The family of Henry H Dow, Jr., consisting of the old man, his wife Julia, two of their sons and their daughter, and nine grandchildren among them, exited the vehicles that had brought them to the Coralost Compound at the wave of the hand of the guards-mage standing attendance on them.

They were in a small parking lot near the main entry, doubtless used as a transfer point for those coming to meet with the engineers, artificers, and alchemists of the organization on a regular basis, transferring to one of the smooth, small rail lines that crisscrossed the area quietly and kept random traffic down.

They could see a dozen Commander-level Contracted Beasts just from here, and that didn’t include over a score of Avians and Monkeys flitting about the great artificial branched towers rising to nearly a thousand feet around the place, festooned with cables and rope bridges and random nets and webs and stuff with absolutely no purpose other than to be fun places for Birds, Primates, and even a few Reptiles of various sorts to wander around in.

The five Refractory towers, one main and four lessers, naturally were the focus of all the mages, as the White Mana Field they emanated, pulling the Elements from the air, was still very disconcerting and made their magical skills almost useless.

It was also a great natural defense against rival spellcasting, while each of the Towers had their own collections of Beasts... including Whitecrown Eagles nesting on the primary Tower!

It was an incredible display of alliance and harmony with Great Beasts, and the mages among the Dows could not help but feel pangs of envy at the display. The only other place to find Whitecrown Eagles reliably was in the most elite divisions of the Air Force of the United States Army. Individuals managing to Contract with one privately were extremely rare, and trying to force a Contract on one was a good way to get the sky to fall on you one day and reduce you to a blood splatter abruptly, along with your family and home.

“Mr. Dow, if you and your family will line up single file,” the guardsmage, a short and plump Adept of Hispanic origin, called out pleasantly, a point of light indicating where the line should begin near the rail line.

He was Typeless if he could Cast here, meaning he had magic, and they did not. The fact was not lost on them, even if he was much less powerful than the older Dows. But he was polite, and they did not take it as being pressured, given how casually he had done it.

Henry Dow took the lead, and everyone lined up in order of seniority behind him, meaning power, with the children instead lining up by age. It was as natural as lifelong recognition of power and achievements could make it, affected only by seniority in rarer cases.

“Five, four, three, two, one!” the guardsmage counted down calmly, bringing his hand down and pointing.

A Portal opened up right in front of them, a white circle that spun up out of nowhere, and then irised open to reveal another place and location beyond.

The Dows all sucked in breaths of astonishment. They weren’t getting on a train?

“Head on through, ladies and gentlemen,” the guardsmage urged them, his face completely blasé, as if seeing space warp open to a distant location that could be anywhere, a feat of Void Magic only usable by powerful Machines and the Formations to go with them, was completely routine and expected.

The Dows only glanced at one another a moment, then Henry Dow straightened his coat, grasped the hand of his wife, and strode forward, drawing her after him.

He stepped through the arch of the circle, an invisible barrier sliding past him and making minute and instantaneous adjustments to his physiology, adapting him to the change in air pressure, manaflows, and geospatial location instantly.

Still, it was a bit of a jarring shock to instantly go from the farmland-surrounded territory and White Mana Zone of the Coralost Compound to a dark island in the middle of lapping waters, with nary a shadow of land visible in any direction.

Colonel Mick himself, the leader and commander of the Redshore Marines, was present on the other side and waiting for them. He exuded the incredibly lethal pressure of a Great Archmage, edged with the power that seemed to emanate from all the Coralost Mages, tempered with a razor-keen killing pressure that had all the mages there on edge.

It was entirely likely he could kill them all by himself, and without a great deal of effort!

“Colonel,” Henry Dow greeted the famous Storm Runner rider. The stylized head of Thunderbird Emperor Himself tatted on the man’s cheek showed any and all that he was a Thunderbird Mage, the very first of them, who had been and could be called on directly by the Thunderbird Himself, and he would answer. The incredibly constrained and very deadly Aura of the gold and purple Storm Runner standing next to him, somehow only a couple feet taller than his rider, had to be Hopper, possibly the most powerful Runner in the whole world!

“Mr. Dow,” the Thunderbird mage returned politely. The older man knew that The Mick and his famous KIA mercenaries had made fast friends with his boy Cameron, and a mere glance around and testing of Auras indicated all of them were also present on this dark island, clearly gathered for a purpose. “If you could see yourselves to the Disks floating over there, you can stand or sit as you please. We’re a bit light on refreshments here, but we’ve some water if you get thirsty.”

The rest of the Dow entourage moved past them, heading for the indicated silvery concaves of Force Magic. The spell was a famous tool of the Typeless Wizards and the few Void Mages who had managed to learn it outside of Coralost, and enchanted metal versions of it were yet another of the many ubiquitous tools now enjoyed by Hunters, mercenaries, and wealthy mages around the world.

