The girls spent the next several hours talking over plans, discussing ideas, and circling the map as they tried to piece together the clues that I’d been able to collect to match the information that Valda already had.

  Most of the conversation was dominated by Rieka and Valda, as they had the most authority there, but Jane and Kassandra chipped in where they could based on their historical knowledge. It wasn’t until several hours after the fact that Shayla suggested the copper map that we had gotten long ago in the Shadow Mountain facility.

  It was just a lucky coincidence that, with the access to a dimensional pouch of her own, Kassandra had packed it away for safekeeping.

  The copper map was still covered with verdigris in most spots, but Kassandra, Jane, and Shayla set to work getting the patina scrubbed off with a lightly acidic solution while Rieka and Valda compared what features could be made out in the large sheet of textured copper to another map they had to try and discern what they could.

  There wasn’t much I could do at the moment. I’d offered to try and use my earth magic to remove the tarnish and buildup on the metal, but Kassandra had declined.

  “It’s not that I don’t trust you, Liam. But are you sure that you can only remove the verdigris and not the enamel or ink beneath it that might have important information?” she’d asked, and I couldn’t argue that point.

  Since things were quieting down and the girls didn’t really need me, I figured it was time to return home for a bit to Earth for a bit while they all slept, since it had gotten to the early hours of the day. The itch to keep building out my underground home was growing, especially with the opportunity to bring one of my girls over.

  I knew that I could have easily brought Jane with me to help with the construction and my mousy scholar would have jumped at the opportunity, but my pride told me that I should bring Kass over first.

  So after sharing kisses with my girls and getting promises that if another attack occurred that they’d call me to help, I rode the whirlwind of light and sensations back to Earth.

  Landing on the smooth stone floor of my new underground home neatly, I used Manipulate Element to check my surroundings and ensure nothing had shifted or changed in my little cave-home.

  What had been just a simple large room dug into the hillside and smoothed out was now far more than it had been.

  That initial open front area with the firepit was now my ‘living-room’ and had low stone benches set around it and smooth backs. They weren’t the most comfortable things to sit on for extended periods, but I’d met less comfortable park benches that still got plenty of use. My plan was to buy some of those all-weather outdoor cushions for them when I went into town next, as well as some natural blankets to help with warmth since winter was knocking on the door for the state.

  My bed had been relocated to a small alcove set in the wall, the stone frame supporting a new mattress and blankets that were plenty comfortable. The alcove had a small doorway and wall that separated it from the main room, giving me privacy if I had guests and to also help keep the warmth in while I slept.

  After getting the bedroom set apart, I’d created a sealed pantry set further back from the fireplace to store food in, and the cool stone worked fairly well like a refrigerator to store everything I needed in it.

  Even only a few feet underground and dug into the stone, the temperature was a constant and cool fifty-five degrees. The heat from a small fire would bring that up into the mid sixties easily enough if I wanted, though storing the firewood would be a bit of a pain.

  Kassandra had given me a lead on magical heating stones, which I planned to look into when they came back from the front. I wasn’t overly worried about it, though, as firewood could do the job easily enough. The one thing that I really missed was a solid Internet connection and some electrical appliances like a microwave or a stove. But honestly, those things weren’t such a big deal after spending so much time camping with the girls and living in their more feudal world.

  Using Manipulate Element in the scan was a habit I’d gotten used to after finding the first mouse that had wiggled in through my air vents. After that, I’d created a fine mesh of metal and set it in place to keep little marauders at bay. It didn’t prevent everything, since bugs could still get in, but I’d taken to using liberal amounts of peppermint oil and other natural remedies to keep them out of where they shouldn’t be.

  Stretching my arms over my head, I gave a sigh and then started walking around and uncovering the light stones that I had set into the walls and support pillars. Covering them up didn’t really affect the spell that powered them, but my habit was to turn lights off when you left, and that stuck.

  The glimmering bits of milky white crystal cast bright light over the room, leaving only a handful of shadows behind, usually defined by where the pillars themselves blocked the light. It had a strange feeling that honestly made me feel like a dwarf in a mine from some classic fantasy story.

  “Diggy diggy hole, digging my hole,” I mumbled before breaking off into a laugh and glancing around with my hands on my hips. “Should I start digging more? It wouldn't hurt to have a guest room, and a workroom would be nice, too. Somewhere secure to leave my gold and projects so they aren’t cluttering up my Dimensional Pocket.”

  It felt really good to own something like this, and the fact that I’d just be paying taxes on the land for now. Sure, I’d need to figure out what to do to list it as a residence, and I was sure I’d need to get the code inspectors out to declare it safe to live in and all that.

  Or maybe not, I thought with a grin. Off-grid housing like this… well there is a lot that can be done, and I don’t know that I need to have it inspected and the like. I could just keep hiding out here. I doubt that the county is going to care enough to come and inspect an apparently vacant lot as long as I don’t have anything like… utilities running out here.

  That got me thinking about something else that I’d been meaning to figure out. Water and storage was still somewhat iffy, since I didn’t have water magic of my own. Sure, I could likely blow a few points in Manipulate Element and get it, but I was curious if I could find a way to make it work without using magic. Or at least magic I didn’t already have.

