Adamant Blood

Memphi was one of the largest cities in the world at 45-ish million people, located across a 1000-ish square miles, or something like that. Mark had looked up a lot about the city after talking with Uncle Alexandro and making ‘plans’ to eventually move here. They were rather nebulous plans, and they were going to change, but it was fine to be here right now? This was good?

Sure.

Memphi was a citystate in parts, mostly the East and Western parts, with Eastern Memphi being the much larger half. The Mississippi River carved a mile-wide shipping lane through the center of the territory of Memphi. That river was one of the most heavily guarded rivers in the world, because it went right through the city, and it connected Chicago with the Gulf of Mexico, and a bunch of other cities out there. They used that river for shipping, fishing, and the water needs of 45 million people.

The river here didn’t have a solid metal wall made of cylinders, like the bay of Orange City, but it did have some sort of bubble-wall that rose on both the intake and exit of the city. It was something that they had purchased from the Aluatha Empire and which needed constant upkeep, but that river was the lifeblood of the city, so they made it work. That bubble wall was pretty amazing to see in person, along with the more normal walls of the city.

Mark slowed his flight when he was a mile away from the city, to stare.

Memphi’s walls rose on the horizon like a solid cliff face. The Mississippi River had a similar ‘cliff face’ to it, but that cliff face was made of white water; bubbles. Stone towers stood like big tree trunks here and there in the waters of the Mississippi. Mark couldn’t tell a lot of what he was seeing, but he knew city defenses when he saw them. It was all so massive—

Mark spotted something that made him reevaluate his entire trip here.

A shipping-container ship pushed out of the bubble wall, like a child gathering bubbles in a bathtub. The ship, covered in bubbles, moved near the pillars in the water, dwarfing those pillars, still floating on bubbles, and then the ship vanished from sight, the bubbles turning translucent along with the ship.

And the ship floated northward, and pretty fast.

Mark watched the surface of the river ripple in the invisible ship’s passage, and that was it.

Invisible ships! How many had Mark missed? A lot, probably. Maybe some of the attention-vectors on the river that had pinged his way had been people on ships, looking at him. Not everything out there had wanted to kill him, after all.

Mark moved closer to the city wall and soon he was walking among other people. All of them were in groups. Mark was the only one solo. He stood out quite a bit because of that… Probably. But he was also ‘flying’, which always garnered attention. Not many people could naturally fly.

Mark stopped flying and soon started walking, but people were still eyeing him. Soon enough, though, the people were more focused on their own patrols, or whatnot. Mark wasn’t sure. They kept to their business, and Mark kept to his own business.

Mark came across a big sign posted right in the middle of a bunch of different dirt paths that led into the wilds. The sign was maybe 500 meters from what had to be the ‘Eastnorth River Gate’.

Chief among the big sign area were a bunch of little signs, pointing down various roads leading away from this place. Those smaller signs had numbers to them. They were paths for patrols, obviously.

Then came the warnings and the kill advisories. A blanket warning was issued against getting near the river, as the river was highly dangerous and unpredictable. ‘Only approved teams should attempt getting close to the river’.

Which was strange… But yeah. The river was dangerous. But it was also a good path to take! If you could take it.

A few other signs spoke of monsters that ‘did not count for monster kills’ because Memphi wanted them around. Those various desired-monsters were the alligator trappers on the river that Mark had encountered. Other such monsters were some sort of cat-type monster that was a collection of bright glowing worms that hung out in trees and were very visible, and which ate whatever attacked them but otherwise did nothing, and a dog-type monster that crapped out ‘delicious smelling’ slimes, that were actually incredibly toxic. The dog-type monster hunted everything else eating whatever died after it ate its crap. The dog-type monster was a hiding-type scavenger, too; you usually didn’t see them and they didn’t bother you unless you were paralyzed and almost dead.

A few different monsters were to be killed on sight, or reported. Hookmouth Bunnies were to be exterminated in sight. Any flying monsters were to be killed or reported ASAP, depending on personal ability.

Mark read it all and didn’t absorb much of it, but it was still amazing to be out here and looking at everything like a real hero, able to exist out here in the wilds, and not straight-up die like any baseline would. Even brawnies couldn’t come out here without other powers backing them up, or if they had a good Tactile Telekinesis. Mark had pulled back his caltrops and his black veins somewhat, and he was walking on his actual feet again, but he could deploy his Powers at a moment’s notice. He was mostly safe out here, and that wasn’t even mentioning his innate Power Level against pretty much everything; he could withstand mental monsters, pretty easily.

And that felt pretty awesome.

