They were back at the table now, with Nick sitting at the end of it. Anja had put up a good fight, and he had enjoyed her demonstrating her swordsmanship as well as testing his own. He didn’t fully display his master swordsmanship, as he hadn’t needed to. To do so felt a little like bullying at that point.

  Her Concepts were strong, and while they felt like they should synergize well, they didn’t. Each time she had carried the cold onto him to restrain him with her blade, she had actually lost her tempo. She was stronger without it.

  As far as her looks, she was a beautiful elven woman with white hair and blue eyes, and her skin had a light blue hue much like his own. She wore a dark blue crystalline armor that he supposed was made of this refined bloodfrost. Many of the other wraiths had white, black, or blue-black hair but wore similar equipment.

  In all, he was excited that he would get a dozen or more of these powerful demonfolk knights, loyal to his kingdom and himself. They should actually feed into his Path, empowering him with their unwavering, oath-bound loyalty. He just had to finish up these challenges now.

  Shara complained in Nick’s Soulscape, “I hope I’ll get to duel her later. It sucks I had to miss out on this.”

  The Star Oni girl was in her personal chamber, taking various tonics from her father’s pouch, attempting to enhance her bloodline and establish another Trait. She had a number of benefits from her parents that followed her to Orion, but she still hadn’t gotten such a wide array of Traits from the numerous runs through the Ordeal or Trials like Nick’s other wives. Thankfully, Myron busted out his sparkly bag, ready to make up for that.

  No doubt, Elyra and Myron themselves would do this too. Sable, Luna, and Fang were each off helping with the monsterfolk, but they would be doing the same thing as Shara was right now soon enough. Rebecca and Kaya were the two closest to ready to ascend, with Eirwen not far behind them. They would all likely ascend two weeks apart at most, but this felt like an eternity right now when there were enemies at the gates.

  Nick replied to her, “You’re doing something much more important, preparing yourself for ascension. I’m sure both of the knight captains will be happy to duel all of those that wish it after I win them over. Just focus on yourself for now.”

  Eirwen told Shara, “You’re not the only one trying to catch up, Shara. It’s not a race, and we’re a team, remember? Just take your time for now. The merchants arrived with the final shipment of Bottled Concepts, so we’ll all be advancing shortly, and then it’ll be easy for us all to help you in any way you need.”

  Nick had paid a pretty penny for some Bottled Concepts and ingredients to refine them to be delivered, purchased from Silverbrook. Lumos would soon be at work to help shift those they purchased to be more valuable for his wives.

  Shara replied, “Thanks, Winny.”

  Anja had no idea about their internal communications. She said, “Now, for the Test of Balance, as Henrik so helpfully pointed out, you must partake of the chalice.” Suddenly, a large, frozen, icy chalice appeared in her hand, and she set it on the table in front of him.

  A swirling, blue and black liquid pooled up inside it, ready to be drunk. Nick could feel the essence just wafting off of it, and it felt like a true treasure; its weight on reality was significant. He had talked big, but now he realized that this thing could actually be dangerous. It felt tainted or cursed.

  But actually, Nick was somewhat drawn to it. He did want to drink it. “What is it?”

  “This is the Chalice of Frostblood. Distilled from the blood of our ancestors, drinking it exposes one’s soul to both the darkness of sin and the cold stillness of purpose, the wisdom of our ancients. As mentioned, our lord may not drown in light or darkness. This means embracing the shadow without surrendering to it.”

  Nick frowned down at it. “So it’s a…blood slushie.”

  Anja chuckled. “Not quite? It’s refined into a wine to become something more. But yes. The essence of our blood is within it.”

  Rebecca leaned over and looked at it, sensing it with her aura. “My. So this would probably kill someone like me, who seeks purity. Conversely, it would push someone already evil further into darkness, freezing and corrupting them to where they may die outright as well.”

  Henrik chuckled. “You got it, Sister. Those worthy of leading us need to be… at least capable of a similar balance to us. When we swear our oath of service, it needs to be to a lord that won’t change their mind when he realizes he doesn’t like vampires.”

