"Well, now what?" Bella asked as she glided down to the handlebars of Reed's bike as he rolled to a stop. It was sunset, and Reed had ridden for miles. He'd gone west, following the sun. The road had taken him away from any of those crazy spider towers. He'd deliberately chosen to do that. He was not going to make it convenient for them to find him, though he had a feeling they probably would eventually.

Getting off his bike, he muttered the transformation word. It melted into a quicksilver liquid and flowed up his arm to reform the bracelet. His new body was in good shape. Reed felt like he was twenty again. Fantastic, but riding for hours on unpaved roads had left his ass sore.

Turning in a slow circle, Reed looked up at the trees, then to the stream to his left. There was a clearing just off the road to the right with evidence other people had made camp there. He nodded in appreciation. "I'm gonna make camp," he said to Bella finally with a grin.

Bella floated to face height. "Oh?" she asked coyly and followed as Reed headed into the trees that surrounded the camp clearing to gather wood. He found a fallen log and turned his core into an axe to chop it up and tossed the pieces toward the ring of rocks that denoted where others had made their campfire.

Curiously, Reed tossed the axe to flip it and caught the handle. Like every other thing he'd turned the core into, it had remained attached to his wrist by a thin chain. Setting the axe down, he walked across the road, toward the stream on the other side, testing to see how far he could get from his object before something happened. He got around a hundred feet away before he felt a tug on his wrist.

Bella followed him, arms crossed and head tipped curiously.

"Forchunkt," Reed said. The axe liquified and flowed back along the line that connected him to it. He said the word again before the bracelet had fully formed.

It immediately changed flow, turning into a knife in his palm. Reed turned and threw it at a tree, lodging the blade into the wood. He called it back to his hand.

Bella whistled in appreciation. Floating upside down, she grinned at him. "You know your power is based in Peace, though?"

"That gonna stop me from defending myself?" Reed asked, then smiled at her when she grinned in return. "Do you know anything about me?"

Flipping over, Bella pressed her hands to her heart. "We only saw a poor, unfortunate man in a wheelchair trying to cross the street in the rain!"

Reed shook his head and continued to the stream, turning his core into a filtering straw to take a drink from the stream. The cold water tasted amazing.

Bella floated closer. "Oh..." she mused, as if she could see what he'd done. "No one's ever thought of doing that before." She folded her arms.

Getting up, Reed walked back to his campsite. He set up some logs, then tried changing his core into a lighter. It changed into the object, but there didn't seem to be any lighter fluid in it. "I guess this thing can't do everything," he mused and turned it into a rod and flint to create a spark instead.

Again, Bella hovered close. She rolled over in the air to watch him while floating on her back. She seemed to have come to a decision. "We really did just pick you because you looked miserable. Typically, Astralitars are selected after a thorough evaluation process. We seek individuals with attitudes that align well with this world."

Reed carefully nurtured his flame until it started burning the logs instead of tinder. Sitting back, he looked at Bella. "Then why did you pick me?"

"To punish them."

Brows lifting, Reed turned his full, undivided attention to the pixie.

"We went through a lot of effort to select Dylan." Bella settled on his knee, crossing her arms. "His death was unnecessary. He was exactly what they needed for the current threat. He just needed to be kept on task. Instead, they let him play around. They put off training him in favor of trying to court him. The princesses spent a lot of time feeding his ego. In the end, he didn't choose a Di'alletta, and then he was torn to shreds by the Demon Lord. To add insult to injury, they decided to rush summoning another Astralitar only two weeks after."

Reed chuckled. "Wow. I'd be offended, but y'all did me a solid."

Bella grinned up at him.

"So any suggestions on how I should punish them further?" Reed asked.

Bella’s eyes widened, she broke into the widest, evil grin. "Just do whatever you want. You're doing a fine job."

“I’d figured the previous guy was just a kid. Given how they’ve treated me, they probably think I’d be easily manipulated and unable to survive on my own. I’m down for punishing them a little.” He stood and headed back to the stream, turning his core into a bucket to grab some water before he returned to his fire.

