John was sitting on the very top of the Guild Hall, on the railing wrapping around the crystal torch of Lady Liberty. He was clothed and alone, safe for a certain Magryph that had found him and the valuables he had retrieved from the Gem Pyramid. Velka pyed with a tear-shaped ruby, shifting it around, while her owner scratched her neck. The soft feather-fur mixture parted around his fingers as he looked down at what he owned.

  There was another feeling to the Buildings now that he had seen them in person. The many different workstations in the Industry district, the tools of the Production area, the roads of the Commercial and the mansions of the Residential districts. All of them were now more than building blocks he had sorted first on a map and then seen from a far distance.

  Every tree and hill in the Park and Newman Shire, all of the greenery throughout the entire Guild Hall, he had inspected them, if only in passing. A fair few had needed nudging and he had requested the locals to point it out to him if they saw something unusual, like a random spot of beach that remained somewhere after he had changed his mind on some local designs.

  The facilities of the Fusion Administration and the Military district he had looked through with an especially critical eye. A single day would never be enough to make a full inspection of all the Buildings, but he had at least skimmed through everything and gotten an idea of the structure of all involved departments. The walls surrounding them were thick and tall, the fairies living along the river instructed to be observant of anyone trying to cross the river.

  Among the Elemental Isnds, fairly little had changed. The Shadow Isnd now had an underdark – a network of tunnels underneath its mountains. Otherwise, it was still the shadow shrouded isle he had known before, filled with the sadistic, the seductive, and the ambitious. The Water Isnd had a jungle added and the diversity of the elementals had increased accordingly. Fundamentally, it still housed the determined, the controlled and the changing. The forests on the Earth Isnd now represented the four seasons embodied by its ruler. On it lived the elementals most renowned for being steady, patient and careful. The Air Isnd had changed the least, only growing rger in the expanse of its flying isnds and gaining a forest rather than a single tree. Unchanged, the whimsical, the carefree, and the adventurous air spirits ughed there. Filled with new ndmarks, with ash, mountains, and va, the Fire Isnd had intensified. Fitting for the inhabitants, who were typically passionate, hands-on, and wilful. Last of them, the Light Isnd went from a pin golden pce to one filled with shimmering sands and oases, statues and obelisks. There lived the light spirits known for their wisdom, their dignity, and their humility.

  Elementals had no culture. Unlike humans, they were predisposed towards certain character tropes on a category-wide and highly predictable level. There were always outliers. Even the most predictable thing in the world could not be taken for guaranteed. All that could be 100% certain in the world was what happened in theory or in highly controlled environments.

  “Too bad society has too many moving parts to ever make it a highly controlled environment,” John sighed and scolded himself a moment ter. “Even if you could, you shouldn’t compress everyone’s life into neat little paths, you wannabe tyrant.”

  Most of the time, John liked being alone with his thoughts for a little bit. He loved being with his harem, of course he did, but there was a freedom to time spent alone that was unique to it. Like all varieties of freedom, it came with its possibilities and its temptations. Sometimes, John found it difficult not to dwell on dark things when he was alone. How much easier his life would be and how much more effective he could expand if he put the health of his subjects and the consistency of his principles behind the urgency of his goals. There were many ways and derivations on how he could go about concentrating absolute power in himself. It could be so simple, to order society in a way where what he said would be done without second guess or doubt.

  Freedom from doubt, that would have been fantastic.

  Velka gave the ruby a little nudge and, in her purring, that nudge was a bit more intense than the growing birdcat bargained for. It sent the gem over the edge of the metal ptform. Warbling in shock, the Magryph dashed forward to grab it with her beak. She missed it, opened her wings, but was stopped by the metal rods that held up the railing. Her wingspan was too rge to fit through.

  John chuckled, as he caught the ruby with his foot. Carefully, he raised it up until the Magryph could retrieve it from the top of his shoe. In a rare moment of aggressive affection, Velka rubbed her head against his shoulder, over and over again. She purred the entire time.

