Nights turned to days. Days to Weeks and Weeks to months.

  Progress was slow but deliberate.

  And I endured every second of it.

  By week one, we had managed to truly stabilize the population of both Li Wan and Jurin, ferrying everyone down to the subway tunnels to protect them from the Bloodmoon. We weren’t without some losses though. More than a few fell to insanity or began mutating to join the hosts of demons assaulting our homes.

  I did my best to combat that by clearing the surface of the moon itself, careful not to touch the chainmaiden’s crystals as I reduced the hordes backup forces. There were billions of them and I didn’t rest for more than an hour or two a day to stem the flow.

  With rest came renewed strength but not the kind to realize my gains.

  I spent as much time as I could with Fia and Bryce then, raising my son and trying my best to be a dad. It wasn’t easy to find the time, but playing with him and experiencing things like hearing his first words were the highlight of my days.

  As the days drew into weeks, I realized that my reducing of the masses had its limits on the rays of the Bloodmoon itself. It weakened them, but the influence of I’Xol’Ukz was omni present now. It affected the surface directly and not through the chainmainden’s core like before. That meant that getting Aetherite to protect our planet was still imperative no matter how many demons I slew.

  But I wouldn’t leave that which was most precious to me unprotected in the meantime. By week two I managed to find a few scraps of Corrupted Steel in the rubble of the Artisan District and I used them to form two small pendants for Fia and Bryce, blessed with the power of my very soul. The sphere of influence was small, barely a foot wide, but it was enough to keep them personally protected for a small while at least, if worse cane to worst.

  That did wonders for easing Fia’s personal anxiety and our collective fear for Bryce’s safety. By the end of the first month, she was back into the full swing of things, aiding her father in running Li Wan while Mother Dong took care of Bryce.

  By week three we had stabilized enough to start to rebuild.

  The nightly defense of the city walls in both cities had reduced in intensity due to my constant clearing out the backlog of I’Xol’Ukz’s spiritual forces on the moon. I enlisted Kelsey’s help as well, fighting across the moon and edging her closer to her own breakthrough to the Sacred Soul Realm by having her project her spectral form through the gates. She could only maintain it for a few seconds at first, but she got better at it daily. I kept the gates open, which still sent more demons each night, but also gave me the ability to defend two fronts at once.

  I used them to scout out the ruins of the lost cities too, using what spare time I had to check for survivors. It wasn’t too promising at first, but I found a handful of lost souls down in South America that I ferried up to Jurin.

  I found some local survivors closer to home as well, which truly warmed my soul. Master Bo Ren and most of the gang from the stadium had taken refuge in the pits, including the stadium Director Lein Cho. Mu Lin and Xi Xha appeared about a week later through the Omni Gate. They’d been off world during the incident, having used their new status to further explore the Grand Archives instead of returning home. They were so engrossed in their studies, that they didn’t even know I had become a Duke through the trial.

  I’d never been so happy to have bookworms for friends before.

  The reunions kept happening. Some joyous and heart-filled, others merely sad confirmations of what was already well presumed. Others still were surprises that defied all odds, like coming across Iron Pot Wong and a group of veterans defending what was left of the Golden Spire for nearly four days.

  It was great to see him again, but shockingly it never occurred to him to try to get anywhere else safer. They all presumed the world was over and decided to take a last stand till death. I made him an honorary Captain for his bravery and resilience and he actually kicked in defending on the front lines with Tu’lok and me.

  By the start of the second month, some semblance of normalcy started to return. Although it was something that I knew couldn’t be sustained for long. Half the populations in both cities were relegated to living underground and that wouldn’t bode well for the long term. By month two, Kelsey and I had reduced the demon attacks down to a level where the physical resistance of the soldiers alone was enough to prevent them from overrunning the city walls. But people still had to take refuge below to avoid the rays of the Bloodmoon.

  The fatigue started to show with conflicts breaking out between old lines of privilege and control. Those with might and means stayed on the surface, while those without were relegated to living in the darkness below. Food was becoming a problem as well and with news of our catastrophe reaching the Core Worlds, no one was showing up for Spirit-Beast-hunting vacations anymore.

  Which meant off-world supplies were dwindling and our ability to afford them even more so. I made the tough decision of reintroducing the native Terrans to the Jurin populace by month three. Not because the city was ready for it, but mainly for the fact that we needed Threja’s sword to increase the livable area on the surface. In all the chaos no one seemed to notice or even care where they had come from, only that they brough a new sense of relief with them.

  Jian Yi quickly integrated them into society, giving them housing and jobs.

