She showed up in a form-fitting red dress—which, with her form, was quite a sight. Normally she turned heads down the street wherever she went, but now she stunned anyone who looked at her, including Zane.
She was even more gorgeous than normal. He wondered what the occasion was.
She strode up to him with purpose and greeted him with an unusually fierce kiss, like she was claiming him.
Zane blinked.
"Did you miss me?" she said.
Zane nodded.
She studied him for a moment, brow furrowed, like she was trying to figure something out.
"What's up?" said Zane.
"I thought I felt…" she trailed off, shook her head. "Never mind."
Then she drew him close, satisfied, and led him away. She was back to her warm self.
He wondered what that was about.
…For a moment there, he got the feeling someone—he wasn't sure who—was in quite some danger. But it passed.
There were posters plastered all over the Luminous Faction headquarters. In the past few months she'd gotten her elixir-making Institute set up. There she was, looking radiant, saying "I want you!" She looked something like Wonder Woman to Zane.
She'd set up a program to recruit Earthlings. Since Earth was an Ur-planet, folks here had unusually high potentials across a range of talents. Some folk who weren't so great at fighting turned out to to be good alchemists. They knew how hard Earth's heroes were working—she gave them a chance to help defend their home too. She got millions of sign-ups the first day.
"We'll need it," she told him. She hesitated, looking worried. "Yesterday there was a Grade 3 dungeon break right at the edge of World Tree territory—we lost a True God trying to put it down. Things are years ahead of when we thought it'd be, Zane. If the signs are right, this could be the worst Cycle in recorded history…"
Zane wasn't so concerned. He felt she didn't need to worry.
"Noughtfire said it goes both ways," he told her. "Their best grow strong really fast. But ours do too."
He told her about what he'd done the past few weeks.
"When they come, I'll be there."
There was a strange look on her face. She nestled her head into him and sighed happily.
"Only you could say something like that, and mean it," she told him. Out of any other man's mouth, she said she would've thought it was empty boasting.
But she knew Zane would back it up.
Leaning on him, he felt her worries slowly melt away.
They spent a pleasant afternoon strolling their territories.
***
Around evening, their path wound into the outskirts of the Luminous Faction. Reina seemed to have a destination in mind.
Earthlings waved everywhere they went. A few were visiting home. Zane and Reina saw the 'Starlit Defenders'—a squad of young Luminous Faction talents Zane had first met in San Diego—hard at working, sparring in a steel-bound sparring arena.
They'd all gone off to their own Great Factions now. But when duty called, they also vowed to come back and defend Earth.
As soon as they noticed Zane and Reina, they stopped their spar and pattered up.
"It's so wonderful to see you again—sir, miss!" said Cassie, a blonde Electricity Mage. The red-headed girl beside her bobbed her head.
Jake, a toned Wind swordsman, put a fist to his crystal breastplate. His eyes shone. "It'll be an honor to fight beside you on the front lines, sir! We'll be ready."
The burly archer Arjun nodded. "We saw your Ten-Man duel, sir. After that…we've got no excuse. We'll do you proud, just as you did for Earth."
They were all bright-eyed—Zane wasn't sure much sure what to do it.
Reina stepped up.
"Your efforts don't go unnoticed, Starlit Defenders," she said gently. "I'd like to thank you—as Reina, just a fellow citizen of Earth. Let's all do our best."
The Defenders beamed.
After that, Zane and Reina took a fork in the road, delving deeper into the forest. Soon the trees lengthened, darkened, grew snared with thick vines, and the dirt path vanished beneath their feet.
They made their way to a clearing.
"Remember this?" said Reina. She looked up at him; there was a mischievous twinkle in her warm brown eyes. It took Zane a second.
It felt like it came from a lifetime ago.
A warehouse loomed out of the dark forest: a giant rusted block, sparking weakly with low level electricity laws. Tesla Coils sizzled at the top, half-toppled over. A square of darkness loomed, leading inside.
The last time Zane had been here the place had been studded with craters. But now a fresh lawn of grass matted the ground—in parts it was overgrown. A few rabbits hopped about.
This was where it had all started. The warehouse he'd worked in, then fought in…
"This is where we met," murmured Reina. "The first time I saw you I knew. You just seemed so solid to me… that hasn't changed in all this time."
She lay her head on his chest, sighing happily. Then looked up at him. "You were more wild back then, though."
He remembered their adventure—clearing out the 1st floor, toppling that golem of warehouse crates. Then beating cable-octopus-thing on the second floor. Nearly being electrocuted, throwing himself in front of it to take a blow meant for Reina.
It'd been a life-or-death threat then. It couldn't have been more than Level 30.
It was pretty strange to think about.
