‘Yo, my King – I have pretty shit news.’

John was having a pretty shit everything at the moment. What Undine was doing was clearly working, but it still depressed his mood tremendously. That it was taking quite a while did not make it better.

When Metra had reconnected to his mental network, he had initially dared to hope that would make his Friday a little brighter. ‘Nothing is ever easy,’ he groaned mentally, then connected with her. ‘Well, lay it on me then…?’

‘Good news first, the Illuminati have landed in New Orleans.’

That was good news. John had moved Metra from Miami to New Orleans in anticipation of that. While the Order was fairly reliable at defending themselves, so were the Floridians. As both fronts were doing okay, he had deemed it more valuable to have one of his own in each city, capable of using the teleport.

‘That is good news, although you could have shared that via the Harem Comms. Which tells me that there is something coming that will demand I immediately come through the teleporter with you.’

‘Yeah… the Sons of Rome also landed in New Orleans.’

“…Izha, I know this is another one of your jokes. I will hang you up by your entrails, you monster…” John muttered to himself and rose from his office chair.

There was every reason why John had specifically asked Romulus to Boston. It was as far away from the former Gestalt states as he could reasonably get the man – as far away from Remus as possible. There was not a doubt in John’s mind that the Lorylim had pulled the strings to throw Romulus off-course.

‘Shit, shit - I need to direct his attention west somehow… I can hardly tell him it’s more efficient to sail up to Boston now. Fuck.’ The Gamer marched through the corridor while he laid out his arguments for any expected question that would come up. He was simulating dozens of conversations with Romulus in his head and he doubted any of them would become reality.

This whole situation was out of his control, he could only try to cope with the circumstances.

‘I’ll be with you in a bit.’

‘I’ll wait on the other side of the teleporter,’ Metra informed him, then her signal was cut off again.

John typed the update in the Harem Comms. None of his women were with him. He had decided to take some time alone, so he could more effectively concentrate on what was happening with body 2. Now he had to split his attention between two fronts again. Not a huge ask, he had a lot of attention to give, simply against his preferences.

For many of his women, he just gave them the news. For others, he summoned them to join him. He would have liked Nathalia, Nightingale, Momo and Rave to join him when he met with Romulus, but that was too much power pulled from the Guild Hall. The elementals would accompany him by nature and so he had to leave some people behind for emergencies.

After some messages were shot back and forth, it was decided that only Momo and Nightingale would tag along. They, Lydia (of course) and the woman whose apartment John now burst into.

Lyndell sat in the sole armchair in the room. Her legs were crossed, her hands in her lap, holding an e-reader. The press of a button shut the device down. She blinked against the artificial light flooding her otherwise lightless apartment. “I was told opening doors without knocking is rude.”

“It is. I am in a hurry. You’ll accompany me.”

“You order me…?” Lyndell rose even as she tilted her head in question. “Your confidence pleases me in strange ways.” Discover more novels at novę

“It’s less confidence and more urgency,” the Gamer informed her. “And your flirting is really inappropriate at this time.”

“Mhm… that was flirty, I admit,” Lyndell spoke in a dry voice that made John’s brain jump back to Teen Titans. Instantly, it snapped back to Lu Zhi’s pained face. His face remained stern. “Where to?” she asked.

“Through a teleporter to New Orleans. You’re meeting the leadership of two other members of the Divided Gates.”

“Exciting.” There was nothing excited in her tone, it was every bit as dour as usual. She matched the speed of his steps as he marched her around the corner. The Palace met his sense of urgency as well, getting him to the door that led to the teleportation room at record speed. The main hub was outside the Palace, but the only teleportation pad they really needed to have access to the network was situated within an undecorated room.

John’s heel hammered on the raw concrete floor. Their swift arrival changed nothing about Nightingale, Momo and the elementals needing to get there as well. Lydia would follow in her own time, she was busy doing a supply check. Arms crossed, he just stared at the air ahead. His mind remained focused on the wound, which turned less and less green and more and more red.

“Would you confide in me?”

“I’m stressed and angry,” John answered without hesitance. He was happy to have any ear right now and it wasn’t like Lyndell would talk. “I caught a few days of stability, so that was nice, and the thing Izha did to my parents and to so many other people has clearly netted the Lorylim enough bad luck that they just keep getting screwed by fate. Simultaneously, that is annoying me. I want to take my vengeance – mine – and at every turn I am reminded that they screwed themselves. Just this morning I advised Lucifrena to go towards a specific settlement. I didn’t have any reason for it, it was one of those few times I actually just randomly declared something, and wouldn’t you know it, she stumbled across a major hive mid-development.”

He stopped his rambling for a moment to breathe. The hammering of his heel against the concrete floor continued unabated. While so much of his mind remained in Beijing, he ran his mouth without thinking.

“I am taking the victory. Everyone besides Emrik bought it as a manifestation of my genius. It’s just Gaia handing me these victories on a silver platter. Rather, it’s the Lorylim getting hammered with losses at every turn. My troops keep arriving in the nick of time, thwarting what could be greater catastrophes.”

“You loathe it,” Lyndell observed. “You loathe that you are the tool in someone else’s vengeance.”

“Yes!” John declared loudly, his emotions still flowing from his mouth. “More than that I hate all that surrounds it. Gaia has the power. She does. She is demonstrating it over and over again that she can change everything without even being seen. A faulty gas tank makes my troops stop one city earlier than planned and just like that they find an infected gas station worker. Dozens of times, every day, scenes like that. She can do all of that – but she could not have fucking saved my parents?! I-“

John stopped and put a hand over his own mouth. He had been one word away from shouting before he caught himself. He stared at the air in front of him for a few seconds, before the black hand of Lyndell was firmly placed on his cheek. The woman with eyes that appeared eternally underlined by black tears beheld him. There was warmth in those grey pools.