  But that move caused a sense of resentment quickly. The new strangers not only brought relief but remained the first to benefit from it as well. For Susan, Harris and all the others though it was like being reborn. The reunion wouldn’t make sense to anyone else but them, but I got Kelsey, Fia and the family back from the capital to hold a citywide celebration of our rebirth. It helped in boosting the city’s spirits somewhat, but I knew I was just buying time.

  Spirits fell soon thereafter as the struggle for resources got tighter.

  We couldn’t even farm safely without the threat of spirit beats attacking from the wild.

  A permanent solution was needed.

  And every day we didn’t have one, put us on the brink of further disaster.

  *   *   *

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Alright, I need to get to Du Gok Bhong,” I said. “We can’t wait anymore. How do we make this happen?”

  It was now the middle of month four and I was back in the capital of Li Wan. Master Hei Dong assembled what he called my Interim Cabinet in what was left of the main court building in the city center. Fia was there of course, along with Jian Yi and Ling Wei. Mal’Kira, Blue Rose and Kelsey made up the rest of the team, who were more there as my military advisors. The last and perhaps most important person present was Zin Tai.

  Not as a member of my cabinet, but the recipient of my recent question.

  Zin Tai leaned back from the table and looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. “I suppose you’ll have to hire a transport vessel. Seeing as you have no vessels of your own.”

  “To hell with that noise,” I said. “I’m going through the damn gate. How do we make it happen?”

  Zin Tai sighed. “Duke Iron Bull, I’ve said this countless times now. The gate is annexed as a result of your new planetary status. There is no way through it. At the end of the handover period I have orders to see it decommissioned.”

  “This is bullshit! Whats stopping me from just using it anyway?”

  “Nothing physically.” Zin Tai shrugged. “I’m sure you can overpower the small contingent of guards there, but you’ll be violating the court order I’m meant to uphold.”

  “How about what Lunalah was supposed to uphold?” Fia said. “What happens to her for doing all this?”

  Zin Tai opened a book in front of him, looking over the finely printed characters within. “Technically she hasn’t violated the order by withdrawing as she did, but she did cause damage. The wording is clear that she had to leave before the year was up. Nothing prevented her from leaving sooner.”

  “So, she gets away with this?” Fia fumed as her chest heaved.

  “That’s up to you,” Zin Tai said. “You are free to file a claim for damages, once you’ve compiled them. That could take a while, though.”

  “I think we need to,” Ling Wei said. “And not just for reasons of justice. Our treasury is extremely low.” She tapped on a Qi-tablet and caused figures to appear on a large screen hung on the wall. “Less than 500,000 spirit stones remain. And we’ve just received this.”

  Ling Wei tapped again and a huge negative number at over two and a half million appeared.

  “What the hell is that?” I said.

  “Fines,” Zin Tai said. “For sending all those people through the gate when you arrived. You should also expect any native born Terrans to be returned. The same would happen to you if you step through that gate.”

  My Flame burned. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m a damn Duke now!”

  “Yes,” Zin Tai said. “Of your own Dependent Sovereign Territory.”

  “What the hell does that even mean?”

  “It gives you the freedom to rule as you wish, but as for your relationship with the greater empire, you are no longer a Yee subject state. You are part of it as a lesser dependent territory now.”

  “Lesser?” I didn’t like the sound of that. “So what rights do we have now?”

  “You’re all less than C Class citizens. Additionally, there are trade tariffs imposed upon Sovereign territories.”

  “Trade tariffs?”

  “Did no one advise of this before you decided to claim Terra as your ruling planet?”

  I felt like punching him again. “Just explain what it means!”

  “It’s a tax they put on anything we export or import,” Ling Wei said. “It will mean we won’t be able to earn much money from the cores we harvest and everything we buy will be expensive too. I believe it’s 50%. Right, Master Zin Tai?”

  “Correct.”

  “This is crazy…” I said perplexed. “It’s like the only thing we accomplished was turning the entire planet into a damn Native Housing District!”

  “There must be some benefits from being your own territory too, right?” Blue Rose said. “I know for my family, we did trade with certain outlying kingdoms for just that reason.”

  “Well, the good news is your subjects don’t have to pay Imperial tax anymore,” Zin Tai said. “Only what you prescribe.”

  “Yeah right,” I said with chagrin. “Like anyone can even earn a living right now.”

  “People can still come here through the gate, can’t they?” Fia asked.

  Zin Tai shrugged. “While it’s still standing, I suppose.”

