Rising Kite - A story from the world of HWFWM

“I really wish Dragonfly was here.”

It was not the first time that the thought had crossed Kite’s mind during the last minute, and said minute had been rather intense.

Before the aforementioned minute, the cave had been almost completely silent save for the slight sound of the breeze and the murmurs of the three priests of Undeath. The serenity was now but a memory, replaced by the cacophony of chanted spells, battlecries, Serene’s songs and the crackling, meaty sound of bodies breaking. Fortunately for Kite and his team, so far it had only been the cadaverous undead who had contributed to the last part, but they all knew that matters would in all probability remain quite tense for a little while longer.

Kite was currently engaging all three of the priests, as was his assigned role in the battle. Around , and often above, Will engaged the four guardians of the effigy as he danced through the air on conjured spears which were constantly harassing the bronze-ranked undead. Like the ones they had faced before, these four also emerged from the effigy itself and remained tethered to it, but the spread of the calcified dark monument meant that they could also move a bit onto the floor and ceiling as well. Back at the door, Glint and Whisper worked to contain what iron-ranked undead remained after the group’s initial surprise attack while Serene did her utmost to assist everyone as needed.

Knowing that they would be outnumbered, the group had prioritized the smaller undead minions in their opening salvo, Serene casting two of her hurricane spells in quick succession to bunch as many of them as possible together and up against the wall before Kite, Will and Whisper all unleashed what area attacks they could. In Kite’s case, he had gifted a charge from Potential of Stolen Power to Sage, allowing the familiar to unleash its torrent of chain-detonating magical blasts. In addition to Will’s volley of conjured spears which detonated into burst of smaller spears and a few detonating talismans from Whisper, it had left around half of the group dead or too injured to effectively move.

But while taken by surprise, their enemies’ responses had been swift, the priests directing the forces that remained to engage while healing and improving their capabilities. That was why Kite had prioritized breaking through the lesser undead and rushing the priests while the effigy’s guardians were still emerging. Fighting one on three was often a taxing venture, but still preferable to what would happen if the group had been forced to a stop at the beginning with the dark clergy free to utilize their spells at will.

Even though he could observe the struggles of his comrades through his expanded vision, Kite was still forced to direct most of his attention to the battle at hand. Two of the priests were actively fighting, one wielding a wicked sickle while the other fired ethereal blasts with a wand, while their final comrade was instead stuck struggling with an enthusiastic growing blue flower which was greedily burying into the man’s personal mana shield while he tried warding it off with bursts of necrotic energies. Kite sent a thought of thanks to both Peony and Fortune; the first in gratitude for the seed-like dagger producing said flower, and the latter in thanks that the priest had not yet realized that just deactivating the barrier would work to dislodge the barrier-eating lotus.

“Life to unlife!”

The wand-wielder once more chanted his spell, laying on more of the necrotic affliction which Kite could currently feel eating away at his life-force and flesh. It was a most uncomfortable sensation of icy numbness, but Kite still endured as it was not yet time to counteract it. Fortunately, this left his foe hanging back as he simultaneously tried attacking Kite and bolstering the undead of the cave, leaving both tasks rather poorly performed.

Kite blocked another of the sickle-wielders reaping special attacks, Pattern-shattering Counter dispersing the foul energies as it came into contact with his staff, the wicked weapon stopped dead while Kite’s fist connected with the man’s face. His gauntleted punch contained both the mana-draining power of Chakra Implosion and his Disrupting Strike, not the first such strike to land during this exchange.

“There is something poetic that you drain my spirit as I drain your life,” his opponent, a human man with sharp features, noted as he leapt back from Kite’s counterattack with his swung staff only to be forced to raise a hasty barrier of conjured, spinning sickles to absorb the attack projected in the wake of the swing. “But I still insist on the futility of your actions. You are merely a lone bronze-ranker, while my spirit is buoyed by lord Undeath himself.”

“Oh? Then I suppose I will now find out if even a dark god like Undeath can be annoyed by my path,” Kite replied, surprised to enjoy the verbal exchange while he fought. “And I have it on good authority that it is most annoying indeed.”

Following his words, Kite once more went on the offensive, a series of projected attacks further tearing through the priest’s defenses through feint, dispel, or just pure persistence. Each of the attacks carried the blue outline of Cleave the Spirit, leaving the priest’s body unmarred as they severed the mana within. Kite wanted to press the attack further, but things took a turn as the wand-wielder seemed to have had enough.

