Chapter 206: Failing a Work-Life Balance

  They eventually extracted from the volatile zone, Azure disappearing with a jet-powered roar and a fire trail of searing blue, sending the camp outside the aperture into a frenzy with attempts to track him. A silver ranker probably could, but there were in short supply on Earth, and none had been assigned to this operation. At his speed, even if one was dispatched to track him, they wouldn’t catch his trail in time.

  Diya completed her post-battle briefings to her superior, then strode to Nara who was standing off to the side, passively observing extraction operations. The squad had made a small fortune in looting, from John and Nara both. Diya and her squad would trade most of it back to the Agency for benefits, as they could not sell all of it on their own nor had use for most of it. After the volatile zone, the Agency would return to normal operations, clearing other zones with their typical multi-squad operations that distributed looters across all agents for maximum gain. Essences and awakening stones were a precious resource that the Agency always wanted more of.

  Diya tossed her a bag of chips in offering. “If you’re hungry after all that.” She ripped open her own bag. “I know I am.”

  With an accompanying crinkle she opened hers too, happy to finally enjoy some junk food. “It’s been a year since I last had these.” Walkers, it read, but in the same orange sun logo of Lays. Nara wasn’t clear whether or not they were the same, but they tasted just as nostalgically mediocre. Personally, she was a fan of Kettle Brand: Something more actual potato and less powered potato disks.

  They observed Jameson being escorted to a medical tent. Diya’s frowning gaze followed his path. “He’s resigning from the special force squadron. He may return to general assignment, if he returns to active duty at all.”

  “Will he become an office agent?”

  “That’s the typical ‘retirement’. Once we’re part of the Agency, they can’t just cut us loose. Essences are too valuable, we have contracts, and they have secrets.” Diya sighed. “We’re damn lucky we all made it out alive.” Her grip was white knuckled. “The Agency need to take this escalating threat level more seriously.”

  It seemed the rank-and-file of the ASI, the ones facing the danger, were dissatisfied with the Agency, but so far had no other options.

  “Have they figured out why that is? Why these volatile zones are happening?”

  “No. But whatever this is, we need to know. But your situation: Do you have a plan for your duel?”

  “I’ll win it—”

  “Awfully confident.”

  “—but I’ve taken precautions.”

  Diya pursued her lips, unwilling to believe Nara’s brazen declaration of victory, but she’s seen enough of Nara’s skill to give her the benefit of the doubt. “I’m not qualified to dispute you. Speaking of, the Agency has tried to treat with the Farsiders in the past. We could use their help.”

  “Or deal with them?” Nara suggested, mostly in jest, although there was an undercurrent of criticism—not of the Agency inherently, but the healthy distrust most people her age held of powerful governments and organizations. No hands were ever clean.

  “I don’t know the details,” Diya denied. She wasn’t one to gossip about the skeletons in the closet. Some delved into the workings and politics of the ASI, but Diya was more concerned with combating monsters and making it through the next crisis alive. “We need help, we need expertise. This scale is beyond what the two of you can provide.”

  *****

  “Let’s keep this short,” Jessica said curtly. John and Nara were meeting her for a post-battle debriefing. Nara and John had their concerns about the volatile zones, and the ASI should have the answers. “I need to go home to my niece.”

  “Your niece?”

  Jessica looked and smelled like someone who had imbibed too much coffee and was in desperate need of sleep. Not even bronze rank could cover up her chronic neglect. At some point she may have looked professional and put together, but back-to-back urgent meetings had torn away that fa?ade. Graham wasn’t doing much better, suffering even with bronze rank vitality, same as Jessica.

  “Faye,” she said, glancing—Nara would dare say fondly—at the picture of a smiling girl with another woman on her desk. If Faye was her niece, the picture was likely of Faye’s mother, who looked like a lively woman, smiling with the full force of her face. I try to have a work-life balance.”

  “Clearly failing.”

  “I try,” she scowled. Her coffee cup crumpled, and a few drops spilled over the edge, her control weakened by her exhaustion “For her, I try. There’s a reason I never planned on having a kid.” She ran a shaky hand—from emotions or from caffeine overdose—through her hair. “It’s not for me, but I’m all she’s got.” She’s all I got, went unsaid. she sighed, mopped up the coffee with some paper (although it wasn’t particularly absorbent and just spread the coffee around the desk), uncaring if it was important or not. At least it was just a coffee stain, and not something more insidious. She snapped back the rest of the coffee, so at least the rest wouldn’t spill or go to waste.

