Heretic Spellblade Short Story - Being Sen

Note: This short story takes place between Books 2 and 3 of Heretic Spellblade.

[Sen's Point of View]

Lava poured down the pit in front of Sen. A barrier of flames snapped and crackled near the bottom, close to a black and white tear in reality. Innumerable demons pushed against the barrier. They screeched and howled. Many of them even got through.

Sen ignored them and continued to focus on her fifth rank spell. A pentagon glowed over her clasped hands, channeling the magical energy inside herself into the barrier.

She stood on top of a stone wall inside Castle Tartus’s portal. The sky glowed a hazy red, and the ground looked as if it was about to break apart at any moment. Unlike the portal at Gharrick pass, this one didn’t change color when demons invaded.

It also possessed a different shape. Rather than a long valley with a clearing at the end, it had a wide plain with a pit. At the bottom of the pit was the portal.

Nathan had taken one look at this place and cursed. To him, it was an expensive nightmare to defend. One of the previous Bastions had torn down the defenses inside the world of the portal, leaving it undefended. Nathan hadn’t realized until weeks later and had exploded.

Sen recalled very few times that Nathan had genuinely lost his temper. Even her old emotions found him scary, although she didn’t tell him that.

Fortunately, he had calmed down after Narime and Seraph intervened. Unlike Sen and Fei, the older Champions had experience with an angry Bastion. Sen wished she could be like them.

The defenses he had erected were simple. A huge wall around the pit and a smaller fort near the exit from the portal. It had taken him some time to build. Today was the first time it was being properly tested. Sen wondered why she had been chosen to defend it.

“Focus,” a deep voice uttered inside Sen’s mind.

She rolled her eyes, but obeyed. Maintaining a single spell for so long was boring. Despite Nathan’s whining about the portal, defending it was easy.

Sen just summoned lava around the edges and trapped the demons at the bottom with a barrier. Those that got through couldn’t go anywhere.

Most melted in the lava. A few got cut down by the automaton ballistae on the walls, which were powered by the binding stone of Castle Tartus. The handful that made it to the walls found them manned by beastkin knights and dozens of steel automaton hoplites.

In other words, Nathan had built another horrific killzone for the demons. This time, it was powered by Sen. Although she imagined that he had other ways to make it work.

If Nathan were here, he’d use his flesh-eating flood or turn the walls of the pit into that horrific flesh-eating quicksand he created. Fei could simply run down there and turn all the demons into melting wax candles. The same likely applied to Narime, except she would do it from a distance.

Only Sunstorm and Seraph lacked the ability to single-handedly stop an entire demonic invasion single-handedly. Sunstorm was an assassin, so that was fine. But Seraph…

“I believe you underestimate her ability,” that same voice said.

“Goddess, Ifrit,” Sen replied mentally. “Are you bored today?”

“You are being surprisingly thoughtful at a time when you should be focused on slaying demons. It amuses me,” Ifrit said with a chuckle.

“Right. So you’re bored and using me to entertain yourself.”

“Is that not our deal? I grant you power, you grant me amusement?” Another chuckle.

This stupid spirit.

“Need I remind you who taught you how to cast this barrier?”

“Goddess, fuck off, Ifrit.”

He left her to her thoughts. Or at least, pretended to.

Ifrit was omnipresent in Sen’s mind. There was no thought she could have or action she could consider that he didn’t know about. That was the deal she had made with him. He was a djinni—an ancient fire spirit who was so old he didn’t even remember when he was created or what the world was like.

People liked to claim that they had forgotten more than others had learned. That they were super knowledgeable.

Ifrit had literally forgotten more years of history than had been recorded. That is how ancient he was. And that didn’t even get into the stuff that he refused to tell Sen, because he was a grumpy old bastard.

“No, I refuse to tell you because knowledge is dangerous. If I told you too much, then you might become a target,” Ifrit said, interrupting her thoughts.

“I bet Nathan knows some of those things,” she grumbled.

“It is not my place to tell you his secrets, or to share knowledge that is his responsibility to tell you.” A laborious sigh. “With that said, I do not know the full depth of what he is up to. I can guess, but, like I said—”

“Yeah, yeah. Knowledge is dangerous. Is that why you don’t talk about Omria?” Sen asked. “You said something about her power when you first possessed me.”

“Names hold power for the powerful. Wise beings do not speak them lightly,” Ifrit said.

“Huh. Is there ever going to be a time that I shouldn’t say her name?”

No answer.

Sen couldn’t say she liked that.

Eventually, the invasion stopped. Sen stopped maintaining her barrier. She hadn’t needed to summon a second batch of lava, which she considered a good thing. Nathan spoke about casting multiple spells at once, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, but she struggled to cast two fireballs at once.

Nathan had maintained multiple spells at once during the attack by the succubi Messengers. Sen couldn’t even imagine doing that.

“Training. Years and years of training,” Ifrit said. “You have potential to achieve the same.”

“I don’t really want to wait years,” she grumbled.

“There are no shortcuts for skill. Only shortcuts for power.”

Ifrit loved pithy little statements like that. No wonder he and Nathan got along.

“You have improved a lot since we met,” the fire spirit said, trying to cheer her up. “Your ability to maintain the barrier for so long is impressive.”

“It’s your power,” she said.

“And your body. In your first invasion, you collapsed after casting a single sixth-rank spell. This time, you maintained a fifth-rank spell for over an hour. Do not discount your own ability.”

Ignoring him, Sen helped the knights clean up the portal. Once done, they returned to Castle Tartus.

The entrance to the portal stood beneath the grand hall of the castle. According to Seraph, it had been placed out of sight to avoid troubling visitors. Torneus had used the castle for displays of power, and allowing others to see a vector for demonic invasion weakened him.

The logic made sense to Sen, although it had annoyed Nathan. Something about “out of sight, out of mind.” Nathan planned to move the entrance elsewhere, but he had other priorities.

“He has a lot of other priorities,” Sen grumbled to herself as she took a seat in the hall.