“A life reaped, decay made manifest!”

With no projectile to intercept or dispel, Kite just had to accept the intense flare of pain as the afflictions within him intensified, rapidly multiplying. As the priest then proceeded to shout: “Prepare to become a vessel for our lord’s glorious creations!” Kite understood that it was indeed time to act.

“The final-”

The Undeath-priest had but begun his chant as Kite’s cloak suddenly dropped from his shoulders, all of the afflictions following it down to the cavern floor.

“-touch of the grave upon thee!”

What would probably have been a finisher of some kind now just sent an unpleasant tingle through Kite’s body, the afflictions which had built up being actively repurposed even as the fight continued. Kite did take some satisfaction in the man’s surprised stare, but the wand-wielder was not his target. Even while the third priest had just figured out that deactivating his mana shield did indeed cause the Boundary-devouring Lotus to fall from him, Kite used an empowered leap to close the distance even as he simultaneously projected a slash with his sword toward the sickle-wielder and had Sage use a saved charge to help him recover.

As expected, the projected sword slash was once more deflected by the same wall of sickles, the sharp barrier dissolving just in time for Kite’s actual staff to connect with the man in a vicious swing. Chakra Implosion, further boosted by Potential of Stolen Power as well as Void-Sunders-Firmament, tore into the man as all of the force connected directly with the priest’s spiritual reserve. The man staggered, wide-eyed and shaking from the first blow. Then the echo hit him, and he dropped to the floor unconscious, looking for all the world as if Kite had literally cleaved the spirit out of him.

This left both of the other priests focusing solely on the combat-oriented presence in both of their quite supportively-focused midst, and with their attention fully on Kite, things started tipping more and more steadily in the adventurers’ favor as another two minutes ticked by. Whisper clearing out the last of the iron-ranked undead meant that Will, who had been quite pressured by the four wraith-like guardians of the effigy, suddenly got even more support and reprieve.

Just as Kite managed to drop the wand-wielder as well after a brutal and relentless series of attacks, both projected and physical, Will’s typical war-cry rang out throughout the cave.

“Heavenly Shaft; Darkness penetrator!”

One of the wraiths being blown apart by the grand holy lance further alleviated any concern Kite might have had for the conflict going on around the effigy. A series of swift jabs towards the last remaining priest had the man instinctively activate his mana shield again. Where the lotus had lain rather inactive nearby, it suddenly sensed its source of nourishment return, several plant-tendrils shooting back to once more burrow into the shield. Distracted by the flower, the small life-draining fungal colony which had grown from Kite’s fallen cape as well as the bronze-ranked adventurer himself, it did not take overly long before the final priest fell, accompanied by the sound of Serene’s channeled finisher, a discordant dirge being the last the man heard before unconsciousness claimed him as well.

“Well, I must admit that it went better than I had hoped,” Whisper admitted as the team regrouped around Kite and the prisoners, now collared and bound. “I had at least expected the struggle for control of the battle would be longer.”

“It does help that we have fought these particular foes during the war,” Kite noted.

“And that an undead without guidance remains significantly weaker than its rank implies,” Will chimed in.

“I believe that Grim would be a bit troubled had he heard such sentiment from you, my friend,” Kite noted, Will only snorting in response.

“This is at least one less seed of malice left behind to fester,” Serene chimed in, looking up at the effigy. “So far, it has been Dragonfly who has brought these ones down. Who will do the honors this time?”

In the end, they decided to share said honor for the sake of expediency, gathering up the usual death essence as well as two equally death-aspected awakening stones found among the remains of the effigy. Then, with the three unconscious prisoners and everything of note from the priests’ camp collected, Kite and his team began the three-day long journey back towards Gilded.

And during that very return trip, like an unexpected herald bringing ill tidings, the monster surge began.

“Of course I had to go and say it,” Jarvan Lancaire, director of Gilded’s adventure society branch, grumbled sourly as he looked toward some far away heaven only he could see. “Fortune, is this the thanks for never including you in my little tirades? Because I did specifically leave you out to stop things like this from happening. To not make you mad and all that. Then why, oh why did the surge decide to be this early?”

“You are aware that the surge is still technically later than usual, even if it was earlier than the predictions? And that it is a phenomenon so far outside of our hands that you might as well be screaming to the skies to- oh wait, never mind,” deputy director Rupert noted with a smirk on his leonine face even as he was readying himself to go out and start directing the slightly frantic efforts of the society to enact the surge protocols.

