I glanced at the digital watch strapped to my wrist. Twelve noon exactly. Right on schedule.

  The forest clearing around us held a particularly lovely, ethereal quality of noon light filtering through Pacific Northwest pine. Seeker Kappa sat behind us. Blood-red segments gleamed in the dappled sunlight. Nexxali stood to my left, her new Marshal Commandant uniform looking official and pristine, ears rotating slowly as she monitored our surroundings.

  Shady stood to my right.

  Princess Aquillianne Quantivia Frontenachii wore regalia Kawathra had cooked up for her yesterday. The diamondust dress caught every photon that touched it, refracting light into cascading rainbows that spilled across the forest floor. Diamond chains wrapped around her antlers, each link a work of art, each surface a tiny mirror. Half-folded hexasuit covered her legs and diamondust stockings sat atop it outlining her thighs. The Princess' expression held an aristocratic severity, the playful Shady concealed behind layers of royal protocol.

  Reality ahead of us wobbled.

  A dark shear in space suddenly birthed a massive dimensional gate wreathed in black edges. A Corpse Seeker emerged from it.

  It was massive. Easily ten times Kappa's size. Blood-red crystalline segments stretched across the clearing. The centipede's form plowed through the trees with thousands of blade-like legs, looming over us like the Titanic from Jim Camaroon’s film.

  The gargantuan Seeker stopped about thirty feet in front of us.

  A section of the creature's head peeled back. Crystalline segments rotated, revealing an opening. A stairwell unfolded from the interior, each step forming from liquid crystal that hardened into ornate shapes. Gold filigree traced patterns along the railings, the only decoration on the otherwise utilitarian vessel.

  Admiral Evelithria Frontenachii descended the stairs with regal grace.

  Taller than Shady by at least a foot, every line of her form screamed dangerous predator. The black armor she had threatened the Earth in covered her body, with crown-like black spikes extending from a dark feathered mane.

  I stood still, maintaining the Emperor persona. The ceremonial armor Kawathra had printed gleamed red and gold, a gold mask framing my face topped by a gold crown of thorns and laurel leaves.

  The Admiral's silver eyes swept across our trio. Cataloging. Assessing. Calculating. Then they settled on Shady.

  "Niece," the Admiral said.

  "Aunt Evely," Shady replied.

  The Admiral's silver eyes shifted to me. Evaluated. Dismissed. Her attention returned to Shady.

  "You've caused considerable disruption," the Admiral said. "The family is... concerned."

  "The family can shove their concerns up their collective posterior," Shady replied sweetly.

  Nexxali frowned.

  The Admiral tilted her head, looking like a predatory bird. "That tone is beneath you, Aquillianne. You are a Princess of the Frontenachii. Daughter of Arrennia and Quintus. Great-great-granddaughter of Empress Aconia herself! Your bloodline carries weight."

  "My bloodline can also get bent."

  "Aquillianne."

  "What?" Shady's antlers caught the light, diamond chains chiming softly. "You came all this way to lecture me about proper royal decorum? To remind me of family obligations? Save it. I know why you're here."

  The Admiral's silver eyes narrowed. "Then you'll make this easy. End this childish game. Give me back the keys and I will permit you to take control of one of my smaller ships for your Bloodline Trial.”

  “How do you know that it was me?” Shady asked.

  The Admiral took three steps closer. Armor-covered digitigrade legs moved with clicks of shifting plates across the forest floor. "Our Scruts told me that your Astral signature was present at the Citadel during the breach."

  Shady's claws flexed at her sides. "And? Astral signatures can be faked.”

  "Starshade. You will return what you took." The Admiral's voice was a sharp statement of fact.

  "I have no clue where your keys are," Shady said.

  The Admiral's claws extended. Each talon gleamed like polished obsidian, assuredly sharp enough to carve through bone. "Do not play games with me, child. You were there. You took them."

  "Maybe someone framed me. Ever think of that?"

  "Don’t try to deceive me, spawnling. Your Astral signature is scrambled, your soul sheared." The Admiral's silver eyes blazed brighter. "This alone is confirmation you're hiding something. An act of that magnitude requires either desperation or guilt. Which is it? If you do not confess where the keys are I will scrape the answer out of you."