Some teams eyed Mark as he walked solo, but they mostly ignored him, now that he was this close to the city and not flying. All of them were talking about routes and distances to cover for the day and patrol arrangements, and all of them had black and yellow armbands on; they were busy.

The gate loomed ahead.

The gate to the city started off as a large staircase, a hundred meters wide and that much tall. The stairs were big, and meant to be fought on, if needed. The entrance looked kind of like a lava flow, seeing as it was so wide and so shallow of an incline.

Mark walked up the stairs, to where 6 different doors, each 10 meters wide and tall, stood proud. Only 2 of the 6 doors were open, and those two doors were heavily guarded. People were stationed on the wall, at turrets up above, and at guard stations by the two open doors. They had some big guns. The guards by the doors checked IDs and asked questions of people coming back into the city, which seemed to be most people. It was maybe 3 hours to sunset, so it made sense that most people were going into the city, but this was a good time for the night guard to get a move on, so people were still leaving, out into the wilds. They’d spend the night out there, too. Probably several nights.

Mark looked around for someone wearing the silver armor of an Inquisitor, or maybe white robes, but he saw no one. Maybe only Freyalan Inquisitors dressed that way? The guards here all wore black with yellow accents, with steel breastplates with an embossed ‘M’ on the front.

Mark got in line.

He was the least dressed person in line, which was pretty weird and uncomfortable, but it was what it was, and Mark’s Union sense was telling him weird things about what people were feeling as they looked at him, but he ignored those senses. Some people were distinctly worried about him, but no one wanted to kill him.

A few people went from barely looking at Mark, to being suddenly very interested in him, but they refrained from acting on that interest. They had recognized him… maybe. Two of those people took out their phones after looking at him. Mark tried not to think about that too much.

The line went fast.

Mark looked into the open gateway, down a long, stone tunnel, where people walked inward and no one walked outward. This was the entrance; the other gate was the exit. Some guards told people to walk further away from others. A sign to the side told everyone there that they had to walk into the city with at least 4 meters between them and the next person.

It probably helped to keep out invisible monsters? Mark didn’t know. Maybe they had scanners in the walls? They probably did.

Soon, Mark was at the front of the line, facing a guard who sat behind thick glass, with a computer screen in front of him. There was no slit in the glass to speak through, but the guy had heard all the teams in front of Mark just fine.

Mark opened his mouth—

“Unknown man from the woods,” said the guard taking names, in a not-interested sort of voice. “The City AI tagged you.” The guy gestured to the side, to the other closed doors to the city. “Stand to the side please. Over there. A man in black and yellow will be with you shortly.”

Mark nodded and stepped to the side, saying, “Thank you.”

Mark didn’t have to wait long.

Soon, a hovercar appeared above the wall. It was an expensive-looking model, all solid white and sleek. It descended, past turrets and down the cliffside that was the wall, to land near the closed doors, only 30 meters away from Mark. The crowds watched as the doors to the hovercar opened and a pair of people stepped out.

Oh my gods. Uncle Alexandro.

Relief flooded Mark like a warm summer day, as Uncle Alexandro, Dad’s brother, rushed out of the car, stopped suddenly, his eyes going wide as he looked at Mark, and then, with tears in his eyes, ran up to Mark to grab him in a hug. Mark hugged his uncle and he was crying, too. Alexandro looked almost exactly like Dad. Same height, which was shorter than Mark now, same kinda face. Darker hair and a meaner sort of build, because he was healer who had to actually use his body to get around, and not a kinetic—

There were so many things to talk about, and Mark didn’t even know where to begin.

But Mark managed to say, “Hey, Uncle.”

Alexandro held him tighter and then he let him go and stepped back, tears in his eyes as he said, “Hey, Mark.” He chuckled. He smiled. He shook Mark’s shoulders, then let go, saying, “You got fucking BIG! We need to get you a shirt, though.”

Mark felt all sorts of good as he chuckled, too. “I thought I would have been colder, but it’s not been that bad—” Mark stopped suddenly. Mark turned a bit professional as he said, “A lot has happened.” He looked past Alexandro, to the paladin standing behind him.

The paladin was a woman, tall and lithe, with a silver breastplate and chainmail over robes. Her outfit seemed like it was more for looks than for function. Now that Mark was looking, Alexandro seemed to be wearing similarly professional, really nice clothes, though he wasn’t wearing a breastplate or anything like that; just a nice shirt, slacks, and a jacket.

Alexandro turned a bit professional, too. He wiped at his face as he sniffled and gestured to the woman, who stepped beside him. He said, “Mark Careed, my nephew, this is Inquisitor Willow Turner, my new bodyguard from the Collective.”