“You being correct does not help alleviate the matter that I still have a local bloody sect basically on the verge of seceding. If they all start ignoring our contracts and orders during the surge, people will suffer for it!” Jarvan snapped, but regained his composure at Rupert’s raised eyebrow. “I am sorry, old friend. That was uncalled for.”

“Do not worry, Jarvan,” the leonid said accompanied by a supportive nudge of aura. “But I would advise you to try and remember not to start ‘killing the messengers’. We have few enough of them as things stand.”

“What? Why would I-” Jarvan began before the wordplay hit home. “Oh, very funny!” he called after his deputy as the leonid left his office, sending a final self-satisfied smirk his way before closing the double doors.

Sitting back in his chair, Jarvan shook his head with a smile. “Whatever would I do without him?” he asked nobody in particular, before his gaze happened to land on a map of the area, spread out on his desk. Seeing the name “Descending Star sect” marking the location of their compound caused the frown to return in full force.

“While I normally do not mind the thought of personally wrangling the lot of you back in line, this is certainly not the best time. So please, please, do not do something too stupid,” he urged the little unassuming mark on the map, nursing the ever so faint hope that reason would win out, just this once.

“So, cousin, you finally reveal your hand. I had not hoped you capable of such betrayal, even prayed to the gods for it not to be so. But yet you stand here before me, proving my hopes to be in vain.” Sect leader Comet Banishing Clouds was standing very, very still in his office, but the building fury rolling off his aura was plain for all of those present to feel, even causing an iron-ranked junior elder to have to flee the room.

“Sect leader, please see reason. I have only urged those willing to actually let the church of the Healer examine them-” Grand elder Meridians of the Sky protested, once more trying to explain but once more getting interrupted.

“Oh, I can see your reasons, cousin. You met with those nosy clergymen behind my back, against my express order not to do so. What aid did they offer once you had supplanted me? What rewards would you have for being their puppet?”

“Cousin, you know that is not true. Please-”

“Oh, now it is ‘cousin’ as well? Am I not the sect leader in your eyes anymore? So assured of your victory? Did you bide your time until now when the surge began to have a better chance?!” The last word came out as a shout as the sect leader’s aura started becoming slightly unstable.

Grand elder Meridian had kept her peace until now, and had tried her very best to persuade her cousin up until this moment, the very end. But him literally screaming into her face in front of the other grand elder and the elders still remaining at the compound was the final straw.

“A true sect leader would actually keep the interest of the sect’s members at heart, cousin, not just his own monolithic pride!” The dam, so long kept in place, had started to break. And like the flow of water eroding what was left, so too did the words flow ever easier. “You are not yourself, and have not been for too long. The man you once were, that our uncle raised, would not be here screaming like a paranoid madman seeing every threat to his authority like some grand betrayal. I have heard what they found in the Victorious Sunset sect, and your actions these last weeks has made me sure of at least one thing; that you have succumbed.”

Sect leader Comet had, contrary to what she had believed, remained silent during Meridian’s tirade. And as silence fell over the room, his lips, previously only a thin line, slowly turned upwards into an intense smile.

“Thank you, cousin,” he finally said, voice down to normal speaking tone for the first time during this encounter. “Thank you, for making this easy.” Meridian felt the chill of resigned realization as he emphasized the last word just a bit too much, and she knew what was to come. “Meridians of the Sky,” the sect leader continued,” I hereby declare you a traitor to our sect and all that it has honorably stood for since the time of its founding. You are stripped of your rank, and will be detained and questioned. If you resist, it will only be to your detriment. Seize her!”

Meridian felt at least a little bit of schadenfreude as his order was met with a slight hesitation from the other grand elder and the gathered bronze-ranked elders. But she did not intend to stay and enjoy it further.

“Inevitable celestial passage.”

Meridian’s spell had just enough time to take effect, her form dissolving into a rapid-moving stream of pale moonlight, flickering sunlight and glimmering stars which moved towards and through the closed doors of the sect leader’s office. A mere instant later, Piece of Heaven, the axe that was the symbol of office for the Descending Star sect’s leader since the time of its founding, swept through where she had once stood, the alabaster axehead trailing a tail of stars.

Outside the office, Meridian did not take the path of the actual corridor, forsaking it to instead go right out the closest window. Her form of the celestial stream meant that her passing was gentle and silent as she flew out into the chill evening air, fleeing out into the air over the innermost courtyards of the sect compound. Another moment later, the previously spared window was brutally shattered as the sect leader exploded from within, every ounce of his silver-ranked speed being mustered in pursuit of his fleeing cousin.