  “The Agency would like to request that a ‘magic expert’ is sent through your portal connections. After the last volatile zone, the Agency is shifting from a reactive to proactive stance. According to your reports of this other world—Erras—the mono Ether Realm is abnormal. Our experts, based on the formation of volatile zones, are inclined to agree.”

  “They think the volatile zones are a method of releasing pressure,” Lucas added, offering up some preliminary research. It wasn’t as thorough as what Erras had, but it had the markings of nascent Astral Magic research. “If our Ether Realm formation was ‘normal’—”

  “There’d be no reason to relieve pressure,” Nara concluded. Astral magic was more or less her field; she’d like to get a look at the Agency’s readings and findings, but that may be stretching herself too thin. She still had to investigate the Farsiders and deal with this whole ‘Pactbreaker’ thing; keep an eye on the situation in Kallid, to help her team with the upcoming monster wave and movements of the forces of Undeath; figure out how the Weaver of Dreams was interfering with Earth, and whether there were other coma patients like her…

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  She needed to delegate, and another mind to tackle this magical monstrosity of an astral space was a perfect place to start.

  Unfortunately, Aliyah was needed in Kallid, and she could hardly call her from the vitality important work of dismantling an actual impending apocalypse of local myth and legend. Moreover, Aliyah would reasonably want to prioritize Erras over Earth, no hard feelings. She did have a few more contacts—

  Hm…Amara wasn’t an option, because she was too high rank. Lawrence was knowledgeable in astral magic, but she was having her spat with Knowledge and wouldn’t invite him to Earth, nor any other expert Knowledge offered up. Maybe as a last resort.

  There was a promise unfilled. And a way to benefit them both, again.

  “I’ll see what I can organize,” Nara replied, “but you may need some concessions from your end. The crossing itself is expensive, so they’ll want some guarantees—”

  “—Of course,” Jessica grimaced. “I’ll bring it up with Graham. What do you think they’ll want?”

  “Information.”

  Jessica instantly scowled, but didn’t dismiss it outright.

  “Nothing classified. Expertise for information, it’s not an unfair trade. It’s not like you can expect your currency to be valuable to another world.”

  “It’s not,” she conceded tiredly. “We’ll draft a preliminary offer, but they’ll want details.”

  “I’ll see what I can provide.”

  *****

  Two days later, after she had stopped by the Adventure Society in Sanshi to send a message to Zariel, she found him at the appointed meeting place, a homemade and quality noodle restaurant and shop. She placed an order for quite a few parcels of premade noodles on top of her lunch meal (Chrome would want to cook with them), a noodle soup with a chill-n-spicy broth. With the crunchy julienned vegetable toppings—citron cucumber, lockroot, jadeskin gourd—and a crunchy nut topping that was flakier and crispier than any nut she’d tasted on earth, more akin to breadcrumbs, with a sharper flavor than macadamia nuts.

  “Nara,” he greeted, polite as ever. He was in a false-human form. Perhaps in a higher magic city like Rowan, where the odd was commonplace, he’d feel more comfortable using his innate skin. Or maybe illusae preferred a state of transformation.

  “Zariel! I bring news and opportunity,” she began. It was a hot day, late in the 8th month, and strips of cooling cloth fluttered in a magically induced wind. The cooling method was archaic for Erras, but it created an aesthetic Sanshi locals enjoyed, as well as providing some mild privacy for their customers and gentled the sunlight with shade.

  “So, I have a method to travel between worlds. Finally got one.” Probably worth what she went through for it, but she was never going to admit that to Knowledge…shit.

  “My congratulations,” he said genuinely. “It has been your goal for some time.”

  “I appreciate it. And—As promised, I will bring one of your people over. Although, I was wondering if we could amend our agreement, to your benefit.”

  Zariel, not one to jump to conclusions, gestured patiently for her to continue.

  “The astral magic conditions of my world are…interesting, to say the least. The authorities of my world are requesting an astral magic expert to research some increasingly dire circumstances related to an astral space. So, instead of just one person, you could send two?” she offered.

  “I understand. However, there is no need for amendment. I can fulfill your request with just one.” Kind as always, Zariel was more than willing to fulfill the increased requirements of her request without altering their deal.

