Chương 288: Chapter 287 - Tempered

Augustus adjusted his cuffs as he left the secure building at the center of the Fort. The courtyard had come a long way. The bare decking and exposed utility conduits were gone, replaced by actual soil, walking paths, and young plants that were beginning to fill out along the borders. The scaffolding that had covered the interior walls for months had been stripped away, revealing finished walls and mounted lighting that gave the space a warmth the construction rigs never had. It wasn't done.

But it was beginning to feel like a place rather than a project. Once it was completed, it would be up to him and Talia to add layers of enchantments to the fort that would protect it in the event the space station itself was compromised. He'd considered the armor Alexander had made him for today. It would have made a statement. But the wrong one. Today's goal was diplomacy, and Grimnir's reputation preceded itself loudly enough without him showing up dressed for war. The purple suit would do. It always did.

Gabriel walked beside him, hands clasped behind his back. He'd filled out since the rescue, though the angles of his face still carried the memory of months without enough food. He moved well, at least. Steady and unhurried. Whatever toll the captivity had taken on his body, the man refused to let it show in his stride. They crossed the courtyard and entered the building proper. The corridors were mostly finished now. Walls painted, doors installed.

People passed them going the other way, a mix of security personnel and the handful of residents who'd already moved in. Permanent staff. Some of the rescues from Whitmore. A woman nodded to Augustus as she passed. A guard straightened at a junction. The lobby opened up ahead. Bill sat behind the reception desk near the main entrance, feet on the desk, a portable holo-screen floating in front of his face. His thumbs worked a controller with the focus of a man who had confused recreation with duty.

He looked up as they approached. The controller vanished behind the desk with practiced speed.

"Mr. Greaves. Mr. Cross." Bill nodded to each of them, professional enough now to skip the stammering. He'd grown into the role, even if the gaming hadn't stopped. Augustus tipped his cap.

"Holding down the fort, Bill?"

"Always, sir." Gabriel smiled but said nothing. They passed through the gatehouse entrance and out into the corridor beyond. Guards flanked the armored doors on both sides, nodding as they exited. Augustus glanced down the intersecting corridor that led toward Valerie's administrative hub. He could feel her presence from here. Because she wanted him to. They'd spoken the night before. Among other things. He kept walking. The main plaza opened up around them. The usual Astra Omnia bustle filled the space.

Families weaving between food stalls. A pair of heroes posing for photos near a viewing platform. Teenagers clustered around a holo-display. Augustus set a comfortable pace across the plaza toward a new doorway on the far side. One the Royals had set up for the Northern Shield.

"You're certain about this?" Gabriel asked, matching his speed. Augustus nodded.

"Sindre's been in contact with the sect for weeks. He believes they're genuine about negotiating a ceasefire."

"And you trust his assessment?"

"I trust that Sindre doesn't gamble unless the odds are in his favor. Hjordis is the risk-taker. Her brother is the one who calculates whether the risk is worth taking." He adjusted his cap.

"He says they're serious." Gabriel was quiet for a few steps.

"You don't find it odd that part of their negotiation involves a friendly tournament?" Augustus shrugged.

"The cultivators seem to think it's perfectly normal. Cultural differences, I guess. Their sects settle disputes through structured combat the way we settle them through lawyers and arbitration." He glanced sideways.

"Why? Have you seen something?" Gabriel shook his head.

"My visions are of this world, but I've seen nothing of concern that leads from this."

"And Alexander?" Gabriel smiled.

"It would behoove us to always pity those who make themselves our leader's enemy." Augustus studied him for a moment.

"So nothing worrisome on that front either?" The smile faltered. Gabriel's voice dropped, low enough that the plaza noise swallowed it from anyone more than a step away.

"Nothing that we can change, Auggy. The cataclysm approaches. Whatever the trigger is, it does not begin in our world." He paused.

"It just takes place here, though we shouldn't rule out something happening to the other worlds. That's why I chose to come with you. I need to see."

