"Do you think the Lord of this hovel will be able to give us passage back to the mainland?"
The three wanderers were irritated — with reason.
The war against the Zhur'kai had been cruel to them in a specific way: they hadn't lost their territory in the main battle, but in its aftermath. Without sufficient defensive forces, what remained wasn't enough to contain the opportunistic creatures that always appear after a battlefield empties. It hadn't been a surprise when it happened — just extremely irritating. A truth of the Oasis that any survivor learned early: after a great battle, there was always something waiting in the shadows to take advantage of what remained.
There always was.
"If that giant snake hadn't appeared out of nowhere, I could have called my father."
"As if that would have solved anything…" — the second man responded with the patience of someone who had had that conversation more than once. — "Even if he managed to send an army, I think it would have been destroyed. That snake isn't normal. My werewolf barely scratched it."
The sadness of losing the territory was only slightly less frustrating than the fact that all three had arrived at the same conclusion: there was no way they could have won. They had done the best they could — and in the end fled with their tails between their legs. Without the territory flag, they were no longer Lords. They were wanderers — drifters in search of some human territory that would accept them as former Lords, knowing they would be treated as premium servants in the best case scenario. It was the silent cruelty of the Oasis: you could do everything right and still lose everything to something you hadn't anticipated.
But they were alive. And for now, that was enough.
They just needed a Lord who had built the Return House.
"Do you think the Lord here built the house?"
"If he's a newcomer, we can simply promise him something. My family still has a lot of money."
"I hope he's from the farms!"
A smile crossed all three faces at the same time.
They still had heroes. All rare. They could simply take what they needed — but they needed to get inside first, needed to probe the strength. The hope was that the territory would be weak, but they didn't expect to have that luck.
"Wait. The gate is opening."
"Finally. Wait… is that a—"
"Urskra."
The three fell silent for a second.
The creature advancing through the gate was large enough to make irrelevant any calculation they had made about the territory's strength. Low level tower. Mediocre wall by any standard — all of it had created an expectation that was shattered the moment the creature tamed by that Lord appeared. They quickly understood that what was lacking in structural investment was more than compensated in military strength. And that for that particular Lord, the two clearly didn't need to go together.
Seeing that was strange in a specific way. Most Lords followed a path without major deviations — gradual growth, constant construction, balance between defense, attack and production. This one seemed to have completely ignored that logic and focused only on war.
"Alright everyone. We didn't expect this — but we stick to the plan. We probe first. We have the advantage here."
The smile among the three had diminished. But it hadn't disappeared.
It disappeared before the man got close enough to notice.
✦
"Who are you and what are you doing in my territory?"
When I finally got close enough, what I saw confirmed what Livina had said. Nobles. The arrogance on all three faces, even in a position of clear disadvantage, said everything about how they had gotten there and what they expected to obtain.
"Dear Lord and fellow survivor…" — the man stepped forward with the smile of someone accustomed to opening difficult conversations with charm before opening with substance. — "My name is Robert Vrigs. This is my sister Cassandra Vrigs and our companion Vrino Sebastian. We came from the east in search of refuge and a way to return home. We participated in the war against the Zhur'kai — but even on the winning side, a giant snake destroyed our territories before we could rebuild any defense."
"Perhaps you haven't noticed that I'm a newcomer by my kingdom, but I haven't yet been permitted to build the Return House." — I responded with the calm of someone who doesn't need to pretend. — "I'm still in the Oasis probationary period. Unfortunately I won't be able to take you in until after the purge."
The discomfort in all three was visible. Brief, but visible — the kind that appears when plan A has just been eliminated and what forms in its place isn't exactly more honest.
I didn't trust those three. There was no reason to trust them. Their heroes seemed to be positioning themselves in a way that wasn't casual — the werewolf had shifted slightly to the side, the elf had retreated a step. Encircling movement. Subtle, but deliberate.
I had noticed before they realized I had noticed.
