Over the Verrille twin planets, two beings hovered, unseen by the thousands of ships moving to and fro from the twin planets. Their presence was also hidden from the hundreds of detection constructs and techniques layered all over the star system.

  Merak watched as the boy, Damien, tore through the little swarm of ants; a patrol, judging by their size. And a small one at that. Ant colonies were usually in overwhelming numbers, a million at the lowest. Merak knew and had seen Colonies spanning multiple systems, with a population yet to be determined. The creatures never stopped procreating.

  If the boy was dealing with a number as little as eight dozen, then he was so far from even their furthest outpost it wouldn't be a problem for him. Yet.

  "He fights well," Leceia commented beside him. She was as elegant as always: in modest clothing. Nothing too revealing, nothing too conservative either. There was a little smile on her face, like she was sharing a joke he wasn't aware of.

  Merak grunted. "He's doing okay."

  "Okay is an understatement when you put in the fact that this is his first time dealing with a proto space of such warping effects," Leceia said with a raised eyebrow. "You know very well how tricky they can be."

  "Fine then," Merak acceded. "He's doing above average. Are you happy now?"

  Instead of replying, the woman held up her smile and then asked him a question he wasn't surprised to hear. After all, he'd been expecting it at some point.

  "How did he take the news?"

  "Better than I expected, but that's to be expected given his lack of understanding of what's coming for him."

  The woman sighed. "Give him some time. I'm sure he understands a little of what's coming. Your appearance alone should have conveyed the levity of the situation."

  Frowning, Merak turned. "What are you up to?"

  "Excuse me?"

  "You heard me correctly," Merak said flatly. "Why the sudden care?"

  "Am I not allowed to care about the boy?"

  "No." Another flat reply. "He's my charge, not yours. Your involvement in this task is mainly as my assistant, nothing more."

  "That's rude," Leceia pouted. "You're hurting my feelings."

  "I am being serious here, Herald," Merak said, invoking her official title. "This is no time for one of your self serving schemes."

  "That's a very presumptuous accusation," The herald narrowed her eyes at him, "you're lucky that I take no offense."

  "I give zero wits about your feelings, Herald Ren," Merak said, and then turned fully to face her.

  "I have known you for millennials now, and maybe that has brooked a sense of familiarity within you that has made you forget what I am. Who I am. Let me correct that.

  "I take my tasks seriously, Leceia Ren, very seriously. Should I catch a whiff of suspicion that you are putting yourself before this mission, know that I will end you. No questions asked. No second chances."

  "Is that a threat?" The Herald of Life said slowly, her voice a near whisper.

  "I do not threaten, Herald Ren," Merak said, and then leaned closer. To the woman's credit, she didn't move neither did her expression change. Others would have stained their pants by now. "I act."

  The tension that had been slowly brewing thickened, rising to a level close to physical. Leceia's face was blank, and so was her eyes. But one could see the power within them, a power that would not be cowed. She was a Herald of a Grand Celestial and he was also an Harbinger of the same. They were of equal rank as far as anybody was concerned. Merak looked into her eyes and conveyed the opposite. They were not equal, not by a long shot. He could end her anytime he wished, and she knew it.

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  Eventually, sense won out, and the woman nodded, turning away from the black-haired man before her and back to the planet below.

  The tension was soon broken when a new presence arrived, tearing through space like a hot knife through butter.

  Merak watched the tiny grey figure as it came to hover before them.

  [Hey guys!] Gray said, zipping through space to arrive before the other Ascendants. [How're ya?!]

  "What are you doing here, Gray?"

  [I heard you guys were in the area and I came to say hi!]

  Merak frowned. "Drop the charade, Minder. Unlike others, we both understand what you are."

  There was a beat of silence, and then Gray's expression changed, morphing from that of an overly excited child into one of calm indifference. Merak had always suspected the minder had more to it than was shown, and he was proven right when its form rippled, enlarging from a pinky-sized figure into the height of a fully grown human, a whole foot taller than Merak.

  [Why are you weak?] The grey figurin said when it was done.

  "If by weak, you mean having two-thirds of my entire being missing?" Merak raised an eye at the construct, "then yes, I am weak."

