We were leaving the caves and heading down towards Katya’s car, her hand entirely healed after the short walk back out of the caves.

“You’ll need a suit for the gala. Go see the clan tailor in the central valley. He’ll make any cultural adjustments you might want.” Katya insisted.

“Alright... Oh, by the way, you should probably inform the guests that they’ll be observed while in the central valley, just to avoid any misunderstandings.” Katya shot me a look, as if warning me not to cause any trouble.

“It’s just a precaution, you’ve already fed me a over a hundred thousand tons of metal, I’ll be good for a while... A little while.” I joked, trying to lighten the mood.

“This is an important political function. It’ll tell us where we stand with almost every major player in this hemisphere and beyond it, don’t make a mess.” Katya said before getting into her car, the driver giving me a polite nod before pulling away.

I looked at the departing car and wondered loudly whether Sophia had calmed down enough for me to sleep inside tonight, but as I turned to look up at the house, the curtains parted and a piece of paper with the word “No.” appeared pressed against the glass.

And so, I made my way back to the caves to begin the process of bringing a super dense ball of metal and runes into the depths of my shadow.

I honestly didn’t mind the caves much. My teacher had once told me he hadn’t seen the sun until he was almost a man, having spent all his life in the bowels of a mountain fortress.

His world had been harsh and inhospitable and his people had grown accustomed to the lifestyle, some spending their entire lives without ever seeing the surface.

The look on the stocky, bearded man when I told him of some of the engineering feats of my world without the aide of such abundant energy sources was always a mood lifter, the old grouch grumbling about the impossibility all the while interrogating me with his own theories of how it could be done.

It occurred to me now that I’d spent more of my life away from this world than on it.

It was a strange thing to consider that I thought of this world as my home, yet I’d spilled more blood and shed more tears anywhere else but here.

I may have been born on this rock, but any roots I may have had have long since withered and gone.

It was in my ever darkening thoughts that a light flickered into existence, an image of Sophia and Natasha, the latter holding her palm across Sophia’s stomach, feeling the precious draw of energy fueling the slow creation of life.

Natasha seemed almost surprised by her own joy at the sensation as Sophia stared at her unnoticed, but with an almost palpable affection.

“Yes, I get it. I’ve made new connections, sprouted new roots and made the beginnings of a life for myself here. Are you really gonna waste all that energy on cheering me up?” I asked sarcastically, walking down the unlit halls of the cavernous hold I’d carved into the cliff-side for myself.

In response to my dismissive attitude, a drone froze up before bee-lining into my path, knocking my feet out from under me. The little critter shook and stared wide eyed at what it had done before running off in fear.

“That was low, even for you... You’ll be shutting down again soon... I’ll keep what you’ve said in mind, Athena.” I said solemnly as I felt her connection slip away and drift into the depths of Tartarous once again.

***

“Who the hell does he think he is?” Sophia asked angrily, “Uh, can I come inside now?” She mocked in a deep voice, mimicking Aleks before dropping onto one of the large sofa chairs with a huff, a lock of her golden blonde hair falling down in front of her frowning face, Sophia staring angrily at it before blowing it out of her face.

“I know what you’re thinking.” Sophia said defensively.

“That you’re the love of my life? Twice as beautiful as the first time I laid eyes on you? The goddess of my world and dearest friend?” Natasha listed off.

“No. You think I’m being unreasonable.” Sophia stated.

“Didn’t hear any of the rest? Only that part?” Natasha asked dryly.

“He knew he had to keep her safe. He could have turned back around, or better yet, never thought of that stupid idea in the first place!” Sophia continued.

“Honey, could this have a little to do with something else... Like a certain walking fossil whose attempts at contact you’ve been ignoring?” Natasha asked, getting up from her seat and sliding in next to Sophia, pulling her in close.

“No. He put her in danger... She shouldn’t be in danger after what happened to her... Worst part is she doesn’t even seem bothered, it’s like he’s infected her with his insane ideas of normal, she’s been spending way too much time with him!” Sophia ranted leaning against Natasha as she gently stroked her hair.

“Well, dear, she isn’t normal anymore. The girl has powers, lives with two Sentires, in a giant house built by arachnid robots, controlled by the man you exiled to his workshop... Which I actually doubt he considers much of a punishment.” Natasha said softly before gently placing her lips on Sophia’s forehead.

Sophia looked up, and the two locked eyes for a moment until Natasha flashed her an impish grin.

“Oh, you’re horrible.” Sophia said, realizing she’d just been played.

***

“Urgh, they’re going at it again.” Tessa muttered, walking down the hall to her room. “Wood might have been aesthetically pleasing, but it sure creaks.” She continued opening her door as the creaking picked up. “I mean, who do they think they’re kidding? Sneaking off like that?” Tessa shuttered slightly at the thought of them doing it, ever since she’d learned how old they really were she couldn’t get the picture of wrinkly old people bumping privates out of her head whenever they snuck off like this.