The knights did the same as she did. None of them came near her, however. The servants in the castle had prepared food, and a small buffet of soups, salads, and baked vegetables was laid out. The surprise of the day was baked fish, caught from the river. The food in Tartus was substantially different to that in the Empire.

For one thing, they ate a lot more vegetables and salad. They were big on olive oil, as well. Probably one of the few things that Sen did like about the Amica Federation. Huge olive plantations grew in the far south and east.

Most of the servants were human, unlike the knights. Despite that difference, they held a decent enough conversation. Supposedly, things had been different when the knights first arrived.

“Who has other priorities?” someone asked.

Sen blinked, then looked up. A beastkin with tits as big as Sen’s head smiled down at her, and offered her a plate.

“Thanks. Although I don’t think I can eat this much,” Sen mumbled. She tried not to leer at the massive breasts in front of her.

Sen wasn’t really into girls, but damn, those were huge. Did Fei select her knights based on tit size?

“Is something wrong?” the beastkin asked. Her long brown dog ears drooped, and her puppy tail stopped wagging. She was a dog beastkin, which made her a rarity in the Army.

Sen latched onto that fact to cover up her awkwardness.

“I’m not really used to seeing dogs in the Army,” she said.

“I get that a lot. Oh, I’m Kara, by the way.” Kara sat down on a chair next to Sen. “Captain Fei knew me from the academy and sent me a letter.”

“You’re a Champion?” Sen blurted out.

“Ahaha, not quite.” Kara’s dog ears drooped. “Most of us don’t make it through the training. They put a lot of us through the training, and our year was… harder than most.” She smiled bitterly. “I heard that even Captain Fei struggled to find a position. I went home.”

“So, uh, why are you here? You dogs aren’t very strong.” Sen winced at how blunt she sounded.

“True. We’re mostly hunters and we have better magical aptitudes, and we’re not as strong as wolves. That’s why I only signed up for the knight training. Fighting in the infantry is too dangerous without magic.” Kara shrugged. “The academy training means I can help Fei with this sort of thing, too.”

Sen noticed that Kara had lieutenant pins on her uniform.

Taking a moment to bite into her food, Sen chewed on her thoughts.

Kara took that as a chance to ask a question. “So, why are you here? You’re possessed, aren’t you? Doesn’t that mean you have even less reason to be here than me?”

Sen blinked, then swallowed her food. “Err, you saw what just happened in there, right? I’m a big, bad sorceress. I melt armies.”

“That’s not what I mean. Why are you here? Bastion Nathan is very impressive, but you’re not a Champion. Isn’t being possessed…” Kara trailed off and looked away.

For a moment, Sen wanted to snap at the beastkin. Tell her to fuck off, and that this wasn’t her business. Sen had made her own decisions, and she was as powerful and impressive as any Champion.

But then she calmed down—even without Ifrit’s chiding—as she noticed the subtle gazes of all the knights in the room.

Sen was the outsider of the Champions. Fei was their commander and idol. They feared Sunstorm and the knights she selected for special training. Seraph was the queen bee of the Champions. Narime was respected in almost the same way that Nathan was, given her age and experience.

And, of course, the beastkin knights adored Nathan. They practically took flight whenever he came near them, with how hard and fast their tails wagged. Sen once joked he could start a flying unit.

Sen decided to take a different tack.

“He definitely is impressive. You don’t need to try to convince me to leave if you want to be with him, you know,” Sen said with a smirk.

She leaned in closer to Kara. The dog beastkin leaned back with wide eyes.

“I didn’t mean—”

“Trust me, Nathan could take you and all your little puppies here and still have energy left for me and Fei,” Sen purred. “So don’t worry about being competitive. And don’t worry about me. I know what I’m doing. I didn’t join Nathan because of a letter from a friend, or for money. He’s my Bastion.”

Kara’s eyes widened. Her ears and tails pricked up.

The same reaction rippled through the surrounding knights. No wonder Sunstorm hadn’t picked any of them for special training. They’d make terrible spies.

“Damn. Does he let you sleep at night?” another knight asked, wandering over. “I always figured the Captain was clingy because she didn’t want to give up time with him. Or is it because she knows he’s always raring to go?”

Sen rolled her eyes. “Fei’s just Fei. Don’t waste time trying to understand her.”

A giggle ran through the knights. Kara calmed down. Sen lost track of time as she bantered with the beastkin, although she shifted the topic away from the bedroom. There were only so many times she wanted to talk about Nathan’s bedroom performance.

Especially while Ifrit was listening.

“I tune out during girl talk,” the old man grumbled in her mind.

“I’d believe that if you didn’t whine to Nathan about taking it up the ass,” Sen snapped back.

Ifrit shut up.

Given she was in Tartus, she could have stopped by Anna’s palace. But while she didn’t mind Anna, Sen had to admit that she didn’t feel anything particularly strong for her.

If anything, Sen felt the opposite. She suppressed that and instead headed back to Gharrick Pass by horseback.

Nathan had connected his three main fortresses using gateways: Gharrick Pass, Fort Taubrum, and Castle Forselburg. Castle Tartus remained unconnected, so Sen needed to head to Fort Taubrum first. It was a couple of days' ride.

Nothing much happened on the way there. The road to Fort Taubrum was a well-worn one, although it needed upgrading. The highways of the Empire were extraordinarily well built. Paved stone and dirt roads with drainage systems that ran for miles and miles.

By contrast, the roads in the Federation were typically paved with planks or rough stone and compacted dirt. Closer to Fort Taubrum, the roads turned to dirt.

Villages and towns dotted the landscape. Sen avoided them where possible. Her uniform drew attention. Many people recognized her now, for good or ill.

“You would eat better in the town,” Ifrit grumbled at her.

She ignored him, and instead kept an eye out for any deer near the road while she rode. The soft clip-clopof her horse’s hooves was the only thing to be heard for miles. Behind her was a town. Down the side of the valley she rode along were many villages. She saw the farmers out, tending to their fields. It was spring, after all.

