Mark looked up at the sky, Quark drawing his eyes to a far off pair of ships. They were little more than dark splotches against blue auroras, in the late afternoon sky. Their markings labeled them as Empire.

Below, the three bodies of the lizard kaiju burned in brightness.

Mark moved to the other side of a low ridge, to get out of line of sight of the ships, asking Quark, "Who are they? Looks like Empire."

"They're not registered on a flight plan… But they shouldn't be here anyway. This area is a no-go zone due to the kaiju. Do you want me to contact them?"

"Heck no. When is the team gonna get here?"

"The team is on their way. They will be here in an hour. Should we move to another location?"

"We'll just be tracked to any other location… We stay here." Mark frowned as he stuck his head above the ridge of stone. "Best to know if I need to go to war with the Empire today… I guess."

- - - -

"We got this," Mark said, grinning, as he looked to the sky.

Blue auroras cast a blue silhouette on a flying barge that was illuminated from the bottom by the burning fires of kaiju corpses. The barge itself was shaped like a naval ship, several hovercars strapped together, and a few greenhouses and castle towers. Most of the weight was at the back. Some of the greenhouses and castle towers were on the bottom. Eliot must have gotten a lot of magical stuff if he wasn't able to meld it all together into a workable whole, but that was fine. This was great! The ship was ramshackle and it was awesome, and even as Mark looked at the thing he saw it was still coming together.

A hovercar melted into the ship, and the ship gained a sheen at that part, as though industrial paint had been stripped and reapplied to old wood that had also become partially metal in the transformation.

Mark chuckled as he flew upward, already knowing everyone that was present.

Sally, Isoko, Eliot, but also Lola and David, which were awesome surprises. Tartu was onboard, as their emergency escape hatch back to reality, if the trip should go poorly. Mark wondered about Shawn and Lenny; if Tartu was here, where were they? Derek was on the ship, too, at least 5 of him, and also Andria, the Mithrilkinetic who had a small crush on Mark. Based on the surprised vector that belonged to Andria, as she peered over the edge of the vehicle, she was past that crush. She was kinda terrified. All of them were, and for a bunch of different reasons—

And then David was right in front of Mark, saying, "You look different."

Mark took a calming moment. He glared, lightly, and pulled back several adamantium blades that hovered around David, brushing them back behind his body and saying, "Hello, David. You're still moving as quickly as ever."

And then David grinned brightly and grabbed Mark for a hug, laughing a little and saying, "You're tearing it up out there, kid!"

Mark smiled a little and hugged back, very lightly, careful of his adamantium, saying, "I'm doing alright."

David patted Mark's back and let go, saying, "I knew Freyala knew what she was doing, but it's always nice to have proof. I was happy after Memphi for what you did back there, and I'm thrilled for what you did to the goblins here, Mark."

"Thank you… So you're here? That means you're coming to Endless Daihoon?"

"I am."

"Not putting shavallian in my coffee, right?" Mark teased.

David scoffed. "It worked out! Anyway. I am much more secure in this mission, since it's from Freyala. I have already told the others but I'm telling you now: Tartu is the escape hatch to bring you and everyone back to Earth or Daihoon by causing a rift. I am there to ensure he doesn't die, to keep the lifeline intact. Don't expect me to fight kaiju, Mark. No one here can do that but you, which hopefully changes by the end of all of this, when we all come back alive, healthy, and strong. But more than that I'm here to deliver a message, straight from Freyala:"

A golden softness collected in David's vector, his purplish-blue daihoonian eyes glinting gold in the depths.

Freyala said, "Be careful with prismatic mana; with whom you grant it to, and with how they get it. Let the person who will claim it go after it themselves, digging into the corpse, without your help. David, Lola, and Derek will not partake."

Freyala moved on.

David winced, his vector holding a slight disappointment.

Mark grinned. "Didn't expect that, huh?"

"… I trust Freyala's judgment." David moved on fast. "I'm still here, and I will remain here. Someone has to be an adult— Ah! Also this." David pulled a small marble-like thing, maybe an inch across and glittering with a white core. "Illusionary clothes, for all of these issues you keep having. I had to keep one of these on me for my first year, before I got my TT working properly. They do not make clothes strong enough to withstand real speed."

"Awesome!" Mark smiled as he picked up the marble— White linens flexed across his black body; a tunic cinched with a cloth belt, with loose pants. It was all completely fake, of course. But it was still a solution to the clothes issue. Mark held the marble and said, "I thought about one of these but I was getting good about not ruining my clothes. Thanks, David. Glad to have you aboard."

