Running away probably wasn't his most brilliant move. It wasn't normally his go-to strategy, either. But it seemed like the best option given the situation.

His new body was in peak condition, at least, and he'd managed to jog for a good time and distance. He was honestly surprised that no one had followed him. It probably meant there wasn’t an easy way out of this place and he was effectively trapped. Reed slowed to a walk as he'd found a small forest. The day was waning into late afternoon, and Reed was sweaty, tired, hungry, and smelled like lake water.

Lifting his hand, he wiped his brow and flicked his bangs off his face again.

"Well, that was fun," a voice said by his ear.

Yelping, Reed jumped away and spun to look. Bella tumbled from his shoulder and started flying, laughing so hard she clutched her belly.

Sighing, Reed dropped his hands. "Hey. I was wondering where you went."

Wiping her eyes, Bella floated closer and landed on his offered hand. "Of course I was with you the whole time." She leered. "Even when you were admiring yourself in the bath."

Reed considered that briefly, then shrugged. "I got a whole new body. Am I not supposed to admire it?"

She grinned. "I'm glad you like it! I helped make it!"

"Really?" Reed asked as he turned to keep walking. "Then you know who and what I was before?"

"Of course." Bella sat on his palm and leaned back on her hands. "John Reed Smith the Third."

Reed cringed. "Just Reed, please."

"Of course," she agreed again.

Looking down at her, Reed frowned slightly. "So you must be part of the system that summons heroes to this world."

"I am. I am the Astralitar's Guide. Baltaz doesn't know, but there have been three hundred and twenty-two Astralitars since the dawn of the world."

Reed whistled. "That many. And no one's managed to defeat the Demon Lord."

"Not permanently," Bella agreed. "You see, they drop a seed every time they die. Sometimes it takes only a generation to grow. Other times it takes several. Not every Astralitar succeeds in killing their Demon Lord, and another must be summoned. Such was what brought you here."

Nodding, Reed glanced around as he entered a clearing.

An eight-foot-tall stump stood in the center, covered in vines, but something was odd about it. One branch stuck out like a hand. A bird had built a nest in the cup of the palm, though it had long been abandoned. Approaching, Reed inspected the oddity.

Bella lifted off his palm, giving him back use of his hand.

"I have to say, you've been one of the more amusing ones," Bella remarked, floating near his shoulder.

Reed straightened and looked toward her. "You know what my power is, don't you?"

She giggled. "Oh absolutely!"

"Care to tell me?" Reed asked as he reached in to pull some vines off the stump. It looked like something metallic was inside the overgrowth.

"Meg'ante was right that it was in the Peace domain, and Saffron was correct that the color matters."

"Okay?" Reed grumbled. "So what about it? You know I'm not from here, so what's it mean?"

"Well, what do you think of when you think of the color Red?"

"Uh. I don't know? Blood?"

"That's not very peaceful," Bella giggled.

Reed pulled another bunch of weeds off the thing, revealing metal, as he'd thought. It was a leg. "I really don't know."

Bella flew over the thing Reed was inspecting. "Forchunkt!" she called.

Looking up at her, Reed squinted. "What? What's that mean?"

"Try saying it! It's fun!"

"Fork-shunt?"

"For-chun-kt!" Bella threw her hands in the air.

"Forchunkt?"

With a scream of metal on metal, the strange statue began moving. The hand holding the bird nest suddenly withdrew, and a spike shot out from the mass of weeds.

Reed staggered back, but it was too late. It wrapped around his wrist, and in seconds, the pile of vines collapsed. A thick bracelet hung around his wrist with blue glowing runes. The hole was just big enough for his wrist, but short of breaking his hand, he wasn't getting it off. "What the fuck, Bella?"

Flying down to his face level, Bella giggled. "You might want to remember that trigger word. You're about to need it."

"Found you." This time, it was Meg'ante's voice.

Spinning on his heel, Reed frowned. She was alone, but he didn't feel very safe being alone with her. "I mean, it's not like I was going to get far on foot," Reed said.

Her smile was predatory.

