***Tirnanog, Third Continent***

***Astra***

‘Do you have any idea who they could be talking about?’ Magnus asked using the UI-chat while we slowly followed the other group. Presumably, they would be taking us to their leader, but after their slip-up with one of their pets, I was on high alert. They had apologised for losing control, but I didn’t buy that for a single second.

Sicking one of their creatures on us was a test to see whether we would be easy pickings.

There was no way in hell anyone would use such a dangerous monster as a hunting dog if their control over it was not ironclad! Hunting was not a walk in the park in this world. To have anything with you that could stab you in the back if your attention slipped just a little bit was an absolute no-go. Whether it was faulty gear, untrustworthy comrades, or a murder machine that only obeyed because your attention was focused on it. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

A hunter who accepted any of those conditions was a hunter who wouldn’t return from their next trip.

‘I have no clue, but I strongly assume that they weren’t talking about Nisha or Zacharias,’ I replied once I was certain that I knew the exact position of all the hunters and the closest of their pets.

‘Wouldn’t that be a surprise! Hahaha…’ Magnus chatted back. ‘No, even if they somehow flew straight to this continent after they went missing, I doubt they could have established a power base with these people.’

‘There are still a few more of Gurney’s ancients whose whereabouts aren’t certain,’ I pointed out. ‘If I remember Mary’s recount correctly, there should be two whose circumstances were unknown since before the war. Unfortunately, one of them is supposed to have ties to Thich and the other to Vier.’

Magnus remained silent for some time, thinking carefully before he replied, ‘While we should remain careful about what we say to them, I don’t think it is as bad as it looks.’

‘Why so?’ I asked. ‘We got a lot stronger, but I wouldn’t want to face off with someone on Mary’s level. Whoever it is, they were strong enough to travel between continents on their own. Assuming they don’t have a teleportation ability similar to ours, that makes me think we should regard them as a mighty opponent.’

‘Well, don’t get me wrong. I am not saying they do not pose a threat. But if they left our continent to establish a power base here, even if they had ties to Vier and Thich, they wouldn’t have left if they cared much for their compatriots. Without a teleportation ability or a wormgate, travelling back and forth between the continents surely isn’t done on the fly, no matter how powerful they are. Which means, they probably don’t even know about the war.’

I hummed, silently agreeing with my partner’s logic.

We kept following the ridge until it widened to a vast basin. Built into the left cliff-side was a vast and sprawling city that rivalled Aerie’s main settlement in its alien grandeur. The people of this colony had dug themselves into the rock like termites.

The top of the cliff held sturdy fortifications with high towers. A glance was enough for me to recognise their purpose: heavily defended ventilation shafts for underground living spaces. Judging by their size and number, I estimated that this colony held at the very least enough people to rival one of the great clans.

And while the constructions still didn’t come close to Aerie's in size, they still reflected Hochberg’s spirit.

At the cliff’s bottom and to the side, the architects forewent complicated constructions and instead ground the rock to a smooth surface that denied any creatures who might get the bright idea to scale it. This spared the architects half of the fortifications that would normally be necessary to protect a settlement of this size.

At our speed, we reached the settlement quickly, where some better-equipped guards stopped us.

It took the hunters some time to explain our presence while we were ordered to wait at one of the side gates at the upper fortifications, watched over by more than thirty grumpy guards. They had been called upon once it was clear that our presence was not authorised and that we represented a major group.

“What’s your estimation on how long we have to wait?” Magnus asked once it became clear that our guides’ authority had ended at the gates. It would have been too convenient to meet some random hunters in the wilds who had the cloud to lead us directly to their highest authority.

I shrugged. “Depends on their chain of command. If this were Aerie, a guard informs their commanding officer, who then gets their superior up to date, who then bumps it up the command chain to someone who might have the power to bother the higher authorities. The elders get informed, who then need some time to decide on a course of action. With four to six steps involved, each taking between five or ten minutes, I bet we might be sitting here for around an hour.”

Magnus cracked his knuckles and unceremoniously sat down on the ground. “Wanna play some cards?” He produced two sleeved decks and playmats from one of his storage devices.

I clicked my tongue. “You know that I am not into that card game of yours.”

“Perfect time to learn the rules!” Magnus countered. “If you don’t wanna, I might take back that music setup you like so much.”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“Try me!”

Grumbling, I knelt with my bottom on my heels and waited for him to explain the rules.

To my surprise, it turned out to be way worse than one of Gaia’s teaching lessons, amplified by the issue that I had no true interest in learning such a complicated game. Time flew by, and it felt like Magnus wasn’t even half done with explaining the basics when a group of several individuals approached us.

They looked like high-ranking warriors.

Their leader, a gruff-looking woman, stopped several steps away and waited patiently while I rose to my feet. Reaching out, I greeted them. “Hello, my name is Astra Frost, and this is my partner, Magnus. We are from clan Aerie.”

