"Oh, fuck off," Blake spat. "What are you even doing here?"

"Such hostility," Aureon said, his crystalline horns flashing crimson as he straightened his mantle, adopting the wounded expression of a man unjustly accused. "Why shouldn't I be permitted to check on two of my star Cultivators?"

"I swear I remember hearing something about you not being able to interfere with the scenario," Blake said, clenching his fists. The Archon's polished delivery grated against raw nerves already frayed by pain and exhaustion. "You popping in and derailing my train of thought has got to count."

"Plus, you can stop talking about us so possessively," Kitt said, her voice sharp with indignation. "At best, we're independent contractors, and you had to bribe us to even show up."

Blake nodded, his grip tightening on the newly repaired Verdict.

Aureon's smug half-smile widened, unperturbed by their objections. He clasped his hands behind his back, golden veins pulsing faintly along his forearms.

"You might not strictly be mine, but I'm the one in charge of your Feeds, and they are doing numbers. That means everything you're doing is benefiting me. Regardless of the circumstances, it certainly feels like you're working for me." He paused, raising one hand in a dismissive gesture. "Don't bother objecting further. I don't care."

The Archon's casual arrogance grated on Blake like sandpaper. Worse still was the content of his boasting: numbers, feeds, as if their days of struggle against the outsider, their desperate fighting to save Caprea's consciousness, were all nothing more than entertaining for a bunch of cosmic voyeurs.

Worse than even that was that he was basically correct.

Blake's fingers flexed around Verdict's grip. He knew there was nothing he could actually do to harm the Archon, but he thought he might feel a lot better putting a few rounds center mass.

The irony was that that would probably be good for ratings. The horned bastard couldn't lose.

Instead of violence, he took a few deep breaths and got control of his anger. Aureon wanted a reaction out of them. He wanted Blake angry and off-balance. It was one of the reasons he appeared the way he did. If Blake assumed this interaction was going to be hostile, then it was all pretty textbook. First, you destabilize the target state of mind. Then, you establish dominance. Finally, you exploit their emotional response. He'd seen the process used before and even used it himself when the situation called for it.

He wouldn't take the bait.

"What do you want, Aureon?" Blake was relieved to hear how even his tone was when he finally spoke. Seeing that Blake had composed himself, Aureon sniffed disdainfully.

"I'm just here to ask you to bow out now before things get out of control," he said. Blake was certain that the man was trying to put on a reasonable tone, but he just sounded patronizing.

"No thanks. You can leave now."

Aureon's infuriating half-smile didn't budge. He ignored Blake's words entirely, adjusting his left cuff minutely. He raised his eyes to meet Blake's and opened his mouth to speak—before snapping it shut and looking to his left, deeper in the abandoned storefront.

In the same moment, every hair on Blake's arms stood on end. His pupils dilated, and his mouth went dry. The air pressure in the room shifted; he could feel it in his ears. There was power building, a groundswell of spatial mana. Vaguely, Blake could smell goose down, and the air suddenly tasted like wet stone.

Aureon casually reached up and scratched his right horn, looking bored, which Blake had to assume meant he was anything but.

The air in the middle of the room seemed to fold together on itself, along some kind of dimensional seam Blake hadn't known was there. Then, like the iris of a gigantic feline eye, it began to open. The process took less than a second, creating a circle of not-space, matte, and depthless. Looking at it made Blake uneasy. Light didn't seem to illuminate it, nor did it cast any light of its own. It just was.

Then, emerging from that strange black surface, as if stepping through silk curtains, two figures stepped into the room. They came in together, side by side, wearing identical bone-white armor of a material Blake couldn't identify. The only seams in the armor came at the joints. Even their helmets were a blank, featureless white. They wore no insignia and carried no visible weapons.

That fact did nothing to set Blake at ease.

From every direction, vibrating through the buildings themselves, came a low rumbling. Kitt was quick to provide context.

"Caprea wants to make it clear that due to recent circumstances, she is very unhappy with uninvited guests." This new pair might have prompted the message, but Blake knew that Kitt was staring metaphorical daggers at Aureon as she said it.

The rightmost figure took a single step forward.

"Please convey our most sincere apologies for the intrusion." The being's voice was warm and feminine with only the faintest distortion to signify that it was coming to them through her armor. "And further, our deepest regrets that we could not assist her until this moment."

Blake's eyes flick to Aureon, taking in his reaction to the figures. He was still in the same place, but now his arms were crossed behind his back, looking to all the world as if nothing strange were happening at all. It did have a tell, though. The tips of his horns were just a little bit more crimson. Blake didn't know if that was anger, distress, or annoyance, but it was something. And the very fact that the Archon cared about these intruders spoke volumes.

The second figure moves to stand next to the first. They looked at one another, and at the same time, both of their helmets seemed to dissolve into motes of light before being drawn down into the body of their armor. What that revealed was something Blake hadn't expected to see.

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Humans. They both looked human.

Something felt tight in Blake's chest. He knew that there were other humans out there. He had been told they were almost distressingly numerous. Still, it had been months since he had last seen a fellow human.

"My name is Ulta," the first figure said. She had warm brown skin and dark hair pulled back away from her face. There was a faint, thin scar on her right cheek. She would have been able to heal a cut like that without leaving a trace. That meant its presence was deliberate. Her most striking feature, however, was her eyes. Her irises glowed with a solid white light, distinct from her sclera. Blake hadn't seen anything quite like it.

"And this," she continued, motioning to her companion, "is my partner Nomac. Say hello, Nomac."

