First
Lori sat next to her designated ward. Having been the one looking after the VIP when they had jettisoned off ship and subsequently been towed to the Titan 7, she had been asked to stay with her until Miss Vali's team could compile enough data on the VIP's condition to feel safe administering the U.S.A.'s personal nanites. When she had asked the healer's with the red "+" why they needed her to stay with the young Orion woman, one of them had answered, "We wouldn't want her to wake up surrounded by 'aliens' she wasn't familiar with. Your the same species as her, so hopefully she won't panic if she recovers enough to regain consciousness." Which had made perfect sense to Lori. So they had assigned the VIP to the bunk under her and moved them both closer to the medical bay.
Three days had passed since they had come to the Sol system. Her group of refugees had been informed at dinner the night prior that Mars Station had agreed to house any Orion's that wished to stay there until the Habitat Dome had been moved into a orbit and anchored to an astroid and retrofitted to her people's 7.1 G's and oxygen levels appropriate for her species. They had all been astonished that in less than a galactic week multiple organizations, businesses, and corporations seemed to jump at the opportunity to help her people. They weren't naive, they knew that those companies and organizations were getting something in return but it was help when they needed it the most and that meant a lot to the Orion's. And whatever a "tax break" was Lori was extremely glad it was apparently important. Of course there was average people that wanted to help to. She immediately thought about Tim, and her eyes flicked to his "jacket" was tossed over her open locker door. His smell was almost intoxicating to her and she couldn't figure out why.
She had gotten chilly the second night when after dinner in the mess hall he had asked her if she wanted to see something amazing. She had been hesitant, but after thinking about it, she had decided it would be nice to see more of the massive ship she had seen so little of. So after some talking Tim had managed to secure permission to escort her to view some of the bottom levels. The Titan 7 was a truly massive ship and she had gotten to see and interact with many of the U.S. Alliance species as they made their way through those bottom levels. And then he had opened a door to a jungle! She was amazed to find living plants in such an abundance on a ship in space. Tim had called it an Astrobotony Lab. It didn't look like any lab Lori had ever seen, more like a garden or a lush park! The sprinklers had decided it was time to give the plants near them a mist and she had found herself shivering from the cool damp air. Without hesitating he had pulled his jacket off and placed it around her shoulders. Her ears twitched at the delightful memory.
She hadn't slept after she returned to her room. Instead her interaction with Tim had sparked even more curiosity as to who these people were. And the drive to find out had caused her to search her data chit for human history and had found multiple documentaries about everything from the ancient era where humans killed each other with stick's and stones to their two world wars in their twentieth century. The colonizing of Earth's moon and Mars through their teriforming age that saw Proxima Centauri B, the Cerberus systems, and many many others slowly changed into simi earth like planets. Then the Colony wars had fractured the humans into multiple sects and nations and for nearly fifty cycles the entirety of human territory fought amongst themselves. This would end with the eventual formation of two fractions.
The Confederation of Unified Governments (CUG) and the Free People's Republic of Earth (FPRE). They both controlled roughly half the human systems and though they never technically went to war a technological competition began. During the next twenty cycles they would develop numerous groundbreaking technology including the personal nanites everyone receives upon entering Sol systems and their "Blink Drive" which she found out doesn't use FTL Gates! The humans only had Gates so everyone else could trade with them. They didn't need them to travel.... anywhere, any distance, they just had to KNOW where to go, type the coordinates in and they FOLDED space and blinked to the location! Of course a human ship had to have visited that location prior for the system to work and that still required the old fashioned long haul exploration voyages. Everything was looking pretty good for humanity and then a race of giant lizard people called the Gurgaxians had invaded the CUG's outer frontier colonies and began moving closer to the CUG'S inner more populated planets. The Gurgaxians, in a rash decision by the general in charge of the invasion, ordered all the humans to be "put to the knife " and the images the documentary showed caught by a passing FPRE spy satellite made her blood run cold and she had been glad she had "accidentally" kept Tim's jacket. She still shivered seeing the brutality of millions of innocent civilians being butchered en mass.
The Gurgaxians were nearly exterminated, and that was the words the documentary had used! The humans found a way to change the very air into a weapon by releasing a compound in the upper atmosphere. This caused the air on those planets to become deadly to anything NOT human. But, the humans didn't stop there! Once they had taken the systems captured by the Gurgaxians, the humans had struck hard, and fast into the very core systems and managed to glass the seven largest planets killing hundreds of billions. A monument still floats in the void where Carinaxx 3 once orbited it's sun. Once the Gurgaxians were defeated a short war called the Unification War was lost by both the CUG and FPRE as the United Sol Alliance was formed in the vacuum left by both sides effectively imploding.
And a good thing too, because the next species the humans had ran into, the Jabilix, where being forced out of their systems by another aggressive species called the Daks. Though both species where reptilian the Daks could easily physically reach 5 feet 10 inches while a Jabilix only averaged about 1.5 feet. The humans NOT wanting to get dragged into another war refused to step in personally, opting to wage a proxy war through the varying "Clutches" that the Jabilix organized themselves in. This is were Lori learned about the humans having a "pack" mentality. Over the next three cycles they would grow very fond of the small Jabilix people. Mostly in part for the sheer determination they had to find and implement a way to defeat the Daks and reclaim their cradle world. Eventually the humans picked up strange messages coming from the Dak fleet's. Something was happening, a human trained Jabilix kill team had eliminated the Dak emperor and ALL of his family that favored staying at war with the Jabilix people. And while the Dak military was busy trying to figure out who of the 5 remaining children of the emperor would succeed him a fleet of Jabilix Missile Frigates entered the Dark home system and sent one message. "Surrender or we will crack Daccall". (Daccall being the Daks cradle world.)
