Chapter 5 Part 1 of 2 (Patreon)

Chapter: Orders

Erik and Rugrat had spent the last two weeks running from one fight to the next, trying to stem the tide of beasts into the seventh realm. They’d gone on separate missions working with the special teams. A concession to put their friends and commanders fears at bay.

“You been working on your cultivation?” Erik asked.

“As much as I can, just been doing small increases,” Rugrat moved through parts of the beast, cleaning as he went.

“Don’t want to pull a metal tempering?”

“No, I don’t want to turn into a leaky carbon metal statue, you working on your wood tempering?”

Erik rolled up his shoulder, glowing green veins spread out from the tempering needle in his shoulder, like roots spreading through soil.

“I’ve built up some passively, when we were in Violet Sky Realm I’d already partially tempered, just taking my time but with the knowledge we gained from Avegaaren and technology.” He pulled down his shirt.

“With things in the higher realms, don’t know if I’ll be able to make that next step. Whenever something has gone cataclysmically wrong, the day before everything was fine,just building up in all different kinds of ways and then,” He snapped his fingers. “It isn’t.”

George burst through the door to the living room.

“Another attack?” Erik stood, he was up for the next mission.

“Messenger from the Imperium, orders from their head.”

Erik and Rugrat looked at one another.

“About damn time,” Rugrat muttered. Slapping his rifle back together with mana manipulation and storing it in his ring as they jogged out the door, they jumped off of the porch flying for the headquarters, George following them with a powerful flap of his wings.

Massive skylights and a series of mirrors had been set into the Alva living floor’s roof to bring in the day’s light, making it feel airy and open, towers ran up the thick support columns dotted around the landscape, Alva dungeon was in constant motion, the city that never slept.

At it’s center the newer dungeon headquarters rose up to look over the city.

Erik and Rugrat passed through guards, Yao Meng and his Special team, usually on operations across the realms and in places they shouldn’t be, acted as their security.

“Thought it was a message, not a messenger,” Erik muttered.

“Must be coming up in the world,” Rugrat said.

They passed the Imperium guards standing outside their office, Alva guards opened the doors.

Erik took it in, he had only been in the room as little as possible. Large windows showed Alva beyond and below, two desks were set back from the windows, one for each of them, there was a seating area and a planning area.

The messenger sat in the seating area drinking tea.

“Cheers guys,” Erik said the guards nodded and closed the doors, leaving Erik, Rugrat and the messenger.

The man drew himself up to his full height, taller than Rugrat but thin and rakish, an administrator, not a fighter.

“The Imperium requests your attendance at Cronen as soon as possible, with all forces that you have capable of fighting beyond the ninth realm.” The man’s voice made it clear, this was not a demand, or request, he was making it an order.

Erik cleared his throat but the man continued.

“When can we expect you to be ready by?”

“What’s the mission?”

“Do you know what happens to people that go against the Imperium, against the war?” The man’s eyes thinned as he looked down his nose at Rugrat.

“They stop existing.”

“That a threat?” Rugrat stepped forward.

Erik held out his hand, holding him back.

“Make sure to keep your dog on a leash,” The man smirked.

Erik took his hand back from Rugrat.

“Our patience has limits,” Erik said. “These decisions are not ours to make, we will need the battle plana and information on the attack to present to our military.”

The man sneered, looking Erik up and down. “Are you not supposed to be the leaders of this? Or just puppets?”

“Give us the plans or get out, what are the objectives? What is required?” Erik said.

“I knew you were primitive, but I didn’t kn~”

“You want our help. You do not own or order us around,” Erik’s command voice made the man nearly jump back in shock, his words cracking out like machine gun rounds, leaving him no room to talk.

“You will pass plans and information on the upcoming offensive which will be then passed to our council leader and military advisors to see if we can help in any meaningful way! This information is to be presented in the next twenty-four hours. You act like a child I will treat you like a child boy! Now pull your fucking shit together and get the fuck out of my Empire. I so ban you from my lands, not to return unless you have permission by the Council leader.”

The man’s body started to move as his eyes widened in panic as he started running away.

His guards were surprised out of their glaring at the Alvans and ran after them.

They disappeared down the hall, one of the guards returned a few minutes later with a bundle of files and papers.

“The information on the offensive.” The man thrust it forward.

“You know it is the polite thing to bow.

The man stiffened, trying to fight with mana and body cultivation, it lasted for a half second before he was bent into a perfect ninety degrees, holding out the papers with a yell.

“Good stretch isn’t it. Sorry sirs, seems that there are some people who need to learn proper manners in the realms still,” Yao Meng bowed and moved to the side, not showing the slightest strain.

“Who sent you?” Erik asked.

“The Imperium! For this they’ll~”

“They’d best do nothing, they are already fighting one war and they are seriously pissing me off with this fuckery.” A silence spell cut off the guard. “Who was the person that cut the orders, who was the person that told you to act like a punch of assholes?”

Erik released his spell.

“Captain~” Silence spell

“You see I can read every lie that you come up and, honestly, I don’t have much to do around here, being a figure head and all,” Erik cancelled his spell.

“The head.”

“Which one?”

“The Imperium one!”

Erik looked at Rugrat.

“Clive Andross?”

“Yeah.”

Erik’s flexed his jaw. “Not been in office for a month and he’s already starting fights with others in the realms.”

“Xun Liang would have his ass in the trainer faster than he could scream for his Momma.” Rugrat shook his head.

Erik took the information from the man.

“Get the hell out of here.”

The guard relaxed as the mana manipulation was released from his body. He turned and walked away stiffly.

Erik leafed through the information, sighing. “Hoped the Imperium was above this positioning bullshit.”

“Welcome to the ten realms, where people care more about their position and looking good than the fact we have aliens spitting out elemental energy entering our worlds.” Rugrat shrugged. “Glosil?”

“Yeah,” Erik stored away the information as Rugrat called Alva’s military Commander.

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