"Welcome to the faction?" Enora's voice sounded the same as before, but in perfect English, and a slight accent that sounded vaguely…Australian? Or not quite, maybe Australian and England mixed?

"I don't feel very welcome."

Seriously? I'd say all things considered we were basically rolling out the red carpet.

I folded my arms. "What exactly did you expect? We're not the ones who raided your planet."

Honestly. She was acting as though she had done me a favor.

"It's the way of things Layton. We can't possibly be the first raid that your faction has faced?" She pulled her hair behind her ear.

"What does that have to do with anything? I don't know the way of things. What I do know is you chose to raid us, even paid for it, not the other way around."

She cocked her head at me, seeming confused.

"Why does that bother you? Clearly you possess superior power, aren't you glad for the experience points?"

I wrinkled my nose.

A cyclops, not that long ago, had said something similar.

"We have more than enough opportunities for experience points. And there will be plenty more."

She nodded. "Of course, you feel that way, you're in a new world. It's not so easy for everyone else."

"I know some." I pointed to Ellison. "Ellison isn't from this world, he came here in a raid. He came here with nothing, same with all the Guildian's."

That caught her attention and she examined my friend.

"Alright, look. Clearly we have differences of opinions on some things." I sighed. "But for right now we need to know what we are going to do with you and your faction."

I turned to Ellison. "Do you have any thoughts?"

He scratched his beard and Durkil cleared his throat. "Layton, uhh not to interrupt but I have a question."

Enora jumped at Durkil's deep voice from behind her. "Yeah of course, what's up Durkil?"

"Well I'm just curious how this is any different than when you welcomed us into your faction." He looked at Ellison who nodded for him to continue. "You've already demonstrated our dominance, that's why they surrendered."

Well…that was a good question. The truth was when I met with Ellison something just felt different. I offered him a way out he was willing to negotiate, when offered the same chance these raiders chose to ignore diplomacy and just fight.

Except that wasn't really true though. Goatee man had done that. He was dead now. I recalled how she looked back at me before the fight, the hesitation. I'm certain that I saw it, she wasn't sure they should fight, she disagreed with her faction leader.

"Enora, before our fight, I saw you were telling your faction leader something. What was that?"

I raised a finger. "Oh and keep in mind, honesty is the most important factor in what we decide to do with you."

Her eyes narrowed. "Is that a threat?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it's a threat—but only if you lie to me. The only way this works is if we're both honest."

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

Enora studied me, speaking slowly. "I told him this was a fight that we couldn't win, and that he should negotiate." She waved her hands to where he died. "He didn't agree."

That explained the look she gave me. What it didn't explain is how she looked out our hodgepodge of an army and came to the conclusion they would lose. In fact, based on sheer intimidation they had us in spades. So why would she feel like it was a fight they would lose?

"So you looked at our posse of villagers, compared them with your professional army and thought 'we're doomed'?" I shrugged. "I'm not calling you a liar but I need more than that."

"That's easy. Our people call it 'resonate bias'."

This was new…"Keep going."

"I'm sure you have a different word for it of course." She spoke faster. "You've seen it, I'm sure. Mana enhanced characteristics?"

I glanced at Ellison. He shook his head and looked at Enora. "Assume we know nothing about this."

She looked at us sideyed but didn't argue. "Ok. You live in a world of mana now. Your stats absorb mana like plants absorb light." She paused and gave a quizzical look.

"Yes, we know about photosynthesis, keep going." I said exasperated.

"Mana powers your growth and fuels stats, but once the mana is used it becomes part of you, self perpetuating. You essentially become your own mini mana conductor." She waited to make sure we were still following along. I nodded.

"Well, that mana, the mana you are now permeating is part of you. It carries your traits and characteristics in strange ways. We don't know exactly how it works but for me the mana somehow gives me an…intuition."

It was like a lightbulb went off and the whole world made just a little more sense. Was this how Jordan was able to manipulate so many people to so many terrible things? Was this why people responded so well to Jared and his work ethic? Were people somehow getting influenced by me living in my faction?

