The scene before me almost made me forget about August. Most of First Flight camped outside the dungeon, whilst thousands of other dungeoneers camped a bit farther away. There didn’t seem to be any signs of a fight, thankfully. After all, First Flight was full of A-rank and above dungeoneers.

A huge wave of cheers erupted, stemming from First Flight members and eventually outward. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that, because I knew some of the people in the crowds out there were the ones responsible for attacking our guild.

The ear-rupturing cheers eventually fell silent when they realised August was lying still. Shem simply shook his head, whilst Freya began tearing up over August’s body. It seemed they thought he was dead, so I figured I’d clear that misunderstanding right away. “Relax, he’s not dead. He’s in some sort of stasis. I have to take him to get help,” I summoned a couple clones just in case any fights broke out. “We’ll be back as soon as we can,” I said, bringing both August and myself into the void for some much needed quiet, otherwise the one-minute cast-time for Riftshear would be quite the draggy experience.

From the void, we teleported to the ‘mother’ of Umbral. Leo almost took my head off the moment I entered the nest, then he stopped his sword at the last minute. “I’ve forgotten that only you two can visit this place.”

“Leo, sorry to visit like this, but we need help,” I pointed at August. “I’m sure whatever’s going on with him has to do with quintessential energy.”

The beacon looked with a pained expression, and rubbed his scruffy beard. “He has long since passed the point of death, yet, he has not succumbed. There is something,” Leo circled August’s floating body, “constantly repairing the damage.” He looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

“Don’t ask me,” I shrugged, “I’m not doing anything.”

“Hmm,” I see. He turned around at the dark pool behind him, “Mother, I don’t suppose you have a solution? His body is harbouring too much quintessential energy and it cannot–” he went quiet and chuckled. “Of course, you’d know that already.” Leo quieted again, looking intently at the body of water in the middle of the cave this nest was in. “Hmm, intriguing!” he nodded, as if listening to the mother of shadow beasts talk. “Allow me then.”

He walked off to the walls and fixed his grip onto an amber crystal jutting out of the ground near the wall. He yanked it out, and I could’ve sworn I heard a bit of wailing from the mother. “Sorcerer, this is the material that my people use as storage for quintessential energy. The shadow beasts’ hearts contain the same thing.” He placed the large garnet on August’s chest. The thing was about twice the size of his head. “Place them both in the water.”

And so, I did. We waited around, and I eventually just Levitated in a meditative pose. After ten minutes or so, an arm shot out the water and scared the hell out of me. August was breathing heavily as he climbed out. “I should’ve known you’d try to kill me!” he exclaimed.

“Good to see you too, buddy,” I welcomed him back.

We thanked Leo, and the mother of shadow beasts as well. The unkempt beacon walked near the edge of the water and picked up the floating crystal, “Take this with you. Keep it close at all times. Siphon the quintessence out until it runs dry, gradually,” he emphasised.

~

With a very serious look, August let me know there was something he needed to tell me. We just beat Earth-Sky Tower for the first time in Yunaris’ history, yet the tone of his voice and peer of his eyes proved the matter to be of less importance than what he had to say.

Many bigwigs controlling different business industries gathered in the RC hall as well as Nine Skies’ EU and IU heads. Bruno Ulyen chitchatted with a few people as he and a couple other RC employees made their way to the podium. The RC decided to have a little recognition ceremony to honour First Flight for their accomplishments as both the guild who nurture many dungeoneers into becoming stronger people and also as the first guild to conquer Earth-Sky Tower. They extended invitations to all the stronger dungeoneers, guilds, government officers, Nine Skies and their commander, and of course to the emperor himself. But no one fitting the status of an emperor showed up.

First Flight sat in a section away from other guilds, mainly for safety reasons in light of the attack on our guild. Ulyen made his speech, not at all mentioning the ridiculousness that was August and I. He generalised everything and attributed our triumph over the dungeon to the entirety of First Flight. The employees behind him unveiled a plaque. Not one that you could just grab up and go with, but one roughly five metres long and a metre tall. It was more of an identification banner than a plaque.

Scarlet went up to receive it for us in a white dress with dark carmine accents near the shin. She made her speech, as impromptu as it was, then invited August and I up to the stage.

We stood up and walked to the stage. Murmurs filtered through when the applause subsided. With August’s senses, I was certain he heard exactly what they were saying. His snarl certainly made it obvious; luckily, he wasn’t facing the crowd at the time. We took to Scarlet’s sides and the three of us all bowed simultaneously. And that concluded the ceremony.

