After dinner, Grey offered the use of his house for everyone to stay the night while we got settled into Blutstein. I don’t think any one of us was intending to permanently stay with the man, as it were. From what I understood, Renauld had his own room in the on-campus dorms that was still reserved for his use. Meanwhile, Liora informed me she should still have a small apartment on the lower level.

  Key word there was should. She didn’t know if it was still in her name after not only being out on extended assignment with the Order before she resigned her commission but also being absent from the city after the close of the war. For all she knew, the apartment could have been sold to a refugee. Either way, she didn’t have time to deal with it now, not with the close of the day.

  Venix lived here as Grey’s ‘bodyguard’ anyway. He seemed to have immediately resumed his duties in the aftermath of dinner, standing quietly behind Grey at a parade rest, instead of retreating to his own room.

  Which led us to now. With everyone else in Grey’s manse, a place he had told me was named ‘Draymoor Hall’, fast asleep, he had invited me to his private study. As such, Grey and I were alone in the candle-lit, wood-paneled room dominated by bookshelves. Grey sat behind a monstrously huge, ancient-looking desk of pale ash wood, studying me while I browsed the shelves. Venix was outside the room, dutifully guarding the door and giving the two of us a moment of privacy. On the shelf weren’t just impressive-looking tomes with imposing titles like On the Circumnavigation of the Zhillian Isles, or The Wavering Heavens, no. The shelves were dotted with the passage of centuries, collections of knick-knacks, trinkets, and small trophies.

  Curious, I picked one up, inspecting it with both my eyes and fingers. It almost looked like it was a Core, but not one I’d ever seen before. Instead of either the typical scintillating rainbow light or the condensed white power of normal gems, this one was instead a solid black, with a faint ebon mist swirling inside. It was cool to the touch, almost icily so, and yet I could tell there was a strange power inside of it. I cut my eyes to the left, where I could see Grey sitting patiently and watching me. My gaze lingered for a moment on the crossed forms of Stellarum and Elarux, his sword and staff, hanging crossed on a plinth behind him. “What’s this?” I eventually asked.

  Grey stirred from his contemplation, eyes flickering to the stone in my hand. “Ah. That old thing. That, Nathan, is…an oddity, to say the least. During one of our last expeditions into the high Aetherial density zones of Indiqua, not the one in which ‘Tlazo’ perished,” He took a moment to glare off into space at the reminder of his teammate who had duped his old friends into thinking he had permanently died, and not merely become a Lich. “But the one before it, we ventured very far off the beaten path. My best guess is that we might have just been close to territory owned by the Goblins, the most elusive and secretive of peoples on our two planets. Our group came upon a cave near the epicenter of the Aetherial density, and in that cave were some very…disturbing monsters.”

  I set the stone back down on the bookcase, somewhat glad not to be touching it anymore, and wandered over to sit in the comfortable plush chair in front of his desk. “How so?”

  A far-off look entered Grey’s eyes then. “It is common knowledge that the gods were quite extensive in their experiments upon monsters. This is evident from the mere existence of the ‘Godbound’, as they came to be known. What is less known is that they tried their hands at monster creation.”

  I quirked an eyebrow at him. “What, as in custom creating a unique variant?”

  “No, no,” Grey shook his head. “As in, creating whole new monsters. That is much more difficult. You see, Nathan, nobody actually knows why monsters form. Not truly. Oh, sure, we know what they are. We know spawning zones and habits. We know the ‘biology’,” He said with air quotes. “Of a monster, such as they possess any at all. We know behaviors, temperaments. We have meticulously documented observations of monster formation, from Core coalescence to the entire ambulatory outer ‘shell’. But…as for the actual driving force beyond monster creation? It remains a mystery that ultimately, the gods failed to precisely replicate. However, the keyword there is ‘precisely’. That,” He nodded to the black Core sitting on the shelf behind me. “Is the remnant facsimile of a Core left behind after we encountered a nest of the god's failed experiments. In truth, we shouldn’t even call it a Core. It doesn’t behave like one, and it remains unusable to this day. I was never able to figure out just what it, or what the strange energy within is. But…something tells me you didn’t ask for this meeting merely to hear me ramble on about old curiosities.”

  I smiled and shook my head. “No, not really. Not that it isn’t fun to hear you ramble on, though.” We shared a chuckle at the small joke before I sighed. Behind, I picked up the pack I had taken with me into the room. Undoing the buckles, all I had to do was reach in, and the item I was looking for suddenly appeared in my hand, thanks to the literal magic of expanded bags. I gripped the thing firmly and removed it to lay flat on Grey’s desk.

  Sitting there innocuously was a grey discus of an unidentifiable metal, shaped similarly to a flying saucer. The years it had spent resting deep inside a mountain had left it rusted slightly, but not, thankfully, enough to damage it.

  The G.L.E.A.M. What I had initially mistaken for a simple toy held by Aveline by the name of ‘Glee’, but was in actuality a treasure trove of knowledge. The last remnant of the Netherim people’s science and technology.

  “I…have a story to tell you, Grey,” I started slowly. “About a long-lost people who lived a very long time ago, who went by the name of the ‘Netherim’.”