"Even then I could tell," said Reina. She patted Zane's chest. "You've got a good heart, Zane."
There was a pause.
She looked up at him again—there was that look in her eyes. "What did you think of me?"
He thought about it.
"You were sure of yourself when we fought," he said. "You always seemed to know what you were doing."
He tended to like figuring out fights once he was in the midst of them, feeling things out, coming up with stuff as he went. But it was clear to him even from the first few Boss fights she was better with the bigger picture stuff.
"Anything else?" said Reina, cocking her head.
"You had good timing."
"Not related to fighting?"
Zane blinked. There was a longer pause this time.
"I thought you were a perfect woman," he said slowly. "Very put-together. Too good for those lackeys with you."
He frowned, remembering her fan club—remembering the things more than a few of them were feeling toward her. He kept going. "…You were the kindest person I met. I felt lucky you wanted to join me."
It felt pretty clumsy to Zane, saying it aloud. But she looked happy.
He also remembered thinking she was very hot, but he wasn't sure whether to add that bit.
"Oh, Zane," she sighed.
She took him by the arm and led him inside the abandoned warehouse.
𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝕦𝕡!
𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟜𝟝𝟙 -> 𝟜𝟝𝟚
***
That same trip back, Zane found out that three new earthlings had cleared the Top 70 of the Rising Dragon Rankings after breaking through. Emeka Eze, Yuki Urabe, and the D'Angelo Hall. He and Reina heard the news cuddling on a sofa, watching the World Ranker Network.
Becca and Tyler—who had cut their teeth on the Zane beat—had been promoted to the primetime anchors.
***
After quite a pleasant weekend, Zane went back to the Barbarian Sage's home planet.
It was time for the final stretch.
They were addressed a few short months to go before the end of Zane's first stint here.
It was timed to coincide with the Festival of Might. When all the greatest fighters in the Steelheart Conclave came together to show off the strength they'd built that year.
***
ᴘʟᴀɴᴇᴛ ᴘᴜʟʟ
"Pull!" roared the Sage. And Zane heaved.
The Moon behind him—a behemoth of bleaksteel, packed to a whopping 16P of weight—stayed put.
Zane strained harder, clamped two fists down on the chains, and pulled with every last ounce of his strength.
For a moment the Moon wobbled…
And Zane completed the rep.
A new personal record—now about a third of the way through the moon lineup.
"You're running a little ahead of schedule, lad," said the Sage, tossing him a chunk of peak Sky-grade steel. "You keep it up—we'll get you atop at least one of those damned Steles, or my name's not the Barbarian Sage!"
***
ᴘʟᴀɴᴇᴛ ᴘʀᴇss
Zane hissed out a deep breath, sweating heavily.
It shot out in of steam—the compressed manifestation of his exertion. Shooting up through the gaps in the tectonic plates, rising like a geyser up the ocean floor…
The Great Plains continent was the largest continent on Planet Press. It spanned a quarter of the planet, housing hundreds of millions. Peppered with mountain ranges and deserts and giant lakes—a world unto itself, about the size of Australia.
Slowly, it rose and fell.
Most every one of those millions knew what that meant.
One of the plains, there was a tribe of windwalkers called the Deep Sky Tribe.
A boy named Hei, just six years old, was startled awake by the tremors. But his grandpa, stoking the fire pit on the other side of the bison-hide tent, just chuckled.
"Don't be scared, little one. The tremors are a sign of our guardian Zane growing stronger," said his grandpa in a creaky, hoarse voice. "Soon, he'll rise to protect our world—and worlds far beyond—from the forces of darkness."
"Really?"
"Mm."
Little Hei looked up at the stars outside, clutching a ragged blanket. Thought about all those distant worlds—and what it would take to protect them. He was having trouble wrapping his mind around it.
"Woah…" The fear in his little green eyes turned to wonder and hope.
Meanwhile, 1,000 miles underground, the Guardian in question was hard at work.
Zane roared. Locked out trembling arms.
And it was done.
He managed to grind out a single rep on the 16P continent. His strength was up over six times since this had all begun.
"Won't be long now until you outgrow this place," sighed the Barbarian Sage, looking around, hands on hips. He seemed wistful.
"In a year or two, we'll only come down here for extra training, I'll bet. After that, to get stronger, you'll have to go out there."
The Sage nodded up above. "Beyond the Conclave—into the Desolate Wilderness."
He cracked a grin. "We're almost there, lad. You just keep up the pace!"
Zane did.
For now, here, there were still gains to be made.
𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕦𝕡!
𝕋𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕟'𝕤 𝔹𝕠𝕕𝕪, 𝔽𝕚𝕣𝕤𝕥 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕞 𝕍𝕀𝕀 -> 𝕍𝕀𝕀𝕀