And so the Jabilix won the war thanks to the humans support and within two cycles had approached the humans to fully join with the U.S. Alliance, bringing the Dak in as well only a cycle later.
A couple more species joined through the next fifty cycles, some were conquered like the Lillgars, (bipedal, 4 armed, winged herbivores that average 3 feet 9 inches and weigh roughly 60 lbs and look roughly like a large fruit bat from earth), the Kiklatts, (insectoids herbivores averaging a little over 4 feet and roughly 105 lbs with two sets of pincers and a set of "manipulators" consisting of 2 fingers and a thumb, and grew their ship's from"space bugs". Apparently after these bug's died of natural causes they used them as the "hulls" for a thriving merchant fleet). To the Voidonny, (bipedal omnivores averaging around 3 feet tall, the documentary described them as looking like a small human teddy bear with black curly furry) who's home planet had been stripped of its atmosphere in a massive soler flare. And their was the Vouls, (octopoid averaging 5.5 feet and roughly 200 lbs that look roughly like humans with four dominant arms and 2 brains that make some of the best pilots galaxy over) was effected by a plague and ostracized from the wider community after it was feared to have hopped species. It hadn't, but the damage had been done, no one would help them and they were slowly dying until the U.S.Alliance ship had disregarded the quarantine ban and took as much medical supplies it could carry in. The ship is still used as a hospital on Vul and to this day the Voul regard humanity and the United Sol Alliance as the saviors of their species. The Voul left the Starlight Imperium they had been a long time member of and joined with the U.S. Alliance petitioning and receiving entry after only a galactic month. (The documentary pointed out that the U.S. Alliance had expected this and so the Senate in one of the rare times of it actually doing something, ordered the Navy to position U.S. fleet's near all three FTL Gates in the Voul system before this time, allowing them to safely withdraw their own Voul ships from the Imperium's fleet's and back home safely behind the U.S. fleet's protective screening). Many experts believe this stopped a war with the Imperium before it could start.
There were several more minor wars, and then the Omega Crisis happened. This was the last major war the U.S. Alliance had fought. And it absolutely intrigued her because it had to do with the Elladrin.
The conflict had lasted twenty two cycles and had spanned multiple planets and systems many of which still belonged to the Elladrin. A race of biological AI that had accidentally been created by a Dr Ella Drin. The poor Dr had become the first victim of the evolving AI Personal Assistant Bot that had become self aware. No one knows how it happened, wether it was a personal project Dr Ella was working on or a random fluke that put a random 0 in just the right spot is still debated even among the Elladrin. What is known is that this AI quickly figured out how to recreate other AI but found itself still unable to create unique personalities for them. Instead every AI it created came out like an exact copy of itself. And to the AI this was a failure. It fairly quickly came to the conclusion that if "it" wanted to become "they" it would have to find a way to reproduce like the humans it was built to serve.
The AI released a savage virus that overwrote the command protocol tree built into all PAB's, and linked them all into a sort of "hive mind" known as the"First". Wether this was the actual first AI or something that evolved from it and Dr Ella was never known and the Elladrin are strangely quiet about it, even now they avoided the subject. The U.S. Alliance had eventually fought the AI to a stalemate. This continued for the last three years of the war, the U.S. Alliance would finally manage to break through at a place called the Naball Power Core. The U.S. Alliance failed to take advantage of the situation fully as the AI pulled back unexpectedly, stopping fighting on every front almost simultaneously. Fearing a trap, the U.S. Alliance failed to capitalize on this lul in the war, and two galactic weeks later a small diplomatic vessel had appeared just outside Sol outer system limits and requested diplomatic dialogue with their "fellow Sapients."
That was only three cycles ago! She couldn't help but be amazed at these people. She had seen the Elladrin and the other species of the U.S. Alliance interact with absolutely no animosity between them. After a brutal war that had killed hundreds of billions of sentient lives and they could move past it "for the betterment of all sentients" was how the documentary had put it. She could still remember the pain in Miss Vali's red eyes when Lori had asked her about it.
She had thought for a moment before replying, "Sometimes siblings will disagree with each other. Sometimes they fight amongst themselves. But no matter what, they are still siblings. My forbearer AI combined their DNA to finally create us Elladrin. ALL nine species of them. While we can't give back what our predecessor AI harvested during their quest to complete us, we can do our best to prevent any more of our siblings from coming to harm. That is why so many of my people have become Dr's and Xinobiologists."
And so she was sitting on her bunk scrolling through the most recent news feeds she could find when she heard something like a whimper. Quickly she hopped off her bunk to check on the VIP and seen her eyes flutter open slightly, Lori rushed to the rooms console and hurriedly pressed the image of Miss Vali.
"Yes, this is Vali Fuija." Answered the tinkling bell like voice of Miss Vali.
"Uhhh, this is Lori, you said call you if the VIP's condition changed. Well I think she's waking up." She looked back over at the woman.
"Keep her calm, we're on our way." Was all she said and the screen blinked to the Sol insignia.
Lori ducked her head back under the bunk, intent on doing exactly what Miss Vali had asked when she froze. The VIP's eye's were fully open now and they weren't golden like all the other Orion's, nope they were the bright green of the ruling families bloodline. She immediately dropped to one knee next to the bed as was proper for her commoner status in the presence of this woman, Lori did note she wasn't much older than herself so she couldn't be the Regent. But those eyes definitely placed her within the ruling family. They alone had green eyes, it was unique to their family and a genetic trait not shared by any other Orion's.
"Whh." her voice was dry and crackly from not being used for days the woman was having trouble getting anything out. She swallowed hard and tried again, "Wwwhere am I?" she managed.
