Diana stood out in the middle of the blizzard. The wind whipped, slamming small chunks of ice into the walls of the buildings around them. The wood cracked, the ice hitting like bullets. Both the wind and ice ignored Diana as she spun around in a circle, smiling and looking up at the sky. Nothing came near her, waves of heat radiating off of her.

  The snow, ice and wind stopped a couple feet away from her. Closing her eyes, Diana concentrated, pushing more of her Spirit into the field around her. It pulsed, the distance increasing by a couple of inches. The wind pushed harder, as if it was angered at the barrier holding it back. Diana’s smile grew.

  Eyes appeared in the darkness, barely visible through the swirly snow. Diana took a step forward, summoning her weapons. She liked the field, her Warrior’s Aura Of Fire, as it kept back the blizzards of the winter in New Siberia. That was what she was calling her growing territory. As they found more and more of the scattered communities, pulling them under her banner as the people joined her Clan, her territory grew and her Abilities based on the strength of her Clan Siberiak grew.

  The snow and wind formed the shape of a massive creature as it came closer to her. She could barely make out the form of the Siberian Whitecliff Yeti Alpha. The creature was shaped like a giant gorilla with huge muscular arms that served as its front legs. The rear legs and lower end were closer to the ground. The head was wife, also more gorilla shaped, but with two huge horns curling forward. The beast was covered in thick, shaggy gray white fur, slightly blue around the lighter gray fur of its chest. Standing almost twenty feet tall, the Yeti towered over Diana.

  With hammer and sickle in hand, the field keeping the ice and wind away from her, Diana charged at the Yeti. The monster reared up, pounding its chest as the roar was heard over the noises of the storm.

  ***

  “Thank you,” the older man said, standing in front of Diana.

  They were in the large open room of the log cabin in an isolated village. She wasn’t sure where it was. Still in Siberia, at the edges of her territory to the east. She might have once known the name of this village but with the world growing in size, her scale of the region she had once called home was shot. She no longer knew where they were.

  “That monster and its kind had been terrorizing our village since the snow started falling. They kept us trapped inside the buildings, our food and water dwindling,” the man said.

  Diana’s Evaluate had the man feeling like he was barely Level Five. Did he even have a Class yet? How did people manage to stay so weak in this newly Connected World? They were weak but they were still her people.

  There were about twenty feet of various ages in the building. The man had told her that the village had about one hundred people in the community buildings. It had been days since any had been able to venture outside with the Yetis roaming the streets.

  Diana and her advance party had come across the village as they worked to expand the territory and help the people they found, quickly dealt with the Yetis, leaving the Alpha to her. It had not been a long fight. The Yeti was strong, but she was stronger.

  The door opened, letting a blast of cold wind into the building, which itself was not warm. With the Yeti in the streets, the people had not been able to go out and get more wood. It would have been a race to see if they starved or froze to death first. Diana would have bet on the freezing. She saw Piotr, one of her strongest fighters, leading a line of cold and tired villagers.

  “This is the last of them,” he said.

  She nodded, turning back to the older man who had been the leader of the small village.

  “Your people are saved,” she said.

  “We thank you,” he replied. “What can we do to repay you?”

  “Take an oath that you will work for the betterment of New Siberia and its people. That you will strive to rebuild the world that was taken from us.”

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  The old man looked at the others gathered. He got some shakes of the head. The people of Siberia were proud. They did not bend a knee lightly. But the old man mostly got nods. He sighed, turning back to Diana.

  “We will take the oath.”

  It took some time but the entire village of one hundred and three took their oath to Clan Siberiak. Diana could feel the Clan growing, her territory growing as she claimed the village as her own. She resisted looking at the Clan Ranking Board, not wanting to see what position her Clan had moved to. There were more villages to find and people to save. Then, and only then, would she look.

  ***

  The ships of Clan Yoshi landed on the beach, immediately soldiers in the Clan’s armor and colors jumped off the sides, rushing up the sand to confront the pitiful number of defenders. Oroku Yoshi didn’t even know what Clan they belonged to, or if there was a Clan that claimed this small island. It was just a stop on the way to the larger conquests. The Asian mainland awaited.

  The defenders valiantly fought to hold off his people. Oroku watched from the lead ship, his honor guard around him. The wind blew across the deck, pushing at his hair and robes. He ignored it, watching the people fighting, his hand on the hilt of his sword. He longed to go join the fight, to cut through the enemy, but his place was where he was. On the ship, the figurehead to rally his people, to wait for the more dangerous enemies to appear.

  He waited and none appeared.

  His people ran over the small island, none standing in their way. Only about a hundred remained on the island, fewer now that the defenders had dared stand up to his rightful conquest. They surrendered, quickly taking the oaths to Clan Yoshi.

  Within two days, the fleet was back out in the Pacific, sailing west. There were more islands and Oroku Yoshi hated each delay but they were necessary. All the various people in Asia, and someday the world, needed to know that he was there to save them. They needed to bend the knee to the power that was Clan Yoshi.

  ***

  Oroku Yoshi walked down the gangplank, exiting his ship. His feet touched the sandy beach of the mainland, the sea water coming in waves, but none touched his feet or ropes. The water flowed around the feet of his people that walked behind him, moving up the beach and then flowing back out to the ocean, drenching the people. But none dared to touch Master Yoshi. He kept his barrier close around his person, repelling anything that would try to touch him.

  It would not do for his august person to get wet. Even the ocean needed to learn that Oroku Yoshi was the true master of this world.

  He strode onto the beach, eyes scanning the hills beyond. There was no one waiting for his army. No people, not even any monsters. Which kind of surprised him, but he didn’t let it show. Had his advance forces cleared the area that quickly and fully?

  Most likely. He had hand picked them for this assignment himself.

  They were among the best his Clan had to offer. There would be few that could stand against them.

  His honor guard spread out around him, most behind but three ahead. Those three moved quickly, advancing up the beach. They disappeared over the hills. More soldiers disembarked from the ship. Yoshi could hear the commands being called out by his General, ordering the beachhead to be set up. Ignoring all the activity, Yoshi slowly walked up the beach, the sand pushing away from his field. He climbed the dune, stopping at the top.

  His Honor Guard didn’t try to stop him. They didn’t worry about what might be hiding on the other side. They had complete faith in their Lord. As they should.

  Beyond the hills was a field of grass with a forest beyond. With his sharp eyes, Yoshi could see the three members of the Honor Guard disappear into the forest. Soldiers ran past, up and over the hills, running toward the forest.

  He heard the familiar footsteps of his General climbing the sandy hill to stand next to him.

  “Does my Lord have a preference where we set up his tent?”

  Yoshi’s eyes scanned the surrounding area. He didn’t just search for the best place for his tent, but the camp as a whole. The camp would be built around his tent in the center, as it should be.

  “There,” he said, pointing at a spot about two hundred feet away, almost center of the field.

  “Yes milord,” the General said, bowing his head.

  Before he started shouting his orders, the General descended the hill so that raising his voice would not disturb Oroku Yoshi, who did not care. He had already tuned the General out, focusing on the forest and what it held. There would be people and there would be Connection-spawned Monsters.

  Creatures to destroy and remove from the surface of his world.

  And it was his world. The other people just did not know it yet.