"Don't be like that." — the woman spoke with the tone of someone doing a favor, not asking for one. — "My family is very influential and we can pay for lodging in the territory. It would be of great value to your family as well."
I wanted to vomit.
But I kept my face neutral.
"I'm not a noble, so I have no family for your influence to benefit." — I paused. — "I'm also not lacking in money. But I can point you toward a kingdom in that direction."
I pointed toward the interior of human territory. I knew I was on the edge — I knew there were other Lords further in. How long it would take wasn't my problem.
"If you're from the farms, it's your obligation to help nobles." — one of the men said with a voice already laden, because now, with my words, he knew I didn't belong to any family that could hold him accountable later. — "You know what will happen if you don't help."
The Codex was clear: accepting wanderers was optional. There was no obligation. They could strengthen the kingdom — but they could also kill me in my sleep and take everything. Not the territory itself, which without the Lord would lose function, but the accumulated riches: items, Nectar Stones, everything that had been built over months. I wasn't someone whose absence would be noticed by anyone outside the Oasis. If they killed me, the world would continue exactly as it was — just without me and without what I had built.
No thank you.
"I hope you have a pleasant journey."
I turned to leave.
A fully transformed werewolf blocked my exit before I completed the movement.
"You are very bold for a mere commoner." — the man said behind me, the polished voice finally abandoned, the arrogance showing where the smile had been. — "Let's see if you'll still feel that way after what we do to you."
I stopped.
I breathed.
And I raised my arm — not to attack, but as a signal.
"Are you both in on this?"
The woman and the man laughed.
I already knew the answer. I had known since the werewolf's first movement — the lateral shift, the subtle repositioning that wasn't casual. Even so I hadn't wanted to believe it. We were the same species, facing the same problems, and they were far more established than a mere nameless newcomer with no family. There was a part of me that had hoped their calculation would be smarter than that.
It wasn't.
Human arrogance showed itself once more — the specific version that comes from those who have always had more and never learned that having more isn't the same as being more.
My heart tightened. There was no going back.
✦
The arrow passed through the woman's skull before her laugh finished.
Morgana. Positioned on the wall from the beginning, she didn't miss the shot. Of course, I had asked her to fire if anything happened — raising my arm was the signal. She had interpreted it with the precision of someone who had decided that ambiguity wasn't a luxury that situation could afford.
The elf beside the woman looked frightened.
He had reason to be.
The release of the bond with the summoner wasn't instantaneous — even with the Lord dead, the hero would remain bound for a few seconds before recovering control of their own body. He knew he was the easiest target for that reason. Elves were agile. But agile and free was a combination Morgana had decided not to test.
The second arrow arrived within those seconds.
A freed hero was unpredictable. Unpredictable at that moment was unacceptable. She had calculated that before I needed to ask.
Cruel. Calculated. In the Oasis, the right thing wasn't always the prettiest — sometimes it was just cruelty in its purest form, dressed as necessity.
"What did you do to my sister?!"
"You dug your own graves." — I said calmly. — "I'm just going to bury you."
The werewolf advanced against the Urskra — a miscalculation. The Urskra wasn't just large. It was the same Urskra that had contained a Tauros long enough for the battle to turn — a C-level creature that without intelligence to calculate was the personification of unbridled brute force. The werewolf was met with the creature's shoulder before finishing the first step.
I leapt from the Urskra.
The remaining elf was already in motion — dagger in hand, trajectory calculated for the point where I would land. Good timing. Good calculation.
Insufficient.
The Aqrabuamelu DNA had rewritten my reaction time along with everything else. I hadn't made a complete assessment of the improvements, but the body responded before the mind finished processing — I dodged with the specific margin of something that had just discovered it was faster than it had been yesterday before kicking the elf a good distance away from me.
"Damn. What the hell kind of speed and strength is this."
The surprise on the two surviving Lords' faces was unmistakable. My speed was no longer something human — I had gone through something that had nearly killed me, and it was something that Lords preferred to do when they had adequate heroes to extract useful powers from — and most newcomers simply didn't have access to heroes of the necessary level, the strength to endure the transition, or the money to make the process viable. There were so many obstacles that the mere possibility of a newcomer having already undergone mutation had most likely never even crossed their minds.