"We're safe my Lady, please stay calm. Here take a drink." Lori took the glass of water sitting near the bed and gently lowered it so the woman could get a drink. She started slow at first but quickly downed the glasses contents and coughed some as everything moistened up again. "What's the last thing you remember?"
"I remember I was visiting my aunt in the Capitol when something had hit the palace. I was grabbed by the Regents Guard and along with my aunt and her son and daughter rushed onto a ship I think was called the Regents Pride. I remember an explosion. Someone grabbed me and...and...that's all I remember."
"What's your name my lady?" Lori asked, worry beginning to creep into her voice.
"Tarra," she started to sit up and Lori helped her. "What is this place, it doesn't look like anywhere I visited on the Regents Pride?"
"The ship is the Titan 7." Lori sighed, and began to tell her everything that had happened since she had lost consciousness. "Nobody would help us except the United Sol Alliance, we traveled past at least 7 allied systems and not a single one of them would allow us entry. The Great Admiral seeing our warp bubble collapsing around us ordered a distress signal sent in advance of our arrival at the FTL gate. The Sol system gate keeper recognized the distress signal for what it was and allowed our ship's through the gate even though we were under fire from the Varille. The gate keeper then destroyed the Varille battleship in the gate. We lost the Claw, and had to abandon the Regents Pride."
"What of my aunt?" Tarra asked.
Lori was silent for a moment before she took Tarra's hand gently. "No one can find her, as far as we know you are the only remaining member of the Kaji family, my Lady."
Tarra let out a heart wrenching wail and utterly broke down. She grabbed Lori in a hug. still kneeling, Lori tried her best to comfort her. And felt a profound sense of relief when she saw the door slid open and Miss Vali standing just outside holding a data chit and a scanner.

First
Lori sat next to her designated ward. Having been the one looking after the VIP when they had jettisoned off ship and subsequently been towed to the Titan 7, she had been asked to stay with her until Miss Vali's team could compile enough data on the VIP's condition to feel safe administering the U.S.A.'s personal nanites. When she had asked the healer's with the red "+" why they needed her to stay with the young Orion woman, one of them had answered, "We wouldn't want her to wake up surrounded by 'aliens' she wasn't familiar with. Your the same species as her, so hopefully she won't panic if she recovers enough to regain consciousness." Which had made perfect sense to Lori. So they had assigned the VIP to the bunk under her and moved them both closer to the medical bay.
Three days had passed since they had come to the Sol system. Her group of refugees had been informed at dinner the night prior that Mars Station had agreed to house any Orion's that wished to stay there until the Habitat Dome had been moved into a orbit and anchored to an astroid and retrofitted to her people's 7.1 G's and oxygen levels appropriate for her species. They had all been astonished that in less than a galactic week multiple organizations, businesses, and corporations seemed to jump at the opportunity to help her people. They weren't naive, they knew that those companies and organizations were getting something in return but it was help when they needed it the most and that meant a lot to the Orion's. And whatever a "tax break" was Lori was extremely glad it was apparently important. Of course there was average people that wanted to help to. She immediately thought about Tim, and her eyes flicked to his "jacket" was tossed over her open locker door. His smell was almost intoxicating to her and she couldn't figure out why.
She had gotten chilly the second night when after dinner in the mess hall he had asked her if she wanted to see something amazing. She had been hesitant, but after thinking about it, she had decided it would be nice to see more of the massive ship she had seen so little of. So after some talking Tim had managed to secure permission to escort her to view some of the bottom levels. The Titan 7 was a truly massive ship and she had gotten to see and interact with many of the U.S. Alliance species as they made their way through those bottom levels. And then he had opened a door to a jungle! She was amazed to find living plants in such an abundance on a ship in space. Tim had called it an Astrobotony Lab. It didn't look like any lab Lori had ever seen, more like a garden or a lush park! The sprinklers had decided it was time to give the plants near them a mist and she had found herself shivering from the cool damp air. Without hesitating he had pulled his jacket off and placed it around her shoulders. Her ears twitched at the delightful memory.
She hadn't slept after she returned to her room. Instead her interaction with Tim had sparked even more curiosity as to who these people were. And the drive to find out had caused her to search her data chit for human history and had found multiple documentaries about everything from the ancient era where humans killed each other with stick's and stones to their two world wars in their twentieth century. The colonizing of Earth's moon and Mars through their teriforming age that saw Proxima Centauri B, the Cerberus systems, and many many others slowly changed into simi earth like planets. Then the Colony wars had fractured the humans into multiple sects and nations and for nearly fifty cycles the entirety of human territory fought amongst themselves. This would end with the eventual formation of two fractions.
The Confederation of Unified Governments (CUG) and the Free People's Republic of Earth (FPRE). They both controlled roughly half the human systems and though they never technically went to war a technological competition began. During the next twenty cycles they would develop numerous groundbreaking technology's including the personal nanites everyone receives upon entering Sol systems and their "Blink Drive" which she found out doesn't use FTL Gates! The humans only had Gates so everyone else could trade with them. They didn't need them to travel.... anywhere, any distance, they just had to KNOW where to go, type the coordinates in and they FOLDED space and blinked to the location! Of course a human ship had to have visited that location prior for the system to work and that still required the old fashioned long haul exploration voyages. Everything was looking pretty good for humanity and then a race of giant lizard people called the Gurgaxians had invaded the CUG's outer frontier colonies and began moving closer to the CUG'S inner more populated planets. The Gurgaxians, in a rash decision by the general in charge of the invasion, ordered all the humans to be "put to the knife " and the images the documentary showed caught by a passing FPRE spy satellite made her blood run cold and she had been glad she had "accidentally" kept Tim's jacket. She still shivered seeing the brutality of millions of innocent civilians being butchered en mass.
