Irwyn had not envisioned himself betting on a monster arena anytime soon – if ever – when they had fled from the City of Terraces. Yet, there he was, hesitantly picking from an everchanging selection. Elizabeth had chosen a brooding worm that seemed barely visible in its picture. Waylan took a bull with three mouths. Alice what seemed like a completely normal eagle. The fae – Rustling – picked a centipede the size of a person with knives for legs, also covered in thick fur rather than an exoskeleton. Irwyn remained undecided.

  “Just pick one at random,” Alice urged. The monsters were flickering too fast to make a deliberate choice and once picked they would still disappear not long later.

  “Fine,” he sighed. None of them felt quite right. But he couldn't stall forever, could he? “That one,” he followed Alice's advice, selecting what seemed to be a ball of chitinous spikes.

  //Good! Now for bets, bets! I ask for something from each of you or accept an offer. You each ask something from me or take my own suggestions - simple. If my pretty little creature is the last one alive I win a prize from all of you!

  “And if not, the four of us win,” Waylan finished for her.

  //So, so, greedy. But fine. Just because I like you.

  the fae accepted.

  “I offer my ability to grow hair,” Waylan immediately spoke the first bet. “My condition is that it must have no other side effects.”

  //Good. What in return?

  “A body more resistant to magic,” Waylan grinned. “That should be easy for you. No side effects are presumed, right?”

  //Easy, I accept! And you?

  the turned to the rest of them.

  “Empowerment,” Elizabeth spoke. “Some truly powerful Life mages can accelerate the progress of us still in Inbuement. Allow us to skip several months ahead. If you are capable of it, of course.”

  //Girl, I was conceived before our Sun! To imply I could not is an insult! 2 intentions more for the three of you and you don’t get a condition on this bet! Take it or leave – wink – it.

  the fae said, literally saying ‘wink’ rather than performing one… More importantly, her words had massive implications about age if true. How old even was their Sun?

  “Deal,” Elizabeth smiled.

  //Don’t smile before I claim something back. From you… yes, the most cherished memory of your parents. That will work.

  the fae spoke, a bit of cruelty seeping into that grinding voice as she spoke to Elizabeth. Then she turned to Alice.

  //From you, other girl, the memory of your mother’s name.

  “Don’t I get a condition either?” Alice asked hesitantly.

  //No. Part of a deal.

  “Doesn’t that breach the earlier bet?” Waylan tried to question.

  //You can always refuse to bet with me without it. Just as I can refuse to offer a service like this. You should know, Void’s princess, you are the first person who ever dared even ask for this.

  there was a smile now shuffling among the fae’s leaf-knitted visage, an ever-increasing hint of malevolence to it.

  //And from you, little Star, I would claim a favor from your birth father.

  she turned to Irwyn.

  “I have no real idea who my parents are,” Irwyn pointed out. The closest thing was Johnson’s suspicion his father might have been their Sun.

  //Awareness is only required once I choose to claim it.

  “How could I possibly promise a favor from someone I do not know?” he still questioned. Especially if it was the Sun. How would he even speak to it? Making demands on promises sounded ludicrous.

  //You can. And if I am wrong and you cannot, that is my loss. Deal?

  she insisted, making Irwyn hesitate.

  “Is there that much urgency?” he turned to Elizabeth. “Are a few months worth the risk?”

  “Yes,” Elizabeth nodded with surprising conviction. “It might take us two half a year longer to reach the end of Imbuement. That is far too long. You know where we are headed. As we are now, how could we possibly be worthy of that place?”

  And that made Irwyn realize something. Elizabeth had acted a bit strange ever since they had left the Duchy of Black… no, perhaps even a bit before they did. After their brush with death in Ebon Respite, probably. More reckless, less deliberate. Decisions completely unlike the paranoid heiress who had been unwilling to so much as walk into the city just in case undead assassins were waiting for her against all odds. Something had changed, clearly, and that sentence hinted as to what. But it was not the time for that conversation.

  “Fine, deal,” Irwyn relented. Unsure exactly what he was agreeing to but ultimately willing to take the risk. He was enticed by more power, their desperate dash away from the City of Terraces had shown him their shortcomings.