  “You have no worries in the world, do you?” John asked in an amused tone. “How would you, you thankless bird? I get your food, I pay for your toys, I let you live with way too nice women…” he trailed off when Velka pced the ruby in his breast pocket. Her now empty beak, she used to gnaw on his nose. “You’re a mischievous, cute thing,” he admitted and pulled the dog-sized chimera into his p.

  No matter where he looked down below, there was activity. The group had separated over two hours ago, each member either aiding in the remaining re-opening procedures or getting back to their work. The elementals had overseen the reopening of the isnds, Momo was taking care of the return of the people to their houses, and Rave supported her in that. Beatrice was making sure the new offices in the Fusion Administration were getting properly distributed between the ministries. Beyond the Guild Hall, Scarlett and Nathalia were back in their business dealings, Aclysia was making sure all things were well at the maid academy, Lydia made a short trip home (to hopefully return ter), and Lee was eating dinner with her parents.

  That left John, Eliana, Nia and Metra to their own devices. Although she wasn’t obliged to do it, Nia had decided to act in her position as one of Fusion’s generals and oversee the settling of the garrison into their new quarters. The remaining three of them had spent about an hour doing absolutely nothing of value. Sex had been part of it, and although John had definitely made the pretty little psycho orgasm, he hadn’t gotten a Blessing out of it. Whether that was because of her still somewhat separated nature or a general reluctance to bestow that Blessing on her part, willingness to give it was still a factor, John couldn’t say.

  Because it was such a unique sight, the Gamer had wanted to see the major wave of people pour into the Guild Hall from up there. Ferry after ferry, they were brought back in, walked through the roads as little spots of movement or light, if they pyed on their phone. John liked the winter. As a child of his PC chair, every sunless hour more was a good hour in his book. The way the Residential and Commercial area gradually lit up as more people inspected their new holdings only strengthened that feeling.

  Down there, people lived their lives. People adjusted to their new door numbers. Couples talked quietly under the cover of their bnkets. Those alone filled their evening with hobbies, video games, contact with their friends and, if they were having a particurly bad day, existential uncertainty. Children pyed within the walls and on the street. Maybe parents took their young ones to check on the new parks. Maybe they saw the monument to those who had fallen to the Death Zone.

  Would they expin to their children what that sacrifice had entailed? Would they tell their children that it was something admirable? If John governed well, if Fusion sted, then people would be born, live, and die all within the borders of his Federation. Would parents be willing to encourage their own child to be born, live, and die all to uphold his Federation?

  Would he be?

  “Mrrreow?” Velka let out a quiet, questioning sound when the scratching of her neck stopped.

  John looked down at the Magryph and swiftly got his nose caught again. “You’re just determined to keep me happy, aren’t you?” he asked with a weak chuckle.

  “Do you need that?”

  John raised his gaze again, more out of surprise than to see who was there. He recognized the rough voice of the red-skinned women among all others. It was one of his favourite things to hear in the world, after all.

  Samander hung in the air in front of him. Her entire outfit was manifested, covering her limbs, including the tail, in scales of a dark, metallic rock, through which red lines ran in the same jagged patterns as the bck ones that ran over her red skin. Her breasts and sex were covered by fmes of an unnatural solidity, only truly flickering along the edges. That he hadn’t noticed her approaching spoke to his state of mind.

  Waiting for him to rise from his dumbfounded state, the apocalypse elemental flew up to the crystal fme of Lady Liberty and pced her hand on it. Her fire engulfed the rge object, was absorbed into it, and then slowly discharged. If it had been the appropriate weather for the time of year, John would have found the heat on his back pleasant. With the artificial summer, it was only his equally magical clothes that prevented him from sweating.

  Samander nded next to him on the walkaround and crossed her arms on the railing. “All good, John?”

  The Gamer blew air out of his nose. “I can’t remember the st time you called me by name,” he expined his amusement. “Well, I can remember. Figuratively, though…”

  “Yeah, yeah, I get what you fucking mean.” Stopping to ponder for a moment, Samander responded with a tilted head, “I guess I do just call you ‘stud’ or ‘asshole’ normally.”