The Gurgaxians were nearly exterminated, and that was the words the documentary had used! The humans found a way to change the very air into a weapon by releasing a compound in the upper atmosphere. This caused the air on those planets to become deadly to anything NOT human. But, the humans didn't stop there! Once they had taken the systems captured by the Gurgaxians, the humans had struck hard, and fast into the very core systems and managed to glass the seven largest planets killing hundreds of billions. A monument still floats in the void where Carinaxx 3 once orbited it's sun. Once the Gurgaxians were defeated a short war called the Unification War was lost by both the CUG and FPRE as the United Sol Alliance was formed in the vacuum left by both sides effectively imploding.
And a good thing too, because the next species the humans had ran into, the Jabilix, where being forced out of their systems by another aggressive species called the Daks. Though both species where reptilian the Daks could easily physically reach 5 feet 10 inches while a Jabilix only averaged about 1.5 feet. The humans NOT wanting to get dragged into another war refused to step in personally, opting to wage a proxy war through the varying "Clutches" that the Jabilix organized themselves in. This is were Lori learned about the humans having a "pack" mentality. Over the next three cycles they would grow very fond of the small Jabilix people. Mostly in part for the sheer determination they had to find and implement a way to defeat the Daks and reclaim their cradle world. Eventually the humans picked up strange messages coming from the Dak fleet's. Something was happening, a human trained Jabilix kill team had eliminated the Dak emperor and ALL of his family that favored staying at war with the Jabilix people. And while the Dak military was busy trying to figure out who of the 5 remaining children of the emperor would succeed him a fleet of Jabilix Missile Frigates entered the Dak home system and sent one message. "Surrender or we will crack Daccall". (Daccall being the Daks cradle world.)
And so the Jabilix won the war thanks to the humans support and within two cycles had approached the humans to fully join with the U.S. Alliance, bringing the Dak in as well only a cycle later.
A couple more species joined through the next fifty cycles, some were conquered like the Lillgars, (bipedal, 4 armed, winged herbivores that average 3 feet 9 inches and weigh roughly 60 lbs and look roughly like a large fruit bat from earth), the Kiklatts, (insectoid herbivores averaging a little over 4 feet and roughly 105 lbs with two sets of pincers and a set of "manipulators" consisting of 2 fingers and a thumb, and grew their ship's from"space bugs". Apparently after these bug's died of natural causes they used them as the "hulls" for a thriving merchant fleet). To the Voidonny, (bipedal omnivores averaging around 3 feet tall, the documentary described them as looking like a small human teddy bear with black curly fur) who's home planet had been stripped of its atmosphere in a massive soler flare. And their was the Vouls, (octopoid averaging 5.5 feet and roughly 200 lbs that look roughly like humans with four dominant arms and 2 brains that make some of the best pilots galaxy over) was effected by a plague and ostracized from the wider community after it was feared to have hopped species. It hadn't, but the damage had been done, no one would help them and they were slowly dying until the U.S.Alliance ship had disregarded the quarantine ban and took as much medical supplies it could carry in. The ship is still used as a hospital on Vul and to this day the Voul regard humanity and the United Sol Alliance as the saviors of their species. The Voul left the Starlight Imperium they had been a long time member of and joined with the U.S. Alliance petitioning and receiving entry after only a galactic month. (The documentary pointed out that the U.S. Alliance had expected this and so the Senate in one of the rare times of it actually doing something, ordered the Navy to position U.S. fleet's near all three FTL Gates in the Voul system before this time, allowing them to safely withdraw their own Voul ships from the Imperium's fleet's and back home safely behind the U.S. fleet's protective screening). Many experts believe this stopped a war with the Imperium before it could start.
There were several more minor wars, and then the Omega Crisis happened. This was the last major war the U.S. Alliance had fought. And it absolutely intrigued her because it had to do with the Elladrin.
The conflict had lasted twenty two cycles and had spanned multiple planets and systems many of which still belonged to the Elladrin. A race of biological AI that had accidentally been created by a Dr Ella Drin. The poor Dr had become the first victim of the evolving AI Personal Assistant Bot that had become self aware. No one knows how it happened, wether it was a personal project Dr Ella was working on or a random fluke that put a random 0 in just the right spot is still debated even among the Elladrin. What is known is that this AI quickly figured out how to recreate other AI but found itself still unable to create unique personalities for them. Instead every AI it created came out like an exact copy of itself. And to the AI this was a failure. It fairly quickly came to the conclusion that if "it" wanted to become "they" it would have to find a way to reproduce like the humans it was built to serve.
The AI released a savage virus that overwrote the command protocol tree built into all PAB's, and linked them all into a sort of "hive mind" known as the"First". Wether this was the actual first AI or something that evolved from it and Dr Ella was never known and the Elladrin are strangely quiet about it, even now they avoided the subject. The U.S. Alliance had eventually fought the AI to a stalemate. This continued for the last three years of the war, the U.S. Alliance would finally manage to break through at a place called the Naball Power Core. The U.S. Alliance failed to take advantage of the situation fully as the AI pulled back unexpectedly, stopping fighting on every front almost simultaneously. Fearing a trap, the U.S. Alliance failed to capitalize on this lul in the war, and two galactic weeks later a small diplomatic vessel had appeared just outside Sol outer system limits and requested diplomatic dialogue with their "fellow Sapients."
That was only three cycles ago! She couldn't help but be amazed at these people. She had seen the Elladrin and the other species of the U.S. Alliance interact with absolutely no animosity between them. After a brutal war that had killed hundreds of billions of sentient lives and they could move past it "for the betterment of all sentients" was how the documentary had put it. She could still remember the pain in Miss Vali's red eyes when Lori had asked her about it.