“If you’re going to travel, then let us continue your lesson,” Ifrit said.

Sen groaned. The problem with traveling with Ifrit was that he used every moment of quiet as a chance to teach her something.

“You want to learn and become strong, do you not?” he asked.

“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered.

“I was explaining how you can concentrate energy during the spellcasting process,” Ifrit said, his voice swiftly becoming a dull drone that infiltrated every part of Sen’s brain and made him impossible to filter out. “Nathan’s training has focused on spellcasting fundamentals. I have been teaching you new spells, and improving your use of my power. But it is time we changed focus.”

“Nathan said something about that. That I needed to become a spellblade more than a sorceress,” she replied.

A deer watched her from the shadows of the forest. She casually raised her hand and blew its head off with a lance of flame. After its headless corpse collapsed onto the forest floor, she hopped off her horse and walked over to it.

Ifrit continued as if nothing had happened, “That is one way to put it. We have been focusing on your fundamentals. But if you want to use them in battle, then we have more to teach you. I will let Nathan worry about the physical affairs—he is a talented spellblade himself. But your issues with spellcasting can be handled by me.”

“Shouldn’t that mean I learn to cast spells quicker?” she grumbled.

She knelt down. The deer’s neck had been cleanly cauterized. Hefting the body over her shoulders, she carried it back to her mount.

“Your problems are many, when it comes to battling talented foes. Champions have gems that grant them abilities you do not have. Messengers have ascended magic that enables them to do the impossible. You will never be fast or strong enough. You must rely on skill. Spells that penetrate barriers; or that are undetectable; or that home in on your foe; or delayed effects.”

“Wonderful,” Sen remarked. “So I need to be like Nathan.”

“Did it not occur to you that there is a reason he fights the way he does?” Ifrit asked. “A Bastion cannot match a Messenger or a trigem Champion in raw power. But they have the binding stones and a reserve of power that is unmatched. You have me.”

Sen remained silent as she got back on her horse and continued to ride. A thought occurred to her.

“If I’m copying Nathan, does that mean I need to learn ascended magic?” she asked.

Ifrit remained silent.

“Is that a sensitive question?”

“I will answer it if you answer a question of mine,” the spirit replied.

“Sure.”

“You seem peripherally aware of Nathan’s questionable activities. Yet I do not sense concern or even much curiosity. Why?” Ifrit asked.

Huh. Sen figured he would have known, or simply probed her mind about that.

“Your thoughts about Nathan are curious, but very much your own. I have no need to pry into your private emotions about him.” The spirit sounded defensive.

How suspicious.

“You just don’t like all the sex I think about,” she said.

“That too.”

She rolled her eyes. For a timeless spirit, Ifrit was a real prude.

“The question, Sen,” Ifrit said.

“You sound like my father when you call me by name,” she said with a smirk.

Ifrit remained silent. No doubt he sensed the emotions she had stirred by saying that. It had been a mistake to make that joke.

Sighing, Sen rubbed the bridge of her nose. Then stopped, because she felt like Nathan when she did that.

Goddess, was that her future? She loved Nathan to death, but she struggled to imagine become the sort of overthinking stoic ass that he tended to be.

“Look, I’m not stupid,” she grumbled. “I know what happened to me. Everybody died. Everybody. Nathan doesn’t talk in his sleep, but I recognize nightmares. Plus the distant look in his eyes sometimes. For whatever reason, I don’t remember. Neither does Sunstorm. But Nathan escaped somehow and brought us here.”

Ifrit remained silent.

“When you and Nathan talk about ascended magic, you know what always comes up,” Sen continued. “Messengers. Like I said, I’m not stupid. Nathan somehow escaped the end of the world, travelled through time and space, brought Sunstorm and me back, then started learning lots of ascended magic.”

“And that doesn’t trouble you?” Ifrit asked, voice gruffer than usual.

“I love Nathan. I trust him. That won’t change. He has never done anything to make me think otherwise,” she said. “And, like, if I was doing some crazy heresy, I wouldn’t tell other people, either. Although he’s pretty shit at keeping secrets. I can’t believe Fei found out.”

“She is far from stupid.”

“I watched her put her uniform on backwards last week.”

Ifrit said nothing.

“And the week before, she mixed up soap and shampoo. Seraph has banned her from filling out paperwork, so her officers do it for her. And before I left, she mixed up hers’ and Nathan’s rooms one morning and made a huge mess.”

“I don’t think that last one was an accident,” Ifrit muttered.

“No, but she didn’t think ahead. Nathan likes it when she curls up naked on his bed. He hates it when he has to clean up after her.” Sen smirked. “I wonder if she’s out of the doghouse yet.”

“My point remains that you shouldn’t underestimate her,” the spirit said, pointedly ignoring her examples.

“Uh huh. But my point is that I trust Nathan,” she summarized.

“Hmm. Despite what he did to you?”

Sen scowled. “That’s a cheap shot. I get the feeling you know better than I do what happened.”

“I do not. But I understand mental magic well enough to guess.” Ifrit made a clicking noise inside her mind, which was always an odd sensation for her. “When he brought you here, he overwrote the Sen from this world. You inherited her memories and emotions, and the two of you merged. But was it right for him to do that, and deny your old self her future?”

Her “old self” was how Sen referred to the Sen that she had replaced. The entire situation was something of a nightmare, conceptually speaking. Her original self from the other timeline had only partially come over, which meant she was a combination of two Sens.

She was the new and improved Sen. The bandit girl that Nathan had overwritten was the old Sen. And the terrified little Sen from Nathan’s timeline was the original Sen.

Like she said, a conceptual nightmare. Sen preferred not to think too hard about it.

“I mean, you’re kind of asking a dumb question here. I’m me. If Nathan hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t be here. Why would I say it’s bad for Nathan to not bring me here?” Sen said sarcastically.

