As Arden fell back to reality, he steeled himself. He could mourn the fallen world later. He had to survive what came next, and what came next was getting to a safe spot.

  He entered his trial during a stargate cascade. Last time he was here, Celestials had rolled over the majority of the slums. It was going to be packed with monsters when he returned. He found himself smiling as he fell. He would have a chance to test his powers immediately.

  Just like how when Arden entered the Golden Stargate, there were no flashy visuals when he left. It lacked the discombobulating abilities of a typical stargate, so he was able to very clearly see what it was that was waiting for him as he emerged from his golden stargate, and he was not ready for it.

  Instead of diving headfirst into a group of Celestials, he found himself diving into a dining table laden with plates of steak.

  Arden crashed into the table flat on his stomach, causing it to collapse under the weight of a falling man. Jagged pieces of wood and silverware dug painfully into him causing him to groan. His quiet groans were drowned out by panic and shock in voices all around him.

  “Someone just fell out of the air!”

  “Is he okay!?”

  “Where did he come from!?”

  Arden pushed himself up from the ground and stood up while picking the pieces of the table from his body and wiping half eaten food off of his still-bloody Setting Sun robes. He glanced around the area and saw around 20 people in clean, slightly formal clothing staring at him.

  For a moment he didn’t say anything and instead kept digging out shards of dinnerware from his stomach. He held the last piece of silverware he pulled out of his chest in his hand.

  “No wonder it hurt like hell,” he said, dropping the bloody steak knife into the pile of rubble he inadvertently created.

  Arden cleared his throat and looked over the crowd of confused onlookers.

  “Uh, sorry about that.”

  He looked around what used to be the lobby of the Starborn Association branch office. When Arden was first brought here it looked like a run-down warehouse from the slums. At least, it did before Arden’s doppelganger arrived to lay waste to it. Gone were the cheaply made desks and thin wooden chairs with a layer of cloth that symbolized the minimum effort of the slums. Now, it was filled with lines of comfortable booth seating and tables along the walls with stand alone tables and chairs in the middle of the floor, like what Arden fell on.

  Since no one was talking, Arden heard soft music playing overhead from a speaker. Dim lights illuminated the immediate area, giving Arden just enough info to guess where he currently was.

  “Huh. I thought this was a branch of the Association. When did it become a fancy restaurant?”

  He finally looked at the party whose food was now smeared all over Arden’s front half, which consisted of two men and two women, both dressed in semi-formal wear. The men were dressed in slacks and button up shirts, while the women were in sundresses.

  ‘When did the slums invite rich people like them?’

  Arden didn’t have enough experience with life outside of the slums to realize that the people he was looking at were only middle-class at best. The one thing he could tell was that these people were all mundane. He could feel no Stellar Essence coming from them.

  One of the men, a blonde who looked to be in his mid-20’s finally worked up the nerve to ask the falling meteor of a man a question.

  “Excuse me sir, but are you alright? You just fell into a steak dinner. Into a steak knife.”

  Arden furrowed his brow at the use of the word ‘sir,’ but responded.

  “I’m fine. After what I’ve gone through for the past while, a steak knife is nothing.”

  One of the women stood behind the blonde’s back and asked a question, interest overwhelming her nervousness.

  “Are you a Starborn?”

  Arden chuckled.

  “I am now. Just wrapped up the first trial.”

  A wave of murmurs ran through the silent restaurant. With his enhanced senses that all Starborn had, Arden was able to pick up a few pieces of conversations taking place all over the place in hushed whispers.

  “He’s a Starborn!”

  “I wonder what powers he has!”

  “We need to mind our manners! Some Starborn have real nasty personalities!”

  “Is he a Starborn? I thought they're supposed to be handsome.”

  It wasn’t just a Starborn's power that evolves after each ascension. Their appearance also grew more and more pleasing each time they evolved. Apparently, his appearance hadn't drastically altered as much as he thought and hoped it would. Arden bit his lip after that last comment, and decided to listen in a bit more to that conversation between the two women.

