I launched.

  The snow exploded outward as I drove off my back foot, utilizing a condensed thermal blast to turn myself into a blur of white-gold violence. The Glacial Sovereign hissed, rearing back on her massive wings, gathering a breath of absolute zero in her throat that distorted the very air around her jaws.

  “End,” I whispered.

  [Void Walk].

  I phased mid-leap. The ice-breath stream passed harmlessly through my non-existent chest, a beam of cold so intense it shattered the rock face behind me. I landed directly on her snout, re-entering reality with the full weight of my momentum and my Ashen Sword poised to drive into the vulnerable scale between her eyes. The blade hummed with the Flame of Ending, ready to delete the Concept of Frost.

  “Wait! Wait! Please stop!”

  The roar wasn’t a roar. It was a scream. A very articulate, terrifyingly loud scream in a flawless, if frantic, understandable language.

  I froze.

  My blade hovered an inch from a scale the size of a shield. The heat of my sword caused steam to rise from her snout in thick, white clouds.

  “Don’t hurt me!” the wyvern wailed, closing her gigantic eyes tightly. Huge tears, which froze into hailstones halfway to the ground, began to leak out, clattering onto the granite below. “I was sleeping! You invaded my house! That is so mean! Please! I did nothing wrong!”

  I blinked, the adrenaline crash almost making me stumble. I lowered the sword slightly. “You can talk…?”

  “I am a Sovereign!” she whimpered, peeking open one neon-blue eye. It was filled with sheer panic. “The System woke me up! Everything is loud and scary and the trees keep trying to eat the mountain! I just want to nap!”

  I stepped back, hopping off her snout and landing on the ridge. I kept my [Domain] active, but dialed down the aggression. “You’re a Tier 6 Apex Predator. Why are you crying?”

  “Because of the way you feel… it’s so scary!” she accused, sniffling loudly. “And because I am new to this... sentience thing. The words are loud in my head. I used to just think about ice and goats. Now I have... anxieties.”

  She curled her tail around herself defensively, tucking her massive wings tight against her body.

  “My name is Lytheia. Are you still going to kill me? Please say no. We haven’t even finished the nursery.”

  “Nursery?” I dissipated my sword. “No. I'm not going to kill you, Lytheia. Not if I don’t have to. I just came here for the Sanctum Core.”

  “Oh,” she blinked, looking visibly relieved. “The shiny humming orb in the back? You can look at it. Just please don’t scratch it. We polish it every week, it helps us grow!”

  Just then, a shadow fell over the ridge.

  “Lia! Lia, look! I found a — GRAAAAH!”

  A smaller wyvern — comparatively, he was still the size of a bus — crash-landed on the platform. He was a sleek, silver-scaled Tier 4, clutching a frozen Iron-Hide Elk in his talons. He saw me, saw Lytheia cowering, and dropped the elk with a thud.

  “Intruder!” he squawked, puffing out his chest and flaring his wings to look bigger. “Unhand my mate! I am... terrifying! Fear me! I have massive claws!”

  He took a menacing step forward, slipped on a patch of ice Lytheia had created in her panic, and slid face-first into my boots.

  There was a long silence. The wind howled through the crags.

  The male wyvern looked up at me from the ground, crossing his eyes slightly. I looked down at him.

  “Hi,” I said.

  “Hello,” he squeaked. “You are very warm. Please don’t eat us. We are mostly gristle.”

  “This is Rin,” Lytheia introduced, drying her eyes with a wing tip. “He tries very hard.”

  “I brought dinner!” Rin added helpfully, scrambling up and trying to look dignified, smoothing his scales. “And shiny rocks! For the hoard! Are we going to fight?”

  “No!” Lytheia said quickly. “He is a nice Fire-Man. He does not wish us harm, right...?”

  I looked at the two of them. A neurotic Tier 6 Matriarch and her eccentric, clumsy Tier 4 partner. They weren’t monsters. They were simply just trying to live their lives and happened to be near us. Just neighbors. Neighbors with very sharp teeth, but neighbors nonetheless.