  I remained motionless, watching, listening.

  "You'd violate your own niece's mind?" Shady asked. Her tone shifted, acquiring hurt she didn't need to fake. "Tear through my memories? Rip apart my consciousness to find information I don't have?"

  "If necessary." The Admiral's voice held no apology. "You're family, Aquillianne. I would prefer to avoid such measures. But the keys matter more than your comfort. More than your privacy. More than our relationship."

  Shady huffed.

  The Admiral took another step closer. Now only ten feet separated us now. Up close she looked even more imposing. “Do you understand? This isn't about control. This isn't about power. We need those keys to keep going. Every day, billions of doomed Earths are extinguished, uncountable souls are ground by entropy, consumed by ever-blooming dungeons. It is our mission to liberate, to save, to protect…"

  Shady's diamond chains chimed as she shifted her stance. "You really believe that shit?”

  "Of course I believe it!" The Admiral's voice thrummed through the clearing. "I've spent years maintaining the Third fleet, enlisting prads, building citadels, protecting our colonies. Ensuring our family's mission. I will not allow some misguided rebellion to compromise everything we've built!"

  "Misguided rebellion," Shady repeated flatly. "Is that what you think this is?"

  "What else would I call it?" The Admiral spread her arms, encompassing the clearing, the Seekers, the planet itself. "You fled to a magically weak, resource world. You bonded yourself to a primitive Administrator. You sabotaged your own Astral signature to avoid detection. These are not the actions of a rational mind. Shady, it’s time to grow up. Please."

  Nexxali's ear twitched. I caught the movement in my peripheral vision, noted the tension building in the Marshal's shoulders. She probably wanted to speak. Wanted to defend Shady. But she stayed silent.

  "No. I listened to Lissander Fox's podcast," Shady said. "Lampshade Talk. He told the truth about our operations. About what we really do to harvested populations. About the uncategorized compartmentalization. The flesh batteries, the magitek experiments. The systematic torture of children. All of it! It's wrong! How can you not see that?!"

  The Admiral's silver eyes dimmed slightly. "Lissander Fox is a terrorist. His 'truths' are propaganda designed to undermine family cohesion. He is clearly employed by a competing Omnicorp! You know this, Aquillianne. Whatever nonsense he revealed on that podcast is fabrication, lies, half-truths designed to…"

  "What if they weren't lies?"

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “Shady. The Omniverse is far crueler than you can possibly imagine, and we are doing what's necessary!" The Admiral's voice carried no hesitation. "Our methods ensure Frontenachii dominance. Ensure that we, unlike countless others, will not fade into extinction. Ensure that we uplift lesser species to help them survive in our periphery. Is that so wrong?"

  "Yes," Shady said simply.

  "Then you have been led astray by our enemies." The Admiral sighed. "But that changes nothing. The keys, Aquillianne. Where are they?"

  "I told you. I don't know."

  "You were at the Citadel. Your signature proves it."

  "So what? Maybe I was there. Maybe I wasn't. Maybe someone copied my signature and wore it like a costume. Skinwalkers are particularly good at that sort of shit."

  The Admiral stared at her niece. Several seconds passed. A bird called somewhere in the canopy. Wind moved through the trees, carrying the scent of the ocean mixed with pine.

  "You truly claim ignorance," the Admiral said finally. "You truly expect me to believe that you, a Princess trained in Astral manipulation, somehow lost track of the most important artifacts of our shipbuilding Citadel?"

  "Believe what you want, Aunt Evely. I can't give you what I don't have."

  "Then," the Admiral said, "we proceed to less pleasant options. Because those keys cannot be replaced. Cannot be reproduced. Cannot be bypassed. If you truly don't know where they are..." She paused. "If you truly don't know, then I'll tear through your mind until I find the memories you're hiding. The ones you buried to protect whatever foolish principles Lissander Fox planted in your head."

  Shady's antlers drooped slightly. The diamond chains caught the motion, refracting the light with a thousand sparkling flashes.