As her movement skill came to an end, a pair of wings made of clusters of stars materialized along with her form, as did a pair of floating chakrams manifest to intercept the brutal swing of the axe already heading her way. The weapons were edged rings about a meter across, one blazing with the stark light of the sun while the other shone with the pale inevitability of the moon. Meridian had always felt a great deal of pride in the visual aspect of her path, all of her essences on full display as the sun, moon and stars formed the unified whole that was the sky. But at that very moment, her floating celestial chakrams felt rather inadequate to stop her cousin’s set of might, potent and star, his onslaught confluence on full display as the strike sent even Meridian’s deftly controlled chakrams flying off into the distance.

“I only need to escape the sect grounds and its teleportation anchor-” she thought while she frantically dodged a charging special attack from the sect leader, him flying through the air like his namesake. Meridian only partially succeeded, and was left with a chunk of her torso being blown away by the axe’s passing, but she let the pain spur her to further heights as she started racing upward.

In the chase that had ensued, Meridian did possess one advantage; her cousin had no power to enable flight, and no time to deploy his flying artifact. Still, it did not feel that way as Comet swiftly landed at the house of a nearby building, roof tiles cracking in a small detonation as he pushed off into another leap towards her. But this time, Meridian had already prepared her counterattack.

“Weight of the skies rain down upon you!”

A small shower of conjured meteors rained down toward the ascending sect leader, followed by a larger projectile bigger than either of the fighters. Unfortunately, her delaying tactic did not pay the dividends that she had hoped, as a swing of Comet’s meteoric axe scattered the smaller projectiles and the backswing all but cleaved the larger in two. Meridian winced slightly as the deflected projectiles fell around the sect compound, as she could only hope that the collateral damage would not claim any lives.

Deciding that it was time, Meridian activated her magical tattoo to reset one of her spent spells, shooting off as another streak of celestial light to dodge yet another swing, even though the shockwave of disrupting force it created greatly harmed her incorporeal shape.

“You will not escape, traitorous trash!” Comet called as he once more shot after her. Meridian, feeling that she was getting close to the upper limit of the sect compound’s arrays, decided that she had to employ yet another of her more destructive means.

“Fortune, please spare those below from our folly!” she thought, as she chanted another spell.

“Convergence of celestial judgment!”

Her cousin was once more on his way towards her, but Comet did seem to realize what would follow as he heard her words, a barrier quickly forming out of what looked like crystalline shards. On her end, Meridian’s two chakrams and the stars of her wings had all floated to line up between her and her cousin. As her chant finished, a single and rather small mote of light had appeared between her hands. It shot off to pass through the first ring of stars, gaining a deeper glow and speeding up significantly as it passed. The same happened with the other two, turning the small projectile into a streak of light too fast for even the combatant’s silver-ranked perceptions to properly follow.

The streak of light impacted the sect-leader’s barrier, piercing through almost instantly, doing likewise with Comet’s chest before continuing downwards. Even as she saw her cousin being flung back, the explosion below as her most powerful spell impacted the cliffs and compound below almost made her lose track of him, his falling form lost in the flare of magical destruction.

A few seconds later, Meridian felt a tingling sensation as she passed out through the invisible border of the sect arrays. Looking down at the destruction below, this time Meridian knew for sure that the members of the sect would not have been left unscathed, the mere thought weighing heavily on her heart. But still, she was left thankful for two things.

First, that Comet had not had the time to exclude her from the sect array’s list of trusted people, as having to fight her way through the old and emplaced magical defenses would not have been easy even without her cousin hot on her heels.

And secondly, Meridian felt relieved that all of the people she knew and trusted were already back in Gilded, having gradually left the compound for the city on her urging over the last few days. With many still actively seeking contracts, it had not been noted down as anything out of the ordinary. As far as Meridian knew, most if not all of them should be in the process of being examined by the church of the Healer by now, which was especially important as the announcement had gone out the very day before; that the monster surge had officially started.

“May our sect still remain after your actions in the upcoming weeks, cousin,” Meridians of the Sky, no longer the grand elder of the Descending Star sect, thought. Then she vanished, teleporting to Gilded, and to a future most uncertain.

Standing in line at the now quite crowded adventure society campus, Kite’s tired mind was idly pondering better ways to ship collared essence-users back through days of wilderness.