Those who wished to stay and chat with members of First Flight did so, but they were mostly people from guilds outside the top ten. Dungeoneers from the guilds suspected of attacking us had steered clear of anyone from First Flight, especially Scarlet, since she was the most known.

“A feat insurmountable, I must say,” Kurzen Aubec’s raspy voice rattled softly into my ear. “It’s unfortunate that your efforts are wasted in a guild such as First Flight. But,” he placed a hand on my shoulder with a friendly smile on his face and his wine gently circled in the fancy glass, “tonight, we do not dwell on the negatives. Tonight, we embrace the path forward. Congratulations!” He placed his glass close to mine.

After a couple seconds, I obliged him and knocked wine glasses together, “I thank you for your words of kindness, mister Aubec. But you’d find it in your best interests to remove your hand from my shoulder.”

He did no such thing. In fact, he squeezed down on my shoulder even more, “I’ve lived a long life, young mage. Those years has brought wisdom you couldn’t possibly hope to fathom.” His snide grin appeared yet again, “You cannot even begin to threaten me. In fact, if you don’t watch yourself, you’ll find tha–”

I swept him off his feet in quite the literal way with void magic and had him hang upside down, dangling at the feet. His yelp, along with the breaking of his wine glass signalled for a dagger, two swords, and a few mages’ spells to be at my neck. I acted shocked and confused, which made them second-guess their assumption that I was the one responsible. As much as I wanted to stick him to the wall with an Ice Javelin, I didn’t wish to cause further problems for First Flight. However, there was no way in Hydra’s holy ass would I let him continue pressing onto my shoulder like he was hot shit.

“That’s, pretty rude,” I said aloud, drawing even more attention to the scenario. The Enforcement Unit of Nine Skies swarmed around us, asking that we calm ourselves. An awkward silence crept through the RC hall now. Kurzen Aubec’s lackeys didn’t yield, and neither did Nine Skies’ EU. I could hear the drawing of swords and the slow encroach of others. First Flight members were approaching, and in turn, other guilds began approaching, their weapons drawn.

“First Flight,” I shouted so they’d all hear me, “stand down. Even if they try, they can’t hurt me. Just enjoy the evening like that fatso over there,” I pointed at August. My nonchalant attitude made a lot of them relax, especially knowing my power. Eventually, First Flight simply backtracked and spectated. However, the other guilds that I thought reacted because of First Flight’s readiness to attack, didn’t step down at all. That meant the Aubecs had a lot of those guilds in their pocket. They just indirectly proved that the Aubecs had ties to those guilds, and most likely sent them to attack First Flight before.

So, there was Kurzen Aubec hanging around, and I standing in the middle of it all. Making a circle around us were his goons who literally had their weapons inches away from me. Making a circle around those goons was the EU. To the side, away from First Flight, was other strong dungeoneers from the top guilds who were bought.

That’s when the unexpected happened. Scarlet equipped all her gear and branded her rapier. She walked towards us, and I raised a brow, then immediately looked to Phil. He was as confused as I was. He cast Invisibility and swerved in front of her, but upon seeing her expression, he chose not to try and stop her.

A quick glance to August made him get up from lounging around in a chair.

Scarlet continued walking; the only sound in the entire hall were her sabatons clunking on the floor rhythmically. Really taking the time to gauge the murderous angst in her eyes made me activate Timedial. With a sudden jerk forward, she stuck her sword into the back of one of the men then jumped upwards to end Kurzen Aubec’s miserable life. A couple of his thugs tried to intercept her, but Freya’s Frost Nova caught their feet. I shook my head, knowing this wasn’t the way to go, at least not now.

Convergence pulled Kurzen Aubec away from the incoming rapier strike and threw him into the crowd of his men. But at that point, First Flight, the EU, and other guilds already made the decision in their mind to start a big brawl – one that would be fatal.

I stacked one more Timedial and spread my hands apart, encompassing the entire hall with a strong gravitational field, sending everyone except for the RC employees and August – he simply wasn’t affected –to the floor. I took Timedial off. “We are not doing this tonight!” I exclaimed loud enough to cause echoes throughout the hall. Slowly, I placed the gravity back where it should be and tended to the man that Scarlet stabbed. He got a lower-tiered strength potion as a form of reparation. “I believe we should all head home early.”

Phil seconded my proposal to Scarlet, and escorted her out before she could change her mind. Once she was gone, First Flight made their way out after. The only person from the guild remaining there was me, acting as a sort of guard dog to ensure nothing else happened.