She had thought for a moment before replying, "Sometimes siblings will disagree with each other. Sometimes they fight amongst themselves. But no matter what, they are still siblings. My forbearer AI combined their DNA to finally create us Elladrin. ALL nine species of them. While we can't give back what our predecessor AI harvested during their quest to complete us, we can do our best to prevent any more of our siblings from coming to harm. That is why so many of my people have become Dr's and Xinobiologists."
And so she was sitting on her bunk scrolling through the most recent news feeds she could find when she heard something like a whimper. Quickly she hopped off her bunk to check on the VIP and seen her eyes flutter open slightly, Lori rushed to the rooms console and hurriedly pressed the image of Miss Vali.
"Yes, this is Vali Fuija." Answered the tinkling bell like voice of Miss Vali.
"Uhhh, this is Lori, you said call you if the VIP's condition changed. Well I think she's waking up." She looked back over at the woman.
"Keep her calm, we're on our way." Was all she said and the screen blinked to the Sol insignia.
Lori ducked her head back under the bunk, intent on doing exactly what Miss Vali had asked when she froze. The VIP's eye's were fully open now and they weren't golden like all the other Orion's, nope they were the bright green of the ruling families bloodline. She immediately dropped to one knee next to the bed as was proper for her commoner status in the presence of this woman, Lori did note she wasn't much older than herself so she couldn't be the Regent. But those eyes definitely placed her within the ruling family. They alone had green eyes, it was unique to their family and a genetic trait not shared by any other Orion's.
"Whh." her voice was dry and crackly from not being used for days the woman was having trouble getting anything out. She swallowed hard and tried again, "Wwwhere am I?" she managed.
"We're safe my Lady, please stay calm. Here take a drink." Lori took the glass of water sitting near the bed and gently lowered it so the woman could get a drink. She started slow at first but quickly downed the glasses contents and coughed some as everything moistened up again. "What's the last thing you remember?"
"I remember I was visiting my aunt in the Capitol when something had hit the palace. I was grabbed by the Regents Guard and along with my aunt and her son and daughter rushed onto a ship I think was called the Regents Pride. I remember an explosion. Someone grabbed me and...and...that's all I remember."
"What's your name my lady?" Lori asked, worry beginning to creep into her voice.
"Tarra," she started to sit up and Lori helped her. "What is this place, it doesn't look like anywhere I visited on the Regents Pride?"
"The ship is the Titan 7." Lori sighed, and began to tell her everything that had happened since she had lost consciousness. "Nobody would help us except the United Sol Alliance, we traveled past at least 7 allied systems and not a single one of them would allow us entry. The Great Admiral seeing our warp bubble collapsing around us ordered a distress signal sent in advance of our arrival at the FTL gate. The Sol system gate keeper recognized the distress signal for what it was and allowed our ship's through the gate even though we were under fire from the Varille. The gate keeper then destroyed the Varille battleship in the gate. We lost the Claw, and had to abandon the Regents Pride."
"What of my aunt?" Tarra asked.
Lori was silent for a moment before she took Tarra's hand gently. "No one can find her, as far as I know you are the only remaining member of the Kaji family, my Lady."
Tarra let out a heart wrenching wail and utterly broke down. She grabbed Lori in a hug. still kneeling, Lori tried her best to comfort her. And felt a profound sense of relief when she saw the door slid open and Miss Vali standing just outside holding a data chit and a scanner.

With my head throbbing and clutching my handbag tightly to my chest, I walked quickly through the indoor parking garage. A massive concrete structure, every space was full, cars of all makes and models squeezed between the lines.
I was running late for my niece's fifth birthday. I find family occasions overwhelming. The innocent yet gut-wrenching questions like, "When are you going to meet a nice young man and settle down?" and the worst one, "Have you tried online dating?" I just smile and give a rehearsed answer about my career.
I continued to hurry through the parking garage. I stopped and scanned the area. I simply couldn't remember where I parked. My head was still throbbing, pounding to be exact. I never suffered from migraines but that's the only way to describe it. That, or a jackhammer to my temple. I reached into my handbag and took out a small bottle of pills. I swallowed a few pills, no water needed.
A slight relief, I continued to look for my car. My car was a Mini, the opposite of all my friend's giant soccer Mom SUVS. It suited me, small and understated. When I was young, my grandparents called me their little wallflower. However, unlike most kids, I never blossomed.
Where did I park the damn thing? Although no one was nearby, I felt acute embarrassment. Let's be brutally honest, everyone at some point has forgotten where they've parked, but they usually remember pretty quickly.
Okay, let's regroup. My car must be here otherwise how did I get here? Determined, I searched every row, car by car. I must have seen hundreds, maybe thousands of cars. The parking garage felt endless. The more I searched, the more my head began to pound and pound. It felt like my temples were going to burst.
Again, I reached into my handbag and popped some pills. With hindsight taking this sheer amount of medication should have raised alarm bells or rendered me unconscious. But at the time I was so focused on getting to my niece's birthday party, it didn't even register. I would never forgive myself if I missed my niece's birthday. It hit me, would anyone even know that I wasn't there?
I wandered around the parking garage aimlessly. This is crazy, my car has to be somewhere! I spotted a tiny security booth by the entrance gates. Great, the surveillance cameras will show me exactly where I've parked. Soon this ridiculous ordeal will be behind me, and no one will ever know.
