The Newt and Demon - Book 8 Chapters 37,38,39 (Patreon)

Chapter 37

Busy, Busy

In her time, dancing through the stars, Fate had seen many things. She had witnessed the birth of new civilizations, the downfall of worlds thanks to the system, and the rise of great people that would shift certain sectors to glory or demise. She had never seen what her grandfather had done. On the other side of that door was a sprawl of fields, full of all sorts of life and brimming with potential. She stood there for some time, holding onto the thread of fate, gawking at what he had done.

“This is a bit much,” Omen scoffed, looking around. “Why did he make an entire world?”

Fate tilted her head to one side, a gentle breeze swaying her dress and sending stray strands of hair into her face. “There’s a knot of threads over there,” she said, pointing into the distance with her chin. “Let’s check it out.”

At least Omen wasn’t hopeless yet again. He had that old shine he used to have when he was a mortal, sending Fate’s heart soaring as they walked across the open fields. No matter how many times she thought about what she’d say to her grandfather, nothing came to mind. He wouldn’t accept her forgiveness, favoring the concept of shouldering that burden until he died. Instead, she planned to pretend as though nothing happened. This was an action only made possible by her years examining the threads.

The universe could be cruel.

A swirling nexus of energy emerged on the horizon. Fate didn’t know how long they had been walking, but she felt further from her seat of power than ever. Since Elrin would be assaulting their realm by now, it was best to stay away for a while longer. The man would find nothing but trees and echoes there, crumbling his plan to intimidate the twins. What place did a mortal have bullying the gods, anyway?

Fate scoffed, climbing the rise of one last hill before getting a look at what King Leon had been working on.

“That vortex means doom,” Omen said, shaking his head. “I can see ten-thousand outcomes, and none are good.

Fate clicked her tongue. Omen always saw only the bad outcomes. From her perspective, she saw the potential. Lines of fate were joined over a swirling hurricane of energies. They joined in a tangled ball, threads shooting off in every direction. This was a literal nexus of fates, a place where Leon planned to execute some grand plan. It was an act indicative of the man, reflecting a life of big moves that saw the Kingdom of Perisart through more than a few tough battles.

“Come closer!” a hoarse voice called from down below. “Since you’ve made the trip, you might as well see what I’m working on.”

“Grandfather,” Omen breathed, looking to Fate expectantly. “Should we?”

Fate playfully punched her brother in the arm. He winced. “Of course we should!” she shouted, skipping to the hill’s edge and starting her descent. “He’s gotta be working on something cool!”

King Leon Batteux was nothing like Fate had remembered. She spotted him near the base of the vortex, withered and hunched over. He had been old when she knew him in life, but even in his form as Death, he was an imposing figure. Now he looked like an animated corpse. Omen only winced for a moment before rushing over to give him a hug. Fate was close behind, throwing those things away in an instant.

“Sorry.” Leon’s words echoed over the open fields after a long pause. He waited quite some time before saying anything else. “So, what brings you outside of the sector’s bubble?”

That was good enough for Fate. If he wanted to drop the matter entirely, pretending like nothing happened, she was happy to entertain the farce. “Well, the heavenly realms are being attacked.”

“And we brought you a pie!” Omen said, sloshing more of the contents onto the ground. “What’s all this?”

Leon offered a soft smile, accepting the pie with a nod. He looked back at the vortex, shaking his head. “The pie soothes my spirits, but within my penance… I’m afraid even the sweetest food would be sour. What I did during the war cannot be forgiven.”

“Is she…” Omen stopped himself before saying her name.

“Somewhere in Death’s Gate,” Leon confirmed.

Fate looked around, soaking in the strange energies of this place. She had a thousand questions to ask, but only one came to her lips. “What are you working on?”

Leon laughed, patting both Fate and Omen on the head. “You two are gods now. But standing here, in my new world, you just look like my grandchildren… How about I give you a tour?”

