POV: Deketer.

  We walked for nearly a whole ten minutes after that. Despite grandfather making use of several servants with portal abilities. One gateway led to a corridor drenched in darkness and another led to a garden filled with flowers, whose smells threatened to overpower anything that could be found in Master Rogvir’s training hall.

  After that, another portal saw us walking into an empty ballroom and yet another saw us walking past a muddy, blood-drenched battlefield. One curiously bereft of corpses.

  ‘An Instance.’ I thought at once. ‘Grandfather is bringing us into an Instance.’

  I readied myself for battle, eager to show grandfather my progress.

  ‘He will see if I show him. He will see that I am not some useless wastrel fit only for discarding in some backwater.’

  The eagerness was in my blood then. Burning through my claws as they tensed and untensed. Psy empowering my muscles as my mind sharpened and prepared to release a torrent of summoned Intruders.

  “Stop that nonsense.” Grandfather snapped. His voice cracking like a slaver’s whip upon bare scales.

  I stopped dead and turned to look at him. He stood in place with Master Rogvir and the pretender Sky Fart by his side. Eyeing me carefully with a posture so controlled, one could be forgiven for thinking him a statue.

  “If there were any monsters left alive here, then they would have killed you and my apprentice and even Rogvir here a thousand times over. I did not bring you to fight. Follow me and keep up. This Instance leads somewhere else.”

  He turned and walked briskly, though I knew full well he had slowed down his pace so I could keep up.

  I trembled with fury and humiliation at the thought of Rogvir and the up jumped slave seeing me like this, but followed all the same.

  I had half a mind to begin fantasizing about retribution then. About all the indignities I had been made to endure and all the indignities I would then bestow upon those that had displeased me. Rogvir and the fool foremost among them. But I quickly squashed those thoughts and sealed them away with [Block Mental Detection]. Pushing as much Psy into the passive power as I could and then extending my mind to push even harder.

  The feeling of being drained swept over me, yet there was nothing for it.

  Grandfather could not read minds of course. As a Savant of the Enhancer Type, he was cursed to never know anything of the finer psionic arts, no matter how much mother and I and every one of the peasants and courtiers and lickspittles in his service tried to teach him.

  But the other two, were a different matter altogether.

  Rogvir might be a Shifter first and foremost, but he would be able to read me like an open book with his meagre Telepathic prowess. As for the impudent apprentice, I did not know the specifics of his abilities or levels at the moment.

  What I did know was that grandfather held him in high esteem and grandfather seldom entertained fools for long. Unless he was about to kill them.

  ‘Better safe than sorry.’ I decided.

  We jumped through another portal, this one having been made entirely by the grace of the System.

  The aperture led us to another chamber. Though this one was much too small for my liking. At most, it could have hosted some ten or twenty apprentices, but only if they all sat huddled together like slaves in the bow of a gnomish ship. Their legs and tails becoming entangled in the confusion. I looked around and saw no exits whatsoever, including behind us where the portal had been.

  The floor was made of rough, untreated and unpolished wood as well, so that the boards creaked noisily whenever the claws at my feet passed over them. There were stains on the wooden planks as well. Reddish stains that I could not place. Though I was certain they hadn’t been caused by spilled blood due to how little there was and how much they resembled stains from spilled drinks.

  The walls were made of some manner of white stone, though they had odd black lines running through them that made them appear as though they were rotting, blackening veins on a week-old corpse. They were filled with glass panels shoved crudely into wooden frames. Their midpoints holding poor images of gnomes who had all had their conical skulls brutally reduced to a shape that more closely resembled a common ape. The figures all had cheeks that were strangely devoid of the stereotypical gnomish rosiness and stares that were filled with a strange lack of viciousness and malice. Making them seem more like stunted halfwits than anything even resembling normal people.

  The ceiling was a dome, filled with hanging crystal bulbs that shone brightly, but in a disjointed, disconnected way that ruled out any kind of Psy-crystal or advanced machinery. Indeed, the more I looked, the cruder their design seemed to be. Much akin to those primitive little orbs one could find in museums in civilized cities.

  “What is this room grandfather?” I asked suddenly.