  “Most are a lot more handsome than him. He’s okay for a mundane, kind of, but as a Starborn he’s lacking.”

  “Oh? Do you think something’s wrong with him?”

  Arden decided to stop listening at that point.

  ‘Learned how to control Stellar Essence, killed Nux Valtorin, met a god, became a Starborn, got called ugly. Hell of a day.’

  An authoritative female voice cut through the restaurant.

  “You seem confused, Starborn.”

  Arden looked at the speaker, a very attractive woman with an olive complexion and brown hair down to her shoulders in a black cocktail dress.

  “That's my default state of being these days. Have a day like mine and you'll find my confusion isn't unwarranted. I fall into a restaurant that wasn't here before my trial, and then an attractive woman with a commanding presence starts talking to me. And that's the most normal thing that's happened today.”

  The woman crossed her arms with an amused smile on her face. She paid no mind to the fact that Arden just called her attractive to her face.

  “I can help you with some of the confusion, then. If you choose to come with me, of course.”

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  “Can we get some food? It's been a while since I've eaten anything that could be remotely considered food, and everything here looks good.”

  “I don't see why not. I do own this restaurant after all.”

  “You own a restaurant in the slums?”

  “These haven't been the slums for quite some time.”

  ‘I guess that means that the cascade is over,’ Arden realized.

  The group of people surrounding Arden gave him enough space for him to pass by. Arden slipped by and approached the woman as one of her workers approached the people whose dinner he landed in with apologies and a refund.

  “Lead the way, ma'am.”

  She turned around with a smile and walked in a sultry way as Arden followed, trying not to stare at her assets.

  ‘Maybe I actually am handsome.’

  ***

  These days Arden was somewhat accustomed to having attractive company. Vera and Cirai helped with that, and spending a week and a half with the scummy prince's entourage had helped further. Hell, even the assassin Nocturne had a pretty face. The trend continued as Arden ate with the owner of the restaurant in a private room.

  Comfortable velvet booths sat across from each other beneath a dim light with calming music playing. Arden sat in one booth while the owner sat in another, and each had a plate of meat in front of them, with the owner having a smaller plate and a glass of red wine.

  “Before we start eating,” the woman began. “I am obligated to tell you that I sent a message to the nearest Starborn Association Branch. Rules, you know? They will do most of the explaining.”

  Arden started cutting his steak, not minding the words of his partner.

  “Then not to sound rude, But why are you eating with me then?”

  “Someone has to keep a Starborn distracted long enough for the feds to arrive. Can't have you going around attacking mundanes high on your new powers.”

  “Does that really happen?”

  “More than you'd think, but less than what the Association fears. Still, it's a risk they'd rather not take.”

  “I can sympathize,” Arden said, having been a victim of one of those Starborn in the past.

  Arden bit into the steak. Seasoned juices ran down his throat as he chewed and swallowed. He was in heaven.

  “You don't have to worry about that from me,” Arden assured. “I have enough blood on my hands from the trial already. I'd rather not have to kill any more.”

  The woman didn't seem at all surprised by him talking about murder. She gave him an assessing look and a small smile.

  “I'll take your word for it Mr…?”

  “Arden. My name is Arden. You?”

  She put on a radiant smile.

  “Savish.”

  “Alright Savish. How long until the Association arrives?”

  Savish looked up at a clock on the wall behind Arden. The dim lighting made it somewhat obscured, but she was still able to read it. She wouldn't have put a clock in a place where she couldn't read it.

  “Around 20 minutes. Does that work for you, Mr Arden?”

  “Just Arden is fine. And yes,” he said, eying his food. “20 minutes will be just fine. Until those 20 minutes pass though, can you tell me about what's changed since the Stargate Cascade?”

  “The Stargate Cascade? How long were you in your trial?”

  This was the first time Savish seemed confused or not in control. Arden didn't miss it.

  “A little more than a week. That's why I'm confused. When I left, this place was just a warehouse being used by the Association as a temporary base. What changed in that week?”

  Savish took a sip of wine.

  “It seems you aren't aware of the time dilation while in the trials. Most trials have a different rate of time flow compared to the real world,” she explained.