  //Good. Well, time to BATTLE!

  The five monsters again became visible on the sides of the window – or image, projection, whatever it technically was – with the sandy arena taking up the middle, still separated by those roots. Then said roots retreated, allowing for all of them to strangely merge. Separate places visible in the images forcefully grafted into one whole. It was a confusing shift Irwyn could not properly see even when staring directly at it, but as a result, all of the creatures ended up standing by the edges of the battlefield, facing each other and a couple already snarling. Then the sand froze. A wave of sudden rime frosted the entire arena over, snowflakes falling despite the absence of a sky or clouds. The ground became a sheet of ice from which tall trees of pure hoar frost sprouted, reaching above even the arena’s wall.

  “Fuck,” Waylan cursed. “We forgot about the arena.”

  //Too bad suckers!

  The fae cheered as the monsters began to fight.

  Alice had chosen an eagle, or something that looked just like one. Its wings iced over, making it plummet to the ground where it promptly froze to death. Elizabeth’s worm seemed no more adapted to arctic temperatures and might have actually succumbed to the environment faster than the bird. Irwyn’s spike creature also seemed to be sluggishly struggling in the new temperatures, barely capable of moving. It would not be a real contender. That left the battle between Rustling's bladetipede and Waylan’s jawbull. Not hesitating, the quadruped charged towards the last other active monster, its own fur keeping the frost mostly at bay it seemed. The centipede wove in between its legs, cutting at the shins with its knife legs. The bull responded by proving it had no joints, dodging with absurd dexterity.

  That was not enough to contend with the sheer quantity of cutting limbs but it bought it a few second before the first injury was inflicted. By then its enemy was fully beneath it, which the bull used by unhinging its four legs again, allowing its body to crash down with its full charging speed behind it while said limbs moved to the side as to not get damaged. It tried to crush the centipede with its sheer bulk! There was a loud boom and for a moment Irwyn thought it might have worked as he saw the bladetipede nowhere in sight. Except a moment later it broke through the crust of ice, unburrowing less than a meter away from the jawbull.

  “Of course it’s actually used to the ice,” Waylan groaned. The rest of them were mostly just staring at the unfolding battle with grim frowns, contemplating how badly they had been played by the fae.

  //It would be stupid of me if it wasn’t. Note the very subtle insult.

  From there it was hardly any contest. The bull was unable to get back up immediately and the moment the centipede climbed onto its back, the battle’s conclusion was foregone. The many knives simply cut into the increasingly desperate opponent for almost a full minute before the jaw bull finally stopped struggling - more half-frozen blood covering its body than actual fur by then. The bladetipede then easily went off to finish the spike creature who was alive but too sluggish from the cold to even move. That marked the end of the first bet.

  //Now, now, don’t be sore losers.

  the leaves making its form extended for the blink of an eye. Irwyn saw them touch all for all of them, linking each to the fae like a rope before immediately retreating, so fast it almost felt like Irwyn had imagined it.

  “My hair is not gone?” Waylan questioned.

  //Your ability to grow more, not what you have right now. Give it a few months.

  the fae almost chuckled.

  “I feel no different,” Elizabeth commented.

  //Give it a few months.

  the Fae said with a much harsher glare.

  Alice was quiet. Irwyn had not much to say either.

  //Come, let us pick again.

  the side windows reappeared, roots once again intertwining between them, filling the gaps between realities.

  “There,” Elizabeth did not hesitate a second, picking an overgrown mosquito seemingly at random.

  “We should figure out something about the arena first, no?” Irwyn asked.

  “Will she let us?”

  //Nope

  “Then I have a plan, just pick for now,” Elizabeth urged.

  “I-I will take that one,” Alice said with a small stutter betraying her nervousness. She chose a massive bear with claws as thick as the tree branches it was standing next to.

  “How about you pick?” Waylan smiled at the fae, unwilling to not at least try.

  //No can do. How would I cheat then?

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  “We can wait,” Irwyn suggested.

  //Dumb dumb. Think about that one for a second.

  the fae mocked. The immortal fae who had been sitting in this place for who knows how long for whatever reason and probably could forever more if it wanted to. Even suggesting a group of teenagers could hold more patience was truly worthy of mockery for the sheer stupidity. Irwyn wisely shut his mouth.