“Yeah!” Omen shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

Leon chuckled, steadying himself with a cane as he walked around the vortex. “Exploiting the system’s constructs was easy enough. I have a deal with someone who manages the greater system. They call it the Grand System, something that creates a web between distant worlds. Currently, your sector is locked in a bubble. We’re just on the outside of that bubble, still taking advantage of the time-dilation effect, but unaffected by the other restrictions.”

“Wow. Sounds kinda technical,” Fate said.

Leon laughed again, holding his side as he did so. “Well, you’re not wrong. All this magic is the last of my power. I’ll have enough within me to make this world functional, and then… Well, I’m not certain what will happen.”

“At worst,” Fate said, reaching out to a thread that stretched from Leon’s chest. “You’ll die.”

“And at best?” Omen asked, concern painted plainly on his face.

“He’ll go to sleep,” Fate said, reading the thread. She let out a bark-like laugh. “You planned this!?”

Leon stopped in his tracks, turning back to his granddaughter to wink. “I didn’t plan this exact part, but I did put a contingency in place when I held the Elderling Throne of Death. Droth Ker Taral Set was kind to me, and I didn’t deserve it. While I didn’t predict the Throne of Death falling into the hands of another, it worked out.”

“Even if that person holding the realm is Kuzan?” Omen asked.

Leon knelt with great effort, gazing into Omen’s eyes. “In the time of Pera’tal, when our ancestors still hunted the land, he was a great man. He did terrible things, but he still pulled us out of the primordial forests. If he has his mind back, we have no right to question his wisdom.”

“Whatever you say gramps,” Fate said, helping him back to his feet. “Come on. Show me some of this magic you’re using, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Fine, fine… I suppose I can show you a few secrets,” Leon said, wobbling as he pressed forward. “The most important part is the World Anchor. That should work together with the planet itself to capture any incursions.”

“Which makes this place a battleground,” Fate said.

“Very close,” Leon said, turning with all the dramatic fashion of a king. “It turns it into a training ground.”

***

“Wow. Melty flower. So cool,” Tresk said. She sat with her head propped up, yawning as though the flower was the most boring thing she had ever seen. “Don’t you have some games to judge?”

Theo turned, giving his companion a flat look. “Didn’t I listen to your lecture on the best way to stab a goblin? How long were you talking for? An hour?”

“Fine, fine, tell me all about the weird magical flower,” Tresk said with a dramatic sigh. She slapped herself in the face a few times to wake up and then squared her shoulders.

“The flower is unassuming on the outside. Obviously, it’s melting, so we have to introduce some freezing elements to it to keep it stable. But that’s not the most unusual ingredient I’ve ever worked with. Others are far more unstable than this, after all,” Theo said, holding the flower up for Tresk to see. “But it isn’t the flower’s reaction to its environment that makes it interesting. It’s the energy contained within. I just can’t quite place my finger on it.”

“And what exactly is wrong with this energy? It just feels like a normal alchemy ingredient to me,” Tresk said. She got closer, practically pressing her face against the surface of the flower to get a better look.

“The energies of most alchemy reagents are uniform,” Theo said. He withdrew a Flame Rose from his inventory and held it out for her to see. “I’ve always thought about it as a flavor of magic, but I’ve heard other people talk about it as colors, tastes, or other senses they link to magical energies. Can you feel the difference between the Frozen Tear and the Flame Rose?”

Tresk had to focus very hard to get anything from the flower. Theo could feel her narrowing her stunted senses, and when her own intuition failed her, she instead leaned on his. Only then did she feel the subtle differences between the two. “I can feel it, but I’m not sure what it means or why I should care.”

With an exasperated sigh, Theo went to the stores of the lab. He withdrew ingredient after ingredient, placing them on a table in a row for her to see. “Do the same thing you just did on each one of these ingredients, and tell me what you think.”

Whatever grumpiness Tresk held for the day faded as she did her due diligence. She inspected each of the ingredients, taking in their energies and reserving time for processing. Eventually, she came away from the table and nodded. “They’re all the same. There are differences in terms of the effects, but if you don’t drill down, they have that same taste on the top.”