  Anja added, “You’re only required to swallow a single mouthful. However, the more balanced you are and the more that you can drink in one sitting, the more that you can benefit from the dense essence.”

  Nick was ready. “Alright then. Well, I guess there’s nothing for it.”

  As Nick touched the chalice, a prompt about the Test of Balance from Orion was given. It more or less said what the wraiths had already said, and it wasn’t all that different from the Test of Strength. He found it interesting that these were all Orion-sanctioned challenges, but he realized this was a part of why they may have even been able to bring it onto the Frontier Shard in the first place.

  He brought it to his lips and began to drink the substance. It was cold to his tongue, and the consistency was a little syrupy to go along with the cold bite. Almost like black mulberries, a cold port wine of sorts.

  As the liquid settled in his chest, his Path Core began to vibrate. The essence within it quickly made it through his body through his heartbeats, while other portions of the essence were drawn into his core. It was cold and heavy, the supernatural fluid coursing through his veins.

  Nick’s Heroic Concept activated nearly unbidden, and the light was brought out to meet the dark contained within. The light purified the darkness of its malevolence but allowed much of the dark to remain.

  The prison that was Archaen Law drew the purified dark essence in, empowering the chained spirits inside. Nick wasn’t really sure what was happening there, but it didn’t feel ominous. It felt more like the spirit’s purpose found a place in the stele and the chains. It was like the demonfolk ancestor’s spirits joined the prison, seeking Redemption.

  He found the chalice back on his lips, drinking the rest of it and dropping the empty cup onto the table, gasps erupting from around the room. His body was being tempered along with his spirit, and he needed all the fuel he could get.

  The blood essence was filtered into his body, and like the demon cores he was munching, his body hungrily drank it down. It took some time for his body and Concept to process all of the malevolence and dark essence, but eventually, he felt a shift–just as he was running low. The crown that was the sign of his path and absorbed into his Path Core manifested and shone, showing his sovereignty.

  Nick was a heroic king, true. But his goal, since he discovered the power of combining the dark and the light, had been to become a master of darkness as well. In order to become a true beacon of light for all, he needed to embrace the dark, to embrace the gray in all people. He couldn’t be a hero to only those who were good and perfect. He had to accept that lesser evils sat in the hearts of all men and women. Even if it made his spirit noxious.

  And that included himself.

  This chalice was empty, and the Test was marked as completed.

  Nick picked it up with a frown. “Can I get more? This was some good stuff right here. Way better than eating demon cores, the taste is actually pretty good. With some more of this, I may actually get a benefit to my Concept!”

  Anja looked at him incredulously. “You eat demon cores?!”

  Nick tisked. “Don’t judge me–yall are over here drinking our blood, and I didn’t say nothin’! Why can’t I eat your cores? Fair is fair. So can I get some more of this or not?” He wiggled the empty chalice.

  Henrik laughed and clapped slowly. “Nice work! Looks like this new boss of ours can handle quite a bit of darkness. I’m going to like this lord, Sis. To answer your question, the answer is not…right now, the chalice only refills as part of a Test as judged by Orion. But we can get you some when the Open Relay opens, or perhaps, if you obtain the right structures…we may be able to make it happen sooner.”

  Nick sighed at that. By then, he wouldn’t need it anymore. While it wasn’t enough to advance his Concept to High Mastery, it definitely improved both his Heroic Redemption and his Frost King Concept. Then, his Will of the Heroic Frost King Trait had increased its gift by an entire 1 Body and 1 Soul. It was pretty damned good for drinking a cup of wine that didn’t taste bad.

  Anja cleared her throat, trying to recover from the shock. “Yes, of course…and I apologize, Milord; I didn’t mean to…disparage you for eating demon cores. It was just a surprise. Most non-demonfolk cultivators would either be poisoned and die, or the impurities would be a severe detriment to their cultivation. But, seeing how easily you mastered the Test of Balance, I can understand why now.”

  Eirwen giggled, her ears wiggling. “Hubby is just sensitive about the demon cores, pay his grumpiness over it no mind.”

