“Why didn’t you tell me you were the Iron Duke’s son?” Tarnys hissed under his breath while they traversed the interior of the Moonstone Keep.

“Because I’m not,” Leonidas murmured back while still trying to wrap his head around what just happened.

“The Dusk-Lord—!”

“He’s my grandfather,” Leonidas cut in flatly, and while taking a breath to steady his nerves. “Besides, what does it matter? I’m not him, and I’m clearly not like him, so stop freaking out. You’re supposed to help me get ready for the Arena, right?”

“You’re lucky I’m even still talking to you!” Tarnys shot back angrily.

Leonidas stopped at that and reached out to take Tarnys’ arm when he did, forcing the shorter elf to stop with him. Tarnys slapped Leonidas’ hand away when they stopped, but didn’t walk away, and simply glowered at him instead.

“Firstly, I can’t choose who my family are. Would you treat the Princess the same way just because you disapprove of her brother?”

“That is not remotely the same th—!”

“More than that,” Leonidas continued undeterred, “you’re acting as if I completely deceived you. I saw you out there in the fields, Tarnys. You suspected something. Don’t act as if you didn’t.”

“I thought perhaps you had a relationship with the Reaper’s Shadow,” he admitted in an angry murmur, “but not a blood relation!”

“I can’t change my family, Tarnys, any more than you can make the Blues magically disappear. What I can do, though, is try to be better than them—and better than their legacy. My grandfather may be the Iron Duke, but my father is the Archmagus.” Leonidas sighed and reached up to run his right hand through his hair while Tarnys glared at him.

“My family isn’t defined by my pops’ choices, Tarnys, and it’s just as bigoted to be angry at me for a relationship I have no control over, as it would be for the Princess to pin the blame for the Blues’ actions on you or yours.”

“Her Highness would never be so petty!” the elf objected angrily.

“So maybe follow her example?” Leonidas suggested more calmly than he felt.

Tarnys’ expression flickered when he spoke, and then the elf abruptly cursed under his breath and reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “You have no idea how much blood the Iron Duke has spilled. He’s wiped out entire colonies, Leonidas! You do not have any comprehension of how much our people despise him.”

“I accept that,” Leonidas said with an ache in his heart at the thought of his warm old pops being the fantasy race’s equivalent to a certain dejected painter. “I don’t fully understand it, yet, but I’m willing to listen. All I’m asking for is the chance to show you that I’m not my grandfather. Didn’t you come to Earth—to Terra, rather, to make your own mark on the world? I’m sure that had to have been part of it.”

Tarnys stared at him for a long moment, and then cursed again and looked away from him with a glower.

Leonidas said nothing, and let the elven warrior think. He’d said his piece. Any more would just be badgering.

Finally Tarnys turned back to him.

“The Dusk-Lord thinks you can be more than your bloodline, and your father—as you rightly pointed out—is part of the Unity Coalition’s leadership. For those reasons, and the example of my princess, I will give you a chance, Leonidas.” Tarnys said with clear hesitation, but with a sense of acceptance as well. “One chance, and only one,” the elf continued warningly, “to show me who you are. I… did not dislike you, prior to learning this, and I would like to not dislike you again.”

“That’s all I’m asking for,” Leonidas said with suppressed relief. “I don’t know literally anyone else here. You’re the closest thing I have to a friend.”

Tarnys snorted quietly at that. “I almost feel bad for you, now.”

“Should you? For all that I’m not like them, Tarnys, we are family.” Leonidas said carefully. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but aren’t you worried what might happen to Dawnhaven if I die in the Arena? Isn’t the Dusk-Lord?”

Tarnys gave him a hard glance, and then sighed.

“You really are out of touch,” the elf muttered. “If nothing else, that reassures me more than anything else you’ve said.” Tarnys sighed and fixed Leonidas with a firm look. “It’s no secret that your Grandfather has murdered colonies, and it’s no secret that your father’s ‘Coalition’ treats its non-human members as second tier citizens.”

“Well that sounds categorically awful,” Leonidas muttered.

“It is, but that isn’t the point,” Tarnys said with another mild drop in tension. “Dawnhaven regards both the Coalition and Alliance as threats, but we fear neither—because we are not like the other colonies. Your grandparents, parents, and sister are at the top level of power for their respective factions, and yet they couldn’t even stop a Lance of our Duskguard. It is no secret that our Dusk-Lord and Dawn-Lord are powerful, Leonidas… but they are not the only ones.”

“So then what separates Dawnhaven from the others?” Leonidas asked with genuine interest.

“The other colonies, for the most part, came here to found new settlements. Dawnhaven came to found a new nation, and we brought the resources, personnel, and military force needed to ensure that we succeeded. Our people are not new to Incursions, Leonidas. This is not an experiment, this is a process, and I assure you: it will take more than your aggrieved family and their sycophants to truly threaten Dawnhaven.”

“I see. So, basically, my family connections mean nothing?”

“Precisely zero, in terms of guaranteeing your life.” Tarnys agreed with a sudden halt, and a thoughtful look at Leonidas. “Which is actually, now that I think about it, a rather excellent mark in your favor. You truly are worthless as an enemy agent.”

“Yeah, thanks, I think.” Leonidas said while Tarnys resumed walking, and he followed. “So, can you tell me what I need to do next? The Aetherium store, right?”