“And the frozen flour has a completely different flavor if we only examine that top note, as you said.” Theo pinched the stem of the Frozen Tear and held it up. “I have a few theories, but I’ve got no idea how to test them specifically. Obviously, I’m going to reveal the properties of the flour, but what if this isn’t from our version of the system, but instead an artifact from the way things were before?”

“Interesting theory, but I don’t really know how it helps us.” Tresk folded her arms, nodding to the Frozen Tear. “Old flower. Who cares?”

“We care because this old flower has a signature of a different system, meaning that my initial theory on how our local system worked is wrong. When the people from Earth came here, they received a prompt that told them to migrate their systems to the newer version. They could accept or decline, but they didn’t get to access their old system. Yet, if I’m holding a flower that has the energy of the old system, what does that mean?”

“That the systems can layer. So you can have different ones in the same spot.” Tresk shook her head, offering a shrug in response to the question. “But who cares? Is this just academic for you? Does it impact us?”

“I think it impacts everyone. I think it speaks to another theory we have about the expansiveness of the universe. The fact that there are other planets with other systems out there means that I think I know exactly what’s going to happen when the reset occurs. If we thought interdictions from the local sector were bad, what happens when it’s outside of the sector?”

“Intergalactic war?” Tresk said, rubbing her hands together. “Spicy.”

“Something like that,” Theo muttered. “Let’s see what properties this thing has. Maybe make a few potions.”

Tresk snapped her fingers. “We also have a few games we’ve gotta watch today. You know they started, right?”

“Right. Busy, busy.”

Chapter 38

Frozen Tear

“Well, that ain’t right!” Tresk shouted.

Theo stood looking at the system message before him with a creased brow. He had decomposed the alchemy ingredient he had been focusing on and had never seen anything like these properties. Although he had his suspicions about what exactly they meant, they were simply guesses. He turned to his companion with an open mouth and shook his head before reading the description once more.

[Frozen Tear]

[Alchemy Ingredient]

The tear of a long-forgotten goddess frozen into the shape of a flower.

Properties:

[B1583] [M8112] [#$1123]

"Do you feel anything in your core? Is this an error that needs resolving?" Theo asked.  

"It is definitely an error, but my core doesn't say anything about it," Tresk said. 

The more Theo thought about it, the more he was convinced that these were some kind of designation from the system. Each one of those properties linked to a property that had existed in a different system. It wasn't altogether incompatible with the system they were using, which meant he could likely make a potion out of it. But what the effects were was beyond him. He could only guess and make potions out of it to see if that would help this version of the system interpolate what was going on.

"I have a general sense of what each property does, but it feels vague and distant. I feel something about a freezing property, maybe, and then another water-based one, perhaps, but it's too far away for me to grasp," Theo said. He pulled another example of the flower from his inventory and gave it a closer inspection. "Do we have enough time to test these properties before we have to go watch the games?"

“Watch them?” Tresk asked with a snort. “Sorry, I must’ve said it wrong before… You’re a commentator on the games, specifically the first team fight.”

Theo turned, blinking slowly at Tresk as the fire built in his eyes. “Wanna say that again?”

“Yup, you gotta do commentary.” Tresk said, giggling. “Alise thought it’d be funny.”

The lab was empty today. Most businesses were empty, in fact. The lure of the games was quite strong, and both citizens and visitors had decided to spend their time and money at the arena. The alchemist hadn't planned to spend any of his time watching the games, perhaps further down the line where things got a bit interesting. But as far as he knew, the early days were going to be all low-level people battling it out. He had bigger things to worry about. Eventually, he let out a heavy sigh, resigning himself to the fact that he was the leader of this place and sometimes it was best to act like it.

"Fine, but you have to stay here with me and watch me make my weird potions. That's your punishment for roping me into something so stupid," Theo said. “This first property, the one that starts with a B, feels most like an ice situation to me. My question to you is whether or not we run it through the stills or if we should just make one of my cheat potions instead.”

“The cheat way is faster, right?”

“Right.”

“Let’s do that.”