  Arden felt a knot form in his stomach, and he was sure it wasn't the steak. Worry began to gnaw at him. How long ago had he left Sya?

  Arden put down his silverware and looked to Savish with an expectant expression that was mixed with fear. He folded his hands on the table.

  “How long ago was the Stargate Cascade?”

  “Almost two months.”

  “I’ve got to go now.”

  Arden stood up and made way for the door, only to be stopped by Savish's suddenly standing in front of him.

  Arden’s eyes narrowed. He had suspicions about Savish before. She seemed oddly composed for someone having dinner with a newly awakened Starborn who willingly admitted to having killed people. Her speed just now proved it to Arden.

  Savish was a Starborn, just like him.

  Actually, not like him. He couldn't feel any Stellar Essence in her body. She had managed to mask it, which could mean a few things. She either had a stealth related Constellation, or she was adept enough at essence circulation that she could hide it.

  “I thought you weren't eager for bloodshed? Leaving before the Association arrives is a surefire way for things to get violent.”

  “That was before I knew two months passed. Besides, I know the rules about reporting to the Association. I have a bit of time to report to them before they come for me.”

  Arden remembered Yaan saying something to that effect the night Arden fell victim to his new powers.

  Savish rebuked him.

  “You knew the old rules. Things have changed since the Cascade, and not just the quality of life around the area. New precautions set in place, new infrastructure.”

  Seeing that she wasn't going to budge, and he wasn't willing to start throwing down with another Starborn yet, he reluctantly sat back down in his chair and tapped his foot impatiently, counting the seconds until the Association arrived.

  “What kind of changes?”

  Savish sighed in relief and sat back down across from the rash Paradox. She was stronger than him, but she also didn't want to fight another Starborn in her own restaurant. Too messy. And expensive to clean up.

  “There's a lot more people here in the slums now. They aren't in poverty though. They're from the city, and they came to rebuild. The Cascade caught everyone by surprise. There weren't enough precautions and manpower in place to prevent a catastrophe. You remember how the slums were, right?”

  Arden nodded. He spent most of his life in the slums after all.

  “There was no food, no shelter, and no hope,” he answered.

  “Well things got worse with the Cascade, as I'm sure you can imagine. It took a few weeks for the Stargates to be cleared and the Celestial stragglers to be killed. By the time the situation was under control, roughly 95% of the slums were rubble.”

  That kind of destruction was hard for Arden to imagine. He knew the area was in disrepair, but buildings for the most part still stood. But having the vast majority flattened.

  “It was that bad? Didn't we have several Starborn Branch buildings here? I know this branch was hit particularly hard, but couldn’t the others have done something?"

  “The quality of the Starborn In the area weren't well trained. They either weren't combat oriented, or had little skill. Even if a thousand of them gathered, it wouldn't have been enough, especially when you take into account the bad apples. A good chunk of the people, mundane and Starborn, saw this as another opportunity to loot or take control of the slums. That’s not even taking into account all of the Starborn that just vanished.”

  “It wasn’t just the Starborn here that disappeared?”

  Savish raised an eyebrow.

  “You know about that?”

  “Yeah. Before my trial, this branch only had three Starborn left. Last I checked, no one knows what happened.”

  “We still don’t. A lot of them are still listed as MIA. The ones that remained were either bad combat-wise, or bad morality-wise.”

  ‘I need to see what's happened to the bounty and Miasma.’

  “It got so bad that some Starborn were apprehended and held in their own branch facilities for questioning. There was actually a corpse of a rogue starborn found here during the clean up.”

  Arden elected not to say anything.

  “My point, Arden, is that any Starborn not immediately brought in and registered are treated as threats. The Association's reputation was tarnished in a very big way. They won't allow anything else to ruin it further. Even if it means hunting down potential threats.”

  Silence hung in the air between them as Arden digested the information. For now, it was better to go along with the Association. That was the best way to get to roam around without being a target. Again.

  Savish picked up her silverware again.

  “Eat your steak, Arden.”