Bella landed on Reed's shoulder again, gripping his ear for balance. "Gaintesses challenge their prospective husbands to a fight. If he survives, he's allowed to marry her."

"Well, I'll pass. I got a whole world to see."

Meg'ante smirked. "I like you, Astralitar, I'd go easy on you and say I didn't."

"Then maybe you should try that word I just taught you," Bella suggested.

"Forchunkt," Reed said, not expecting much.

To his and Meg'ante's surprise, Reed's new bracelet lit up and slithered off his hand, turning into the sickest motorcycle he'd ever laid eyes on. A thin strand of chain around his wrist attached him to the handlebars.

"Well, what're you waiting for?" Bella tugged his ear. "Your steed has taken form!"

Steed?

Thinking about it seemed like a bad idea. Reed mounted, and the engine roared to life. Revving the engine, he sped off, hair flying behind him as he left Meg'ante in the dust. The dense forest kept him from going full speed. It was still a shock when the ground suddenly fell out from beneath his wheels. Sailing over the side of the cliff, Reed looked down at the ground far below as he clutched the handlebars of his new bike.

"Fuuck!"

"Wrong word, Reed!" Bella giggled in his ear.

"Forchunkt!" he howled.

The motorcycle turned to liquid like the Terminator and flowed up his arms, sprawling out behind him in a sudden snap that lifted him back up into the air.

Twisting to look over his shoulder, he found a hang glider had sprouted from his back. An updraft caught him again and sent him higher into the air. Reed had never been hang gliding before and had no idea how to steer the thing, but almost like the metal contraption could tell what he wanted, his trajectory changed, heading toward the next patch of forest in the distance.

"Whaahhoooo!" Reed shouted, unable to help himself.

Bella laughed as well.

***

Amel'issa lounged on the couch, internally giggling at the whole situation. This was the most fun she'd ever had in her life. A lot of it had to do with the Astralitar's kiss. Her heart pounded in excitement every time she thought of him. And she couldn't stop thinking of him. As soon as her lips had touched his, the magic had taken hold, and she'd known exactly what his powers entailed.

Dylan had been cute, but this kid was wild.

Meg'ante had been right that he was in the Peace domain. It was very hard to commit to aggressive actions when she was madly in love with the man. She could barely think of anything else. She could only imagine what it was doing to Saffron. That woman was so self-centered that the intrusion of love was probably destroying her.

"What do we do now?" Ti'llono asked. His white ears were pinned back as he paced, tail lashing. "If he doesn't return and complete the ceremony, then we're all doomed." This really wasn't a laughing matter. Only two weeks ago, the previous Astralitar had been shredded by the Demon Lord. There'd barely been enough left to put on the memorial pyre. Poor guy. He'd been nice, but a bit stupid. His yellow Diamond hadn't saved him, since he'd not managed to figure out how to harness his power in the first place. He'd been too overwhelmed with the idea of picking one of the four princesses he'd been presented with. That was entirely why the four rulers had chosen to force this new Astralitar to choose before anything else happened. They needed a single leader to take control. Otherwise, they would all crumble into fighting each other.

Amel’issa was self-aware enough to admit that she was part of the problem. She, Saffron, and Meg’ante had been hounding Dylan from the start. Snow had tried to be respectful to the boy in the whole process, but she couldn’t afford to fall behind either.

"We have to send someone after him," Shaman Pyro said, rubbing his dark mustache. He sat on the couch across from his daughter, his gaze focused on her. He was clearly worried about his little girl. Snow was the youngest of the princesses at just twenty-one, but moreover, she was sheltered.

"Meg'ante will get him. My daughter is more capable than any of your puny elves," Queen Gra'kalla announced.

"I've had enough of your insults!" Me'ello shouted.

Looking at the door, she slid up on the couch slightly as Meg'ante entered with a little more force than necessary. Like Saffron and Snow already knew, the Astralitar was moving further away at a rapid pace. Meg'ante had not caught him.

Mouth twitching, Amel'issa fought her giggles.

Jabbing her finger at Amel'issa, Meg'ante shouted, "Don't you dare laugh!"

