Adhira Arya sat back in her chair, running a black stone between her fingers as she debated the costs of action. The single ceiling light flickered as the ship's engines fluctuated in their idling. They had been anchored outside Grim Aegis for almost three weeks, and there was no sign of the two captains she had sent to scout ahead.

Creak.

Her chair complained as she leaned forward and sat the stone against the hardwood table. Her office was mostly bare steel around her, containing only one certificate that marked her graduation from the Academy and a single glass display on the wall with her old rank insignias. There was little point in decorating her office. It was a reminder that all ranks were temporary, even for the Chief of the Sky.

Knock. Knock.

"Come in." Arya looked up as the door cracked open, and Commander Bradley Milton stepped in.

He was an older man, tall and lanky. He ducked through the door and sat down opposite her. He wore the same black and red military uniform every member of the Military Police did, though he was not as clean-shaven as regulations demanded. It was one of the benefits of higher rank.

"Another day, more silence." Commander Milton smiled as he leaned his only arm on the table. "What do you think? Are they going to break through today and get a message out?"

"Your jokes are not appreciated, commander." Arya fixed him with her purple eyes, and Milton quickly raised his hand in defense.

"I know, I know." Milton sighed. "I wish I had been well enough to go with them."

"It was a hasty choice." Arya narrowed her eyes as she continued to run the stone between her finger and the table. "Now, I have to face the consequences of it."

"You're going to contact him?" Milton raised an eyebrow, lowering his hand back to the table. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"I know it isn't a good idea." Arya smiled. "But he might be able to see what is happening on the other side. If we have two dreadnoughts on the situation, we might be able to make some progress."

"I figure he's already dealing with enough right now, with Lucien to the north and the other two key islands losing contact. Don't be surprised if he doesn't pick up the call at all."

"That's the other problem," Arya said. "He's bought the Scion's idea that this is all a test. Those islands that can save themselves will, and those that won't will be burnt to ashes. I don't know if he responded to the Shining Helm's fall."

"That's what I'd expect from an officer." Milton smiled. "Beyond my men, Aherlow could have fallen so long as the base stayed intact."

"And how did that turn out for you?"

"Not very well." Milton shrugged, his eyes traveling down his arm. "Though my problem was underestimating one man."

Arya held back what she thought about his particular ideals. From what she had seen of Milton, he was kind enough to his soldiers but largely left his duties beyond Tartarus unaddressed. It was common among some of the unranked and the officers in the Military Police. They didn't see their service as a duty to the people of the Empyrean. They saw it as a service to the Scions.

She disagreed. While sacrifices had to be made, while some had to be left in the dark so that most could live in the light, the Military Police was a service to the people. Everything that wasn't that was a compromise with powerful people to keep them in line.

"So, are you going to do it?"

"Are you going to stay and watch?"

"I've never actually met the Chief of the Ground." Milton smiled. "I've heard he's absolutely horrible."

Arya sighed. A part of her wanted to ask him what he had heard about her before they had met. With how thin the organization was stretched, their only interactions were through orders conveyed via underlings. Her going to Aherlow personally was only due to the proximity of her dreadnought.

"He can be a trial," she said. "But it is not that different from going in front of the Scions themselves."

"That's why I don't want to go higher than commander." Milton sighed. "Dealing with otherworldly beings with the power to smite me where I stand isn't a sound survival strategy."

The Scions were gods, and what Milton said was as close to blasphemy as a person could utter. However, the Scions weren't everywhere, all the time. So long as Arya didn't report his words, he would be safe from their wrath.

It was a new opportunity—a chance to discuss things that most in the Military Police would never see. One of the problems with being one of the three highest-ranked members of the Military Police was that she had no one to talk to about the difficulties of the job.

The question was if she trusted Milton with those secrets.

"I would be careful with those words," she said. "In the wrong hands, they could make their way up to the Scions' ears."

"Are you going to tell them?" Milton leaned in closer.

Bzzt.

Purple lighting flashed across her fingers as she released just a little power from her gate. Milton leaned back a fraction of a second before she had called on the power, a sign that he was utilizing his Path of Will. Silence filled the room as they stared each other down.

"No," she said, simply. "But you should take more care in how you talk about them, especially if you want to be present for this contact. Sarruma isn't a fanatic, but he is unbending as a mountain in his loyalty. He will report anything you say to one of them."

"Understood." Milton pursed his lips. "Thank you for the warning."

"Losing one arm is punishment enough for your mistakes." Arya shrugged as she put a whisper of aether into the stone. "For someone as strong as you, I'd rather keep you intact."

"A dangerous game that we all have to play." Milton smiled, splitting his beard and showing his teeth. "We may find the unlikeliest of allies in the right places."

"You've got to be kidding me."

Alexander Ortega looked between the large grey-haired man and the red-scaled lizard man sitting at the long table. They were in the cathedral on the first level of Grim Aegis, a key island that allowed entry into the Core, also known as the Twelve Kingdoms. A fire crackled on the far end of the room in the fireplace, providing a wan orange light with plenty of shadows around the room.

