Gene awoke with a start a few hours after the end of their siege to the sounds of laughter and crackling campfires.

  “About time you woke up,” said Kyrie, seated next to his bedroll.

  He felt like he’d missed his alarm and overslept as he looked up to Kyrie, bleary-eyed. Kyrie placed a hand on his chest and they smiled at each other before they both started chuckling. They broke into a complete laughter and Kyrie fell into the bedroll with him. They hugged until the tent flaps were pulled open.

  All of the adventurers gathered around the opening and when Gene emerged with Kyrie’s help, cheers and applause rang out. The bards took up their instruments and began to play a seemingly well rehearsed song.

  “Let us sing the song of the psychic savior,” sang the bard with a lute.

  “Who’s ironclad will would not waiver,” sang the bard with a flute.

  They alternated verses to the embarrassment of Gene. He clapped a hand over his face, trying to suppress his grinning. Eonis approached with a glass of a red liquid that burned like embers but tasted like heaven when Gene sipped it. He looked around at the gathered adventurers and saw Kyra with Amara, both clapping along to the song. Gene raised his glass to Kyra and she gave him a thumbs up in reply, making him laugh even harder.

  He scanned the crowd at knee height, looking for Winnie but she was nowhere to be found. After a moment, he realized neither was Liris. A quick mental scan revealed their presence in a tent. Ornately decorated with black and purple fabrics, he knew it had to belong to Liris. He pulled back his senses, giving the two of them privacy despite the twinge of worry forming in the back of his mind.

  Gene tried to enjoy the night, plastering a smile on his face every time an adventurer came by to applaud his actions. To his relief, Liris came by and ushered the rest of the members of Silvayn into the tent where Winnie waited.

  When they entered, Amara dipped through the group to take Gene’s hand. He was startled and then pleased when he noticed it was her. Inside, the tent was much larger than it was on the outside. There was a large rustic room with a work table, reading nook, and roaring fire next to a hallway that disappeared around the corner. Liris stood on the other side of the large table, next to Winnie, and they all gathered around.

  There was a massive map laid out on the table, color coded to mark different regions of New Venturis. This was the first time Gene saw all of the world since his crash landing. There were markers all across the map, chained together with a string of magic that indicated the presence of Spires.

  Winnie’s face was grim in a way Gene hadn’t seen from her yet and everyone else seemed to notice the tense atmosphere as well.

  “Right. Let’s cut to the chase here,” said Liris, arms folded behind her back. “We all, you included, will be spending one more night here before we depart. However, you will not be returning to Taos.”

  Liris let the hammer drop, staying silent as she looked into everyone’s eyes before continuing, “Winifred and I have only just barely begun to assess the wide reaching ramifications of what you did here today. I exchange secrets with her Keeper of Secrets but it proved pointless, if not humiliating. It seems not even this creature knew what Gene did or how he did it. We simply don’t have enough information and so we must figure it out the old way. Amara, dear, would you come here for a moment?”

  Amara looked up to Gene with a worried expression. He patted her on the arm and nodded, sending her to Liris.

  “Come, come, stand between us here and close your eyes,” said Liris with a gentle tone as she stepped aside so Amara could stand between her and Winnie.

  She did as instructed and the two women on either side of her began casting a cooperative spell. A more complex version of the standard status spell, True Knowing provided astonishing results from their inspection.

  “Fascinating,” hummed Winnie. “Amara seems to be composed of a strange energy, primordial even, wrapped around a complex matrix of memory.”

  “You somehow injected your power into the fabric of New Venturis’s System,” said Liris, confusion clouding her face as she dug deeper into Amara’s essence. “Her class is possibly more confusing. She has a large mana reservoir but her spell list just says ‘Create*’.”

  “Amara, could you try casting your spell?” asked Winnie as she leaned over to Amara. “Just over there at that glass.”

  Amara opened her eyes to see the glass Winnie pointed at in the reading nook. She nodded and Winnie said, “Try saying the words–”

  Amara’s hand shot up before Winnie finished speaking and a translucent bubble of energy formed from thin air. It wrapped around the glass and when motioned, it flew over to land in her hand. All of the adventurers gasped.

  “Silent casting at level 1?!” exclaimed Winnie. “A miniscule dip in her internal mana reservoir and no mana signature! That’s unheard of. Unfathomable!”

  Liris stared at Amara in silence for a few seconds before saying, “That was ambient mana.”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Winnie gasped and Gene stared blankly before asking, “And that means?”

  “It means at level 1 her mana supply may be greater than ours combined!” exclaimed Winnie. “Normally, we empty our internal reservoirs when we cast spells based on the number of mana points that spells require. This is then refilled by ambient mana with rest and recovery. Amara just spent 1 mana point and drew in the rest from the ambient mana to cast her spell. That should be impossible!”

  Winnie went into a manic panic before collecting herself and clearing her throat and saying, “Apologies, I lost myself there for a moment. We’ll need to do more testing if she decides to be a combatant. We can’t tell if she’ll have access to any subclasses right now but who knows what will be available to someone with her nature. This is unprecedented. We’re seeing the birth of a new class and race.”

  Winnie smiled brightly and Amara grinned wide. Liris began rubbing her temples and Gene winced. He could feel the headache building in her mind before a breeze blew through the tent, irritating her even more.