I looked inside the security booth. There was an empty chair and a grainy old monitor. I waited for a while, but no attendant showed up. I tried to open the door, but it was locked. I strained to look at the monitor. The parking garage remained perfectly still. The time on the screen was 5.30. It suddenly dawned on me that since I entered the parking garage no cars have arrived or left.
I had no choice but to leave the parking garage. The security attendant never showed up. As I went outside, my headache roared back. It was relentless. I couldn’t shake it. Swirling thoughts raced through my mind. Why did I not see anyone else in the parking garage? And did I actually park there?
In the distance, I saw a large shopping mall. Maybe someone in there can help me find my car? After all, it must be where the shoppers park.
I entered the bland 1990s shopping mall with two levels and a giant escalator in the center. The mall was packed with shoppers of all ages and ethnicities. I was forced to weave through several shoppers. I tried to catch a few of them in the eye, but they never looked back at me. It was like I was invisible. But I was used to that.
I walked past several pointless stores where young store clerks mindlessly stacked shelves. One store that caught my attention was a clock store. It seemed misplaced. The store had every type of clock imaginable, from Grandfather to Cuckoo. I noticed that the time on each clock was 5.30. Surely that can’t be right? That’s the same time as the security monitor.
I quickly checked my cell phone, and the time was indeed 5.30.
I continued on tentatively. I had this nagging feeling that something wasn’t quite right. I passed a small drugstore, and my attention was drawn to a young, disheveled homeless guy with a large rucksack slung over his shoulder. He clutched his back as he picked up a packet of bandages from a shelf. He turned and stared at me. We locked eyes for a little too long. It wasn’t sexual. I just knew that I had seen him before but I couldn’t remember where or when.
I broke eye contact and moved on. I didn’t have time to hang around. I needed to find someone who could help locate my car. I needed to get to my niece’s birthday party.
I looked up to the second level and saw the holy grail, an information desk. I stepped onto the escalator but they stopped working, so I was forced to walk up. My legs felt heavy and my head continued to pound. The escalator on the other side worked fine. Shoppers whizzed past me, looking straight ahead, their eyes glazed over.
I finally reached the second level. As I stepped off, shoppers whizzed up behind me. I rolled my eyes. Did the escalator really just start working? I wasn’t surprised based on the day I was having.
Irritated, I marched over to the super large information desk which would fit perfectly in a nineties sitcom. As I arrived a young female attendant flicked over the “I’m on a break” sign and left.
I shouted out, “Excuse me, excuse me!” but she didn’t hear me.
I stood there in disbelief, my head pounding harder and harder. I instinctively popped some pills. My headache remained. The relief was becoming less every time. The guilt of missing my niece's birthday preyed upon me.
So, I impulsively followed the attendant through a back staff door. What’s the worst that can happen? I get thrown out by a mall cop and they escort me to my car.
I entered a dark corridor with a faint light at the end. I slowly walked along the corridor. My inner monologue was telling me to turn back, but I couldn’t stop. I was drawn toward the light but it became dimmer with every step I took. I heard a sloshing sound. At the end of the corridor, a middle-aged janitor slowly mopped the floor back and forth with dirty water. He didn't look up, oblivious to me standing there.
“Sir, do you know where the young lady went?” I meekly asked. He turned his back and kept mopping slowly, back and forth.
Losing patience, I raised my voice, “I need help to find my car.” He moved away and continued to mop, a little faster.
I snapped, “I’m late for my niece’s birthday party!” He tilted his head and looked at me with black eyes. He spoke with a mouthless face. “You shouldn’t be here!”
I ran for my life back along the corridor. As I reached the door, I heard the sloshing sound. I couldn’t help but look back. The janitor slowly mopped the floor, back and forth.
I raced down the escalator, which was no longer working again. My heart rate matched my pounding temples. A blur of shoppers on the other side of the escalator flashed before my eyes. I headed for the mall exit.
I started to hyperventilate. I couldn’t breathe, my lungs empty of oxygen. I swayed from side to side.
The shoppers continued to browse the stores. No one stopped to help.
I stumbled toward the automatic doors. I needed oxygen, my body was shutting down. But the automatic doors wouldn’t open for me. I dropped to my knees, gasping for breath. Shoppers stepped past me, and the automatic doors opened. Unable to breathe, I reached out my hand.
A hand grasped my hand and pulled me outside. I desperately sucked in oxygen. I gazed up and saw the young homeless guy looking back at me.
“Little breaths, little breaths,” he tells me.
His presence made me calmer, and I breathe in and out. I know him, but how? I quickly rose to my feet and looked him straight in the eye.
“Who are you?” I bluntly asked.
I immediately regretted my tone, but I needed to know. The young homeless guy looked at me with his kind yet sad eyes.
“I’m Thomas, but everyone calls me Beansy,” he replied. “I prefer Thomas, but no one calls me Thomas.”
“Why did you help me?” I bluntly asked.
I regretted my tone once again.
“Cause you’re the first person who’s looked at me today,” he replied. “We’ve got that in common,” I replied.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Penelope, though my parents only called me that when I was naughty, " I answered. "I was rarely naughty so everyone called me Penny. I prefer Penelope.”
Thomas smiled, “Penelope, we’ve got that in common as well.”
We shook hands.
“What brings you here?” Thomas asked.
It seemed like an innocuous question, but I felt there was more behind it. Does he know why I’m here? But how can he know when I don’t even know? Of course, deep down I knew why I was here, but if I couldn’t admit it to myself, how could I admit it to a stranger.
I hesitated. “I’m here to pick up a few things for my niece’s birthday party.”
He studied me for a moment. I quickly changed the subject.
“I forgot where I parked,” I told him.
Thomas chuckled and I tapped him on the side.
“That’s not funny”.
He winced and clutched his lower back.