  “Let’s deal with water first, I can worry about remodeling later,” I murmured, settling onto one of the benches by the ash-marked firepit.

  I was just about to settle down and start reaching out with Manipulate Element when I remembered that I hadn’t bothered to check the time or my phone yet since coming back. Hopping back upright, I walked over to the shelf where my ‘pocket stuff’ sat by the door to my bedroom. My wallet, phone, and truck keys sat on the shelf there gathering dust. The back-up battery that I had for the phone sat underneath it, but I’d taken to powering it off while I was away to save battery power.

  Powering the device on, I wandered out to the doorway and the little ‘entry hall’ that I had set up by the door. The floor sloped to one side to drain water off and into a channel that ran out into the dirt of the hillside rather than pooling in the room if it was raining or snowing outside.

  Pressing with Manipulate Element caused the stone in front of me to flow and part. The stone plate was inches thick and it only took a moment to form the cracks needed to grip the handles I’d made in the far side and lift it out. Normally, lifting a six foot by two foot square of granite that was several inches thick would be difficult, but with my stats it was honestly more of a challenge because of how it caught the wind than its weight.

  The sky was just beginning to shift colors overhead, with pink and orange decorating the clouds and frost clinging to the ground. My breath came out in a thick plume of white when I exhaled and set the plate of stone aside.

  “I need to set up an antenna, maybe solar panels too,” I muttered for what felt like the fifth or sixth time as my phone began to lurch and vibrate as it made the connection to the weak cell network from the nearby town and started updating my messages and emails.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “Come on,” I muttered, watching the alerts pile up until the phone finally stopped its wicked dance in my hand and I popped open the emails section.

  There it was, between an email advertising a frozen custard place that I visited once a year ago and hadn’t returned to since, and an email from another insurance company trying to poach me from my current carrier, was the email from my realtor, Gordon, informing me that the escrow process was complete and the property was mine now.

  He wanted me to come into his office to sign the last bits of paperwork now, but he looked forward to ‘handing me the keys’ as soon as he saw me. Since there was no house on the property and no keys to hand over, I knew it was the man’s attempt at humor. But that didn’t matter, I could finally move in ‘officially’ to this location and start getting slightly more obvious things like solar and satellite Internet set up.

  “Yes! This is perfect!” I hissed through my teeth, grinning like an idiot while fighting the urge to do a ridiculous little dance. Which was fortunate, since I about shat myself in surprise a second later when Cariad spoke from behind me.

  “Oh? Good news?”

  I will admit that I yelped in surprise, but to anyone who asked about the girlish scream that echoed off the hillside that morning, it must have been someone else.

  I’ve been told that foxes and coyotes can make similar noises when surprised.

  “Cari!” I gasped, leaning against the side of the boulder that was my front door and clutching at my chest to try and slow down the rapid heartbeat. “Why in the world did you jump out like that and scare me?”

  The slate-skinned daemon blinked at me from her spot a few feet away on the relatively clear spot that ran back towards the road which I thought of as a driveway, since it led to the section of hillside that hid the hollow where my truck was.

  “Uh? I didn’t?” Cari said, glancing around before looking back at me. “I stepped out and stood here for a good ten seconds before I spoke… are you okay, Liam?”

  Sighing, I rubbed at my eyes for a moment before waving my phone through the air.

  “Was a bit distracted with good news.”

  “I gathered that much,” Cariad said with a smile, brushing at an invisible piece of lint on her white button down with one gloved hand. The two distinct tents that I saw forming in the front of the shirt over Cariad’s full breasts reminded me of how cold it was out here and I stepped out of the doorway.

  “Come inside, Cari. It’s way too cold to have a conversation outside. Besides, I don’t think I’ve shown you the new place yet.”

  “You have not,” Cariad said, her concerned expression melting into a smile. “I have to say, the fresh air is already a vast improvement over the old place.”

  “Yeah. Well, don’t get your hopes up too high,” I chuckled. “I’m still carving the place out and trying to make it comfortable.”

  “Is it infested with the dregs of society like your last home?” Cariad asked as she brushed past me, her bouncing mane of strawberry-red hair with its odd curl at the base brushing me as it went by.

  I wasn’t worried about her hair, since it was the one part of her body that apparently wasn’t infused with entropic energy. I guessed it was something to do with how hair isn’t living tissue, but hadn’t really had the chance to ask.

  Checking my phone over to make sure there weren’t any important messages, I quickly sent a reply email to Gordon that I’d see about swinging by his office today around noon to ‘pick up my keys’ so I could see about surveying the land now.

  That done, I picked the ‘door’ back up and headed inside, fitting it into place and sealing the stone up behind me.

  Cariad was already pacing around the inner cave, studying the walls and my simple design to remove smoke from the room and keep from staining everything. I noted that she’d removed her shoes in the entryway and was padding across the cold stone floor in just her stockings.

  “Here, let me get a fire started. I just got back from Cortha so it’s not quite as comfortable as it could be,” I offered, grabbing one of the spare blankets I had off a shelf. It wouldn’t work as good as a cushion, but it’d be something at least.