  Merak gave a shadow of a smile when the construct's eyes narrowed. [Why are you multitasking, then? You're meant to have your full attention in case of threats.]

  "That is what I am doing, Gray," Merak said. "Handling threats before they become an issue. Your task, if I remember correctly."

  [Explain.]

  "With how things have been going lately, I fear that our runaway Sun spirit will be found out and then dragged out of whatever hole it has crawled into. Other than the three of us here, no one else should know about the event that took place in our charge's home star system. The Sun spirit is a loose end I need to tie off."

  Gray nodded. [And the second avatar? Where have you sent it? I do not believe there is another threat out there that I have not sensed.]

  "That is where the problem is, Gray. You look at actual threats, not the little things that could bring them about." Merak shook his head. "The Jezaar WorldSackers are on the prowl."

  [Not anywhere in the Lese Worlds, else I would have detected them,] Gray pointed out.

  "Yes, they're not in the Lese Worlds. But they are getting close. The Lese High houses, as well as the Millennial Wardens, have already begun monitoring their movements, and forces will soon begin to move out, Including The Duchess."

  "You aren't worried about the destruction they would cause, you're worried about the attention they would bring," Gray realized.

  "WorldSackers are hated everywhere, and the Jezaar clan, especially, are a major reason for that. If none of the nations fail to stop them, The Cult of Order will step in. And that would lead to a whole lot of sniffing I do not want."

  [So you're going to take care of them by yourself?]

  "Yes. If we want to be sure Order doesn't come sniffing around, then I need to be the one to do it."

  To his credit, the grey man didn't ask how Merak was going to accomplish that, especially as he was supposed to be keeping his powers locked down tight. A single whiff of his aura would draw the Cult of Order faster than the combined presence of all the WorldSackers.

  "Okay, if Merak won't do it, then I will," Leceia sighed beside him, extending her hand. "I don't think we've been properly introduced. I am Leceia... Lece—"

  [I know who you are, Herald Ren,] Gray interrupted brusquely, but he did stretch forth his hand to clasp that of Leceia's. [As you well know, my name is Gray. I do not have a second name, just in case you were wondering.]

  "Gray," Leceia smiled with a nod, and then she withdrew her hand. "I reckon the Lese Worlds have given you more work than you expected?"

  [I wouldn't say it like that, but essentially, yes.]

  "How many snoopers have you gotten since you arrived?" Merak asked.

  [Less than I expected, but with a greater intensity than I'd like. I have had to fend off multiple Divine Kings, the ordinary Spirit Kings, and even some Spirit lords who're just plain clueless.]

  "I fail to believe no Ascendants are on that list," Merak said.

  [Oh, there are,] Gray chuckled. [Ironically, they have been the easiest to deal with. Narkyra only needs a little bit of work for me to divert her attention.]

  Merak understood that very well. Unlike lower-level Essence wielders, brushing off the spying of an Ascendant was always a delicate process. Outright shutting the gate would do nothing other than loudly announce that there was something worth their attention and that they should look into it harder. So what was needed was a good diversion tactic or falsification of the truth.

  "And the Desolate Duchess?"

  [Attrevia is the greater issue,] Gray admitted with a grimace. [Her departure would alleviate much of my problems.]

  Merak nodded. Even now, he was actively fending off the attention of the woman. She couldn't see them, but that didn't mean she didn't suspect.

  Attrevia was a talent Merak hoped the Cult of Destruction never found. He recognized that a cultivated Attrevia would one day rise to the ranks of the elite few in the Ascendant realm, and no one wanted to be on the other side of her.

  "Enough with all that," Merak said, and then looked Gray in the eye. "Concerning the boys. Are you certain what you're doing is the right thing? Your current trajectory could have as much chance of backfiring on you as it does of helping them."

  [What choice do I have?] Gray shrugged. [Both brothers need to come to terms with a lot of things to better ease their transition. You know very well that ascending with a soul muddied with negative emotions could have multiple results, all of them disastrous.]

  "I agree with you," Merak nodded, "I just hope what you're doing doesn't come back to bite you. Poke a tiger too much, and you don't just risk waking up a hungry beast; you risk waking an angry one."

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