Using the willpower infusion method to create potions thanks to the Unrivaled Tero’gal Mastery skill might have been quicker, but it took more time on the back end since they had to test everything by hand rather than relying on the system message to make it happen. Theo wouldn't bring this up and got to work right away on extracting the first property from the flower. He infused it into a potion in minutes and held it at length to assess its quality.

A combination of Theo's extensive experience with all things alchemy and his intuition told him this was a potion that would help a person against the effects of cold and ice in general. If he had to label it, he would call it an ice resistance potion. He held it out for Tresk to take, gesturing that she should tip it back. The marshaling shrugged and drank it without question.

Theo was quick to pull a Frostbomb from his inventory and throw it at her face, although Tresk shrieked in terror. The ice that formed on her skin sloughed off, falling to the ground and leaving her completely unaffected. She patted herself, looking around before narrowing her eyes at Theo. "That was a dirty little trick.”

“Looks like complete immunity to frost.” Theo nodded with approval. This was a success in his book. “It might only be low-tier frost or ice effects, but it can feel some amount of general cold immunity there. If you drank this potion and went somewhere extremely cold, you would likely be unaffected. But I can't really see how this is related to an older system. The effect itself feels as though it's from our system.”

“Did you have to toss it right at my face?” Tresk asked.

“Yes. Want to check out the next effect?”

Although she seemed grumpy, Tresk nodded.

Focusing on the second property, the one starting with an M, Theo created another potion. When it was completed, the consistency of the potion was weird. If he didn’t know any better, the alchemist would’ve said that the contents were completely crystalline. But as he swirled it, the material within moved as though liquid. Whatever effect the potion held was beyond him, as it appeared in his senses like nothing he had seen before.

“That’s a weird one,” Theo said, looking at it from every angle to get a better feel for it.

Tresk didn’t wait. Obviously eager to get it over with so they could go to the games, she snatched the potion from his hand and downed it. The alchemist watched in horror as she changed. It started at the tips of her fingers. The marshling’s flesh took on a many-faceted look, her pink skin adopting the same qualities of a very familiar blue crystal.

“That ain’t good,” Theo said, eyes wide as he watched her change.

“What?” Tresk asked. “Why is everything so colorful?”

Theo grimaced, circling around his companion. Tresk’s skin was now partially transparent, her thin arm visible all the way through. He couldn’t see completely through her head as the contents were cloudy. But nothing of her biological function had ceased, even if this was the most dramatic transformation he had seen under the effects of a potion.

“Do you feel okay?” he asked, flicking her skin. It was as hard as crystal.

"Yeah, I feel fine," Trask said. Her voice had a strange hum to it, as though it was resonating with the very room itself. “You hear that buzzing sound?”

Theo took a knee, inspecting her closer. His first assumption was that she had just taken a crystalline form, not dissimilar to the bark skin potion, but this was different. The crystal wasn't just on the surface of her skin. Instead, it went all the way through down to her vital organs. It had changed her completely, which made him think it was a temporary change. Physical alterations brought by potions weren't impossible, but ones that altered the biology of a person completely were unheard of. Well, this ingredient was also unheard of, so perhaps there was something he could never have expected.

"I don't hear a buzzing. That's likely on your end. It appears you are made entirely out of crystals now," Theo said with a mirthless chuckle. "The crystal itself seems pretty close to what the shards are made out of, and you’re emitting a constant field of energy I can’t identify.”

"Sweet, I'm a shard now," Tresk said, doing a little jig. “What does that mean exactly?”

The only person who could truly answer that question was currently waging a war against the gods. Theo shook his head, studying her a bit more. From what he could tell, the power of the effect she was emitting was waning over time. That cemented the idea that this was a temporary effect, which was good. What Theo couldn't figure out was the purpose of the effect. His curiosity got the better of him, and he took his companion by the hand, falling into the familiar place between places and arriving shortly after at a shard Elrin had placed on the Slagrot Islands.

“Woah. Take a lizard on a date before you bring her to your secret island prison,” Tresk said. She tried to wink, but her crystalline features just depressed a bit and made a weird cracking sound. “Yeah, I’m not doing that again.”

