“The Countess will see you now,” said the banker.
Mark put down his designer coffee and got up from his seat in the waiting room, saying to Isoko, “I’ll try not to be long.”
Isoko was reading on her phone but she paused to look up at Mark. “Oh! Take your time. I’m reading.” She went back to reading. She was sipping her own designer coffee as she read. She was comfortable.
The bank was good about making you feel good to be here.
Mark smiled a little bit and went with the banker down the hallways of Metallic Bank. The place was all white, off-white, and with various levels of gold on the walls and on the lighting figures. Tasteful, though. Not gilt-everything. The walls were mostly-flat reliefs of trees with leaf-edges painted gold, while marble-like veins of gold reached through the branches. The pillars were tree-trunk shaped, and the ground was perfectly flat, and here and there someone had pressed gold leaves into the floor, like the scattering of winter leaves.
Goldleaf trees were highly protected things. Mark had never seen one in person, and he still hadn’t. But their imagery was everywhere in this bank, and in a lot of banks the world over. Mark wondered, as the banker took him down the hallway, if House Metallic had an actual goldleaf tree somewhere. Probably yes. Probably somewhere very secure, too.
Mark wanted to see it.
The banker dude opened a big pair of double doors and Marigold was inside, sitting at her large white wood desk. The room was ‘opulent business comfort’, which Mark was beginning to recognize as a style of plush leather chairs and pictures of people shaking hands on shelves and a few diplomas located somewhere in the room. In Marigold’s office, her diplomas were on the wall opposite of the knickknack shelves.
Marigold was a mousy woman with blonde hair who wore a business-style white-and-gold dress. She smiled, standing up to say, “Mark! I’m glad you came in. Please have a seat. Can I get you a coffee?” She gestured to a coffee machine to the side. It was a rich-looking thing of polished brass that almost looked gold, with a bunch of buttons on the front. “It makes really good coffee.”
The banker behind Mark shut the door.
Mark said, “No thank you, but thanks for the offer.”
Marigold nodded then sat back down. “Please sit with me. How can I help you today?”
Mark sat in the nice chair meant for customers, saying, “I’ve heard from Elaria that you want to talk to me about selling adamantium, so I’d like to discuss whatever that means. Also, in an unrelated matter, Elaria told me some about familiars and AIs and livium cores, because I wanted a livium core for Quark. I didn’t know about the regulations regarding keeping familiars out of the hands of demon cultists, but I don’t think those apply to me because the last time I asked actual AIs about this they were rather easy with their recommendations of how to get an AI. Last I checked, all it would cost me is money, but everywhere today, I’m being told I need to be approved. Eliot thinks I have been pre-approved. So I still want a livium core. I want a familiar to make sure that my main source of communication isn’t interrupted by various monster actions, like when the goblins tore at my communications the other day and we needed a resupply. I’ve been quoted 300,000 goldleaf for a limited core, but that was back on Earth. Elaria said you might have a connection there?
“So those are my two things, today.
“Selling adamantium and getting a livium core for Quark.”
Marigold’s vector did a funky flip as Mark spoke, going from excited to deeply wary, and then back to excited. Her face betrayed none of that, though.
Marigold nodded when Mark was finished, then asked, “You spoke to a True AI about livium before?” She clarified, “Not a limited core, but a real person.”
“Several people. It was on an AI street back in Memphi. None of them mentioned pre-approval at all, or any of whatever regulations Elaria was talking about.” Mark added, “That was back in Memphi, though.”
He was pretty sure that regulations were different on different worlds.
“If you were never told about needing approval before today then you probably are pre-approved,” Marigold said. “The various AI societies out there are rather exact when it comes to people they approve of, but if they do approve of a person then those people get put on lists that are publicly accessible to the AIs, and to whoever fills out the paperwork to look at those lists. Mostly, the pre-approved people are all people with great Skills, and every Tri-Talent is auto-approved, with rare exceptions. You probably have several notes next to your name, and I don’t want to be the one to bandy around conspiracies, but not many people have AIs at all, but you got yours from… someone, yes?”