  “Thank you, Liam. I don’t know if I’ll hang around long, but I wanted to check on you and discuss your suspicions about that potential military base…” Cariad said with a smile. Despite her protest, she settled onto the stone bench, using the blanket I set down as a cushion while I set about getting a fire started using the stack of wood I had against the wall by the door.

  It didn’t take much to warm the space, and I’d taken the time to prepare plenty of kindling and other small scraps. Soon, a little fire was crackling away in the shallow bowl of the firepit and sending waves of warmth rolling into the cave.

  “Well, the girls are looking into it and trying to triangulate the location based on reports that a friend of ours has of other weapons, and seeing if any of the information we got from the other locations has hints,” I explained as I rifled through my supplies.

  I filled my battered stovetop kettle with water from a jug I kept on the counter and set it by the fire to warm for either cocoa or tea before I dropped onto the same bench as Cariad, but far enough to one side that she wouldn’t brush against me if she leaned that way. Her clothing would shield me from her touch and the entropic magic, but I also didn’t want her to feel like I was crowding her.

  “That is good, but I had a feeling from your message that there was even more weighing on your mind,” Cariad asked gently, her sea-green eyes watching me carefully as she leaned forward to warm her hands over the fire.

  The beautiful, otherworldly woman looked both at ease in the rustic surroundings, and also rather ridiculous given she was wearing businesswear at the moment. I only let myself dwell on that for a moment before I shook myself and focused on what we were talking about.

  “I’m… Well…” I said, trying to figure out where to start from and not really having any luck. Heaving a sigh, I turned to stare at the fire as it threw dancing shadows throughout the room.

  “Liam?” Cariad asked, leaning forward to peer up at me curiously.

  “Cari, I’m worried that the System is up to something,” I said, speaking quickly to get it out before I could change my mind.

  Cariad just blinked up at me, first her normal eyes and then the second set that she normally kept closed over her temples. All daemons had something odd to their nature, Cerebaton had horns, Cariad had a second set of eyes. These were bright, electric blue and stared at me like the eyes of a predator for several seconds before blinking closed once more.

  “What makes you think that?” Cariad asked, her voice carefully neutral but her face betraying a faint hint of concern.

  I hesitated again, considering what had happened and my own concerns before deciding to go for it. I’d already started talking about it, but one of the messages that the System had sent me was ringing in my head and the volume was getting louder.

  Do not mention the mission to DSR personnel.

  “Just a feeling that I’ve been having,” I said with a sigh, deciding that I had better not push this further. “I just feel like the powers that it’s been giving me or guiding me towards have been oddly specific. Tunnel to Contracted is just the latest and it makes me wonder. I don’t like being manipulated.”

  Cariad’s look of concern melted into a smile and she leaned over to nudge me gently with her shoulder.

  “Don’t worry about it, Liam. The actions of the System are mysterious at times, but there is a reason that the Ancients set it up the way it is. Its guiding principles are to preserve the dimensional membrane, and as a result protect the universes encased in it. You can trust the System, it knows what it’s doing, even if we don’t always understand why.”

  Cariad’s nose wrinkled for a moment and she shot me an amused smirk.

  “At least, the System that works with us and gives you your powers. I wouldn’t normally advise you to blindly trust a ‘system’ since many are corrupt. But this one is doing all it can to protect your world and ours.”

  “Yeah…” I murmured, letting the word trail off. I had intended to say more, but a violet flash of light around the edges of my vision preceded scrolling text that sent another chill down my spine.

  DSR Personnel Cariad Davies is correct.

  System is working to confirm and remove potential threats to dimensional stability.

  Traveler’s discretion is appreciated and noted.

  System will be more open and disclose additional details on critical missions to ensure Traveler is operating within comfort limits to ensure optimal performance.

  Son of a bitch, it’s listening to me… Gods, I hope that the System is not going to go all HAL-9000 on me… I thought while fighting to keep a grimace off my face. I didn’t want to worry Cariad, and if she was convinced I should trust the System, then I could at least try to. It hadn’t given me a reason not to trust it yet, other than the odd way it had shifted from acting like a digital interface and towards something far more intelligent the longer I was connected to it.

  Not wanting to worry Cariad—and because I knew the System was likely still listening in—I cleared my throat and sat up straighter.

  “I appreciate you coming out to check on me, Cari. You are taking care of yourself, though, right?”

  “Oh, I’m doing fine,” Cariad replied with a bright smile. “Daemon physiology operates differently than humans, so I don’t need as much sleep as often as you do. Besides, like I said earlier, you… mean a lot to me,” Cariad said, the skin of her cheeks darkening faintly and her smile turning shy.

  “All right. I just wanted to make sure, since Cerebaton would break me in half if I let you work too hard. Come to think of it, I’d try and break him in half if he did the same… so I guess we are on equal standing then?” I said with affected thoughtfulness. The joke worked and Cariad had to smother a giggle behind her hand.

  I’ll worry about the System later, I decided, watching the beautiful woman in front of me laugh. For now, Cari is here and I want to enjoy that. We don’t get to talk as much as I would like, and she’s so cute when she laughs like that.

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