Raynold wasn’t surprised that Frey betrayed him. He’d seen the signs: Frey’s bitterness and jealousy, the cold looks when they were out in the dungeon, the snide comments he made. He had expected it, on a level.

  But he assumed that it would happen at night, in a dark alley. Or in the dungeon, where accidents often happened. Maybe Frey would take matters into his own hands and slit his throat at night, or poison his drink.

  In his nightmare scenarios, Frey hired a hundred assassins to rush him while he was at his most vulnerable: in the tavern or the bathroom.

  But in any case, Raynold always thought that Frey would at least have the balls to do it himself. That was why, sitting in a cafe at a public park, Raynold couldn’t understand why he had sent Elaine of all people.

  “Ray? Are you alright? No, that’s a stupid question, of course you’re not.”

  “Elaine, I think I misheard you. Could you say that again?”

  Elaine swallowed hard. She looked down at her fidgeting hands as if they were the only thing in the world. When she spoke again, it was hushed and uncertain. Why was she so terrified?

  “Well… the reason that I brought you out here is because Frey wanted me to tell you something.”

  “Go on.”

  “He said that he decided to found a clan, but…”

  “But?”

  It was several seconds before Elaine blurted out what she was holding in.

  “Look, Frey is going to found a clan and he doesn’t want you to be part of it. I’m sorry, I tried to talk him out of it.”

  Kids ran past while playing with a balloon. Someone’s dog barked. The peaceful atmosphere was so incongruent with Raynold's emotions, he could only laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. Elaine squirmed, no doubt finding Raynold’s reaction bizarre.

  “I’m not laughing at you, promise! I just can’t believe it. What do you mean he doesn’t want to include me in the clan? He’s nothing without me.”

  “Don’t say that, Frey is a great man.”

  “Who's apparently too scared to give me the news himself. Instead he had to send his girlfriend to be the bearer of bad news. Tell me something, what do you see in the guy? Sure, he’s tall, handsome, and rugged; but he’s a dime a dozen in this city.”

  “Why I date Frey is none of your business. We’ve known each other for years, even before the party formed, and I trust him. Why do you even care?”

  “Because I’m baffled that you can still be with him after this. What does it say about him that he’d throw me away like trash after all we’ve been through? And if he’d do this to me, what would he do to you?”

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  “Don’t think you know everything. Besides, you’re hardly perfect either.”

  “You don’t know the half of it. But we aren’t talking about me right now, are we? I trusted Frey, and that’s a rare thing in this world. Once thrown away, trust isn't so easily replaced.”

  “I’m sure you can still patch things up. Maybe he’ll let you join the party again.”

  “Elaine, you have to be out of your mind to think I’d ever want to work with him again. There is no ‘patching things up.’ No. Not over this. Frey has shown me that he isn’t the type of man that I could ever work for, let alone want to.

  This party was always a dead end, I just didn’t want to admit it. But maybe this is the sign I needed. Tell Frey he can do whatever the hell he wants, but whatever goodwill he had from me is gone with this stunt.”

  Raynold stood to leave even though his coffee was half-finished. It tasted like dirt anyway.

  “I’m going to get my share from the dragon corpse. Take care, Elaine.”

  “Wait. There’s one more thing.”

  Raynold could tell from her posture that this was the big one. The real thing that she’d been scared to talk about.

  “What is it? Elaine, what aren’t you telling me?”

  He had a sneaking suspicion about what was going on. He refused to believe it, but the longer the silence dragged on, the more certain he became.

  “Elaine…”

  “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Raynold.”

  “What did you do?” It came out more forcefully than he’d wanted, and people were staring. Whatever half-excuses or pleas Elaine had thought up died, the words stuck in her throat.

  Jesus, was this the same woman who’d fought a dragon? She hadn’t looked him in the eyes the whole time they spoke. Raynold was ready to ask just what was wrong with her when he caught a brief glance of his reflection.

  In his cup, two cold eyes fixed a hard stare on him. Their gaze was dark and murky, and not from the black coffee they were reflected in. He nearly struck it away.

  Elaine ran. She just got up and ran away, hoping Raynold would be too distracted to pursue. He let her.

  He had a sinking feeling of what had happened, and he had to know now. Raynold didn’t wait for Elaine to get out of sight, instead calling forth lightning Qi.

  He didn’t wrap his mind in nothingness this time, instead feeling the elemental energy jump from his soul and course through his veins. It was an immolating brilliance that scoured his body, setting every nerve ending and blood vessel on fire. It was agonizing. It was powerful.

  It was the bridge between the material and immaterial, the source and the creation all at once. With a single burst of power, Raynold filled every inch of his body with Qi. The sudden flux dragged something else with it from his soul: the concept of lightning.

  On a warm, sunny day, a thunderclap rang out in the middle of Betham’s Park. No drops of rain fell, nor did any scorch marks burn the lawn, but where Raynold had been standing there was nothing. He had disappeared.

  Several miles away, in front of the Guild, lightning struck the brick plaza. There emerged Raynold.

  For an instant, he had become lightning itself, traveling unbounded by the will of the world. Then the instant passed, the Qi that filled him equalized and receded, and without it nothing tied the concept of lightning to his body. He became flesh and blood, right in front of his destination.

  ***

  “Money? What money? It’s gone,” the fat Guild attendant said from behind the counter. Some people got paired up with cute halflings or a straight-laced professional. Raynold got neither, instead having to deal with a bureaucratic slob whose only power was wasting peoples’ time. The man would have fit right in at the DMV.

  “Your leader, one Frey Gilligan, collected the money from the dragon corpse yesterday. Didn’t he give you your share?”

  Goddamnit.