Wovan teleported them past the masses crowding outside his Territory. It was the second safest place to be on the corrupted planet, outside of actually entering its boundary as one of Arthur’s allies. It had taken a while to get here and had cost him an arm, but Arthur was finally ready to return to Earth.

  He stood before the realm gate that would take him home, a private one Iris had hired for this exact purpose. It wasn’t especially different to the one that had brought him here, slightly smaller, and a rich blue instead of dark orange. The energy it exuded was also less potent than its counterpart, which reminded him that he had a pretty major problem.

  Before coming to Haadran, Arthur had already been suffering from the lacking ether density on Earth. Since then, he’d gone up almost 50 levels, advanced through his second refinement and evolved once. As fast as Earth's advancement was, Arthur had grown far faster. The planet simply could not support him any longer.

  Two days ago, this would have been a serious problem. Since creating The House Of The End, the issue has been alleviated somewhat. Any planet he placed his house in was one wherein he wouldn’t suffer from ether deprivation. The uncertainties arose from the exact wording of the ability.

  'Any planet where the house is rooted.'

  Could he just summon the house temporarily and enjoy the benefit it provided, or would he have to use one of his limited ‘seed’ slots first?

  “You seem to have realised the problem,” Iris said, walking to stand aside him. “As economical as your unique species might be with energy, Earth is too small for you now.”

  She had a sad smile on her face, the kind that spoke of understanding born through a shared experience, though he did wonder how that applied with the fae princess.

  “I brought two charged Etherious nodes with me. They’re mid-tier 2, so they should hold you over for a few days unless you start throwing magic around. I’ll have more nodes delivered before they run out of energy.”

  Arthur took the stones from her outstretched hand and marvelled at how different they were from his own. They were crystal blue and ice-cold to touch, compared to the dull brown sheen his own had taken on.

  “They were charged on a corrupted ice-planet,” Iris answered his unasked question. “The dazzling look and temperature come from the ice affinity ether the stone has absorbed as opposed to the earth and heat of your own.”

  “They’re very pretty,” Arthur said, “but I won't be needing them. Something tells me they’re far too valuable to be wasted on something so trivial.” He passed them back to Iris. She reluctantly took them, but didn’t look too pleased about it.

  “Can I have them, Iris?” Gaia shouted excitedly, jumping up to try and snatch them from her hands.

  “No, you can’t, sweetheart. They’re not good for you. You’ll have to wait a few years before you can take these,” she told the young girl, holding the stones out of reach. Iris turned back to Arthur. “I take it this has something to do with your new house that everyone's been talking about.”

  Arthur nodded before going on to explain exactly what his new Soul Splinter could do, though he did keep a few important details to himself.

  “That’s completely busted, you know that, Art. And here I was wondering how you managed to beat Duncan. With the odds so stacked in your favour, you’d be hard pressed to lose," Iris marvelled. "And it's self-propagating too. I can understand why The Council put limitations on it. At least they gave you permission for Earth. Have you thought about where you're going to put it?”

  Arthur nodded. “I was on the fence at first, but the recent troubles we’ve had with the vampire's demands really sealed the deal. They might not be hostile now, but I’ll never forget how they established their Territory. I’ll make sure they can never even think about stepping out of line again.”

  Iris whistled appreciatively. “You're going to plant your home in their Territory, aren’t you. That's a bold move. Are you sure it's wise?”

  Arthur chuckled. “It might not be wise, but I think it's prudent. I’ll be the sword always hanging over their necks, my artificial Territory against their natural one. Besides, I lived there first before they trashed my place.”

  “Your caution is wise,” Iris replied. “The vampires won’t like it, though. You'll be antagonising them all?”

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Arthur smiled. “Let’s be real, they were never going to like me anyway. At least now, I'm giving them a reason to hate me. They’ll have to think twice before betraying us now. If they are truly the allies they claim to be, my house will be nothing but beneficial for them.”

  Gaia tugged at his shirt sleeve. “I think you're forgetting something, brother.” Arthur flinched at the word. It would take a while for him to get used to being called brother again.

  “And what might that be, Gaia?” Arthur asked with a bemused smile.

  Gaia pouted. “My permission. You can’t just plant things on me without asking me first.”

  “Oh, but I can. That’s the privilege that older brothers get. They can just do things without asking first.”

  “But I’m older than you, Auntie Alyssia said so. I’m over four billion years old."