  “Yes, but why would they,” Jian Yi said. “We need to rebuild our infrastructure to invite visitors from the core worlds.”

  “True, but even then, we’d be earning only half of what we did compared to before,” Ling Wei said. “And that’s without any local taxes added. Which we will need, by the way, Duke Iron Bull.”

  I huffed out a sigh in frustration. “Okay, none of this even matters if we can’t make our two remaining cities safe. That means I have to get to Du Gok Bhong even sooner now. Zin Tai, what permissions do I need to cross that gate?” I then paused as my mind went to stepping straight through it without a care. “Legally, I mean.”

  “You’d have to petition the High Council.”

  “And how long would that take?”

  He shrugged again. “How long is a piece of string?”

  “What kind of answer is that?” Blue Rose scowled at him.

  “I’m just being realistic. It took months to book your trial defending the princess, didn’t it?”

  “Screw that,” I said. “We could fly to Du Gok Bhong in a tin can faster.”

  “It may be to your advantage,” Zin Tai said. “You certainly wouldn’t want to pay tariff fees on any Aetherite you might bring back.”

  “Master Zin Tai,” Hei Dong said. “Surely the circumstances would demand exceptions. We are in turmoil here.”

  “And I will duly note it in my report. And I would say you stand a fair chance at being awarded damages, but that might be a year or so away from now.”

  Damn Imperial bureaucracy at its best, I thought as my soul began to lament.

  I couldn’t gauge whether we would survive even with the aetherite. The empire had stacked the deck against us yet again. For as far as we’d come, it felt like nothing had changed. We had our freedom, but were still the underdogs of Yee society through and through.

  “There may be one thing you could do,” Zin Tai said.

  “What’s that?”

  He grinned at me. “Enlist your service to the empire as a Liberator.”

  “Oh, hell no,” I said. “I already dodged that bullet, I’m not about to jump in front of another one.”

  “You may wish to reconsider,” Zin Tai said. “It’s what most of the dependent sovereigns do in order to adjust their tariffs and provide other benefits. The pledge of Imperial service has its perks.” He smiled for a moment and then furrowed his brow in thought. “Also, what is a Bu Li Tei?”

  “It’s like an arrow,” Kelsey said dismissively, before turning to me. “I think he’s got a point, Max. That judge lady was all over you about becoming a liberator.”

  “You even know what that is?” I said to her in English. “It’s the people they send to wipe out everyone when a Bloodmoon appears. The same people that killed everyone on the Earth. My family. Your family. Our people. I’m not doing that.”

  “Yes, but when is the next Bloodmoon going to appear now that you have the Chainmaiden locked in a bottle?”

  I was rocked back on my heels by what Kelsey said. It was a revelation. Over the last few months, I had shared with her what had happened with the Chainmaiden and I’Xol’Ukz. She knew the correlation between the gates and the Dark Frenzy’s Influence.

  And what she said made absolute sense.

  I’Xol’Ukz was no longer going to be opening up moons like before.

  He was everywhere now.

  Affecting every moon at once.

  But it didn’t seem to be a fast process.

  “How long do you think before Bloodmoons actually start showing up again?”

  “I don’t know but it probably won’t be tomorrow,” Kelsey said. “He’s an ancient space monster, right? Quick to him could be like a decade, or a century.”

  “What are you two saying?” Zin Tai asked, looking intrigued, as if he could almost sense we were talking about his favorite subject.

  The unseen and unknown.

  “I’ve got a plan,” I said, switching back to Yee. “But I’m going to need some letters written first.”

  An hour later I was striding towards the Omni Gate, decked out in the best damn robes I could find. Ling Wei flanked me on one side with Master Zin Tai on the other. As the contingent of guards took notice of me, I could sense their fear and apprehension right away.

  “Duke Iron Bull.” The head guard, whose name I learned was Yang Do, bowed to me as I approached. “Have you come to send a message through the gate perhaps?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “But I’m going to be taking it personally.”

  Yang Do looked instinctively to Zin Tai, as if for some kind of confirmation, but he merely shrugged.

  “I’ve tried to talk sense to him,” Zin Tai said. “But his mind seems made up.”

  “Don’t worry, Yang Do,” I said as I stepped forward. “I’ll be sure to tell them you and your men put up a fine resistance when I reach the other side.”

  He chuckled as I passed by him. “You know they’ll likely try to arrest you, right?”

  “Try being the key word.” I smiled and then looked down at Ling Wei and the bundle of scrolls tucked under her arm. “But don’t worry, getting the attention of the authorities, is exactly what I intend to do.”