There were only two computer terminals in the communal area of Hector's resident floor. A lot of people crowded around them, desperate to learn about the situation communicated by the System as a universal alert. The details proved disheartening.

Eden, home world of the Alfar, faced an immense monster invasion.

The Coalition Army, out on a year-long patrol, was not currently reachable by messengers.

Mercom, the premier Jinn nation, refused to deploy forces to assist with the situation.

Svarga of the Arahants sent a message indicating that Union Central should lead the efforts.

And so the government of Promise City was offering five hundred thousand credits for anyone level four or above – of any type of human – to join an emergency task force to liberate Eden from the monster invasion. Volunteers had two days to join. On the third day, they would leave.

Those were the facts of the situation. It took quite a bit of parsing hyperbolic news stories to derive those facts. From the way reporters painted the situation, it was the beginning of the fall of another true world. Militaristic patriotism and alarmist tendencies collided in a total meltdown of the most popular media personalities.

As an outsider, Hector didn't know how much weight to place on the dramatic pronouncements. He didn't follow the news of Union Central normally because it triggered his bullshit detector quite decisively. Yet he couldn't believe an invasion of Eden was not a big deal. It was the weakest of the true worlds in terms of combat potential, after all. If Aes could fall, then so could Eden.

Hector turned his eyes to Darius.

"No, Hector."

"I haven't said anything yet."

"We are not going to Eden. This doesn't involve us."

He squared up to his friend. "It involves all of humanity."

"Now you're sounding like Promise City propaganda. You are only level five. The outcome of this situation won't be impacted by your involvement."

Tension rose in Hector. He had power. Real power. Maybe not as much as someone with a chaos bolt, but he could effectively fight against creatures who existed solely to destroy humanity. And he was going to do that. In the back of his head, he recalled his father had dreamed of life as an Alfar. More immediately relevant, there was a damn good reason he never saw Alfar in the dungeon. They were natural healers, farmers, and horticulturists. Not so much warriors. They might be more powerful than a baseline human, but they weren't suited to high level combat.

"I'm going," Hector snapped. He turned back to the man at the computer. "Look up how to sign up for the task force."

The man vacated his seat so fast he tripped and landed on the floor. Everyone in the crowd had gone unnaturally silent at the same time. Hector ignored them and claimed the computer. The technology automatically registered his presence and switched its screen to a new view logged in under his identity. There was a link on the main page to access information on the Eden invasion. The page that led to had a section that allowed people to join the task force. He entered a few pieces of information and was given a time and place to muster in three day's time.

Hector pushed away from the computer and stood, causing his fellow Xian to startle.

A woman cleared her throat. "Uh, Hector? You're scaring us."

Darius, busy glaring at everyone, chose that moment to speak. "How can you call yourselves Xian if you are so easily intimidated? Violence isn't even permitted on this world."

The man who had given up his seat for Hector answered. "Most of us are only level three or four. We barely have any body enhancement. You two are warriors who fought in a tournament on Tian and I'm just a taxi driver."

Hector tried to clear the scowl from his face but found it a permanent fixture. This new development wasn't the compartmentalized violence of Union Central, where only those who stepped into the dungeon would risk their lives. Innocent people were dying on Eden with every moment wasted. Just like they died on unempowered worlds every day. The Coalition Army helped some of those people. But sometimes it wiped entire universes out of existence instead. There was no justice for those lost lives.

It made him wonder what he spent the last several months doing. He should be fighting the monsters wherever he could instead of settling in for a comfortable existence. Helping his friends was a noble goal, but that was only two people. How many could he positively impact if he stepped foot on the front lines?

When he first arrived on Union Central, fresh from saving Earth, he had not been a warrior. That wasn't the case any longer. He'd become a veteran of the dungeons and fought in a tournament. He was a full level higher in his body enhancement. He was capable of going to war. And it was time he acted on his moral convictions. He'd struck out repeatedly with his attempts to rehabilitate his friends. Emotional stuff was so far outside the realm of his expertise that it was laughable he'd ever decided to take on such a task. A lifetime spent managing a warehouse might not be effective training for slaughtering monsters, but he had the right mindset for it.

Riley found him while he was packing his bag in his room.

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"Don't go, Hector. Please. It's too dangerous. You almost died last time you left."

The panic in her voice hurt him. Hector turned slowly and she read something in his reluctance to meet her eyes.

"No! Hector, don't! You're my best friend, so you have to stay!"

Witnessing the up-welling of emotion, Hector reflexively brought up the System interface and transferred most of his balance to Riley. She stared at him for a long time before refusing the transaction. "I don't want credits! Just stay here, Hector!"

He couldn't find a gentle way to express his determination. "I'm going, Riley."

In response, she fled to the elevator and disappeared. Hector stared at the disapproving visage of Darius a moment before transferring the funds to him instead. "In case she needs credits while I'm gone," he explained.

