24 - Guests

I woke again. Another day of making bricks ahead of me. I now wore a shirt that fit properly. The others were either up or stirring.

Starting by putting my mana on an internal loop, I got up for the day. Juliana, Silence, and I had made sure to practice channeling mana over the past month and a half, and we gave Katie more practice than she liked, picking up random scratches and cuts in inconvenient - though normal - places, like our fingers. Because of it, though, she had a better idea of how to handle it. She described her relationship with her power like a cat: she kept away from it because it could scratch her, but as she learned how to interact with it, she wasn't as scared.

Juliana had also gotten larger. I had finally mustered up the courage to ask her about it, only to find she was pregnant. And somehow, I was the only one who hadn't figured it out. Let's just say I collected some firewood while my embarrassment wore off.

But I still hadn't said anything to Katie. Not about what I had thought, watching her look at the rainpetals. Thomas had noticed and encouraged me to just go for it,

Silence... Well, she was silent. She had made sure we weren't strangers with swinging swords. She was still the first to get up each morning, and today was no different.

I joined her outside, and checked our pink bucket of sand.

"It looks like we're going to need to get some more sand today. Would you mind coming with me?"

She shrugged. I took it as a yes.

Thomas came out shortly after. I told him my plan, and he agreed.

"Be safe," he said as Silence and I left, taking a spare pink bowl and a pair of shovels with us.

She led the way to the river, though she didn't have to navigate. We had traveled this route so much by now that a clear footpath was emerging.

As we approached the river, I heard voices. Human voices.

"More survivors!" I said, rushing forward.

Silence caught me by the back of my tunic - which fit much better than my first replacement - and shook her head.

I sighed. She was right. We had to approach with caution. If they were still alive by this point, they were strong enough to be a threat to us if we startled them or they were unfriendly.

Instead, I followed her through the thicket, being careful to make as little noise as possible. Finally, we spotted them through the forest. There were two. Gruff men by the river. Their earthen clothing was in tatters, and one of them was completely shirtless. If I focused on listening, I could pick up snippets of their conversation. They kept referring to a person known as "The Boss", and by the sounds of it, he wasn't a great guy to work under.

I looked to Silence for permission to talk to them. She nodded.

The two halted their conversation when they heard the bush rustle as I came out into the open.

"Hello."

They both had their guards up. One of them picked up a nearby spear. There was another, but I didn't mind.

"Who are you?" the one with the spear demanded.

"A survivor, like you two."

"That so?" his eyes flicked to the Ancient, which hung from my belt, "Nice sword you got there. How'd you make it?"

"I found it, actually," I said, resting a hand on the crystal pommel.

"Like the Boss," the other whispered, before speaking up to me, "Does it... Speak to you?"

I was surprised, "Yes, it does. The Ancient has taught me many things."

Inside, I asked the Ancient, *Did you miss a Soulblade or two?*

*I might have, but more likely, this 'Boss' is one who refused to take the oath.*

"Did your boss change when he found his sword?" I asked, surprising the two.

"Y-yes... Actually, I don't know. I met him after he had already found it. His personality changes really quickly, though."

"Fred! Why are you answering his questions? He's just a boy!"

"Sorry, Tim. I guess, he caught me off guard?"

I requested something of Ancient, and he complied. A new cloak billowed out from me, "Like this?" I asked.

Fred cursed, and Tim raised his spear to attack.

"I wont hurt you." I promised them.

In a sudden flash of gold, Fred disappeared. In his place, a well-groomed man in a business suit stood. He leaned on an unsheathed sword-cane, ember-black eyes staring me down.

"Just the Soulblade I was looking for. How good of you to show up, Ancient." the man said.

"You must be the Boss." he replied with my mouth.

"So you remember me. I'm touched. I thought none of us mattered to you. Only your 'elect few'."

"You refused the oath. I am not to blame for you not resting in the Temple of Swords."

"Even reminding me about that oath offends me. You still believe mortals have any idea of how to run their lives? At best, they run around like a chicken with their head cut off. Ain't that the most interesting metaphor? The mortal who found me knew it. What even is a chicken?" he laughed maniacally.

"I see the loneliness has gotten to you."

"Imagine that! The very blade who caused my solitude realized what he did!"

Without warning, Tim lurched forward, spear aimed at my heart. I put up an impact barrier, but before the hit came, a blur emerged from the forest. The spearhead went flying.

Silence rose from her crouched landing position. She flicked her blade and resheathed it.

"I see you aren't alone. I look forward to making them my goons. Until then, toodaloo!" he said, turning his back and walking downriver. Tim picked up the other spear and ran after him. Silence looked ready to attack them again.

"Don't bother," the Ancient said. "he's waiting for that attack, so he can throw an innocent under it."

She relaxed.

*We can't wait to chop up that lunatic.* a voice came from Silence's direction.

"Who?"

I got the impression of an eye-roll. *Me, The Frost Dragon? Or were you asking who we wanted to chop up when it is clear as day?*

I shook my head. "I forgot. I can hear you when I'm under posession."

*Anyway, leader, what now? Do we gather sand while we're here, or do you want to rush back and tell the others?*

"Let's get sand. They were probably just scouting today. I imagine the Boss's forces are pretty spread out right now, however many they are."

*Okay.*

Ancient depossessed me and we got to work. We brought our spiny pink bucket to our sand-harvesting location and shoveled into it for about half an hour, after which it was full. Then together, we hauled it back to camp.

When we arrived, we set our load by the nearly-empty bucket. Thomas was mixing brick within arms reach, with Katie and Juliana working animal hides into clothing.

"We need a team meeting," I called out, interrupting their work. Confused, the others stopped what they were doing, and joined Silence and me at the dead fire pit.

"What's it about?" Katie asked.

"Silence and I ran into some more survivors while getting more sand."

"That's good news." Juliana noted.

"It would be. But there was something else."

"What?"

"In our encounter, we met someone who was being possessed by a Soulblade."

"You sound like that's a bad thing."

I nodded. "The blade didn't make the oath that the blades we have did. He is possessing his host, possibly against his will. And worse, his powers seem related to making people subservient to him and manipulating them."

"How can you tell?"

"He traded places with one man who apparently was one of his minions, essentially teleporting to us, and he said something about turning us all into his minions."

"What nutjob tells his victims that they're about to be victims?"

"Ancient says he seems to have lost his edge. Apparently, there was an absolute disaster he had caused in the last civilization."

"So this meeting is going to be how to handle this guy?"

"Yep."