Two days alone in a dead man's tower.

  Jake had never been good at waiting.

  Back on Earth, waiting meant vulnerability. Meant giving marks time to reconsider. Time to check their bank accounts. Time to call the police. Good cons moved fast and finished faster.

  But here, Jake had no choice. The representative would arrive when they arrived. Not sooner. Not later. Pantathians were never early and never late.

  Exactly on schedule.

  So Jake waited.

  The first day, he tried to stay busy. Productive. Focused.

  It didn't work.

  His mind kept wandering to Hawth. To Forge and Kandis organizing the evacuation. To two hundred people being loaded onto boats while trying not to panic. To the skeleton crew staying behind to watch for signals that would never come.

  Because Jake knew, deep in his consciousness where Fallen's certainty still lived, that this was going to fail.

  The smartest mind he'd ever encountered had looked at the situation with perfect clarity and declared it hopeless. Fallen had KNOWN the Pantathians would come and nothing could stop them.

  But Jake pushed that thought away. Fallen had been terrified by knowledge. Had begged to be made ignorant again. That fear didn't mean he was RIGHT.

  It just meant he couldn't bear to know the truth.

  Jake could bear it. Jake was not human.

  So he prepared.

  He practiced the Pantathian greeting. Over and over. Every syllable perfect. Every gesture precise. The supplication pose Jonas's memories indicated was proper protocol.

  “Glorious Representative of the Supreme Empire, this unworthy servant abases himself before your divine presence.”

  The words flowed smoothly now. Natural. Like he'd been speaking Pantathian his entire life.

  He practiced the follow-up response too. The questions they might ask. The information they'd expect. Population numbers. Resource assessments. Any signs of conspiracy.

  All lies. Carefully constructed lies based on Jonas's previous reports.

  Jake knew how to lie. It was what he did best. What he'd always done best.

  This would work. It had to work.

  - - -

  The Glimmerglider chirped from its elaborate cage.

  Jake looked over. The creature was watching him with those enormous eyes. Intelligent. Aware. No longer afraid after the gentle extraction weeks ago.

  When had it been weeks? Time was strange here. Days blended together.

  Jake approached the cage. The Glimmerglider tilted its head and chirped again. A greeting maybe. Recognition.

  "You need food," Jake said to it. His voice sounding strange in the empty tower. "I've been ignoring you. Sorry about that."

  He found the dried fruit Kandis had prepared. Small pieces suitable for a creature that size. Placed them in the feeding dish.

  The Glimmerglider hopped down immediately and began eating. Its bioluminescent stripes pulsing gently. Content pattern. Happy pattern.

  Jake watched it eat. This small, beautiful creature that he'd almost destroyed. That he'd learned from. That carried genetic potential for incredible power in its tiny frame.

  "You're important," Jake told it. Though the creature couldn't understand. "I don't know why yet. But you are. I can feel it."

  The Glimmerglider chirped between bites. Agreeing maybe. Or just acknowledging the sound of Jake's voice.

  Jake stayed there longer than necessary. Just watching. Finding comfort in the simple act of caring for something helpless.

  Fallen's memories again. The instinct to nurture. To protect. To find joy in small acts of kindness.

  Jake didn't have those instincts naturally. But he had them now. Borrowed. Stolen. His.

  - - -

  Later, Jake sat in the laboratory and tried to assess his capabilities.

  His "stats" as he thought of them. The magical affinities he'd accumulated through consumption and careful extraction.

  Life magic was high. Very high. He could feel the concept thrumming through Jonas's body constantly. Maintaining dead tissue. Healing injuries. Sustaining consciousness in a corpse. All of it came naturally now. Instinctive. Yet he also knew that there was so much more that he was missing.

  Void was strong too. The inversion filter Jonas had mastered. Jake could feel how to apply it. How to wrap Void around other concepts and flip them to their opposites. He didn't LIKE using it. The perversion of natural forces felt wrong. But the capability was there.

  Air affinity surprised him. Not just present but significant. The Glimmerglider's genetic disposition copied perfectly. Jake could feel Air as a concept now. Could sense how to manipulate it if he understood the mechanics better. The potential for tornado-level power was there. Dormant. Waiting.

  Fire was low. Very low. Jonas had barely any natural affinity and Jake hadn't consumed any fire-specialized creatures. The flames he could generate were weak. Parlor tricks at best.

  Water was similarly minimal. He could manipulate small amounts. Move liquid. Nothing impressive.

  Earth was nonexistent as far as Jake could tell. He'd never interacted with stone or soil magic. Never consumed anything with that affinity. The concept was invisible to him.

