More and more portals opened. Bloodied fighters shambled through like zombies for the most part. Those who could, were debriefed by Onlan, those who had life threatening injuries were carried on toward the infirmary.

I sat on the chair in the middle of it all, wishing I could get some goddamn healing of my own. Despite the pain, I also tried to take in every little bit of information I could.

It turned out that the Siroth had been largely successful in their attack on Velkyn and had managed to destroy three Union government buildings as well as ruin the Velkyn Arena for the foreseeable future.

When it was done, Onlan came up to me. "Our healers here are hard pressed with the worst injured of our people. Can you walk until one of them frees up?"

"I reckon you'll need more than one to heal me up. I'm damn hard to heal these days. For now, get me some kind of walking stick and I should be alright for a little walk."

He held up a finger. "One moment." Then went and grabbed an ornamental spear with a blood red pennant from the wall. After eying it and me for a moment, he snapped it with his hands like it was a dead branch twig, discarded the pointy end before wrapping the pennant around the top to provide padding.

He handed it over to me. "One walking stick. I hope it serves you well."

I took it, mildly impressed that he'd snapped it at an almost perfect height to fit under my shoulder. I tested my weight and nodded. "It'll do for now… what rank are you anyway? Your identifier doesn't have a title… in fact, none of the identifiers I've spied have an identifier."

He smiled a calm, tired smile, and gestured for me to follow while he answered. "We all have a rank, but they are not given formally, so they do not appear on our identifiers. My rank is that of Harbinger. I report directly to the Breaker. He is the leader of the Siroth."

A flash of pain shot though my leg as I passed through the door to the hallway and I had to stop for a moment and readjust the walking stick.

Onlan waited with a look of patient sympathy, which got me walking sooner. Was there anything worse than sympathy?

The pain was too much to consider more question's but Onlan decided to carry the conversation.

"Our basic fighters are called Spears. The ones who deal in secrets and sow chaos? Echoes."

The words began to blur in my mind, much like my surroundings. The place looked like a repurposed palace but beyond that I took little else in until he stopped and swung open a door, gesturing for me to enter.

I hobbled in and came to a stop in an astonishing room. Every surface spoke of wealth. A cool marble floor beneath a richly patterned carpet, luxurious fabrics draped from a grand four-poster bed, an exquisitely carved desk that sat in a wide bay window, and through that window a forested landscape, dense with ancient trees swayed and rippled gently as far as the eye could see. My nose twitched at a smell I couldn't quite place but had a hint of those incense sticks hippy types with too many cats. Thankfully I couldn't smell any cat piss. "Is this your room?"

"No, not at all. It's yours for the duration of your stay here."

I eyed him with doubt. "Mine? Pretty swanky to waste on me."

He scratched his head. "Would you like a worse room?"

"Not a fucking chance, fella!" I hobbled over to the bed chuckling. "What did you mean 'as long as I stay here'?"

"The life of a rebel is one of constant movement. Especially if you intend to make the most of the Foundry pits."

"I am. Do they use weapons in the Foundry like the Velkyn tournament?"

"There are many groupings in the Foundry. Heavy and light weapons, Aetheric magic and Elemental Magic, and of course, unarmed."

"I'll do the Unarmed, unless I can enter the magic tournaments."

He frowned. "I know you have resistance to magic, but it was my understanding you had exceptionally low Harmony? Unless you can perform harmony based attacks, you will not be permitted to enter those bouts."

I let myself fall onto the bed, walking stick still clutched in hand in case I needed to bop a Harbinger on the noggin, I sprawled out, reveling in the softness, "This is a nice bed," I murmured, more to myself than to him.

"I'm glad you find it comfortable. I'll have someone come up and take a look at it later. You say it will take many mages?"

"Yep. Or one mage many days."

"How long have you been so immune to the effects of Harmony. I understand magical defenses, but until you came to our attention, I'd never heard of a near total immunity to magic."

I felt my eyes wanting to close now my head was on a pillow. The only thing that kept me awake was the hunger. "Some food would be nice as well. The drink your man Tanl gave me was good, but not a meal."

"You will receive food, Earl. But we were discussing your defenses. You need to give me something to go off?" The irritation in his voice was slowly ratcheting up.

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I sighed, wriggled a little more, seriously contemplating falling asleep until the food or healing came. But I still wanted certain things from these fuckers, so I looked up and eyed him. "How do I know I can trust you?"

His shoulders slumped a little, the frustration melting away. "You'd be a fool to trust anyone openly, and I know you're not a fool. But look around: you're alone in a cosmos spanning empire filled with enemies. You needed to choose a side, and though we put an incredible amount of work into retrieving you, you still came here of your own free will."

"Fair enough. How about this, then. When I get the gloves and armor I was promised, I'll tell you."

He was frowning again. "You were promised gear as part of the deal we struck with the arena. Since that deal fell through, gear will be provided on the value you offer to us. As of right now, you have refused to share basic information about your abilities and also expressed a clear intention to have no part in our operations." He moved to loom over me, a hint of the violence I detected earlier, radiated from his barely restrained calm. "That offer is off the table unless you prove yourself to be of value to us."

I rolled back off the bed, swallowing back a scream of pain as I regained my feet. "Seems to me there's not much bloody point in me staying here, then."

He laughed, a mirthless sound. "And where do you think you'd go?"

I shrugged. "Don't know. Away from here."