“Managing them physically is one thing, but surely it must be possible to make collars which also silence them?” He thought as he waited in line. Fortune had at least smiled upon them in that the prisoner’s themselves had been taken care of quite expediently upon arrival, but there still remained paperwork and other bureaucratic procedures that he as team leader for their temporary grouping had to finish up.

“Thank you, adventurer,” the frazzled functionary absently thanked him, glancing down at a list after having finished with the final document. “According to the schedule, you and your group are given one day of leave before contracts will be assigned to you again. Please be-”

That was when Kite’s mind filtered out the functionary’s words, nodding along and absently thanking the man as he turned and made his way back towards the exit. Not the closest set of doors though, but another further away, through which a familiar aura had entered. One that he was familiar enough with, intimately being an even more appropriate word, to recognize even among the spiritual clamor of the large number of adventurers present.

“Dragonfly!”

His friend and lover, apparently not having sensed him until he drew closer, barely had the time to do more than turn towards Kite before he enveloped her in a fierce hug, his approach greatly expedited by activating the enchantment on his boots.

“Kite!” Dragonfly managed to get out between equal parts elated laughter and returning the hug. “That is supposed to be my move! Can’t a girl leave for more than a few months before you start encroaching upon my hug-territory!”

Eventually separating as they had started drawing annoyed glances of the other one’s waiting in line, Dragonfly all but carried Kite off to the side where they were not an obstacle to the proceedings. Surge protocols, and all that.

“Kite! It’s so good to see you! And wow, bronze-rank has surely treated you well! Have you gotten taller? And- Is that a scar?!” Dragonfly seemed to be torn between talking and just attempting to take him in, and Kite had to do the same.

Being apart for a few months always tended to bring a certain sense of unfamiliarity for most people, and with both of them having literally had parts of their appearance being improved upon only heightened that feeling.

Dragonfly still had the same features, but like Kite’s own they had grown more defined. While still on the shorter side, her frame had become even more toned and defined to the sleek athleticism shown by many bronze-rankers. Kite had always found her very pretty, even though he knew that she would be considered on the average side by most people, and ranking up had only defined it even further. The prettiness was still there, as were the freckles, but there was a whole new level of intensity to her gaze and presence, even noticeable in the pink curls of her hair as they seemed to just have become more; both in depth of color and actual volume.

“You like what you see?”

It was only then that Kite realized that he had been staring a bit too long and too silently, and Dragonfly still seemed to find him being slightly flustered as amusing as she had in the past. But Kite had a surefire way to counterattack on that front.

“Honestly, Dragonfly, I did not think that your mere presence could convey the beauty and passion I know resides within you any further or more clearly. Oh, was I proven wrong.”

His words caused her to freeze up for a moment, before the ever so satisfying full-body blush that was her trademark overtook her.

“Curse you, Kite, and your irresistible earnestness!” She cried, half hiding her face behind her hair. “I thought that bronze-rank would come with some sort of increased mental defense or something against such tactics!”

“Then I would once again call us even,” Kite said with a pleased smile.

“Uh huh.” She said, giving him an assessing look. “But you know that there’s plenty more evening out to do, right? There has been quite a score built up between us during these past months. One that we should definitely settle.”

Kite looked at her blankly for a short while, his mind deciphering her words as realization made him go; “Oh!”

“As long as you still want to-”

“Yes. Yes indeed. And I assume you-”

“Oh yes. Over half a year, Kite. Half a year!”

“Then follow me, my ardent Dragonfly,” Kite said, with mock formality even though he knew that his growing anticipation must have been quite visible in his eyes. “The lines will still be here waiting for us tomorrow.”

The two guards at the gates of the city lord’s palace in Gilded both jolted to attention as a flash of light left a wounded silver-ranker standing before them on the cobbled pathway up at the First peak. Gilded was not affluent enough to afford a city-wide teleportation array to form the plazas so common in many parts of the world, but the more affluent building complexes were individually shielded as well. That was one of the reasons for Meridians of the Sky to appear outside the gate to request entry and audience, the other being that she was currently very motivated not to cause any more diplomatic incidents this evening.

“I- uh- state your purpose!” One of the guards called, the other already having activated the nearby formation to alert those within the gates of the new arrival. Where Meridian might once have taken offense at not being recognized and acknowledged, such thoughts were currently far removed from her, as they had been ever since the war ended if she had to be honest with herself.