"Why am I not surprised?"

The lizard man leaned back in his chair, a plume of smoke rising from his closed maw as he steepled his claws. He was covered in red scales, the only exception being golden across his chest before they dipped beneath his black and red uniform. Two slitted, yellow eyes had locked onto Alex when he entered the room and hadn't blinked a single time.

"Understand, I am asking that you both hear me out." the old man said, raising his scarred hands between them.

He was Harut, the master tracker of the Hell Knights and former shield of Grim Aegis's king, according to his own words. Alex didn't know him beyond the fact he had shown up when they had beaten Mister Deadman and freed their memories from Miss Malone's control just hours before.

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The entire situation was complicated, but the short version was that Miss Malone had their friend, Artur Lopold, prince of Grim Aegis, and they weren't leaving until they got him back.

"Go ahead." Alex sighed, putting his hands in the pockets of his black jacket as he sat opposite the lizard man. "I knew this would happen eventually. I just didn't expect it to happen so soon."

"Under my authority, I've asked you both here today to plan the rescue of Prince Artur and King Lopold." Harut frowned, his beard twitching as he leaned onto the table. "This is Captain Frank Drake, here to represent the Military Police's interest in the situation. And this is—"

Clack.

"We know who Ortega is," Captain Drake said, his clawed hand coming down onto the table. "And I would like to know why you're taking help from an outlaw. I should arrest him right now."

"The reason I'm taking help from an outlaw is that he's the reason you have your memories back." Harut held up a hand to stay any further objection. "I know you are charged with capturing people like Ortega, but it is true. He and his crew are the reason you are all free from Miss Malone's control."

"Yeah." Alex gave Captain Drake a wink. "If we hadn't taken out Mister Deadman's operation, you'd still be out on foot patrol around the city."

A sudden surge of smoke plumed out of Captain Drake's maw, but he said nothing in response. Alex smiled. It felt good to be on the good side of the authorities for once. Normally, he'd be worrying about how to escape the room and get his crew to safety.

"It doesn't make sense." Captain Drake leaned back in his chair, his claws spread to either side. "Why would an outlaw be involved with anything but saving his own skin?"

"Wasn't getting my crew's memories back my skin in the game?"

"But only their own. Why did you go to the trouble of breaking everyone's memories free? Why are you fighting to save the prince, the king, and the kingdom? Eventually, we would solve the problem if you just walked away. There's no logical reason for you to put your life and your crew's lives on the line."

"What are you getting at?" Alex raised an eyebrow at him.

"You're an outlaw, a drifter. You go from place to place, hunted by us. If Harut weren't in charge here, I'd have locked you and your crew down and dragged you to my brig until we could turn you over. Yet, you're going to help us overthrow this organization? An outlaw, ready to save the day? I don't believe it for a second."

"If it helps, we got the memories back to save our own skin." Alex leaned back, stretching his arms and pushing against the chair. "We didn't know what Bolton's gem looked like, so we just decided to break them all. Breaking them all also served as the perfect distraction so that we weren't swarmed by whoever came to clean up the mess."

"That can't be the real reason." Captain Drake snorted. "Nor does it address how you bypassed the memory alteration."

"Can't we have our little secrets?" Alex winked at him again.

In truth, he hadn't been the one who had bypassed the manipulation. Charles Bolton, an outlaw not in his crew, had picked him as an ally. Bolton's curse was to negate the effects of other curses. Bolton hadn't been able to fight beyond that due to the restrictions of his curse. Freeing Alex had allowed Alex to recruit his crew to get their own memories back. The fact that they had gone along with his plan despite their altered identities was just proof that his crew was as insane as he was.

"Secrets when we're preparing to work together? An interesting strategy."

"Oof." Alex mimed being stabbed in the gut. "You wound me. I can only give so much trust to someone ready to put me away. How many islands have you chased me across now?"

"We've only met on three." Captain Drake smiled with his pointed teeth. "Considering you're the reason this entire mess of outlaws coming to the Core started and that you tore apart Tartarus, the fact that you're sitting there free is a miracle. If I did not need to heed Harut's will, I'm not sure what I would do."

Correct on both points. Their search for the Nighthawk, hopefully currently still docked at Grim Aegis, had spun off a rush for the Core. Outlaws, brigands, and everyone who wanted freedom were heading for the Dark Meridian, and the path to that was through the Twelve Kingdoms. However, Alex hadn't planned any of that. All of it could be laid at the feet of the long-lost explorer, Roald.

Tartarus, on the other hand, was one hundred percent Alex's fault. He hadn't planned to tear the base to pieces when he went in. However, Arcee, former WPN One, whom the Military Police had tortured beneath the base, made his actions necessary.

"Man, I'm becoming a bit of a bogeyman, aren't I?" Alex chuckled, shaking his head. "Granted one, that causes chaos wherever I go, but still."

Both Harut and Drake gave him a look that told him they had no idea what he was talking about. Alex just shrugged. The nightsea was a diverse place, with natives to the vast empty darkness spotted with islands of lights and people from other worlds. Alex was from Earth, not Erth, as he liked to say.

