Tryst sighed as the three left his cabin, and looked gloomily at the plates of food which had barely been touched.

  It had not been his intention to bring Vector in so soon. He had believed that the time it would take them to find Nidhogg, and the trials on Niflheim would serve to bind the two together. However Xain’s display with Tor, accompanied by the unexpected contract offer from the Dragonkin, had forced Tryst to take a more direct approach.

  It was a risk.

  They barely knew each other.

  And now, through a combination of threats and bribery, they were bound.

  What he had said was true. Xain really did represent his best chance of realizing his goals. Not only that, Tryst was sure that they would find support and strength in their partnership. Though, that was all secondary to a far more important fact. Vector knew too much.

  Even if he did not yet understand, he was too smart, too observant, not to put things together eventually. That had only been further proven when Tryst saw understanding of the situation dawn in his eyes.

  He had known that, had he rejected the proposal to accompany Xain, he would not make it to Niflheim alive.

  Honestly, had Tryst still been the man he once was, they never would have had the conversation in the first place. He would have seen Vector only as a potential threat, and would have dealt with him accordingly.

  But if Bow could change, so could he.

  It may have been a mistake, and he would not fool himself into believing the Sap was enough of a bribe to force Vector to adhere to the partnership once they had left the ship. Still, when he had seen Vector’s reaction to Xain’s honesty, he had been sure he made the right choice.

  Because while it may be a long time before Xain understood the true weight he carried on his shoulders, when that time came, if there was even a small chance he could share that burden, it was worth the risk.

  I hope Bow agrees…

  The thought was sobering, but Tryst had made his decision. They all had their role to play, and this had been his.

  And while there was no way to guarantee it would work out, after watching them for the last two days, he was able to recognize the natural bond which was beginning to form. Afterall, he had once long ago shared something similar with Bow.

  True, his brother had done his fucking best to destroy it, but a part of it that bond persisted still, and despite everything, he still loved him.

  Still, he was not foolish enough to think that just having Vector at his side was enough to keep him safe, but it was a start, and Xain would need any advantage he could get.

  Especially seeing as Lilith was now involved.

  It had been two seasons since he ferried her to Hel, and his crew still went tense at the mention of her name. Clearly from Xain’s reaction, he remembered something of the woman’s demeanor, but as Vector had correctly surmised, the best chance they had to escape the attention of the Houses was to make them believe there was no longer anything to see.

  Tryst was no novice to faking one's death, and while there were many ways it could be accomplished, the most straightforward was to work with the ones who presided over it.

  That doesn't make it any easier…

  Tryst picked up a sheet of paper, shook his head, and set it back down. His message to Bow could wait. Instead, he rose, made his way to the small windows of his cabin, and looked out into the darkness of the void that only existed between the Realms.

  “One more day,” he sighed, as he reached out with his array to sense the bridge of power upon which the ship currently traversed.

  One more day, and his part would be done. For now.

  …

  “Wait,” Xain said, as he reached out and grabbed Vector's arm to stop him just as he turned to enter his room.

  “I didn't really eat anything at dinner. Do you want to see if the crew will bring something up?”

  In truth, Xain had no idea what to say to Vector. The whole conversation with Tryst had left him spinning, and while the man had already done enough by basically binding himself to him and Fen, it felt weird to leave it like this.

  “Alright,” Vector said, nodding.

  A few minutes later they sat in Xain’s front room, absently picking at the numerous plates of food, and slowly sipped from their mugs while the night's events sat between them.

  Do I… do I thank him?

  Without being able to come up with a better idea, Xain decided that was his best course of action, and said “Thank you. I… My life has… I mean, what I'm trying to say is, I didn’t,”

  “It's fine,” Vector interrupted.

  “Do you know why I chose this array? Well, no, I suppose there would be no way you could. I chose it because, if I was going to die, I wanted to die doing something… amazing. I had planned out the next several years of my life with such detail, I knew exactly what every day was supposed to look like. I told myself it was because it was the only way I could achieve my goal.”

  “But the truth is, I was trying to convince myself I had a life past this boat. Tryst was right about Asgard. They would never have let me go. Not really. No matter what happened, eventually they would come for me.”

  “My life was forfeit the moment I broke my contract.”

  Vector was silent for a moment before he shook his head, a rueful smile on his face as he continued, “I have no idea what is so special about you that Tryst was willing to pay a fortune just to keep us together, but I am inclined to think it is no accident you and I met when we did. His offer likely saved my life just as much as yours.”

  “What do you mean?” Xain asked, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

  “I mean,” Vector said, turning his full attention to Xain as he continued, “High Elders are not known for making requests. The fact he gave me a choice at all, even if it was just an act, tells me all I need to know.”

  “At least for now.”

  …

  It took a good three hours of tossing and turning before Xain was finally able to fall asleep. He felt guilty that Vector had gotten wrapped up in his shit, and even more guilty at how relieved it made him.