  "You'll vaporize me and interrogate my soul after my resurrection?"

  “Yes.”

  "So those are my choices," Shady said. "Submit to psychic dissection. Or submit to psychic dissection after death."

  "Yes."

  "Family values at their finest."

  "This is bigger than family, Aquillianne! This is species survival. A multitude of colonies depends on those keys remaining secure and accessible. Surely, you understand that?"

  Shady's silver eyes met her aunt's. Something passed between them, some communication I couldn't parse. Old history. Shared knowledge. The weight of bloodline and obligation.

  "How long do I have to decide?" Shady asked.

  "I’ve already given you three days to consider things while our Scruts gathered more evidence. They all assured me that you did it. So, you're deciding RIGHT now." The Admiral stated coldly. "I came here personally as... family. To give you the opportunity to cooperate, to step away from this path of folly. But my patience has a limit, niece. And you've reached it."

  The Admiral's silver eyes held no warmth. No familial recognition. Just the cold assessment of a problem that needed to be solved ASAP.

  Shady lifted her chin, diamond chains singing softly. "Before you go all murder-y on me, there's something you should know. This world isn't unclaimed. It was given to me."

  "Given?" The Admiral's tone flattened. "By whom?"

  "Aunt Zexxia."

  The name hung in the air between them.

  "Zexxia granted me dominion over this Earth," Shady continued. Her voice gained strength. "She opened an inverted Mothman gate here. She showed me how to cultivate this entire planet. How to guide its magical communities. I've been here, Aunt Evely. Not just hiding. Ruling. Just as she intended."

  "Zexxia lost her mind." The Admiral's responded coldly. "Evidence of her treason emerged after her death as her magic-chains failed. Our Scrutimancers learned that she betrayed our principles. She sold gate access to our enemies. Multiple fronts, multiple buyers. The Empress herself reviewed the intelligence."

  Shady blinked. This was unexpected information. "What… evidence?"

  "Transaction records. Witness testimony from her own, no longer bound, kobolds across a thousand colony worlds. Correspondence with rival clans and Omnicorps." The Admiral rubbed her black claws. "Your beloved aunt was plotting against the Empress. Against our entire bloodline. Whatever arrangement she made with you regarding this planet died with her credibility."

  "She..." Shady's conviction wavered.

  "Zexxia wanted power." The Admiral stated. "She saw an opportunity to sell unique gate access to other Omnids and enemies of our Empire. The Empress had no choice but to sanction her. Your great-aunt was a traitor who would have destroyed us all for profit in her madness."

  Shady swallowed.

  “I… I've spent millennia cultivating magical communities on this Earth. Building networks. Establishing hierarchies. I have wizards, Aunt Evely. Heroes. Villains. An entire magical ecosystem that answers to me!” Shady said, sounding desperate.

  "Wizards." The Admiral's tone suggested she'd just heard a child insist on the existence of unicorns. "On a Grade-3 resource world with a barely functional Astral? Don’t make me laugh."

  "Yes." Shady gestured to me. "My Emperor can attest to it! He leads many magical communities. He knows the leaders personally. We have established local power structures. Everything Zexxia and I built together over millennia!"

  The Admiral's silver eyes flicked to me. Dismissed me again. Returned to Shady.

  "None of that matters,” she said simply.

  "None of it?" Shady's voice rose. "I've built something from nothing. Created exactly what Zexxia envisioned. A magical world under Frontenachii protection. A world ready for—"

  "A few parlor tricks on a backwater planet." The Admiral cut her off. "Even if you managed to train some humans to manipulate this weak Astral field, even if you established some crude hierarchy of magical practitioners, it changes nothing. You still took the keys. You still betrayed your bloodline. You still need to answer for your crimes."

  "But the cultivation of—"

  "Means nothing!" The Admiral's deafening bark resonated through the clearing. Birds fled from nearby trees. "Do you understand, Aquillianne? Your little project here is irrelevant. Meaningless. A distraction from what actually matters. The keys secure the stability of our entire Empire. Every colony world could come under threat if we do not retrieve them. Every resurrection facility. Every strategic resource. And you took them."