Meanwhile, Magnus scooped the cards unceremoniously into his storage ring. The magical absurdity of the deed drew everyone’s attention away from my outstretched hand, leaving me standing there in a strange suspense.

Only once Magnus was done and had his storage ring safely on his finger, did the woman manage to return her attention to my offered hand.

She cleared her throat, looking slightly embarrassed, and took it, giving it a slight squeeze. “I am the acting commander of the watch, Jacqueline Weiss. At first, I thought my people were trying to pull a fool’s joke on me. But seeing you in person, I might have to abandon any ideas of throwing some idiots into the dungeon.”

“You have a dungeon?” Magnus asked. “Are you just calling your holding facilities a ‘dungeon’ because it sounds cool, or is it a real medieval one that deserves the moniker?”

That earned him a few concerned looks.

Jacqueline cleared her throat. “No, I am afraid it’s just watch-jargon. We are civilised around here.”

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

“I assume the ‘watch’ is this city’s police force?” I asked.

Jacqueline nodded. “So you are really from the other continent? How did you get here?”

“Our mutations make travel easy,” I explained.

“We can teleport!” Magnus added.

“Teleport?” Jacqueline narrowed her eyes. “And why are you here? Why now?”

“Recently, we had some developments that made this trip necessary,” I explained. “Big developments that should be shared in a different setting. It will concern all of Tirnanog sooner or later.”

The commander frowned and regarded us for a few seconds before she stepped aside and gestured with one hand towards the large and heavy door which led into the settlement. “If that is so, we probably shouldn’t delay any further.”

Then she stood there, looking at us.

After a few seconds, Magnus cleared his throat to dispel the awkward atmosphere. “Will you take the lead? It’s our first visit, so we don’t know the way.”

Jacqueline’s expression scrunched up. “I was just wondering… could you take off your helmets, or is there a reason for keeping them on? I can tell that you are human, but it is best to be certain.”

“Oh, right!” I exclaimed and undid the securing clasps before taking my helmet off. “How rude of me, but after a while of using your second sight, you forget that you are wearing them.”

Magnus followed my example and used his filaments to keep the helmet attached to his back, ready to be pulled back over his head if there was a need.

“Are the intimidating faces cultural?” The commander asked while she gestured for us to follow her. She had watched our faces for a few seconds, but then disregarded our mutation-changed appearance as normal.

I turned my helmet so I could take a look at the faceplate. Mine was a white and black painted featureless mien, except for the four, angry-looking slits for the eyes, which were covered by red crystal glass.

“I wouldn’t exactly say that it is cultural,” I elaborated. “Just a family tradition.”

“Maybe we should get ourselves some faceplates that look more friendly,” Magnus suggested, sounding amused. “First impressions count. Maybe that’s the reason why the kingdom idiots jumped us.”

I scoffed at the thought. “Please, don’t! I shudder at the thought. Those brainwashed idiots would have caused trouble no matter how we looked. I don’t want to have a memory of you chopping them to bits while wearing a smiley-face.”

Jacqueline turned to look at us with a forced smile while her guards followed us. “The kingdom?”

“We visited a colony on another continent before we found you,” Magnus explained. “They have a really nice, secure place carved out for themselves, but all that security allowed them to degenerate in the brain department. They could only be reasoned with after I bashed some heads together. Makes me believe that theory stating that the higher wealth and security in a society, the more likely you get morons in positions of power.”

“What did they do?” Jacqueline asked.

“They took some of our people as prisoners-” I explained.

“So I took some of theirs prisoner,” Magnus added.

“They then tried to threaten us-” I continued.

“So we slapped their mediator, so someone with real power would show up!” Magnus finished the sentence.

“Am I telling the story, or are you!?” I growled.

“We are married, so we are obviously doing it together!”

I sighed and shook my head. “Anyway, after going up the ranks, their king finally showed up-”

“And after our goddess judged him wanting, she ‘wrathed-of-god’ him out of existence,” Magnus added. “Having their king smitten by a god finally got the message across, and now we are all great friends!”

Jacqueline’s left eye twitched. “A... goddess... punished him?”

“Yeah! Her name is Gaia,” Magnus nodded. “She is an introvert who doesn’t care much for mortal affairs, but if someone stands in her way, she is ruthless. I thought she would just smite the guy to medium rare. You know, leave him just intact enough to be an instructive example for his former minions, but she went all the way to charcoal until there was nought but a molten puddle on the floor.”

I sighed and frustratedly ran a hand through my hair. “Magnus, you are aware that you are making us sound like total loons if you leave out all the context!”

“I am just trying to break the ice,” Magnus defended himself.

“Maybe we should talk about the details while more important people can listen to it,” Jacqueline suggested. “If there is a proper explanation for all this, it sounds like quite the tale to tell.”