She sighed and looked at the sky. Clouds drifted toward her over the mountains, dark and menacing. Rain was approaching, and she hadn’t gotten close to Fort Taubrum yet. Annoying.

“You’re capable of empathy,” Ifrit said.

“I am. That’s why I wonder why Nathan doesn’t bring over everybody else,” Sen said darkly. “My first memories—my memories, not those of the other Sens—are of a horrible darkness eating at my very being. Nathan’s given me life.”

“Somebody lost theirs,” Ifrit said. It was left unsaid that the person who “died” was the old Sen.

That was the part that bothered her. She stopped responding to Ifrit about this.

“You never answered my earlier question,” she said. “About ascended magic.”

“Ah. The answer is that it is possible, but in a different way than you are perhaps thinking.” Ifrit paused, as if considering his next words carefully. “It is a path that there is no returning from. Nathan uses the binding stones for ascended magic, so he neatly sidesteps the many complications. But even with my aid, you would be forever changed.”

Sen got the feeling that Ifrit wasn’t talking about the sort of change that involved her hair turning white or having a voice in her head. Ifrit appeared to dislike the topic, so she dropped it. But she tucked it away in the back of her mind.

One day, she knew it might matter. Nathan was ascending to heights she didn’t know if she could reach, and she refused to be left behind.

As the clouds approached, she looked for shelter. An abandoned guard tower ended up being her stop for the day. A lot of the infrastructure was in disrepair on this side of the Gharrick Mountains. Nathan planned to rebuild a lot of it, but Anna’s duchy was massive.

When Sen had led an army to Tartus weeks ago, it hadn’t seemed that far. But now that Anna ruled all the land that she and Nathan had marched over, it became much clearer how far she had marched.

And also how large Doumahr was in general. Anna’s county was a fraction of the size of her new duchy. Nathan had automatically adjusted to his new workload, like some sort of magical device that had been switched into overdrive.

By contrast, Sen struggled. Her world felt small. She knew a little bit about cities from her memories, but most of the world was unfamiliar to her. Fortunately, she was good at faking things. Ifrit knew everything, and her emotions and ghost-memories from her original timeline prevented her from being shocked every time she saw something too strange.

She took things day by day. For today, she set up a campfire inside the empty tower and preparing her dinner. That meant gathering some kindling, securing her horse inside, and then cleaning and preparing the deer for cooking.

By the time the downpour hit her, thick flanks of deer roasted atop a roaring fire. The tower proved to be watertight.

While she ate, she meditated. Ifrit had been teaching her how to use her magical senses properly.

Ordinarily, magic-users needed to actively detect magic. That’s how Nathan operated, although he had keen enough senses to detect powerful magic passively.

The problem with active detection was exactly that. It was active. Focusing her efforts on magical detection took time and effort, but also let other mages know what she was doing. Active detection involved reaching out with magic to detect the flow of energy.

Narime had taught Sen the basics of passive detection the other week. Apparently, it was a fundamental talent of mystic foxes. Probably because of those massive tails sticking out of their asses that they used to deceive males. Ifrit said she could learn it as well, although it would be a lot harder.

Humans apparently sucked at passive detection. That was probably why Nathan had never bothered.

Then again, humans also sucked at ascended magic, and Nathan used that as well. Cheating bastard.

Something pinged Sen’s senses. A very familiar something. It appeared and disappeared, but slowly moved toward Sen.

“You took your time, Choe,” Sen said when a sodden, dark figure stepped into the light of her fire.

“It would have been easier if somebody didn’t use magic to obscure the light of her fire.” Sunstorm glared at Sen, who grinned back. “Can you dry me off? I don’t want to hug you like this.”

One steam drying session later, Sunstorm flopped down next to Sen. She wore a tight-fitting leather uniform that accentuated her lithe figure and curves. Her spiky black hair had gotten longer since joining Nathan, and she tied it up in small buns on the side of her head.

Then again, all of them were growing out their hair. Sen wasn’t sure if Nathan had even noticed, as he didn’t comment on it. But Sen and Sunstorm knew that his preferences leaned toward long hair, and they had spared no time in telling the others about it.

Sen couldn’t wait until she had long white hair like Narime’s. Or even like Fei’s. She couldn’t wait to have an excuse to sit in Nathan’s lap for ages while he combed her hair. Or to have him take care of it in the shower after doing fun things.

“Why are you out here in the rain?” Sen asked, entwining her fingers with Sunstorm’s as they leaned against each other.

“You didn’t make it back to Fort Taubrum in time. We were supposed to spend the night with Nathan tonight,” Sunstorm said.

Sen winced. She’d forgotten about that.

“How long is the storm supposed to last?” she asked.

“It’s already passed the mountains, so I doubt more than a few hours,” Sunstorm said.

Plenty of time to get back with Sunstorm’s help. She had expected to make it back to the fort late, but not this late, however.

They relaxed. Sunstorm ate some of her deer.

Neither of them said anything. They simply cuddled and watched the rain from next to the fire. Water thundered against the stonework of the tower and pooled through the arched entrance. A cool wind blew through, and rain sputtered in the fire. Sen made sure it didn’t go out using her magic.

Nothing other than cuddling happened, however. Sen and Sunstorm were together, but it was complicated. In their original timeline, they had been very close friends, but nothing more.

Right now, Sen had a lot of memories of intense, sweaty sex with Sunstorm. Those memories had only been added to since joining Nathan, although they exclusively involved him now. It felt somewhat awkward doing things with Sunstorm normally, but natural with Nathan. So Sen went with the flow.

Although she had to admit that the flow was sometimes too much. She felt a little too open to threesomes these days. That time when Fei had rutted came to mind, and the way Nathan had—

“If you’re going to react like that every time you think about your threesome with Fei, we’re doing a foursome one day,” Sunstorm muttered.

“That’s exactly the opposite reaction I want,” Sen snapped.

“Uh huh. I bet you’ll be drooling all over the bed once we’re all pressed together and lined up.” Sunstorm smirked and pressed a finger against Sen’s lips.