Theo already felt the resonance between Tresk and the shard in the distance. He could have tested this at the one in the farm, but he wanted a more distant location just in case something went wrong. His curiosity about what exactly was going on was too tempting, and he led Tresk toward the tower looming in the distance. The closer they drew, the louder the hum grew until it was burning in his ears, like a keening shriek. He had to plug his ears to approach any closer, even though the sound didn't seem to affect Tresk at all.

“What?” Tresk asked, tilting her head to one side. She walked up the steps, skipping the last few. “What do you mean? No, I don’t really think so… Him? No, he’s my life-partner, there’s a difference.”

“Who the hell are you talking to?” Theo said, closing one eye as a headache formed in the front of his head.

“The shard, I guess,” Tresk said, pointing at the giant floating bit of rock.

Theo gritted his teeth, drawing on Tresk to empower himself. He drew some of her into him, his skin taking on the appearance of the shard. It wasn’t as intense of an effect as the marshling, but it was enough to stop the pounding headache. Then he heard something singing in the distance. The resonating voice of the shard filled his head.

“Oh! He can hear me, too.” The shard’s voice was melodic, like a calming song that floated on the wind. Theo’s headache was gone in an instant, his crystalline eyes focusing on the satisfying shape before him.

The alchemist saw the shard in a new light. He saw the angles and facets differently, as though each meant something completely different. It wasn’t just a random shape, but something forged for purpose. It was the strangest sensation he had ever experienced. Elrin had mentioned an ability to speak to the shards directly, but that was done through some connection or inability he had never wanted to fully explain. This was something different entirely. But had they been led to the flower by Elrin himself or was this coincidence?

Theo had a dark thought across his mind. Perhaps this was Elrin's way of ensuring the future of the world. If there was somebody alive able to speak with the shards and he never returned, then that part of his job was still fulfilled. He didn't want to entertain it, but that seemed like the practical kind of thing the man would do. The alchemist grit his teeth and considered his options. He had dealt with celestial, sometimes impossible to understand beings before. The shard was no less intimidating than the system itself.

There had to be more to Elrin’s plan than this.

“Play it cool,” Theo said, speaking into Tresk’s mind.

“What is there to play cool?” the shard asked, pulsating with every word.

Theo shared a look with Tresk, who nodded. They climbed the steps of the tower, both feeling a strange sense of warmth as the power of the shard washed over them. The energy was a strange mix of comfort and energy that made the alchemist feel as though he was buzzing. The pair stood at the base of the giant crystal, looking up as they were bathed in its light.

“So,” Theo said, trying to figure out where to begin. “What exactly are you?”

Chapter 39

Team Fight

The shard glittered before Theo. He hadn’t noticed how many colors were within the floating crystal before now. Thanks to the potion Tresk took, he could see the shard in a new light. Before, he felt a gentle sense of warmth when standing before the shards. Now the sense went deeper, soaking into his soul and infusing his bones with an impossible feeling of comfort.

The shard itself seemed eager to answer his questions. Which was odd.

"It's not a terrible question," the shard said, humming. It had a feminine voice, just like the system. Theo suspected they were two sides of the same coin, but perhaps the shard itself would answer that question. “Elrin always called me the Shard Network since I am, of course, in more than one place at a time. Until recently, I've been dormant. My purpose, as you will no doubt ask, is to hold this world together. To keep it from fading.”

"So you're a facet of the system," Theo said, nodding along. "Are you directly related to it, or are you independent?"

“We are different aspects of the world. You can think of me more as the world itself, the lifeblood that keeps its heart beating.”

That was interesting. Theo had expected an explanation more along the lines that the Shard Network was more of an extension of the system itself. Instead, if it were its own organization, that meant the planet was independent from the system.

“Why don’t the other planets in the system have a network like you?”

“I don’t know,” the shard said. “I’ve been dormant for quite some time. Even before then, I was young. Only near the end of the war was I able to gain the ability of speech.”

Theo cupped his chin in his hand, nodding along. If the space elves took command of the shards not long after the transition happened, it was possible the shard network didn't have many memories from this version of the world. He wondered what it looked like from her perspective, seeing the world in such disarray. Despite her position, she seemed to be in good spirits. Perhaps she was just happy to have somebody to talk to.