  Shady trembled. "I told you. I don't have them."

  "Then tell me where they are!"

  "I don't know!"

  "Liar!" The Admiral's voice dropped to a deadly hiss. "Your Astral signature was present at the Citadel. The temporal markers match. The Master Builders died exactly when you arrived. The keys vanished exactly when you fled. Every piece of evidence points to you. And now you stand before me, your mind deliberately scrambled to hide the truth, spinning fantasies about wizard communities and arcane cultivation projects!"

  "It's not fantasy!" Shady's composure cracked further. "I've been ruling this planet. Building infrastructure. Zexxia gave me specific instructions. She wanted Earth developed as—"

  "As what?" The Admiral interrupted. "As a private fiefdom? As a backup plan for when her treachery was discovered? As somewhere to hide stolen artifacts?" Her claws extended even more now. Each one caught the light, sharp enough to carve through diamond. "Whatever Zexxia promised you, whatever delusions she fed you, they died with her. You're alone now, Aquillianne. No aunt to protect you. No gate to escape through. Just you, this pathetic, primitive planet, and the consequences of your childish choices!"

  The temperature in the clearing seemed to drop.

  Commander Sillicia was right. The Admiral’s mind was made up. The train could not escape its track. There was only one path forward.

  Shady’s death.

  Shady took a step back. "Aunt Evely! Please. Just listen. If you'd look at what I've built… You'd understand that this planet has value. That even if Zexxia sold gate access to other Omnids her vision—"

  "Had merit enough for me to consider clemency?" The Admiral finished the thought. "No. Because none of it matters. You're stalling, Aquillianne. Buying time. Hoping I'll be swayed by sentiment or impressed by your alleged accomplishments. I am neither sentimental nor easily impressed."

  “Aunt Evely.”

  “I’m sorry, Starshade. I hate to do this, but you’ve left me no choice,” the Admiral exhaled.

  "If you do this," I said. "I'll personally make sure that you lose everything."

  The Admiral ignored me.

  She turned to Nexxali. The Marshal remained rooted to her spot throughout the entire exchange, a statue in uniform.

  "Marshal Commandant," the Admiral said simply. "Execute the Princess and her Kobold Administrator if the location of keys isn't revealed in twenty seconds."

  Nexxali's hand moved to her weapon. Her movements were mechanical, obedient to her Blood pact. No hesitation. No emotion in her feline expression shadowed by her black cap featuring the Frontenachii elk skull pin.

  The gun lifted slowly.

  "Aunt Evely, please!" Shady's voice broke. "I'm your niece. Your family. Doesn't that mean anything to you?!"

  "It means I'll ensure your resurrection is handled properly." The Admiral's tone suggested she was discussing filing paperwork. "Your incarnation will be pliable, cooperative. Will understand duty. Will serve the family and our mission as intended. I'll overwrite you... myself."

  The gun barrel pointed at Shady's head. Nexxali's finger rested on the trigger. Her eyes held no recognition. No mercy. Just the blank focus of a living weapon executing its function.

  "Time's up, darling," the Admiral stated.

  Shady flashed from where she stood, tried to run. It didn’t help her. Nexxali’s hand blurred in the air like a whip. Gunfire sounded across the clearing.

  Shady didn’t get far, couldn’t move faster than Nexxali’s preternatural aim of a skilled executioner and the railgun bullet.

  A sudden catastrophic detonation of Wendigo skull, brain matter and blood spraying, tearing diamond chains fluttering through the air, glittering and sparkling.

  The diamondust dress caught the spray, refracting blood into a thousand crimson prisms. Her body remained standing for a heartbeat, two, then collapsed forward. Seven feet of royal, dead Wendigo hitting the forest floor with a wet, final sound.

  The gun barrel rotated. Smooth. Inevitable.

  It pointed at my head next. Nexxali's amber eyes met mine. Empty. Hollow. A soldier following orders.

  “Don’t move,” she ordered with a resonant voice. The same, beautiful voice that sang to us yesterday about pasta.

  Her finger pressed the trigger.

  Bang.