David nodded. And then he asked, "Up?"

"Meet you up there."

David flashed away and reappeared on the edge of the junk ship, looking down with everyone else. Mark almost wondered for a moment how he flew up there, but then again, when Mark was Shaping at the speed of thought the air was thick enough to grab and move like tar. David was a x35 Speedster, so in addition to being able to ignore physicality and move that fast whenever he wanted, he could probably swim through the air, when he wanted.

Mark grinned a little, and then he hauled himself up through the air, a whole lot slower and a whole lot more controlled, spinning up a prop for a good 10 seconds, gaining altitude, crossing over the edge of the junker, to see lots of open space at the forefront of the ship. Stone ground, too! With metal parts, as well. Mark slipped down onto a solid metal surface painted with lines—

Eliot called out, "Between the black lines!"

Mark landed between the black lines, at the front of the ship, teasing, "What's with the ramshackle ship!"

"I'm still putting it together," Eliot said, "We had more! A whole invisible ship carrying more supplies. But then we ran into an invisibility-tracker kaiju. Just POOF! Right there in front of us! Had to abandon some stuff."

Mark's stomach sank down into his feet.

Sally said, "We made it through."

"The thing didn't even kaiju-call," Isoko said, teasing all of them. "Not sure why you're all so terrified."

Eliot was about to say something—

Lola stepped forward, saying, "I would like to proceed, please. We'll have time to talk about everything once we're inside Endless Daihoon and we're not being tracked by Empire forces. Right now we are on a clock."

Mark thumbed at the Empire ships hovering about 40 kilometers away, on the other side of the flaming kaiju and high in the sky. "I expected pot shots. Nothing happened."

"I have been told that they are there to ensure no one attacks you," Lola said. "I would prefer not to find out the truth. Entirely too many assassins, all around! Intolerable."

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

People got moving.

Eliot said stuff about getting a move on, and the ship started to do exactly that, as Eliot started talking about having as much plastic processing as anyone wanted, because plastic was in the air; you just needed to know how to extract it. Sally hung back. Derek, David, Lola, Sally, Isoko, and Eliot, went into the ship.

Mark was still outside when the ship started moving.

Derek, Tartu, and Andria hung out at the back of the deck.

Derek was happy to be here, and he happily said, "Thanks for the invite! I've been told specifically to not allow myself to be exposed to prismatic mana."

"I heard that from Freyala herself," Mark said, nodding.

"Still tempted to try! But it would probably fuck me up in weird ways. Weird ways that might actually stick." And then he put an arm around Tartu, and Tartu tensed a bit, as Derek said, "This guy wants some!"

Tartu told Mark, "True, but also I want to make sure you're okay, first. Are you actually okay right now? Or are you experiencing a manic episode?" Tartu gestured at the side, toward the flaming lizard corpses as the ship flew by. "Did you kill them for a reason?"

Mark said, "I needed to test myself, and so I did. Do you know how this prismatic mana thing is supposed to work?"

Derek and Andria seemed secured by that answer.

Sally snorted in the background.

Tartu accepted that answer, he supposed. He pushed Derek's arm off of his shoulders and Derek snorted, as Tartu said, "I had discussions regarding the subject of prismatic mana with everyone on the way up here, and yes, I do know how it works… somewhat. This is serious shit, Mark."

Mark just arched an eyebrow. And then he gestured at his face, at his arms, at his legs—

"Okay okay. That's serious, too. I get it…" Tartu said, "But prismatic mana might not work to put you back how you were. It will be like a secondary mana baptism. Another Tutorial run. And it won't be clean. Not all prismatic mana is fully prismatic, so we'll need to find some kaiju that are how you want to be. And then you take a chance." As though he was rehashing a recent argument, Tartu told everyone, "It won't be as easy as running in there and killing the first ones we see! If you do that, you will monsterize." And then he got a scared look to him, adding, "Straight from Second Princess Walaria's mouth."

Derek said, "Not sure which was scarier; kaiju, or her."

Andria shivered.

Mark felt the situation needed some levity, so he pointed out, "Poor you and Andria here are the only non-paladins around!"

Tartu shot back, "Oh please. You're not a paladin either."

Derek said, "Andria is a paladin."

Andria got a surprised look to her, but she was unwilling to speak yet.

Mark went, "Huh! I didn't know… Huh." He looked at Andria.