"Hello," the man, Nomac, grumbled half-heartedly. Unlike his partner, Nomac lacked any inhuman features. He had mid-length dirty blonde hair, dark brown eyes, a strong jaw, and a healthy tan. Attractive, if forgettable. The incongruity of seeing someone who looked like they could have been an extra on Baywatch standing around in that strange, futuristic armor was a bit disorienting.

"We are here as representatives of the Autochthon Concordance, honoring our ancient responsibilities in matters of Leviathan kind," Ulta continued, sparing a second to throw Nomac an aggrieved look after his lackluster introduction. "We greet the elder Leviathan Caprea, and you, young Chimera."

"It is a bit rude of you to show up without notice," Aureon said, before Kitt had a chance to reply. "This is my scenario; I am allowed to get away with it."

Both members of the Concordance looked at Aureon then. Their expressions were cold. Nomac went so far as to crack his neck menacingly. More than their overly formal introductions or even their polite acknowledgement of Kitt, it was their reaction to the archon that put them tentatively in Blake's good graces.

"A man might start to wonder what exactly he did to earn this much attention out of nowhere," Blake said, breaking into their impromptu standoff. "He wasn't welcome, but the Archon has a point that he's at least somewhat expected. What exactly is the Concordance doing here?"

"And how exactly are you going to justify a violation of the Accords? You cannot be interfering with scenarios like this," Aureon asked, piggybacking off of Blake's question. "The Concordance was invited to send participants. You declined. I have no reason to allow you here now."

Ulta had turned that unsettling, luminescent gaze on Blake when he began speaking. But now, her expression turning icy, she turned back to the Archon.

"Well, puppet, if we're truly acting out of bounds, then you should be able to eject us. Go ahead and try." The absolute confidence in Ulta's words set Blake on his back foot. He didn't like Aureon, but there was no denying the power that an Archon represented. Unless, apparently, you were Ulta.

For his part, Aureon's aggrieved expression turned wrathful.

"I should," he growled. "But the situation is already complicated enough without adding more politics to it. The last thing I need is one of the Endless sniffing around, wondering why I turned one of their Radiants inside-out."

Ulta dropped any pretense of diplomacy and actually laughed. Blake distinctly saw Nomac rolling his eyes.

"If that's the excuse you want to go with, fine," Ulta replied, unconcerned. "The fact of the matter is that your presence here indicates that circumstances have gone beyond the bounds of the scenario."

"Just like we thought they would," Nomac interjected, sounding none too pleased.

"Just like we thought," Ulta agreed. "Our team has been paying very close attention, and with you stepping in, you left the door open for us to intervene. We aren't violating any rules about this scenario, because as of the moment you appeared here, we were outside of it."

Blake didn't feel the need to interject himself into their pissing match, but he was listening very intently.

Their assessment of the current situation was terrifying. Aureon's bullshit "Bannerlords" scenario encompassed a literal global-scale war. The idea that he deemed things inside of Caprea were so out of control as to potentially break a scenario of that scale… What the hell did Aureon know that he didn't?

"Even so, you don't have a place here," Aureon said. He jabbed a finger in Blake's direction. "I'm doing my duty and attempting to evacuate these cultivators. Once they're clear, we won't have any more problems. Just a slightly deeper crater."

That pulled Blake up short. Not just the idea that Ori and Aureon would actually be looking out for him in any capacity, but the implication of his last statement. It sounded like he had his own plan to deal with the Outsider. Caprea be damned.

"Precisely why we had to step in," Ulta countered coolly. "We weren't aware of the state of this poor Leviathan until it was far too late, and she had gotten caught up under your jurisdiction. Now we have an opportunity to keep you from killing her."

She turned towards Blake and strode a few steps closer.

"Cultivators Blake Conover and Chimera Three, also known as Kitt," she began, smiling. The warm expression she wore was so different from the one she showed Aureon that Blake might have thought she was a different person. "We'd like to make you an offer. We hope you will do us the honor of hearing it."

"You can't do that," Aureon said, cutting in. "You've already been over this. The Concordance chose not to participate. You can't come in now, attempting to act the part of patron to participants in this scenario."

Nomac moved to place himself between Aureon and Ulta. Meanwhile, Alta's expression turned icy. Then she turned to face Aureon again.

"At this point, it would do you well to stay silent." Hearing her speak, Blake reassessed her behavior so far. She had apparently still been holding on to some decorum. Now her tone was acidic.

"This offer is coming directly from one of the Endless. You know the dictates as well as I do. While the rank and file of the Concordance might need your permission to participate in these silly games, the Endless are above it. You have as little say in their behavior as you do the Aeons that you serve."

"One of the Endless." Blake was treated to the unprecedented sight of Aureon looking genuinely shocked. "That does change things."

"Powers far above our station are playing some kind of game. All of us here are just pieces on the board. Your role in orchestrating this disaster does nothing to elevate you," Ulta continued as if Aureon hadn't spoken. "The situation is unfortunate, but it is temporary. Except in your case. You will forever be what you have made yourself: a pawn."

Blake heard Nomac snicker, but he kept his eyes trained on Aureon. The Chronicler drew up straight, his posture rigid. The fury in his eyes was unmistakable, but for whatever reason, he did not reply immediately. In that silence, Ulta continued.

"We've determined that you have no ability to stop one of the Endless from participating. Furthermore, I know for a fact that you cannot afford to turn down the resources that they might offer. Given all of that, the rules that govern you are clear. Any action you could take has already been prescribed. None of the purposes that you could serve requires you to continue speaking to me. Step aside and sit there on the board until someone important needs to move you.

The real people have things to discuss."

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