Of course — I was the exception they hadn't counted on. I had had what I needed from the start.
"Let's attack this son of a bitch together!"
All three — the elf and the two wanderers — advanced simultaneously while the werewolf was occupied with my mount. Compared to the elf, the humans were pitiful in direct combat. But three enemies at once, one of them a rare hero, was an equation that would push my new body to its limit — and show me exactly where the new frontier I had reached was.
The elf came from the right, the two Lords from the sides with the specific coordination of those who had fought together before. Three fronts.
I dodged. Retreated. Gained a second, lost two.
I wasn't losing.
But I wasn't winning either.
"What the hell — how can this son of a bitch be so fast?!"
"This is the power of my veterans." — I shouted while sweating as I dodged the attacks. — "Pathetic."
"Shut up, Vrino — attack with everything!"
They were irritated. Which meant I had held on longer than they expected.
Good sign. Not enough.
Behind me, the Urskra and the werewolf continued — the creature didn't need instruction to know what to do with something trying to bring it down. The noise between the two was constant, heavy, with the specific quality of two forces that hadn't yet decided which was greater.
I broke free from the three with a sharp retreat, creating enough distance to breathe once before they came back. My body responded — the Aqrabuamelu had ensured that. But three against one with a rare hero in the mix had a mathematical limit that no mutation alone could solve.
I had tested myself enough.
It was time to end this.
I opened a smile.
"Zaetar. Come to me."
✦
The explosion in the ground before me made everyone recoil — not from the force of the impact, but from what emerged from it.
First the claws. Then the horns — curved, dense, with the quality of something that had grown to be a weapon before being a characteristic. Then the torso — half human, half scorpion, twice the size of Livina and a height that rivaled the Chimera. The face was distorted in a way that wasn't deformity, but choice — each feature had been shaped by an existence long enough that appearance had stopped mattering and presence had begun.
The tail arched behind him with the precision of something that knew exactly what it was capable of.
Absolute silence.
Everyone stopped. The kind of stopping that isn't a decision but an involuntary response to something that instinct recognizes before the brain finishes processing.
"Zaetar. At your command."
The words weren't spoken aloud. They entered my mind directly — with the specific quality of communication from someone who had existed long enough to no longer need sound to make themselves understood.
"Destroy my enemies."
"Zaetar obeys."
The creature advanced.
The desperation on my enemies' faces was something between tragedy and inevitability — they had miscalculated from the beginning and never had a real chance. They were only realizing that now.
I felt no pity. I knew exactly what they would have done if the roles were reversed — I had seen the plan in their eyes before they even opened their mouths. In the Oasis, the weak were always punished. Not by the cruelty of the system. By its logic.
"NOOO, PLEASE!"
"NO — HE FORCED ME!"
"NOOOO!"
Of all of them, the elf surprised me most. He fought until the end — not by calculation, but by pure refusal, the kind that doesn't consult the odds before deciding. Zaetar had impaled the two humans with the precision of someone who wasn't in a hurry, who had done this before and had learned that rushing was wasteful.
The elf held on for seconds longer than he should have managed.
Behind me, the Urskra had ended the matter with the werewolf in the only way it knew — without elegance, without ceremony, with the specific efficiency of a creature that hadn't evolved to take prisoners. It was possible to hear the teeth chewing flesh and crushing the enemy's bones.
Then silence.
Zaetar returned to me. Stopped. Waited.
"Thank you, Zaetar. You are dismissed."
He disappeared the same way he had arrived — without transition, without trace, as though the space where he had been had simply decided it had never been occupied.
✦
The bodies were destroyed, but there were still recoverable items.
[ Storage ring ] [ 2x Bronze armor — Extremely damaged ] [ Retractable bronze sword — damaged ]
Pitiful. But still better than what I had.
