by Ryan Tang
"Why don't we just use the Namers when conquering Old Earth?"
Lonely paused.
Now that he thought about it, it seemed foolish not to use them. They could land on the colonies and start killing people at a glance. And the people of Old Earth didn't even hide their names. You could read them in the histories, just like how you could read the names of the Lords before they began choosing monikers.
"I don't know."
"Isn't that strange? We claim our Constellation is built around the Conquest. We claim we are the freest and the greatest. And yet, we use our greatest power to control ourselves instead of to destroy our enemies."
Lonely knew what Bringer was about to say before he said it.
He let out a worried cough.
"Hey...wasn't The Tooth Man enough? You want us to attack the Namers too?"
Bringer flickered onto Lonely's screen. His wolfish grin was so wide that Lonely could see it even past the mask he wore over his mouth to change his voice, which was beak-like just like the one on his Paragon.
"No. Of course he wasn't enough. The Namers are our enemies. Who is more responsible for our bloodless Constellation? Who is more responsible for the Ransom customs which would have snuffed you and your sister out before she got the chance to shine? Who exists only to rule us - the Lords, the ones who were meant to be the freest and greatest? Who sat by as the Constellation crumbled into worthless dishonor? And I know just the way to defeat them."
He removed his sphere and spun it around his finger.
"We simply need to collect a shard of their armor. Then they, and the world of lies they built, will come crumbling down. And you are just the man to do it. I've already given you the world. You just need to take one more step to claim it forever."
CHAPTER 11: THE FORLORN PRODIGY
"I'll see you tonight. I have another fight."
Her brother scoffed.
"You won't believe who it's against. Drowsy, Scry True, and Forever. They think they can use my own strategies against me."
He shook his head.
"Another stupid alliance."
The last time Lonely had commented on stupid alliances, Gallant had asked why didn't anyone form an alliance with him, but the question had just made her big brother upset. Apparently, nobody wanted to ally with him, even though he had more Sinsworn than almost anyone else.
It just didn't make sense. He was incredibly strong, incredibly smart, and incredibly skilled. But the other Lords hated him just because he didn't have a Familiar.
Intuition shook its head.
"No. They don't hate him. They just want an excuse to hate him. It's every Lord acting in their own interest, and pushing people down is the best they can do. Anyone higher than him would prefer to keep their spoils. Anyone lower doesn't want shame themselves by partnering with someone without a Familiar."
"Won't they be safer, though?"
"They probably think they can ally against someone else. If they got a good excuse to ally against him, they probably would. The small pairings right now won't win, but things might get worse later. It's why he has to keep fighting. He needs to scare the small Lords from making a bigger alliance."
Gallant didn't like the sound of that. She was worried until Adrienne laughed.
"Man, people are dumb."
The three of them all agreed on that one.
Lonely turned back to her before he launched.
"You going to be alright getting to school?"
"Yeah, of course. Make sure you win!"
There weren't any foes who could command the Sinsworn half as well as her big brother. The alliances didn't matter.
"Yeah."
Her brother had been winning a lot recently, but it didn't seem to make him any happier. There was something haunting him, but she didn't know what it was. He wasn't using the poison sphere anymore, which made Gallant feel a little better, but somehow, things had gotten worse.
The hangar opened, and The Tooth Man's repaired machine soared into the dark sea of space. A school of Sinsworn packed themselves tightly behind the shark-head machine. Lonely was bringing a full five thousand with him today.
She'd asked him once why he used The Tooth Man's old Paragon and why he always brought so many soldiers with him. It made her uncomfortable to see the hated machine, and controlling so many Sinsworn at once could give even someone like her brother a headache.
He'd just shrugged and said that it scared people. Sure enough, he'd been attracting a lot of surrenders. Lonely let people surrender in exchange for half their Sinsworn - relatively generous terms, especially since he tried not to kill people when he could avoid it. They had over fifteen thousand Sinsworn now.
Brightwalls had doubled in size. The Castle's massive hangar displayed countless warriors in neat little lines, almost like the tombs of Old Earth kings. Gallant went to the hangar sometimes, thinking it'd make her feel better, but it didn't.
It was so strange.
They had everything now. Sinsworn, victories, a massive Castlecraft. They were safe and sound. Her brother only took battles he knew he could win, and their hangar grew by the day. Nobody dangerous challenged him anymore. The Lords who could match him never wanted to risk it. And yet they'd been happier before, back when The Tooth Man would circle their Castlecraft and promise to kill him.
Gallant grimaced and shook her head. She didn't like thinking about The Tooth Man. Lonely didn't say, but Gallant knew what had happened. He'd died from disease right in their hangar.
"It's what he deserved!"
"Yeah, don't feel bad!"
Her Intuition and Adrienne were of one mind when it came to The Tooth Man's death, but Gallant couldn't explain how she felt yet. She hadn't really wanted The Tooth Man to die. She'd just wanted him to go away and stop bothering her. Truth be told, she felt that way about a lot of people. She wished her classmates would go away too.
She'd thought school might get better after her brother became powerful and famous, but if anything, it was even worse now. All the students were terrified of her, and so was Star Above. Her only friend was Star Above's amiable catfish Familiar.