  I started from the beginning.

  And when I say beginning, I mean beginning. All the way back to Masayuki Ashiwara’s request on behalf of Emperor Seimei to investigate the cause of why the Dread Wyrm Tatsugan was returning endlessly, in the off chance I found out why in the depths of the bunker I sought.

  From there, I detailed our trek across the isle of Goryuen and the unexpected presence of the Order of Solstice’s Flame. Of the young man in their midst, and his connection to Venix’s long-departed master. I spoke about our encounters with the Shurengans, their namesake, and her Lord Father. The perilous climb through the central range and our direct encounter with Shacklock.

  Grey’s expression barely flickered when I told him that the Madman had given us his lifelong confession.

  Then…we reached the most important part.

  The Netherim bunker…the people who had once lived there.

  And everything I had learned within.

  “…they predate the gods, I believe,” I said quietly, one of the candles in the study having burned low during my explanation. Without moving his intense gaze away from me, Grey raised one hand and replaced it telekinetically, using the old to light the new. “I can’t say for long much, but enough to have established themselves across more than just Vereden. Aveline was telling me how each of the planets are called ‘Gardens’ to the Netherim. This is the ‘Emerald Garden’, while she remembers her Mother speaking of Topaz and Sapphire Gardens as well.”

  Grey took a deep breath, briefly closing his eyes. “Rawaia and Azul,” He murmured, almost to himself. I quietly noted those names down myself, realizing I’d heard the word ‘Azul’ before. Nehushtan, a mysterious old serpent of some kind, had almost offhandedly mentioned it. But…how did he immediately peg both of those planets, just based on Aveline’s speculations? Grey opened his eyes. “Continue, Nathan.”

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  I nodded shallowly. “At least five millennia before the rise of the gods. That was roughly the age of Harlow when I Observed him.”

  “Pre-history, as far as modern history texts are concerned,” Grey frowned, steepling his fingers together. “Little is known about the state of Vereden in the time that has been termed ‘Before Initialization Era’, or BIE, if you will. Five to six thousand BIE would be in a period of time before any of the scattered Veredenese tribes had even come together to form anything greater than a city-state.”

  I snorted to myself. “Not even your Bronze Age equivalent, eh?”

  “Bronze Age?” Grey cocked an eyebrow, contemplating my words for a moment. “Ah. I believe I understand. No, that would have been before such a time. If these ‘Netherim’ originated from that era, then it’s…truly impossible to research what was occurring in the world at the time. I’m not…entirely skeptical of their existence. No, I’m more wondering just what it is they were doing to have been so much more advanced than we are. According to you, Nathan…”

  “They were more technologically advanced than even Earth was,” I picked up. “Excuse me. According to them, ‘Lost Terra’. And they were, at least according to Aveline, the ‘Children of Lost Terra’. Which is a direct connection to Precursors-”

  “-and this mysterious society,” Grey continued, unlacing his fingers to drum them on the desk. “And this…Travers character clearly recognized you for what you are, and thus deemed you a ‘pretender’. But a pretender to what?” He sighed. “If only he had not been so…so…”

  “Much of an asshole?” I finished for him wryly.

  That caused Grey to snort lightly. “I was going to say frustratingly obstinate, but that works too.”

  “It does,” I said, with a light smirk. It faded, though, when my gaze fell on Glee, sitting right there on the desk innocently like it didn’t have world-changing knowledge locked inside.

  I still hadn’t told Grey what it was.

  I took a deep breath and plunged right in. “Speaking of Travers…that right there is his final gift, to me and Aveline.”

  Grey quirked one thin eyebrow. “Oh? And what is it?” He said, reaching for it with one curious hand.

  “The sum total of the Netherim people’s knowledge of Aetherological Science, Construction, Engineering, and Medicine,” I said bluntly.

  The questing hand stilled before it could touch the ancient children’s learning device. In fact, Grey had stilled so completely that I could barely tell the older man hadn’t outright died. He definitely wasn’t breathing as he stared at the innocuous little saucer unblinkingly. Eventually, he let out an incredibly shaky breath. “W-what?”

  “It’s Travers's last little gift to the world of the Genirim. But, don’t get your hopes up,” I said, causing Grey to turn a wild, almost desperate gaze on me. “It’s out of power. Which means we’ll need to engineer a solution to power it up. We’ll have to be delicate with it, though. Not only is it going to be difficult to nail down, but if we fuck up, that’s it. No do-overs. This thing will be dead. And while I’m no electrical engineer, I know enough about electricity and charging that if we mess up at all in the type of charge it’ll need, that thing will be fried. So. No pressure.”

  My mentor slowly shook his bald head from side to side. “No pressure indeed. But…what we stand to gain if we manage to access the archive…”

  “It’ll change the face and future of Vereden. Forever.”

  “Well,” Grey laughed weakly, slumping back into his chair. “You’ve…certainly been more productive than I was anticipating, Nathan. The slaying of another Calamity…obtaining the favor of the Kawamaran Throne…and. Well. This,” He said, waving one limp hand at the G.L.E.A.M. “Do you perhaps have any other world-shattering news for me?”