"You're severely injured on a world you know nothing about. The only way on or off this world is through the portals our mages create. So, you really aren't going anywhere."

I turned and headed for the door, "Sure I am. You promised me gear. You're not giving it to me. I'll go live in the forest."

His tone hardened. "What is wrong with you? You can't expect to be give top tier equipment for just fighting in the Foundry Pits. We know you support our cause," he gestured at my fingerless left hand. "You performed the Akra in the Velkyn Arena."

Despite the lancing pain flaying out from my knee, I chuckled. "You don't actually buy that shit, do you? Spider man warned me I might have to dance around a few hardcore, super-serious Siroth members, but you don't strike me as that much of an idiot."

He met my gaze steadily. "I am not, but let us be serious. You have no recourse here. You either work with us or I'll have to kill you. I can't let you walk out of here now you've been to our base."

I met his words with a nonchalant shrug. "Have at it then. If you're not going to keep your end of the bargain, I'm walking. If I die, I die, but mark my words—I'm not as easy to kill as you might think."

I gave him a second to think about it before I turned back to the door and set off walking again.

"Is this real?" he said, utterly confused. "Over some gloves and armor?"

We'd talked enough. I continued my purposeful shuffle through the open door.

"Wait!"

I stopped and turned. "Last chance. I won't turn back again."

He smirked. " You drive a hard bargain, Earl. But you know what? I like your will. I like you. You're the kind of no-nonsense, all-action hero my people need to see. I still need more from you than just fighting the circuits. If I honor the promises Tanl made when you met on Velkyn, will you at least discuss a few choice missions I have in mind for you?"

"I'll discuss them. And…" I met his eye, still willing to fight my way out of the place. "I'll fight, if it's something that floats my boat. But I won't be a soldier. If you have a front line to charge into, find some other fucking idiot. When I die, it'll be through my own stupidity and weakness, not some other dickheads."

"I can agree to that," he said, shaking his head as I dragged my sorry ass back across the room toward the bed. "I'll leave you alone for this evening. But I expect a much better conversation from you tomorrow, once you're fed and hopefully out of pain."

I grunted my agreement. "Probably a good idea."

"I must ask you not to leave your room. While you're not technically a prisoner here, there are a lot of top-secret things going on in this base. Things we really can't have you seeing or hearing unless you're directly involved. That goes for every member of the Siroth. Secrecy is our greatest weapon against the Archons."

I tilted my head in curiosity. "Archons? Don't you mean the Union?"

He laughed—a sound full of bitter irony. "Our quarrel is with the Archons only. We respect the efforts of the Union to amend its slavery laws, but they don't go far enough. Even they partake in the disgraceful use of Dross portals like the one you were brought through. There are also still many races within the Union who are treated like second-class citizens with the Archons yet again being the main offenders. Our fight began with, the Archons and it will end with the Archons. Once we achieve our goals, we will happily rejoin the Union."

I gave a half-smile. "Well, it's good to have a dream, I suppose."

He looked ready to leave before pausing. "The healers are working on the wounded still, but they will come once they're finished. It would really help them if I could tell them what they're up against."

I eyed him sourly. "You just don't give up, do you?"

"Never. I can appease, I can woo, but you do not reach the rank of Harbinger by being too soft, Earl."

I plonked back on the bed and decided, why not? "My Toughness is at 28 and my mental acuity is 16. If you can see my level you can probably work out the rest for yourself.

His big eyes widened even more. "That is an incredibly high Toughness for your level. Earl, and I must confess your Mental Acuity is higher than I would have expected. But this must mean your harmony is at most…" He frowned and shook his head as he did the maths. "One point? That is incredibly low."

"It's also not the right answer. I have no Harmony."

"What?"

"Nada, nein, nyet." I realized as I spoke, that the translation alteration in our minds meant I'd just said "No, no, no." It ruined the effect but had the required result.

"None at all?"

"That's right. It's not even available. Both Harmony and Mage Path are crossed out. I'm completely broken."

He looked into my eyes as if he was reading my soul. "This is incredible, Earl," his voice trembling with a mix of confusion and excitement. "How is it possible? I didn't even know one could have zero in a stats. I would have assumed that meant death."

"Yeah," I replied coolly. "That's what the Abel and the Monarch thought too."

"Yes. It's confusing. No wonder they were so keen on driving your price up so high. Do you think that's what gives you your magical resistance?"

"Who knows?" I said. "Could be. Toughness and maybe Mental Acuity too. The higher they go, the less magic seems to trouble me. I walked through Stannis's barrier easily enough and while it stung like a motherfucker, I doubt I'll feel a damn thing once I level up a little more."

His expression softened into a mixture of admiration and awe. "You will be an incredible asset with that ability."

I offered him a thumbs up and then fell back on the pillow. "Oh, and while we're on the subject. With the gloves and armor, I want the best stats possible regardless of level. I'm not affected by level requirements and while I might not be able to use the active enchantments, the inbuilt magic for durability and force amplification still works as long as I don't have to activate it myself."

He stared at me for a long second. I closed my eyes, basking in the comfort.

"That would be an incredible waste of a magical item," he finally said.

"Not necessarily," I countered, lifting my head up. "I just want the best tools for the job."

"I'll see what we can do. Enjoy your rest. If you 're up to it tomorrow we'll visit the Foundry Pit in Elterio. I imagine it will be an eye opener for you."

I rubbed my hands together and managed a tired smile. "That sounds absolutely champion."

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