[Null POV] Year 0, Day 2

  "Let's move," Null said. "But first—those three lizardmen. They're still running."

  "Host, they're far away by now. Hours of head start."

  "And I can still sense them. Clearly." Null focused on her Life Sense, feeling the three distinct signatures moving across the desert. Distant, but trackable. "We're not leaving witnesses. Any witnesses."

  "Great One, at their current pace, they're at least—"

  "Void, can you fly?"

  The elf blinked. "I... theoretically, yes. With this power you've granted me, flight magic should be within my capabilities. Though I've never actually tried. For two centuries I was only permitted to use enough magic to barely light a candle for teaching demonstrations."

  "Then now's your chance. Fly. Keep up if you can."

  "And you, Great One?"

  "I'm going to run."

  Null shifted her stance, feeling the Life Essence flowing through her body. The power. The strength. She'd been testing this form's capabilities all morning, but now...

  Now she wanted to see what she could really do.

  She ran.

  The world blurred. Sand flew beneath her feet as she accelerated to speeds that shouldn't be possible for a humanoid form. The wind screamed past her, her body moving with fluid precision that made each step feel effortless.

  It was exhilarating.

  The sheer speed, the freedom of movement, the sensation of covering ground so fast that the landscape became a streaking panorama—

  She laughed. Actually laughed. Pure joy at the discovery of what this body could do.

  Behind her, she felt Void's magical signature surge as he launched himself into the air. Dark energy propelled him skyward, and moments later he was flying—actually flying—keeping pace with her ground-speed through sheer magical propulsion.

  "This is incredible!" Void's mental voice was filled with wonder. "I always wanted to try this! To actually fly, not just hover or levitate, but truly soar through the air! For two hundred years I dreamed of this and now—Great One, this is amazing!"

  "You're both having way too much fun with this," Spy commented dryly.

  "Because it IS fun!" Null shot back, pushing herself even faster. The lizardmen's life signatures were getting closer. Much closer. What would have taken days on foot was taking minutes at this speed.

  The three dots of life force appeared on the horizon—tiny figures still running desperately across the sand, probably thinking they'd escaped.

  Null didn't slow down.

  She drew one rapier as she closed the distance, angling her approach. One clean line through all three of them.

  The blade sang as it cut.

  Three lizardmen, bisected in a single strike. Top halves separating from bottom halves as Null passed through their position at full speed.

  Six pieces hitting the sand.

  Null kept running for another few moments, letting the momentum carry her, then gradually slowed to a stop. Not even breathing hard.

  Void landed beside her gracefully, his flight magic dissipating. "That was... Great One, I don't have words. The speed, the freedom, the power—I've never experienced anything like that."

  "Good training exercise," Null said, sheathing her blade. "And no more witnesses."

  She glanced back toward the three corpses—six pieces now—already being covered by blown sand.

  "Void, before we move on—that map you found. I want to know where we are. Where we're going. What this world actually looks like."

  "Of course, Great One. Shall we examine it now?"

  "Yes. I need context before we make any more decisions."

  Null pulled the rolled parchment from her item box and handed it to Void. They found a relatively flat patch of sand and Void unrolled the map, anchoring the corners with stones.

  All written in a language she couldn't read.

  "Translate," Null said. "Everything. I want to understand this world."

  "As you command, Great One."

  Void leaned over the map, pointing to different features. "In the center is a massive desert—the Desert of Nothing, according to the label. Empty. Vast. Unmarked except for a few oasis locations along the edges."

  Around the desert were four distinct regions. Four different states, each marked with borders, major cities, geographical features.

  "To the north: the Empire. Mountains dominate the landscape, and at the very top of the continent sits a massive city—the Great City, they call it. Said to be the greatest metropolis in the world. In distant past, all of this continent and large portions of several nearby landmasses were ruled by this Empire."

  "However, about seven thousand years ago, there was a great catastrophe. The center of this continent—what is now the Desert of Nothing—was once a vast woodland called Paradise. Beautiful, lush, teeming with life. Then, in a single day, it was destroyed. Everything turned to barren wasteland. Nobody knows exactly what happened. The Empire collapsed soon after, fragmenting into the states we see today."

  Void's expression grew slightly wistful. "This caravan was traveling toward the Empire, actually. I was secretly hoping my new owner would take me to the Great City. I've read so much about it over the years—the libraries, the architecture, the history. I always wanted to see it with my own eyes."

