Luke blinked slowly. He hadn’t expected one of the elves to literally have the powers of the Flash. He was almost as surprised about the summoning to the lord’s court. He had been told it was coming, but hadn’t expected it to be today.

  “Eamon. Are there special customs for when you present yourself as a chosen?” Luke asked. The young orc had a space warping class, so he must have done this already.

  Eamon said, “Yes. There is a strict protocol.” Then he turned and walked away, his two friends following him.

  “Wait!” Luke said, surprised at his rudeness.

  Eamon waved without looking back, “I’ll report back to my grandfather that you have the artifact. Bring that with you, by the way, it’s your offering to Lord Edobar. I’m sure the Seneschal will send someone to train you. I don’t really care, you are no longer my problem.”

  Space warped around him and his friends and they appeared at the end of the block. Luke stood there shocked. This would change his plans.

  “Skywalker. We’ve got ten orbs now,” Shepard said and held out a hand. “Sounds like you are gonna be busy for the next bit. You alright if we knock off for the day?”

  Luke felt conflicted as he received the marbles. Ten cores was great, well worth the bonus he was going to pay for it. But Shepard had clearly risked his life for them, and Luke didn’t want to encourage that behavior.

  “This is wonderful, thank you. I’ll make sure you get the bonus for today. But there are still plenty of hours left in the day. I want you to survey the Crystal Golem caves. Bumblebee’s out of spells, so I’ll keep him with me unless you think you’ll need the help.”

  Shepard’s eyes crinkled and he shook his head. “No, my crew works best alone. We’ll get you a headcount of golems and then head home after that.”

  Luke nodded and the four of them jogged away. Once they were gone, Bumblebee softly said, “Thanks.”

  “No problem,” Luke said. He popped open the casing on his gauntlet and pulled out a dozen round magnets, ammunition for his spell rifle. He handed them over with a smile.

  Bumblebee flipped his visor up so Luke could see him smile back.

  “So, what’s next for us? Can we do some more hunting? That was so fun,” Vanessa said.

  Luke turned to see a manic grin on her face. Her Ice Sledgehammer was glowing dimly and white wisps floated from its head. Her left hand gripped the argent rose tightly and blood dripped from her gauntlet.

  His heart dropped. She hadn’t mentioned that she was bleeding. Wait. That didn’t make sense. Even if the rose had insanely sharp thorns that pierced her metal gauntlets, it shouldn’t have touched her skin. The palm of the mech’s hand was a foot away from where her actual hand controlled the gauntlet. The artifact was bleeding her through magic of some kind, and probably making her bloodthirsty.

  “Hey, Vanessa,” Luke said carefully, like he was walking up to a wild animal. “Did you know you are bleeding? I think the metal rose is causing some problems.”

  She glanced down at the blood dripping from her gauntlet. “Of course I know. I think it’s an activation requirement. I felt the prick of the thorns and then I felt stronger and faster. I think the hammer’s magic is working better too. That’s why I want to go hunting, so I can try out the extra power.”

  “Are you feeling any different? I’m worried that the bloodthirsty artifact is making you a berserker.”

  She huffed and leaned back. Jinx hopped off her shoulder, sensing tension. “Seriously, Luke? Do you think so little of me? I would have said something a while ago if I felt off at all. This is all me, I signed up to be a monster fighter for a reason.”

  Luke opened and closed his mouth a few times. Then he shook his head and said, “The only way you can convince me you're not compromised is if you hand over the rose right now.”

  “Come on, Luke. You’re being ridiculous. I’m just asking to do what you hired me to do.”

  Luke shook his head. “I’m serious. Hand over the artifact.” He held out his hand.

  Vanessa huffed in frustration. She stared him down, but when he didn’t budge, she stepped forward and held the rose over his hand. She slowly opened the gauntlet and it fell into his hand. Luke held it by the pedals and put it behind his back.

  “There. Are you happy now? I told you that you were being ridiculous,” she said, exasperated.

  Luke said nothing, waiting to see if there was any change now that she didn’t hold the rose. She rolled her eyes and him and gestured for him to get a move on. He said, “We’ll go check in with Kruro, I think that’s where the Seneschal will look for us if he wants to give me etiquette lessons. Maybe after the meeting with the lord we can go hunting.”

  “Sounds good. Let’s go,” Vanessa said.

