PSTH: Epilogue

The Woolworthy Corporation is one that needs to be watched. I believe that there is something else going on, something deeper that we aren’t seeing. Have you reviewed their quarterly tax audits and conducted independent employee surveys?

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Message from Vincent Angon to the Oceanseed Corporate Overreach Department, Circa 15 Minutes After Aiden Defeated Councillor Kingfisher

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Gawain stepped into the meeting room, only to find that his mother was already there, seated in a steel chair with a red cushion on it. His mother was similar to him in many ways: long, dark hair, eyes that glowed a purple color, an angular face, and a lean frame. Her purple was a darker color than his, a plum to his lavender, but he had no doubt that they were part of why he had subconsciously manifested purple essence. 

Behind her were two figures: her bodyguard and his doctor. Both of them were powerful magians in their own right, though they suppressed their essence, much like he did, and like his mother did. The bodyguard’s glowing sky blue eyes were the only indication that she was a level eighty-six lightning and metal mage, while the pinkish eyes of the doctor were the only indication of her status as a level eighty-eight. The doctor nodded to him, then both men stepped outside, leaving the pair alone in the room.

Some of the highest level people in all of Oceanseed, and probably the top one percent of the entire world. They could have held positions of power in Frostbranch. A symbol of how she cared. It wasn't said in words, but with actions, like ensuring his heart would remain calm and stable, and getting regular doctor visits with the very best.

“Gawain! Ah, it’s good to see you looking so well. You’ve finally been eating more, that’s good,” she said, rising and pulling them into a hug. “How are your Primals?” 

“Good to see you too,” Gawian said, hugging her back. They made small talk for a few moments, before they sat down across the table from one another. His mother frowned as she glanced at the clock on the wall.

“You were late to see me. I know I’m not perfect as a mother, but have I really been such a poor mother recently that you don’t think my time is worth anything?” 

“No ma’am,” he said, jerking his head side to side. “It’s not that at all. I just. I mean. I happened to be late.” 

He had shown up thirteen minutes early, as Aiden would quantify such things, but that meant he was two minutes late to his mother’s meeting, and she was very busy. 

“Try not to stutter, dear, it makes you seem like you’re not in control of yourself,” she said gently. “But I’m glad that you’re not that upset at me. Now, onto business: you’re sure you still want to be a tamer? I couldn’t tempt you into trying to become an arch-magian, a successful businessman, a brilliant researcher, or anything else?” 

This, at least, Gawain was on solid ground with. He loved his Primals, and he loved Taming as a sport and as a method of training. His mother might see it as handing away his power to others, rather than working together as a greater whole, but that was the way of Magians.  

“I’m sure. I want to become a top tamer.”  

She withdrew a briefcase that had been tucked under the table and unlocked the complex protective enchantment, before turning it to face him. Within were six tubes nestled in a black satin lining. Each one was about the same size as would be used to take blood for medical testing, and the first five were filled with a glowing white color. Each of those five absolutely radiated essence, but in a way that Gawain couldn’t place. The sixth was a strange black color, and seemed to be entirely essence free. It wasn’t like a void, voids were empty and nothing, this was like the antithesis of essence.

“What are these?” he asked. 

“The white vials are a product that we discovered in an attempt to create essence stones from ambient essence, and it seems to be the liquid state of essence. Imbibing it comes with a few side effects, which three drops from the black vial mixed into a glass of water will mitigate. Producing it is extremely, extremely difficult, and requires a good bit of time, so it is unfortunately far from a marketable product at the moment. On top of that, Oceanseed politicians are interfering again, citing more of those laws about producing materials that could lead to societal power inequality. I’ve got about half of them looking the other way, but I’d really love for you to be able to help me, dear.” 

Aiden probably would have had a scathing remark there about how funding a research team didn’t allow her to claim discovery, or about how the laws on power inequality existed for a reason, or even about how Gawain didn’t need to help his mother just because she’d practically broken her back to raise him. River, Laurel, or Rane probably wouldn’t have been quite as outspoken or brash, but they’d have said something about him not needing to help her if it made him feel unhappy. 

Gawian, however, said none of these things. 

“Getting these five vials produced discreetly was incredibly difficult, but combined, they should assist you and your Primals in reaching level twenty-five at record speed. I’ve noticed that your gift-made core is lagging in power. Level sixteen?” 

“Yes, mother,” Gawain agreed. “I’ve been focusing more on my Primals.” 

“Well, I suppose that’s a good thing for your chosen career, all in all. We want your work as a tamer to go quite well. Speaking of your taming career, though, why did you ignore my advice? You’re allowed to, of course, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a bit hurt that you didn’t put any consideration to my suggestions…”

Gawain swallowed thickly, then did something that he wasn’t very good at, in large part due to a lack of practice. He lied.

“Trouble was roughly ten percent slower to respond to mental suggestions given when I addressed him by anything other than Trouble. You know how Primals can be, imprinting on the first thing they’re called.” 

“Primals,” his mother said, letting out a frustrated sigh. “Fine. We will have to pivot in our marketing, but we can work with it.”