Unable to hold it in, the Feliz started cackling, folding down over the arm of the couch.

Much as Amel'issa was aware of the Astralitar, she was also aware of her new sister-wives. That included the Demon Lord, who was miles away to the north. Saffron paced the room near the windows, scowling as she fanned herself.

"It's that damned pixie's fault!" Meg'ante shouted as she stomped further into the room. "She led him to an abandoned golem core in the Teirshee Memorial!"

King Me'ello gasped. "The trigger phrase for that one was lost!"

"Well, that damn fairy knew it!" Meg'ante snapped, folding her arms. "He rode a strange wheeled horse off the cliff, then turned it into a kite and flew away."

"You can outrun a horse!" Meg'ante's mother shouted.

"I can't outrun a golem core!" Meg'ante shouted back.

"Enough!" Saffron snapped. "We'll put out wanted posters."

"And how is anyone going to detain him now that he has a golem core?" Meg'ante demanded.

"We'll put out that he's dangerous."

"You want to get him killed?" Ti'llono shouted. "That's what got us into trouble in the first place! We publicized the Astralitar."

"She won't harm him," Snow said.

Everyone fell silent and turned to look at the shaman princess. She pushed her hair behind her ear and slowly lifted her head. "The Demon Lord is bespelled, just like we are."

"Bespelled?" Pyro asked, sounding worried. "My sweet daughter... what did he do to you?"

"His power is love," Amel'issa announced as she recovered from her giggle fit. Wiping her eyes, she sat up to explain. "He's made us madly in love with him. We know what direction he is, and we know where his other women are. The Demon Lord has fled north to her realm. The Astralitar is west."

Pyro looked from Snow to Amel'issa, then Meg'ante.

The giantess nodded. Everyone turned to look at Saffron. She turned away with enough force to snap her hair.

Me'ello's mouth twitched in all sorts of funny ways as he processed this information. "He's violated our daughters," he said finally.

"Excuse me, but I think the only ones of us he deliberately put his mouth on were Saffron and the Demon Lord," Meg'ante pointed out.

"And what's to stop him from kissing other women?" Me'ello demanded, shoving to his feet. "And creating chaos by bespelling half our kingdoms?!"

Amel'issa giggled again, putting her face in her arms.

"He won't do that," Snow said softly.

"Strong conviction for someone we've only known a few hours," Saffron snapped, turning toward the rest of the room again. "We have to break his spell. We have to learn how to control his powers, since he's another irresponsible idiot we've been saddled with." She turned to look at the desk on the other side of the room. "Which you are responsible for summoning."

Baltaz looked up from his book, scowling. "And I told you we didn't have the proper materials to do it. Doing the ritual properly required at least three months of preparation! You insisted on rushing! I also told you the materials were subpar! We’re lucky we got anyone to come through at all!"

Amel'issa lifted her head again, propping her chin on her palms, elbows on the arm of the couch. "I dunno. This guy's pretty funny."

"Your opinion of him cannot be trusted. You've been bespelled," Me'ello retorted. He'd not been impressed with the last Astralitar, since that boy hadn't had much sense and had admitted to being fifteen. Technically an adult by any kingdom's standards, but his maturity left a lot to be desired.

"I think, if you want to blame anyone, Bella should be it," Meg'ante said, perching on the arm of the couch next to Snow, arms crossed. "She's the one who is supposed to be in charge of guiding the Astralitar, and she's the one who guided this one off a cliff. I agree on wanted posters. We know he's going west. We'll say he's wanted alive and give a good reward for his capture."

"But what if he... kisses his way out of it?" Pyro asked, realizing how silly he sounded saying that as he said it. It was a concern, though.

"He won't," Snow insisted. "He's a decent person." She pressed her hand to her heart. "He realized his magic was powerful and didn't want to use it on me."

"Didn't stop him from using it on me, or the Demon Lord," Saffron snarled, starting to pace again. "But I will not succumb to this idiocy. He will be captured, and he will remove this curse. Then, he will choose Arunte as the Di'alletta."