  Null studied the northern region on the map. Mountains. A single massive city at the continent's peak. The remnants of something that had once ruled everything.

  "What caused the catastrophe? The destruction of Paradise?"

  "Nobody knows for certain, Great One. There are theories—divine punishment, magical experiment gone wrong, war between ancient powers, the wrath of a Divine Child. The Empire's records from that time are fragmentary or lost. What is known is that it happened in a single day. Witnesses described the sky turning dark, the earth shaking, and then... silence. When the dust settled, Paradise was gone. Just sand remained."

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  "The Empire tried to survive the loss, but Paradise had been its heartland—the most fertile land, the population center, the source of its wealth and power. Without it, the Empire fragmented. The territories on the edges broke away, forming their own nations. What remains in the north is just a shadow of what once was, though the Great City itself still stands as a monument to that lost glory."

  "And the other regions?"

  "To the east: the Republic." Void pointed to the coastal region. "A collection of city-states united under a republican government. On paper, it's a democracy. In practice... only about ten percent of the population are citizens with voting rights. The rest are non-citizens, slaves, or foreigners. The way they actually govern isn't much different from how nobles rule elsewhere—power concentrated among the wealthy and influential."

  "It's almost impossible to gain citizenship there unless they consider you useful. But with power like ours? Even showing a small fraction of our capabilities would grant instant citizenship. Every B-rank adventurer receives it automatically, for example. The Republic is truly a place where might makes right, and sufficient coin can fix almost any problem."

  "Also," Void added, "the closest civilized point from our current location is in Republic territory. That's also the direction those three lizardmen were running. They were probably trying to reach Republic lands, where slavery laws are more... flexible for those with strength or money."

  "Flexible meaning?"

  "In the Republic, if you're strong enough or wealthy enough, you can escape slavery. Challenge your owner to combat and win your freedom. Buy yourself out. Earn citizenship through service. It's not easy, but it's possible. That's why slaves with any capability often try to reach Republic territory—it's the only place where they might have a chance."

  Null nodded, filing that information away. A meritocracy, at least in theory. Strength and wealth over bloodline.

  "To the south: the Kingdom." Void's tone grew more neutral. "This is where the caravan originated. The Kingdom is also known as New Paradise—named in memory of the lost woodland. I spent the last century or so there as a slave. It's a country with exceptional public order. Law and justice are taken seriously, even for commoners."

  "That sounds unusual."

  "Very unusual, Great One. In most places, nobles can kill commoners with impunity—a fine at worst, nothing at best. In the Kingdom, even nobles face real consequences. Murder is murder, regardless of who commits it or who the victim is. The current Queen has been pushing these policies even harder since taking the throne. She wants to ban gladiatorial combat, public executions for entertainment, and other practices common elsewhere."

  "It makes the Kingdom... orderly. Safe, if you're a law-abiding citizen. But also restrictive. Any killing spree, any large-scale violence, triggers major investigations. Truth-detection magic, divination, inquisitors combing through evidence. Even with our power, causing trouble there would draw significant attention."

  "And their relationship with the Republic?"

  "Terrible," Void said flatly. "The Kingdom and Republic are the two largest powers on this continent, and they're in near-constant conflict. Border skirmishes, trade disputes, diplomatic incidents, proxy wars through smaller nations. They find reasons to fight over almost everything. The Kingdom sees the Republic as morally corrupt, a place where might makes right and the weak suffer. The Republic sees the Kingdom as self-righteous, restrictive, and hypocritical—they still have slavery, after all, they just dress it up with laws and regulations."

  "Neither side will admit they're functionally at war, but everyone knows. Travelers between the two regions are heavily scrutinized. Merchants face high tariffs. Adventurers from one region are treated with suspicion in the other. It's a cold war that occasionally turns hot when tensions boil over."

  "And the west?"

  "To the west: the Church State." Void's expression darkened. "The smallest of the four by population, but holding tremendous power due to the Church's influence. That power extends far beyond this continent—a leftover from the old Empire days when the Church was the spiritual authority for all territories."

  Void pointed to the western region on the map. Rivers crisscrossed the landscape, feeding into a central holy city marked with religious symbols.

