I woke up to the sound of my phone vibrating on the nightstand.

  I rolled over, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and picked up the phone.

  [New Message: Misty]

  [Misty]: Shipment 1 is ready, I left my contribution outside your front door. Where do I go to receive my part?

  I sat up, fully awake now.

  "She moves fast," I muttered.

  I tapped out a reply.

  [Me]: Did you have anything to do with Grace?

  It was a blunt question, but I was not going to dance around the subject. Grace had disappeared right after she started investigating Misty. The timing was too suspicious to ignore.

  The three dots appeared instantly.

  [Misty]: No. What happened to her?

  I stared at the screen. Her denial was quick. Too quick? Or just efficient?

  I remembered Grace’s warning.

  She played you.

  I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. I wasn't going to give her leverage.

  [Me]: She got sick. Flu. She’s resting.

  I hit send.

  [Misty]: Where do I go?

  She didn't buy it. Or maybe she didn't care. Either way, she moved on.

  [Me]: Eden City Hall. Ask for the Intake Department. You will be accommodated.

  Misty left me on read.

  I got out of bed and walked downstairs.

  I opened the front door and sitting on the welcome mat was a small wooden crate. I brought it inside and pried the lid open.

  Inside, nestled in straw, were twenty vials of various colored glowing liquids.

  I picked one up.

  [Item Identified: Elixir of Clarity (High Grade)]

  [Effect: Clears mental fatigue and boosts cognitive processing speed by 50% for 4 hours.]

  "Utility potions," I noted. "Not the Miracle stuff, but useful."

  I set the crate on the kitchen counter.

  "Aiya!" I shouted.

  "What?" Aiya’s voice drifted in from the living room.

  "I need to check the accounts," I said, walking in.

  Aiya was doing a headstand on the bamboo rug. "Go ahead."

  I sat on the couch and pulled out my laptop. I logged into the Eden corporate account.

  I braced myself for the red error message. ACCOUNT FROZEN. ACCESS DENIED.

  The screen loaded.

  Balance: 9,834,598,732 Spirit Stones.

  I blinked.

  "It's... it's still active," I whispered.

  I opened a new tab and went to a Seaside affiliated online store—Merch & More. I found a bobblehead of Coolie the Announcer. Price: 25 Stones.

  I entered the corporate card details.

  Processing...

  Transaction Complete.

  "It works," I said, my voice rising. "Aiya! It works!"

  Aiya lowered her legs and flipped onto her feet. "I know."

  I stared at her. "You know? How?"

  "I bought a juicer yesterday," she said, shrugging. "And a new yoga mat. And a subscription to Apocalypse Monthly."

  "Why didn't you tell me?!" I screamed.

  "You never asked," she said, walking past me to the kitchen. "I assumed you knew. You're the President after all."

  I slumped back on the couch.

  Wolfen Beckenfein. He had seized the company and ousted his sister.

  But he kept the money flowing.

  "Why?" I asked the ceiling. "Is he stupid? Or afraid?"

  Maybe he didn't know how to untangle the finances without crashing the whole system. Maybe he was afraid that if he cut off Eden, I would come knocking on his door for breach of contract.

  "Or maybe," I mused, "he's just biding his time."

  I stood up.

  "It doesn't matter," I said. "Whatever his game plan is, he's financing his own replacement."

  I closed the laptop.

  "I'm going out," I told Aiya.

  "Where?"

  "Shopping for intel."

  I went to the backyard greenhouse.

  "Teleport."

  I appeared in an alleyway in Ann Arbor.

  It was mid morning and the Hub was already bustling. I pulled my hood up and merged into the crowd.

  I headed for the back district—the part of town where the neon signs were broken and the deals were done in whispers.

  I found the booth. It was an old ticket kiosk for a parking garage that didn't exist anymore. Inside sat a man surrounded by screens.

  On the desk displayed the name DONNY.

  "Donny," I said, leaning on the glass.

  Donny looked up. He was small, nervous, and wore thick glasses that reflected the blue light of his monitors.

  "Name?" Donny asked.

  "Kaz."

  Donny paused. "The Gardener?"

  "That's me."

  "25,000 Stones," Donny said instantly. "Up front."

  I transferred the funds.

  "I need to know about the Harvest Fleets," I said.

  Donny typed furiously.

  "Harvest Fleets," he said. "Three of them. Mapi, Wopo, and Nedo."

  "Who are they?"

  "Nomads," Donny explained. "Body cultivators, mostly. They live in convoys—massive trucks and modified rigs. They control the dead space between the cities. They move goods, they raid, they trade. They have no central leadership, just captains of individual ships."