Sen imagined the scene.

Then she stopped before she got too horny.

“I want this storm to stop,” she whined.

“Told you,” Sunstorm muttered.

They fell into a comfortable silence against. Sen enjoyed the warmth of Sunstorm against her and the lack of an annoying voice in her head. Ifrit usually stayed away when she was with Sunstorm, unless something important happened.

Eventually, Sen stirred. Ifrit’s words from earlier had churned away in her mind.

The ancient spirit tended to do that to her. Bring something up that unsettled or annoyed her, but in a way that she couldn’t ignore.

“Choe, do you ever think about what we’d be like if Nathan didn’t bring us across from his timeline?” Sen asked, staring into the crackling embers of the fire.

“No,” Sunstorm said flatly.

An unsurprising answer.

“Why not?”

“Because I already know the answer.”

Sen waited. She wasn’t going to play along with Sunstorm’s silly game here. Eventually, she got her way.

“There are only two options for me. I die, or become me.” Sunstorm gestured to herself as she spoke. “There was never going to be an alternative option. A magical happy path where I held hands with Nathan and joined him.”

“Seraph did,” Sen said.

“She wanted out to begin with. I didn’t.” Sunstorm grimaced. “My… You call her your ‘old self’ don’t you? My old self hated Nathan. He terrified her. Made her feel weak and insignificant. Made her feel inadequate because he stole you from her. She never wanted to join him. Maybe he would have wasted time on her. But I doubt it. Nathan isn’t stupid.”

Sen felt a chill run down her spine at those last words. “You’re saying Nathan would have killed you, if he didn’t bring you back?”

Sunstorm laughed. “Sen, you do remember the battle that I joined you in, right? The one where Fei literally disintegrated another Champion? Remember the battle against Theus, where we brutally killed three Champions, then killed Theus?”

Sen gulped as she stared into Sunstorm’s hazel eyes.

“You think of Nathan as a strong, loving man who defends and protects. I get that. It’s a nice fantasy, and I indulge in it.” The other Champion clenched a fist in front of her face. “But that’s not the man I love. To me, Nathan is a logical, intelligent strategist who makes the decisions that need to be made. He keeps in mind the hearts and minds of the people, but he doesn’t hesitate to kill anything in his path or to subvert and deceive. He uses every weapon he can, so long as it doesn’t hurt him.”

Part of Sen wondered why this topic hadn’t come up before. But she knew why.

Hearing this about Nathan hurt her a little. Her emotions warred inside her. The scared, panicky part of her from the original timeline wanted her teddy bear Nathan who protected her. Even Sen preferred the noble Nathan.

But she respected her friend enough not to lash out and try to deny her.

“I’m not sure it’s a fantasy to think of him as a defender,” Sen muttered. “But I get your point. Nathan does harsh things if he feels it’s necessary. He’s always thinking of the bigger picture and a longer goal.” She paused. “Do others view him that way?”

Sunstorm shrugged. “It’s different outside the duchy. Before he defeated Theus, he had a reputation for being a soft, seducer type because he convinced me and Seraph to join him. Then we beat Theus. Nobody thinks that now.” She smirked. “I have to say, I do love the heads from that fight. Lucia’s has a nice charm, with the pink hair and pigtails. And Theus’s is pretty, despite the damage from Seraph putting her tonfas through his eyes.”

Wisely, Sen didn’t comment on her friend’s collection of magically preserved heads.

Most people didn’t. It was easily the creepiest thing about Sunstorm. She treated her enemies the same way that a hunter treated big game.

“What about you?” Sunstorm asked. “You’re thinking something dumb, aren’t you?”

“It’s not dumb, it’s…” the spellblade trailed off, then let out a huff. “I’m different to you. Don’t you say that you don’t feel much about your old self?”

“Other than about you,” Sunstorm said, feeling up Sen.

After batting away Sunstorm’s hand, Sen continued, “I don’t think Nathan would have killed me if he didn’t do this.” She gestured to herself. “Unlike you, my old self was putting up a front. She wanted a better life. Nathan could offer it. Sometimes I wonder if things might have been…” she trailed off.

“No,” Sunstorm said flatly.

Sen rolled her eyes. “I’m allowed to think things, Choe. I still like being me. Knowing all that extra stuff, and having extra life experience—it adds up. I’m someone different. Better. More Sen.” She giggled. “More zen?”

“Don’t make that joke,” Sunstorm said with a groan. “Narime would slap you.”

They shared a smile.

“But like I said, it’s a thought,” Sen said. “My old self’s memories and emotions linger in me, like a ghost. They resurface sometimes. I find it difficult being around Anna and Alice for a bunch of reasons. Part of that is because my old self hates nobility.”

“Huh. I feel pretty uncomfortable around them as well.” Sunstorm frowned.

“I think that’s different.” Sen leaned against her friend. “Do you get the feeling that something bad happened to Nathan due to nobility?”

“Yes.” Sunstorm patted the swords at her waist. “I’m more than ready to collect some heads if they do it again.”

They fell silent.

“If you say she’s a ghost, do you think she’s dead?” Sunstorm asked. “Your old self.”

“Well, she’s not talking to me in my head,” Sen drawled. “So yeah, she’s dead. Just like we are in our original timeline.”

“It’s so damn complicated.”

“I think that’s why Nathan isn’t doing it anymore. It must be a difficult decision to make, to bring somebody back at the cost of the person who is here. Both of us know Narime so well.” Sen smirked, and Sunstorm returned it. “She’s so confused by us.”

The fox hated the way that both of them seemed to know her behavioral patterns and favorites. Probably not the best way to keep a secret, but Sen had given up on that after Fei worked it out. It’s not like Nathan was doing any better, based on Narime’s comments about his bedroom performance.

It had to be cheating to use knowledge from an alternate timeline in the bedroom.

“I wonder if we’ll be the last,” Sunstorm said. “But I get the feeling we’re missing someone important. Like a big sister. It’s strange that Nathan never brings her up.”

