Nathan raised an eyebrow. “I won’t say no to more qualified knights. But fighting demons is difficult. Any beastkin who isn’t strong enough to handle it will die. There’s a reason I’ve kept the numbers small.”
“I have a different question,” Sen said, once she realized Fei was ignoring her. “This is happening a lot faster than I expected. We’ve been here for less than a year. Why so quickly? Why here?”
Sen surely knew at least part of the answer to that. But to Nathan, it was Fei’s reaction that interested him the most. No surprise appeared on her face. Instead, she glanced between Nathan and Sen with a look of faint curiosity, as if wondering if she would hear an answer at all.
“Leopold did tell us that suppressing the last invasion so easily would have consequences,” Nathan said. “And that invasion wasn’t brought about by natural means in the first place. Things are awry.”
Awry didn’t even begin to cover it. Nathan had to visit a special somebody to gain some answers. Sen and Fei might not be happy with his explanation, but it would suffice.
After all, Nathan was about to battle a Messenger he knew nothing about. His knowledge of his original timeline couldn’t help him, and he had far fewer resources and Champions than when he had fought Messengers in his own timeline.
Chapter 2
At the back of Nathan’s office was a pitch-black door. He didn’t know what it was made of, or how it was built. He didn’t even know how it had appeared there.
What he did know was that it didn’t reside on this plane of existence. Nobody other than him could see it, and everybody else saw and felt a solid wall in its place. If he drove a nail into the wall, dust puffed out from midair. His binding stone told him that the door wasn’t even there.
He pushed the door open and stepped into the white void that appeared beyond it. When the blinding light faded from his eyes, he found himself in a strange black space. A room and furniture were marked out around him in white outlines, but almost none of it held color or substance. Nathan felt as though he had stepped into a picture book that somebody had barely started drawing.
A bed, a table, and a pair of chairs were the only items that appeared real to Nathan’s eyes. They had color and texture.
There was also a scantily clad woman reading a book on top of the bed, but Nathan pretended not to notice her. She dropped her book and focused her attention on him.
The room had changed in the week since he had last been here. He felt a chill as he realized that the shift in the portal was likely related to the change here.
For the past year, he had been denying the slow changes to this void room. What happened in here didn’t affect him, and the introduction of color made his increasingly regular visits less unsettling, so wasn’t that good?
But he couldn’t help but think that every change that occurred here related to either the demonic portals or the binding stones.
When he had last been here, this place had appeared to be a large bedroom with an attached bathroom. But now it had countertops and strange objects lining one wall. It was hard for him to tell, given they were only outlines, but they reminded him of the magical appliances in modern kitchens. The kettles and stovetops were normally powered using enchantments.
“You like my new kitchen, I take it?” the woman asked.
Curiosity overwhelmed Nathan’s desire to annoy her, and he answered her, “So it is a kitchen.”
“What else would it be?”
“I don’t know. I looked in your bathroom the other week and genuinely wondered whether I had fallen into another dimension,” Nathan said.
“Yes, well, I find the technology of your world a little quaint,” she said. “And by quaint, I mean that it’s frankly bizarre. The anachronisms hurt my modern sensibilities.”
Nathan rubbed the bridge of his nose. As with many conversations he had with her, they became confusing quickly.
This delightful woman was Kadria. The four curly horns rising from her skull gave away her inhumanity. She was a Messenger. The same Messenger who defeated him in his timeline and given him a second chance.
He still didn’t know what her angle was. He especially didn’t know why she insisted on wearing so little clothing. The black cloth covering her chest and bottom barely qualified as underwear, and the only other things she wore were a number of platinum hoops and bangles on her thighs, hips, and arms. Her black hair had grown out since he first met her, and she now tied it back in a short ponytail.
What hadn’t changed was her bronzed skin, and the sheer amount of it she showed along with her lithe figure always drew his eye.
Kadria smirked at him and ran a finger along a bare thigh. “My, you haven’t even had breakfast yet and you’re already looking for an excuse to exercise?”
He glared at her. “That’s not why I’m here.”
“I figured. You usually visit in the afternoon, when your Champions are all too busy to keep you company,” Kadria said. “Normally you have one at night, one in the morning, and can often squeeze some time in over lunch. But when they all wander off to their duties, you feel lonely and want some female companionship.”
“By your explanation, I sleep with three women a day, so I don’t think I need any more female companionship,” Nathan said drily.
“Oh, but I give you something they don’t.” Kadria moved her hand in front of her mouth in an obscene motion, and Nathan’s body reacted despite himself. She giggled, her eyes drawing lower on his body.
He sighed and tried to ignore her provocations. It was too early in the morning to waste his stamina on her.
Pulling up a seat, he plopped himself down at the table. She pouted in response but scrambled off the bed and into the opposite chair. A pair of mugs appeared on top of it, along with a thick slice of cake. Naturally, only Kadria ate cake.
“You usually share the sweets,” Nathan said.
“You’ll spoil your breakfast. I know you haven’t eaten yet,” she replied.