  Fusion was moderate. The ability to combine concepts. To blend them into something new. Jonas had used this occasionally. Creating hybrid effects. Jake could feel the potential there but lacked the practice to use it effectively.

  Amplification was minimal. Making effects stronger. Pushing concepts beyond their natural limits. Jake knew it existed but couldn't access it reliably.

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  As for Space and Time...

  Jake wouldn't know what those looked like if he had them. The concepts were too abstract. Too fundamental. He'd touched something when slowing the gliders neurons. Had manipulated time perception through neural chemistry. But whether that was actual Time magic or just biological manipulation, Jake couldn't say.

  The inventory was useful. Knowing his capabilities. Understanding his limitations.

  But it didn't change the fundamental truth: he was still just a parasite wearing a corpse, trying to fool creatures that had ruled for centuries.

  - - -

  Evening came. Jake made himself eat. Jonas's body needed fuel.

  As he ate the leftovers Kandis had left over as his mind wandered to Hawth again. To Forge and Kandis.

  Were they together now? Had the stress and danger finally pushed them past the "after the representative" promise?

  Jake hoped so. Fallen's memories carried such warmth when thinking about love. About connection. About two people finding each other despite the chaos.

  Forge and Kandis deserved that. Deserved to experience happiness before everything potentially fell apart.

  Jake thought about his mother. Then realized he wasn't sure which mother he meant.

  His real mother? The woman who'd given birth to him and immediately given him up? The foster system that had raised him with rotating faces and temporary homes?

  Or Fallen's mother? The large, strong woman who'd loved her simple son unconditionally? Who'd cried when Jake saved him? Who'd thanked the monster for bringing her boy back?

  Both sets of memories were real. Both were his. But they couldn't coexist without creating cognitive dissonance.

  Jake was an orphan who'd never known love.

  Jake was a beloved son raised in a warm, accepting community.

  Both. Simultaneously. Forever.

  The contradiction was maddening.

  So Jake stopped thinking about it. Pushed the thoughts away. Focused on the present.

  On surviving the next day.

  - - -

  The pig farted.

  The bioluminescent pattern blazed across its side. Blue lightning announcing digestive processes.

  Jake laughed.

  He'd been sitting in the laboratory for an hour. Maybe two. Just watching the pig. Waiting for the inevitable.

  And there it was. The fart light. His ridiculous, beautiful creation.

  The pig grunted and settled back into eating. Completely unbothered by its ability.

  Jake laughed again. Harder this time. The sound echoing through the empty tower.

  It was absurd. Stupid. Pointless. A waste of incredible power and sophisticated biological manipulation.

  And it brought him more joy than anything else he'd accomplished here.

  “I bet Fallen would absolutely love this.”

  The pig farted again ten minutes later. Another glow. Another announcement.

  Jake was still laughing.

  This was what he could do. What he could create. Not just destruction and consumption and death. But stupid, beautiful, pointless things that made life slightly better.

  Even if "better" just meant knowing when to hold your breath around pig pens.

  The absurdity was perfect. The humor was necessary. Because tomorrow, creatures were coming that could end everything.

  But tonight, Jake had a glowing pig.

  And that was enough.

  - - -

  Jake woke in Jonas's bed feeling the familiar wrongness. The body was weaker than yesterday. Muscle atrophy continuing despite his best efforts. Four days without constant maintenance had taken a toll that even troll regeneration couldn't fully compensate for. He had to eat constantly to keep it up.

  But it would hold. Long enough. It had to.

  Jake spent the morning in final preparations. Wanting to Review Jonas's journal one more time, but still not daring to even pick it up. Checking the zombies in the basement. Making sure every detail of the deception was perfect.

  The tower had to look like Jonas's normal workspace. Active experiments. Ongoing research. The daily routine of a necromancer collaborator.

  Nothing suspicious. Nothing that would raise questions.

  Jake positioned himself in the study. Reviewed notes. Created the appearance of recent work. Everything had to seem normal.

  Then he waited.

  Noon approached. The sun climbing toward its zenith despite the cloud cover. Jake could feel its position. Could sense the passage of time through the movement of shadows and the warming of air.

  Exactly noon. The Pantathians would arrive exactly on schedule.

  Jake extended his Life sense outward. Mapping the swamp around the tower. The familiar signatures of rats and spiders and eels. The usual ecosystem.

  Then, at precisely noon with the sun directly overhead, he felt them.

  Life signatures. Moving through the swamp from the interior. From the ‘forbidden zone’. From wherever the Pantathians governed their empire.

  Big signatures. Much bigger than human.