  Luke eyed her warily and then headed off. Jinx chose Bumblebee as her mount, which made him squee with joy. Then he coughed and looked around. Vanessa chuckled.

  As they walked, they passed through the poorer neighborhood, then the rich one, then the metal and glass skyscraper tree, then a rich neighborhood, and back to the outer ring of poorer people. No one was truly poor in the village, they were all employed by Lord Edobar and had enough to eat and a place to stay. It would be admirable if not for the fact that getting fired meant exile and probable death.

  Before they turned onto the runewright’s street, Vanessa stopped suddenly. She looked at her left gauntlet and said, “My hand is bleeding.”

  “Did it get worse?” Luke asked.

  “No, I mean, I didn’t know it was... I mean I knew but.” Vanessa shook her head. “You were right, the rose is cursed. I knew it was cutting up my hand, but I didn’t care. And looking back on it, I was probably more bloodthirsty than normal this morning.”

  Luke bit back a 'I-told-you-so' and instead joked, “More bloodthirsty? Does that mean there is a baseline amount of bloodthirstiness?”

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  “Well, I did force my way into a monster hunting team. You can’t be too surprised that your girlfriend is a little bloodthirsty,” she said with a lopsided grin.

  Luke smiled back, glad to have her back to normal. “Come on, let’s get you back to Kruro’s place and I’ll bandage up your hand. I’ve got a first aid kit in here.” He patted his hip compartment with a clang and they walked into the runewright's place together.

  “Oh good, you are here,” Kruro said brightly. “Cormac told me you are to present yourself at court today. He asked me to get you ready. Teaching you proper manners will take some time, and we have to dress you appropriately, then there is the matter of the gift you must give him. The better your gift and behavior, the better your gift from him will be. We should get started right away, you do not have much time.”

  "What does it mean to present myself at court as Chosen anyway?"

  "It gives you certain rights and privileges, for example you will start drawing a small salary. Commoners will defer to you. You will also be responsible to defend our village in the case of a monster wave. But you must give our Lord an impressive gift to start that process."

  “I have the gift taken care of already, Cormac’s grandson gave me this, an artifact from the death of the hydra. After seeing what it did to Vanessa, I don’t mind giving it up.” Luke snapped his fingers. “I haven’t introduced you yet. This is my new girlfriend, Vanessa. She’s an excellent fighter and medic. I’m going to bandage her up and then we can get started with the lessons or whatever.”

  “An artifact is a mighty gift, let alone a metal flower. Lord Edobar will like it, I am sure of it. But I believe you are underestimating how intricate courtly manners are. We will start your lessons now, you can listen while you bandage your lady,” Kruro said.

  “Is it really that important? I mean, I don’t even live here. Do I really care what the lord thinks of me?”

  “If he is displeased, he will banish you. So, yes, you care. Also, Lord Edobar has visited Earth many times. He knows exactly what is valuable there. If you impress him, he will gift you an impressive treasure.”

  “I guess I do care. I can play a part for an impressive treasure. Thanks for helping out, Kruro, I’ll be a good student.”

  She slithered over and held up four fingers. “We will start with names. There are four forms of address in court and the wider world. If you are poor, or of low respect, you are called by your name. If you have a profession, one that directly benefits our lord, you are called by your name and your work. That’s why you were called Luke of Runes. You are now called Luke of Machines because of your class. The aristocracy is always called by their full title by people of your rank, but you will be changing ranks within the court meeting. As soon as the lord gives you his gift, you will need to change.”

  Kruro continued on, explaining the intricacies of court life while he worked on Vanessa’s hand. Thankfully the wounds were superficial and she would heal quickly. Once she was bandaged up, he sent her back to Earth with Bumblebee. Jinx decided to stay with Luke, which was inconvenient and sweet.

  ???

  Luke paused and took a deep breath outside the entrance to the court. He had just walked up an entire skyscraper. There was an elevator, but that was for the aristocrats. Thankfully, his stats helped him recover in moments. He tapped the door and waited to be let in.

  A dwarf opened the door, the afternoon light playing off her opalescent skin. She wore silver clothes with gold trim, the colors of the Falodun house, Luke had recently learned. She stood to the side and stared straight ahead.

  Luke walked into the lord’s court, a hexagonal ballroom high above the landscape. There were floor to ceiling windows interspaced with metal panels all around the room’s edge. The stripes of sunlight on the floor gave it a barcode feeling. The view was impressive, but they looked out at the world through a metal cage.

