When Gene returned to his body, the first thing he heard was the voice of the Hero System, confirming he was on the right path.

  Hero System Notification: New mission objective….Conquer the Spire 1 of 19,998.

  He shot up with a start, startling Kyrie, Winnie, and Eonis.

  He grinned wide and said, “She’s in.”

  “Oh dear god!” exclaimed Winnie, trying to catch her breath.

  Sighs of relief filled the room and Gene sat up, confused. They were all looking at him with a strange look. Kyrie spoke first, hesitantly.

  “Do–do your eyes hurt?” he asked, confusing Gene in turn. “That whole time you were gone, your eyes were open and completely white. Glazed over like you were..well, never mind. Let’s gear up.”

  The members of Silvayn departed the room, leaving Gene alone with his thoughts. He sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. He was fatigued, a feeling he had quickly come accustomed to since his first power stunt. He found himself longing for those early days of adventure and realized those were only weeks ago. It made him ache all over. He second guessed himself, then third, and finally fourth before he decided it didn’t matter. In the end, the Dark Lord would come for him again, or worse, take one of the members of Silvayn or Taos when he was caught unaware. He had to strike and it had to be a major blow.

  Sometime later, he heard Winnie’s thoughts drift into his head through their reestablished connection.

  “It’s time,” she thought. “We’re convening near Simmard’s farm. It’s far enough away that Gordona shouldn’t notice our departure.”

  Gene crafted a detailed illusion around them as Silvayn slipped out of the city gates and made their way to Simmard’s farm. Caution was needed to not alert Gordona of their plans. They all knew she wouldn’t sanction an ad hoc mission like this and if she let the rest of the council know Liris was behind it, she was liable to trigger a civil war among the factions. It made Gene nervous and the scratch on his neck felt hot at the thought of her bladed heels beheading him swiftly.

  Eonis caught him rubbing his neck and slowed his pace to walk aside Gene.

  “You’re right to worry. G’s gonna take your head.”

  Gene jumped at Eonis’s voice. He looked up to the elf and caught him smirking. It eased some of the tension building in him, making him chuckle. When Eonis shoved him playfully, he fully laughed and shook his head.

  “There we go,” said Eonis. “Focus on the mission at hand. We’ll deal with the fallout as we fall through it.”

  Gene took a deep breath.

  “Thanks. I need that.”

  The elf smiled at him and he returned the affection. Of all the members of Silvayn, Eonis felt the most distant, Kyra a close second. They were cautious of Gene, he could tell as much without sensing their emotions. But the moment of levity made him feel that maybe that tide was beginning to turn.

  When they arrived at Simmard’s farm, Liris and her forces were already waiting. Two full parties of adventurers, 12 in total counting Liris, stood in a semicircle. They were each outfitted in what looked to be expensive armor. Gene could only surmise their classes from their gear.

  A woman and a man held bladed weapons, a greatsword and a katana respectively. An obvious caster carried a staff two times their height that orbs of colored light rotated around the head of, contrasting the other caster who held a wand daintily between his fingers. There were two Bards, one carrying a lute and the other a flute. Two people were unarmed and unarmored, one dressed like a thuggish brute and the other in a gi. Two people were in robes that mirrored each other, one holy and the other profane. Lastly, there was Liris and a man Gene dubbed mini-Liris, both wearing matching armor and carrying twin daggers at their sides.

  To Gene, it seemed she kept her parties well-rounded. It was a sharp contrast to Derek and his band of warriors and war mages. When Liris caught sight of them her expression shifted from a focused and commanding demeanor to more of a sinister gaze.

  “Ah, the messiah has arrived,” she said with a bemused grin. “Ready to show us the way to the promised land?”

  Gene returned her grin with his own and nodded sharply.

  “Yes, but I think for now, it’s best to use our inside voices to communicate.”

  Gene tapped his forehead and Liris let out a chuckle.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Gird yourselves and think pure thoughts,” said Liris to her teams.

  Gene raised a finger to his temple, partly for dramatic effect and to let the gathered heroes know he was preparing to do something. He opened his mind and a wave of psionic energy swept out of him before rushing back, connecting the minds of everyone gathered. No one realized anything had happened until he spoke.

  “My name is Gene Grey and today, we change your world.”

  Shock rippled through the group and the emotion redoubled when they felt each other’s shock. The members of Silvayn all chuckled. By then, they were so used to the strangeness of Gene that it amused them when someone else encountered it. Gene gave them a moment to adjust to the sensation before projecting his thoughts again.

  “Right, now that that’s out of the way, here’s the plan.”

  Gene engraved the plan in their thoughts and, using transportation spells, the teams of adventurers were gone. Liris had selected a Spire in Calriydan as the subject of conquest in Gene’s plan. In an arid desert landscape, the teams clung to the sands to avoid discovery.