  “It’s kind to give me an out, but I was hoping for some assistance with the second person. Do you know a bronze ranker skilled at information gathering?”

  A rare smirk graced his face. “Do you even need to ask?”

  *****

  It was another two days that Zariel managed to gather his people. Which was surprisingly fast, but the Adventure Society seemed to be expediting his requests, such as for portals, out of cooperation.

  He found ones who were closest to contact (on Erras), and not in any active undercover assignment: ones that had no problem blowing their cover. The Adventure Society was a bit tetchy on the Edelster-josians maintaining their deep cover, or rather, they never quite believed that all the people revealed as their own was all they had (and Nara wasn’t sure which was true). While the Edelster-josians were willing to bend over backward for most other assurances, any further revelations on the identity of their people were met with a placid smile and an unreadable I don’t know what you mean.

  Four days had passed, and Nara was budging up close to her assigned duel date. She wanted to raincheck it for another few days, but she doubted Azure would’ve been very accommodating, and she felt the distance of her Pathfinder Lute keenly.

  If nothing else, the illusae of Edelster-jos were experts at adjusting to entirely new environments. They were, however, much more than just that.

  Xavi would be her information gathering specialist, with a combination of Moth, Echo, and Moon for Transfiguration. Xavi was…hard to quantify, as she/he/they did not have any preferred pronoun and looked entirely androgenous to begin with. They had pixie cut black hair, sharp cheekbones, and ears just a little large and a little fey. Their eyes were a deep purple—and that had to have been a choice, because normal humans did not have purple eyes, and that was the race they were disguised as.

  Apparently, while a slim majority of illusae preferred either the male or female form in their disguises, many had no preference, or preferred to look entirely nonbinary, although may for practical disguise reason choose one or the other. Whatever was most innocuous in the population they infiltrated.

  Xavi was entirely too cheerful for someone who was expected to be an information gathering specialist, but Nara revised her opinion—being able to talk was one of the best ways to gather information, and Xavi was talkative.

  Even now, as they were being introduced, they were chattering on about illusae gender culture, which was eminently interesting, but her companion was scowling a bit at her.

  “Cornelis-laat Scher-ghest,” he shortly introduced himself as. His frizzy ginger hair and facial hair painted a visual picture of his temper. Nara thought he’d probably explode if she called him a leprechaun, if he knew what a leprechaun was. If physical appearance was in any way reliable, he was older than Xavi by a decade, which wasn’t particularly unusual for his former Magic Society immersive identity. His identity was one of the ones whose identities were given up by the Edelster-josians for cooperation. It didn’t change his life much; he still researched for the Magic Society, although he’d been receiving considerably more inquiries if he was willing to be the subject of research instead. He’d been based in Vasenne, a large adventuring hub near the Rona Kingdom.

  Although, perhaps he was more resentful of having his origins exposed than she thought. No matter how much he scowled, it wasn’t like it was her fault; it was the mutual decision of the Adventure Society and Edelster-jos.

  “Well?” he said impatiently. “Let’s move and see what a wreck the astral spaces of your world are.”

  “Cornelis,” Zariel chided. “We are not ones to criticize the status of astral spaces.”

  “Especially not us~” Xavi piped in. “Oh, us, living on a barren barren barren rock! Floods and droughts and famine, oh my!”

  “Fucks sake. This is a mutual exchange! I won’t be a suck up like the rest of you.”

  “Cornelis, this is an opportunity for you. When I called for you, you were not unwilling.” Zariel stared long and calm, his black eyes boring into Cornelis’ soul. “Allowing outsides to her world is a delicate situation. Exercise diplomacy.”

  “I have a friend,” Nara started, “who is rather busy with an incoming apocalypse. Such friend happens to be a similar expert in astral magic, with the added benefit of being friendly. My world’s situation isn’t so desperate as what she’s working on, but I’ll wait for someone who won’t muck things up by being undiplomatic.” The increasing rank average of the volatile zones was an issue, but it wasn’t an apocalyptic issue, not yet.

  It seemed Cornelis was unwilling to admit he was on some level excited for the opportunity to go to another world even though he was, so he relented. “Fine,” he said, pinching his brow. “I’ll cooperate.”

  “And be diplomatic!” Xavi reminded cheerfully.

  “And be diplomatic,” he repeated in a mumble. “Don’t expect any miracles.”

  -I've had to try to find another apartment. I did finally get that sorted.