but I had it on good authority that Hazimon's direct disciples still cultivated their own mediation gardens within Lady Agony's palace. Even going so far as to forgo precious training time they could have otherwise spent conquering Instances or going into Excursions and making names for themselves.

Doubtless a garden this well-kept should have elicited some more emotions on me too, but sadly, the machine that was currently doing the breathing for me wasn't being very accommodating.

Yet another sharp reminder of my failure to obtain the most essential Types.

'Dammit! I know it isn't on purpose but… dammit! How much more could I have accomplished if I got even a few levels into Shifter!? How much more could I have earned!? How much more glory could I have showered in!?'

I scrunched up my nose.

'This could have been my garden!' I roared inside my mind. 'This could have been my palace! I reached the 2nd Tier! In less than two centuries! I could have made it to the very top if I'd had more time! If only I'd had more time. If only…'

I looked down at my Symbiote. For the briefest of seconds.

It had been helping with the whole issue of my body failing of course. My honored great-grandfather having gifted me a specimen with both Enhancer and Shifter abilities grafted into it. Without it, it was unlikely that even the machines inside me could have kept me alive.

'That's all that's keeping my heart beating.' I thought bitterly. 'That's all that's keeping my veins from imploding.'

I glanced over at the younglings walking in front of me. The leeches taking advantage of their sires and their accumulated wealth and influence.

Each and every one would have unlocked either Enhancer or Shifter by this point. Each and every one would have been well on their way towards merging their first combined abilities. Even if they didn't, they would still be better off than me though. Me who almost reached the 3rd Tier. Me who accomplished so much at their age. Me who fought their way to the top. Shoving aside challengers and would-be geniuses at every step of the journey.

A hundred years from now, even the Tier 1s would still be alive and kicking.

'And I will be dead.' The knowledge brought a lump of foul bile to my throat. 'Unknown and forgotten. My garden will be given over to someone else to decorate and they will be warned of the failures I had attached to our house's name. Of the failure that I was. Then they too will forget and no one will ever care to depict me in our family's communal gardens. Why bother? After all, just because I got this far doesn't make me so much different than my cousins. They failed and died in battle. While I succeeded and lived. Only to die in bed. Covered in my own piss and feces and with no one but this thrice-dammed Symbiote to keep me company and mourn my passing.'

I shuddered at the thought.

Then I willed my mind away from the pessimistic musings.

Failure or no, I was an envoy here and I had a job to do. If the way to serve my house was to be the messenger boy for some gnarled old ass to lazy to remain on the loop about current events, then that was that. At least if some old monster killed me, it might mean I died in the line of duty and the family scribes would deign to write at least a few lines in the family records acknowledging my existence.

'My fleeting existence.' I corrected myself. Cursing some more as I did so.

The smells coming up from the various flowers rose up as another gust of wind drifted over the gardens. Some of the petals flying upwards to carry the scents even further. The small colorful, dew-covered petals raining down slowly as they danced along the breeze.

The leeches were walking briskly in front of me. Focused on their own missions and their own petty rivalries and grievances. So much that none of them stopped to appreciate the way the gardener had so masterfully arranged the flora so that the images appeared to be moving and fighting as the winds coursed through them.

I made all kinds of rude noises inside my mind, but decided to keep them to myself.

'I would look quite the fool at this point. Stopping to point out something they all took for granted. Something they all expected to have one day. Something that… wait a second.'

I squinted my eyes.

'What is that?'

One of the images, the one at the very start of the slowly closing circle, was off. The Dragon's figure was not draped in his usual battle-attire. The one he'd donned while toppling the old useless leaders our species had before the System. Instead, he was wearing some kind of hat with pointed edges that ended in little balls. Bells? Yes. On closer inspection, the hat's ends were tipped with bells.

Also, there looked to be another figure behind him pulling his pants down.

I did a fantastic job of suppressing my own impulse to scream at the rest of the fools on the way.

'Who dares! Who!? Who!? Who the fuck would have the balls!? The sheer fucking nerve to disrespect the elder like this!? Who…!?'

That same feminine voice crept up the back of my neck. Sweet and tantalizing. Like a lover's kiss under the moonlight.

'Sully Carter.'

I shivered and suddenly found myself engulfed in a strange sort of silence. I looked around and found that the rest of the group's outlines had become blurry. Their walking figures losing their color even as the false sun's rising bathed them in rays of light. Yet now, those very same rays were looking hollow and lifeless. Like faded brushstrokes on an old painting that hadn't been maintained properly.

'What the fuck?'

"Yeah. Honestly, I get that a lot lately."

I jumped backwards. Turning around to face the source of the voice.

There, floating in the air on pale white wings, was the guy we'd all been talking about moments prior.

"Sully Carter?" I asked.

"In the flesh!" He spoke. "Well, figuratively speaking anyway. I'm not actually here. I'm just contacting you through a power and projecting an image of myself inside your mind with another."

"An Illusion?" I asked. "Then how?"