… Oh.
Mark had gotten Quark from Citadel of Freyala Resources because that was an option and it sounded neat, so… So yeah, Mark had gotten Quark. But yeah. Not many people had AIs. Uh.
Mark asked, “Is it because the eventual AI that could develop… will gain my Skills?”
“Usually something similar, yes.”
… Huh.
… Mark was fine with that.
Marigold asked, “To clarify, you want a limited AI? Not a True AI?”
“Yes.”
Marigold nodded, then moved on, “Regarding adamantium sales…” She got a little serious as she continued, “The Empire wishes to buy whatever you’re willing to sell at the rate of 67.85 million per 1,000 grams.”
That number was like a gut punch and a slap to the face with cold water, all at once.
Mark found he had stopped breathing.
And then Mark breathed, and asked, “The… the price went up that much? Wasn’t it 40 million?”
“42.7 million as of 12 days ago, yes. It had been steady and lower than usual, due to a certain dragon flooding the market, but because the market had been flooded, the entry point for experimenting with adamantium went down. People were using it for more and more things. And then, suddenly, the Grand Mages of the Dominion of Okuana started buying everything that they could get their hands on 12 days ago. They had been buying it through intermediaries before then, and that might have been going on for as long as 2 weeks, but the true buyers of all that adamantium got leaked, though it was probably more of a spy-network shift in policy that let that information go. No one is really sure.
“Point is:
“Since then the price of adamantium has gone up by the millions every day. It will probably go higher, because the Empire of Aluatha and several nations on Earth, including Crystal Tower, are buying up supplies to compete with the Dominion of Okuana. For what end? I cannot say.” Marigold strongly said, “But everyone thinks that the Dominion figured out something new that had never been done before, and whatever Okuana discovered has caused them to violate every known adamantium trade treaty ever made.
“I need you to understand that this stuff is nuclear weapons. This stuff is the safety of a city versus kaijus. There are limits to what nations are allowed to trade in, because everyone needs adamantium. But Okuana is violating those admittedly loose treaties and they’re not even sorry about it.
“And so, the Empire wants to buy your adamantium. As much as you are willing to make and sell, they will buy all of it.
“But if you do this, then something will happen down the line, and you’ll be outed as adamantium blooded. I can’t say what, exactly, will happen when that happens, but historically you’ll probably end up with watchers and be heavily requested to hide away somewhere, or accept even more watchers if you want out into the world.”
Mark’s hopes sailed and crashed as new information capsized his emotions.
And then Marigold’s vector did a weird thing, and she said, “Or… the True AI spawned from your self might be adamantium blooded, too. Which could be a whole different bundle of issues.”
… Hmm.
… Mark had a weird moment.
Strangely enough, when being confronted with a world out to get him, in some ephemeral future, Mark did not run and hide. That was almost his first reaction, but it wasn’t his actual reaction at all. Mark had decided a while ago that he wasn’t going to be scared of the future. The future would come, and Mark would be ready for it.
And if he had an adamantium AI buddy to help, then that would be all the better.
Mark said, “I won’t be exploited, but I will sell what I can to the world, so when a time of reckoning comes for me and mine I expect House Metallic to stand with me, as a part of mine.”
Marigold had a few odd reactions to Mark’s quite daring request. They were a multinational bank, charged, by themselves, with protecting the metal blooded people who came into their circle. For Mark to speak like this with Marigold, who expected to be the branch leader of the Twin City of Memphi, to connect Memphi and Earth to the Aluatha Empire and Daihoon, was like a child asking an adult for a seat at the biggest table in the world.
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But that’s exactly what Mark was doing, and he knew it.
As their eyes met, and held, Marigold knew Mark knew what he was asking for, and what he thought he was doing.
