The stars shone in the heavens, and the full moon cast a melancholy gray light onto the ground. Peter walked towards me with his arms crossed, not saying a word.

"Do you want your jacket back?" I asked, casting him a cursory glance.

"No, that's fine," he replied. "Keep it for now and stay warm."

We both stared at the stars in awkward silence until my frustration burst forth like a flood of lava.

"How can you be so sure of Father's intentions, Peter?"

"If you would just let me show you, Liselle, you would understand everything."

"I came to this seedy bar to find answers about the attack and why you saved me."

"And I kept my word."

I wrapped the coat tighter around me. "They tried to kill me because Father's playing god. You saved me just to turn me into a weapon."

"Liselle, that's not true."

"You're not a hero."

"I never claimed to be." He grasped my shoulders. "Just listen to me."

"How can I trust you?" I asked, my voice breaking as I shrugged away from his grasp. "You're a Rogue Defender one minute and a Risan Healer the next. You wear armor in class and pick whatever ribbon suits your mood. So far, you've worn green, white, blue, red, and black."

"Indeed," he replied. "That proves your class system does not define me."

"How many colors have you really earned? No one studies five classes."

"So certain, hmm?"

"You heard the professor," I said. "Studying three classes is extremely difficult. Completing five is just ludicrous."

"Don't underestimate me."

"You're trying to lure me into this crazy scheme of yours," I said, jutting my chin. "It's not going to work."

"Please stop."

"What is your plan for tomorrow? Will you be a Royal?" My cheeks flushed with anger. "Have you stolen every ribbon in order to fool everyone?"

"I said stop!"

"You can explain classes all you like, but how do you change races? I could swear you had Risan receptors when you healed me."

He grasped my hands, his gray gaze piercing me like daggers. "Liselle, stop speaking, please!"

"You don't have them now, though." I pressed my fingers into the fleshy section of his palms to make sure. "Who in Hades are you?"

"Are you done?" he sneered. "Can I speak now?"

By all means, I can't wait to hear your excuse.

He scoffed and turned his back to me.

"Just tell me the truth," I insisted, meeting his gaze. "How can a simple Human do all those things?"

Drawing a deep breath, he turned to me, his lips pursed. "If I tell you who I am, will you promise not to tell a soul?"

"I swear."

"And do not flee," he said. "Just listen."

I nodded.

"Very well," he said with a sigh. "I'm a Risan shifter."

I blinked at him, incredulous. "What did you say?"

"I'm a Draconic-Risan hybrid," he said. "Half-dragon, half-Risa. I can change my physical race at will. Each form gives me different powers, which is why I can reach you in your visions."

"That can't be true," I said with a scoff. "Risan shifters have gone extinct."

Typical Rogue. Can't keep his lies straight.

"No, a handful of my kind remain, and I'm one of them."

Crossing my arms, I furrowed my brow. "Fine, prove it."

"Name any combination of gender, race, or class."

"What?" I asked, astounded. "Fine, a female...Orc...Barbarian."

In an instant, Peter's Human Rogue form slipped away to reveal a grotesque, gray-skinned humanoid about ten feet tall with a bosom as massive as her muscles. Only her eyes remained the same intense shade of gray.

She walked over and yanked a tree straight out of the ground, something even a strong man like Peter could never manage. The roots snapped and cracked like thunder. She hurled the tree by the trunk--roots and all--across the meadow like a javelin, and it landed with an almighty crash.

"Nice mirage," I said.

"You think that's a mirage?" the Orc growled. "Fine, give me another combination."

No one can cast two mirage spells in a row. What's Peter playing at?

I rolled my eyes. "Very well. A male...Dwarf...Fighter."

The female melted away to reveal a stout, muscular humanoid with hair as fiery as Bragda's, but with Peter's gray eyes. He had almost half my height and twice my width with giant muscles. He walked up to me and lifted me over his head as if I were as light as a feather.

"What the--?"

"See? I'm not a mirage," the Dwarf growled as he lowered me to the earth. "Pick another combination just for good measure."

With a grimace, I picked the most disparaging combination possible. "Female...Human...Royal."

A carbon copy of the effete blonde I confronted on Induction Day appeared before me. I scowled at her as she sauntered towards me and tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear.

"So, you've chosen two females," she said in a sultry, seductive voice. "Do you prefer that form? I can remain a female if you prefer."