There were so many terms for the same thing; the Core, the Empyrean, and the Thirteen Kingdoms were all the same thing, basically the territory controlled directly by the Military Police and the Scions. Erth and the nightsea were often used interchangeably, though the nightsea was just the space between islands. None of that mattered, though.

"I don't know why we're dragging this out." Alex sighed. "You know you can't do this alone. Miss Malone and her Fingers hold all the cards to get out of Grim Aegis. There's no escaping, no getting a message out. Either we beat her and free Artur or lose, and we're stuck here under her control again."

"That is why we must work together in this, regardless of past conflicts." Harut nodded, his blue and gold tunic wrinkling across his broad chest as he leaned forward on the table.

"What do you say?" Alex nodded to Captain Drake. "Bygones until this is all over? Then I'll let you try and catch me again if we live through this."

"Heh." The smoke pluming from Captain Drake's maw stopped suddenly, and his smile widened further.

Alex narrowed his eyes but let it play out. Due to his physiology, the lizard man was hard to read. Alex also wasn't sure he could take him in a fight in reality, especially if he turned into a dragon, as he had done twice.

"Alright," Captain Drake said. "I'll need some time to convince Grayson not to be ready to rip your head off, though. You're the reason that he lost his retirement after all."

"Grayson?" Alex asked.

Clack. Clack. Clack.

"The ship you stole on Lundao," Captain Drake said, tapping a claw against the table. "Then you destroyed it on Diamond Peak when you abandoned it for your new ship."

"We left it intact." Alex shook his head. "There wasn't a reason to destroy it."

Captain Drake's yellow eyes narrowed, but he nodded.

They had encountered the old man at Diamond Peak and Aherlow. Alex didn't fight him personally, but they had split up when he had appeared in Tartarus. It explained why he was so keen on catching up with the crew.

"With that problem solved, we can figure out how best to work together." Harut smiled, his beard cracking open enough to show his gleaming teeth.

"Wait," Alex said. "Something's been bothering me, and I'm sure it was bothering you too, Drake. How exactly did you not get your memories altered?"

"I was sent to watch over the prince not long after he was exiled." Harut's gaze fell onto the table. "King Lopold was worried that he would not survive out in the world beyond Grim Aegis."

"Then, how did he get captured by the Harper brothers?"

Harut grimaced. A small line of smoke plumed out from Captain Drake's maw again. Alex wasn't the only one who thought Harut running around free was odd. Something wasn't adding up.

"I've been playing catchup for weeks now," Harut said. "I wasn't sent after Prince Artur until long after the dust of their conflict had settled. When I first found a trace of him, it was at Dry Turtle, and that was only with information from a connection I had forged in my youth. Once I learned the prince had taken up with you, I surmised that you were likely heading for the Core. From there, I caught up to you after Miss Malone's plan was put in place."

"You evaded the spiders?" Captain Drake asked.

"I have access to the same cursed ability as all in the Lopold bloodline. Form Shield."

Harut raised his hand, and a blue light encompassed him. Alex raised his eyebrow, and Captain Drake leaned forward. Pieces clinked together in Alex's head, but Captain Drake put it together first.

"You can be a key, the same as the prince."

"The key has nothing to do with the curse." Harut raised a hand. "Well, it does, but it is just part of the key. There is also the pact, which I did not take as I was not to inherit the throne."

"Wow," Alex said. "I'm learning more today while understanding absolutely nothing."

"He's talking about the Ikon," Captain Drake said. "The guardian spirit that opens and shuts the gate. If I recall correctly, it is Halogi. It is the origin of the Hell Knight's flames, also forged by pact."

"Correct." Harut nodded.

"Man, now I know how I make other people feel." Alex sighed.

"How have you survived in this world without knowing the basics?" Drake sighed.

"Hey, I know enough to survive." Alex shook his head. "It's not like this information is just running around the Fringes."

"No, he is right," Harut said. "You were educated at the Academy, I assume, and I had tutors to teach me. None of this is common knowledge among the people."

"Let me try and sum this up." Alex sighed, rubbing at his temples.

Harut and Captain Drake motioned for him to continue.

"So there's a gate that controls access to the core, and this Halogi is controlled to allow people in and out. It can only be accessed by people who make a pact with it, which is the ruling family of Grim Aegis."

"Correct." Harut nodded.

"You were able to escape when you returned after we got here because of your curse." Alex pointed at Harut.

"I shielded myself and jumped into the water."

"And instead of breaking people free, you waited for us to break out."

"I had no choice in the matter," Harut said. "I saved those I could, like when Captain Drake arrived. Eventually, I thought I might have enough to take on our enemies."

"Right." Alex sighed. "Final clarification. Where's everyone that's supposed to be on the first tier? I expected an island like Grim Aegis to have a lot more people."

Captain Drake's eyes widened, and Harut's face went pale with that question. Alex had hit a nerve. He and Captain Drake leaned forward as they waited for Harut's response.

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