Blaine’s boulder sized gut brushed up against John Reech’s bookshelf as he shimmied by the narrow walkway of his room. It caused several books to fall off onto the ground.

  Blaine might’ve tried picking them up or even feel bad about it happening, if it wasn’t for John’s refusal to accommodate his plus-sized body. Instead, he ignored it and pressed onward to the stone stairs, cursing under his breath.

  There were only a couple people in John’s entire organization that were allowed in his upstairs quarters. Blaine was one of them. After he conquered the stairs, he fixated on the old man at a desk, reading over monotonous government paperwork.

  Blaine’s huffing alone caused John to notice him.

  “Blaine. What brings you?” Reech spoke out without looking up from his paperwork.

  “Another letter from Nocturne,” Blaine breathed out, approaching the desk.

  He dropped the paper onto the desk, then sat down on John’s bed, which sagged greatly from his weight. Blaine could have placed himself in any of John’s chairs sitting in the area, but at his size, the bed was most suitable for him, and it was close enough to where John was stationed at that they could talk comfortably.

  “Ah, I was hoping for an update from him soon. Let’s see what he has to say,” John commented while tearing the envelope open.

  John,

  Marin has returned from Tarenfall with a new doctor named Edward Eisen. From what I could tell, he’s very smart. I was not so worried until I saw that Marin’s old lab had been cracked open. He now has the notes of his immortality potion. It looks like Marin is aiming to remake the potion with the help of this new doctor.

  I’ve gone through Marin’s personal notes and journals to get additional clues. He’s written it all in some other language though, that I can’t understand.

  I’m getting tired of being here. When you tasked me to watch over the castle, you never told me he might wake up. I never signed up to be a spy. I’m hoping you’ll let me out of this soon enough, and send someone else to do this job.

  Just let me know what you want me to do. I will continue to serve, but my greatest wish is to return to the cavern with Phil.

  --Rocko

  John Reech sat back in his chair, looking up towards the ceiling, deep in thought. He began weighing a lot of factors in his mind, deciding what the best course of action would be.

  Based on the long pause, Blaine knew the news wasn’t great.

  “What’s he saying?” Blaine asked in his low, bassy voice.

  “Rocko grows tired of his station. He has reminded me again that his current situation was not part of our agreement. I understand that, but I can’t easily install someone else to take his place.”

  Reech stroked his long white beard in thought.

  “...I need him there now more than ever,” he added. “Especially after the intel I’ve just received from him.”

  “More troubling events over there?” Blaine asked.

  “Here,” John said as he offered the letter to his large right hand man. Instead of relaying the contents of the letter verbally, he figured it’d be best to just let him read it for himself.

  Blaine leaned forward to take the letter from John’s hands across the desk. He leaned back and began reading.

  In the meantime, John folded his hands together, thinking still.

  Blaine finished his reading, and nodded his head. “You think Marin has a chance in succeeding?”

  “No. The notes in his lab are incomplete. It can’t be recreated,” John responded with almost certainty.

  “Well, then there’s nothing to worry about, right? He’s spinning wheels in mud.” Blaine threw the letter back onto the desk. He leaned back, and rested both his tree trunk arms on his stomach.

  “...I would like to see Rocko back here, though,” Blaine continued on. “I’m not so sure about the Phil guy he stumbled upon on his way to the Murok Mountains, but he’s been out there long enough. I’ve said this before, but Marin’s just a dead man walking around again from his failed experiment.

  It was you who perfected it. You’re the one who’s truly immortal.”

  John Reech nodded. “I understand that. I just don’t need Marin threatening everything I’ve built. All the connections I’ve established over hundreds of years.”

  “If there’s some things about Sullivan Marin you haven’t told me, now’s the time,” Blaine stated, reading an underlying tone from his leader.

  John was again quiet for a moment as he thought about what to say. Marin being alive again was not something he had anticipated to happen. Not only was he, but Marin had been quite busy with relaunching the Kingdom and creating a new force in the world. John would have to manage him from the shadows, as he did with all governments and kingdoms.

  “...You can go now, Blaine. Thank you for your words.” It was all Reech offered after a long pause. He was not ready to reveal and bring him into the entire fold of his plans.

  Blaine threw his hands up in a ‘whatever’ fashion. He trusted John no matter what, but it was obvious that the apparent secrets about what was truly going on was starting to bother him. He got up from John’s bed, and began to walk away.

  Reech was alone again, staring at all the papers on his desk.