Ulyen encroached and gave me his thanks. The EU head approached as well, his subordinates trailing behind him with eyes of faint contempt. It seemed the “EU boys” as the IU head called them weren’t a fan of us X-rank outsiders. “Eric Archibald of First Flight, the commander of Nine Skies summons you,” he relayed his boss’ message.

A simper curled my lips’ corners upward, “What for?” I questioned. He almost snapped and retorted words he’d probably find hard to take back, but then stopped before making the situation worse.

“I do not know. He is currently in Bruno Ulyen’s office. You had better not keep a man of his standing waiting, sorcerer,” he warned me. Without much thought behind the reasoning of this commander, I made my way upstairs. A couple guards manned the door of Ulyen’s office. They didn’t flinch at my arrival at all. Stating my name allowed me to proceed inside.

The man leisurely strolled along the edges of the room, admiring the pieces of art and reading anecdotes of popular dungeoneers’ lives. He was bald, with one side of his head suffering a serious burn from the past. It healed halfway and remained a bit bumpy and barren of hair.

“Pardon me. I am Eric Archibald,” I stepped inside and pondered on his lack of acknowledgment on my presence. “Is this a conversation you wish to have without the other X-rank?”

He halted, “It would have been preferable had he been here. However, it is not necessary.” The sound of his throat clearing was jarring and intentional, “I’ve asked you here to project the great emperor’s wishes.” Not wanting to waste time, he cut right to the topic. “We wish for you both to leave our world. It is in the best interest of Yunaris’ people.”

Quite the statement. “I trust a suitable explanation follows?” With a scoff and fold of my arms I beckoned him to properly face me. He turned around, only his boots producing any kind of sound in this sealed office.

“An explanation is far more than you two deserve,” he placed his hands behind his back, “but I will oblige for the sake of an outcome without friction. The emperor, in his wisdom, has decided that the leverage X-ranks give to First Flight is one that will be realised as time goes by. First Flight is now the most powerful guild, going by the number of higher ranked dungeoneers. Should they choose to retaliate, it would come only from the acknowledgment that Nine Skies cannot control them. You outworlders being here only solidifies that notion. If more and more action is taken, then it will only mar the public’s trust in Nine Skies and cause further chaos amongst the masses. They will not believe we can protect them.” He walked toward me and got uncomfortably close, “Do you understand what I’m saying, sorcerer?”

“And if we refuse?”

“You and the other outworlder will receive official documentation that requires you to leave. If you refuse,” the commander sighed, “we will use force.”

Use force? Hmm… I ruminated on that statement. “When you say ‘use force’, are you implying that you have a way to teleport us out of Yunaris?”

“I am not. We are not capable of such things. Sorcerer, by ‘force’, I was implying the execution of the outworlders.”

“Hmm,” I smirked and perambulated around to Ulyen’s desk. I leaned upon it, using my hands to keep me balanced. “The emperor is saying he’d rather kill two people than let the public know Nine Skies is incapable. Hmm, feels like a rather brash decision from one such as an emperor who has his entire empire to think about.” I shrugged, “I’m kind of starting to feel like this warning didn’t exactly come from him, commander.”

The man showed no reaction to my statement. In fact, he shrugged as well, “I’ve delivered the emperor’s wishes verbally–”

“With no witnesses…” I added.

He ignored that comment and continued, “My part here is done,” he suddenly concluded and left the room. The minute he was suspected of having his own agenda, he retreated.

Looks like we’ll be in for some trouble. With that, I took my leave as well, gliding through the RC building to ensure whoever was still in the hall would see me leave. I caught back up with August and found that First Flight went home in groups – a wise choice.

Scadia, showing her intermittent concern, asked if I was alright. I confirmed with a quick nod, then glanced at Scarlet. Her head was down as the carriage pulled them along. She leaned into the corner with a blank expression on her face; her mind wasn’t in the present at all. Looking back at the convoy of carriages, I could tell our main party members were spread throughout the fifteen of them. With my clones escorting as many guild-members home as they could, the rest of the night passed incident-free.

I slept late into the morning. The sun would’ve probably risen on me if I continued practising light magic, but the charms of somnolence seduced me in the end. With a teleport, I found that Scadia was in my bed, happily sleeping away, despite having her own.

“She’s, odd…” Dawn commented, materialising in front of me. She pulled me onto the bed in a sexy way.

“Where the hell am I fitting then?!” Donna complained.

~

Something heavy fell on top of me, ripping my attention away from dreamland in the brusquest way ever. I yelped out, more in surprise than anything else. “You fat oaf! You tryin’ to break my goddamn back?!” I sneered at August.

“It’s noon already, turd-face! How long you plan on sleeping?” He finally got his ass off me, “Besides, you got a visitor.”