"Rules?”

Jayford looked at me as if he had never heard the word before, which I found odd, given his obvious inclination towards rules and regulations. Maybe he just was not used to being subject to them.

“Yeah, as in conditions.”

“... Very well. What are these, ‘rules’?”

I was tempted to offer him the definition, but thought better of it. I had no idea how strong he was and I was in the middle of his building and no-doubt surrounded by a large number of trained fighters. Turning my snark down to the lowest setting, I gave it to him straight.

“Well, first of all, no questions about anything not directly relating to verifying our story. Nothing person, no history not directly applicable. And I’d prefer it be one-on-one; less chance of questions from the audience.”

Darina looked like she wanted to punch me; maybe she had thought she could take advantage of the situation to get some answers of her own, or maybe she was just upset at the apparent lack of trust. But I had grown more cautious since my arrival, if not by much and I people I trusted had been pretty explicit about not mentioning too much. Maybe once we were back at the Citadel, I could talk it out with Walker and Aella, but until then I wanted to keep my past mysterious. Especially around people I did not know quite as well as I did the apprentice.

“Fine. These seem like reasonable requests. Corporal Cetch, please show our other guests to the dining hall, and then please ask Honoured Alchemist Garm to bring the... truth serum. Specialist Thatch, until your story can be verified, you may go with them. And under no circumstances are you to impair my soldiers, am I clear?”

“Aye, sir...” Cad sounded sullen, but was quickly escorted from the room after Henny offered another salute. Reff gave me a pointed look as he ducked through the door and I offered him a thumbs-up in return; I would be careful in case the commander decided to ignore my rules – if I could circle around the truth with an Elder, I could do it with a drug. I hoped.

“Please, sit, Hunter.” Jayford gestured at a chair on the opposite side of his desk. I sat, offering the man a nod.

“It is curious company you keep; you do not normally see the risi in this part of the world, as they tend to find it too hot. They are from a colder world, you see.”

“I can believe it; the Blacksands gets pretty cold at night.”

“I fought against them during the Worlds War; dangerous opponents, generally specialising in metal. And vicious.”

I thought about the size of the doors, and hoped that the commander did not have anything against his old enemies. It was a bit of a shock, to meet somebody who had fought in that war; it was one thing to know mentally that people could live for thousands of years old, but another to meet a person who had been of fighting age three centuries earlier. I mean, sure, I knew Raaf was at least that old, but it had never actually come up. It made me wonder how long advancement usually took; on the one hand, here I was, just starting out on my Path after a few months, on the other this guy was probably somewhere in the Foundation stage after more than three-hundred years. And I had no idea how old Walker was; I had thought it only a few decades, but who knew how long a generation was on a world where lifespans were measured in such protractive terms?

“Of course, that is to be expected from another world which practices cultivation; the last time the gods saw fit to connect us to another world, we fought hordes of the unrotting dead, each barely stronger than a Nadir. For the most part. But the risi... that was fun.”

I let out a mental sigh; it seemed like this was the type of guy who enjoyed the challenge, rather than resenting it. I supposed it would be a little unfair to blame the risi, since it was apparently the gods who set the whole thing up. I did wonder why gods would bother, but if nothing else it did seem to result in cultural mixing. Maybe that was the point.

“The risi I’ve met tend to work more with stone; have you seen the Blacksand Citadel? It’s like a massive spear aimed at the sky.”

“I have. It was impressive, though such is to be expected from an Apex. The risi of the Blacksands have come a long way as warriors, given their... somewhat softer origins.”

“From what I understand, they didn’t have a great deal of choice; change is always difficult, for everyone involved. Do you know if any of the... dead... settled here? I’ve heard about it, but not a ton of details.”

“A number escaped the final battle, but they did not seem to have the numbers to produce any community, though I dare say it would be difficult to tell, given they were all human. As there have been no further hordes, I like to imagine they were killed by some beast or another.”

A quiet moment stretched into two as we sat; the commander just stared at me in silence, his eyes unblinking. It was starting to freak me out a little, so I broke the silence, despite the fact I was usually pretty comfortable doing nothing.

“So... Cad tells me you guys are using the water pill Ben Won Ro invented; they’re awesome, right?”

“You have tried them? It was my understanding that they were only available to the Association, and in his own personal shop.”

