I woke the moment I heard the light rap on my door.

“Jarek, come with me. Lord Ignatius is waiting,” Uman whispered.

Wiping sleep from my eyes, I rose from my bed. It was still dark, and the sun had not yet begun to rise. It was my first morning after joining the Crucible. Was this some kind of initiation? Was this normal procedure, or was something going on?

Uman looked exhausted. His eyes were red and bleary, and his hands trembled almost invisibly.

“Of course,” I said, grabbing my pouch and following Uman.

The bunker’s corridors were empty.

“What’s—“ I started, but Uman hushed me.

“Lord Ignatius will explain everything,” he said.

As we continued to walk through the empty hallways, nervousness built up inside me. Where were the guards? Would they ambush me, like we had ambushed River? Did they know about Samantha? Could it be a coup? Had someone—Uman?—broken free from Lord Ignatius?

I tensed with each blind corner I turned, but I made it to the throne room with no incidents.

Lord Ignatius was the only one in the room. Uman stood by the door, a respectful distance away.

Unlike Uman, Lord Ignatius looked exactly the same.

“The Crucible is in danger,” Lord Ignatius said, without preamble. “And I think you are best suited to help.”

I felt a selfish wave of relief, and then immediate concern and chagrin. I would rather be in danger, be suspect, than have the Crucible threatened.

“I am yours to command, Lord Ignatius.”

I almost got on one knee, but I felt like that was a bit over the top. Nobody had really explained how much formality Lord Ignatius was looking for—presumably, this was a sign he didn’t care much. I had never seen anyone else kneel to him. But then again, he was sitting on a throne. I just inclined my head respectfully.

“Several hours ago, Adia’s father—Haki Wright—teleported to a town on the border of our Region, under the pretext that he was going to buy some rare potions ingredients. He hasn’t returned since. We have explored his home, and…interviewed his acquaintances. It seems he was suspicious of my Chosen. He has a strong prejudice against our shared goals. We have discovered through our interviews and by following his trail that he left to find Dawnbreaker. His plan is for Dawnbreaker to kill me.

“I need you to find Adia’s father and bring him back before he contacts Dawnbreaker. If necessary, kill him. Do not engage Dawnbreaker—you are not her match.

“I know you played a pivotal role defeating the manticore. Deal with Adia’s father, and the 24 million loan will be yours.”

I nodded, bowing my head again.

“Uman will give you Manticore Poison, as well as a Sleeping Potion. It is up to you which you use. And I will lend you my personal Invisibility Cloak. Do not speak of this with anyone,” Lord Ignatius commanded. “It would not be good for your future should Adia realize you killed her father.”

According to Uman, traffic between the Crucible and Daybreak—both the only cities in their respective Regions—was heavily monitored.

So instead, I took the Teleportation Circle to a border town, as Adia’s father had. Then, a teleportation mage brought me to the border of the two Regions, we crossed the border, and then we teleported to a local town, and from there I teleported directly to Daybreak.

The Daybreak Teleportation Circle was heavily trafficked, even at 6 am in the morning. I was in a huge plaza, surrounded by caged beasts and livestock, merchant wagons, and hundreds of people wearing Schema equipment—robes, heavy armor, or fresh leather.

A soldier recorded my name and level, and then I was free to go.

Walking through Daybreak as the sun rose, I had a distinct feeling that if this were a web serial, I knew who the protagonist would be.

Reed City paled in comparison. The Crucible was built for security, for control. Daybreak was a city built by and for its residents.

Daybreak, I felt, had to be leading the way in terms of assimilation into the Schema. Just on the first block alone, I could see almost a dozen storefronts for all kinds of professions.

Compared to Reed City, the streets were orderly, laid out in a clear grid. Street names running north and south were virtues: Honor Street, Courage Street, Loyalty Street. The main thoroughfare was “Hope Street.”

I have no issue with virtues, but this was incredibly blatant. The list of virtues was nothing, though, compared to the massive church I could see a few blocks away. It was hands-down the tallest building in the city, built like a basilica, with stained-glass windows, domes, and spires.

I ignored the church the best I could. Its looming presence made me feel on edge.

The streets running east to west were double letters, in no clear pattern: HK, NR, WS.

In addition to merchants hawking their wares in the street, there were other, intangible things being sold as well.