  “A trophy room, of sorts. Cobbled together from things and knick-knacks purchased from the new species coming into the Labyrinth, through selected Vendors in the new Tutorials.” He explained. “Rooms like these appear as rewards for completing Tier 7 Instances, on the condition that at least one person in the party has an approved System role, such as a Vendor or an Enforcer.”

  He turned to eye me carefully and, for a moment, I got the distinct feeling that he knew me, saw me, a deal better than before. As if he were mother, reading my mind and my future all at once. Such a notion was nonsense of course, but it served to startle me all the same.

  “Fools might think that it serves no purpose, other than as a little vanity project on the side. Yet, these small rooms may be accessed at any time, from any place, so long as the one doing the accessing isn’t in combat. That is, they will be accessible like this once the specified Tutorial is completed.”

  He walked about and deftly swung open a small blue door, attached to a small blue container. From there, a cold breeze wafted about. Grandfather pulled a bottle of reddish-black liquid out of the box and spilled the contents into four different glasses that had been laid on a nearby table.

  “Moreover, they can open directly into the wielder’s own Species City, as well as the new incoming Species’ own city, after a year has passed. Even if the one using the room has no portal abilities of their own. On top of all that, there is a benefit that makes this particular kind of room, one of the greatest rewards anyone in the Labyrinth can hope to acquire.”

  He turned to the other two.

  “Care to guess?”

  Master Rogvir huffed.

  “Easy. Some kind of scrying prevention. I have [Precognition] and [Premonition] both at 15, but I can’t sense a thing. It’s like I’ve been cut off.”

  “That is one of the benefits, but not the only one.” He turned to his pet once more. Now fully focused on him.

  “Care to try, Sky Heart?”

  The pet mumbled like someone who’d just endured severe cranial trauma.

  His mouth making all sorts of incoherent noises that signalled confusion.

  So that he seemed more like a monkey than the actual monkeys on the walls.

  “Geredon.” Grandfather stated again. “We’ve had this conversation before. You are a bright, hardworking young man and a genius like few I’ve seen. You do not have to worry about being perfect all the time. Nobody is born knowing everything.”

  He paused suddenly. As if catching himself.

  “Sorry, almost no one is born knowing everything and the one exception I’ve come across really did seem as though they wished to be wrong more often. It is fine to be ill-informed, so long as one is willing to learn. Do not be shy. Do not belittle yourself. Speak. I will not be angry with you.”

  The dullard looked about the chamber once more. His empty eyes slithering over grandfather’s new trophies like a pair of black, beady slugs.

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  “Um. I’m guessing it has something to do with who can come in? Given that you mentioned System access that is. Since you’re not a Vendor, as far as I’m aware, I’m guessing only Enforcers can open the portal?”

  He beamed at the loser.

  “Not quite, but close. In fact, only the one person who won the right to use the room may open its doors and let others in and their identity, as well as the identities of all the guests coming in, are both verified and guaranteed by the System itself.”

  “Meaning the Seeking Drake can’t come in.” I butted in.

  Grandfather spared me an approving glance.

  “Nor anyone who he might have infected with one of his powers. Like those poor fools he injects and heals, only so that he can grow out of them once their bodies are destroyed.”

  I nodded again, finally seeing the appeal.

  “Couldn’t we apply these features to our own homes?”

  Grandfather shrugged.

  “System-bought property is inherently protected to a degree, but that kind of protection mostly relies on the abilities and Tier of the owner. They are strong, but they are not as infallible as, say… a realm in Pandemonium would be. Or a realm whose integrity has been guaranteed by the System.”

  I nodded again and walked over the creaking boards to look into the glass panels.

  “And who are these?”

  “Current individuals of note.” Grandfather answered. “Such as those holding the top spots on the Leaderboards or those who have managed to succeed in some manner of System-given mission. Such as a particularly challenging Excursion or the liberation of a safe zone or the elimination of a powerful boss. Those kinds of things.”

  I looked them over, now noticing that a few had numbers imprinted on the top right corners of the frames.

  I followed the numbers as they became lower and lower and lower. Going from the 20s to the 10s and from there, to the single digits, until my eyes landed on the current number one spot.

  “What is that thing?” I asked in surprise. “And why does he, she, it? Why does it look so different than the others? Do the panels account for active Shifter abilities?”

  “Somewhat.” Grandfather admitted. “But that is not the case with this one.”