“I was alone with my suffering for a long, long time,” she told him. “Gaia created the conditions for it.”

“Do you resent her for it?” John asked quietly.

“I am still contemplating the answer to that question.” She moved a little closer, then stopped herself. “I believe if I were to try and kiss you now, that would be taking advantage of a vulnerable mind.”

“Very much so,” John answered and took her hand off his cheek. He held it for longer than he needed afterwards, for as long as he needed to say: “You may not have the answer either, but I am thankful that you admit to that.”

“It is a horrid fate to suffer alone.” Their hands separated in unison; a silent accord reached. “I only wish it upon my enemies.”

It was in that moment, when Lyndell averted her gaze and mournfully gazed into the nothingness of her memories, that John felt himself falling for that gothic woman. ‘At least this one is less juvenile than falling for a dangerous dragon nympho…’ he made fun of himself. He laughed. Lyndell raised an eyebrow at him. That only made it funnier. He laughed loudly. Then Momo burst into the room and immediately hugged him.

“Because you need it, idiot!” she answered a question he hadn’t asked.

“Uhm… can I get in on that?” Gnome asked. The elemental had returned incorporeally. John put an arm around her waist and got her involved in the hug.

“That looks nice,” Lyndell commented.

“You… can join,” Momo offered. Her hesitance to extend an olive branch to an attractive woman was evidently overcome by the service to John’s emotional health rendered. That she considered it that way was just one of the many reasons he loved her.

Without hesitance, eager even, the forlorn woman stepped forwards. Momo and Gnome held out their arms and pulled Lyndell in the centre. “Oh…” That was the tiny noise that Lyndell made when she was hugged for the first time in her life. Her lips trembled. Her eyes closed. She sniffed. She nuzzled her head between their shoulders. She melted away, relaxing to the point that she just sunk to the floor between the three of them. “That… was lovely,” she whispered.

‘OH MY, MASTER, SHE IS SO CUTE!’ Momo screamed in his head.

‘You can keep her,’ John remarked sarcastically.

“Have I entered to an invitation ritual?” Nightingale asked. The harpy lacked their mental connection and thus all the context for what had just happened.

“No such things, just a group hug,” Gnome said.

“Which I would love to continue, but duty calls.” In response to his words, Gnome and Momo stepped away. The former reached down to help Lyndell up.

Lyndell immediately hugged Gnome again. “Friend.”

“Uhm… uh… yes?”

“Mhm…” Lyndell hummed, then opened her eyes again. Even now she looked sad and yet she had found solace in this moment.

She was right, only the worst of the worst deserved to suffer alone.

______________________________________________________________________________

“So that’s the horny mushroom?” Metra asked.

John flicked the wolf woman’s forehead.

“Ack!” the blonde berserker babe exclaimed, acting as if the mild tap was enough to nearly topple her over.

“Why the corporeal punishment?” Lyndell asked. “I understand both words. They are apt.”

“Do not indulge her,” Momo begged.

“Mhm…” The ancient entity made a half-hearted sound, then looked ahead.

New Orleans was covered in the marks of battle. The resplendent structures of the Order’s great monastery estate were covered in dust, dried gore and lay in ruin. Core buildings had survived, although seldom without damage. Since the original attack four days ago, there had been two more offenses on the Order’s headquarters. All of them had been thwarted by the woman that now stood in greeting.

Moira Brighton was in full battle regalia. By insistence of the squires, her armour was polished to perfection. No amount of rags and oil could hide the damage it had sustained though. The heavily enchanted Mithril alloy was dented and scratched all over, but remained functional enough. Her warhammer was missing part of its shaft. Only her shield was undamaged entirely. Not even the constant battles that the Warden had endured recently could leave a mark on this Gaia-blessed armament.

When John met the Warden’s gaze, he found something puzzling in it.

That Moira’s green eyes were filled with stern expectations was normal. There was something else there though. An emotion that John could not place, which was rare enough for him. Before he could come to a conclusion on what it was, a shadow of guilt fell over her features. She averted her gaze for a moment. When she looked at him again, not two seconds later, she was entirely herself.

“Did I hear ‘horny mushroom’?” she asked, the disappointment clear in her voice.

“Perchance,” John led his group of women to the Warden. “For once, it is not what you think.”

“I do not think you are sleeping with her – I have told you before: I do not… respect… your lifestyle but I do not consider you a bad person.” She pressed her lips together for a moment. “I have heard about your loss,” she muttered quietly. “To lose one’s parents is a horrid event. I know the pain.”

‘I never did meet the former Warden…’ John suddenly realized. Moira was not one of his friends, so this was a topic they had simply never breached. A sympathetic nod was all he could muster in this situation. “Thank you.”

“My father is hosting Romulus, his chancellor, and the Horned Rat in our main hall,” she then informed him. “We are sharing what military data we have access to. He has been objective in this.”

“I am glad to have that assurance. You won’t blame me for verifying myself.”

“I awaited you here to guide you there. Admittedly, I would have preferred it if you brought Lorelei as well. I have… need of her council. Jane and Hailey as well.” She shook her head. “I understand the necessities of war, however.”

“Well, if all goes well, then we will soon have enough breathing room that you can find half an hour somewhere.”

She nodded, then turned on her heels and led the way.