But that just confirmed the purpose of the network. It existed to hold the world together, which could have meant many things. Theo suspected that, like most other worlds, this one was created with some amount of energy that needed to be maintained. He suspected the Shard Network was an addition by either a native inhabitant of the world or one of the visiting travelers who seemed to meddle in the affairs of other planets. Whatever the case, having a good relationship with the Shard Network was a good idea. If her assessment of herself was correct, she was the beating heart of this world. Elrin's mission to see all of the pieces put back in place made quite a lot of sense.

There was a good thing the shard didn't take Theo's silence as disinterest. It seemed to observe both him and Trask with curiosity, chiming playfully every now and again. Otherwise, it simply rotated on its plinth and emitted that comforting glow.

"How did you come to take that form?" the shard asked.  

Theo looked down at himself, noting his crystalline skin and smiling to himself. "This is actually the effect of a potion. A potion made from ingredients native to your original world, not this strange copy we find ourselves in.”

"Is this a copy? It feels like the world I was born into," the shard said. “Then again, Elrin hasn't shared much with me. He has been quite busy figuring everything out. I still feel pieces of myself floating in the void. When are those going to be returned to me?”

“That is an unfortunate reality of this world. We need to delay returning them as long as possible so we can prepare this world for the transition. Unfortunately, the local system is hell-bent on setting everything right even if we're not ready.”

“That’s unfortunate. I’ve been told you’re working hard on the matter. Are you?”

Theo took a moment to think. He was barely working at all on the shard problem. But the problem concerning the stability of the world? Of course he was working hard. “That’s right. It shouldn’t be long now. What happens when all of your pieces are here, anyway?”

“I get stronger,” the shard said. “And so does the world. Lately, it feels as though my influence is… expanding. It bleeds into the space around the planet.”

“Well, that would be interesting,” Theo said. “Do you think you’re going to expand to encompass the entire sector?”

“What is a sector?”

“I suppose we’ll see, then,” Theo said, scratching his chin. It felt weird to feel crystal scraping crystal. “We can speak to you through the shard in our town, right?”

“You can speak to me through any shard. It would be nice to have someone to talk to while Elrin is gone.”

Theo shared a look with Tresk. The Shard Network was needy, and he couldn’t tell if that was a bad thing. The System itself barely had a personality, so this was a shift. Most of the time, when he interacted with the System, it just seemed annoyed. But the Shard Network was excited to talk to him about whatever. He confirmed how much time they had before they needed to get back to commentate the upcoming fights, and dedicated the rest of their free time to chatting up the shard.

She didn’t have much more information to give, instead just taking in details about the world that Elrin had left out. The talk was pleasant, but the effects of the potion eventually faded. The duo stood there, talking up until the gentle chiming voice of the shard faded into the same hum they had heard many times before. Both Theo and Tresk stood at the base of the shard for some time, looking up at her as though they could figure out what she was saying if they tried hard enough.

“We’ll come back,” Theo assured her, looking over his shoulder. “As long as the ogres don’t come to eat us before we can get out of here.”

“Well, make it happen. Cause we’re already late for the fight,” Tresk said, folding her arms. She shook her head when her flesh met flesh. “I liked my crystal form. Can I just stay in that forever?”

“I mean, you could. But why would you want to?”

“I dunno… Thought I looked cool.”

***

Theo was well aware of the number of people who were visiting for the games. He had seen them throughout town, buying stuff or otherwise doing touristy things. But seeing them all cramped in the arena was another matter. After walking through the access halls through the arena, he was ushered into his booth. The alchemist stopped when he spotted Fenian’s beaming face sitting at a table on the far side of the room.

“My dear alchemist!” he shouted, gesturing to the seat next to him. “Care to join me.”

Theo gave him a flat look, thinking of the best way to escape this fresh new hell. They were seated in an enclosed room with a massive pane of glass, giving them an excellent view of the arena below. The magic of the building allowed them to zoom in on the arena, project their voice, and view stats about the current game. The system was smart enough to adapt to whatever game they were putting on, and there was already a count of the number of participants in the coming fight.

