Kai Xing Ker, Arch-Elder of the Golden Star Clan tapped his bronze fingers on his opulent desk as the call connected.

  "Greetings, Arch-Elder Simmi," Kai's ancient voice carried through the encrypted Voicecast holo. "I trust you've heard about your Prima-spawn's... unfortunate entanglement?"

  "Entanglement?" Altair Raiden Simmi asked with a frown, his crystalline, pale silver Skyfish scales glimmering.

  "Yes," Kai continued, his amphibian eyes narrowing. "Your Scion, Vespera Simmi formed a soul-bond with a human infiltrator Martin Kilborne posing as mixed-blood student Alexander Glock at Skyfall Academy."

  "What?!" Altair's clear, crystalline wings spread out, bristling with static. "Impossible. Vespera wouldn't..."

  "Why would I lie to you, my old friend?" Kai asked. "You have one of my best engines in your study. Check the result yourself. Vespera Simmi already bonded with Alexander Glock to a 99.997% certainty and will further enforce this bond at the Cradlefall cathedral with an Arch-Priest unless immediate action is taken."

  Altair's multitude of wings danced with lightning, his figure stretching out. "A human? My great, grand daughter... with a human?!"

  "Indeed," Kai nodded.

  “No human will soil my bloodline!” Altair's crystalline form buzzed with electrical discharge.

  "The infiltrator has already been detained," Kai said. "But we must act quickly to prevent further damage. My sources indicate he has gained considerable influence at Skyfall in a very short time."

  "Where is he being held?" Altair demanded.

  "Cradlefoot Youth Rehabilitation Facility," Kai replied. "I have already punished my Scion for his negligence. I believe you should do the same with yours, Altair."

  "Negligence?" Altair asked.

  "He accepted a duel from Alexander Glock," Kai explained. "A public challenge for Vespera's hand."

  "A human dared to challenge a Prima-born of the house of Golden Star?!" Altair laughed. "And your Scion was stupid enough to accept the challenge?!"

  "Yes," Kai sighed. "Zheng was deceived by a human scab. The duel is set for Sunday at noon in the Skyfall Coliseum."

  "Ridiculous," Altair's wings fluttered with renewed fury. "I will not allow this farce to continue. I'm sending my security team to retrieve Vespera from Skyfall at once."

  Kai nodded. "Have you not revealed the importance of our merger to your Scion? Does she not know what is at stake?"

  "I..." Altair began.

  Kai looked at the data running across his desk. "You have not," he said. "It is imperative that she changes her mind."

  Altair sighed. "I believed that she wasn't ready to know the truth. She is only eighteen. I had hoped that she would grow out of her childish ways, optimize herself. I shall speak with her father about this matter. Ceter will handle it."

  "As it was your Scion that has caused this disruption, perhaps Lord Ceter should stand as Zheng's champion," Kai suggested smoothly. "My foolish progeny is currently... under house arrest for his failure."

  "Ceter would be more than capable," Altair agreed, his crystalline form pulsing with electrical energy. "He has always been protective of Vespera. But why is it necessary for this shameful duel to occur at all? If the human is in Omnid custody, why not simply make him disappear? Accidents happen..."

  "Correctional Officer Satosh just assured my agent that the human should be dead within the hour and that his Lazarus bracelet will be delivered to us tonight," Kai said. "Unfortunately I don't have trusted contacts within the Cradlefoot Youth Rehabilitation Facility who can confirm it. The island prison is under Stratos jurisdiction. My influence there is limited and the perimeter defense wards block the eyes of my Probability Engines. Perhaps you could..."

  "I will handle it," Altair said coldly. "I will reach out to the Stratos Clan and see if I can procure contacts within their prison.”

  "Excellent," Kai nodded. "And what of the soul bond with the human?"

  "The bond will dissolve when the human dies, no?" Altair pointed out.

  "The human has a Lazarus bracelet from Skyfall," Kai pointed out. "As does Vespera. Both bracelets have the capability to enforce the bond even after the death of their bearer. A Lazarus bracelet is made from immovable metal which cannot be destroyed. Killing the human and gating his bracelet to another dimension will not remove the link between the bracelets nor the soul-bonded tag they might display.”

  "Blasted girl really did it this time," Altair growled, his crystalline silver-white fingers curling into fists.

  "A simple solution. We can take the human to Novazem and feed him to an Astral Phantom in one of the local magogenic faults. Of course before then he will be tortured and killed a few hundred times. The repeated deaths and soul-trauma should weaken the bond," Kai offered. "Then the high level Astral Phantoms will devour what remains of his soul, permanently severing the connection."

  "A sound plan," Altair agreed. "And what of Vespera?"

  "You will need Vespera to go to a high level Psychopomp to have the soul-bond surgically removed," Kai continued. "It won't be cheap and the procedure will... not be pleasant. The bond must be removed completely so that the Arch-Priest won't have issues or questions for when Zheng and Vespera are bonded at the Cathedral.”