  “Listen,” I said, crouching down so I was eye-level with Rin. “I have a proposition. I need the Sanctum to anchor the region. My friend needs a home to grow. A place that is cold, quiet, and dark.”

  “Like us!” Rin chirped, bobbing his head. “We love the dark. It is cozy.”

  “Exactly. My friend... he’s a bit of a brooding type. Loves shadows. Hates loud noises. If I let you stay here with him... would you let him claim the Core? He won’t bother you. He mostly just sits in corners and practices being invisible.”

  Lytheia tilted her head, her massive slit pupil contracting. “So... we keep the nest, get a nestmate who is quiet and will not bother us, and you promise not to hurt us?”

  “And who can bring you better food than elk,” I added, sweetening the pot. “Our settlement down south has treated meat. Spices. With flavours you can’t even begin to imagine!”

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “Spices,” Rin whispered, eyes going wide. “The flavorful dust. I had a traveler once who tasted of it. Delicious.”

  “Deal,” Lytheia decided instantly. “We can live together.”

  The return trip took ten seconds. A few [Void Walk] jumps later, and I was right outside Noren’s shields.

  I found Silas in the newly reclaimed Noren keep, sorting through a pile of scout reports in a corner.

  “Silas. Grab your gear,” I ordered, landing on the balcony. “We’re going.”

  “Already?” he asked, grabbing his daggers and standing up. “Are we running from here?”

  “No. We’re taking the scenic route.”

  I grabbed him by the back of his armor. Before he could protest, I triggered my Domain, and engaged my practiced propulsion.

  We rocketed into the sky.

  “AAAAAHHH!” Silas screamed, his usual stoic, assassin demeanor dissolving instantly as we broke the sound barrier. “Why?! Why is this happening? This is unnecessary transgression against gravity!”

  “Much quicker this way!” I shouted over the wind, banking hard to avoid a mana stream. “I need to get you there before they change their minds! Stop wiggling or I’ll drop you!”

  “Change who’s mind? I hate this! I hate heights! I’m a shadow, Eren! Shadows belong on the ground! Put me down!”

  We streaked across the frozen waste, a comet of fire carrying a screaming assassin. I flared the thrusters as the peak of the Wyvern Nest came into view, executing a high-speed deceleration that would have turned a normal human into paste. I quickly sent a burst of healing Flame through Silas, just in case.

  We landed on the snowy ridge with a thud. Silas fell to his hands and knees, kissing the frozen rock.

  “Never again,” he wheezed. “Next time, I walk. I don’t care if it takes a year. I don’t care if I have to crawl.”

  “Silas,” I said, gesturing to the cave entrance. “Meet your new roommates.”

  Silas looked up.

  Lytheia and Rin were waiting. They loomed over him, massive and majestic in the twilight. Their scales glittered with frost. Vapor streamed from their jaws.

  Silas went pale. He drew a dagger, his knees shaking. “You... you didn’t say there were two wyverns. And why are they still here?!”

  “They’re friendly,” I promised. “Really.”

  Lytheia leaned down, sniffing Silas. Her snout was the size of his entire body. She inhaled deeply, ruffling his hair.

  “He smells like... nothing,” she observed, sounding pleased. “And anxiety. But mostly nothing. Good. Loud people smell.”

  “He fits in the corner nicely,” Rin added, inspecting Silas from the side. “Small. Does he bite?”

  “No he does not, and he is not a pet,” I said. “Silas, put the knife away. They agreed to let you claim the Core if you let them stay. You get the Sanctum and the Dungeon; they get to use all of the Sanctum Rooms, and we will provide them protection and snacks. I already set up a Soul Contract so you don’t have to worry about a thing!”

  Silas blinked, looking from the massive teeth of the Matriarch to the goofy grin of the male. He slowly sheathed his dagger.

  “You... you like the quiet?” Silas asked, his voice trembling slightly.