  Their conversation had only served to solidify Xain’s suspicions that he had no clue what was truly waiting for him in the Nine Realms. But Vector might.

  He wanted to take it one step at a time. To address each problem as it arose. But as he was now, Xain suspected it wouldn't be long until he ran into a situation even Fen couldn't save him from.

  Bow had said he needed to get stronger, but the urgency of that was just now becoming clear.

  When he finally calmed his mind enough to drift off to sleep, it felt as if he had only just closed his eyes before felt Fen’s nose on his face, his insistent nuzzles prying them open once more, and he found the wolf standing over him, tongue primed to lick his face, as light streamed in through his windows.

  “Morning already?” Xain asked, stretching his arms over head.

  In response, Fen quickly gave him several licks, before hopping off the couch, and sitting down as he waited for Xain to get up.

  Even with only a few hours of sleep, Xain was feeling better. If he wanted to play a more active role and not have decisions made for him, there was only one thing for him to do.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  I need to grow my array.

  And if anyone knew how to help with that, it was Vector.

  …

  “Good,” Vector said, nodding approvingly as he watched Xain direct the beam of ice.

  It had taken the better part of the morning for Xain to stop releasing a nova that covered the trees in Fen's playroom, but Vector was happy to see Xain showed the ability to take instructions.

  His problem had nothing to do with power. He just needed to learn how to direct it.

  Now that Vector had formally agreed to join them, a decision proven by the little box of Sap he now carried in his jacket pocket, he knew there was no going back.His fate was bound to these two, as strongly as theirs was bound to his. They would survive together, or… well there was no other option.

  Tomorrow they would arrive at Niflheim's port, and assuming everything went the way Tryst planned, within the week they would all be marked as deceased.

  Tryst had visited Vector that morning and given him an overview of the plan. While it heavily relied on Lilith, something that made him understandably uneasy, he had to admit it provided the best chance at preventing anyone from looking too deeply into the sudden death of two Seeds.

  He knew Tryst had left out several important bits, but seeing as the captain was sharing anything with him at all, he would take what he could get.

  With that done, Vector was able turn his full attention to understanding what Xain was capable of. He had been pleasantly surprised to find that the fight with Tor had not been a fluke. Actually, it seemed that Xain had held back. But that didn't change the fact that he was still only working with one rune.

  Their first focus, before even thinking about finding Nidhogg, needed to be on building out his array.

  Vector already had a few ideas how they could achieve that while remaining on Niflheim, but it would be up to Xain to follow through.

  Before that though, there was something he needed to confirm.

  “Alright,” Vector said, waving at Xain to join him.

  “Now, I want you to attack me.”

  “Huh?” Xain asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Exactly as I said,” Vector replied, taking a few steps away from Xain so they had a bit of space to work with.

  Since their discussion with Tryst in which Vector had felt that unspoken threat of death, he had been looking back over every moment he had spent with Xain and Fen. Based on how he had dealt with Martin, Vector knew the captain would not have made the threat lightly, which meant that Vector had seen something in their short time together that had been important enough Tryst was willing to risk the consequences of murdering one of his own passengers.

  Upon reflection, Vector had determined four specific points that, while they could not explain the mystery of the man before him, were enough for Vector to form a hypothesis.

  Xain held a banned rune.

  It was ridiculous. Insane, actually.

  While he knew much of the knowledge around the runes had been carefully curated by Yid, Vector had long ago freed himself from such a propaganda focused education. Years of reading through the restricted texts in Asgard's house library under the guise of researching the framework for his array had opened his eyes to the near endless contradictions between what was taught, and what was true.

  Even so, until the last few hours, Vector had held firmly to the belief that no one could be born with one of the three banned runes as the core of their array.

  If this was in fact a lie, it would explain several things.

  It would also crumble the very foundation of his runic knowledge.

  The problem was that any information about the banned runes was held solely within the archives of Yid under the pretense it was considered to be proprietary House knowledge. To complicate it further, the little amount of information which did exist read far more like a children's myth than fact, and often attributed power to the runes which verged on ludicrous.

  Had it not been for the way he had seen Tor’s armor flicker, Vector would not have even allowed himself to go down this line of thinking. But he had.

  To most it might seem like a coincidence. A stroke of luck. It was only due to the sheer number of times Vector had sparred with Tor that he was able to understand it was not so simple.

  Alone, Vector may have still written it off. Nothing was impossible. No matter how unlikely it was, it could have happened. But there was more.

  Vector was not a man to boast his strength. He understood his limitations intimately. He knew how close to dissonance he lived every day of his life. He also knew that the power to repel his psychic probing such as Xain had done was not possible unless one carried at least an Elder length array.

  Even then, excluding the House’s High Elders, and Captain Tryst, he had never run up against a wall like he had hit with Xain.

  Both of these things had initially led Vector to believe Xain had lied about his array. It was far more likely that he had been born with six runes, added the other five, and was purely hiding his strength.