  “I like that one,” Waylan pointed towards a seemingly empty frame. Only the slightest shift revealed that there was in fact a creature there, just very well hidden even in plain sight.

  //It suits you.

  The fae lightly nodded.

  “Might consider making the arena not instantly kill it?”

  //Maybe.

  “None feel right,” Irwyn sighed again, looking through the changing windows.

  //Maybe you are just really bad at gambling?

  “Just… that one,” Irwyn muttered. He ended up picking a tall goose with sharp teeth hidden in the beak at basically random.

  //Now bet! Bets! Bets!

  The fae chanted excitedly

  “You have not picked,” Elizabeth pointed out.

  //I have. When did we agree I would have to tell you which?

  “I bet my left nut,” Waylan proclaimed his wager. “For the same prize as last time.”

  //Deal!

  The fae immediately agreed.

  “Deal,” Waylan smiled, then reached into his pocket. From it, he withdrew two roasted nuts he must have kept as snacks. The sneak put them on the table then very deliberately pushed the left one towards the middle of it. When everyone stared at him in bafflement at the sheer audacity Waylan added with a grin: “Nuts and nuts, eh?”

  //HEH.

  The fae seemed to take it with good humor.

  “Then we will all seek the same boon as in the last bet,” Elizabeth said with a smile.

  //How very daring.

  Any sign of said good mood immediately slipped again.

  “One must be audacious when reaching as deep as I do.”

  //From you, another same favor then.

  It turned to Irwyn.

  “Agreed,” Irwyn nodded.

  //From you, the memory of your father’s face.

  Rustling said to Alice.

  “Do you really want to take that from me?” she flinched. “Isn’t there something else?”

  //You should have called an offer before I made up my mind.

  It huffed.

  “I…,” Alice hesitated but the unwillingness was tangible.

  “Alice, what is it that you desire?” Elizabeth interrupted before such thoughts could be given voice.

  “Revenge,” she did not hesitate to answer.

  “Is that a path without peril?” Elizabeth inclined her head, questioning. “A rose spotted road trod without care? Did you not know that things will have to be relinquished and risks taken?”

  “I don’t want to lose that, Elizabeth. What will I do if I am stripped of even the memory of them!” Alice said, barely managing to not raise her voice. “What will I be?!”

  “We will not lose this bet,” Elizabeth assured, completely confidant.

  //It’s obviously rigged.

  The fae pointed out with malicious glee.

  Rather than turning to the creature of shifting leaves, Elizabeth kept staring Alice directly in the eyes. Her certainty did not slip for a second even against the blatantly poor odds. Alice gulped in nervousness… then all that uncertainty drained from her, swallowed by the ring flickering in and out of sight.

  “I agree,” she spoke in that moment of undiluted determination.

  //What will I demand from you then I wonder? Perhaps a memory is too little to teach a lesson, hmmm?

  seeing Alice agree, the fae turned to Elizabeth. Its expression was that of outright wrath by then.

  “My condition is that you cannot refuse or alter my bet,” Elizabeth grinned instead of just answering.

  //We have said that you get no conditions.

  “That was your demand for the previous round. You failed to repeat it,” Elizabeth kept smiling, almost mirroring the fae’s overt malice. “Intentionally, of course. Because this is only entertaining if you can lose. Well, I will certainly provide excitement.”

  //I will enjoy ripping that confident smirk off. Maybe literally.

  “Death comes for us all, doesn’t it? You have overplayed your hand, so to speak,” Elizabeth just smiled, not a hint of worry in her face. “I wager my life and immediate death.”

  “What?” Irwyn’s head snapped to her in surprise. Waylan and Alice also stared.

  //Is that so? Are you quite sure?

  she asked with tangible hesitation. Like almost giving her a chance to retract those words.

  “Those are not roots,” Elizabeth was unphased by the opportunity to back out, instead pointing out the literal roots growing through the gaps in-between realities. “Start.”

  //As you say.

  The fae said, slowly. There was surprisingly less hatred, instead replaced by dejection. That did not alleviate Irwyn’s rising worry.