  Nick cleared his throat. “Alright, so that’s two for two now. What’s next–you said the Test of Vision, right?”

  Anja nodded. “That’s right. And for that, we’ll need my partner to administer this Test.”

  Anja stood up and unwrapped her sword from the belt, the sheath and ceremonial twine still on it. The hilt had an odd area beneath the crossguard and above where the grip widened that almost looked like a sort of cold, blue flesh. And he realized he had thought right, as a bloodshot eye opened from it and looked around–before meeting Nick’s eye. And the sword started floating on its own volition after Anja let go of it and went back to sit down.

  Nick narrowed his eyes on the sword. “Your…partner, you say.”

  She nodded. “That’s right. While most of our knights you see here wield blades of bloodfrost, the true weapon of the Knights of Keltharis is the Sageblade. We were only able to bring two along, one for each of us captains, but we may be able to create or obtain more in time after we give our oaths.”

  “I see it is…alive. What makes it special?”

  “An ancestor’s wisdom, a spirit has been embedded into the blade. We bond with it, and it becomes a part of us. It guides and advises us and helps cast magic that we may be ill-suited to train in order to accomplish, or just helps free up our control of magic so that we can focus on our essence and swordsmanship during battle.”

  “I can see how that would be useful. What kind of magic can it accomplish that you can’t?”

  “Usually, spells that are suited for neutral mana–because ultimately, the Sageblade only has access to our essence, our affinities.”

  Nick nodded. “I see. Like tracking, sensory, and maybe some forms of divination, I take it? Useful.”

  “That’s right. Now, the Test of Vision is meant to establish if your dominion, your goals, and your capability are worthy of our service. As a King of Orion who walks the Path of Kings, I’m sure this is merely a formality. Should you pass and be willing to accept our Oath, we will then kneel and formally make you our liege lord.”

  “I see. Can I offer a Soul Pact instead?”

  “Of course. Our Oath is sworn on our blood essence and can be considered one already. But if you have some special requirement for us, we may be able to accommodate it depending.”

  “Alright. Let’s continue then.”

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  A prompt for the Test of Vision appeared. It seemed this Sageblade would commune with his spirit and mind, and he must open up to be Tested. Accepting, a series of images and feelings were transmitted.

  It reminded Nick of Seraphara’s Arch when he married Rebecca. The Sageblade was simulating various problems for his kingdom, moral conundrums where Nick was challenged. While Nick often took the high road, he could not be a hero to everyone at all times. There were times he had to make a compromise or give something up in order to protect the people he swore to protect.

  And while he personally could fight hard to overcome a given challenge, could he expect his Followers to fight and die for his ideals? And if his knights were given the choice of dying or committing a sin such as drinking the blood of those who hadn’t harmed them for their own survival…would he turn his back on them?

  A scenario played out where the knights were trapped in a Trial or situation where they were forced to struggle for survival and pissed off some elves. Nick stood up for them, even if it meant a struggle of his own.

  The truth was that Orion regularly put cultivators in such moral conundrums. If it was for survival, could it really be called wrong? Vampires were only slightly different in their need to consume what might be sentient or sapient peoples, if given no other options.

  At the end of the day, on Orion, defeating your enemies meant empowerment and personal progression. Theirs just went one step deeper than that, draining their opponent’s lifeblood and echoes of their spirits into their cold embrace.

  The Test of Vision didn’t demand perfection–only worthy dominion. Nick was able to accept the darkness of the Knights of Keltharis, as well as others that might appear in the future. And Nick provided limits, properly collaring their hunger, yet still utilizing it as the scenarios flashed before his mind.

  An apparition of a kingdom appeared around Nick, an image of an ascended Frosthaven. It was a beacon of hope and light and a castle of frost. A cloak or shroud of shadows overlapped a part of the city, the surrounding area resplendent and plentiful. The beacon of light reached into the sky, drawing heroes from not only around the Shard but from all of Orion.

  It was a safe haven for all people, a place of opportunity for those who sought to better themselves. Where evil challenged or danger lurked, the heroes would march and take on any difficulty. But there were limits. The heroes would compromise and pick their battles, for they had a duty to protect those they already served.

