Willow squinted under the harsh lighting of the restaurant, working to try to make out what was going on down near the kitchen. For all the enhancement being Awoken offered her senses, it did little to deal with her eyes being too dilated. Harsh light shone down on the table, carved from a single piece of wood harvested from another world. Light bounced and reflected off the lacquered surface, smoothed to a fine polish.

The wood was yellow. It wasn’t the sort of golden yellow of recently cut wood; it was bright, bumblebee yellow. She wondered briefly if this table was in place specifically to impress her.

Willow found it terribly kitschy.

The entire restaurant found a way to be horrifically expensive while failing to be luxurious. Willow leaned back in her chair. Leather skinned from a monster from another world met her back, clinging to her skin where it met. She tapped her fingers on the table, and her eyes drifted around the room. The dining table was private, of course, and only muffled conversation could be heard through the walls— decorated in hung paintings of alien landscapes from worlds beyond the gates. The entire place was like a tourist stop for people who craved more than anything else to be Awakened.

Maybe other Awakened might like the place.

The atmosphere and decor instilled sense of glory in the power of other worlds. For a lot of Awakened, that was what defined them. They took pride in the power they had. Her eyes traced down a poster hanging on the wall. It was a landscape painting of a waterfall down a mountain covered in plants with silver leaves, the terrain rugged and unconquered.

“—Willow?”

Ah shit. She had trailed off in the middle of him talking again.

“Sorry, can you repeat that?” She asked, looking up from the painting.

The man across from her smiled. If Willow had to describe him in a word, it would be greasy. He had greased back hair. It was almost as reflective as the table’s surface. He had a greasy face, oily skin reflective with sweat. And his words— well, they weren’t actually greasy. They were honeyed. He smiled, his teeth the finest that money could buy.

“I asked if you had given our offer any more thought. I know one of my colleagues contacted you a few months ago— you know, we don’t normally offer this… but I am authorized to…” The man looked down at his phone, then up at Willow with an almost guilty expression, one that he had clearly spent years trying to feign. It was like a car salesman pretending his boss would be angry about what he was about to say. “I can increase your sign on bonus. Fifty grand is too little for someone of your stature. For Athena, I think we can do one hundred, easy.” The man smiled, his expression a self contained master class in how to appear earnest.

Willow smiled bitterly.

“I was hoping to talk more about working together on an upcoming contract, funded by—“

“Oh good, our foods arriving!” To the left of the greasy man sat another, though this one was more professional— he still looked like a sales guy, but more of the business to business dry presenter kind rather than the greasy car salesman the other man represented. The man clapped as he saw the servers enter the room, bringing steaming trays of food on grandiose platters, which they lined the table with. There were all kinds of delicacies strewn across the table in a variety of colors. Cuts of purple meat steamed on trays of dipping sauces. There were bowls of salad with alien looking leaves of silver and blue. And in the center of it all was a roast pig. Or something close to it.

“Every bit of food here is harvested from beyond the gates. There is actually a gate here, in the lower levels of the restaurant. A resetter. And they harvest it for food, of all things! Though much of this food is imported from other places or purchased from guilds— such as ours. We also work to supply restaurants much like this one.” The greasy man explained even as he began tearing into a variety of finger foods. The explanation made Willow’s eye twitch— did he think she didn’t already know all of that?

The ‘resetter’ was the most valuable thing about the restaurant. The gate on the premises would reset back to the state it was opened in sometime after being cleared. It was more of a novelty than any of the food itself— resetting gates always were, with how they often defied the laws of causality— and Willow briefly wondered for a moment about asking for access to it, before she immediately crushed the thought. It would be a ridiculous request, and she still had a goal here, despite these two recruiters insistence on wasting her time.

Willow reluctantly took food from a plate and ate. She understood why people formed a weird obsession with the world beyond the gates, especially people who aren’t Awoken themselves. But to her, this wasn’t anything special. It was just a worse version of garlic bread.

“Once the food is done, it’ll be all business. You can push for the Greeley partnership then. Just hold on.” Rose whispered. The tension in Willow’s shoulders melted, and she leaned to the side, grabbing Rose’s leg under the table.

“So, how was your latest foray into the gates? Tell us about it?”

Willow offered her best smile, though she wasn’t nearly as practiced at faking it.

“There are a lot of gates, yeah?” The man nodded. “Eventually, monsters get designations instead of names. Especially for gates that are non resettable and have no value. Since those gates get closed permanently, the monsters inside get designations. Something like… A227. Have you ever seen an A227?” Willow asked. The greasy salesman nodded no, looking confused.

Willow stabbed a piece of meat off one of the plates, eating it.

“They’ve appeared in multiple gates. They’re shaped loosely like six legged dogs. If you ignore that they’re the size of a house and covered in spines as wide as an arm. We call them Spine Demons. That doesn’t end up in any bestiary, mind you—“

“You know, I have seen those!” The greasy man replied. “Well, pictures of them. One made it onto Earth, didn’t it? In the early days of the gates?”

“127 people died.” Rose said, her tone hushed but loud enough to be heard in the room, which stifled the tone of the conversation.

Willow let the moment linger in the air, savoring the uncomfortable looks garnered by the comment. The almost jovial tone they had was easily soured by a well timed comment.

“The last gate I cleared was infested in them.” Willow picked the conversation back up. “They launch the spines. They’re like ballistic weaponry. They’ll rip through trees— buildings, cars. Anything short of a blast door.”

“Surely you, Athena, could stop them all with ease. Stories are told in the industry about the effectiveness of your Aegis. As one of the most effective Vanguard Awoken, they would pose no problem for you.” The more professional of the two salesmen said.

Willow just thought they were terrible at reading the room. They were still trying to get her to join their guild— the man was trying to goad her into boasting about her abilities and accomplishments so that he could laud her with compliments.

“Stopping monsters is what Awoken do. Which is what I arranged this meeting to talk to you about. Though meeting in an office would have worked just fine.” Willow gestured at the restaurant. “All of this? Is too much.”

Willow waited a moment after the statement, making eye contact and waiting for one of the two men to finish what they were eating to ensure she had their attention.

“Horizon wants to fund a mission to retake Greeley.” The greasy man dropped a fork, which clattered on the table. It was the only sound in the private booth the table was in for a moment, only interrupted by him coughing and slapping his chest. “We will fund the mission. We’re looking to broker alliances with— hold on. Let me finish.” Willow spoke up to stop the man. He had started waving, ready to dismiss the discussion out of pocket.

Rose pulled a brief case from the chair beside her. Rearranging a plate on the table, she placed the briefcase down gently. Rose unclasped the briefcase. Purple light poured out when she swung it open.

The representatives eyes widened perceptible. “This is…?”

“A Summoner class change artifact.” Rose said.

The greasy man put his face in his hands, and the more professional of the two stepped back from the table, already dialing a number on his phone.

“I’ll have to make a call.” He said, stepping towards the exit.