The Portal faded away seconds after the last of the grandchildren came through. Henry Dow took a breath and looked around, trying to feel with his magic where they were. No salt tang, so not near the sea. Fresh water, a lake... one of the Great Lakes? Which one?

Then the head rose slightly from the sea, and some of the Dows couldn’t help exclaiming in shock and fear. Their eyes froze as they stared at the massive head in front of them, the metallic traceries in her hide, the spearing horns, and the widening jaws that looked big enough to devour a semi-truck.

Then they followed the neck down, and realized they weren’t standing on an island, and the golden patterns etched into the rock were actually gorgeous innate Runes on the surface of a great and ornate Shell.

They were standing on the back of Queen Gichigumi...!

Henry Dow was frozen with shock at finding himself standing on the back of the Emperor of the Great Lakes. His senses were adept enough that even with her holding back her power, he could sense the incredible strength and depth of the Turtle’s Mana, and knew she could wipe away the lot of them with the same effort as she tossed her head.

“Aye, Your Imperial Majesty!” the Mick called out with a wave to the great Turtle. “We can begin any time now that his family is here!”

Queen Gichigumi uttered a great bellow, which was definitely warped and sent out into the distance, sparing them the full thunderous force of the call. The Mick just ushered him towards the Disks, and Henry Dow decided that asking exactly what this was about was going to be answered regardless, so why ask?

Yes, there was his second son’s wife Maria, both of their children, and even their niece and nephew, all grown up and proud Mages themselves in the Coralost Tradition. If he recalled correctly, the girl was involved in the elite SAR team dominated by women mages, an Ice Phoenix Mage, and the boy was aiming to become a full Blue Ox Archmage.

He met Maria’s eyes, and was not surprised to sense the Aura of an Archmage around her as well, if not fully developed. No one had ever expected her to reach that height of power, as her talent and drive simply had not been high enough, yet somehow Coralost had helped drive her to a new level of strength.

Cameron was not here.

The Dow Elder, his position on the Family Council having slowly been marginalized over the years, despite the fine showings of his children, wondered what exactly was going on, and especially what Cameron was doing right now.

Cameron’s performance in India had left more than one member of the Dow Family Council green with envy and red with anger, especially as his fortune and reputation grew, and grew, and grew, all without any mention of the Dow Family attached to it. The subtle ridicule the other Elders yet received on the social scene for cutting such a talent off was still rankling them today, and since Henry had completely failed to rope his son back in and bring him back to the Family, even with offers of seniority on the Family Council, his own position had suffered, as had those of his sons, daughter, and grandchildren.

He had not been concerned in the slightest, and his casual acceptance of the situation only seemed to irritate his father, siblings, uncles, and cousins the more. Unlike them, he still spoke with Cameron on a regular basis, and if his boy wouldn’t speak of business matters, he knew without a doubt that Cameron would have his back, as they had his.

Hank, Thomas, and Lisa had gone off with Cameron on some mission a week ago that none of them spoke of, and the Family only heard murmurs of. Henry had heard talks about an Anjaesilim and DuPont joint venture in Africa, one horribly exploitative of the locals, that had gone up in catastrophic flames. He had privately noticed on the online video of the mess that the vivid orange of those flames looked very similar to those of his eldest son Hank’s Volcanic Fury Fireseed, but surely it was all a coincidence, as his children were all seen publicly back here in Michigan in various places while the fires were still raging.

He had brought up the subject only once. Cameron had remarked, “Well, I suppose some of Sama’s outlook on life is rubbing off on me. Mages who don’t contribute to the well-being of their communities are just leeches, and nobody minds leeches being pinched off and salted to death.”

All four of them, as well as their children, had served together during the littoral fighting, working with Coralost and Redshore Marines all over the world. If the Family had seethed at them blatantly ignoring Cameron’s exile status, the positive press had made sure it was never voiced in public... and the rapidly increasing prowess of his children and grandchildren also made sure that the moves against his family were quiet and political, not overt.

He would have joined them, but he would have lost his Family Council position entirely if he were to do so. Being on the Family Council came with access to authority and information that was still incredibly useful in the games being played.

Everyone knew that if Cameron came back, he would be on the Council, and likely would be favored by Herbert Dow, the patriarch of the Clan, as his successor.

The thought made Henry Dow smile as he patted his wife Julia’s hand reassuringly. They were not in any danger here, he realized firmly.

Something was coming in the distance.

The Aura of a half-Emperor Beast was unmistakable, and this one was also slightly familiar to Henry Dow, sensed in the distance of the Great Lakes as she traveled around them as she pleased.

Princess Karegnondi, the Great Pike of the Lakes, was coming here.

Coming with her was the familiar Aura of his son!

Henry rose, his Awareness sending his sight across the miles to behold his second son, riding atop the Great Pike and slicing through the surf at incredible speed. He was clad in a simple robe and looked very composed as they streaked along the surface of the waters, closing in on Queen Gichigumi’s location.

They were in Lake Superior, far from land, Henry realized. What exactly was going to happen here?