I knew that Enora was telling the truth because she was right. I had felt it. I could sense it in people's intentions, I had felt it with Ellison, his earnestness to help his people. When I saw Mischief laying in the grass scared, meeting Sadie, Xander, Richard, the list went on and on. I had felt some strange intuition that made me want to help them.

But Enora's helped her sense danger or something?

"I have felt it." I admitted. "But I don't get it exactly, is it an emotional thing? How does that explain what you do?"

"I have always fancied myself a decent judge of potential and threats, mana has enhanced that trait. It's usually subtle, but sometimes…it's impossible to ignore." She grinned. "You're using it now, you know."

I stiffened. "What do you mean?"

"I wondered why I felt so open, so willing to share. It's you." She shrugged. "Or someone here, but I am pretty sure it's you."

Alex snorted. "Yeah, it's him."

She looked over her shoulder. "You can't help it. Your presence is stronger and it's subtly nudging me in that direction."

That didn't sit well with me. And I chewed on my lip.

"Don't worry, your faction won't become a bunch of mini Layton's. They have their choice, it's just a nudge. Other nudges bleed in and choice still exists."

This was a topic I wanted to explore more, but it wasn't the time. Right now we needed to figure out how we were going to assimilate these raiders.

"So what did your intuition tell you about our faction?"

Enora's face darkened. It happened so fast I barely caught it, but it was there, and then she was composed again.

"It told me that we shouldn't fight your faction."

***

Did he see? Enora couldn't be sure. She tried to maintain composure, but she couldn't help but the shiver crawling up her spine when Layton asked her what she felt.

She was being honest. Her intuition had told her they shouldn't fight with Layton and his faction. What she didn't tell Layton was that she had practically begged Teklen not to fight.

"Your intuition is wrong about this one Enora, look at them. They're barely a faction." She looked.

Teklen had a point. They really didn't look like much. Her intuition had been wrong before. But she knew it wasn't now.

Her eyes scanned the group walking across the field. Each a threat in their own right. The two giants, one in a hodgepodge of Iron armor, the other a perfectly fitted blue plated armor suit gilded in light gold. Alarm bells sounded in her mind, either of those two would be more than Teklen could handle, by a lot.

If they weren't enough the young man with a bow and a dark cloak with flowing black hair made her skin crawl. His eyes were always moving, seeing everything. Another killer.

Those three, they felt like enough. Those three alone could end this raid, she could feel it.

"You're wrong. Please, let's at least see why they want to meet. What could it hurt?" Teklen looked down at where she was squeezing his arm.

He huffed. "They don't want to die. You'll see. That's all this is." He pulled his arm free. "I'll go, if that will put your mind at ease."

So they met.

"I'm Ellison, and the man next to me is Layton. He is the faction leader, not me."

Ellison was not at the same level as the other three in terms of threat level, but she naturally wanted to trust him. A powerful resonance no doubt. But it wasn't Ellison that had her attention.

Layton. The boy in the grey healer's robe.

Intense eye's.

Teklen was right about one thing. This faction didn't want to fight.

Teklen examined the boy. He didn't see what Enora could.

"What did I tell you, Enora? They are scared, they don't want to fight. Let's go."

Ellison pleaded after them. "We are hoping that through diplomacy that you might be open to a peaceful resolution."

Teklen didn't listen. Enora didn't know what to do. She looked back at the boy in the grey robe and her knee's quaked. They were all about to die, they were going to become the experience points they came here seeking.

Layton. He was different, he didn't want to kill. Maybe….

Teklen died in a blur. He knew it was over the second Vink was mauled by the hammer. Enora had one hope. She threw up her hands and dropped to her knees. Like a wave the rest followed suit.

Now, here she was. Explaining Resonant Bias to Layton. A man who literally oozed with it.

It was bizarre, he was a walking contradiction. On one hand he stood over like a cloud, her own resonance telling her he was terrifyingly dangerous. But his own bias tugged at her to believe in him and trust him.

It nudged her to be honest, to be fair. It was devious in its subtlety. She had met powerful figures from her old world. Their bias smashed you over the head like a hammer, they kicked in the door of your emotions and forced you to feel. It was easy to fight those biases because you could see it happening.

Layton's was like a soft insistent whisper. It was gentle, she almost couldn't tell it was happening.

It was terrifying.

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.