  "And if she refuses to cooperate?" Altair asked mused.

  "Then grandson must use force," Kai said. "Erase her memories of the human. Do whatever it takes. The merger between our Clans is too important to be derailed by this teenage rebellion. The future of all Omnid-kind depends on it."

  "I will call Ceter immediately. We cannot allow this nonsense to disrupt our merger." Altair agreed.

  "One more thing," Kai added. "The human has apparently formed connections with other students at Skyfall. My engines suggest that they could become… problematic for us.”

  "How can a bunch of school children challenge two millenia-old Clans?" Altair arched a pale eyebrow.

  "I do not know," Kai said. "The Academy's wards interfere with my scrying. Something about a tree on Arx named Yulia. Something about a Quetzalcoatl Cassiopeia Nova."

  "Justice Nova's daughter is involved in this too?" Altair asked. “How?”

  "Yes," Kai nodded. “She is Vespera’s friend.”

  "I shall ask Omnimart's Arch-CEO to keep a tighter leash on her daughter," Altair said. "I'm not friends with the Justice but I'm certain that Lady Xastigar can get her family's spawn in line."

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  "Let us proceed swiftly," Kai nodded. "The human must be eliminated and the soul-bond must be severed before it can cause further disruption."

  "Agreed," Altair's crystalline form pulsed with electrical energy. "I will contact the necessary parties immediately."

  The call ended, leaving Kai alone in his study. He tapped his bronze fingers against the desk thoughtfully, watching as his probability engines continued their endless calculations. Too many things weren't adding up.

  The engines were showing increasing anomalies around the human's presence at Skyfall. Variables that shouldn't exist, probability chains that defied logic and outcome flow. Something big was interfering with the engines' predictions.

  Kai didn't like it. It suggested that an unknown corporation, an Outsider, or an ancient cult stood behind Martin Kilborne, which didn't bode well for Golden Star’s plans.

  What was Uriel ranting about? What was Infinity Paradox Proxima?

  He typed the question into the massive probability engine behind his desk and a single number came up on the spinning dial: [8]

  He tried again, rephrasing the question and again, the answer was simply [8].

  Kai walked across his study, his eyes closed, guiding his pockmarked hands with innate Precognition. Eventually he stopped at a book and flipped it to the random page which his sight guided him towards.

  A Dagaz rune was on the page. A sideways eight. A cold shiver ran down Kai's ancient spine as he read the calligraphic words below the rune.

  Awakening. Change. New Beginning. Dawn.

  Kai flipped through other books, looking for more information connected to the rune.

  He stopped on other pages.

  The cult of Sheela na gig. Carvings of a woman opening herself like a ring found in Nazarite churches across Ireland, Wales, England and France.

  The symbols kept repeating - the sideways eight, the open woman, the gateway.

  Infinity. Paradox. Fertility.

  The endless cycle of death and rebirth.

  In another hour of reaching out and digging through his library Kai discovered that he was going through the same concepts again and again across various books, moving in a circle, in two loops across his study.

  As hard as he tried, he could not locate any links to any particular existing Cult or corporation linked to his target. No links to any specific Omnid archetype that he could contact. Just an information loop bent into itself, trapping his Foresight in it.

  Kai closed the last book with a frustrated sigh, his bronze fingers trembling slightly.

  Either Uriel was screwing with him by sending him on a wild goose chase or Martin Kilborne was somehow connected to the Dagaz rune and Sheela na gig in some unclear manner or would eventually become connected to it.

  The truth eluded the ancient Omnid, slipping through his fingers.

  "I thought that we were going out?" Magdaline asked me as she watched me paint my face gray after pulling my gray headcap on.

  "Soon," I said, putting the bodypaint back into my extradimensional pocket. "As a human I might attract unwanted attention. But as a nondescript gray Dover Demon, I'll blend right in."

  "Clever," the shark-girl commented. "But what about your scent?"

  I pulled out a bottle of perfume and sprayed it all over my prison robe.

  Magdaline inhaled. "Hah. Now you smell like Dover Demon sweat. Where'd you even get that?"

  "Went to the school's gym," I said. "Followed a very lazy Dover Demon around during his workout, wiped the machines after him, then used Steam Distillation to get the sweat out. Combined with the ScentAura Amplifying Elixir from Omnimart and voila, I smell like a Dover Demon."

  "Gross," Magdaline wrinkled her nose. "But effective. Still... up close someone might notice..."

  I stared into her eyes, pushing mana through Resonance and then through the skill stolen from Cinder. "How about now?"

  "Huh," she stared at me, eyes dilating. "You somehow... feel like you belong. Weird. I know I've never had a cell roommate and yet..."

  "Basic Charmchain magic," I explained. "Got it from my Quetzi-girl. Projecting a very mild sense of belonging straight into your head."

