Dominic Vacek was headed to his war room.

It was in the basement of a building he owned, and it was where he often met with his secret soldiers. The meeting today was one of the most important ones they would ever have.

The Alchemist, against all odds and in defiance of the strictest security measures money could buy, had disappeared from his island castle. The cameras hadn't shown exactly what happened. They'd glitched for a second, and the next thing anyone knew, he was gone.

Vacek had alerted all the proper authorities, and they were out for his head. A bunch of them blamed Vacek for not executing the man years ago, ignoring the fact that had he killed him, they would have foregone a bunch of the medical and technological advances that they had now. Their society would have been overly reliant on magic and the Fae. Alchemy and engineering were needed as a balance to that.

It had been put to a vote, and most of the ruling bodies had seen things his way. But now, they'd changed their mind, and it was Vacek's fault that one of the world's most feared Villains was in the wild again, at a time when heroes could scarcely afford any more chaos.

It was going to be hell on Earth if they did not find him soon.

Vacek had mobilized every single soldier he could to find the Alchemist and protect at-risk spaces. That included drawing back all but one of the spies he had on Aiden. The Alchemist took precedence over whatever crazy scheme Aiden was plotting, and if the Archmage left Earth again, Vacek would know anyway.

Given the new development, Vacek had managed to convince the Fae guides to give him back his memory on how to get in and out of the dungeon heart. It had taken some concessions which he'd hated but been forced to allow.

Now, he'd deployed some select soldiers, his most discreet ones, to search through every single dungeon on Earth being controlled by the sentient dungeon, with the help of the Fae translator to decipher the hidden codes. He needed to find something, or rather someone, and that could no longer take the backseat to everything else he was figuring out.

He used the information he'd gotten from the Red Tails to narrow it down, and they finally found it, a weak Level 1 dungeon with hardly any activity, one that most of the delvers didn't even bother to raid as it held paltry treasures.

His soldiers had retrieved the bounty, and now it was waiting for him in the war room.

When he entered the war room, he saw the package with a bag over its head, its hands tied behind its back.

Only four of the five soldiers that Vacek had sent stood by the package, and Vacek raised his eyebrow.

"Where's Romney?" he asked

Holland, the one in the center, answered.

"The dungeon was deceptively strong," he said. "And there were traps in the dungeon heart. Romney got caught up in one and died."

Holland said it all in a flat tone, but his eyes were haunted by whatever he witnessed.

He'd worked with Romney for years now, and he'd grown close with his partner.

It probably hurt to see him die, even though he would never admit it.

"I'm sorry," Vacek said, genuinely. He, too, was mad about the death, although probably not to the same degree.

Romney accepted the apology with a tip of his chin. "There are casualties in every war."

Romney was a former soldier who'd become disillusioned with the military and wanted to make a difference in another way. Vacek had given him a chance to make a difference.

"Remove the bag," Vacek ordered as he made himself comfortable in the seat for the incoming interrogation.

The bag was ripped off, and he met the gaze of the former head of the anti-corruption unit.

"Silas, nice to see you again," he said. "I thought we would be meeting sooner after I corrupted the will of your golem, but you stayed in hiding for months after that."

Like his golem, Silas remained silent. Nevertheless, Vacek would get what he wanted out of him, the same as he'd done to the golem.

With the golem, it had only taken a few sessions for him to figure out how its brain worked. While his skill wasn't as good with Alchemy as it was with magic, he'd learned enough to coach Monty on tampering with the thing's mind.

Monty had first tampered with the link and made it impossible for Silas to control it anymore. It had been tough to do, mostly because Monty did not like messing with people's minds, even if the 'person' was a golem. It was also tough because Monty's mind magic wasn't as refined as his father's, and due to a lack of practice, his skill had deteriorated.

But with enough time and guidance from Vacek himself, Monty had managed to figure it out, and they'd used the golem to catch and trap several other moles in the organization.

Then Vacek had turned them into his own tools.

Some, like Mayor Azure, he'd left in place, to set traps for others on the political spectrum. Some he'd taken out. And others, he'd simply brought them over to his side as double agents.

But by that time, Golem Silas's brain pathways had gotten too messed up to function, so Monty's last act of mercy was to convince him that he was deathly ill and better off confined to his home. They'd tried to dig further to find Silas, but it was impossible. His location had been too well-shielded.

It was alright though. Vacek had known what was going on with the dungeons, and with that, he'd been confident that he would eventually find the real Silas Creevy.

He was hoping that putting the golem Silas out of commission would call the real Silas out, but he knew that was too much to hope for. Silas was not a stupid man.

Just apparently a delusional one.

Luckily, Silas didn't have many loved ones who cared that he was sick, and the few acquaintances he did have were easy to convince.

"So," Vacek said to Silas. "To save time, I suppose I can tell you everything we've figured out already, and you help us fill in the rest. Deal?"

Silas said nothing. No matter. He would talk eventually, or they would rip the truth out of his mind. Whichever came first.