"You could have tried the Beastworld."

"I did. And I did not like what I saw."

"Ah." They walked in silence after that. The plaza carried on around them, cheerful and oblivious. Gabriel was the one who spoke again.

"I'm surprised you're the one attending this tournament on behalf of Grimnir. Rather than Annie." Augustus shook his head.

"Annie wasn't interested in friendly sparring." He hesitated. The showman receded and the father surfaced.

"She's thrown herself completely into growing stronger ever since Alexander was trapped." He sighed.

"I'm worried about her." Gabriel nodded.

"Understandable. But she'll be fine. Metal needs to be tempered with fire before it becomes the blade." The smile returned, warmer.

"For what it's worth, this was one of the good paths for our resident holo addict to grow into who she truly wishes to be." The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Augustus turned to him.

"You knew Alexander would get trapped there?" Gabriel shook his head.

"Just that it was a possibility." Augustus grunted.

"I don't envy you your power, or the responsibility that comes with it." They turned down another corridor, leaving the noise of the plaza behind. At the end, a pair of guards barred the way forward. Augustus nodded to them as they approached, and the guards activated the console. The security gate slid open. Inside, another of the Doorman's doors waited. Augustus grabbed the handle and pulled it open. Then he and Gabriel stepped through. The cold hit him immediately.

A wall of mountain air that cut through the purple suit and settled against his skin. They stood on a flat stone circle, wide enough for a dozen people, its edges rough-cut and weathered. The doorway sat at its center, perfectly placed. Around them, mountains rose in every direction, snow-capped peaks breaking through a pale gray sky. The wind carried ice with it. Hjordis stood at the edge of the circle in full armor, her greatsword planted point-down in front of her, both hands resting on the crossguard.

She watched them step through with an easy smile.

"Welcome to Norway, gentlemen." Augustus nodded.

"Hjordis. Always a pleasure." Gabriel was already rubbing his arms.

"I've been meaning to ask." He glanced around at the mountains, the snow, the absolute absence of anything resembling civilization.

"Why, for the love of all that is warm, did you have your doorway placed up in the mountains?" Hjordis threw her head back and laughed. The sound echoed off the peaks and came back doubled.

"Because if our enemies come through, they may very well get lost and die long before they find our guild hall." She lifted the greatsword and rested it across her shoulders.

"Come. We have a feast waiting. Then we'll go show these cultivators who we are and why they should play nice." She turned and started down a path that Augustus couldn't see until she was already on it. He exchanged a glance with Gabriel, who was still rubbing his arms. Augustus sighed and followed the Sword Goddess down the mountain. A portal would have been faster.

Talia held a plate in each hand, both covered, and counted the seconds as the elevator descended. The ride was almost two minutes from top to bottom. They all knew it. They all counted it. It was one of their secret security measures to ensure nothing had been tampered with, mechanically or spatially. Alexander's orders. The elevator slowed to a stop. She glanced up at the camera mounted in the corner and waited. The door opened. The tunnel stretched ahead, lit by LED strips.

She walked the corridor at an even pace, boots quiet on the concrete. The security office appeared on her right. Through the wrap-around tempered glass, two Sentinel Security operatives sat at the monitoring consoles. One tracked a bank of feeds showing the tunnel, the elevator shaft, and the sanctum's interior from multiple angles. The other had a secondary display showing seismic readings and atmospheric data alongside the primary visual feeds.

Alexander had also linked the rest of the island's security feeds into the system, once he'd decided the Triple S mercenary guild were trustworthy enough. One of the operatives glanced up and nodded. She returned it without breaking stride. The bulkhead stood open ahead. She passed through it and into the Gateway Sanctum. The circular room opened around her. A hundred feet across, the floor sloping gently upward from the center, the ceiling three stories overhead.