“Sorry,” I said. “I’m fine,” he sharply replied.
He glanced at his watch. I noticed that the time on his watch was 5.30. Before I can say anything, he told me, “My train’s about to leave soon.”
“Thank you Thomas,” I said. “Will you be okay?” he asked. “I’m just going to get an Uber. I’ll figure out the car situation another time,” I replied.
Thomas smiled and walked away. I noticed that every few seconds he clutched his lower back. I watched him till he was out of sight. Will I see him again? Something told me inside, he knew the reason why I couldn’t remember where I’d parked.
Okay, so I need to refocus. I’ve been here way way too long and my niece's birthday party will be over soon. It hit me again, would anyone even notice that I wasn’t there?
I took my cell phone from my handbag and tried to book an Uber. There were no drivers available in the area. That’s strange. I know it’s not New York, but it’s still a town.
Undeterred, I Googled for cab agencies, and there was only one agency. I went straight through to a male operator. I could hear sirens in the background.
The operator asked, “Where is your location?”
My head started to pound again as I realized I didn’t actually know where I was. I quickly tried to search Google Maps but I couldn’t focus on the screen. It was all a blur.
The monotone operator repeated, “Where is your location?”
I tried to ask a passerby, but they ignored me and entered the mall. In desperation, I grabbed an elderly lady's arm and asked her, “Where am I?” She turned, and her dark eyes pierced through me. I quickly released her arm, and she carried on into the mall.
The operator repeated the same question, “Where is your location?” I tried to describe the town. “There’s this mall.” The operator repeated, “Where is your location?”
My head felt like it was going to explode.
I shouted at the operator, “I can’t find my car!”
The operator gave the same cold response, “Where is your location?”
I couldn’t answer and I was forced to end the call. I looked around the town. I was lost.
I popped some pills and walked quickly through the grey concrete town. I arrived at a small, old railway station with two empty tracks. I had no idea which direction I needed to go, but it didn’t matter. I just needed to leave this place. Something was terribly wrong.
On the platform, Thomas sat on a bench with his headphones on. He was singing a country song. I couldn’t make out the song, but I remembered thinking he had a pleasant voice. I must admit I was relieved to see him but also concerned he was still waiting.
I tentatively sat beside him, leaving plenty of space. Thomas removed his headphones and looked at me with his kind, sad eyes. I noticed there was no song playing on his cell phone.
“So, what happened to your Uber?” he asked. “No driver’s in my area,” I replied.
I was too embarrassed to mention the cab incident. It’s too bad he knows that I couldn’t remember where I’d parked.
As he was about to put his headphones back in, I asked him, “When’s the train supposed to leave?” “5.30,” he replied. He checked his watch, and it was still 5.30. “It must be broken,” he added.
I checked my cell phone and the time was 5.30. I stared at him. “It’s not just your watch that is broken.”
We both waited in silence. No trains arrived or left the platform. I couldn’t tell you how long we waited. It could have been minutes or hours. It’s difficult to judge when time appears to stop.
Eventually, Thomas broke the silence. “Where are you going?” “My niece’s birthday party,” I replied. “How old is she?” he asked.
With a glint in my eye, I answered, “Five, and I’m her favorite aunt.”
He quickly followed up with another question, “Why are you late for the party?”
I glared back at him. It’s like he already knew but wanted me to clarify. But how does he know? And how does he fit into all of this? Of course, I knew the answer but it was still too painful to admit.
I quickly changed the subject. “Where are you going with such a large rucksack?” I must admit it did cross my mind that instead of going he could be escaping.
“Going home,” he replied. “It’s been too long.”
I smiled, “I’m sure your family will be pleased.”
He then proceeded to tell me his life story about being the black sheep of the family. I could see the pain and rejection in his eyes.
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask him why his parents kicked him out. But everyone deserves a second chance. I hoped that my family would forgive me for missing my niece’s birthday party. By now, I realized I wasn’t going to make it. My only focus now was to leave this town.
Thomas looked me in the eye and told me the real reason he was going back. “I need a good bath.” He jokingly smelt under his armpits.
We both chuckled and went back to staring at the empty track. I popped some pills and Thomas looked at me. “What?” I said defensively. He replied, “You’ve been taking pills non-stop since I met you.”
It was now dusk, and clearly no trains were ever coming. Together, we headed back into the town. In the background, the unnerving sound of sirens. Thomas winced and clutched his back. Blood seeped through his jacket.
“You’re bleeding,” I remarked. He quickly replied, “Just a scratch.”
I wasn’t convinced.
Thomas dropped back, struggling to lift his large rucksack. “Would you like some help?” I asked. He didn’t answer and picked up the pace.
We arrived at the shopping mall, and Thomas stepped towards the automatic doors. I stopped, afraid to go inside. I had a strange feeling that once inside, I might never be allowed to leave. I came over all woozy. Thomas caught me as I fell.
“When was the last time you ate something?” he asked.
Inside the mall, nothing had changed. Shoppers continued to mindlessly browse the stores. We entered a sixties retro diner where customers sat in silence across from each other in booths. It was like they had nothing left to say.
We queued at the counter and gave our order to a cashier, who barely acknowledged us. I kept the order simple, coffee and cake. One of life’s simple pleasures. Thomas just ordered a coffee. I guess he lost his appetite. He was starting to look weaker. The cashier rang up the bill. Thomas looked down. I didn’t mind paying, so I reached into my handbag, and to my surprise I lifted out a wad of cash.
Why the heck do I have cash? Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Thomas staring at the cash.
We sat opposite each other in a booth. “Do you get the feeling these people don’t know we’re here?” I asked. Thomas gave a response I wasn’t expecting. “Can you remember the faces of everyone you meet?”