Marigold easily said, “Done and done. I’ll be your personal banker from now on; I will not hand you off to another. The pact is sealed, if you desire it.”
“I do,” Mark said.
“Then let us speak of production rates and transfer fees…”
They spoke for a while about shifts of metal on global scales and who the actual buyers were, and how Mark would retain anonymity until someone broke into their systems desiring to know where Aluatha was getting its adamantium from. Everyone knew where all the farmed adamantium beasts in the world were. All of them were tracked and guarded extremely heavily. And for a new source to appear? Most would claim the new source was Addavein, and to decry the seller with trying to sell dragon adamantium, which was tantamount to high treason. But Marigold would be selling this metal to the Aluatha Empire, and both buyers there knew what was up. So, it was only a matter of time for buyers outside of this arrangement to catch wind of it. No security was ever perfect, and most security failed at the individual level with personal scam attacks and fake emails with links to viruses, but when Mark got Quark his real body upgrade, most of those possible avenues of egress would go away.
“There’s still the normal route to find out about metal blooded, but you have a No-Wealth metal ring, which I am very glad to see you wearing,” Marigold said, “So you’re protected in that way. But you were wearing an adamantium helmet when fighting the goblins, and people saw, and there’s already that rumor of you selling Addavein’s metal, so expect people coming around eventually, looking to steal or to bring you up on charges of high treason. Normal settlement security will stop all of that. But normal security won’t stop state-level actors.”
“Noted,” Mark said.
Marigold paused, then said, “It takes a lot of confidence to act at this level, Mark. You’re… delightfully secure in your stance, aren’t you?”
“I am, but I’m still learning, too, thank you.”
Marigold nodded, then continued.
At the end of the talk, Mark signed some paperwork and handed over 750 grams of adamantium. He still had 9,500 grams of the stuff left over. 750 was the standard weight for a kaiju blade, though, which is what this would be turned into.
Marigold grinned, saying, “You still have more than enough left to add a crown to your helmet.”
When Mark had first met with Marigold, privately, she had told him the story of the Dragon King. The Dragon King had united the world after the Magefall that separated Daihoon from Earth, promising great things and better futures. But then he died, promises undelivered.
Civilization broke that much more in his death.
Mark smirked a little, unsure of the depths that Marigold’s admittance meant for her, or for him. Mark asked, “You like the Dragon King look?”
“I do,” Marigold said, unreservedly, her vector a serious thing. “He’s a great cautionary tale, but when he was alive he was a grand hope.”
- - - -
In the morning, Mark hunted a winter beetle resurgence with a bunch of other people called up for the semi-emergency response. In the evening, he went out with Sally and cracked ice turtle shells in the twilight.
He tried to sleep at a normal time but he had to put himself to sleep to actually get there.
- -
Mark walked on black crystal that glinted in the black with silver lines like razor blades in the dark. Those glints were the only hint as to what lay all around him. The land was black, the sky was black, and the light was not light at all.
- -
In the morning, Mark recalled a dream that he did not remember. It was a foggy thing. A lot of black. Not much else.
Mark, Isoko, Sally, and Eliot, all together, hunted winter boars that threatened the southern walls of the settlement. Eliot braved the outside world, but he didn’t go very far outside the walls. The big white boars had ice for tusks and hooves and they traveled in troupes to hunt for sources of magic to consume, so they had come to the settlement walls to eat the walls, but that was not allowed. Eliot burned the boars with flamethrower towers that walked along on spider legs and spat bright purple flame. It was a good hunt.
Easy hunt.
Delicious hunt, too, eventually.
Mark carved up multiple 500 kilo boars and did a shit job of it, but it was good enough. Eliot stuck the boars onto spits over large open flames, and soon they were eating roasted boar meat right inside the settlement walls. They shared with whoever came by the southern gate tram stop. Soon, there were tens of people all eating boar meat, and Barba showed up along with Samson. She saw how butchered the boars were and laughed a lot. She kept laughing as she saw where Mark had cut too deep and they had to stitch a leg back on to the beast so it could all roast together.