Andria latched on to the conversation point, saying something that felt almost rehearsed, "Thank you for this opportunity! I do not know where it came from, but I thank you for the time and space on this voyage, and I will be sure to assist with maintenance and additions to the ship! I am not a shipwright, but I can produce a kilo of mithril a day, and already my 37 kilos are being integrated into the ship in solid ways, to ensure our base is strong in many different ways."

"… I seem to be learning a few things. Mithril goes in ships?"

Derek thumbed at her, "She wants prismatic mana, too."

"Of course I do!" Andria said, her face coloring. "But if we find a giant metalshaping kaiju then I'm sure Mark would take that one, first. Obviously. But aside from that… Uh, would you like to discuss Swords of Empire sometime, Mark? Because I have been meaning to make one for a while and… well. All I need is, uh, adamantium." She almost whispered, "And Second Princess Walaria talked about Swords of Empire at me…" Her voice trailed away.

Mark plucked one of his floating shards of adamantium out of the air, one of the 5-kilo shards, and handed it to her, saying, "5 kilos enough? More?"

Tartu rapidly spoke up, "I need some too for Wands of Destruction and Absolute Shields for the ship and a whole bunch of other stuff."

Mark rolled his eyes and handed the guy 10 kilos, and then he added some more for Andria, saying, "10?"

Andria's face was flushed red. "10 is…" Her voice squeaked. "Fantastic— Uh! Uh… Would you like to do some smithing sometime? Adamantium and mithril go together very well. You can't do the best work without both. I have a whole forge downstairs! Eliot sort of… picked up my forge and threw it into the place— You can use it, too, of course! I think he put your stuff down there, too."

Normally, Andria was rather enamored with Mark.

That seemed to be gone, now.

Andria was scared and trying to do her best.

Mark asked, "Do you want to be here, Andria? I was kinda unsure about including you because I know you're a crafter, but Isoko mentioned you and then Eliot did, and you said something about the ship? What does mithril do for a ship?"

Andria steeled herself and firmly said, "I want to be here." She looked Mark in the eyes and said, "I want to be here, and mithril will allow the ship to flex instead of break. When you get this big you need a lot of mithril enchanted into the rest of the metal, otherwise the ship will literally tear itself apart, especially in the gravity fluxes of Endless Daihoon. So I do need to be here." She breathed. She wondered if she had anything else to say. She decided that she was done.

"… Huh." Mark tapped at the stone flooring of the deck of the ship, saying, "Mithril is in here? I guess that makes sense..."

Mark was thinking Eliot had put a lot of magical stuff into the ship, because there were so many parts of the ship that did not fit together well, and Eliot could not Man-made Manipulation that stuff. From the castle in the back, to the greenhouses and castles sticking down below the ship, to the hovercars looking like they had been crashed into the hull of the ship downstairs, the place looked like a mess. Mark kinda loved it, though.

Mark added, "And that explains why Isoko and Eliot mentioned you. Is that why some parts of the ship aren't fully integrated properly? It's full of magical metals?"

"Yes," Andria said, "It'll survive a whole lot better than it looks like it will, but it's a rough patch job. There's a mithril engine, too, but that's not where the majority of the metal went."

Mark had no idea what a 'mithril engine' was, and he did not get a chance to ask.

Tartu cut the conversation short. "We good with introductions now? Because I want to make protective hexes before we get to the Crossing. Andria. I require your assistance." He started walking.

Andria nodded furiously, and then bowed to Mark. "Yes! Ready." She started walking away. "I can do it!"

Mark called out to Tartu. "How bad will it be if you have to cause a rip to get us back? Will it attract kaiju?"

Tartu turned, kept walking backward, and said, "I expect if I have to do a rip then there will already be a kaiju bearing down on us, so yes. More will come."

"Yeah, okay… Uh. Nice to have you both here!"

Tartu and Andria left and Mark was left alone with Derek, wondering what he had forgotten to ask Andria—

"Can I get some adamantium, too?" Derek asked.

"Absolutely. 10 kilos enough?" Mark handed over 10 kilos. "Or more?"

Derek mentally stumbled at the absolute wealth staring him in the face. He faltered and backed away half a step, saying, "Uhh… Don't need any... right now, if that's okay."

Mark put the metal back and solidly said, "I haven't forgotten about your request to make a dagger or sword that can replicate with you. It's on the to-do list. If you want 10 kilos instead to go out and buy a sword then that's acceptable, too, but I want you here on the mission. Fully."

Derek matched Mark's firmness, saying, "I'll be here and I can wait for you to make it. Thank you. I can wait!"

"Might take some time. I've been busy."

Derek grinned and said, "It's been a big week, hasn't it!"

"Haaaaa~"

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.