"You still need to go, though."
"Shut up."
There was little chance that Gallant would skip school. She didn't think you got the Namers called on you for skipping school, but they might drag her back to the Nursery. She wasn't a woman yet, and Adrienne was too careful to let her forget that.
Instead of summoning her Paragon from the floating shards, she just used her machine from the hangar. When she'd asked Lonely if she could pilot, all he got was a noncommittal shrug that she took as a yes. He'd once treated it like the most important thing in the world, but now it seemed like he didn't care very much at all about whether or not she piloted her Paragon. He probably knew it was safe.
She hadn't gotten too excited for a while, not since they'd started this obsession with House battles. She hadn't used the dust outside either. She could tell it wasn't poisoned, but it never hurt to be too careful. The three of them all agreed on that.
____
"And so, Thel slept again. He slept and slept and slept, knowing that tomorrow would be a new day to plan. He didn't go fast, oh no he didn't. He took it very slow."
Star Above smiled shakily. Gallant tried not to move too quickly. Her teacher seemed convinced that Gallant was trying to kill her. The mere mention of a battle would send her squealing and hiding underneath the chair.
It sucked. It was somehow even worse than how Star Above had treated her before. Back then, she'd tell Gallant to shut up every time she had a question.
Gallant wanted to ask why they were still talking about Thel lying in bed, but she knew it was impossible to talk to Star Above. She just chatted with Adrienne and her Intuition in class. The good thing was that Star had completely stopped calling on her, so she didn't need to pay attention anymore.
A rough pair of hands suddenly pushed her from behind. She turned around, and Glide gigg
led. She didn't like Glide. Truth be told, she didn't see the point of him. He just seemed like a pointless doofus, like another Lord who would just fade into obscurity like Drowsy and Scry True. Gallant sighed and looked at the time. She wondered if her big brother was back home yet. She hoped he didn't kill the three of them. He always got into a bad mood after killing people, but he never did it when he didn't have to. It was only if they didn't surrender.
Glide pushed her again.
"Hey. Do you mind stopping?"
She didn't know why he was pushing her. It was weird. Normally, he just sat at the back making dumb comments, but today he'd plopped down right behind her as soon as she entered the room.
"Okay, sorry. Accident."
It certainly didn't seem like an accident.
"Let me get him!"
If Adrienne stung Glide, she'd have hell to pay, that was for sure. That was illegal. She thought Intuition would talk about how the Namers said they could do whatever they wanted, but instead, the voice in Gallant's head surprised her with a proud boast.
"I can get him."
"You?"
Her Intuition had been growing more confident recently, ever since it'd saved them from the poisoned dust. Normally, it just sat in the back and made comments.
Gallant giggled.
"Shut up, Intuition. You're like the Glide of our group. You just sit in the back making comments."
Adrienne burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! Glide! Glide!"
The real Glide shoved her again. She whirled around.
"Dude!"
Just as she turned, a high-pitched voice shouted as loud as it could.
"House battle!"
Vilecard grunted as she suddenly slammed a book on Gallant's head.
"What the hell?"
Glide punched her in the shoulder as her head spun.
"Me too! I'm an ally! I'm Vilecard's ally!"
A third arm swung at her. It held a metal pole. She recovered in time to catch it, but the impact rang deep into her bones.
A fourth student was fumbling with his Familiar in its tank.
"Me too! I'm an ally too! We're all in an alliance!"
It wasn't how this worked. They were supposed to register a House battle. Were they going to get the Namers called on them?
Star Above shrieked in terror and sprinted out the room. Her catfish tried its best to restore order, but all it could do was wave its fins around.
Adrienne flared in front of her.
"Let me sting them! Let me sting them!"
Gallant wasn't sure what to think. A few of the other students also stood and declared themselves allied against her.
They chanted and chanted.
"House battle! House battle! This is a House battle!"
Someone threw his Familiar across the room. It was a savage piranha with chomping steel teeth.
"Eat her! Eat her! Eat her jellyfish!"
Gallant wailed.
"No!"
Her Intuition roared.
"I'll end this."
It leaned forward, and her arm moved Intuitively as the voice in her mind took control over it.
It turned shiny and pink just like it'd done when she'd needed to get stronger to survive the poison dust. It slammed into the Eternium desk, and the whole thing dissolved. Thin tendrils, just like the tassels on her machine, spread out wide and destroyed the other desks too, melting them into infinitesimal molecules. The Vapor State Eternium hung in the air. When her Intuition leaned forward, even the Vapor was her friend.
The students screamed and screamed.
"Oh my god!"
"She's a monster!"
"She'll kill us!"
They dove to the ground and cowered.
"We surrender!"
"Oh my god! We surrender!"
"No House battle! No House battle!"
Vilecard fumbled with her tablet.
"I'm canceling my secret registration!"