  "The Church State is ruled by the Inquisition. Officially, they hunt heretics, devil worshippers, practitioners of forbidden magic. In practice, the Inquisition burns anyone who threatens Church authority or doesn't pay sufficient tribute. If you're wealthy and make appropriate donations, you can hint that your neighbor is a cultist. The Inquisition will 'investigate' and find exactly what you paid them to find."

  "I was there about twenty years ago with a previous owner. The corruption is breathtaking, hidden behind religious ceremony. Everyone pretends the Inquisition serves divine will while they burn innocents for political convenience."

  "Sounds charming."

  "It's a nightmare, Great One. And particularly dangerous for us." Void's tone grew serious. "Even in your human form, you carry darkness. Your nature, your power—it resonates with shadow, with death, with things the Church considers evil. Anyone with divine sensitivity would detect it. Priests, paladins, inquisitors—they'd know immediately that you're not natural. Not blessed by their gods."

  "And once they know, they don't ask questions. They don't negotiate. They burn first and sort through the ashes later. The Church State is absolutely not an option for us unless you want to fight every holy warrior on the continent."

  Null absorbed this information, studying the map. Four powers. Four very different approaches to governance, law, and society.

  "What about the other regions? These aren't the only things in this world, right?"

  "Correct, Great One. This map only shows this continent—the one we're currently on. There are other continents across the seas, each with their own nations and powers. I was originally from a different continent entirely before being enslaved and brought here. But for now, these four regions are what we need to consider."

  "So where should we go?" Null asked.

  Void considered carefully. "The Church State is absolutely not an option, for the reasons I mentioned. Your nature would be detected immediately, and we'd face constant threats from the Inquisition."

  "The Kingdom presents complications because of their exceptional public order. Any large-scale violence would trigger major investigations. Even nobles can be prosecuted for murder there. With your power, we could handle the authorities, but it would draw attention. Make us notable. Put us on wanted lists. The new Queen has been pushing for even stricter laws, trying to ban blood sports and slave sacrifices—practices that are common and unremarkable elsewhere."

  "The Republic is probably our best option. It's closest, and at the speeds we just demonstrated, it shouldn't take us that long to reach civilization. It values strength and wealth above morality or law. Citizenship would be easy to obtain with even a fraction of our power on display. The culture asks few questions as long as you have coin or capability. We could operate freely, establish ourselves, gather information about this world."

  "The Empire is also viable. More structured than the Republic, more prestigious, home to ancient knowledge and history. The Great City supposedly holds libraries that date back to before the catastrophe. If we want to understand this world's past, its magic, its mysteries—the Empire would be the place. But it's farther, requires crossing more dangerous territory, and the Empire's nobility can be... particular about outsiders."

  Void looked at Null. "My recommendation is the Republic. Closest, most freedom, fewest questions. But the choice is yours, Great One."

  Null studied the map in silence, considering her options.

  The Church State was out—too dangerous with her nature. The Kingdom sounded restrictive, though orderly. The Empire was intriguing, especially those libraries, but distant.

  The Republic... strength and wealth over morality. No questions asked. Freedom to operate.

  "Republic it is," Null said finally. "We'll head east."

  She paused, then added: "Viva la república."

  Void blinked, confusion crossing his features. "I... Great One, I understood 'republic' in that phrase, but—"

  "Never mind. Let's go."

  "Solid choice, Host. Get established, learn more about the world, figure out our next moves."

  "Exactly." Null looked at Void. "How fast can you fly sustainably? I can run at that speed we just used for a while, but I don't know your limits yet."

  "I believe I can maintain flight at considerable speed for extended periods, Great One. The power you've granted me is... immense. I don't think I'll tire easily."

  "Then let's test it. We'll travel fast, cover ground quickly. If you need to slow down, tell me."

  "As you command."

  Null turned to face east, toward where the Republic waited somewhere beyond the desert's edge. Toward civilization, opportunity, and whatever this world had to offer.

  "Ready?" she asked.

  "Ready, Great One."

  "Then let's go."

  Null began to run, and Void launched himself into the air beside her.

  The desert blurred past them as they raced toward—

  "Hold on," Spy's voice cut through sharply. "You two brainies... you're not forgetting something?"

  Null skidded to a stop, sand spraying. Void circled back, landing beside her.

  "What?" Null asked.