We stopped in front of the palace.

  I’d seen elaborate structures since getting my Mantle, but this wasn’t one of them. The building was massive, but it was also very blocky. Like the person who designed it used shipping containers and stacked them on top of each other.

  I could count the number of windows on one hand, which gave even more credit to the theory that this was built for efficiency rather than comfort.

  I adjusted my jean jacket as I got out of the RV. Since my team color was blue, I wore mostly things that were blue, like my jeans, but I did have on a green t-shirt to pay credit to my secondary team, whose color was green.

  Ether was dressed in a black camisole under her jean jacket with jeans as well. As a Tank, she usually wore armor, but this casual wear had defensive capabilities as well.

  Not that it would help us against any of the guards. We were level four and the Delvers, Iver’s personal guards, were all at least level fifty. Two of the brown armored guards flanked us the moment we stepped out of the RV. I recognized the pickaxe symbol on their shoulders, but that didn’t make me feel any more at ease.

  The pair escorted us into the building without a word. The interior was just as sterile as the outside. Empty, steel walls and spotless halls were what greeted us. The two turned right and guided us over to an elevator. One of them pushed a button for 5, then they both stepped out of the elevator and left us to ourselves.

  “That was weird.” Ether looked around. “There’s not even any music in here.”

  “Iver likes his efficiency.” I took a deep breath. “Did Trent or your mom tell you what this is about?”

  “Nope.” Ether shook her head. “Mom just told me that Iver wanted to meet us.”

  The elevator dinged as it came to a stop, and then the doors peeled open.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Well, let’s figure out what’s going on.” I took her hand and stepped into the hall. I’d been concerned about knowing where to go, but I hadn’t needed to worry. We stepped off the elevator directly into Iver’s living space.

  There were walls on either side with paintings of battles that I didn’t recognize. Directly in front of us, past the walls, were three sofas arranged in a C so that they could look out the wall-length windows that lined the wall. Sitting on the sofa to the left was a white-haired man with pale skin. His green eyes looked me over, then he turned back to the man sitting on the couch directly in front of us.

  “Your kid is here.” Iver huffed as he leaned back in his seat.

  My father turned around, a smile on his face. While he shared the white hair and pale skin, he had brown eyes and a kind face. Even though Trent was over 150 years old, he looked like he was in his mid-fifties compared to those without a Mantle. The higher your level, the longer you lived and with my father being level seventy, he had a lot more life in him.

  Iver, even though he was older than his half-brother, looked like he was ten years younger. Having a city mantle slowed again even more and I knew there were Gods that were over a thousand years old. Trent’s grandfather, Nevah, who we’d thought was my real father, was one of those people who was ancient, yet he looked the same age as Trent.

  “Atlas, Ether, sit!” Trent gestured at the empty couch. “Iver was just bringing me up to speed, so you came at the perfect moment.”

  The two of us walked over to the plush couch and sat down. Once we were settled, Trent took his seat, then turned to his brother. “Now, you were talking about the Adventurer’s games this year.”

  “A pity your hunter got you disqualified.” Iver clicked his tongue. “Now you’re going to have to bet on your backup team winning.”

  Rix had killed a higher-level bandit to try to protect us. While it had bought us a few more moments, we’d still ended up caught, and she’d leveled to seven, putting her at too high a level to compete in the preliminary matches.

  “We could still go as spectators.” I didn’t like his insinuation that Rix had caused a problem with his plan.

  “Spectators don’t have the same access as competitors.” Iver glared at me. “It won’t look suspicious if you’re meeting with other teams when you’re competing, but as regular spectators? That’s going to draw a lot of attention.”

  “Why do I need to meet with the other teams?” I glanced over at Trent. “And why would anyone care if I met with them?”

  “Because…” Trent spoke before his brother could. “Iver is trying to put together a resistance against the Primus.”

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