There were several people in the street holding signs that said, “Information,” or “Answers.”

I found one such sign, put on an overly excited expression, and asked, “I’ve heard so much about Dawnbreaker! Where is she? What is she doing? How can I see her?”

The man holding the information sign scratched his bald head, then held out his hand, as if to shake hands. “A hundred coins.”

Shaking hands, I transferred the money, not bothering to barter.

The man spat at the ground. “Dawnbreaker just got back yesterday,” he said. “Rumor is she was wounded. They say she’s calling a war council, this morning. Can’t say I’ve seen you before. What’s your name?”

“Harper,” I lied.

Samantha said, as I walked away.

I was thinking the same thing.

The cloak Lord Ignatius loaned me would be any thief or assassin’s dream. I sat, shrouded behind the leaves of a fruit tree, about ten yards away from a window that peaked into the largest room in Dawnbreaker’s villa. I assumed this room would hold the war council, because it held a large, conference-type table with about a dozen chairs.

It was clearly a Schema-constructed building—fancy, certainly, but rather outlandish.

Not even the fruit tree I was perched in was native to my world. The villa had something of a prefab, blocky feel, from the perfectly manicured lawn to the neat rows of weird fruit trees.

I had picked my vantage point because it would let me see the meeting room, and it would let me see the gateway to the villa. If Adia’s father appeared, I would hopefully be able to intercept him before he found Dawnbreaker.

Samantha said.

I’d rather capture him, and take him back to the Crucible.

We’ll have to see how it goes, I responded.

You heard Lord Ignatius, I said, steeling my heart. We’ll do what we have to do.

The first person to arrive in the room wore a decorated version of the guard uniforms I had seen around Daybreak. Honestly. Just five days into the apocalypse, and they already have uniforms?

Not long after the man—the captain of the guard?—appeared, I saw Dawnbreaker walk out of another building in the villa.

Dawnbreaker was a blonde woman with an intense gaze. I could feel the tremors of her aura with each step she took towards me, and trying to use Mana Sensing made it feel, aptly enough, as though I were staring directly at the sun.

It wasn’t her that was producing the mana fluctuations, though. It was her armor and weapon. Dawnbreaker wore a full-body silver suit of lightweight armor, formed in the fashion of plate armor, but the armor itself appeared to be flexible, lightweight, and somewhat elastic. Apart from her head, her whole body was covered.

Samantha said. It might have been the most surprised I’d ever heard her.

I suppressed a cough. Unisuit? Isn’t that what gymnasts wear?

I turned my attention from Dawnbreaker to the two people next to her. I hadn’t expected Samantha of all people to fangirl over Dawnbreaker. She was sounding like Parker.

On Dawnbreaker’s left was a Hispanic woman with golden framed glasses. Rather than a weapon, she held a leather-bound book in her left hand, larger than most textbooks. The book radiated mana, but not as much as Dawnbreaker's armor.

Samantha said.

On Dawnbreaker’s right was one of the largest and fattest men I had ever seen.

The man walked painstakingly slowly, as if every movement caused him minor pain. He wore loose, baggy robes that gave him an unkempt, disheveled look. His skin was stretched tight against his round body, making his whole torso look like an inflated balloon. His face was pale, and I could see traces of sweat on his cheeks. Dawnbreaker and the woman with golden glasses were slowing down to match his pace.

Samantha trailed off. Trailing behind the trio, following them out of the house, were an assortment of creatures that were behaving like pets. There was a tiger cub, a worm the width of a car’s tire, and what I could only guess was a baby dragon.

Up to this point, every monster I had encountered moved with an instinctual grace. But each of these three creatures moved with an unnatural, somewhat stilted motion. The dragon-like creature only flew in short, brief bursts. The giant worm bunched up its coils awkwardly in order to crawl forward.

Something is wrong with his shadow, I thought to Samantha.

If not for my heightened perception, I never would have noticed it. His shadow is darker than the others’.

Samantha said, sounding mildly impressed.

I waited for the dramatic reveal.

So, what, he…gave birth to those creatures?

That seems…dark. And painful.

Samantha shrugged.

I gulped silently, watching the trio walk into the meeting room.

Maybe spying on Dawnbreaker wasn’t such a great idea.