  Arthur shook his head. "Those are planet years. They don't count. You're only two weeks old in human years."

  Gaia looked to Iris for confirmation. "Is that how it works?"

  The fae shrugged. "Sorry, girl. Those are the rules. I didn't make them."

  Gaia crossed her arms and descended into a sullen silence, though she didn't protest the unfairness of it all. Arthur finally relented and descended to the Avatar's height.

  "Okay, you win, sister."

  It was the first time he'd called someone that in over eight months, and the word felt strange in his mouth. Still, if the young Avatar thought of him as her brother, it wasn't very difficult to reciprocate. He'd seen the way Gaia looked up to him, that small reassurance she had that she wasn't alone in the wider universe. Arthur wouldn't take that away from her.

  He looked into Gaia's eyes and took on as solemn a tone as he could. "I humbly ask that you give your poor brother permission to build a house on your surface."

  Gaia giggled, her whole face lighting up, before she threw her arms around Arthur's neck. "Of course, silly. I just wanted you to ask first."

  He caught Iris' eyes over Gaia's shoulder. The fae princess was struggling not to smile and failing badly. Arthur slowly got back to his feet. Gaia, who seemed intent on continuing to hold onto him, rose with Arthur until she was dangling from his neck. He'd noticed Gaia liked to be carried around everywhere, a habit he suspected she'd picked up from Alyssia.

  Well, if his younger sister wanted to be carried, who was he to deny her? Taking her under the arms, he placed Gaia on his shoulders, where she immediately decided to grab two fistfuls of Arthur's hair. It would have hurt if every strand of his hair weren't more durable than the strongest tanks Earth had produced to date.

  Kneeling to step through the realm gate, Arthur finally set foot back onto Earth. He'd prepared himself for the sudden drop in ether density, but he still managed to almost faceplant onto the hardwood floor. He was standing in the decking area for a log cabin in the middle of the woods, not a bad place to return to after his little adventure on Haadran.

  Arthur took a deep breath of fresh air. It was nothing like the desert planet, or the refined oxygen he'd breathed on Lady Melania's metropolis during their battle, but it had a distinct flavour, that unique Earthiness that tasted like home. It was good to be back.

  Judging by the temperature and the sun's rays pathetically attempting to warm up his skin, Arthur guessed he was somewhere in England. He wasn't well-travelled, or anything, but he'd recognise that pathetic excuse for a sun anywhere. The fiery ball of gas truly struggled to heat this place up. He turned his attention to the System message fighting for his attention. It was predictably bad.

  Once again, Arthur was on the clock. Sure, he could use the Etherious node in his pocket to supplement his time, but he'd gone through significant trouble to fill it up. Edward Agroth, and by extension, The Guild of Fringe Walkers, owed him something for it. Meeting Igneus, the guild leader, had disabused him of the notion that the organisation would do him much good, though he'd recently learned that Igneus was one of the Originator's many incarnations, and one of the more prejudiced ones at that. He wouldn't get his hopes up yet, but apparently, his true form had a much better personality.

  "How long will you last?" Iris asked.

  "A little over half an hour."

  The fae princess sighed. "That's a shame. I was hoping to show you around. This log cabin was made as a perfect replica of the cottage you went and destroyed. We'll have to leave the tour for later, I guess."

  Things progressed very quickly from there. Iris set up a ritual to mask their presence a little, and then Wovan began teleporting them across the globe, five small hops that crossed thousands of miles and brought them to the outskirts of the Territory of Blood. The place had changed significantly since he'd last seen it. For one, it was over ten times larger, nearing twenty miles across. His assassination of the previous Territory Lord had destroyed much of the place, but they'd done some remodelling since.

  Arthur wasn't one to stereotype, but the Gothic architecture, cobbled pathways, pervasive fog and looming castle truly fit the vampire aesthetic to a T.

  Gaia tugged his hair. "I don't like this place," she murmured.

  Arthur reached up and patted her hand. "That's something we can both agree on. Don't worry. It'll look better after I'm done remodelling it."

  Arthur could feel the hostility in the air. The vampires knew he was here, and they made their displeasure known. It was a good thing he wasn't here to make any friends.

  "C'mon, Gaia," Arthur said. "Let's go meet our new neighbours."

  Links to the audiobooks.

  Etherious: Originator

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  Here

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