“Yeah, that’s where I got them. His shop, I mean. Nice guy, I liked his apprentice as well.”

“You actually met Honoured Master Alchemist Ben Won Ro? You did not simply deal with his apprentice?”

“Well, I was with an Apex at the time. And I sort of got kidnapped along with his apprentice, Tang. It’s the sort of thing that can really bring people together.”

“Ah, you were the party that rescued Apprentice Whu Tang? The report I read named them the ‘Risen throne’. We have a bounty on them.”

“Well, I helped. It was a local noble, Sidona Skybreaker who ended up actually getting us away from them in the end; I was only at the Focus stage at the time. It was the actually the Risen Throne we were talking about, trying to steal the egg. And that Cad helped with. Oh, I should say, if you have a bounty, and you actually capture any, make sure you destroy their pendants, it seems to allow them to be tracked, and possible rescued.”

“I will make a note of this, and once we have verified your story, it will be sent out to all of our branches.”

There came a knock at the door, and it opened before Jayford has chance to speak. Turning, I found a short man with close-cropped white-blonde hair stood in the door, wearing grey robes.

“Brannigan, you sent for me, and the ‘truth serum’? I suppose the name fits, though I prefer, ‘Grand Truth Revelation Elixir’. But I am something of a traditionalist.”

“Alchemist Garm, thank you for coming. I did indeed request the... Grand Truth Revelation Elixir. Specialist Thatch returned with a story in need of... verification.”

“Oh, Cad is back? I do wish we had found the boy before he chose his Exemplar; he may have made a fine asset as an alchemist.”

I blinked at the short man – Garm – and spoke without thinking.

“Cad? An alchemist?”

“Oh yes! The ability to take in and combine chemical elements is fantastic! Combines that with the Spiritual Flame and he could have really made waves. Alas, such was not his fate.”

With a sign, the grey-robed man stepped forward and placed a tear-shaped white bottle on the table, his fingers lingering on the stopped top as he spoke to Jayford again.

“Now, no more than a top-full, Brannigan. We want no repeats of last time.”

The commander coughed and his eyes flicked to me for a split second before returning to the alchemist.

“Yes, yes, ‘measure twice’. I do not make the same mistake twice, Garm. Now, if you will excuse us, this young man has requested we do this alone.”

“Certainly; good day to you both.”

The alchemist stepped outside, whistling softly and out of tune as he closed the door.

“He seems nice”

“Garm is good at what he does and causes no odd occurrences, which is more than can be said of many of his colleagues. Have you ever seen a man’s skin dissolve into slime?”

I eyed the bottle Garm had dropped off, trying not to picture what Jayford was describing.

“Um, no. No, I haven’t. Hope not to, in fact. That wasn’t this stuff... was it?”

The greying man across the desk from me smiled in silence for a moment before the smile widened into a grin and he leaned back.

“No, this particular concoction is stable, and has been for a significant length of time.”

“And it will only make me tell the truth?”

“You may also experience light euphoria, but this is rare, I am told.”

“Well, that’s certainly better than torture, so I guess I’m good to go.”

“Good.”

Jayford stood and picked up the bottle, holding the seal between it and the cap tight as he tipped it upside-down and held it that way for a second. before righting it and removing the top. As he walked around the desk, I looked up at him; he was of average height and built on a slimmer scale than I had grown used to, though like everyone else I had met, he was remarkably good-looking, at least by Earth standards; having a system of magic that physically enhanced you in every way, was good. Though, I reflected, with everyone being really, really, really good-looking, it probably just raised the average; I wondered what my new world’s equivalent of a super-model looked like.

I was brought out of my purposeful self-distraction as Jayden spoke again; this time it seemed to be an actual request, rather than an order disguised as one.

“Please, open your mouth and look up slightly.”

“Actually, I have one last question – why not give the serum to Cad? Surely he can confirm his story as easily as I can?”

The commander paused, looking down at me with the cap held in one hand.

“There are two reasons, but the more important of the two is that Specialist Thatch automatically breaks down any compound that enters his system, and is then able to reproduce it. We do not want him doing that with the... truth serum.”

I thought about Cad running around with the ability to breath on people and force the truth out of them, and immediately understood the reluctance.

“Good point!”

