“You can release my companion, Master Gavin.”

  Hector thudded back down onto his seat, which collapsed sideways under the sudden load, sending him onto the canvas flooring. He looked at the feet of the Xian who had accosted him and swallowed. What had he been thinking? And this woman was a Sage?

  “His behavior towards one of your station cannot be allowed to stand, sage. Allow me to reprimand him.”

  “I accept any blame for his actions. We were in the midst of an interrogation.”

  What?

  “My sincere apologies, Sage Caroline. I hope my interference has not jeopardized your efforts.”

  “I heard enough to make a decision, Master Gavin. Thank you for your concern.”

  “As you say, Sage. I’ll be on my way.”

  Hector regained his feet once the Xian moved far enough away. He stared at Caroline as he pushed a sliver of cosmic energy into his mind, desperately hoping that would offer some resistance to any further mental tricks. “You are obviously not a failed ritualist.”

  “That label actually does apply to me. It was a small truth among a great many lies.”

  “You’re not a sage of vocal control, I assume?”

  “They call me the Sage of Persuasion. Your friend Evelyn… you believe in her abilities.”

  It didn’t sound like a question, but he answered anyway. “Absolutely I do.”

  “Do you know how Levinia died?”

  “I don’t, Sage Caroline.”

  Caroline gestured for him to retake his seat, then continued at a conversational tone. “Levinia and I had a complicated relationship. We were not in a cooperative phase when she passed, so I don’t know the details. Less than a year after the fall of Aes, she went there in person to offer humanitarian aid with a small party.”

  Caroline folded her hands carefully. “It makes no sense, Hector. The Sage of Foresight didn’t bumble into dead ends like that. With how bad we were about to need her gift, how could she throw herself to the monsters like that? There is only one possibility that I can imagine and it is too terrible for me to accept.”

  “What is it?”

  “That she saw no hope for us.” Caroline shook her head. “I may be a fool for this, but I will collect your would-be Sage. I think I can sway my allies to bring a portion of the coalition army along to handle your monster invasion.”

  Sudden tears of relief glimmered in his eyes. Hector stood and bowed deeply. “Thank you, Sage Caroline.”

  “How are you guiding us to your home world? I don’t imagine you have any experience with the true world coordinate method.”

  “I can go there in a transit sphere. It’s not big enough for me to bring anyone along.”

  “What do you think about that, Kevin?”

  The voice of the war barge emerged from an ear ring worn by Caroline. “I can’t follow a Xian through chaos. Our methods are too different. You’ll need to persuade our problem child.”

  Caroline sighed. “Easily enough done. He wanted to split the army anyway. You know he won’t agree to rejoin the main body anytime soon?”

  “That is the least of my concerns. I dread the thought of relying upon him for transit.”

  A throaty chuckle came from Caroline. “I thought you were friends now.”

  When the ear ring remained silent, Caroline turned her attentions back to Hector. “Go eat the meat from Tian. We’re about to lose a large portion of our Xian contingent, so it’s going to become dead weight.”

  “I’ll do that, Sage Caroline. But first, how long do you think it will be before we are ready to leave for my world?”

  “In a day, maybe two. Which… probably is too soon for you. Master Gavin! I will require two bottles of uncut spirits! Deliver them to my friend here. Go eat, Hector.”

  He went to the serving station of the Xian and asked for a meal. The cook slid a metal tray forward from where it rested under a heat lamp. “Don’t complain about Jinn technology. Their heater doesn’t change anything about the food.” The words rolled off the cook’s tongue like he said them so often they were automatic. He probably muttered them while he slept.

  Hector returned to his table, which no longer held a sage. His appetite, long dormant, returned with a vengeance at the first bite. The generous portion of rice and beans were the kind of food he’d make for himself. And though dry, the solitary chunk of beef was full of cosmic energy to his senses. He emptied the plate and eagerly prepared to cultivate from his body.

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  The arrival of the requested bottles of uncut spirits sobered him. Master Gavin squinted down suspiciously. “What lord are you associated with?”

  “I’m from an unempowered world.”

  “A dreamer, then.” Gavin shook his head. “You’re no Xian. Just a fake.”

  He pondered the bottles before him, unsure if he wanted to chase a good meal with poisonous garbage. It didn’t slip his mind that Volithur died of liver poison caused by uncut spirits. Two bottles of distillates from Tian very well might do the same to someone without body enhancement.

  Liver failure took days to kill a person, though. Long enough for him to save Earth. He’d make that exchange if he had to. Maybe he could go out of order and enhance his liver fast enough to reverse the damage. It really didn’t matter right now. The future would take care of itself.

  Hector uncorked the first bottle, almost spilling it in the process. The contents smelled like paint thinner, only less pleasant. He eased himself into the experience by licking the an errant droplet from the mouth of the bottle. It seemed to melted directly through his tongue and into his blood.

  While he was steeling his nerves for a swig of the hazardous substance, an Arahant man appeared to summon him. “The Sage of Persuasion demands your presence.” Then, when he tried to collect the bottles, the Arahant snapped at him to leave them. To compensate for his delayed imbibing, Hector accelerated the pace of his chaos cultivation.