He idly wondered how she knew what he was always up to.
The mugs filled with coffee from the bottom up. The brew had a strong smell to it and was unlike anything he had ever drunk outside this room. Kadria had absolute power over this space and could create food and drink at will. Nathan lacked that power, as did any Bastion.
“This is normal coffee, isn’t it?” he asked.
“Have I ever given you anything strange?” she replied, batting her eyes at him innocently.
“I’m pretty sure you gave me coffee with horseradish in it last week.”
“Wasabi, actually.”
“The green plant from the Kurai Peninsula?” Nathan asked, surprised to hear the name.
“Oh, you call it the same thing here?” Kadria looked surprised. She muttered under her breath, “Or maybe it’s a translation thing.”
“I can’t imagine why you would add that to coffee,” Nathan said.
“Because seeing your face was funny?” Kadria giggled. “Even the memory makes me laugh. But no, this is normal coffee. Just, you know, better than what you drink.”
The two of them drank in silence for close to a minute. Nathan dwelled on the mysteries of the demon opposite him. He didn’t know what thoughts ran through Kadria’s head.
No, that was a lie. He had some idea, given her foot was crawling up his leg.
“The portal has split into two valleys,” Nathan said eventually.
“I suppose the Twins are getting ready to invade,” Kadria responded idly.
“So, they are behind this.”
“I already told you to be ready for them,” Kadria said. “And who else could modify the structure of a portal so drastically? I doubt this will be a full-fledged incursion. They’re fairly powerful Messengers, and this world isn’t ready to summon two at once, but they seem rather impatient.”
“Why are they showing their hand so readily?” Nathan asked. “Most Messengers wait until the last moments before they attempt to invade. You gave me less t
han twenty-four hours to react.”
“Because they’re not here to ransack and pillage the world. They’re here to play.” Kadria pointed a finger at him. “Play with you, to be specific. You were an idiot when you stopped the last invasion and caught their eye. Now they want to take you out on a date, see a movie, maybe steal a kiss.”
“I have no idea what you’re saying,” Nathan said. What the hell was a movie?
Kadria rolled her eyes. “They’re going to have some fun with you, blow things up, and see if you’re interesting enough to keep pursuing. I told you before that each Messenger has their own objective. They’re not the ‘take over the world’ type, more the ‘collect their playmates’ type. I think.”
“You think?” Nathan asked.
“I mean, I only talk to them. I don’t live in their head. If I’m wrong and they try to blow your head off instead of blowing another part of your body, don’t blame me.” Kadria grinned lewdly.
Nathan settled down as her words sank in. His coffee had cooled down, but it tasted great all the same.
Eventually, he said, “That makes them sound a lot less dangerous than I expected. Which improves my confidence.”
“Oh. That’s not the reaction you should have. They’re still plenty dangerous,” Kadria said, eyes wide.
“You just told me that they’re not here to blow my head off. Probably.”
“Sure. But that doesn’t mean they’re not going to blow other heads off. You have a bunch of Champions whose heads I suspect you’d prefer to be attached to their bodies. Unless you have an interest in things that are a little too much even for me.” Kadria raised an eyebrow. “You don’t, do you?”
“No.” He glared at her.
“Good. Also, we have something of a working partnership going here. We’re trying to prevent this world from turning into a wasteland overrun by demons. It’s rather hard for me to help you accomplish that if another Messenger turns you into their plaything. So, try not to lose,” Kadria added.
“And there’s the catch,” Nathan muttered. “You’re not going to help me deal with them at all, are you?”
“In battle? Absolutely not. If our relationship is uncovered, everything will fall apart.” Kadria grimaced. “But I can tell you that you don’t want to fight them together. And that I’m doubtful they’ll attack any time soon.”
Don’t fight them together. Nathan noted that mentally.
He would need to erect defenses in each valley then. Presumably, something bad would happen if the Twins both reached the far end.
Then he blinked, taking in Kadria’s final comment.
“Why not?” he asked. “The sooner they attack, the less prepared I am.”
“Because, as I said earlier, this world isn’t ready for two Messengers yet. By all rights, they shouldn’t even be able to appear. It’s odd that they’re able to make a visible appearance.” Kadria bit her lip.
Something clicked in Nathan’s mind. “This has to do with the war, doesn’t it?”
“Mmm. I had hoped that by bringing you here I would push this world onto a new path—one free from interference—but that doesn’t seem to have happened. Not yet.” Kadria sighed. “Your world collapsed under similar circumstances. A Messenger broke in during a war between the Federation and the Empire and ruined everything. It happens a lot.”
“This is about those predetermined events you mentioned. I don’t really believe in the idea that the future is predictable,” Nathan said.
Kadria smiled faintly. “Luckily for you, it’s not. At least, not fully.”
“You can control time,” Nathan said incredulously. “How can any future be predetermined if that’s possible?”
“Let’s just say that your understanding of time and the way it works in practice are very far apart. Trust me, because I’m the interdimensional invader whose entire existence relies on knowing how this works,” Kadria said.