I batted her hand away. "Ugh, don't touch me."

The Royal morphed into a dark-skinned Human Wizard whose ebony hair fluttered in the wind. Her revealing leather armor hugged her sensuous curves.

"That's not what a Wizard wears, Peter. What are you trying to do?"

"Ahh, so you do find the female image more appealing?" she purred as she pecked my cheek.

I gently nudged her away. "Stop playing games and show me your real form."

"What real form?" she asked. "The body only serves to house the soul, Liselle. These races and classes and genders you prize so highly? None of it's real."

"You know what I mean."

Peter's original form appeared before me, or at least the one I knew the best. "If that helps..."

"What's your real class, Peter?"

"Don't try to categorize me according to your flawed system."

"You can tell me which one you prefer. Let me guess: Rogue?"

"I enjoy the concept of black ribbon," Peter admitted with a nod, "because of the high value society places upon it. Once you become a Rogue, it doesn't matter which ribbon you had before. You can never go back. And that fascinates me. What a peculiar cultural norm."

I furrowed my brow. "What did you do to get one?"

"I've earned them all," he replied with a twinkle in his eye, "and I saved the best for last."

I gaped at him. "Are you serious?"

"Not in the same body, mind you," he said with a chuckle. "But, yes, I've earned every class with distinction. It's not difficult when you've lived as long as I have and can morph into any form."

Impossible.

"Do you really think you can interpret my soul with a single ribbon?" he asked, shaking his head in disdain.

"It can help."

"If I leave my house with a white ribbon, you'll trust me, even if I do this." I balked when he embraced me from behind. "If I wear a black one, you'll throw a fireball at me."

"Peter, that's not fair."

"I'm still the same soul, though, no matter what ribbon I wear."

"How did you become a classless chameleon? Are you a Defender spy?"

"It's funny you should say that," he replied with a smirk. "If I complete all of them, doesn't that make me classier?"

"If you have any class, how can you support these demonic creatures?"

Peter sighed with impatience as he broke the embrace. "You're clairvoyant, right?"

I nodded.

"That means you've seen the destruction that is to come," he said, "and you know magic will be useless."

"Does that justify the creation of beasts?"

"After what I've just shown you as a Draconic hybrid, how can you still judge the Fireborn based on looks alone?"

"You've shown me different races," I insisted. "That thing is not a person. It's an experiment made in a lab."

"Would it help to know that your father used my shifter DNA to create them?"

I balked. "Why?"

"To morph the original genome into the new form," Peter said. "You'll never guess what race we used to make them."

"Orcs? Goblins? Titans? Stone giants?"

Peter shook his head. "Way off base."

I gasped. "Dragonborn?"

"No, they need compatible DNA."

"Just tell me."

Peter replied with a seductive smile. "We transform Risan volunteers. That's why we need brave men and women like you to help us."

I took a step back and pointed at the pub. "That monster was not a Risa."

"No? Allow me to prove you wrong."

Peter began to morph once again, and I gaped at his emerging form. His voice deepened a full octave until it pained my ears. "We need to defend ourselves, Liselle."

Fangs replaced Peter's incisors. I willed myself not to cry out in terror when sharp talons grew in place of his fingernails.

"What lengths are you willing to go to defend the ones you love?" he asked. "Your father gave up his family and devoted himself to creating the race that will save us all."

My breath became ragged as black horns extended from his temples. His bronze human skin melted away to reveal striking matte-black snakeskin.

"You've seen the destruction of Halden." He growled in pain as his muscles grew exponentially large. "The rivers of fire? The piles of ashes?"

I nodded, breathless as I watched Peter's astounding transformation.

"I've seen all those people die, too. I've seen you promise me vengeance."

"The future can change," I said, staring at Peter as he grew to an impossible height. "It isn't set."

"Indeed," he said. "Help us to stop the Massacre of Halden before it begins."

"How?"

"The only way to defeat the Gatál is to become more powerful than them."

"What do you want of me?"

His deep, bass voice echoed across the field and made my bones rattle. "Join the Fireborn, Liselle. Fight beside us against the Gatál. It's the only way we can avoid that fate we've seen."

"Please, you can't ask that of me."

"Do it," he commanded. "We want your allegiance, not your vengeance."

When Peter finished transforming into a Fireborn, I broke my promise.

I fled from him as fast as I could.