  They jogged through the camp towards a section dominated by wooden Xian shuttles and canvas tents arrayed in a matrix like a chess board. Their path took them to a small group outside a larger tent, where Caroline chatted with a stern figure whose back was to him. Cosmic energy radiated from the man like nothing Hector had ever experienced in his own life. The man was a Xian lord.

  The Arahant slowed to a walk and announced their approach. “Sage, Lord, the asset is here.”

  Caroline nodded casually. The lord turned.

  And Hector’s knees went stiff so fast he fell back onto the ground.

  He knew the man before him. Knew him and hated him and feared him without ever having met him in person. The figure towering above him was none other than Thrakkar Shaocheth.

  “On your feet,” the Lord General snapped. “Level four. Can you even form a transit sphere?”

  “Yes, Lord General.”

  The use of his sobriquet caught the man off guard. “You know of me?”

  Fear born of the unexpected encounter had begun to fade, letting some of the heat rise to the surface. He recalled the mutilation of young Darius. The exile of Khana. The death of Volithur’s parents. All of it inspired an unhealthy spite which he fought down with love of his world so that he could speak in civil tones. “I have memories of you, Lord General.”

  Thrakkar Shaocheth made a chopping motion with his hand. “I care not for the misbegotten memories of a dreamer. You will receive no special consideration from me, no matter the source of your knowledge.”

  “As you say, Lord General.” How easily he fell into the social patterns of the Amaratti Xian. It sickened Hector that he’d assumed the proper posture for a junior subordinate. He’d always been disgusted by how completely Volithur adopted their customs. Now he did the same, putting the lie to his belief that he would have done differently. He continued to draw upon chaos on autopilot.

  The hard eyes of the Lord General shrank to slits beneath a descending brow. “Chaotic emergence…. Whose memories did you receive?”

  "I thought it didn't matter," Hector snapped. Maybe he did have more backbone than Volithur. Maybe less sense, too, if such a thing were possible.

  Thrakkar lifted his chin. "You dreamed the life of a traitor."

  “As you say, Lord General.” He needed to save Earth. Volithur would understand.

  Caroline started to step between them. “Lord General, this man can guide us to the new Sage of Foresight.” She was dragged back by a cable of force several times more dense than anything Hector could dream of making. And that was the Lord General being delicate.

  “Why did he do it, dreamer?”

  Hector stared at the disturbingly calm man before him. What did he say to that? Call Volithur a crazy person? The Lord General at the time believed that the Jinn bribed him, so that might sound believable. Ultimately, Hector was tired of lying. He wasn’t playing out scripts in front of a studio audience with the Arahant.

  “Lord General, you led the army that killed Volithur’s parents. He watched them die.”

  “I gave Harridan everything of value he possessed. His cultivation, his training, his station, his wife, even his insight came by my actions.”

  “His name was Volithur.” Hector said the words that his dream counterpart never dared.

  “Whatever name he bore before belonged to an unempowered nobody. I elevated Harridan.”

  “You killed his family. What would you feel for someone who did the same to you? Just because his parents weren’t lords doesn’t mean they didn’t matter to him.”

  Thrakkar grunted what might have been acceptance of a point made. “Did he die with sorrow in his heart?”

  Hector bared his teeth. “He suffered as much as a person could. His dying wish was that he be forgotten. Yet here I am, remembering every moment of his life.”

  “Tell me truly, dreamer. What do you think of Harridan’s betrayal?”

  Hector pulled back on the anger. It wasn’t helping his cause. “You want to know what I think of his actions, Lord General? He was wrong. I will not deny that you earned his hatred. But he built a family who he loved dearly. They suffered for the sake of his foolish vengeance.”

  The Lord General stared Hector down for long seconds. “You have steel in you, dreamer.”

  “My name is Hector.”

  “Stowaway, fetch my paperweight.” The Lord General held out his hand to the side without breaking eye contact with Hector. Someone placed a beautiful melding of metal and glass into it. “Harridan got half of my elite soldiers killed with his betrayal. I had to abandon most of my men when I fled. It is a setback I think about often.”

  Hector nodded, not sure how to respond. His defiance had gone unpunished so far, but he didn’t doubt that Thrakkar Shaocheth would ultimately do what he wanted.

  “Elites are not so easily replaced. I was recruiting in the capital when the monsters breached the sky.” Thrakkar turned his piercing gaze to the vial in his hand. “I transported the armies of three separate lords across thousands of miles to counter the attack. I’ve been told by at least a hundred men that the nation of Amarat only exists to this day because of my quick action. It stings me that my finest hour was made possible by the act of a traitor.”

  The Lord General held out the vial in his hands. “The elixir didn’t turn out as promised. It is nowhere near level eight. But it will serve you well enough.”

  Hesitantly, Hector reached out to accept the vial. As he held the glass in his hands, he couldn’t help but think: this was what remained of Volithur? A failed elixir. It seemed almost sacrilegious for him to consume such a resource. It was akin to cannibalism. “Are you sure you wish to part with this, Lord General?”

  “I am tired of looking at it. You have his insight, Hector. Consume the last remnant of him and become his heir in truth.”

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