Alcoves carved into the walls at regular intervals, fifteen of them, most still empty. Most, but not all. The Beastworld gateway occupied the alcove directly opposite the entrance. It was open, the shimmering surface showing the fortified position on the far side. Prefabricated barricades, weapon emplacements, and a rotation of Triple S personnel standing guard. Somewhere in the world beyond were most of Sleipnir's crew, along with Felix and Gilly.

They'd been joining the mercenaries on their hunting trips almost daily, ever since Alexander had been trapped. The wizard world gateway sat in an adjacent alcove. It was still sealed, the dark metal plates overlapping to form an aperture. Sixteen days until it opened. They didn't know the exact minute and second it had closed. Nor did they know what to expect once it did open, or if it might even open before they expected. That's why they'd invited a guest.

Maximilian sat cross-legged on a barrier at the center of the sanctum floor. His chains orbited him in a slow, continuous sphere. Dozens of them, varying in thickness, rotating on different axes at different speeds. They passed through and around each other without collision, each link maintaining its own trajectory in a display of control that was almost meditative in itself. Through the gaps between the moving chains, she caught glimpses of him. Eyes closed. Hands resting on his knees. Breathing steady.

The red dragon lay in one of the empty alcoves to the right, curled in on itself the way a dog might curl on a rug, though a dog wouldn't have filled the entire alcove. Skar'Vathos. The captured saurian turned conjured dragon. Its scales caught the sanctum's low lighting and threw dull red reflections against the alcove walls. A low, rhythmic rumble came from its chest. It was snoring. Talia could sense the tether between them.

A line of power connecting Maximilian to the dragon, constant and unwavering even in sleep or meditation. Her footsteps were almost silent, but the dragon heard them anyway. Its massive head rose from where it rested on its forelimbs. One eye opened, the slit pupil tracking her. A low chuff escaped its nostrils, warm air washing across the sanctum floor. It recognized her. The eye closed. The head settled back down. Talia stopped a few meters behind Maximilian.

The chains continued their rotation for a moment longer, then they began to fade from existence one after another.

"Augustus prepared lunch before he left for Norway," she said.

"Thank you." She stepped up beside him, and he took one of the covered plates from her. Maximilian glanced at the other one.

"You know he doesn't need to eat, right?" Talia nodded, but she headed for the dragon anyway.

"Once Augustus knew Skar'Vathos enjoyed eating regardless of need, it was always going to happen. He takes care of everyone."

"I see." She stopped a few meters from the dragon, whose eyes were now fixed on her, unblinking. Or the covered plate, more accurately. She removed the covering and placed it on the floor, revealing a large sauteed fish, bones still in. Talia flicked the plate, sending the fish sailing into the air. The dragon's neck flexed, and its head snapped forward, catching the fish between its jaws. Then it threw back its head and swallowed. Skar'Vathos rumbled, deep in its chest.

Then it laid back down, forked tongue flickering from its jaws to lick up the juices splattered across its snout. Talia picked up the covering, and turned back to Maximilian.

"Thank you again for doing this. We have no doubt Alexander is fine, but there is no guarantee he was able to secure the gateway on the other side." Maximilian nodded between bites.

"It is not a problem. I appreciate you allowing my people to use the Beastworld for training, now that the Northern Shield's begun negotiating with the cultivators." Grimnir and the Throne of Scales had been taking shifts for the past two weeks. Talia glanced across the sanctum at the Beastworld gateway. Alexander had cut the idea from the arbitration contract originally, because he wasn't sure at the time about allowing others to know where Grimnir's lair was.

But she also knew that whatever had happened on Mars had secured trust between the two Divines.

"Regardless, I know how busy you and the Throne of Scales are." Maximilian stared at the gateway in silence. The dragon began snoring again. Talia waited for a few seconds, then headed for the elevator. She stopped and turned back when Maximilian cleared his throat.

"I did think about declining," Maximilian said quietly.

"But then I realized that despite our history, and our differences, Rooke would have done the same thing for my people without hesitation. That's why I am here." Talia stared at the Dragon Lord's back for a moment. Then she smiled and headed for the elevator again.

"Yes, he would."