Monty was on standby outside. He was having a smoke to calm his nerves and to prepare himself for what he would likely have to do.

"The story starts like this," Vacek said. "For a long time, you've been in silent disagreement with me on how the Hero's association is run. You, like me, are from an era where heroes had complete, unchecked power and were like gods who decided who lived or died. Now, I did away with all that, and while you were happy enough with it at first, you quickly saw the flaws in my system. You think that my method disenfranchises heroes, and it leads them to not want to be heroes anymore. You looked back fondly on the old ways and thought we could incorporate some of that back into our method. What you do not understand is that the old ways did not just breed heroes. It also bred monsters."

Silas remained expressionless.

"Monsters who are raised from childhood to be aware of their own power and taught to kill or be killed. They are taught that they are always right, even when they're wrong, because they're the ones who decide what right is. The so-called Hero's code of conduct became a document they used to defend every heinous act they committed. I mean, even in the Academy, you see how the Nobles' children act. You see how things operate. It's because of their parents and they're grandparents. They insist that their children are trained with some of the same ideals they had, and I allow it, because it's good training for the heroes, but you think simulations are a step too far. You also don't agree with the paperwork I have them complete. But all these things were minor. These are things we can disagree and argue about and perhaps eventually find a middle ground, like I have done with the heads of the academies. But to you, there were differences that we could not resolve. Something happened while I was away, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Do you want to tell me what that is?"

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Silas pressed his lips together slightly, but other than that, his face stayed blank.

"Okay, I guess we can get back to that. So, following that, you contacted the Alchemist, or he contacted you; I'm not too concerned with the direction. The result was the same. With him and Vulcan, you began plotting a Villain uprising, the goal of which was two-fold. To unseat me as head of the association and install someone like, I don't know, Stella Firebringer? She would be easier to control and bend to your whim. And you also wanted a reform at the association, one that gave the Heroes more power and control than they previously had. You wanted the non-hero political faction off the board. Correct?"

It was. Silas's eyebrow twitched, which meant they were getting much warmer.

"Now, of course, the villains asked for something in return, and you agreed to it, but you had no intention of holding up your bargain for long. You didn't trust them, so you had a contingency plan, a way to take them down. Once they'd served their purpose and gotten me out, you and the other Noble Families you were working with would wipe out the villains, and you would all be the new gods. But you didn't think that through. You didn't know that they would outsmart you and that you would be the one at their mercy."

Vacek understood the frustration that now appeared on Silas' face, the hint of anger that he'd been outsmarted. Vacek himself also found it extremely frustrating to know that the Alchemist and Vulcan had outsmarted him, and he probably never would have caught Silas if they hadn't let him.

It was frustrating to be one step behind them, to know that they knew his every move.

But he would fix that, very soon.

"So now you're in a tough spot, aren't you, Silas? On one hand, your plan didn't work, and I'm still here. On the other hand, your former allies have no use for you anymore. It's why they have now discarded you like yesterday's news. It's why you're here, you know, because they let me have you. Meaning they're done using you, and they don't think you have anything you could give me that would benefit our cause, which is why they haven't killed you already." Vacek cocked his head as he sensed an invisible response from Silas. "Or maybe they left you and Lucy Frank alive for another reason. You know, that part I didn't expect. I didn't think that you would sacrifice Lucy of all people for your missions."

"They weren't supposed to hurt her." The words were ripped out of his throat raw. "They were only supposed to hold her until you were gone, but not hurt her."

Vacek leaned in mercilessly. "What did you think would happen when you left her in their hands, you stupid bastard?"

Silas' jaw clenched. Shame mounted in his expression, but he drew it back.

"I protected her."

"How?"

He said nothing, but what he'd said previously was more than enough.

"I see," Vacek murmured. "So maybe the truth is that they can't kill you. You signed a soul contract or a blood oath to that effect, didn't you? Your last attempt to save the world from those bloodthirsty cretins you unleashed on them. Your last attempt to save your own soul." Vacek scratched his chin. "I can see it now, the deal you had. You may kill everyone you want except those in the Hero's association. Correct?"

Silas, again, didn't respond.

The next step of their plan had to be to kill Vacek. Since their plan to overthrow him hadn't worked, thanks in part to Lexie's interference, the main thing was to kill him, if they could.

Vacek had weathered the scandal and the splintering of the association, and he was figuring out how to use the coming conflict to drive them together and boost heroes' morale. But that wasn't the main thing here.

"Now what I would like to know," he said. "Is what the alchemist wants. I mean, you probably don't know exactly what it is, but you must have known he wouldn't make you the offer for no reason. There's something he wants to do, something he's using both the Villains and the Heroes to achieve."

Silas glared, not speaking.