  Vector had never heard of one being born with such a long array in this age, but it was well known that in the time of the Old Gods, such a thing was almost common. Hel herself was said to have been born with 10 runes in her array.

  It was also possible that he had somehow fooled the system. Instead of the five runes allowed to those Seeding the Nine Realms, Xain could have added more. It was something the Houses would try every few hundred years, believing they could deceive the Valkyries. He had never heard of one ever actually achieving success in such an endeavor, but if it worked, there wouldn't be a record of it.

  However the problem with this was two fold. First, Xain was sent by the Norns. One may be able to slip by the Valkyries, but the Norns were something else entirely. Second, Xain had been telling the truth when he said he only held a single rune.

  Vector had already caught him in a lie when he had been speaking of his parents. Xain had said his mother had died before he was able to know her. And while he couldn't understand why the man would lie about such a thing, it allowed Vector to confirm he was able to read him as he could read others.

  This was a skill he had been born with, and had only been amplified as his array had grown.

  Which meant, either he was the best actor Vector had ever seen, or he was telling the truth.

  The third oddity had come from their conversation with Tryst last night. The captain was absolutely sure that Xain could not take root. In all honesty, if Xain was nothing more than a holder of Uruz, their offer was a blessing. Not only that, the captain’s own interest in him far exceeded what would normally be given to a Seed, Path walker or not. And when someone like Tryst takes such an interest, Vector would be a fool to write it off.

  Finally there was his power.

  Those who held a single rune were often barely stronger than those without a rune at all. To achieve the strength Xain had shown, Vector would have placed his array at six or seven runes at minimum.

  During their practice session though, it had quickly become clear that during his fight with Tor Xain had kept his strength hidden by using only the basic Ice Summoning/Armor and powers to enhance his body. This had led Vector to initially believe that he may merely possess an exceptional bond with Uruz. However, after seeing the nova of frost he had created, combined with Xain’s obvious ignorance to the fact there was no way he should be able to do such a thing with only one rune, Vector had felt his insane theory was actually closer to the truth.

  If the power Xain drew from Uruz was commonplace, it would make Niflheim the strongest Realm without exception. He knew that a good thirty percent of those born to the Realm held at least one stack of either Uruz or Isa, meaning they would have access to around 30 million runic users who could do what Xain did.

  With such a force, there would be no Realm in the Tree who could stand against them.

  And that was just not the case.

  Niflheim was in no sense a weak Realm, but politically their value came from the Sap produced by their three wells, along with the strength of the dragons and other runic creatures which called the Realm their home; not their power.

  Nidhogg aside, the realm had no shortage of runic beasts on par with mid level Elders.

  But none of that is the real reason for my theory.

  Vector was, by nature and necessity, a logical man. His recent behavior notwithstanding, it would be difficult to point to any instance where his decisions or choices could be considered rash, or driven by emotion.

  Growing up in House Asgard, Vector had quickly learned his greatest asset, outside of his runes, was his ability to approach situations rationally.

  It was a trait most in his old House lacked, but as a Husk, had been essential to his survival.

  Which was why it was so fucking disconcerting that, when it came to Xain and his rune, the strongest factor in believing the man held a banned rune had nothing to do with evidence or logic. It was a feeling.

  Just as he felt the danger posed by Tryst, he felt his theory was right.

  But no matter how strong the feeling was, he needed confirmation.

  “Why?” Xain asked, clearly hesitant.

  “Do you believe all encounters will go as the one with Tor? Even if we manage to disappear, from here on out our lives will become exponentially more difficult. Niflheim is teeming with runic creatures, and we plan to seek out the most powerful of them all. Not to mention the various hunter squads, poachers, slavers, and numerous other dangers we will have to face.”

  “I would prefer we have at least a basic understanding of one another's capabilities before we are thrust into such perils. Would you not agree?”

  “But, I mean, I just showed you didn't I?” Xain asked.

  It was obvious from the way he shuffled his feet and refused to meet Vector’s gaze how uncomfortable the thought of sparring made him, but on this point Vector would not be swayed. They were in this now, and while this man was shrouded in secrets, this one at least he could bring to light.

  “Fen?” Vector asked, turning to the wolf for support.

  “Grrr,” Fen agreed, giving Xain a look even Vector could understand, which said ‘Do this, and do it now.’

  Thank you.

  “Oh, fine,” Xain said to his wolf, his tone resigned.

  “Alright,” Vector started, the smile in his voice finally bringing Xain to focus on him, and continued “if you do not hold back, and are able to land a single solid blow, I will answer three questions about my own array.”

  “No restrictions?” Xain asked, perking up.

  “No restrictions,” Vector confirmed, nodding.

  The smile that slowly appeared on Xain’s face was so feral that Vector almost took a step back, but before he could change his mind, three spears of ice had formed in the air before Xain, and he knew there was nothing he could do but fight.