Mark stood up straighter. “Oh! Hello!” Mark held out a hand. “I heard Uncle switched bodyguards, or something?”

Willow shook Mark’s hand, smiling a little. “A pleasure to meet you, and yes, your uncle did switch his guardians on the List. I’m still adjusting, but I look forward to this posting.” She let go. “I heard that you ran into some trouble getting here, and so I’m your initial contact for whatever happened. I’d like to hear the whole story, please, but not here. We can get in the car and go back.”

Alexandro was a little mad for Mark as he asked Mark, “Did some people really try to kill you? That’s what the AI told Willow.”

Mark had a lot of questions, like why was Uncle even here right now, and if Willow was allowed to take testimony or was that a conflict of interest… There was a lot. But Mark just said, “It’s been a rough… 6 hours? I’m not sure. Addavein summoned me and then I was supposed to— I’ll tell the story in the car.”

There were a lot of people out here, and Mark’s Union sense was telling him that they were all looking his way, a lot.

Willow had been about to interrupt, but then she just smiled gently, and did a little bow. Alexandro had something of a similar reaction, but he smiled a lot wider.

Alexandro grabbed Mark in another hug, and Mark hugged him back, and soon they were walking to the car.

It was a nice car, and soon the car lifted off, straight upward, Mark’s Union sense twinging on absolutely everyone within sight. Some people were anxious. Some were curious. Some were jealous. There were other emotions in there that Mark could probably suss out if he wanted to, but he did not want to sense those emotions at all. None of them were ‘kill kill kill’, so Mark safely discarded them.

Alexandro was full of love, and Willow was full of worry, and that was enough to know.

Seated in a nice, plush seat, Mark asked the first question, “You both look like you came from someplace expensive— And holy shit! You’re a True Healer, Uncle Alexandro! Why the heck are you 44 if you can de-age people?!”

Alexandro chuckled, and then he laughed. “We see each other for the first time in years, and that’s the first question you ask?”

“It’s a decent question!”

“What’s wrong with being 40-ish! People respect you at this age.”

Willow accelerated the car into the sky and they crested the wall of Memphi, all 250 meters of it, and suddenly Mark saw the metropolis that was home to 45 million people.

Memphi was a major city. Tier 4! Orange City was only tier 2. Those extra two tiers really showed, in the skyscrapers and raised trams and hovercar traffic everywhere. Green fields stretched in the distance, and smaller cities were out there, among the green hills and across from the wide, wide Mississippi River.

Mark stared. It was all so much.

“There’s a lot to see out there, Mark.” There was hope in Alexandro’s voice. “If you want to stay. If you want to move here, permanently.”

Mark easily, happily, said, “I want to move here eventually, yeah. I don’t think I can go back to Orange City.”

Alexandro looked relieved. He grinned. He asked, “But?”

“But I need to go back to Daihoon. I was going to do an expedition there, and… There’s a lot to talk about.” Mark looked at Willow, and asked, “Can I tell you about the people who tried to kill me? Or is that a conflict of interests?”

“Though the actions of the humans are a concern, it is a lesser concern to the movements of Addavein, and that is where I would like to start.” Willow said, adding, “This is being recorded by the Memphi City AI, for corroboration with COFR, just so you know.”

Alexandro said, “Wait wait! Here.” He opened up the back seat of the car and took out an extra shirt. And then he looked at Mark, and he paused. “This is not going to fit you. Uh.” He went back into the back seat and grabbed a blanket. “Here you go.”

Mark smiled as he wrapped the blanket around himself. “Thanks. I… uh… I ran into monsters and their prey and I salvaged clothes from dead people. The meeting with Addavein was kinda—” They both looked at him with worried expressions. Mark rapidly added, “I cleaned the clothes!”

Alexandro blinked. And then he strongly said, “That’s not what I was worried about, Mark. I’m worried about you. And if you’re okay.” He turned to Willow and said, “We can hold off on the interview for now.”

“No no no. Let’s do this,” Mark said, as he held the blanket around him. “I’ve done fast interrogations before. This is fine. And yes, Addavein is a worldwide concern.”

Alexandro was concerned. He said nothing.

Willow waited.

And Mark began, “At something like noon, on Worldly Road, in Citadel Freyala, in France, I signed up for the Slayers, first, and then for the Villain role in the Hero/Villain Program. Somehow Addavein caught wind of the villain-thing not 5 minutes after I left the Crystal Tower building. So there I was, on Worldly Road, and I got a call from a restricted number…”