The ring I could use to store water — selling it wouldn't be worth the effort, since its internal space was clearly smaller than what I already had. The armor was seriously damaged from Zaetar's impaling, probably beyond the cost of repair. The retractable sword was the only genuinely useful item — mine had cracked in the last fight with Tauros and I had delayed the replacement for lack of options.
"This sword could be a good replacement."
I put it away. Turned. And advanced back to the castle with the kind of silence of someone processing more than they're showing. None of the heroes carried a summoning stone — I hadn't expected to find any, but I was disappointed to be right.
I should have captured one to ask what had happened to their territory. The giant snake they had mentioned — what creature was capable of destroying not one, but three entire territories and driving out three Lords with rare heroes? Could it be the same one I had seen when I first arrived at the Oasis? And the sister the man had mentioned in his moment of desperation — how had they managed to be together if Lords rarely entered the Oasis accompanied, let alone siblings? He had asked if I knew what would happen if I didn't help — was there something beyond the empty threat in that question, or was it just the reflex of someone who had lost everything and was still trying to use the only resource he had left?
Too many questions. Insufficient answers.
Thinking about it more carefully — even if I had captured them, I would never know if the information was true. And they might have had some way of calling for help from outside. I couldn't simply have left them alive.
"They had to die."
Not as justification.
As conclusion.
✦
"Lord… what was that Aqrabuamelu I saw?"
When I arrived at the castle, Livina was at the entrance — she had watched everything from the wall without participating, as I had asked. The confusion on her face was genuine.
"I acquired the unique summoning power of your race. Zaetar."
She went still.
"So you managed to summon the Ancient King…"
The weight in those words was different from what I had expected. Not surprise — something closer to involuntary reverence, the kind that escapes before the person decides whether to show it.
"Is that what he is?"
"I didn't know it was possible to summon him." — she said slowly, as though still processing. — "I thought he was just a legend. Something the elders mentioned to explain why our race was so strong."
"You must have seen that he is quite powerful." — I paused. — "And a little eccentric."
Livina opened a smile I had only seen on her on specific occasions — when something filled her with pride before she decided whether to show it.
"Impaling enemies is honorable."
"Of course it is."
She ignored the tone. Or pretended to.
"I always thought your race was eliminated for being pacifist." — I said, genuinely curious.
"Probably." — she answered without hesitating. — "We reached great power by being ruthless and cruel. In my generation, the fights and glories were gradually replaced by politics and peaceful solutions — I didn't think it was a bad idea at the time, but now I know it was foolishness. We had too many enemies to simply believe nothing would happen. When politics superseded military power — I would venture to say — that was when we lost everything."
Morgana, who had approached in silence, nodded slightly. It made sense — why would anyone eliminate a peaceful race if it hadn't accumulated enough enemies before reaching that peace?
"Understood." — I turned to them both trying to change the subject. We had things to do and I had been stopped mid-course. The snake that could be lurking nearby gave me a sense of urgency that had been pushed to the background after obtaining Livina's power — but background didn't mean resolved. I still needed much more to be truly relevant. —
"Get rid of the bodies. And if another human shows up asking for passage — drive them away or eliminate them. You don't need to wait for me."
"Of course, Lord. But where are you going?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
I must admit I had obtained an excellent power. But there was still room for more. Even if I came out with a bird's face, it would still be worth the risk.
"Lord…" — Morgana spoke with the specific care of someone about to say something they don't know how it will be received. — "If you end up with the face of the males of my species…"
"You don't need to worry." — I said. — "If that happens, I'll still have you."
She turned red.
Not gradually. All at once — with the speed of someone who had been caught completely off guard by a sentence they hadn't calculated the possibility of hearing.
I was already turning toward the laboratory when I heard Livina murmur something to Morgana that I preferred to pretend I hadn't heard.
I needed power.
Even those established Lords had lost their territories. I couldn't let my guard down — not now, not after what I had discovered.
The snake that had destroyed their territories was still out there.
And I still didn't know where it would strike.