Theo reluctantly took his seat, narrowing his eyes at the elf. “No one told me you’d be here. Thought you were busy.”

“I always have time to give my expert commentary concerning a fight.”

Theo gave him a skeptical look. “You didn’t go with Elrin?”

“Someone has to hold down the fort here. Actually, a fair number stayed behind to do all manner of sneaky things.”

Theo turned his attention away from the elf and onto the arena. Things hadn’t gotten started yet, but below he could see two teams marked by red and blue on either side of the battlefield. A screen appearing as though it was projected onto the glass, held some interesting information.

[Team Fight]

Red Team: 50 remaining

Blue Team: 50 remaining

Safety Systems: Activated

Game Status: Waiting…

“Interesting,” Theo said. “Are these all low-level people?”

“Exactly. We’re looking at people under Level 10.” Fenian adjusted his hat, flashing a dazzling smile to no one. “They’re functionally normal people. As for their experience in combat, the red team has one more experienced soldier than the blue team.”

“The building will keep them from being injured for real, right?” Theo asked.

“Exactly. Throk has a team of people feeding the building motes and coins. Don’t worry your pretty little head, everyone is safe.”

Theo would believe it when he saw it, but he had faith in the system buildings. He had seen them do some amazing things. His thoughts were interrupted when the door behind them swung open. He swiveled in his chair, spotting an overly excited looking Alise appear with a smile on her face.

“There he is! Are we ready, Theo?” Alise asked.

“I have no idea what I’m supposed to do,” Theo said.

“Comment on the fight. Just follow Fenian’s lead,” Alise said, nodding to the elf. “Thanks for coming in, by the way. Not sure what we’d do without you.”

“Oh, it is my pleasure my dear,” Fenian said, removing his hat and bowing in his chair.

“Right. Well, whenever you guys are ready,” Alise said, nodding toward the window.

Fenian cracked his fingers, stretching out a bit. He pressed his finger into the desk in front of him and a green light appeared on his side of the window. “Gooooood morning! Welcome to the first, and only, international games! I’m your host, Fenian Feintleaf, here with the universe’s grumpiest alchemist. Say something, Theo Spencer!”

Theo fumbled, pressing his finger onto the desk. A green light appeared on his side of the screen. “Uh, hey.”

“Wow! Isn’t he just a bundle of energy? Today, we’re watching a team format fight between bed and blue! This is mostly an exhibition match to show what the ranked large-scale battles are going to look like. Wow, can’t you just feel the energy in the air?”

“I sure can,” Theo said, pressing his button.

“And there he is again, winning the hearts of everyone with his glimmering personality!” Fenian released his button, laughing. “Let’s get a bit more energy, huh?”

“Sure.”

Fenian cleared his throat, pressing his button. “The rules of this one are simple. The last one standing wins. Points are awarded based on kills only! It doesn’t matter how they do it, they just gotta rip their way through the other team!”

“Under the protective gaze of the Arena building,” Theo said.

“Oh, way to take away the magic,” Fenian groaned. “That’s right. No one is at risk of truly dying here. If someone is struck, in the arm for example, that arm will go limp! Get smacked in the chest, you’ll have trouble breathing. Take a smack to the head?”

“Dead,” Theo said.

“That’s right. But let’s keep in mind that organization and tactics are gonna go a long way,” Fenian said.

“Then red is screwed,” Theo said. “They’ve got about as much organization as twelve marshlings on fire.”

Fenian choked on nothing, slamming his fist on the table. A moment later, he fell off the back of his chair, cackling.

“Looks like the teams are getting in position,” Theo said, messing with the window to create a magnified box so he could see the teams better. “And red team is scrambling to fix their formation. Maybe next time they’ll think about putting the guys with shields at the front, rather than the back.”

Fenian took his position back in his chair, having regained his breath. “Okay! Let’s give a countdown!” he shouted, pressing a few labeled buttons on his screen. “Three… two… one… Fight!”