  “We love the quiet,” Lytheia purred, smoke curling from her nostrils. “And the cold. It keeps the bugs away. Bugs are gross.”

  “I hate bugs,” Silas admitted, relaxing slightly. “And I... I prefer the dark. It helps me focus.”

  “We have excellent shadows in the lower cavern,” Rin offered enthusiastically. “Very deep. Very gloomy. Perfect for brooding. We even have a stalagmite that looks like a sad goblin.”

  Silas looked at me. A slow smile spread across his face.

  “I think we can get along,” he said.

  The transfer process was smooth. Silas synced with the Sanctum Core — a pulsing heart of ice-mana deep in the cave. The Wyverns swore an oath of secrecy to the System and to protect the Sanctum Master, sealing the alliance.

  When we emerged, I saw Silas teaching Rin how to play a game of stealth-tag, while Lytheia watched fondly from her perch. It was bizarre. It was heartwarming. It was a fortress secured by friendship and social anxiety.

  “Are you good?” I asked Silas by the cave mouth.

  “Better than good,” Silas said, looking at his new Sanctum. “The ambient mana here... it’s Shadow-Ice. My [Shadow Step] is already mutating. Hitting Tier 5 might actually be possible now, Eren. Thank you. Really.”

  “You earned it,” I clapped his shoulder. “And keep an eye on Rin. He isn’t the smartest fellow.”

  I used the Sanctum’s internal gate to warp back to the Veiled Path, leaving Silas to get acquainted and explore his new Dungeon with the wyverns, who were happy for a new hunting ground.

  Back in Bastion, the preparations were final. The fortress was running itself. The walls were fortified, the alliances with Noren, Titan’s Rest and the other Settlements were stable, and the population was booming.

  I stood in the command tent. Jeeves, Leoric, and Lucas were gathered around the holotable.

  “We have stability,” I said, looking at the map. “Bastion is the shield. Sanctuary is the retreat. Noren is the spear. And now Silas holds the Northern Watch.”

  “We are secure,” Lucas agreed. “For now.”

  “Which means my vacation is over,” I said. “The Empire has been quiet too long. If Vayne is planning something in Akkadia... I need to see it.”

  “The Akkadia coordinates have been triangulated, among a few other Kyorian Cities,” Jeeves reported, highlighting a zone far to the West. “Based on Nyx’s previous scouting data and your own Glimpses, we have a route. It is overland. Hostile territory.”

  “It’ll be a long journey since we won’t be teleporting using a Nexus,” I agreed. “We’ll walk. We’ll set up a forward operating base. And we’ll infiltrate.”

  I looked at the shadows in the corner of the tent.

  “Nyx?”

  My Anima stepped out. She looked ready. Her armor was sleek, non-reflective, and she had about twelve new daggers strapped to various limbs.

  “I am prepared,” she said simply.

  “Let’s go gather some intel,” I said. “We need to know what this ‘Incubator’ is. We need to know what kind of forces they’re breeding. We will use the Glimpse until we make sure it’s safe. And if possible... we can start breaking things.”

  I turned to Leoric. “Keep the workshops running. If the mana fluctuates, divert power from the Singularity capacitor, I'll let you know before I will be using it.”

  “Yes, Master. We'll keep the lights on.”

  I shook hands with Lucas. “Hold the fort.”

  “Of course,” he gripped my hand. “Come back safe.”

  “Will do.”

  We said our goodbyes to everyone, also making sure they had what they needed for the next few months in case our trip took longer than expected.

  I walked out of the settlement, Nyx falling into step beside me.

  We headed for the Western Gate. The sun was setting, casting long shadows across the valley of the Flood. The world was dangerous, wild, and full of monsters.

  But as I looked at the horizon, toward the distant, unseen city of Akkadia, I didn’t feel dread.

  “Ready to go hunting?” I asked Nyx.

  She spun a dagger, her eyes gleaming in the dark. “Always.”

  We stepped past the boundary line of the Safe Zone.

  It was time to see if the Kyorians learned how to swim in the Tide.