The eunuch stepped forward and shoved Hector into his small room, then slid the door shut behind him for some amount of privacy. "You think throwing money around excuses you for abandoning her?"

Hector saw that his transfer request to Darius had indeed gone through, even as the man fumed at him. "She's free of debt. She has a job she likes. She lives with people who accept her."

A fierce grimace contorted the face of Darius. "So that's it? Your work here is done?"

"There are people out there who need help, Darius!"

"You have no obligation to help them! Your obligations are here!"

Hector paused. "I'll be back in a few months."

"Or maybe you're not. What happens to Riley then? She will be alone in the world again."

"Even if something happens to me, Darius, she won't be alone. She has you."

Darius looked away to scowl at the wall. "I'm not like you, Hector. I don't collect strays."

"Then why do you care so much if Riley has someone to call family?" Hector folded his arms and looked towards the small window of his room. "It's too late for you to pretend you don't care. The three of us are family, Darius. I know you don't think I should go, but I have to. I promise I'm coming back, but I know that while I'm gone the two of you will have each other."

"No matter your memories, you are not my father," Darius muttered.

"I know. You can't deny we're friends, though."

Darius lifted his nose in the air imperiously as he opened the door. "I'm angry at you."

And that was how the eunuch left things with Hector. Riley also avoided him for the next few days, though she gave him plenty of wounded glances from a distance. Several of his Xian neighbors tried to talk him out of going to Eden by explaining that the pay rate was considerably worse than if he went to Aes instead. He tried to explain his purpose in going a couple of times but eventually realized they all assumed he had been infected by the rampant patriotism of Union Central. Perhaps it was an influence. If so, he approved of the fire it had lit in him. Humanity was fighting for its very existence and he was relaxing on the sidelines.

Esther was the only person who had any meaningful interaction with him in his final days. She provided him a packing list, explained how to best navigate the racist Coalition military as a rogue Xian, and described how to reach the muster location. She also attempted to talk him out of his 'foolish heroics' more than once.

"In six months the two of us can join the Aes Reconquest. Wouldn't it be nice to know someone had your back in combat? Someone you enjoyed talking with during the inevitable downtime? Whatever squad they put you with is going to think you're a dumb savage."

"I know how it goes," Hector said, thinking back to his first meeting with Vivian, Zelda, Rodrick, Malachi, and Conflagration. That team had gone from tolerating his existence to volunteering for the Earth mission as a show of support. There was no reason prejudices couldn't be overcome.

"You know, an energy restoration elixir would help you top up your reserves before you go."

Hector laughed. "Fine, you damn capitalist, I'll buy a drink from your cafe."

In the rest of his time, he cultivated to bring himself close to the peak of his soul reserves. He didn't get too close to full, though. From his earlier conversation with Matthias, he knew that the purity of the cosmic energy he converted from chaos caused his soul to saturate quicker than usual. It definitely wouldn't be a good start to a war if he accidentally advanced and then was empty of energy.

He set his rental to inactive status and left the night before his muster date, planning to beat the congestion that would grip the roads in the morning. On his way out the door, Hector sat down to send an electronic message to Riley and Darius. The two were avoiding him as much as he was avoiding them. No one was backing down. None of them were particularly comfortable speaking on their shared bond, either. He and Riley and Darius had no true family, and so they had formed some version of their own.

'Dear Friends, it has been hard disappointing you, but I can't be like Matthias. I have more power than I ever believed possible just a few years ago. That power should be used for good. I won't claim fighting a war is free of risk. I'll only promise that I will keep myself as safe as possible. The two of you mean a lot to me and I wish I was the type of person who could express such things in person. Take care. Hector.'

It wasn't Shakespeare, but it was slightly better than a generic Hallmark card. Hector sent the message and caught a taxi to the outskirts of the muster area outside of town. He was far from the first person to show, but the crowd was thin. The System helpfully popped up a navigational aid when he entered the staging grounds and guided him to the sector he was supposed to meet up with his commander.

The muddy field was sectioned off with cones and partially washed away chalk lines and the occasional tent. Hector traipsed through it until he reached his destination, which was marked by a mud pit and an unoccupied all terrain vehicle. He sighed as he surveyed the area. His choice was to either stand or lay in the mud. He hesitated to even remove the backpack holding his gear considering the state of the ground. As someone with an enhanced body living within the city, he very rarely concerned himself with the weather. He was quite immune to mundane weather and the drainage systems of the city normally ensured he didn't ruin his clothes by walking or sitting outside.

He glanced over at the ATV which was only partially loaded. Perhaps there was a third option.

Hector removed his pack and placed it on top of the vehicle, then prepared to jump up.

"Dude. You're not even going to ask permission before you mount me? That's fucked up."

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