Soon they were all surrendering, even the ones who hadn't tried attacking her to begin with. Their Familiars dove for cover, swimming to the very edges of their tanks. They couldn't even hide under their desks like Star Above had done before she ran from the room. Her Intuition had destroyed them all. The tassels continued streaking out of her pink arm, vaporizing all the Eternium in the room. Star Above's catfish clapped its fins together sort of bemusedly. All three of them had always liked the catfish.
Her Intuition growled as Adrienne cheered.
"Who dies first. Tell me. Who dies first?"
Gallant sighed. She didn't want anyone to die. She just wanted them to go away and stop bothering her. Her head hurt, and her back was sort of bruised too. What kind of jerk would attack people in the middle of class? And Star hadn't done anything to stop it! She couldn't wait to tell Lonely about this one.
"Uh, hey, Intuition?"
"Yeah?"
"My hand is getting really numb."
The strange gel had spread all the way up to her shoulder. Most of it was still pink, but parts of it were turning white too. Maybe it was just because of how far the tassels were stretched, but she couldn't feel her fingers anymore.
"Oh. Sorry."
Her hand immediately reverted to normal. The dust plinked beautifully against the floor. As soon as her Intuition left, she couldn't control the dust anymore. A few of her former attackers squealed in pain as the Vapor landed on them. They wailed and whimpered even though it was too gentle to do much more than leave minor cuts.
"Oh my god! She killed me!"
"She attacked me! I surrendered, and she attacked me!"
Her hand felt really weird. She moved her other hand over to massage it and then winced. It didn't hurt, but something was very wrong with her fingers. It felt like her bones had dissolved.
The door opened, and Star Above poked back inside for just the briefest moment. Her voice was a feeble squeak.
"Gallant. Please leave the classroom. There's someone outside who wants to see you. Everyone else, back to class."
____
Gallant seethed as she walked down the hall.
"What the hell is wrong with them? What is their problem?"
What kind of jerk would just attack people in the middle of a class? And just jumping up and shouting House battle like that. She could call the Namers on them if she wanted to. There was no way that could be legal. One of them mentioned a secret registration, but that sounded like crap.
Her Intuition and Adrienne clamored for attention.
"We don't want to do that."
"Nope. Nope. Nope."
"No, I know we shouldn't."
Her Intuition laughed uneasily.
"I think we scared them enough, anyways. Maybe we should have killed them. The Namer said we couldn't get in trouble."
She just shook her head.
"Don't kill people."
"Well, at least we scared them."
Adrienne sighed.
"This sucks, man."
Lonely was always talking about scaring people too, and she hated it. Her big brother had to use The Tooth Man's machine and strain himself lugging all those Paragons.
"Yeah, I don't like scaring people either, but how else are we going to get them to do what we want?"
Adrienne grumbled.
"Now Intuition - the former Glide of our group - sounds like The Tooth Man."
"What?! No I don't."
"It's only perverts like The Tooth Man who like scaring people."
The three of them could agree on that.
She brought up her hand to open the door then winced when it couldn't push. Her fingers felt like mush, but it was even weirder that they didn't hurt.
"Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry."
"No, it's okay. You had to do it. You saved me there."
They stepped outside and gasped together. The Surgeon's Paragon was floating right outside the Nursery.
The Surgeon was one of their heroes.
Watching the Surgeon fig
ht was what had encouraged Gallant to become an ace on her own right.
The machine drew its blade and flicked it back and forth.
"Hello Gallant. I've been hoping to meet you for a long time."
Gallant just stammered incoherently.
Adrienne waved hello and giggled.
"It's too bad Intuition can't take over your mouth."
"No, I think I could, just..."
Her Intuition shuddered.
"Don't want to risk it after the hand."
Gallant eventually squeaked out the words.
"It's nice to meet you!"
The design of the Surgeon's Paragon was somewhat similar to Lonely's models when she built for speed. Her signature sword was a ravishing blue. The scabbard hung on the right hip. Like the Surgeon herself, the Paragon was left-handed. The unusual angles of her fine cuts always gave her a unique advantage in high-speed combat.
The legendary pilot's Aspect was Envy, although it'd strangely manifested itself in a form of foresight. It was a strange ability, almost like a weaker version of Scry True's. The Surgeon could see the strengths of all her opponents. But while other Lords with sight constantly cursed their ill-fortune to be left with an ability that rarely helped them in single combat, The Surgeon embraced her personal characteristics. Her style relied on ruthless strikes to her opponent's weak points. It relied on crumbling their machines all at once. It was even rumored that she occasionally stopped her opponent's hearts with near-killing blows. Only her expert knowledge of medicine allowed her to restore their lives and thereby avoid violating the laws of life and property.
A swarm of drones surrounded her machine. They were built to resemble tiny fish, just like the Surgeon's Familiar. The compact Eternium shards orbited her Paragon, forming an impenetrable barrier she could shift around as she pleased. Much like on the attack, the Surgeon was famous for effortlessly destabilizing enemy assaults by jamming her fish in the perfect position to send her opponents reeling and off-balance.
The Surgeon laughed.
"So, are you happy to be out of Star's class? It wasn't a problem to shoot her a call. Star is an old friend of mine."
Her Intuition cut in to make a bad joke.
"Wow, I didn't know Star had any friends!"