"You owe us this," Vacek continued. "Now that your actions have put the entire world in danger, you have to help me fix it. The Alchemist is now at large, thanks to you, and he is probably in a dungeon somewhere that we will never find without help. And he's about to unleash chaos unlike anything we've ever seen. Now you're going to tell me absolutely everything you remember. Everything. No matter how unimportant you think it is. And we can either do this the easy way. Or the hard way."

"You like it, don't you?" Silas finally spoke up. "The power you wield. You pretend like you don't give a shit about it, like you only want to do the right thing, but you like the fact that you have spies in every single government on earth, and even some of the Fae bend to your will. The most powerful people are on your payroll, and the Elementals can't stand up to you." A bitter smile split his lips. "Dominic Vacek, the man who controls the world. "

Dominic stared at him.

Envy? Was that what got him going?

No, Silas wasn't power hungry. But this much resentment didn't just come out of nowhere.

Vacek would have to go back over Silas' files with a fine-tooth comb to see what changed and when.

Or better yet, he could find out from Silas' mind.

"Call Monty in," Vacek ordered Holland, and while Silas tried to act tough, Vacek saw the fear and defeat in his eyes.

While they waited, Vacek continued to think.

Because, believe it or not, he wasn't interested in controlling the world. He was interested in order. It was why he'd been given power. It was why he was a Chosen.

He was here to make things better because he couldn't do that in his old world. He'd never had the chance. He'd been a foot soldier, a nobody who could do nothing but die in another man's senseless war.

Here, he could make a difference.

He could bring order and balance, and fairness.

A world where the strong served the weak. The rich served the poor.

His goal was perfect, but he knew that his execution was less than.

It was so hard to create a world where no one felt disenfranchised, especially with humans in charge.

He shook the thoughts away as he heard Monty arrive. He needed to solve this quickly, because bigger problems were incoming.

A Fae delegation would be coming to Earth soon to check out the dungeon fiasco.

They were increasingly concerned that Earth was not able to manage its own affairs and needed more oversight.

And that was very bad news.

***

Lexie's Eldritch cousin seemed to be waiting for some kind of dramatic response from her.

Instead, Lexe asked him, "What is your name?"

He puffed his chest out. "My name is Pvilycht."

"Philip?"

"Pvilycht."

"You are quite intelligent, Pvilycht."

His human mask appeared puzzled. It was much more expressive than Naem's. "Thank you?"

"You are welcome. What are your powers, Pvilycht?" Lexie wanted to know if he was potential disciple material.

"You will find out soon enough, cousin," he smiled cruelly. "But isn't there something else you should be doing?"

Lexie stared at him blankly. When she didn't move, his glee reduced, and he rolled his eyes in a very human way.

"I thought you would kill them now." He gestured to Cecilia.

Lexie also glanced at Cecilia, and fear flashed in the other woman's eyes. She threw up a hand as though activating her system screen, and Lexie thought maybe she did understand a little Eldritch, enough to understand what they were talking about at least. Maybe that was what she'd dedicated some of her mental stats to. Translating the languages of the beasts that she encountered.

Lexie didn't even consider what the other woman was doing before she turned back to the creature and said, "No."

"No?" Pvilycht looked confused.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I do not want to."

"What do you mean?"

"I do not want to kill them."

"You realize if you do not kill them, you will never complete this level."

"So you say. But why should I believe you?"

"I am Eldritch. I am telling the truth. With them alive, you will not leave this level."

She shrugged. "Then I suppose I will never leave this level."'

"You're not making sense."

"I think I am making perfect sense."

"It does not make sense for an Eldritch like yourself to not want to advance. Do you even know what treasure lies at the other side of that mountain? It is a treasure that all would kill to have."

"How do you know what the treasure is?"

"The Great Master Neqal told me."

So Neqal can see what is going on in this dungeon. Interesting to note.

"I do not understand you, cousin," Pvilycht said.

"It is very simple. I kill the things I want to kill. And I do not kill what I do not want to kill."

"But your Eldritch nature is to destroy. You always want to kill everything. It is your light."

It was, but Lexie was finding it easier not to be controlled by her light. She was finding it easier to do things in spite of how it made her feel.

She had the hunger, but there was another drive there that was more important. The drive to self-actualize.

She was not just ruled by her race and her emotions.

It was like Cecilia said. She was an individual. She would make the decisions she wanted to make.

She would not focus on what she was and how she should behave. No one truly knew the answer to that, since her species had not been seen before. She didn't know what she would grow into.

She would accept the parts of her that were there and deal with her evolution as it came.

"You cannot care for them," Pvilycht said. "Eldritch cannot care for other creatures, especially those as power hungry as you."

"I don't believe that is any of our business," she said. "Now I will give you a choice. You either show me your power and become my disciple, such that I can use you to find out where your Lord Neqal is. Or I will use you to find Lord Neqal and kill you."

"I'll have to pass on that offer, cousin. And it's me who will be using you. Because you have already shown me your weakness."

Weakness? She did not have a weakness.

Pvilycht disappeared, and a few seconds later, Lexie heard Little Fae scream.

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