  Jake had known they were large. Jonas's memories showed Pantathians at eight or nine feet tall. Serpentine. Powerful. But he had thought this size appropriation was due to the emotions that came attached with the creatures. That was incorrect.

  Holy hell.

  Jake's Life sense was reading them at twelve feet. Maybe more. And the density of their life force was staggering. These weren't just tall creatures. They were POWERFUL. Massive. Arms that bulged with muscle larger than Jake's entire body.

  And there were twelve of them.

  TWELVE.

  That wasn't in Jonas's journal. Representatives always came alone. Single inspector. Quick visit. Minimal fuss.

  But twelve Pantathian warriors were marching through the swamp directly toward the tower.

  Jake's confidence wavered. Just for a moment. Just a flicker of doubt.

  Then he pushed it down. This was fine. Maybe they brought guards. Maybe the mine decision required additional security. Maybe this was normal for important announcements.

  Jake could handle this. He'd conned bigger marks than this. Whales with more money than sense. Organizations with resources and lawyers and investigators. He'd walked away from all of them.

  He could fool twelve snake fuckers.

  He moved to the tower entrance. Positioned himself in the clearing just outside. The proper location for greeting important visitors.

  His heart was pounding. Jonas's heart. Adrenaline flooding the system.

  But his mind was clear. Focused. Ready.

  The Pantathians emerged from the swamp.

  And Jake's certainty shattered.

  They were MASSIVE.

  Serpentine bodies covered in scales that shifted between green and gold. Humanoid torsos with arms thick as tree trunks. Heads that were distinctly reptilian. Snake-like. Ancient.

  And the eyes. Cold. Calculating. Ancient intelligence looking at the world with total confidence in their superiority.

  They moved in formation. Precise. Military. The representative in the lead with eleven warriors behind.

  All of them were armed. Massive blades. Curved. Designed for creatures their own size.

  Jake's Life sense was screaming warnings. These were apex predators. Perfectly designed killing machines. Every muscle. Every scale. Every weapon optimized for maximum efficiency.

  Jake had not prepared for this. He had practiced. Had studied what little of Jonas's memories he could manage for proper protocol. But this…

  Every bestial sense that he had demanded that he run. Jake stood firm. No worry touched the necromancers face.

  He dropped to both knees in the clearing. Raised his hands in supplication. Palms up. Head bowed.

  The gesture Jonas's memories indicated was absolute submission. Total deference to Pantathian authority.

  Jake spoke in perfect Pantathian. Every syllable precise. Every inflection correct.

  "Glorious Representative of the Supreme Empire, this unworthy servant abases himself before your divine presence. I bring humble report of the human settlement Hawth, which exists only through the mercy and wisdom of the Serpent Lords. The population remains stable and productive. Resources are managed efficiently. Loyalty is maintained without…"

  Pressure.

  Slight. Almost imperceptible. Like a breeze pushing against the back of his neck.

  Jake's head tilted forward. Just slightly. He'd bowed too low.

  Then his head rolled off.

  Cleanly. Precisely. No pain. No resistance. Just separation.

  The world inverted. Sky. Ground. Tower. All spinning.

  Jake's consciousness was still there. Still aware. But everything was wrong.

  What just happened?

  Did he lose control of Jonas's body?

  The head hit the ground and bounced once. Rolled. Came to rest facing the tower.

  Jake could still see. Jonas's eyes still functioned. The head was still alive. Regeneration keeping tissues viable for precious seconds.

  He saw Jonas's body. Headless. Blood fountaining from the neck stump. Crumpling to its knees.

  He saw the Pantathians continuing forward. Marching past the corpse without breaking stride.

  They hadn't stopped. Hadn't paused. Hadn't even acknowledged the greeting.

  They'd just executed Jonas mid-word and kept walking.

  Toward Hawth.

  Realization hit with crushing clarity.

  They weren't here to negotiate.

  They weren't here to inspect.

  They weren't here to make decisions.

  They were here to exterminate.

  The mine wasn't a future problem. It was happening NOW. The council had decided. Humans were being cleared out. Replaced with orcs.

  And Jonas's usefulness had ended.

  Jake tried to scream. Tried to warn Hawth. Tried to do ANYTHING.

  But he was a severed head on the ground. Consciousness fading. Vision dimming.

  The Pantathians marched past. Twelve massive warriors heading toward two hundred people who didn't know death was coming.

  Toward his friends.

  Toward his mother.

  Toward everyone Jake had promised to save.

  And he could do nothing. Nothing but watch his vision fade as Jonas's head finally died.

  The last thing Jake saw was the Pantathians disappearing into the swamp.

  Heading for Hawth.

  - - -

  End of Chapter 49