“Did you know, when a soul’s broken, only the worst parts bind together?” I asked Ikala, breaking the silence in our stare-off.

  His eyebrows creased, and his lips pursed in disgust. “What?”

  “Souls…” I said. “You’ve seen the Diktyo, right? Those souls… they’re furious. That’s because the good memories float away, joyous for assimilation. Only the bad things remain.”

  “Yeah, and why the fuck are you telling me that?”

  “Because if you disrupt my ritual—that’s what I’m going to do to you. I’m going to crack your Nearan blueprint in such a way that every terrible, regretful moment loops into your mind endlessly. You won’t even remember why it’s terrible because everything that makes you you will be gone. Poof.” I opened my hand and took a step forward.

  Ikala took a step back reflexively, but stopped. Kael was growingly, glowing with blue flames I could feel from fifty yards away. He was also golden. Aiden was augmenting him. Malo was back up, holding a flask that contained Diktyo water.

  Kline was multiplying without camouflage because he was visible to the man, anyway, so he might as well increase the terror.

  Ikala stood still.

  I lifted my hand. “Return.”

  The Nearan balls mixed with the fog around my feet, and disturbing howls broke through the airwaves as Sina, Ryn, and Dain came back to life.

  These weren’t recreations—they were the real deal.

  If Nearan blueprints capture and control the mind, memories, and emotions of entities, and Aura is a blueprint that duplicates and augments the weak body, what need is there for flesh? There is none.

  So when the lurvine formed again, they looked around with confused eyes, still smelling and hearing and feeling as normal. And unlike the wild elk, I didn’t just kill these entities before bringing them back to life—they were my friends.

  My family.

  Sina stared at me, eyes confused and blubbery.

  “Shhhhhh,” I hushed and patted her fur. How real. How realistic. How hollow. “You’re alive…” I said. “Sort of.”

  “What the fuck are you?” Ikala demanded.

  I turned to him. “I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t want to hear your justifications. I don’t want to hear your rationale. I don’t want to look at you anymore. The only thing I want is for you to wait silently for your execution.”

  “Wait silently?” Ikala released a blast of soul force—and I held my breath. It was disruptive, and Aiden hit the ground, power fading. Malo hit the ground, too. It was overwhelming—

  But it didn’t make a difference.

  “You’re strong,” I said. “I’ll admit that. I’m not sure how many cores you had to steal to make that happen. I don’t know how much meat you’ve eaten, but you’ve clearly made gains. And Expansion…” I faced the thousand feet of raw annihilation behind me, “is a terrifying stage of core development. You’re definitely special. That’s why we hired you. But… You’re fucking stupid. If you were just fighting me, that’d be one thing. But…”

  I felt a presence behind me, and I stood tall. “Do you really think that you, a lowly third evolution human, could make headway against this forest’s guardians?”

  Emael, the River Guardian, released a deep, guttural roar as she expanded. It was almost a mythical experience to see the River Guardian expand to her full size, soul healed, without a tree blocking her path. Ikala had unknowingly given her a red carpet to arrive on.

  Ikala’s face paled at the sight.

  “Meet Emael, the River Guardian,” I said. “Trust me—she’s quite fast at addressing issues.”

  Emeal grew eighty feet in height in her centipede-esque form, casting deep shadows on the forest. It was almost springtime, and the sun was setting to the west, so her silhouette grew and passed above me like a clock hand moving from nine to twelve o’clock.

  ‘“No…” Ikala muttered. “That’s not how this is playing out. He shot toward me, legs enchanted, planning to take me hostage. But a blinding golden arc flew in front of me, cutting off Ikala’s hands and cauterizing them shut before continuing into the forest. It was a surreal arc, vaporizing fifteen hundred feet of things in its path. It was longer, and it conveniently avoided trees. It was clearly just for spite.

  I sent Zyphrael a sideways glance. He was in his golden armor, and the great sword he sliced down with shrank down to a tiny blade. I was pleased—Ikala was not.

  He hobbled and tried to run without hands, but over three hundred Drokai—led by Kyro—dropped their illusions to show that they surrounded him in the blood-red, setting sun.

  “W-What’s going on?” Ikala screamed. “What is this?”

  Zyphrael sneered. “Did you really think you could do what no other top-walker but Mira has done in tens of millennia?”

  Ikala looked at me pleadingly, but I had no mercy. I spread my wings and flew into the air, judging him from above.

  Kyro met me. “I’m sorry we weren’t faster,” he said. “It’s barely been fifteen minutes.”

  “I know,” I said calmly. “Do you have some sort of… amplification spell or something?”

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  He motioned, and a Drokai made one.

  They activated it.

  “Wraiths from Areswood Forest! I’m ordering everyone to assemble everyone to the military encampment. Do not fear the colossal disappointment known as Ikala Papan. You are protected by the might of Serenflora, Helfine, the River Guardian, and me, Mira Isabella Hill—all four guardians of the Fourth Ring. You’re not here to fight him—you’re here to witness his execution.”

  Ikala tried to run, but another Drokai blinked toward him so fast Moxle Dilation couldn’t handle the agility. They hit him in the stomach so hard he flew eighty feet into a boulder, and it exploded before sending him flying into a military barracks.

  The destruction was fine—the traitors needed somewhere to sleep.

  Two Drokai flew into the barracks as Wraiths—civilians and soldiers—filed out of the woods like zombies. Tyler and Sarah had been picked up by Lira—a lurvine—as Cassain and Asail ran back into camp. Felio rode in on Viel. All were terrified and confused by the state of Sina, Ryn, and Dain, so I wrapped the ghostly lurvine in illusions that made them look alive.