  They gathered between them, using scrying spells to gather information at a distance. Scoured by sands brought on shifting winds, the Spire was older than any Gene encountered thus far.

  “One of my duties as the leader of the Autumn faction is to monitor resources on both sides,” thought Liris in the mental gestalt. “I need to know when and where the Dark Lord will strike next to issue an evacuation or suffer catastrophic losses. As a result, I know when and where those same resources are thinnest.”

  She gave a devilish grin at this thought, amused by the turn of events. Gene cast his senses wide and combined his readings with the scrying mages to give a detailed layout of the structure to the group. Only 15 Forsaken in total numbered the occupants of the Spire. On the grounds, 10 patrolled, with the other 5 stationed in the war room. When the spell expired, Gene nodded to himself to focus his thoughts.

  “Right, so we have our objectives. When this starts, I won’t be able to maintain the mental connection. Sow as much chaos and confusion as you can sow. We regroup and hopefully rejoice in an hour.”

  He paused to look at Kyrie and for a second, he thought he saw his hands trembling. He reached out, cupping his face in his hand before speaking out loud.

  “Be careful.”

  Kyrie gripped his hand and smiled at him before the two groups broke apart. Gene’s forces ran to their marked destination as a skillfully executed teleportation spell took the other team to the edges of their Spire’s security perimeter.

  Cloaked in an illusion to look like Gene, Liris led her team of adventurers in a brutal assault on the spire. Explosions turned sand to glass as Winnie, Kyra, and the casters rained down heaven and hell fire on the unaware Forsaken forces. The creatures scrambled into formation and a klaxon blared in surprise at the audacity of the raid. Gene could sense movement from the Spire ahead of them as the forces broke off to make a mad dash and fall in formation.

  In the shifting sands, Eonis’s skin took on a shifting tan complexion, making him almost imperceptible at a distance. With his natural spells, he molded a concealing curtain around Gene and the two adventurers who joined them.

  “Maintain contact for another 3 minutes and 43 seconds,” said the Cleric in black, Delphimia, holding a holy tome. She was a rank 2 Oracle of Biris, god of humanity and knowledge. Worshipping a dark aspect of the god, she focused on knowledge and truths of the world.

  She took an athame from her belt and drew blood from her palm before thrusting her bleeding hand onto her tome to cast a spell. Gene felt a pulse of energy burdening her mind as she gained momentary foresight and intuition with her Calculated Outcomes spell. With combined abilities, they coordinated the attack.

  Gene kept the adventurers linked as Delphimia counted down the seconds. They had to push it close enough that the Forsaken would alert the Generals of their attack. If they timed it right, they’d arrive right when he seized the Spire.

  He kept calm by assisting the coordination of combat, guiding precise strikes and fighting the urge to watch Kyrie the entire time. He was off kilter, still recovering from the mental assault by Verdant but there was no sign of his trauma on the battlefield. The Warrior parried clawed strikes with skillful flare, throwing himself into the melee to clear his mind.

  Gene found himself entranced by Liris’s forces. The unarmed warriors threw unbalancing body blows, leaving openings for the mages to strike. More Forsaken exited the Spire as they fell from the overwhelming assault. When 2 Forsaken remained in the command room, the sound of the klaxon changed and Delphimia gave Gene the signal.

  “Go!” she said with a nod and he was gone before the word finished leaving her lips.

  His body fell limp into Eonis’s waiting arms and his astral form shot forth like a rocket through the Spire walls. The last two Forsaken were exiting the Spire to join the fray when his astral ghost passed through the one descending the stairs and entered the body of the one behind it.

  A psionic command shut it down. The Forsaken froze in place as its mindless compatriot descended the Spire’s steps. Gene was in control. He compelled the creature to return to the war room. At the controls, the Forsaken simply peered down at one of the stations, awaiting its next command.

  The ease with which he controlled the creature soured Gene’s stomach. He fought to suppress the feeling, focusing on his plan as the Forsaken took the controls. He paused the creature’s actions as a thought occurred to him.

  It would be easy enough to carry out his plan now but the fact remained that no one in the United Front knew how the Spires worked. He needed to do more. He focused his thoughts, drawing out more and more psionic energy from his boundless wellspring. Outside, his body convulsed to the horror of the adventurers surrounding him but he didn’t stop. His astral form fluctuated until suddenly drawing into the mind of the Forsaken and the system spoke.

  Hero System Message: You have used a Power Stunt to activate Possession 8. You are now Fatigued. Further uses of abilities beyond your current selected powers will result in Exhaustion.

  Agony ripped through Gene’s soul as he became one with the Forsaken. Its alien flesh fought itself, tearing and twisting in an unending battle to perfect itself with every muscle movement. Its mind was scarred over and over, memory and intention bleeding into one another. Instinct guided its rage, programmed orders guided its movement. Theirs was truly a pained experience.