Bella rightened herself, sitting in the air as she considered him. "The sacrifices they used were substandard. Your body is a little fragile. I think it might be a good idea for you to find some other materials to supplement your form."

Reed lifted his brows again. "What do you mean?"

"We like to use the old body as a base. Such as with Dylan, he looked like he did on his home world. Your body wasn't in good condition to begin with, and after it got hit by our Instrument, it was far too far gone to use for anything but raw material. We had to rely heavily on the sacrifices to create a vessel for you."

Reed looked down at his hands. "And those were?"

"A sapling from the Freyaspen, rubies from Alimaiar, two swords forged by apprentices to the master blacksmith Ben'aret, and one talon of milk from the sacred cow of Felitza."

"Swords from apprentices? I'm guessing the milk isn't that much, and rubies are probably about a dime a dozen," Reed surmised. "That sounds like even more insult to the rushed summoning."

"Absolutely. We're offended beyond measure. A talon of milk is the size of a pail that can fit over your head. The rubies were barely a bag full. The elves offered the swords, but Ben'aret is a giant and his apprentices were humans."

Reed snorted. "Wow."

"None of them are worth saving in our opinion," Bella said.

"What happens if I don't?"

"The world will be destroyed."

Reed glanced aside with a grumble. The sun had set fully by now, and the night insects had started up. His water was bubbling. Reed used the bottom hem of his long shirt to pull the bucket from the fire and stripped the shirt off to give himself a quick wash to remove the road dust. "I'm going to have to deal with the Demon Lord before she does that," he said. "I ain't gonna get myself a new body just to let a bunch of innocent people die because the people in charge are assholes."

Hovering nearby, Bella had a strange expression.

He looked at her.

"I see..."

"You don't want that?" Reed asked.

"No. I just realized that Passionate Peace does suit you." Bella smiled.

Reed returned to washing, then got dressed again. "So this whole getting married thing? What was up with that? Is it necessary?"

"Yes. It is required for the Di'alletta to be appointed. The ceremony ties your souls together." Bella sat cross-legged in the air, chin in her hands, elbows on her knees. "Without that link, your wife can't control the golem army."

"Not happening," Reed said firmly. "I don't even care if it's a contractual thing. I won't do it. And haven't I already dealt with their Demon Lord problem? She's... what did I do to her?"

Bella snickered. "Your power is certainly not one any of us would have expected. I couldn't tell you exactly what you did, but given the reactions of the other princesses, I think you've imprinted your desires on them. You found them attractive, now they find you attractive."

"Oh boy... I hope they're not tearing each other's hair out over it."

Giggling, Bella perched on his head. "Don't sound too worried. Someone might think you cared."

Taking what was left of the water, Reed tossed it out at the edge of camp. "Watch out I don't kiss you, too."

"Wouldn't work on me anyway."

"Oh?" Reed grinned. That was interesting information. "So how does this thing work? Forchunkt." His bucket turned into a bracelet, then into a tent at the edge of his fire. Climbing in, Reed settled down inside. He was glad this thing was able to do fabric as well as metal objects. Though the fabric felt stiff and rippled loudly in the wind.

Bella was silent as she followed him. Reed suspected she wasn't going to answer. Instead, she landed on the ground in front of his face. "I actually don't know. You're flawed. Nothing about you is working the way it was supposed to. We threw you together as a joke, and you're incomplete. The Shamans were the only ones who offered anything of quality or sufficient quantity. Normally, Lotus does mean Peace. But there's never been a red one before."

Reed considered that. "People can be passionate about trains. If my power is passion, then does that mean that the more riled up I get, the more powerful I am?"

"That's the part I don't know. That’s not how Red has worked before," Bella admitted, rolling her head back as she stretched out her legs. "But we'll figure it out. For now, you should focus on completing your form. The elves didn't give anything that they valued."

"What's something they value, then?" Reed asked with a grin.

"The king is rather fond of his crown. But there's also the Odinsphere. It's a scepter in their treasury that increases magical capacity. Saffron really wants it but can't use it right now. It would eat her at her current power level."