  He shrugged and waved about a claw.

  “This one is possessed by an Intruder. Almost as mighty as a Veiled Prince.”

  I allowed myself a small, mirthful laugh. The giggles leaving my snout, even as I read the words on the small board beneath the panel.

  “Anezka Oligarkov. My but what a name.” I stepped back. Chortling. “Oh grandfather, you cannot mean to tell me that this fool who got herself possessed, was your apprentice.”

  “No. She is not.” He confirmed. His voice as even as ever.

  “As a matter of fact, she was my apprentice’s victim. One who tried to break him, and use him as a slave for her own ends. She had somehow deluded herself into thinking that a bunch of tiny steel toys could hold back a Savant for any length of time.”

  I snorted in derision.

  Of course, the new boy had to be a Savant, to interest grandfather so much. It was a shame he was a Telepath though. As able as they were with handling the veil, Telepaths could not halt or reverse the flow of time, as Enhancers or Shifters could do with their own bodies. Savants of the Projector and Telepath Type were all doomed to die, sooner or later. Either by a lucky shot, or by the relentless march of time.

  Technology could help, to some degree. But even with the best care in the world and the best Symbiotes money could buy, time would remain undefeated.

  ‘Though I suppose they could seek the help of a Shifter like the Drake to keep them in state of limbo for all time, but death might actually be preferable to that.’

  “Well, it certainly looks as though your new apprentice set her straight at least. Good for him I suppose.” I continued to look at the other images.

  “And which one of these is the man in question?”

  “None.” Grandfather spoke again. “He has broken one too many rules and gotten himself banished from the Leaderboards and most System events.”

  I held back a derisive chortle. Trying very hard to not let my pleasure become too obvious.

  “A pity. He will miss out on so many adventures.”

  ‘And his absence will stain grandfather’s name as soon as others become aware of their relationship.’

  I thought of what the monkey would look like, once he crawled out of his Tutorial and was made to kneel at grandfather’s feet. I thought of how the rumours would fly about and how his failure to secure the number one spot would reflect on my own patriarch. I thought of what sort of welcome he would be given, after everyone knew him for the failure that embarrassed our family.

  ‘Perhaps this is for the best.’ I thought to myself. ‘Perhaps this will show grandfather that he wastes his time with morons below his station and concern. Perhaps this would be the impetus for grandfather to finally snap out of his delusions. The impetus for him to finally take a proper interest in his heir.’

  “Fool.”

  I stopped dead in my tracks. Looking up in shock.

  The other two, did much the same.

  Before us, grandfather stood. His body straight and unflinching, despite his age.

  And his eyes…

  Those two strong eyes of his, stared me down. As if I were some begging brother with a bowl, laying feebly on the side of the road.

  “Fool.” He repeated. The words hitting me like a fist.

  “I have listened to your mother complain about your narcissism and your self-indulgent nature all this time, but I refused to believe most of it. I thought she was being hard on you, because the ghosts of your older brothers and sisters still haunted her. Because she feared that one day, you too would be hunted by the Drake.”

  He stepped forwards. Hands now behind his back.

  “I always believed in you. In that you were not truly the fool your actions made you out to be. But now I have to see it for myself.”

  For the first time in forever, his expression changed. Into one of pain.

  “How is it that you act like this, Deketer? After all me and your mother have done for you? After all we’ve done to keep you safe?”

  “I….I….ah I….”

  “Kneel.” Grandfather commanded and my body obeyed. Before my mind could even process what was happening.

  The Psy about the room screamed. The veil itself coming apart at the seams like a cheaply sown rag. With grandfather’s figure standing in the middle of a raging storm. Unbending as the purple winds scoured the room and sent the other two tumbling back.

  “Be silent.” He continued. And my mouth tightened into a firm line. My throat refusing to budge in any way that might make a sound.

  The others watched and their eyes widened into saucers.

  “I…Impossible!” Master Rogvir sputtered. “How!?”

  “Things are changing.” Grandfather said suddenly. Now turning to the others.

  “And I mean to change as well. I have already begun, as you two can now see.”

  ‘A second Type.’ I thought with alarm. ‘Grandfather has a second Type.’