I looked over at the changed image and saw a gnome floating above it. One without a conical skull for some reason. His black hair ruffled and unkempt as his little wings failed to move. The rest of him staying in the air regardless.

"My dear Solomonlings can wander in all sorts of places unseen and unheard." The tall gnome explained. "And I merged my Veil-controlling abilities with my Illusory abilities. Something like this is no trouble at all. Don't worry. Whatever we discuss, the others won't be privy to it at all."

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I spat at him.

The spittle stopping in mid air as it too was frozen in time. Falling slowly in accordance to its original trajectory.

"I have nothing to discuss with you, gnome!"

The image's right eye twitched. Ever so slightly.

Then his smile widened.

"Now now Mr. Vrelas, or can I call you Herolax? Hero? He-guy? Doesn't matter. There's no need to be so aggressive my good friend. I come in piece."

I stammered. Absolutely flabbergasted by the audacity of this thing.

"You released toxic waste into this dimension's water supply!" I bellowed.

"Well yeah, because I predicted that was the best way to cripple you guy's starship production without inconveniencing too many people."

I stammered.

"What? Why would…?"

"Most of the Kenari empire uses starships that are assembled at the capital instance." He went on. "But the base parts are built all over the place. Specifically, the ship's internal wiring systems and their Veil-Drives are manufactured here. In this very Instance."

He pointed down. A malicious smile overcoming the fake friendly one he'd had moments prior.

"And if the production stops, well. That would be a damn shame indeed. As you'd no longer have anyone making that one crucial component you'd need to go around dimension hopping."

I blinked in confusion.

"But…there would still be people out there with portal powers. Are you, stupid?"

He shrugged and tapped his skull lightly. And then my mind was on fire with images. Memories.

Of the Tutorial holding a new breed of apes. Of the vendor, Granny Golden. Of the Enforcers and the judgement and the Drake. The actual Seeking Fucking Drake. And then, the world, the sky on fire, the ground swallowing the monsters. The boiling seas. The child.

I saw the child.

I vomited.

"Oh yeah. That tends to happen. But we're not quite done yet pal."

I saw… I was forced to see, the Dragon. Hazimon the Dragon.

Locked away in a System-created small Instance as the System collapsed.

With no way out.

"Oh fuck me." I groaned.

"Yeah. That also tends to happen." Solomon Carter spoke softly. "But you don't need to worry about that right now my friend. You and I are not meant to be enemies. In fact, I have a very strong inkling you and I will get along famously from now on. Like two peas in a pod!"

"What's a peas?"

"Pea. Peas is plural. But no matter my sweet, dyslexic friend."

"You're speaking our language. I know that word. I'm not dyslexic. Where would you even get that from?"

"Shhhh. Hush now. No talking back. You need to have been my pal for some time for me to stand here and let you talk back."

"But you said you're not standing there."

He laughed.

"Touche! I guess. I'm not. I'm busy slashing somebody's tires right now."

I blinked.

"What?"

"Never mind that now pal. Hear me out."

The illusion crept closer. Floating silently on unmoving wings.

"You are well and truly fucked." The illusion's finger jabbed at my chest. Passing right through it, but bringing with it a warm happiness as it did so.

"What's more, you know just how fucked you are better than all your ignorant, silly little peers. You saw it for yourself, after all. You saw the worlds afire. You saw the Dragon's choice. You heard his words and mine as well. You have seen my Status, back when I had a Status to show. You know what is going to happen. To your peers, to all the old Masters they can convince. To you."

Some part of me made me raise my eyes to meet the three on the illusion's face.

"It does not have to be this way, friend. I don't hold a grudge towards you. I don't hold a grudge towards anyone of your house. I didn't want this to happen in the first place. All I wanted was peace and if the Dragon had given me that much consideration, none of this would be happening. This is all his fault. His carelessness, his dishonor when it came to keeping his promise, was what led to this series of events. I don't need to kill you. I don't need to enslave you. Or any of your kin for that matter. The cruelty of such an action does not appeal to my… how would you say it? Sensibilities?"

He had pretended to pause. I knew that much. He knew where this conversation would go before he even started it. Before he even approached me. Perhaps before his encounter with the Dragon. He knew. He had foreseen it as a possibility and his actions had turned the distant chance into a reality.

"What do you want?" I asked him.

"Oh? What do I want? Is that the first thing you wish to ask of me? Not what could I possibly have to offer the likes of you?"

I pressed a hand to the machine in my chest. To the dull metal wheezing loudly in an effort to keep me alive even now.

"I know what you offer." I stated. The bile tasting foul on my throat. "I also know resistance is pointless. You want what you want and you'll [Dominate] me if I don't give it willingly."

I stopped.

"No. You wouldn't would you. You want that. Those things. They have a way of telling if people are being controlled. They were made by some mad Savant after all. You'd kidnap a few of us and coerce us, but if you can't predict those things, then you can't predict whether or not the devices will notice we'd been coerced."

"You are correct." He said. "But you also saw enough of me to know I prefer to avoid such methods."