Gawain nodded, and his mother shut the suitcase, before smiling. 

“It really is good to see you, Gawain. You know how much I love you, and how I’d do anything for you.” 

“Of course,” Gawain said reflexively.

“Good! Well, now about this Terrible Three title. It’s sub-optimal, even if it means terrible as in fearsome, terrible has too many negative connotations. I’m going to see if I can shift it to the Titanic Three, or something like that.”

“Was the article about the Terrible Three not because of you?” Gawain asked, genuinely surprised. She’d hired editors and analysts to ensure his videos got as much traction as possible within the limited, privacy-driven laws on algorithms allowed. He knew she was under a lot of scrutiny from the government, but she was good at dodging their overreach. He’d somewhat expected she’d be the source.

“I didn’t consider using anything like the gossip rag that suggested you, Vincent Angon’s brat, and that provincial yokel were a throuple, no,” his mother said, sounding slightly affronted. “Though, given how often people pay undue attention to such rumors, perhaps I should have. The rival angle has seen significant traction: any videos featuring both you and that hick villager have had higher views, likes, and donations. It averages out to a thirty percent uptick, though that is partly skewed. But he is the next topic that I want to discuss with you.” 

She gestured and slid an augpad across from him. On it there was a collage of pictures with him and Aiden talking, arguing, fighting, and more. 

“I must admit, you’ve made things really hard for us,” his mother said. “They are performing well, and if you’re going to be the star we both want you to be, then popularity is perhaps the single most key factor in our plan.”

“I’m sorry mother,” Gawain said when she paused for breath. 

“Yes, well, thank you,” she said. “The difficulty arises because he makes you more popular on most networks, but there are downsides. The first is that it has utterly destroyed any hope of making you seem like an invincible tamer, but that was already a long shot. The more relevant issue is that he seems to be a negative influence. You’ve used more informal language, as if all the money and hours I spent on working to get you private tutors were worth nothing to you. You’ve ignored my calls and messages more than once, often for hours at a time. Hours! Am I not even worth a few seconds to type out a response, even if only to let me know that you would respond soon?” 

“No, neither of those are true!” Gawain insisted, shrinking back as a knot twisted in the pit of his stomach. He was sure River would have known what to say to smooth things over, Rane would have brushed past the concerns, Laurel might have just left the room or started arguing, and Aiden absolutely would have blown up and started fighting with her, arguing about all sorts of moralistic points. 

Gawian, however, said none of these things. 

“What is it, then?” his mother pressed. 

“It was poor timing, I’m sorry,” Gawain said. “I promise, I’ll do better.” 

“Good, good, at least your new companions haven’t completely beaten all sense of propriety and manners out of you,” she said. “I think I can work with them. Vincent Angon’s apprentice, at least, was a wise person to befriend. She has the highest loss ratio out of your group, but her accomplishments are unduly popular for someone who is only linked in others videos. If they didn’t publicize their code, I would suspect Vincent of pulling strings behind the scenes.” 

A twinge of guilt ran through Gawain. He hadn’t been the one to befriend Laurel or River. That had all been Aiden’s fault, and then Aiden had been the one to drag him into it. Could he admit that? It might make Aiden seem like a more valuable asset to his mother, but it would also be taking away the best thing he’d done in their time apart. 

“Right, well, moving on,” his mother said. “We need to firmly establish your next steps. I have a variety of imprinting discs you will be able to use once you break the level thirty barrier, which should largely improve your performance.” 

“I thought that the liquid essence would bring me to level twenty-five? Will I be receiving more?” 

“Unfortunately not, even those five took an absurd amount of effort to produce without the notice of those overbearing agents trying to swoop in and take control of everything I’ve worked to build. You’ll have to get to thirty the old-fashioned way.” 

“I’m sorry, mother,” Gawian said, bowing his head in contrition. “Of course I can. If you want to use some of those vials for yourself or your teams, I could do the work of training and cultivating all the way to thirty on my own.” 

“No, no, they’re for you all… to be a mother is to be a sacrifice, after all,” his mother said. “Back to the point…”

She let out a slow, rattling sigh. 

“We’re going to need to find a fourth teammate. Nothing is certain, as I’m sure you understand, but I have a few good leads on some epic rarities that you could use.”

“I would be happy to hunt for them, to save you the cost and effort of importing. I remember how difficult it was to find a Primal who was happy to move cross-country,  and was also happy to accept a bond with me.” 

Finding Gabis had been extremely hard. Though they were only rare, they tended to be homebodies, and often ranged no further than a tenth of a mile from the heart that spawned them.

“We will have to see,” his mother said. “It needs to be at least an epic, whatever it is, preferably legendary. Of course the issue there is that legendary Primals are quite legendary. They almost never appear. But between the power of an epic, your existing team, the imprint discs I will provide, the vials of essence liquid, and the cultivation, by the time you leave our facility, you should be more than adequate to take on the next several Councillors, and after that, we can look at finding a tournament for you to sweep. The foundations we lay now will launch you into the next chapter of taming success…”

End of Book One