  Upon spotting the apparition, the knights all moved to the center of the meeting hall and kneeled on the ground facing him–the Test was completed. He stood and walked to the middle of the hall in front of the knights, and his eyes went white as he drew into his Soul Magic.

  “Knights of Keltharis, I offer you a Soul Pact. Accept and serve me as your Lord, swearing your frostbound fealty to me. In return, through Archaen Law, I shall protect your souls from death and help you maintain the balance of your spirits. With the power behind my kingdom, I will grant you the opportunity to become more.”

  Anja replied. “Through strength, balance, and vision you proved your path, your worthy dominion. In return, we give you our frost, our blood, and our blades. We accept your Pact. For Blood and Ice!”

  “For Blood and Ice!” The knights chorused.

  Nick’s Soul Pact layered itself over the visible knights, the white lights wrapping around their spirits. But along with the light show, the Sageblade lifted into the air, and an apparition of a frost giant, covered in armor and sitting on a throne, appeared.

  He recognized the man. It was the strange lord who granted him the Frost King’s Crown, the man he had formed a resonance with when he reached the Second Stratum.

  “Good work, Daughter and Son of mine. With this, the ancient promise has been fulfilled. I have one last message for you, Daughter. Let it be known that, should it be necessary, the young Noblefrost is under my personal protection. And I will declare it so as the Open Relay is established. Protect and help the young lord rise at all costs.” He paused for a moment, then added, “And enjoy yourself, my Anja. You’ll be happy to know your mother is still a bit frosty over your choice. And little Henrik…try not to enjoy yourself too much. When you focus and put in the effort, I know you’ll be an amazing knight. Respectable, even. I eagerly await tales of both of your glory. Farewell.”

  The apparition disappeared, and Anja looked shocked as the Sageblade flew back to her hands. “This… is a bit of a surprise.” She tucked the sheathed sword back into her belt loop, and many of the knights stood from where they were kneeling, including Anja and Henrik, but some remained kneeling.

  Nick knew these knights were somehow related to the king, but he was still surprised that he was related to Anja and Henrik. “That was your dad, huh. Ancient promise? What’s going on?”

  Anja frowned. “You met my father, he said. During your resonance, he managed to sense your ancestors–the Frostbound Ascendants. He believes he knew your mother and father, and so sending us here to aid you, should you be deemed worthy, fulfills an ancient promise of protection and service he made to them. That was why we came here of all places.”

  Eirwen asked, “Can you tell us more about this promise? The information we’ve received on the Archaen's history has been sparse.”

  Anja replied, “I don’t know much. Just that without the Archaens, the Knights of Keltharis may not exist as they do. They helped us find our way and establish ourselves. For that, we owed them a great debt. A lot more than a mere knight’s chapter, but it was at your parent or ancestor’s request.”

  Nick scratched his head. “He almost killed me, you know. But then he changed his mind and…gave me something, my Frost King’s Crown. I’m still a bit shocked he’s going through all this trouble even further.”

  Rebecca nodded. “Sending these knights here was costly, without a doubt.”

  Henrik blanched. “What! Almost killed you? He didn’t tell us this.”

  Nick told them the story of his resonance, where he appeared in the throne room and the giant had gripped his spirit like a vise but then gave him something special before sending him away. He remembered the mention of failed Eternals.

  Anja frowned. “Failed Eternals? I see. He has gotten a bit…frustrated with Orion lately–I doubt he would have killed you in truth. He likely wished to signal to the Keepers that he wasn’t going to play along much longer, that he wasn’t happy with them. The Keepers have been a bit all over the place lately with odd agendas, pushing resonance where there is very little. He calls it hollow or synthetic resonance, and they are establishing it for their own goals, whatever they are–I wasn’t privy to that information.”