They fell silent. Sen knew why Nathan didn’t bring her up. It must hurt to talk about somebody who wasn’t here.

Eventually, the storm subsided, and they made it to Fort Taubrum. Sunstorm used her gem ability to speed things up.

Midnight had nearly arrived by the time they stepped into Seraph’s office. The gateway to Gharrick Pass was hidden behind a false wall here.

Despite the late hour, the duogem Champion sat behind her massive desk. Her pen scratched away at paperwork. Piles stacked high in her outbox and inbox. A glass of red sat next to her, along with the half-empty bottle.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” Sen asked as she walked in.

Sunstorm fiddled with the wall, revealing the passage to the gateway.

“Shouldn’t you already be at Gharrick Pass, warming Nathan’s bed?” Seraph replied. She didn’t lift her head.

“There was the slight problem of a storm, in case you forgot to turn around,” Sen said, rolling her eyes.

Seraph paused, then turned and stared at her window. Her eyes took in the droplets of water clinging to the glass, as if she really hadn’t noticed the rain.

“Fair enough. You really should get going,” Seraph said.

“If you’re working late, he is, too,” Sen said.

The older Champion froze.

A thought occurred to Sen. Was Seraph really older than her? Sen had two lifetimes under her belt, after all. An amusing thought.

“I don’t think that counts,” Ifrit grumbled.

“Hush, you,” she mentally told the spirit.

Sighing, Seraph twirled her pen and sipped at her wine. Her eyes considered the two Champions in front of her.

“Things have been busy,” she said. “How has he been sleeping lately?”

Sen looked at Sunstorm, who shrugged.

“Better,” Sunstorm said. “But it’s never been much of a problem.”

“Yes, but if he’s working too much, it might affect his mind and his body.” Seraph tapped her pen against the desk. The sound echoed throughout the room. “There’s too damn much to do, too fast. I wish he wouldn’t take it all on himself.”

Sen pointedly stared at the piles of paperwork. In response, Seraph rolled her eyes.

“This is the grease on the wheels of Nathan’s projects. He has the mind for the planning, logistics, stratagems, recruitment, and construction necessary. But administration is necessary to put it into practice. Quartermasters need to know what to buy, officers need to know where they’re going, craftsmen need to know what they’re making,” Seraph explained.

“Why doesn’t Anna handle that?” Sen remarked bitterly.

Her emotions darkened at the idea of a wealthy noble taking up Nathan’s time and doing so little in return.

“She is. Nathan’s not running Tartus, or any of the towns or villages in the duchy. There is a fantastical amount of people under his protection now, and Anna services their civilian needs.”

Sen resisted the urge to make a nasty crack about how Anna serviced the needs of the people. There was a limit to how mean she could be, simply because of an intrinsic dislike of nobility. Anna had done nothing wrong.

“Heh. Serviced.” Sunstorm smirked.

“How mature of you,” Seraph drawled, rolling her eyes. “Do you make those jokes in front of Nathan?”

“Yes,” both Sunstorm and Sen said.

“And what does he say in response?”

Sen winced. The last time she’d accidentally make a crude crack about Narime, Nathan had given her a harsh glare. Sen hadn’t even intended to be mean about it.

“I spent some time learning to breathe through flesh,” Sunstorm said. “It wasn’t so bad.”

Seraph and Sen sighed in unison.

“Have a good night, girls,” Seraph said, shooing them out of her office with a wave of her hand. “Go be fucked silly.”

“Now who’s being crude?” Sunstorm remarked as she stepped through the gateway.

As she left, Sen looked back at Seraph. She saw a lonely figure in a dark room. Only a single light hung above her, allowing her to keep working into the night. The time was past midnight now.

Had Seraph been working all day by herself?

“Seraph?” Sen called out.

The duogem looked up with a questioning look.

“You’ll join us for breakfast, won’t you? I’m sure Nathan will be happy to see you,” Sen said.

Seraph blinked, then smiled. “I will. Have a good night, Sen.”

With that, Sen left the most dutiful of Nathan’s Champions to her work.

Not that Nathan was doing any better. He wasn’t in his office, although a beastkin guard stood guard outside it anyway. Presumably, that made it harder for any assassins or spies to work out where Nathan might be.

Sen and Sunstorm found him inside his bedroom. These days, it was also guarded. The wolf beastkin sitting outside played solitaire while sipping some mulled wine.

Whereas most of the guard positions were rostered, or had a set rotation, this position was one of the few that was rewarded based on performance. All the guard positions that let the beastkin be close to Nathan were.

At some point, the knights had started trading shifts for money. A lot of them had won obscene amounts of money gambling on Nathan during the war against the Federation. This had then caused fights and arguments. Fei intervened and handed out the shifts based on performance each week.

Although Sen suspected she also punished any of the knights who flirted with Nathan. Not that Sen complained about that. Despite her words at Castle Tartus, she did not want to share Nathan with too many more women. Fei was more than enough beastkin for Sen’s liking. The catgirl got everywhere.

“You’re thinking about her again,” Sunstorm muttered.

“Sorry?” the beastkin guard asked, hearing them speak. Her hearing was hyper alert. Probably because she was hoping to hear something fun from inside.

Nathan’s bedroom was heavily soundproofed and warded. The beastkin shouldn’t be able to hear anything from inside. But Sen let them dream and fantasize.

“Is he still awake?” Sen asked.

“I think so,” the guard said. She scratched her head. “Captain Fei came by earlier, but also left. He did some training with us, which was pretty fun.”

“Define fun?” Sunstorm asked.

“He manhandled us.” The wolfgirl grinned. “It was to show us how strong the base enhancements of a Bastion were. His abs were like steel. Hitting him was like punching a rock.”

“Can’t you bend steel?” Sen asked.

The wolfgirl tilted her head. “Huh. You’re right. Goddess, what is he made of?” The wolfgirl leered. “You know better than I do.”

“Flesh,” Sunstorm said.