  “What are you doing?” he urged for an answer, wide-eyed.

  “Simply watch,” she smiled.

  “Even confidence is not worth gambling with your life.”

  “Who said I was gambling?” she insisted so Irwyn tried to smother his worries, speaking no more. Still, they instensely gnawed at him even as he did not voice them. Whatever plan she had, it better be damn good. And would not rely on him picking up on clues because he was seeing no hints of what he was supposed to do.

  The windows once again switched to reflect the picked monsters, then shifted into one view with the arena in the center, the roots enveloping it from the sides. Irwyn could not spot anything strange about them despite Elizabeth’s earlier words – well besides the fact they were essentially growing through the gaps in an ancient fae’s magic. Rustling’s pick turned out to be a rock, at least outwardly. There would be a creature of some kind within, but it was not visible. However, that was not the only surprise. Alice’s towering bear… ended up actually quite small. Maybe half a meter at full height. The image of it Irwyn had seen before must have been from very upclose, and it had to have also been standing next to particularly small foliage to give off the visual illusion it had created.

  “That’s dirty,” Alice grumbled.

  //How can perspective be dirty? It’s not something you can even touch!

  The fae softly mocked but the earlier amusement and anger seemed to have been smothered out.

  Then the arena shifted again. Not to the prior frost but instead into a volcano. Magma sprouted from much of the ground and walls as the floor turned to scorched obsidian. Clouds of burning sulfur and acid rose from leaking vents, creating putrid a miasma at a visible pace. It was also clearly hot. Scaldingly hot. Lethally hot. And the temperature was still rising. Irwyn shot Elizabeth a worried glance, still unsure where her certainty was coming from.

  “The Fae have rules they follow,” Elizabeth spoke, still not a hint of worry in her tone. “Some self-imposed – like never directly lying to mortals, merely deceiving through omission – which exist for entertainment, to gain fleeting excitement in their eternal lives. Such rules can be broken without a second thought if they really want to.”

  Elizabeth’s large mosquito died first. Already hampered by the sheer heat, a geyser of magma sprouted next to it, a few droplets touching a wing and burning it off. Immobile and on the ground, it quickly succumbed. Waylan’s sneaky creature was clearly not adapted to the environment, becoming easily visible. Not that it even mattered much. It was some kind of ambush predator without even proper legs, instead possessing several wide jaws posed upon long necks of various wights. It was quite literally falling apart from the heat. It also could not move away from the spreading lava even though it desperately tried to drag its bulk somewhere safe with the jaws. It died in moments once engulfed.

  “There are other rules though, as few as they might be. Not self-imposed but enforced,” Elizabeth continued, not a ripple in her words even as half their chosen monsters had already perished. “Those cannot be broken without brutal consequences, escalating further with severity. In the worst cases, said rulebreaker might even be forced to fight on the front lines of every undead incursion until they perish. Even the best Truth mages might not last more than a few dozen – the Undead learn after all, those without the flexibility of retreat can be anticipated and slain.”

  Alice’s bear and Irwyn’s toothed goose were faring better. Not by that much though. While the thick feathers or fur would isolate the heat from getting in for a while, it would also stop it from escaping once enough slipped inside their bulk. They would quite literally cook alive in short order. Irwyn could tell that much. The fae’s rock creature was not moving… but as the fae’s choice, Irwyn assumed it would resist the environment quite well.

  “Among the hard rules, I know of three. Firstly, never assist the undead in any way, destroy or seal them if possible. Second, follow the call of a Wild Hunt declared.”

  There was still hope that the bear and goose would quickly crack the rock creature and kill it before the two of them succumbed to the environment. Those already bleak odds were extinguished when the creatures instead turned against each other, charging without seemingly so much as noticing the third adversary. Which, to be fair, looked like just a rock. The bettors were never assured that their monsters would cooperate in any way.

  If that was even possible in the first place. Soulless as monsters were, their instincts drove most into direct battle. Be they predators or herbivores, aggression was their nature most of the time, even if it didn’t necessarily make sense. Claw and teeth met, inflicting deep wounds among themselves. It was quick and brutal, the duck unhinging its jaw to inflict crude gashes, fluttering its crumbling wings to extend its leaps. Meanwhile, the small bear proved to be surprisingly agile, often dodging before counterattacking. The rock remained undisturbed. Elizabeth still did not seem worried. Irwyn was desperately fighting the onset of panic.