  So Nick wasn’t the only one who had arguments with these Keepers. “Huh. Well anyway, you knights came here at a good time, kinda. Frosthaven here is doing pretty well, but there’s actually a lot of danger looming. We've got an army of demons in the mines to the Northeast we have to crush to fully claim it. Then, a Monster Kingdom to the West to defend against that is assaulting our keep. Finally, a Bandit Warlord to the southwest could be coming for us soon because we pissed him off. That’s in addition to having to climb the Ordeals or worry about Tribulation, of course.”

  Henrik laughed. “We knew about the Bandit Warlord. But a Monster Kingdom? Demons? This is awesome!”

  Anja elbowed her brother. “That’s enough, Henrik. It’s going to take us some time to get ourselves settled, but I came bearing a few extra gifts that might help you.”

  “Gifts? Well, why didn’t you say so?” Nick rubbed his palms together, getting excited.

  Anja chuckled. “I do apologize, Milord. But I wanted you to accept us on our own merits, not by what we brought. It was…important to me.”

  First, she brought out an odd…it almost looked like a tackle box or suitcase and placed it on the ground in front of him. It was sleek and dark blue-black, with latches and a carrying handle on the top.

  Anja gestured to it. “This is a reliquary. We believe you can use this. It includes our entire chapter of knights and some other treasures within, meant to nurture our knights. Quantities are limited, but it should be enough to manage for a while.”

  Nick whistled–now that it was placed in front of him, he could see the number of spirits stored inside. “Not bad. So over a hundred of you, then? I just have to…give them bodies, basically. No wonder you worded that oddly.”

  Anja frowned questioningly. “Milord?”

  “What did your father tell you about my people? I can sense falsities in your speech. You said they will arrive here once the oath is given, and I felt that there was something off about it. I just figured it was pointless to point out or argue.”

  Anja shared a look with Henrik. “Ah. Yes, Henrik and I were made aware you were likely an Archaen using an elaborate disguise, and he told us a little bit about your people’s history with our own. Father was just barely able to sense your mother’s bloodline when you encountered him. So I take it you have some means of using this reliquary? I was surprised when Father had me bring it to a Frontier Shard.”

  Nick nodded. “Yep. It’ll take some time, but I can work on giving these men and women some bodies.”

  Anja smiled at that. “Excellent. Next.”

  She brought out a glass bottle that almost looked like an elaborate perfume bottle and handed it to Nick–a Bottled Concept. “This is for you. Since you found resonance with Father, he knew you would find this interesting and valuable.”

  Nick handed it over to Jasmine for safe-keeping. “Very nice. You didn’t have more of the wine, but this could be even better.”

  Next, she brought out the elaborate golden cube and placed it in his hand with a smile. “This is the last. It is the knights and my personal gift to you. We won this from a Roaming Trial on the way here.”

  Nick smiled at her. “My thanks. An Ordeal Cornerstone from a Roaming Trial, really? Hm. Now I’ve got some more options. I was going to shift one or more of the Ordeals, but we’ve been struggling to pick Paths that accommodate most of our people. I was just thinking that you knights wouldn’t enjoy the Path of the Samurai very much.”

  Henrik shrugged. “It’s not too far off. We are a knight order that doesn’t require squires or support, however. I do believe the Samurai Ordeal can manage this, and we can appropriately be Tested.”

  Anja nodded, placing her hand on the Sageblade. “In a sense, our blade is our squire. We wraiths truly fight best when not limited by the need to maintain and protect Supporters.”

  Nick noted, “So you are a knight order that…does not really recruit, then? Squires are usually those that train to become knights too, don’t they?”

  Anja tilted her head. “Using the blood contained in the reliquary, we can convert those worthy into lesser wraiths. And with enough refinement of their body and blood, they can become full wraiths.”

  Nick was impressed that they could convert people, and that made him wonder about the Priestesses of Seraphara. Was it possible for them all to become angels or something? “Interesting. Anyway, if you’re knowledgeable about Paths, I could use some advice on this. I have a diverse people, and while five Ordeals seems like a lot, it’s challenging to encompass more than a dozen races with unique paths and strengths. Six will help with that, surely.”

  Eirwen added, “It certainly doesn’t help that three were locked in–either your two paths or Seraphara’s. Then the Shadow Hunter was locked in to stay related to shadows. Samurai is useful, but we were looking to make it more…encompassing of our various warriors.”