  “That was the 50th sending spell I’ve ignored since we captured the Golden Spire,” groaned Liris. “I need to report all of this but I can’t even begin to wrap my head around how I’m going to explain what happened while giving minimal information.”

  She sighed. She reached out to Amara, requesting the glass in her bubble and the young girl gleefully nudged her to reach into it. Curious, Liris reached for the glass, hitting her fingers against the side of it. Amara giggled and shook her head before pointing at the top of the bubble. Liris rolled her eyes and reached into the top. Her hand passed through the bubble as if it were nothing and she retrieved the glass.

  She walked over to her reading nook, took a book off the shelf, and opened it to pull out a half empty bottle of a dark liquor. She filled her glass, fell into her seat, took a long gulp of her glass, and refilled it before looking at the group.

  “What we did here today has upset the natural order of this war. We may have just bankrupted Ilfas.” Liris snorted with laughter before regaining her composure and continuing, “He’ll no doubt use his remaining resources to track you all down and slit your throats in your sleep. Derek is going to try and marry me again just for the pleasure of divorcing me again. This is going to wipe his conquest out of the history books. Even Talia’s going to be annoyed at me for the increased workload. All in all, you’ve turned the entire Council of the Epoch against you, myself included unfortunately. I have to keep up appearances after all.”

  She went silent for a moment, sipping her drink as she worked up the nerve to speak again.

  She looked at Gene as she steeled her resolve and said, “I need you to make me and my team forget anything about our meeting and our deal.”

  His eyes went wide in shock. He opened his mouth to speak and Liris raised a hand to silence him, saying, “Before you say something like you can’t or won’t because you don’t know how or some bullshit about ethics, consider this: if the other factions find out what I did today, assisting you, it could mean the end of me and my contribution to this war effort. And trust that they will put every ounce of their power into finding out what I did today. You’ve seen my heart, Gene Grey. What I do is not for the recognition, the rewards, or some inborn sense of duty.”

  Gene grit his teeth. What little control he had in the situation was slipping and even worse, he hadn’t revealed all that he had learned. His chest was tight and the tension only increased as he fought himself, wondering if he should share what he now knew about the Forsaken. The fight didn’t last long. He raised his hand sheepishly to get her attention and Liris raised an eyebrow.

  “They’re not the only ones who’ll bear a grudge against me after today,” said Gene. The room was silent and all eyes were on him. “I saw the Dark Lord today, fought him in the mind of Forsaken I possessed. Amara…wasn’t just trapped in there, she was that Forsaken.”

  Gene paused, letting the gravity of his revelation hit them. Liris dropped her glass but with her quick thinking, Amara caught it in a bubble and floated it into the hand of the shocked woman.

  Gene took a deep breath and then he told them everything he’d learned, about the truth of the Forsaken and what became of those caught within the veil. Waves of nausea gripped the room and Amara fussed with the hem of her dress. Though she had no control over what happened, the little girl felt guilty about what the Dark Lord made her do.

  Gene noticed and moved to embrace her, saying, “You aren’t responsible for what he did, what he turned you into. You can breathe easy now.”

  She fell into his arms and the emotion overwhelmed her, bringing her to tears. The sobs of her pained heart were the only sound to escape the tent. They let her grieve for the life she lost and the curse she was forced to bear until she tired. Gene picked her up and let her fall asleep in his arms before looking back at Liris.

  “I wish you hadn’t told me that,” said Liris. She refilled her glass, finished it, and then refilled it again.

  “You’ve made dangerous enemies and discovered dangerous secrets, Gene Grey,” said Liris, casting her gaze to the fire. “Whatever you’ve learned about how the spires work or the Forsaken must stay a secret for now. You and your friends are now on a direct course to conflict with the Dark Lord. You all are powerful, even more so after today, but it still won’t be enough.”

  She looked past Gene to Winnie and he saw the Pact Witch shrink away before Liris said, “You must travel to Balora on the far side of the world.”

  Gene’s eyes widened. He hadn’t heard of Balora since Winnie’s forlorn utterance. He looked at the small Witch to see her squirming.

  Eonis stepped forward and exclaimed, “You can’t be serious!”

  “Unfortunately, I am,” said Liris, meeting his gaze. Tension spiked in the room but Liris didn’t back down. “You need power. Balora is a place of power for the United Front and for Winnie in particular. She must go and complete the failed pact, you all must cultivate that girl’s power, and you must return with the lost knowledge and hope it’s enough to outweigh the impacts of today. Before the fall, they were the foremost subjects on the system and class progression as a whole. They had unique ways to level up and it’s fabled that they created new subclasses. They may have some applicable knowledge for Amara. It is unfortunate but thanks to her reckless progenitor, she may have just become the first born princess of a new people. She must grow stronger and you all must keep her safe!”

  Liris slammed her drink on the arm of her chair, shattering the glass and silencing the room. She stood suddenly and said, “Now go, stop stagnating your own personal growth and finish leveling up.”

  Liris glared at Eonis as she finished her sentiments before waving the group out of her tent and taking a weary seat. “Get some rest. Tomorrow we plan your expedition across the world before I forget the chaos of our little excursion.”

  She dismissed the group and they all went on to have an uneasy night.