They left the guard alone and entered Nathan’s bedroom. Surprisingly, he wasn’t working on paperwork. Instead, he was focused on nothing.

“He’s meditating. Practicing magic,” Ifrit chided Sen.

Sen ignored him. A myriad of feelings ran through her. She hated this part.

Every single time she saw Nathan after a period of being away from him, it was the same stupid story.

Her mind sang about how happy it was to see him. As if there was the possibility she might have lost him, or that she was lost. She felt like an abandoned puppy whose owner had returned.

“Trying to master the secrets of the universe,” she chirped as she bounced up to Nathan, pushing those annoying feelings away.

He snapped out of his stupor and looked at her. A smile crossed his face and he pulled her into his lap. A sensation of safety and security washed over Sen.

It felt great. She secretly indulged in the feeling. As much as she disliked the fear and terror her original self had apparently lived under, she loved the way the current security made her feel. Nathan was her blanket, this world was like a bright sunny day compared to her old one, and everything was better.

“You’re acting like Fei,” Nathan said with amusement.

“I need to do something to make you stop working,” Sen said.

“I finished up a while ago,” he said, gesturing to the small pile of paperwork on his desk.

Somehow, Sen suspected “a while ago” meant midnight. The ink looked fresh.

The two of them dragged Nathan away from his work, before he got any funny ideas. It ended up being a fun night.

“Do you think we can do a foursome next time?” Sunstorm proposed in the morning, as she toweled Nathan dry.

Nathan stared at her. “With…?”

“The catgirl who is currently knocking on the door.”

Nathan cursed. He threw a towel around his waist and let Fei inside. The guard outside leered at him before the door closed.

“Awww, I missed the shower?” Fei asked, her ears flattening and tail drooping.

“Don’t waste hot water,” Sen said as she slipped her clothes on. “You already showered.”

Nathan ignored their banter as he sat Fei down and grabbed his come. It was a fine, dark steel comb that glittered with a rune.

“Would it be wasting it if I joined you?” Fei giggled. She began to purr as Nathan brushed out her hair.

“Yes,” both Sen and Sunstorm said.

Sen continued, after Sunstorm gestured to her, “There is no way we could all get clean in the same time with your huge tail and massive tits.”

“We could if we tried,” Fei said. “I’m sure you wasted lots of water together.”

The catgirl’s eyes glittered as she looked at Nathan. He ignored her.

“That was last night, and it’s beside the point,” Sen said.

“Sure, sure,” Fei said, although the words were barely comprehensible with how hard she purred. Nathan had moved onto her tail, and Fei often became a little pleasure-drunk at this point.

The banter stopped now that Fei was focused on the ecstasy running through her body. Sen and Sunstorm got dressed for the day.

“So, foursome?” Sunstorm asked, once Fei returned from the clouds.

Everybody stared at her.

“Now?” Nathan asked.

“I meant eventually. But now works, I guess,” Sunstorm said with a grin.

Fei looked between everyone in confusion.

“I think that’s your answer,” Nathan said. He ruffled the catgirl’s hair, and Fei hissed at him.

“She did it with Sen,” Sunstorm said.

“Oh. Oh!” Fei said, eyes widening. “You mean like that! Sure!”

Nathan rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Fine. Whatever. Work out when.”

“I haven’t agreed yet,” Sen mumbled.

“Sure you haven’t.” Sunstorm laughed.

As promised, Seraph joined them breakfast. Sen subtly pushed Nathan toward her, and less subtly held Fei by the waist to prevent her from hovering by his side all morning.

While Nathan spent some time talking and eating with Seraph, Sen sat with the other Champions. Narime was running late, which was unusual.

“Something’s happened this morning,” Sunstorm said. “One of us will need to go have a look.”

“Mmmph?” Fei asked, mouth full of eggs.

“Narime’s busy if she hasn’t come to breakfast. She never misses a chance to rub her tails in Nathan’s face,” Sen said.

The three of them made an odd sight. Early spring meant they still relied heavily on older grains and preserved meats, but they now had fruits, vegetables, fish, game, and eggs to supplement it. That meant heartier meals, and this morning was no exception.

Fei’s plate was the usual scene of devastation. She had every kind of egg on her plate, plus what appeared to be a whole grilled fish. Fei’s appetite was so massive she had her own dedicated chef.

Which, to be honest, wasn’t that special. Fei commanded and trained the knights of an entire duchy. If she had her own dedicated kitchen full of highly paid chefs, it wouldn’t even compare to the extravagance that Anna enjoyed now. The meals in Gharrick Pass were of a high standard, due to the high-quality equipment, good pay, and seemingly limitless funds for supplies, but Nathan could afford to give Fei whatever she wanted.

Sunstorm and Sen enjoyed much more sedate meals. Sunstorm favored fish, fruits, and vegetables. Sen hit the eggs, porridge, and slow-cooked game. Although they shared some of the food with each other.

Eventually, Narime arrived. After a brief word with Nathan, the fox filled her plate similarly to Sunstorm, and joined the girls.

“Are you going back for seconds soon, Fei?” Narime asked with a raised eyebrow.

The catgirl nodded enthusiastically.

None of them said a word. They were used to this.

“So, what’s happened?” Sunstorm asked.

“Is it that obvious?”

“You’re never late for breakfast. And you didn’t join Nathan, even though he’s talking shop.” Sunstorm raised an eyebrow.

Narime shrugged, and her tails shifted with the movement. “I don’t want him involved in this one.”

“That bothers me even more.” Sunstorm’s eyes hardened.

Sen watched quietly, but she privately agreed with Sunstorm. While Narime’s concern for Nathan was appreciated, she wasn’t sure that she agreed.

“A certain famous dark elf has shown up at Castle Forselburg. She’s not there for anything important. If anything, I’d say she’s just trying to attract attention.” Narime’s blue eyes narrowed. “Nathan recognized her as the real Astra at a glance, back when he handed over Torneus. I don’t think it’s wise for him to be interacting with the trigem of the Spires.”