Nodding, I looked up and opened my mouth, sticking my tongue out; it was kind of awkward and made me feel like a baby bird. I really would have been much more comfortable dosing myself, but it seemed like that was not on the table. I guessed he needed to make sure I was actually swallowing the stuff; a truth serum would not be of much use if you could just pretend to take it.

The commander fiddled with the top for a moment, twisting something; I was trying to catch exactly what he was doing when a drop of liquid hit my tongue and I felt my face twist as I recoiled reflexively. I shook my head at the taste, unable to make myself swallow, which only made the situation worse as it continued to assault my sense.

“You should swallow; the taste fades quickly, I am told.”

Concentrating, I forced myself to swallow and quickly I could feel my screwed-up face relax as the offensive drop was banished from my mouth. It was perhaps the only time since I had been given my hydrating pills that I missed having a drink with me, to chase the awfulness away.

“Ugh, shit, why didn’t you warn me? It was so bitter!”

“The truth can be.”

“That is not funny, but it is clever. When you said it was open to abuse, I thought you meant the truth, but clearly the taste is far better than torture. Wait, I meant to make a joke there. Oh, I guess that’s the point; works fast. No euphoria though, that would have probably been quite nice.”

Replacing the top firmly, Jayford sat back down, placing the bottle on the desk close by.

“The effects last for about an hour, though I suspect we will need only a piece of that time to satisfy my needs.

“An hour? That seems like a long time; I’d prefer to stay isolated until the effects wear off.”

“Of course; everyone has secrets, Hunter. We will start with the control questions, to verify it is actually working as intended, and you are not simply perpetrating a clever ruse. They will start off banal and may grow somewhat uncomfortable, by necessity. Is ‘Hunter’ you real name?”

“Sort of, yes.”

“’Sort of’? What is your name?”

“My name is Alexander Hunter, and whilst I can understand why you would want to ask control questions, this does technically break the rules. However, it doesn’t break them in a way I care about, and I don’t want to make a big deal out of it.”

“... These questions are necessary in order to verify your story, I’m afraid. Where are you from?”

“Near Fairview, but this is a question I care about, so I’d appreciate if you didn’t ask for more details; I’ve been told to keep where I’m from secret by a number of people, including an Apex.”

“... I will reign in my curiosity. At what age did you form your Focus, and at what age did you form your Core?”

“Eighty-two, for both.”

The commander stared across at me for a moment; it clearly was not the answer he was expecting.

“You do not look to be above eighty, though cultivation can slow and even halt the passage of time, it cannot generally reverse it. Why do you look so young?”

Mentally, I was slapping myself; after all the times I had admonished myself to me more careful, here I was having voluntarily taken truth serum. It was as the man had said; he needed to be sure I was telling the truth and was building from easy things towards questions that people might not want to answer. It just so happened that it was the easy stuff I did not want to answer. Thinking fast, I tried to find and answer that would not give too much away.

“I have an old soul. Well, perhaps not old compared to you, but certainly older. This is another question I prefer you wouldn’t ask! Maybe we could just move onto a question you’re sure I wouldn’t want to tell the truth about? Please?”

“I am curious, but I will move on for the moment. Still, it is impressive that you formed both your Focus and your Core in a single year. I will watch your career with interest, Alexander Hunter.”

“Just Hunter is fine.”

“Hunter... what is the easiest way to kill you?”

Well, that was not ominous at all. To give Jayford credit though, it certainly seemed like something most cultivators would want to keep close to their chest. Of course, there was an easy answer I could give.

“Be much stronger than me.”

“Ha! I suppose I walked into that trap. How would a person of equal strength kill you?”

“Uh, they would need to be significantly faster than I am, or possess some way to limit my movement. I am very fast, and unless somebody outclasses my speed significantly, I will react in time to survive most things I can think of. I guess they could overwhelm me with numbers, or have a destructive ability that covers a large enough area that I couldn’t dodge, and use it to wear my praxis down. There are probably other ways, but given the sheer variety apparent in cultivation, it’s hard to think of everything.”

“Thank you, Hunter. I believe you are telling the truth; do not worry, the methods described here will go no further than myself, unless you should become an enemy of the Association. Now, having the verification out of the way, please, explain Specialist Thatch’s involvement in this, ‘mission’?”