  "Impressive," she nodded.

  "Kay, I think I'm ready for the tour now,” I smiled as I sliced the pockets of the orange jumpsuit so I could easily reach into my extradimensional jacket's pockets. “Lead the way."

  "Follow, oh mighty wizard," she grinned.

  We stepped out of the cell into a sterile gray corridor.

  "So? What's on your schedule after lunch?" I asked.

  "Therapy class, then physical education," she replied.

  "Therapy, eh? What exactly does that entail?"

  Magdaline rolled her red eyes. "Mostly group therapy sessions with other knobs like me who can’t control their urges. Nothing exciting."

  We walked down the long hallway passing rows of empty cells. A few other inmates and guards glanced our way, but didn't pay us too much attention.

  "Group therapy sounds fun," I said.

  Mags gave me a 'what is wrong with you' look.

  "Fun?" she snorted. "It's just a bunch of teens talking about our feelings n’ shit while our very bored therapist takes notes and makes occasional critical commentary."

  "Any new experience is fun," I shrugged. "I've never been to group therapy before. I'm picturing Alcoholics Anonymous. Is it like that?”

  "Pffff," Magdaline huffed. "More like 'Murderers and Misfits Anonymous'."

  After about ten minutes of walking, we entered a large room with white walls, several chairs arranged in a circle connected to a backroom with a coffee machine and a small lounge. A bored-looking Black Unicorn therapist in a gray uniform and gray cap inhabited the room. She seemed more interested in her tablet than the potential inmates around her.

  "Welcome to Group Therapy," the black Unicorn therapist droned at us without looking up.

  I scanned the room. Next to us there were ten other inmates total, a mix of different Omnid species. An emerald-scaled Lamia, a very furry Mapinguari, a muscular, scruffy-looking Bies, a fleshy Catoblepas covered with moss atop of her head, a dark and lanky Erlking, a curvy Lamashtu, a winged Camazotz, a red-faced Yara-ma-yha-who, a massive Grootslang and a tentacled Scylla.

  Magdaline guided me to two empty chairs and we sat down.

  "Share your feelings. Introduce yourself if you're new. Try not to murder each other," the Unicorn therapist waved us on. "You know the drill."

  "You smell new," the Yara-ma-yha-who turned his large white striped red head to me, evaluating me with beady yellow eyes. "What are you in for, fresh meat?"

  "Sup, fellow inmates. I'm Xander Fox," I announced with theatrical flair. "Professional interdimensional bank robber, corporate saboteur, and part-time dimensional gate crasher. Last week I unleashed a magic-eating plague in an underground city, built a mage tower and created a new city-state in approximately a week. I’m here cus’ I always wanted to know what it would be like to experience prison life.”

  "A comedian in juvie?" the Mapinguari rumbled with a smirk.

  "Not a comedian," I corrected. "A professional narrative conductor and Dark Lord looking for prospective, new minions."

  "And what sort of a narrative are you looking to conduct?" Yara-ma-yha-who tilted his large head at me.

  "I wanted to start a prison riot spiced with a side of mayhem," I said cheerfully, aiming the 'I belong here' Charmchain at the bored Unicorn. "Alas, my fiancee is against such, so I'll settle for taking over this place dungeon-delver style."

  A ripple of surprised laughter and curious looks spread through the room.

  "Whoever proves themselves worthy to me will have a chance at joining my Clan as a Sixie." I offered.

  "A bold claim for a little Dover Demon who smells like a mixie," the Erlking commented.

  The Erlking's comment was met with a chorus of snickers from around the room. I leaned back, a confident smile playing across my lips.

  "Small?" I raised an eyebrow. "Ever heard the phrase 'dynamite comes in small packages'?"

  The Mapinguari let out a deep, rumbling chortle. "New kid's got spirit, I'll give him that."

  The Yara-ma-yha-who blinked at me. "Why'd you want to start a prison riot?"

  "It's on my bucket list," I said. "As is breaking into a prison to take over it.”

  More laughter.

  "Bucket list?" the Lamashtu asked, dark wolf-head staring at me. "Most people have 'visit Paris' or 'learn a language' on their bucket list. You've got 'start a prison riot’?"

  "Why you got a bucket list anyways?" the Yara-ma-yha-who asked. "Are you dyin' or something?"

  "Lots of people want to kill me," I shrugged. "I'm always running out of time and making enemies. Figure I could make some new friends here."

  "What exactly can you offer us other than being a mildly amusing little shit?" the Lamashtu asked.

  "The same thing I've offered my new lovely Sixie shark," I said. "Do smile for the group, darling."

  Magdaline grinned, her razor-sharp teeth glinting under the fluorescent lights. She opened her mouth displaying the beast core.

  “Anyone looking to join my Clan will receive similar snacks daily,” I offered.

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