“That doesn’t inspire much trust.”
“Hush, you,” Kadria said. Then she smirked. “In any case, you shouldn’t be so worried about this situation. Being at war with the Federation is good for you, isn’t it? After all, isn’t there a certain someone that you desperately want to join you?”
Chapter 3
Narime
The meeting room filled up suspiciously quickly. Narime raised an eyebrow and looked at the Champions standing beside her. Most shrugged in response, but Lucia ignored her. The young Champion seemed nervous and kept glancing around. Her black pigtails flicked about with each of her movements.
Lucia’s presence was strange in and of itself. Normally, her place in this meeting would be taken by a different Champion by the name of Seraph.
With no answers forthcoming, Narime contented herself to wait. She was a mystic fox and had a few centuries under her belt. Waiting a few minutes, or even a few hours, to find out the answer to this particular mystery was nothing new.
She drew her six silver tails close to her body and made herself as comfortable as possible. Her dress today was a simple dark blue one with long thigh slits, and it hugged her busty figure closely. A pair of sapphires resided in her collarbone, but she had covered them with a piece of black cloth wrapped around her neck. Her silver fox ears twitched as she glanced around her.
The meeting room was massive, ornate, and ostentatious. A dozen oaken chairs surrounded a table large enough that an entire marching band could walk down it. Each chair was plated in solid gold, and the table itself was rimmed in platinum. Various crystalline statues of the goddess Omria lined the center of the table.
Chandeliers hung from the vaulted ceiling. Outside, past the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, was a rock garden in the style of Narime’s homeland. She knew them as zen gardens.
Narime doubted that the owner of this mansion had any idea of the origins of zen gardens. No doubt, he had liked the appearance of one and spent an obscene amount of money replicating it.
Although, given Narime’s homeland no longer existed, she wasn’t going to complain too loudly. Reminders of her homeland were few and far between these days.
Eventually, eleven of the twelve seats filled up. And the occupant of the twelfth seat dialed in using the wireless device that sat in the very center of the table.
Narime knew that something was very wrong.
She couldn’t remember the last time she had seen every regent in the Amica Federation attend a Regency Council. Normally, they used the wireless to communicate. They had an encrypted channel over which they could talk to one another. Face-to-face meetings were simply unnecessary. And even then, usually only five or six bothered to dial in while the rest ignored the meeting.
Yet today every single one attended, and almost all in person. Once again, Narime glanced at her side. The other Champions returned her look of concern. It seemed that no one else had any idea what was going on. Lucia continued to ignore her, however.
The Regency Council consisted of the most powerful people in the entire Federation. Each regent governed a province within the Federation, and that province corresponded to the territory they had ruled before their nation had joined the Federation. Ultimately, the Federation itself was a collection of smaller states who had banded together to oppose larger empires and kingdoms.
Narime represented her Bastion, and therefore the military that defended the Federation. She wasn’t here to vote or influence matters. At least not officially. Instead, she was here to offer advice on anything related to war and conflict. The same applied to the other Champions present.
Bastions could attend in person, but each Bastion defended huge tracts of the Federation. They were immensely powerful and important generals. As a Champion, Narime was a magical warrior who defended the Federation and represented her Bastion politically and militarily. An enormous gap in status stood between Narime and the regents.
All of this led to a simple question: if every regent was present, why had none of the Bastions been summoned in person, or at least over the w
ireless?
Before Narime’s thoughts went any further, one of the regents rose to his feet and started the meeting.
“I’m sure all of you know why we’re here today,” the regent said, his tone silky smooth. This man was High Lord Torneus. He was clean-shaven, but his closely cropped hair had long since turned white. Well into his sixties, he was one of the most powerful regents in the Federation. In fact, he was one of the founding regents of the Federation.
Despite his words, Narime wished she knew why she was here.
“Because you started a damn war, and now half of us are wondering where we’ll find the money to run our provinces,” Duke Ilmarn shouted and slammed his fist onto the table. The statues of Omria shook. Several fell over, but none smashed, thankfully.
Narime and the other Champions looked at each other in surprise. None of them had heard that they were at war. Again, Lucia ignored the other Champions.
That boded poorly. What had happened on the western borders? Lucia was a duogem Champion of a Bastion by the name of Theus. He oversaw the western provinces, which bordered the Anfang Empire.
The regents grumbled. Many of them glared at Torneus. A few glared at Ilmarn.
Ilmarn stood as high on the pecking order as Torneus. Both were founding members of the Federation. Both were wise, old men with considerable influence and wealth within the entire world of Doumahr. A political duel between the two men was not something to be taken lightly.
“Yes, we are here to discuss the war,” Torneus admitted. “Specifically, I have received an update from Emperor Gorthal. I assume that you are all interested?”
Narime closed her eyes. Gorthal was the Emperor of the Anfang Empire. This confirmed her fears. Somehow, the Federation had entered a war with one of the most powerful nations on Doumahr.
Openly grumbling now, the regents told Torneus to hurry up and stop with the theatrics.
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