  On each metal panel stood a different work of art. Paintings of grand cities, sculptures of gods, and several TV screens from Earth with movies silently playing on them. Luke thought he recognized Judge Dredd and Inception.

  There were more than a dozen people scattered through the room, each with an attendant or two. The aristocrats were mostly elves, but there were three orcs and two dwarves, including Seneschal Cormac and Seer Theobaldine. Lord Edobar stood at the back of the room on a raised dais. He was wearing a more ornate dress than the last time Luke saw him, only his eyepatch wasn’t shiny. There were three chairs on the platform, but the lord stood.

  Luke walked to the left of the room and stood there motionless like Kruro had advised him. This first part was a test to see if he could wait without fidgeting. It was fairly easy to do in a giant mech suit. He just didn’t send any commands to the suit and he was as still as a statue. His twelve foot frame was taller than anyone else in the room, giving him a clear view of the proceedings. He mentally activated the translation app on his cell phone to listen in.

  “... I am still saying Instructor Ekiuwa Igoghohon has failed to develop our warriors properly and if we do not reinforce them, we will lose all of our staff to the Malamon,” an elvish woman draped in heavy golden robes said.

  “Izekor of Runes, you overstep. I have led our lord’s forces to success for two generations before you were born. If we lose the Malamon, it will be because of your failures, not mine. The last time we were called to fight, each combatant had runed armor and two runed weapons. This time, they are lucky to have one each. Our children are dying because they lack the equipment to fight on par with the rest,” Instructor Ekiuwa hotly replied. He was a tall elf with sleek silver armor. It was woven metal with armored plates attached atop. Luke guessed it was mostly ceremonial because it looked very fashionable.

  Izekor looked away and softly said, “It is a poor instructor that blames the equipment for his warrior’s failure.”

  It looked like Instructor Ekiuwa was about to yell back at her when Lord Edobar interrupted. He tapped his foot and firmly said, “The blades of harvest work together, they should not chip each other. Izekor, double your production. Ekiuwa, promote your latest class.”

  Both elves looked like they would rather eat rocks, but instead said, “We all work for your honor.”

  “Good. Seer Theobaldine. What is your latest forecast?”

  The lecherous dwarf stepped forward and said, “The titan will make landfall, there is no longer any doubt. I estimate it will be between seven and nine days from now. It is still headed towards Fekundaj Kampoj’s beaches, but fate is nudging me to prepare. I believe it may turn towards our peninsula before it climbs ashore.”

  There were a few gasps of surprise from the furthest court members, but it looked like the lord’s inner circle had been expecting this.

  “Troubling news. Repelling a titan attack is an expense I had hoped to avoid while the Malamon is held. Seneschal Cormac. Do you have the resources available to turn it aside before landfall?”

  Cormac stepped forward and said, “No, my Lord Edobar. Our space warping artifact broke turning aside the last titan, and Hunter Darragh’s bait artifact has proven ineffective against seaborn titans.”

  An orc on the other side of the room interrupted, “Do not blame me for not solving all your problems.”

  Cormac gracefully sliced his hands down, “The Hunter’s artifact has proven itself useful many times over the decades. I do not disparage it today.”

  The orc gave him subtle jazz hands and stepped back.

  An elf in full knight armor turned towards Cormac and said, “If you are planning on asking me for reinforcements, I will need notice. It takes time to hire and transport Chosen that are capable of dealing with a titan. And of course, I would need your funds because you haven’t given me the budget required for such a task.”

  “I may take you up on that kind offer, Captain Zuki. However, I will offer my lord an alternate option first,” Cormac said and turned towards Lord Edobar. “As you know, I have been developing the humans, there is even one being presented today. I believe we can task them with attacking and drawing the titan away from your estate. I will support them and you will not have to spend the platinum required for city Chosen. I understand trusting the humans with such an important task is a risk, but your own class has methods to mitigate that risk.”

  Captain Zuki scoffed. “Lord Edobar, please ignore this miser. We need to hire the proper protection as I have been saying for years. The fact that he would suggest you step in when his humans fail is beneath you.”

  Lord Edobar glanced between them calmly and said, “Perhaps the time has come for me to see the human myself. We will have him present himself and I will decide afterwards.”

  Captain Zuki smiled and turned towards where Luke stood in the corner.

  Today’s chapter title comes from Inception (2010)

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