  There’s no way he could figure out the formula again on his own. Pyreth was the real mind behind it, and he is long gone…

  John opened the bottom left drawer of his desk. He reached under all the papers and objects stuffed into it. With a great deal of effort, he pulled out an embarrassingly old tattered piece of paper with mathematical writing all over it.

  It was the master formula for the immortality potion, the one page Marin was lacking.

  John stared at it for a while. It was hard for him to believe that he was older than this paper from 250 years ago.

  Edward Eisen. Could you possibly be smart enough to rediscover what’s in my hands?

  ...Probably not. But I will not take any chances.

  Meanwhile, in another room of the Crystal Cavern, Ryno was in the middle of a work out session. He was shirtless, and bench pressing a metal pole that had the weight of Blaine screwed onto either side. Seeing that Blaine weighed 600 pounds (nearly 43 stone), the total weight he was repeatedly lifting into the air was heavier than the largest brown bear you could find.

  That was just what the bar could handle. Ryno could happily work with more weight, but it would require going outside and lifting something that would scare everyone away from him.

  At these weights, Ryno wasn’t just working out his physical body, but was actively improving his Enhancement skill, an ability that caused the strength and durability of one to exceed what was normally possible.

  Vera, one of the base members of Reech’s group, peered in the workout room to see what he was doing.

  “Ryno?!” She called out, trying to get his attention.

  Ryno dropped the barbell down harshly into the frame, a loud metal clash echoing in the room.

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Yeah?!” He responded as he sat up to see who it was. His chiseled old-man abs were glistening with sweat. His gray hair cut in a ceaser style was matted to his head.

  “Oh! Vera, its you!” Ryno cheerfully exclaimed, while grabbing a white hand towel and drying off his brow.

  Vera held a hand up, then looked away to not stare at his body. “Um, John wants to see us in his office. Can you get dressed and meet us in there?” She asked.

  “Sure, sure of course,” Ryno responded.

  Vera walked down the hallway without another word. She was very uncomfortable with Ryno. Well, everyone was to some extent. They couldn’t be blamed, his personality had to be tolerated.

  Moments later, Ryno could be seen walking into John’s office. He was back in his typical brown leather gear with a hood and cape.

  When he saw his boss behind the desk, he pointed finger guns at him.

  “Reech for the sky!” He exclaimed. Vera nor John laughed, or even really made a reaction to the joke.

  “Well that was a new one I had cooked up,” Ryno mentioned as he swung his chair around, sitting in it backwards. “It was pretty funny if you ask me. But anyways, what do ya got?”

  Everything was so lighthearted and joking with Ryno. It had to be that way though, because the times he was serious, it meant heads were going to roll, and in quite the explosive way, typically.

  “Thanks for meeting with me,” John finally began with both Vera and Ryno on the other side of the table. “I have a new job for the both of you.”

  Vera didn’t like the implication of the statement. She was hoping this didn’t mean she was going to be assigned to Ryno for this new mission.

  “Who am I killing now?!” Ryno said with great excitement.

  “You’re not killing anyone!” John’s voice was elevated with actual frustration, something that was almost never seen.

  He took a long breath, returning to a calm state so he could continue.

  “...I need both of you to journey to a temple for me, and retrieve some rare vegetation.”

  “You want me to pick plants for you? Do I look like a botanist?” Ryno demanded.

  “That’s why Vera’s going with you. I need her to verify the samples and navigate to the location they grow at,” John explained.

  Vera became wide-eyed, as her greatest fear had become true. “W-wait, John… I’m perfectly capable of doing this myself. There’s no reason for him to go. You should save Ryno for bigger jobs. I’d be completely fine with Oscar going, or Chel, or-”

  John raised his hand, cutting her off. “It’s not debatable. But if reasoning will bring you to better accepting the terms, I’d be happy to explain.”

  Vera just lowered her head.

  “...Well I wanna hear it!” Ryno piped out. “She kind of has a point!”

  John sighed. “Not only is the location quite dangerous, but there’s a very real chance that someone else might be after these samples. And I can’t risk the mission failing or you getting hurt. That’s why you, Ryno,” John began pointing at him. “Are to keep her safe and allow her to complete the job. You’re going to be there to make sure no one stops her. Is that understood?”

  “Yeah, yeah. I get it,” Ryno responded in a bored tone.

  Vera still had her head down. She was quite upset.

  Ryno looked over to her. “Vera? What are you so sad about? We got this, girl!”