He offered his hand.

"Take it and you'll never need hear that machine again."

His eyes were shining now. The pale blue chips of dirty ice reflecting the hollow light of the false sun. So that they appeared as diamonds encrusted on the surface of a life-like mask.

"Take it and you will have a garden of your own."

The bore into me. Like drills. Like swords. Like knives in the dark.

"Take it and you will no longer need to be ashamed."

I reached up and took the offered hand.

And then he was gone. Along with the Intruder and the spit that was flying in the air and the unnatural breeze which had been carrying the scents mere moments ago.

Gone, like a distant dream upon waking.

"Herolax?" Another of my peers called out from the front. "Are you coming?"

I turned. Slowly. So as to not give away my newfound dexterity and the new fluidity of my movements.

"Yes. Forgive me Gefro. I was admiring the fine gardens this house keeps."

I took a small, shallow breath and felt my wriggling lung flesh squeezing out the metal plates connected to me. My body screaming to make itself whole.

"I'll just be here a moment longer."

The other senior arched an eyebrow, then shrugged. Leaving me to my own devices.

If it had been anyone else saying what I said, he would have found it suspicious. After all, we were on a tight schedule. But the idea of a dying man being senile now and again didn't seem to trouble him in the slightest.

'Why begrudge me a few moments in the garden, when for all he knows, it might be the last moment I have left?'

I shook my head. Taking care to press my hands softly to my chest to stop the machine from falling to the ground at my feet.

Then I took a breath. A real breath. With my real lungs. Savoring the smells without relying on the machine to send signals to my brain.

'Oh good Gozo. How long has it been?' I wondered. 'How long have I been living… no… subsisting like this?'

The scents that filled my lungs were as magnificent and awe-inspiring as the first breath I'd ever taken. As the first battle I'd ever fought. As the first song my first-born child sang for me.

Nothing had ever tasted so sweet.

POV: Gerosh.

"Hey! Who slashed my tires!?" An elder screamed out on the outer yard.

The voice came back. Cracking like a whip.

'Sully Carter.'

The elder blinked. Partly in confusion and partly in outrage.

"What!? You're telling me the guy we're hunting! The monster going around destroying our cities and our infrastructure is out slashing tires!? What kind of nonsense of this!?"

I calmed myself forcefully and approached him from the side.

"Please, elder. Honor me by taking my own hover-car to the space-port with me." I spoke softly. All too aware that this ground car of his was a vanity more than anything else.

The old coot was more than capable of teleporting after all and even without relying on those abilities, he was certainly faster on the ground than that hunk of expensive junk could ever hope to be.

I had figured that prompting him like this would have opened his eyes to that little fact, as well as to the fact that he was wasting both his and everyone else's time by not opening a portal to the place where his assigned Master resided.

"There is no need for the space port here." Herolax spoke out loud. "He can portal out of here whenever he wants. It makes no sense for him to take the more common way to where the Masters reside."

He stops. As if to adjust his blasted machine.

"Not all of us have those powers though. Even if we did, I can't even begin to predict where the Masters will end up being. All we know is to approach a meeting location and drop off a key of sorts. Letting some device know to contact some Master at each location. We don't even know if the Master will respond right away."

"They usually have people monitoring those forms of communication." Uncle informed him. "Just as your own house has its methods of communicating with other houses in secret."

He arched an eyebrow.

"Why are you bringing this up now?"

"Because whatever or whomever created these methods for our house was far less proficient than the one who created them for all the hidden Savants and Tier 9 monsters out there." Herolax rebutted.

"They are well protected against prediction powers and divination in general and one cannot tamper with them reliably. But one can tamper with us. The people carrying the messages. If one or more of us were to die…"

He let the question hang in the air.

"That won't happen." Another elder dismissed the idea. Pointing at the tire.

"Whomever is responsible for this whole mess is quite mad from the looks of it. Irrational too. They could have simply killed us all by now if they so wanted. Or mind-controlled us."

"That would have rendered the contact keys obsolete though." Another elder piped up.

"Yeah, but my point stands. Why go for the tire at all when killing us would have stopped the message from going out in the first place?"

"Enough." Uncle sighed. Turning to Herolax.

"Tell me what your idea was. You wouldn't have spoke unless you had something to say."

Herolax shrugged.

"Only that we should all be carrying a copy of each and every single key. Should the worst happen, we don't have to return here for any more backups you may have. It might save time, when seconds might mean the difference between life and death for our species."

I rolled my eyes.

"Well aren't we being overly dramatic now?"

Uncle gave me a sharp look and I silenced myself afterwards.

"True enough." He said. Pulling out a bag with other copies from his storage ring and willingly scanning each and every member of our group with multiple backups for the other's keys. Giving them access of his own free will.

"Now everyone can reach out through all the pylons. Merely insert the key with a message and wait. If a pylon fails to emit a signal, we'll know the message was intercepted. Then we can direct whomever shows up there or otherwise inform the Masters of the interference."

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