  "And their strength?"

  "They're cockroaches," Donny said. "You step on one, ten more scatter. They don't fight wars; only skirmishes. But they own the roads. If you want to move anything through the Wilds without getting hit, you pay the toll."

  "And the others?" I asked. "The tyrants? The independents?"

  Donny scoffed. "Irrelevant. They rise and fall like the wind. A tyrant takes a town, rules for a month, gets killed by his lieutenant, repeat. They have no military or economy. They're just noise. Independents are even more irrelevant living in the shadow of those tyrants and nomads."

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  I nodded.

  "Thanks, Donny."

  I walked away.

  The Fleets.

  I had never encountered them. Why? Because I didn't use roads. I used teleportation and subterranean bullet trains. I had bypassed their entire ecosystem.

  But if I wanted to expand... if I wanted to march an army to Grand Rapids or beyond... I couldn't ignore them.

  "They're a variable," I whispered.

  If Cloud marched on Black Hand, the Fleets would be vultures circling the battlefield. They would raid supply lines and pick off stragglers.

  "I need to clear the board," I decided.

  I teleported.

  I appeared in the bamboo shed at the theater camp. It was empty now, just a relay point.

  I sat down on the crate and activated the Goros interface.

  A holographic map of the surrounding area appeared in the air.

  "Root Sense," I commanded.

  My awareness expanded and I felt the vibrations of the earth for miles.

  I found them.

  Seven miles east. An abandoned factory complex.

  I sensed the heavy tread of tires and the heat signatures of hundreds of bodies. The chaotic flow of Qi.

  Mapi Fleet.

  I teleported there.

  I reached out with my Dominion and found a patch of weeds growing through the cracked concrete of the factory floor.

  "Grow."

  I poured Qi into the connection.

  Inside the factory, the weeds exploded.

  Razorgrass.

  The floor turned into a blender and the grass blades grew to waist height thrashing wildly.

  I watched as the nomads panicked. They were tough—Body Cultivators—so the grass didn't kill them instantly, but it shredded their tires and cut their fuel lines.

  "Sky Piercer."

  Bamboo stalks shot up from the floor, punching through the roof of the factory and blossomed, revealing missile pods.

  Wooden stakes fired into the engine blocks of their rigs.

  The nomads screamed, abandoning their vehicles and running for the exits.

  I didn't stop them.

  "Leave," I whispered.

  I dismantled the factory and collapsed the roof supports. I turned their base into a pile of rubble and weeds.

  Then I moved to the next signal.

  Wopo Fleet. A convoy parked under a bridge.

  "Grounding Vine."

  I drained their batteries and killed their engines.

  Nedo Fleet. A camp in a forest clearing.

  "Mandrake."

  I spawned fifty screamers in the center of their camp and the psychic wail sent them fleeing into the woods, leaving their supplies behind.

  I spent the next hour hunting.

  I destroyed every base, every cache, every staging ground within fifty miles.

  I made it impossible for them to organize.

  "Variable removed," I said, closing the interface.

  I teleported home.

  Back in the mansion, I opened my laptop.

  I drafted a new resolution: The Eden Expansion Jobs Act.

  We needed workers, farmers, and bureaucrats to manage the new territories.

  I hit send.

  Then, I closed the laptop.

  The next month was peaceful.

  I settled into a routine.

  6:00 AM: Wake up. Jog around the perimeter of Southfield.

  7:00 AM: Breakfast. Heavenly Oatmeal.

  8:00 AM: Yoga with Aiya’s class on the lawn.

  9:00 AM: Administrative work. Reviewing reports from Eden.

  12:00 PM: Lunch.

  1:00 PM: Leisure. I watched movies, played video games and read books I had bought online.

  It was the life I had dreamed of when the apocalypse started. Safe, wealthy, and comfortable.

  But it was different now.

  I wasn't hiding. I was waiting.

  I thought about Adan’s words.

  You are as strong as the Fourth General.

  It brought me peace.

  I wasn't Axehill or Majors.

  But I was strong enough.

  I had reached my ceiling. I couldn't punch diamonds or shoot fire but I was never supposed to.

  I am a gardener. A Heavenly Gardener.

  I could grow an army, feed a nation, and build a city.

  "I am not a Warlord," I realized one afternoon, watching the sun set over my garden, however this time it hit differently.

  "I am an Emperor."

  Warlords fought. Emperors ruled.

  I had subordinates to be Warlords for me.