“That’s part of it,” the elf said in a more calm tone, though there was still tension in his voice. “Before that, though, you need to decide how you want to fight. There are many options, and—”

“Spellsword.” Leonidas said immediately. “I was trained, sort of, to use a sword before the Incursion hit. I also really want to use magic, so…”

Tarnys nodded despite the interruption. “That’s a good start, then. My next question is what sort of Affinity you have. That’ll be important for your purchases.”

Leonidas hesitated at the question, and then grimaced. He didn’t want to reveal too much, but if he wasn’t honest it could end up biting him firmly in the arse.

“Psi.” he said while bracing himself for some melodramatic response.

“Oh? The same as the Dusk-Lord, then.” Tarnys said with a tone of consideration. “A rare affinity to find among warriors, though that’s primarily because most people find it too alien to use properly. Haelfenn, especially, prefer Elemental Affinities as a collective. More natural magic sings to our blood.”

Leonidas let out a silent breath of relief at Tarnys’ words. He’d worried he’d managed to somehow acquire some special Affinity, which would have only raised questions he didn’t want to answer.

“You must have a high Willpower and Intellect to have unlocked Psi as your Affinity,” the elf continued obliviously. “That’ll serve you well in the Arena, given what you’ll be up against. Okay. Next step, what are your Archetype, Ambition, and Aspect?”

“What part do those play?” Leonidas asked instead of answering, and followed Tarnys down the steps when he began the descent.

“Well, your Archetype will affect your equipment and ideal weapons. Your Ambition… Well, I suppose that one isn’t really that important. Ambition is largely just a guidestone, for most of us. Mine, for example, is ‘Leader’. It’s why I’m a Dagger-Master, actually.”

Leonidas nodded along while Tarnys spoke, and posed a carefully casual question while they descended the stairs. “Are there different levels of each Ambition?”

“Well of course,” Tarnys responded with a snort. “There are more rare and unique Ambitions for everything. For Leader, for example, there’s things like Noble or even Commander, but those are very hard to find outside of truly special bloodlines. You need a very specific and very special background for the System to offer something as high as Noble. I’ve heard of higher ones, but I think they’re one in a million or rarer.”

“Oh, really? That’s interesting.” Leonidas said while rationalizing the lie he had to tell. “I ended up getting a Leader one, too, actually. I was curious if it evolved or not, but…”

“Maybe I was wrong about you after all, Leonidas. If the System thinks you can be a leader, you must have a strong character.” Tarnys said thoughtfully, and with a nod of consideration. “As for your other question, well… It can evolve, but it’s very rare. If you’re lucky, you may go up as far as Commander or even Governance, but most of our Ambition is based on appointment rather than inherent right. We’ll never achieve the higher grades, because we haven’t got the background—nor the achievements—for the System to think of us as capable of it.”

“That’s depressing,” Leonidas said sincerely.

“It’s a might-based reality, Leonidas. It is what it is.” Tarnys said while they moved on to the final set of stairs. “Now, what are your Achetype and Aspect?”

“Knight and Duelist.” Leonidas answered immediately. Sovereign had been the only thing he’d worried about, because of its implications and Tarnys’ own frayed trust in him, and he was glad to have found a way to dodge it. He was still surprised by how easily Tarnys had resumed a companionable banter, but Leonidas wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“Okay, those are pretty solid foundations.” Tarnys said with an impressed glance. “Knights have to have very strong ethical and moral foundations to be eligible for the class, and Duelists have to have a firm belief in both personal strength and personal autonomy. It speaks well to your character to have received both, actually.”

“Thanks,” Leondias said while filing away that information.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

The System’s judgments, it seemed, held a lot of weight with those used to its workings—and just revealing his Archetype, Ambition, and Aspect had all but reversed the damage his blood ties had done to Tarnys’ view of him. There was something to that, Leonidas realized, and mentally made note that he should explore it more in future.

“Now the most important question: do you have any Aetherium?”

“How much am I going to need?” Leonidas asked instead of answering, and while giving Tarnys a look of mostly genuine concern.

“The better equipment goes for about fifty coins at your level,” Tarnys said with a moment’s thought, “and the truly rare, truly powerful items will cost twice that or more.”

Woah. Am I rich?

“I think that should be manageable,” Leonidas said carefully. “I have about two hundred and fifty to play with.”

Tarnys gave him a surprised look, and then sighed.

“Given your family background, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. A gift?”

“Sort of,” Leonidas agreed noncommittally. “But, the store?”

“Ah, yes. You simply need to say ‘Store’ with Intent, and then start perusing. Everything to do with the same is based on Intent, capital ‘i’. It’s a phenomenon, not just a word.” Tarnys clarified while they crossed the Moonstone Keep’s expansive foyer, and drew a few curious eyes. “You need to be mentally focused on the action happening, while also saying the phrase to activate it. The Intent is actually more important than the spoken keyword. That applies to magic, too, by the way—so remember that.”

“Okay, so…” Leonidas focused on the air in front of him and spoke clearly. “Store!”

He had not claimed the 500 Aetherium he’d won from the System, but he simply hoped that willing it to claim the funds while he opened the store would be enough.

A new System window opened when he did, and his eyes widened.