  Kael walked up to Sina and rubbed his body against her fur to see if she was alive. She was in all ways but simple flesh and circulation—and free rein.

  Free rein wasn’t the same thing as free will. Free will was the ability to think and act upon one’s desires. They had that. They were just cooped up and tied to me.

  Some people would consider that the same thing. I didn’t.

  The Drokai flew Ikala back into the encampment and threw him onto the ground.

  Two Klines grabbed his limp arms and pulled them horizontal and taught as if he were in Medieval stocks.

  “Let me ask you, Ikala,” I said when everyone arrived. “Do you think we’re stupid?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “Well, did you? Did you think that we would casually allow third evolution entities into our ranks when we couldn’t control them? Did you think that Trigan Easan Reita Lore wouldn’t account for that?”

  He looked at the ground, frustrated and raw.

  “Of course we did,” I said. “The only thing that we couldn’t account for was…”

  -

  “Name: Roba Ikina

  Title: General

  Age: 127

  Current Title: General

  Short: In a devastating lesson of the different levels of information leadership skills provide, Reba Ikina’s betrayal was not picked up with Trigan’s platinum grade leadership skill. If he had it, her nuanced behavior would have triggered warnings. So you may consider gifting him a Diamond leadership skill—after Ikina’s execution.”

  -

  “... A leader to betray us.” My shoulders sagged as I finished my statement. “General Roba Ikina, your title has been hereby stripped, and you face execution. My Diamond level leadership request states you’re guilty, and I can read your reasons why—but I won’t waste my time. You were a leader, in a position of trust and authority—if you were afraid? You come to me. If you need resources, you come to me. And if I can’t help you, you go down with me. I am your leader—the person you swore fealty to. Betrayal for any reason is unacceptable.”

  Ikina hung her head in defeat. At least she had the self-respect to face her death head on without a fight.

  “My guide has recommended that I show no mercy, and history agrees,” I said. “So you will not receive any. I will, however, give you your last words and convey them to your family.”

  Roba Ikina did not cry. She simply said, “It was a good, hard life. I wish I knew you held this pragmatism and resolve when I picked sides.”

  I turned to Emael. “Who should issue executions in Areswood?”

  “It does not matter,” the River Guardian said in her earth-shaking voice. “These are your people. You decide their fate.”

  “Allow me,” Zyphrael said.

  “Is there a reason?”

  “Yes.” He exhaled and turned away. “You’ve lived up to your words—and we have not. This is the least we can do.”

  “You were late, not missing,” I said. “The fact that you were close enough to get here in time shows you care.”

  Serenflora was over twenty-five miles away. To get here quickly, it proved that the Drokai had a settlement close by and had three hundred troops to protect me. It was a huge deal.

  But Zyphrael disagreed—for other reasons.

  “And…” he said hesitantly. “I was wrong about you. I don’t trust Brindle, and I trust humans less. But I should have trusted Yakana—and seen your resolve.”

  I nodded. “Okay. You can proceed. But not the man. That’s another’s right.” I looked at Sina.

  Zyphrael nodded and swiftly beheaded Ikina after a prayer of some kind, and then it was Ikala’s turn. The Drokai had pinned him down.

  I touched down in front of Ikala. “I’m not going to ask why you did what you did. I’m not going to ask your last words. In twenty minutes, Sina, Ryn, and Dain, your victims, will eat you. That will happen. But before then, you will tell me: How did you get past the Oracle’s recommendation system? Answer me swiftly because if I can bring entities back to life, you can assume I can do things far more gruesome.”

  “You’re one fucked up broad,” Ikala said.

  I pulled out my machete and sliced off my arm, and it weaved itself back together in real time. “You have no fucking idea.”

  He cackled insanely and then shrugged. “I planned to see it through. I planned to live in Wraithwood and protect the forest—on your soul pact’s terms. I came to pursue power. That’s what your request asked for. That’s what it got. Remember that.”

  “Thanks for complying.” I turned to the crowd. “If you were duped, if you were extorted, if you were just disgruntled and had no clue this man was pulling a coup—see Trigan and go to your rooms. If you were—in any way—part of this, you’re going to watch. If you leave and we find out you were involved—we will execute you. So don’t waste our time.”

  I approached Sina as the soldiers spread out like ants flooding out of a hill during a rainstorm.

  “You’ve passed on,” I said as I hugged her. “I can keep you alive, free mind, body, and soul, but you’ll be tethered to me. You’ll sleep when I tell you to sleep, and you will never have free rein. But you can live. You can love. You can feel and see, and sleep with me and Kline. I’ll keep you out as much as possible. I’ll do what I can. But… It's not ideal. So if you wish to pass on… I’ll harmonize you and make death blissful. But first… kill your killer.” I turned to Ryn and Dain with eyes blurred with tears. “And you, too. Have your revenge.”

  I opened my arms, and the three nuzzled up before turning their gazes to Ikala.

  Over seventy soldiers involved or supporting a coup—to various degrees—stood in a line as the lurvine walked up to the man.

  “You will all face punishment for what you’ve done. Some more than others. Until then, you will watch and see what happens when you betray Wraithwood.”

  The execution was slow and gruesome—and the soldiers wished they didn’t have to watch. But I made them. It was their first punishment. It satisfied Emael, and she walked away, but I wasn’t satisfied. I was sick and furious and wanted to rain hellfire on all these traitors.

  But I couldn’t.

  I had won a serious battle—but it wasn’t over.

  I learned that when Kyro flew up to me with a grimace.

  “What?” I asked.

  Kyro turned to Kai’s home. “You need to see this.”