“Ah,” Sunstorm said. “I think I agree.”

An odd emotion built up in Sen. Something told her that Astra was trustworthy, but that she hadn’t done anything good for Nathan. The feeling made no sense. If Astra was bad for Nathan, why was she trustworthy?

“Should we see her?” Sen asked. “She might go away if we harass her.”

“Amuse her, you mean,” Narime said. “Don’t annoy her. She likes Nathan. That’s good. I just don’t want her to sink her claws into him.”

“Like you did?” Sen smirked.

“I think you have it the wrong way around. He sunk his claws into me.” Narime paused. “Or into my tails, really.”

After breakfast, Sen slipped away with Narime. Sunstorm and Fei kept Nathan distracted. Not that he needed distracting. Seraph did that plenty well, now that she was actually here.

Nathan needed to spend more time with her, and less time talking with her over the wireless. One day, he’d actually bed her.

As expected, a certain famous dark elf was at Castle Forselburg. She sat in Narime’s office, dressed in a full suit of dark armor with covered gems. Narime left Sen to talk to Astra.

Something told Sen that Astra was much more attractive underneath all that armor. But the only thing that she got from the dark elf was her piercing green eyes. Her bust size, skin color, and almost her entire face was covered by her clothing.

“Is it normal for dark elves to cover everything up?” Sen asked as he stepped inside the office.

Astra kicked her feet up on the desk once she saw who it was. Her eyes followed Sen’s every movement.

“Yes, outside the Spires,” Astra said. “We appear as one. A monolith.”

Sen blinked. “Don’t we do that to you, anyway?”

“Yes. But this is our choice. It grants us power over you.” Astra gestured to her armor. “This denies that to you. We don’t play by your rules. The Spires greatness is enforced even outside its domain.”

Then the dark elf laughed. “Or so they say. It’s very silly. They tell me to wear this, so I do.”

“But you don’t like to,” Sen said slowly.

That explained another feeling she had. For whatever reason, Astra reminded her of Nurevia. But the two dressed completely differently.

Astra tilted her head. “Your eyes. That’s not due to the spirit. You’re like him.”

Sen froze.

Slowly, Astra grinned. She removed her helmet and placed it on the desk. Her white hair was done up in a tight bun behind her head.

“He looked at me with such sadness,” Astra said. “People see their dreams in me. I am Astra. Ancient. Unaging. Legendary.” She paused, as if summoning up the courage for something. “But the man who slew a Messenger saw something very different. Why?”

Shit.

Shitshitshit. Sen should not be here.

“Calm down,” Ifrit said. “She is fishing. This is why Narime didn’t want Nathan to see her.”

Easy for him to say.

Still, she tried to focus her mind. She didn’t take deep breaths, because that would be noticed.

How she wished that Sunstorm was here.

“Are you really that old?” Sen asked.

Astra gave her an annoyed look. “I’ve seen Omria herself. Does that answer your question?”

Sen’s eyes widened.

“Is that true?” she asked Ifrit.

“One of her gems is believed to grant her eternal life,” the spirit said. “She has been with the Spires for centuries. Far longer than the natural lifespan of a dark elf. Hence why she is a legend.”

Holy shit.

Why did Sen have such conflicting feelings for this woman?

“You are confused,” Astra said.

“You’re a very confusing person,” Sen said. “Why do you care about how Nathan looks at you?”

Astra paused. She stared at the wall.

“You are young. All of you are young.” Astra smiled. “Perhaps your spirit knows.”

Ifrit let out an exasperated sigh. “Ah, youth.”

“He called you a young whippersnapper,” Sen said. “Said you shouldn’t compare yourself to him just because you’ve seen a few more winters than me.”

Astra laughed. “Such fire. Did you choose this?”

“Yes,” Sen said, glaring at Astra.

“All the better.” The dark elf sighed. She stood. “I assume your Bastion is busy?”

“Very busy.”

Astra looked at Sen for a very long time. Sen glared back.

“You are lucky,” Astra said.

Then she left.

Sen growled. “That whole thing was about how old she is, wasn’t it?”

“Ah. You worked that out?” Ifrit asked, surprised.

“You’re the only immortal around. It was pretty obvious once she compared herself to you.” Sen rolled her eyes. Then she froze. “Oh. She dies. And Nathan…”

Slowly, it all came together.

If Astra was exhausted with life, and Nathan knew that she died, what would happen when they met?

“And I thought I had problems,” Sen muttered.

She returned to Gharrick Pass afterward. Nathan had returned to his office and buried himself in paperwork.

Pausing at the entrance, Sen asked Ifrit a question, “She said I’m lucky. Does that mean I’m not truly unaging?”

Ifrit hesitated.

“Ifrit…”

“Being possessed comes with costs…”

“I’m not weak, Ifrit. Tell me.”

“There is a reason that your hair turns white. Humans are not intended to use the power of spirits for long periods of time. Being possessed takes its toll, despite the unaging nature of your body. One day, one part of you will fail.” Ifrit’s voice was solemn.

“I figured that. But…” Sen remembered something. “You told me there’s another path.”

Ifrit said nothing. His presence vanished from her mind.

Bingo.

“We’ll talk about this later, old man,” Sen threatened.

She knew where her place was.

“Nathan, my job’s done!” she shouted as she charged into his office. “What’s next?”

- - - - - -

Commentary: Not sure what people will think of this story. It's more of an introspective one about Sen, and touches on some of the timey wimey stuff. I know some people strongly dislike that part of Heretic Spellblade (it certainly touches on some nerves in reviews).

At the same time, Sen ended up being a more complicated character than I expected. It's part of why she grew on me, and I tried to reflect that here. There are also some hints as to Astra's character arc, and where Sen is going over the course of the whole series. And some worldbuilding.

Also, Sunstorm gets more lines in this story than she probably does in HS1 and HS2 combined.

For next month, I'll probably give people advance notice of story ideas to allow you to vote on them.