  “An accurate selection, to be fair.” A hand travelled from Velka’s soft fur to Samander’s right thigh. It stayed at the halfway point, while the scales disappeared. His thumb brushed over her smooth skin in a calm, repeating motion.

  “I could add some more words to it,” the fire spirit said. “Seriously, you doing good?”

  “I have no reason to be doing bad.” The response sounded hollow even to his own ears. Searching for what he actually wanted to say, he let his feet sway in the empty air. It was a far drop from where he was. Samander stayed quiet and let him sort his thoughts. “I’m having a moment of introspection. Things have been hectic recently. I can handle that normally, but there were a lot of ups and downs. I live the greatest life with all of you, but I’m surrounded by fleetingly weak people… it’s weird.”

  “Tell me about it,” Samander pushed herself off the railing and swiftly dropped down to sit down next to him, “like, literally, if you want to.”

  “I don’t know what else to say about it.” John let Velka step out of his embrace and the Magryph id down zily on her side a step to his right. “Do you ever think about this?”

  “All the time!” the apocalypse elemental responded a bit too swiftly. Noticing her summoner’s raised eyebrow, she rolled her eyes. “I don’t know, darling-”

  “Darling?” John interrupted her with a loud ugh. “I never expected you to use that word unironically.”

  “Oh shut it, I love you.” The tall, curvy woman punched him on the shoulder. “I’m not nice enough to come up with fttering nicknames on my own. I have to steal Nia’s.”

  “I don’t think you give yourself enough credit when it comes to being nice or being creative, Sally.”

  “I don’t know.” Samander put an arm around him and rested her head against his. “All that care that you have for people… I just don’t really give a fuck about them. I care about you, for obvious reasons, but as for Fusion, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to see what happened if I tried to tear it to shreds.”

  “But you wouldn’t do it.”

  “You sure about that?”

  “Reasonably,” the Gamer joked and put his arm around her. “I believe that you often want to tear down things just because you can. That urge is definitely stronger in you than it is in me. I also know that it would take more than a spur of the moment to make you flip, my evil overdy.”

  Samander shrugged. “We won’t get to test that while I’m with you. You keep me retively fucking reasonable, my guy.”

  “Unless I allow you to run headfirst into cosmic horrors again, you mean?”

  “Hey, I’m just your average metal as fuck chick. I have my own bck fortress, my species description literally has the word ‘apocalypse’ in it, I throw meteors, I’m taller than most guys – including you, and burn my problems while looking damn good.”

  “All of that is definitely true,” John hummed and leaned over. Their lips found each other. The st vestiges of purple vanished from the sky, while they kissed. “Did you only come here to ignite the torch?”

  “Yeah,” she answered.

  “Anything else to do tonight?”

  “I’ve put my foot down already. There’s a lot of ambitious newcomers whose asses needed kicking into submission.” Grinning diabolically, Samander revealed her sharp teeth. “If they fuck anything up, I can test how effective va baths are as a punishment method for fire elementals.”

  “I would reason somewhat, depending on the type,” the Gamer said. “Which reminds me that I still owe you a visit during work hours. You know, to act as your seat and seat warmer.”

  “What kind of evil overdy would I be if I didn’t have throne-sex at least once.”

  “A good one?”

  “Exactly, less depravity points make me good, so that makes me bad.” The apocalypse elemental kissed him again, this time in a more forceful way. “Less cloudy in your head now, stud?”

  “You know, you don’t really need to think of something else to call me. Stud works just fine in all situations.” John ughed and softly spped the spot of her side where his hand was lying, before removing it altogether. “Alright, let’s get back inside. Thanks for this.”

  “Eh, I didn’t do much,” the apocalypse elemental waved off. “Just made some jokes and said useless shit.”

  “That was enough for me,” John said and helped her up.

  They made their way back inside.