“I am gra- Meridians of the Sky, and come seeking an urgent audience with the city lord, both for me and for those following me.”

The two guards seemed a bit surprised by her almost pleading tone, but had no time to answer before a glass archway rose beside the gate, a proper-looking elven man in dark, fitted roves stepping through and bowing towards Meridian.

“Mistress Meridians of the Sky. The city lord will see you right away. If you would please step through here,” the manservant said while gesturing towards the portal. Meridian could sense his bronze-rank, but also that the portal would allow her to go through. Straightening despite her wounds, she nodded.

“Then please lead the way,” she said, allowing the elf to pass first as to not have the portal close behind her and leaving him to walk back. Part of Meridian still screamed caution, as the portal could technically lead anywhere within the city and its surroundings. But the urgency of the situation forced her to stomach the risks.

As the dizziness of portalling washed over her, Meridian still did her best to take in her new surroundings. She was in a richly decorated dining hall, with servants hastily setting the table for one more to eat. A family of elves were currently in the middle of their dinner, one silver-ranker and seven bronze. Meridian immediately recognized the city lord, Indomitable March of Glaciers, assuming the rest of those gathered to be his wife and six children.

“Welcome, mistress,” lord Indomitable spoke calmly, obviously ignoring the fact of their interrupted dinner. “Please, have a seat and join us. From your… condition, it would seem that we have a lot to discuss.”

“I knew it would be good to be back. But- heavens, was it good to be back,” Dragonfly purred while stretching languidly beside Kite on her bed.

“The heavens would surely strike me down as a cursed liar if I did not admit to thoroughly sharing that sentiment,” Kite said with a chuckle, snuggling closer to her. “I must admit that I thought that you might have at least found a few other ‘practice partners’ during your time away. Waiting has not always been your strong suit, after all, but your eagerness hinted at that not being the case.”

His cheeky comment earned him a withering look, Dragonfly’s expression souring. “If there had been anyone who felt right, I might have considered it. But all of those I met in passing were such snobs, even the other outcasts. Barely deigned acknowledging my presence, me being just some ‘country bumpkin’. And you know that I really want to feel safe with someone before trying out this kind of ‘practice’,” she noted.

“True, true,” Kite admitted, hugging her closer. “And yet another sentiment I share.”

“No luck for you either then, I take it?”

“I must admit that I was quite otherwise occupied, so the subject didn’t really come up. Well, had the fates wanted another path for me in life, it might have. Because I met Brook again.”

“What? Your ex?” Dragonfly asked, perking up with interest. “Now, this I need to hear!”

Knowing that he would not get out of telling the story again, and honestly not minding to share with Dragonfly, Kite once more relayed the story of his unexpected reunion with his first love. As he finished, Dragonfly regarded him.

“So, are you really okay with it then? How it ended?”

Kite was surprised at the somberness of her expression, but realized that she also knew of what the forced separation of the past had left within him. “I do. Truly,” he said, nodding. “In a way, it feels good to have that particular thread of fate not dangling loose anymore. As if it is now resolved, and has been settled properly. But thank you, Dragonfly.”

“For what?”

“For taking the time to ask,” he said with a smile.

“I’ll have you know that I do care about you, Kite,” she protested, only for Kite’s smile to turn into a chuckle.

“Now that, Dragonfly over Sun’s Reflection, has never been in doubt. You are good at caring.”

“Damn right I am,” she said, sounding pleased as she snuggled into Kite’s chest once more.

“But you haven’t told me too much about your stay down south. Near Convergence was it?” Kite asked. “Except for the people, that is.”

“Oh, otherwise it was pretty great. So many contracts, and I can’t wait to show you how much I have grown in the sparring arena. I even took a lot of chances to fight in some clashes too. Lost a few, but won even more.” she said triumphantly, proceeding to tell him more about the different duels and some of the monsters she had fought.

“Well, it does indeed sound like I have to see how strong you have become,” Kite agreed. “But it will probably be the monsters that are at the receiving end for now. The director might become cross with us if we waste too much energy dueling one another when there is a surge going on.”

“Our first surge…” Dragonfly said, almost dreamily. “I can’t wait to get out there. Do you think that Will and Serene will want to join us as well?”

Realizing that he had not yet gotten to explaining their current affairs, Kite could only chuckle at her question. “My dear, ardent Dragonfly. I do believe that there is an offer to join in on a certain contract that you will find hard to decline.”