  That fact changed everything. Absolutely everything. Where before, he’d been the respected teacher of a Divine, he now stood at the precipice of Divinity himself. It would take time of course, but time was something he had an ample supply of.

  He already had all those Tier 10 powers. He was already a quarter of the way there.

  ‘But how?’

  “Never mind that.” Grandfather interrupted. “That is not what we are discussing right now. Instead, we are here to discuss you. And your thrice-dammed follies.”

  He stepped around me.

  “Stand.”

  I did.

  “Now, you will listen.”

  I did not see how I had much of a choice, and my mind was too befuddled to consider anything akin to resistance besides.

  ‘A second Type. Grandfather has a second Type. But how? How?’

  “Do you know how many of your body doubles have died as of late? Answer truthfully.”

  “I did not know I had body doubles.”

  He huffed in disapproval.

  “You had 42 body doubles when we sent you out to train. And you have been supervised night and day since then. Without pause or respite. As of three days ago, you have 3 body doubles left. I trust you will not be so foolish, as to not know who is responsible?”

  I was not.

  Savants may make war with each other on occasion, as great masters were fond of doing. Yet, grandfather always kept himself out of those petty squabbles. He preferred the spoken word to a sword and the written word to a shield. He would make compromises, instead of making threats and empty boasts and when someone was foolish enough to actually think him meek and weak, they would suddenly find themselves with a lethal case of claws through bowels.

  Only one monster had been dumb enough to openly war with my family while also being strong enough to keep himself alive.

  “Indeed.” He confirmed. “The Seeking Drake is looking to devour you. Just as he devoured your brothers and sisters so many centuries ago. The precautions I took, have meant little and less. And just last week, I was informed that one of your main protectors had been turned inside out, while a bloody plague spread through the city he was in. You do not want to know what happened to the innocents who got caught up in the crossfire.”

  He looked as if he might spit on the wooden boards, but no such thing happened.

  “I have done all I could to protect you. All this effort, all this insistence on training, has been to keep you safe. It almost seems as though everything I do as of late is done in order to keep you safe. Because I and your mother both love you. Despite how hard you make it sometimes. I intend to keep that up now more than ever.”

  He walked away and looked at the others.

  “Rogvir. You may consider yourself on vacation. Starting now. I will send someone else to take over for you as Master in your hall and you will go far, far away. To lure the Drake into an isolated Instance without innocents.”

  He turned to the other one. To the boy.

  “Geredon. You will be in charge of protecting my granddaughter from now on.” He said with a steely voice.

  “I know she can be difficult. But I trust you and your decisions. It is my hope that she can learn a few things from you during the time you two are embarking in this endeavor.”

  “An, endeavor sir?”

  The old man nodded. Pulling out two identical plates.

  “Official designations for System Vendor posts.” He spoke. Somehow managing to keep his voice from breaking as he said the most absurd things imaginable.

  "The very last place the Drake would look for her is in the Tutorial and, as it happens, several Vendors have withdrawn from their duties following an ethics investigation. Those who were merely exploiting new species were culled. Those who were forced or… well… those who did not mean to do anything wrong, have been re-shuffled to other Instances. With supervision for added insurance.”

  He thrust out one of the plates to the fool.

  “You and my daughter will be two of those new Vendors. There to learn and to supervise whatever Instance you land in. I don’t care who you pick and I don’t care where you go. So long as it is not in the Peak difficulty Instance.”

  He turned and handed me the other plate.

  “Stay alive and stay safe. That’s all I ask. By the time you get back, everything should be under control. So take this time to focus on your training and try to make something out of this opportunity.”

  He was still more or less speaking to him, but it was clear who the words had been meant for.

  “Hate me if you must.” He spoke as soon as the emotions began to roil within me. “But what I do, I do it to keep you safe. Always. I do it because we have spoilt you rotten and I don’t want to be responsible for your eventual death if you come across some danger you weren’t prepared for.”

  He began walking away.

  “The Drake is the biggest threat to your life, but he is not the only one. It is my responsibility to keep you safe and well and alive. For that, you have to grow properly and train properly. Nothing more, nothing less.”

  He stopped only long enough to give the boy a pleading look.

  “I know. Geredon. I know. But please, keep her alive.”

  He drew in a breath.

  “For me, if nothing else.”