  Speaking of which...

  I checked my "Tyrant List."

  Donny had given me a list of independent tyrants operating in the Wilds. Petty kings ruling over scrap heaps.

  "Time for bed," I said.

  I went to my room and sat on the edge of the bed and opened the Goros interface.

  I picked a name from the list. The Butcher of Brighton.

  I located his compound.

  "Target acquired," I whispered.

  I expanded my soil which was nearby in Ann Arbor and planted an Explosive Heavenly Squash under his bed.

  "Goodnight," I said.

  The signal vanished.

  I crossed the name off the list.

  It became my nightly ritual. Brush teeth. Wash face. Assassinate a tyrant. Sleep.

  I worked my way down the list. The Baron of Howell. The King of Milford. The Duke of Dexter.

  I cleared the board. One by one.

  I felt like a god smiting sinners with lightning bolts, except my lightning was vegetables.

  Thirty days passed.

  It was a late Monday night.

  Aiya and I had just finished a poker session. I had lost 500 stones.

  "You have a tell," she said, counting her winnings. "Your left eye twitches when you bluff."

  "I don't twitch," I grumbled.

  "You're twitching right now."

  I rolled my eyes and went upstairs to shower.

  The hot water felt good as it washed away the shame of the poker loss.

  I stepped out, drying my hair with a towel.

  My phone buzzed on the counter.

  [New Message: Sal]

  Cloud is ready. Renovations are complete. We are heading home.

  I stared at the text.

  It was time.

  The month of peace was over and the board was temporarily clear. The Fleets were scattered, the tyrants were dead and the accounts were funded. The army was also nice and rested.

  However, this was temporary. The fleets would return, new tyrants would take power, and the Beckenfein issue is still not resolved.

  That’s why we have to move now.

  I typed a reply.

  [Me]: Good work. Get some rest.

  I put the phone down.

  I walked to the window and looked out at Southfield. The streetlights glowed with gold light. It was a paradise.

  And tomorrow, I was going to use it to swallow the rest of the state.

  "Tomorrow," I whispered.

  "I’ll finish what I started."

  Name: Eden

  Rank (Local): Major

  Rank (Global): Minor

  Capital: Eden City Hall, Southfield

  Demonym: Edenite

  Government: Corporate Democracy

  Area: 68.01 km2

  Population: 103,574

  GDP: 9.8 billion

  GDP per Capita: 94,618

  Detailed

  

  


  
• Government


  


  
• President - Kaz Kaaz


  
• CEO - Wolfen Beckenfein


  
• Chief of Staff of the Army - Bells Ruper


  
• General of Second Division - Joakim


  
• General of Third Division - Frank


  
• General of Third Division - Sal


  
• Chief of Medicine at Southfield General - Siegfried


  
• Governor of Adam - Mayah


  
• Governor of Eve - John


  
• Corporate Wellness Chef - Aiyana


  


  


  

  

  
• Economy +


  

  

  


  


  
• Southfield Rent/Tax - 528 million stones annually


  
• Adam Mine - 500 million stones annually


  
• Eden Supermarket - 250 million stones annually


  


  


  

  

  
• Eden Oil Up - 17 million stones annually


  

  

  


  


  
• Beckenfein Holdings - 8.5 billion stones annually


  


  


  

  

  
• Economy -


  

  

  


  
• Wages - 8.4 billion stones annually


  


  

  Territories

  

  
• Southfield: Eden’s capital. Supplies labor and workforce.


  

  Colonies

  

  
• Adam: Supplies stones and Wilds items.


  
• Eve: Houses 24/7 Mart


  

  Subsidiaries

  

  
• Crisbol


  

  Vassals

  

  
• Cloud


  

  Diplomacy

  

  
• Seaside: None


  
• White Hill:


  
• The Cove: Plants for potions


  
• Government: None


  

  Military

  

  
• First Division (Army)


  

  

  
• General - Bells Ruper


  
• Soldiers - 10,000


  

  

  
• Second Division (Recon)


  


  
• General - Joakim


  
• Soldiers - 50


  


  
• Third Division (Engineering)


  


  
• General - Frank (35)


  
• General - Sal (15)


  
• Soldiers - 50


  


  

  Eden Train

  

  
• Colony Route


  

  

  
• Adam


  
• Eve


  

  

  
• Subsidiary Route


  

  

  


  
• Crisbol


  


  

  Objectives

  

  
• Race of the City States: Annex Michigan (Franchise Model)


  

  

  
• Win the war: Take Gaylord and defeat Black Hand