She led us through a large entrance into one of the main fortification towers from where a stairway went down to the main living quarters.

It took some turns while following narrow, labyrinthian pathways, but that was to be expected. Clan Aerie used similar protections near surface installations.

At last, we arrived at a quite busy-looking main living area with large and wide hallways and grand cathedrals for people to enjoy some wider spaces. None of it was as grand as Aerie’s main living cave, but maybe the rock in this place just wasn’t stable enough for such constructions. Our main living cave was carved into the inside of a cooled-down massive magma bubble. It had almost no imperfections in the granite, allowing for generous caverns without the need to worry about a collapse.

At last, we were led into a grand dining hall, where a man was sitting at the end of a long table with two beautiful women at his side and a third lounging on his lap.

When he saw us entering, he grinned and gestured for two empty seats which had been prepared close to him. They were clearly meant for us.

Further away, on the opposite end of the table, several pensive-looking officials were clustered together, apparently waiting for orders.

“Come, come, have a seat! I already heard from my people that you two came all the way from the clans! What news do you bring? Did those fools already have their stupid war? Hopefully, they should be done with it by now.”

I tensed at the man’s words and exchanged looks with Magnus. “War?”

“Yes, yes. Please sit down! Where are my manners! I am Ezekiel Patton, one of the ancients. How are my former colleagues doing?”

I slowly approached and sat down with Magnus to my left. Jacqueline remained standing behind us.

“There was a lot of upheaval recently. I am uncertain when you left our continent. I am Astra Frost, and this is my partner, Magnus Frost. We are from-”

“Clan Aerie!” Ezekiel exclaimed. “How is the old witch doing? Did Mary leave her mountain to slap Zacharias?”

I forced myself to smile. This man clearly knew some of what was going on, though not all of it.

“Ancient Mary is doing fine. Ancient Balthasar is also well, the last I heard. Unfortunately, Felix and Greta, as well as Balthasar’s wife, are dead. ”

Ezekiel stopped smiling and turned serious while stroking the pointed beard on his chin. “So the fools really did it? Now I am glad that I left.”

“With your respect, we didn’t expect your presence here. Maybe if you explained your side of the story, we could give you a better summary of the events since you left our continent?” I asked.

Ezekiel frowned. “There isn’t much to tell, truly. I left some decades ago, right after the treaty between the great clans was struck. There were nine of us ancients left, as far as I knew. Not counting Gurney. Unfortunately, some of us weren’t content with the status quo. Most of all, Zacharias. He tried to recruit me to his side, but I refused. Had enough of killing people, so I decided to leave. Take a look at the world.”

He gestured around. “Found this place with people living like rats among the monsters, so I decided to do a little city building. Make something instead of tearing it all down. It isn't that grand of a tale except for a few fools who needed their heads set straight.“ He glanced meaningfully at the other end of the long table where the officials were gathered, listening meekly to our conversation. “So what happened on your side?”

Inwardly, I let out a little sigh of relief. It didn’t sound like he was directly aligned with Zacharias and Nisha.

“So…” I started with what I knew of history and the Clans, slowly building up to the current events while going into details where Ezekiel requested it.

It took a little over two hours, but we finally arrived at the end. “… and that’s why we are here.”

“So with Nisha and Zacharias on the run, there are about five or six of us ancients left,” Ezekiel summarised. “Too bad that you don’t know what happened to Adele Oldman, but I figure she wouldn’t have put up with Zach’s plan. Maybe she just went incognito and is relaxing somewhere like Balthasar, and I did.”

“You are always mentioning some plan of Zach’s. What’s up with that?” Magnus asked while reaching out to a bowl on the table. It held several vines with large berries, so my partner plucked one and popped it into his mouth after a short inspection.

“Zacharias is a man of ambition,” Ezekiel explained, his eyes remained stuck to Magnus’s lips while my partner chewed. “He wanted the clans to unite against Earth’s influence after the war. Since nobody would follow his ideals, he decided to force them, so he came up with a plan that sounded quite stupid to me at the time. By becoming the antagonist, he would force everyone else to unite. And, now that you have beaten him, it sounds like you are doing exactly what he wanted to achieve all along… You know… You probably shouldn’t eat that.”

Magnus grabbed a few more berries and handed me one.

“A- are you aware that they are poisonous?” One of Ezekiel’s women asked.

“That’s meant as decoration,” another exclaimed, sounding quite worried for our well-being.

“And tasty!” Magnus replied. “They taste like a mix between strawberries and grapes.”

“Hopefully not as deadly as deathnut oil?” I asked, worried that Magnus would be soon foaming at the mouth and doing his best to empty his stomach all over the place. That would be quite the impression.

Ezekiel slowly shook his head. “No, but they should knock out anyone without the proper mutations to counter the poison.”

“Oh, then it should be fine.” I tried one, and they were indeed quite tasty.