“Adamantium cuts really easily!”
“I will teach you how to properly prepare a carcass some day, Mark.” And then Barba teased, “But what is this ‘cutting up meat with adamantium’! This is disgusting! You cut up everything with that stuff!”
“My metal is clean!” Mark defended himself, and then added, “Miss goblin eater!”
Barba laughed, along with several others.
That night, Mark slept terribly, so he made himself fall asleep again.
- -
Footsteps on a black plain.
The ground sparkled with silver lines, denoting the edges of crystal here and there.
The sky was not black anymore. It was just dark.
The ground itself was actually darker than black, drinking in everything, even the dark, except silver light shimmered on the black rather easily. Where was the silver light coming from?
Mark looked for the light, and he found the light was him.
And then he looked down, and the darker-than-black ground was clear as could be.
The planetoid underfoot was a geode of crystal, with an interior that shimmered—
- -
Mark startled awake.
For a long moment he sat in bed, thinking. Because now that he was here, awake, remembering his dream, and the dream didn’t fade away. Mark had dreamed of the black landscape twice already. Yesterday, for sure, but also… a day prior to that? Maybe a third time? Mark wasn’t sure when, but maybe that had been the third dream of the black landscape.
Had it been a mapping dream?
- - - -
“Yes!” Elaria said, “That’s a mapping dream!”
Mark was alone with Elaria in a side room while Isoko waited in the other room. Elaria wanted to speak to Mark alone after she heard of his possible mapping dream. And now, Mark had explained his dream from front to back, speaking of the black landscape.
Elaria continued, “It’s different for everyone, but a lot of it is the same. A landscape of some sort. Not many defining features. Don’t tell Isoko what to expect, or she might misinterpret her dreams; that’s why I wanted to separate you two for this.”
“… Ah, well...”
Elaria winced. “You already talked to her about it?”
“I did.”
“… Well that’s okay, too, I suppose. Anyway… I won’t go any further than this with you until she catches up. She shouldn’t be too much further behind. But I can tell you that you should try to enter that mental space where you see the landscape. Meditate. Sleep will get you there, too. Eventually it will be a ‘switch’ you can ‘throw’ and you can open your astral eyes and see your astral body from the inside. That’s where you’re at now at Opening the Bindings. Seeing the Binding.”
Mark felt good about that. “Sounds great! So I’ll… try to meditate?”
“Yes!” Elaria said, happily. “You’re getting there in good order. The rest can take a lifetime. In other good news, I heard that a livium core is being delivered to you today. I don’t know who is bringing it, but I think they’re coming through a portal from Memphi along with a slew of others.” She clapped her hands a little bit, excitedly saying, “We’re finally opening a portal!”
“Oh! …Err...” Mark was having mixed emotions. “Are we ready to open portals?”
Portals meant kaiju spawning nearby, or running very fast to get here. Mark fully expected the settlement to be able to defend against kaiju, since Aurora was here along with others, and Memphi would be fine, too, but… it was still calling kaiju to the area.
And there wasn’t a gatehouse, either.
Eliot had been excited to build a gatehouse. He had been expecting the call to come down the wire any day now, because they needed a gatehouse to make a contained portal that didn’t accidentally rip to kaiju-size or which suddenly closed on whatever was coming through. The System did that second thing a lot; close the Veil on whatever was coming through the Veil. Such closures tended to cut things in half.
“We don’t even have a gatehouse,” Mark said, as though that explained everything.
It explained enough.
“By the time you get back Eliot will either be out there building it, or getting the news to build it some time shortly. If he hasn’t, then you can tell him to expect the call.”
Mark grinned. “Eliot is going to love that.”
“Now let’s go get Isoko and we can do some small stretches today…”
Well sure, Mark supposed. Nothing better than working out when the iron was hot.