  Henrik replied, “That is certainly something our Sageblades can assist with. Their wisdom can help you find a great balance. I take it your Heritage came with many options?”

  Nick nodded. “That’s right. Too many options and not enough information. Though, I just got some more unlocked as I entered the Third Stratum. Still, it was difficult with so little to work with. This will help a lot, no doubt.”

  Anja said, “We’d be happy to help with this. Can you tell us more about the threats you are facing? Either way, it will take us some time for us to get situated in your city of Frosthaven. But I would like us to begin preparing for the threats to your city immediately.”

  Eirwen frowned at the knights standing there, some remaining kneeling as if to regain their strength. “I thought you just traveled for months to get here? Don’t you require some rest before you start your service? We need to get you situated with a place to stay and a meal, especially the injured fellow.”

  Anja shrugged. “My people require some rest after our trip, true. But the essence in our veins pumps with cold purpose. If there’s a threat lurking to your kingdom, we are meant to help our lord address it.”

  Henrik coughed. “Sis, I know you’re excited to finally be of service, and so are we. However, the men are exhausted–we just rushed double time to get here, remember? You can stick around with the lord here if you like and advise him–you are meant to stay by the lord’s side as his honor guard, right? But the rest of our men could use some rest and relaxation before they prepare for war, as it were.”

  That was an odd detail to Nick. “What does Henrik mean, Anja? You’re supposed to stay by my side? I suppose an honor guard does make sense, but I do have Kaya often serving this purpose already.”

  Anja nodded. “I’m one of two captains of the knights. But as the strongest among us, I am meant to be your honor guard, to give my life in your defense if necessary. Ideally, I would join you in your Ordeal runs to help protect and aid you, while Henrik leads the men more directly. It’s why there are two of us. As for Kaya, when it comes to honor guards, the more, the merrier among those trusted and capable.”

  Nick was impressed with that and could find that very useful when Anja was so skilled with her blade. “Ah, interesting. Makes sense. We did just so happen to have a slot available. I love Jeffrey, but he’s not quite at the level of talent and strength of our fighting family.”

  Eirwen chuckled. “And I do think he may be better off starting his own adventuring and climbing party. Why, I’d hate to keep him from those mantisfolk girls for so long.”

  Jasmine motioned to the knights, “In that case, allow me to lead you to your temporary accommodations. You’ll all receive climbing residences or stay at the knight order once it is established, no doubt, but for now we have a special hotel for Followers of Lord Noblefrost. Follow me.”

  Eirwen addressed Anja, “And you, let’s get out of this unfinished hall and head to our home. That way we can visit the Crown Sanctum and check out the options available to us.” She started leading her away, which surprised the elven woman.

  “A-Ah, yes, of course. Thank you.”

  “No problem at all! It’s nice meeting you–I’m Eirwen, but my friends call me Winny. And this here is Rebecca, and you met Kaya, right?”

  The Wraith’s arrival was a bit of a surprise, but Nick just gained some valuable allies, especially when combined with the numerous monsterfolk that joined his kingdom on this day. It would take some time before they could truly display their strength, but he was sure their gifts would produce dividends rapidly.

  In all, Nick was excited for the gain of powerful subordinates, even if their origin was a little strange. At the same time, he was becoming a little antsy. He wanted to head west to join the fight at their border with the Monster Kingdom. But he felt like without his wives, it wasn’t a great idea, far too risky, and he didn’t want them to miss out on the potential benefits.

  While he had confidence in escaping from any battle if it was too dangerous, especially with someone like Sable or Jasmine’s help, he knew that Orion could force him into a challenge where this was not the case.

  So he would have to wait a little while longer and trust his subordinates to manage the threats for now. He had already met up with them using his Soulscape and confirmed they were managing the threat, but he couldn’t help but worry. The probing attacks were frequent, and the mist kept expanding. They could easily be trying to lure them into a false sense of security before destroying their defensive fortress in one fell swoop.

  He would just have to count on his subordinates to handle the situation well.