  Vera was mentally preparing herself to spend what could be a few weeks stuck with the loose cannon. She had to get over it though. She knew John wouldn’t have her working with him unless this was absolutely important.

  “...Okay,” she finally said, lifting her head. “What are the details?”

  John shifted some paperwork around, presenting some documents to her.

  “The Hallicent Blossom is a flower that has been growing exclusively inside Saanvoleg Temple,” John began as Vera started reading about it.

  “That’s located in the Ubora Desert,” he added.

  “I see,” Vera said as she studied the map in front of her. John Reech already had all the notes and locations marked for her.

  “The temple itself is ancient, and abandoned. It’s a bit of a maze inside. A long time ago, deep in a chamber, a crystal elemental created a permanent glowing shard that has caused the flowers to grow. The properties of it are still not fully researched.

  I need you to go down there and collect ten of the best looking ones.”

  Vera was writing down extra notes as he talked. “Okay…”

  “And this is the most important part, I need what’s left destroyed.”

  Vera paused as she stopped writing. She looked up at him. “You want to destroy…”

  “All of it. The crystal, the flowers, the whole room. That will be for Ryno to take care of,” John explained. His gaze shifted to Ryno.

  Ryno had his head down onto the chair’s back, seemingly asleep.

  John gave the table a decent smack, causing Ryno’s head to rise up quickly at the sound.

  “Did you hear that Ryno?” Reech exclaimed.

  Ryno’s head rolled around from absolute boredom. “Yes! Yes I heard! Destroy the flowers, destroy the crystal, the room…” This was torturous for him.

  “Do NOT destroy the whole temple, alright? It is a historical monument from the ancient days. Just destroy the room and what’s in it,” John carefully explained.

  “Okay! Jeez!”

  “Why are we destroying this rare species of plant, John?” Vera asked. “Shouldn’t it be protected and preserved?”

  “The flower can be used for something quite dangerous. We are stopping very bad people from obtaining it for themselves. And the ten samples you collect will allow us to potentially regrow them again in the future.”

  John slid a few notebooks and bundles of papers towards her. “This is all the information we have on the flower and how to extract it safely. There is also a rough layout of the temple here so you can follow it and not get lost. I’ve supplied you with every bit of information I could,” he explained.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “And keep Ryno in check, alright?” He added.

  “Ryno?” John said while looking at him. “Vera’s in charge on this mission. You do what she says. I want a clean report from her about you when you both return.”

  “You hurt me, Reechie. When I have ever had a stain on my record?”

  “Your record is more than stained. It’s soaked in your mistakes. That’s why Vera’s going, so this gets done right,” John explained.

  “Fine, fine,” Ryno gave up.

  Vera flipped through the paperwork quickly to get a decent idea of she was working with. During the entire journey though, she would continue studying it all so by the time they got to the temple, she would know exactly how to handle the situation.

  Vera was studious, and great at committing mundane information to memory. This was the reason John wanted Vera to recover the flowers. No one else in the base was as smart as her.

  No one except for John himself, of course.

  “You both leave tomorrow. Start getting your gear together,” Reech stated.

  With that, the meeting was over. Ryno and Vera walked out of John’s office together. They said a few more words to each other, mainly Ryno telling a few jokes while Vera responded in the best way she could.

  The Ubora Desert was in the southern region of the Grandom Continent. Sunset Forest, the location where Reech’s base was at, was located to the far west. While it was close to the middle line of Grandom, they would still have to spend a week or two traveling south.

  Ryno could get around much quicker on his own. In dire situations, Ryno could zap around the continent in astonishing speeds. Since Vera was with him, however, this was going to be at standard pace.

  While John wanted this task done as soon as possible, it was not worth the risk of Ryno trying to do the job himself in exchange for a hasty result. The slow trade-off had to be made.

  Back in the office, John sat at his desk alone. The current move he was making with this mission would bar Marin from ever completing the potion. With the rest of the exclusive flowers destroyed, Marin’s mythical ingredient to make the potion work would be out of his reach forever.

  If John could cut off every way that Marin could reclaim himself and grow stronger, he would keep him in check. Marin would stay in the bounds of his management on the world.

  John looked down at his elegant maroon robes, then to his hands folded on the desk.

  On his finger was gold ring he always adorned.

  It was the seal of Nocturne, the same one Marin wore.

  I should have destroyed your body while it lie dead on the floor. Never would I have imagined you’d break free of your permanent slumber…