  “Do you want me to say the third? Or will you?”

  //Rules are easy to break when you can get away with it. Do you see a witness?

  the fae said but her heart was clearly not in it… assuming that saying applied to beings without organs.

  “After what we have seen, it’s not difficult to deduce why you are here, in the middle of nowhere, bored out of your mind yet not leaving even to mess with us until we were right by this cave,” Elizabeth said. Irwyn had no idea what she was talking about but was certainly hoping it would help their situation, given their picked monsters were in the middle of dying on the ground from overheating and blood loss. “You are here to guard the Roots. And they behold all of this in turn. You have even asked them to intervene already, haven’t you? To maintain the deception of still trying to win.”

  “Roots?” Alice asked with confusion.

  “Capital R,” Irwyn noted, unsure what it meant and a bit too unsteady to think properly.

  “The Roots of the Tree of Life,” Elizabeth grinned while the fae remained ominously quiet. “The spring from which monsters ever flow, each an iteration of its constant change. With what we have heard in the City of Teraces about new monsters, there had to be such a spot somewhat in the region. And given who guards it, a particularly significant one at that. Be it chance or Fate, we have stumbled into it. I honestly feel a bit embarrassed to only realize this after seeing them.”

  And as she spoke, said roots moved from their spots around the arena’s window. Instead of serving as a decorative frame, they grew into the arena, extending past the image clearly projected from somewhere else – easily existing in two distant places at once. In the blink of an eye, they extended above the huddling rock creature. Then the roots split, revealing a new monster that had been seemingly snuggled inside. That this did not make any sense clearly did not bother the sprout.

  The new creature was a demented-looking monkey with stunted legs and large drills in place of palms at the end of asymetrical arms. Both immediately began to spin as the creature dug into the rock, extracting and killing the inhabitant - some kind of orange crustacean - in seconds. It just so happened that it died right around the time the goose and bear did… perhaps in the exact same moment.

  “The Third rule is that you cannot knowingly reduce the chances of a Name being claimed through your actions,” Elizabeth finished. “After all, death comes for us all. The eternal war against it cannot be sabotaged over pettiness.”

  “What happens in a draw?” Irwyn questioned worriedly rather than fully processing her words.

  “She did not win, therefore we do, just as Waylan has snuck in earlier,” Elizabeth explained with a smile. “Inevitably. You cannot kill me. So since you must not win, you are forced to make yourself lose. Was that exciting enough way to pass the time?”

  //Who could have told you?

  Rustling asked Elizabeth grimly.

  “House Blackburg has gathered much knowledge over its existence,” she looked daringly, almost smugly, at the fae. “Some secrets are impossible to keep from everyone. I have been given much liberty and just so happened to have read up on the Sisters of Life. Extensively.”

  //I have decided that I don’t like you. Fuck off.

  Rustling pointed at Elizabeth’s whose eyes widened for a split second before she vanished from the room.

  “Is she…?” Irwyn immediately inquired with worry.

  //Fine, just in time out.

  the leaf-made fae shook her ‘head’ exaggeratedly, twisting almost 200 degrees both ways in quick succession.

  //Some children are truly unbelievable. What ego, to be so certain of claiming a Name at her age. Only like… two of them grow on trees! Three if you stretch what a ‘tree’ is!

  the fae criticized, but her actions clearly indicated that Rustling thought those odds were at least above zero.

  “I have met another fae before in a similar situation,” Irwyn carefully broached as the comparison struck him. “She was called ‘keeps’ though I am…”

  //Don’t compare me to that moron. I am stuck here for just a few centuries and getting paid for it. Hah, the idiot works for free and for ever!

  “What do we do now?” Alice questioned. At least the fae’s mood had somewhat improved once Elizabeth had been banished.

  //Bet some more! Lower stakes maybe. As you might say: I need a palate cleanser after that!

  “You paint?!” Waylan exclaimed the moment the words sounded. “I didn’t even notice!”

  //HEH

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