  I shook my head, amused despite myself at how overwhelmed Grey was looking. I’d never seen him like this before. “No, just wondering what our next move is. After all, I’m still nominally here to attend the Academy and build a life here in Blutstein. I…guess I’m technically just another refugee trying to settle down with a child.”

  “Ah, yes,” Grey murmured. “The girl. The Netherim girl. Nathan, has she been…examined?”

  I narrowed my eyes warningly at Grey. “Examined how?”

  He held up his hands soothingly. “Peace, Nathan. Peace. I’m merely referring to an inspection by a Healer. Remember, she’s from a different time altogether. She should receive a check-up from a full Healer, if only to see that she’s in good health.”

  “Well…” I frowned. “Renauld looked her over and said she seemed fine to him.”

  “As I said,” Grey smiled slightly. “A full Healer. Young Renauld is still a student here, after all, and not a fully accredited Academy graduate Healer. I’m sure Honoka would be glad to check on Miss Aveline.”

  I took a deep breath and nodded. “I’m…alright with that. I trust Honoka. We’ll…tell her everything later.”

  “As you say, Nathan,” Grey inclined his head, before steepling his fingers once more. “As for our next moves…well. I’m afraid tomorrow will be quite busy for us. Quite busy indeed. It will be a simple matter to enroll you, Azarus, and Ms. Liora as new students. As all of you are full Magi and Cultivators, you shall be entered into the rolls as ‘Journeyman’ students. That is the level above ‘Apprentice’, those who enroll without having advanced past the first Breakpoint. Then, we shall visit one of the city's Administrative buildings and apply for citizenship status for both you and Azarus. Believe me,” He said, at my curious look. “It shall make many things easier. However…it will require the approval of the King to fully ratify the citizenship.”

  “Which Blutstein doesn’t have right now,” I pointed out. “Apparently.”

  “Which Herztal as a whole doesn’t have right now,” Grey corrected, in an almost pained tone. “I’m afraid things are rather more complicated than I hoped they would be when the Uprising backed Prince Oskar for the position.”

  I sighed and wished I had more booze on me. “Alright. Hit me with the bad news.”

  “The ‘bad news’, as you call it,” Grey said sarcastically. “Is that there is another claimant to the throne.”

  “It can’t be Isolde…right?” I paused. “Right?”

  God, if we saved that brat only for her to backstab us now of all times, I’d…I’d…

  Well, I’d do nothing, but I’d be very disappointed.

  “No, no,” Grey shook his head, to my relief. “Princess Isolde has thrown her full support behind her brother's claim. A branch of the Eisenherz family is pressing theirs instead. They had no hope of ascending to the throne while the current dynasty was strong, but that time has sadly passed. The von Steinmark family was frustratingly neutral during the Construct War, and equally frustrating is that same neutrality is appealing to certain members of the Assembly. And unfortunately, the nature of the Herztalian constitution stipulates that every prospective High King receives at least two-thirds approval from the High Assembly. Neither candidate has achieved that as of yet. However, Wenzel von Steinmark is being presented as a uniter, someone who did not participate in the bloodshed and thus can be seen as appealing to both sides.”

  I frowned into space, considering the matter. “While Oskar took control of the Uprising after directly betraying one of his Dukes to do so, and then won the war after sieging the capital. Probably terrifying the people in the process.”

  Grey winced. “Yes, unfortunately. The siege was mostly bloodless by design…but there was still some unrest in the streets.”

  Things were quiet between us for a moment before I broke it.

  “I…heard,” I started slowly. “That the Academy is trying to decide if they’re going to support Oskar or not?”

  “Correct,” Grey sighed heavily. He finally reached the end of his nerves and reached into his desk, pulling out his pipe and bag of pipeweed. At my look, he hunched his shoulders almost defensively. “Not you too, Nathan. Sylvia has already expressed her disapproval enough for both of you.”

  I chuckled, relaxing my expression and waving it away. Grey was an old man; he could smoke at midnight if he wanted to. As he lit his pipe and relaxed, I pondered the problem. “Is there anything we can do?”

  “Oh?” Grey said, raising an eyebrow my way over puffs of sweet-smelling smoke. “Have you suddenly developed a measure of patriotism for the nation you’re immigrating to, Nathan?” I just rolled my eyes at him as he continued. “But, as it happens…there is something you can do in particular.” He leaned forward with an almost mischievous look in his eye. “After all, if the legendary figure of ‘Sir Nathaniel Hart, Slayer of Monstrosity’ was to publicly endorse a candidate…well. That might just decide things.”

  I stared at him in disbelief. “I can’t be that popular. I refuse to believe it.”

  “Refuse all you like, Nathan,” Grey outright smirked at me. “I’m afraid the propaganda campaign we ran in the aftermath of Elderwyck was quite effective. You’ve become something of a folk hero to the people of Herztal.”

  I audibly groaned, dragging a hand down my face in exhaustion. Grey just laughed at me.

  I just knew that was going to come back to bite me in the ass.

  Consider my ass bitten.