As she closed her door, an ugly, uneven Rune-like carving sputtered to life along her doorframe, silencing the creaking immediately.

Mr. Titanos had offered to teach Tessa Rune-carving the first week she’d been here, asking her what runes she’d like to learn, she didn’t even need to think about it and practically blurted out soundproofing runes shrugging it off afterwards as her wanting some privacy.

But in reality, it had been because those three were going at it like rabbits any time the mood struck them. They’d be quipping at each other, making jokes at one another’s expense and in the next moment they’d go off somewhere.

Tessa had tried to broach the subject of what the deal was with the three of them, whether they were some kind of throuple or whatever.

Mr. Titanos responded with a bunch of gibberish that didn’t really give her the answer she was looking for... As usual.

“I don’t really think the supernatural world fits into the conventional boxes of society... They’ve been married for decades, and I care deeply for both of them, but I could never even approach the kind of love they have for each other.”

After which he’d continued hammering a piece of metal hard enough to make it painful to stand near him.

She still didn’t get how hammering a piece of metal strengthened it and made it magical. It was like logic just stopped working around these people for some reason. Even the Sentires seemed to have their doubts whenever he made some completely illogical statement like it was a well-known fact, although they seemed to just soldier through it.

But she had to admit, her new arm was pretty damn sick, especially after she added her own engravings to it... although they didn’t actually do anything yet...

She had even learned how to move it in unnatural ways, like spinning her wrist joint like a robot or bending her elbow in the opposite direction, it was kinda weird how that was off-putting to the two vampires and the pack of werewolves she’d visited.

Some jerk from the pack had made a dirty joke about her arm not having any joints... she surprised herself when she reflexively cracked him in the chest with it as hard as she could, sending him on his ass gasping for air.

She was worried Mr. Titanos would be mad at her, but he just laughed along with the pack leader, John. His sister even handed Tessa a beer as a victory prize before carrying the wheezing jackass off.

Tessa sat down on her bed and shrugged off her charred and sweaty work clothes, staring momentarily at them on the floor.

The last couple of weeks she’d been so tired she just dumped her clothes on the floor, and every morning they’d be washed and folded, sometimes even stitched or patched, and placed neatly at the end of her bed.

After a couple of days of this, she had started to stack items in front of her door at night to catch whoever was doing it, but somehow someone got in anyway.

She had suspected the spiderbots of making some sort of secret doggydoor, but even after checking everywhere, she’d found none.

“Hmm, just don’t think about it.” Tessa reminded herself and laid down, thinking to herself that tomorrow might be less stressful.

Unbeknownst to Tessa moments after she drifted off to sleep three pitch black tendrils slithered out from beneath her bed, one pulled gently on her blanket tugging her in with the care of a mother, the second brushed some of her hair away from her face while the third pulled her dirty clothes under the bed.

And by dawn, they were washed, patched and neatly folded at the foot of her bed.

***

The process of creating a core is just like the atomic bomb. Once you’ve refined the uranium, the next step could be accomplished by a moron with a hammer.

That’s partly how I stumbled upon it, in my greed and rage I covered swarths of the planes between Immaterium and Materium like a swarm of locust, consuming everything in my path until nothing was left to answer the calls of cultists and wicked worshippers or those who call on greater powers in vain attempts to garner such power for themselves.

I would forcefully channel raw caustic energies into the chaotic creatures I found and syphon off the results from them repeated until their vessel finally failed them.

It was the only other way I knew of besides using my own body as the medium, or it was.

In my indulgence, I found my solution by accident.

The massive reservoir of energy I had gathered collapsed in on itself, condensing ever further. I was curious and reckless; I began channeling raw energy into the anomaly; it was the one resource I had in limitless abundance. For weeks, it simply consumed the energies. It wasn’t until the moment before I was about to eject the dangerous mass that I noticed it radiating something; it wasn’t the sluggish and grimy energies collected from chaotic beings, but something pure and formless.

Through the years, I perfected the method and discovered many things regarding the phenomenon.

One of them being that it could only exist in my domain, in the shadow of a Titan, never in the Materium, where reality had laws that must be abided or at least respected.

Once created, it would react the same way to this world as any of the leviathans, colossal or unknown, unspeakable things I keep locked away at the depths of Tartarus and simply fall through this world and disappear.

I pulled away my hand as the last flickers of black flame enveloped the massive, runed sphere that would hopefully fuel the creation of my core and give me a stable energy supply.

As the black flames dissipated, the storeroom which used to house the sphere was left empty.

And when I stepped out the entrance of my caves, I felt my artificial medium settle into place and energy the likes of which I had not experienced since before I returned home, came flooding through my veins, pure, clean and influenced only by my own intent.

And I let loose the chains of those who serve me, bidding them to roam freely and do my bidding.

I let out a deep sigh as my shoulders loosened.

“Damn, it’s nice to be able to breathe again.”