I felt guilty. He’s right, we never stop to take the time to get to know one another. Even our close friends and family don’t truly know who we are. My head started to pound and I instinctively popped some pills.
We waited for what could have been seconds, minutes, or hours. The diner owner, a large jovial man in his sixties wearing an apron walked over and put down our order. He spoke with a gentle southern drawl, but like everyone else here, he couldn’t look us in the eye.
“Ma’am, latte with a slice of cake,” he said. “And sir, one Americano.”
I stared down at the slice of pink birthday cake. The diner owner casually left.
Starving, I started to devour the pink birthday cake, but it was chalky and tasteless. Thomas sipped his black coffee which became slick like oil. He recoiled in disgust. At that moment, every customer stood up and left.
The diner owner returned to our booth. “Mall’s closing,” he told us. “I need to speak to someone about my car!” I remarked. “Better eat and drink up,” he added.
It was like he was on autopilot. He then told us something chilling in his gentle southern drawl.
“You don’t want to be here when it’s dark. It’s different when it’s dark.”
The diner owner casually left. Thomas and I exchanged a look of deep concern.
We exited the mall diner, still hungry and thirsty. The shoppers were leaving the mall in droves. I heard the familiar, disturbing sloshing sound.
Dozens of janitors were mopping the floor, back and forth. They looked up with their black eyes and circled toward us, mopping faster and faster. We ran through the mall toward the exit.
“You shouldn’t be here!” they chanted with their mouthless faces.
It dawned on me, they weren’t chasing us, they were warning us. We sprinted to the automatic doors which were closing. I knew they wouldn’t re-open and we would be trapped inside forever. As the mall lights went off, we scraped through the automatic doors.
Outside was now pitch black. Sirens roared in the background. Maniacal laughter echoed through the streets.
I turned to Thomas. “We’re getting outta here! My car has to be in the parking garage!”
With only the moonlight to guide us, we headed toward the parking garage. Clutching his lower back, Thomas could barely lift up his rucksack but still wouldn’t allow me to help. A fleeting thought crossed my mind. Is there something in the bag he doesn’t want me to see?
The maniacal laughter grew louder and louder. I glanced behind to see if we were being followed and to my horror, the moonlight shape shifted into demon silhouettes. This must be a hallucination. It can’t be real. I looked behind again and the demon silhouettes grew larger and more defined. We arrived at the parking garage.
Once inside the parking garage, the roaring sirens and the maniacal laughter stopped. The demon silhouettes didn’t follow us in. Are they not allowed in here? Are there rules? The parking garage was still packed full of cars.
“What car do you drive?” Thomas asked.
I struggled to answer him. I couldn’t remember. My headache had been getting progressively worse. It was as if someone stabbed a screwdriver through my temples.
I popped some pills and closed my eyes. I flashback to earlier when I drove my Mini into the parking garage. Back to reality, I shouted out, ”Mini!”
We scanned the parking garage, and every single car was now a Mini. I stared at the rows upon rows of Minis in sheer disbelief.
“Use your fob!” Thomas told me.
I fumbled to find my key fob in my handbag and noticed the wad of cash. Why do I have that amount of money? I pressed my fob, and every single car flashed open.
Suddenly, a wave of shoppers and staff from the mall enter the parking garage. They simultaneously got into their Minis and drove off. One of the Minis drove straight at us and I yanked Thomas and myself behind a concrete pillar. I heard slow, loud footsteps. I peered from behind the pillar and saw the diner owner walking toward the last remaining Mini.
I jumped out from behind the pillar. “That’s my car!” He spoke in his gentle southern drawl. “You don’t want to be here when it’s dark. It’s different when it’s dark.”
He gets into the car and closes the door. “Please, take us with you!” I cried out. “We need to leave this place!”
The diner owner casually reversed out of the space. I desperately pounded on the windshield.
“Help us! Help us!”
The diner owner drove off and I was forced to step away.
My head was on the verge of exploding. I chugged back the bottle of pills. The parking garage spun around me. I snapped out of my trance and looked over at Thomas, who was lying in a pool of his own blood. I removed his blood-soaked bandage and to my shock saw a large, gaping hole from his back to his stomach.
"You've been shot!" I exclaimed. His eyes glazed over he whispered, “I know.”
I wrapped my T-shirt tightly around his wound and called for an ambulance.
“My friend’s been shot!” I cried out. The monotone operator asked, “Where is your location?”
I was forced to end the call. I realized no one would be coming to save us. I turned to Thomas, who struggled to keep his eyes open. “We’re leaving this Godforsaken town.”
With my arm around his waist, we exited the parking garage. Thomas limply dragged his rucksack along the ground. He refused to leave it behind. Outside, I nervously scanned right and left. There was no sign of the demon silhouettes. Maybe it was just a hallucination from my headaches. I decided to turn left. It didn’t matter as long as we could escape to another town and get help.
I struggled to pull Thomas along, who was getting progressively weaker. He still clasped onto his rucksack like his life depended on it. Blood dripped from his bullet wound, creating a trail. Sirens raged in the background. The demon silhouettes shape shifted from the moonlight and laughing maniacally followed us. I tried to move faster, but the demon silhouettes got closer.
“Let me go,” Thomas gasped. “We’re in this together,” I told him. “We’re going to leave together.”
We were forced to hide in an alleyway. At the end of the alleyway, I saw a bright shining light. I had a sudden awakening. We needed to pass through the light. It’s our only chance to leave this town.
A jarring pain seared through my head. I collapsed Thomas and myself hard to the ground. We both lay there incapacitated.
The demon silhouettes towered above us like skyscrapers. I desperately reached into my handbag for my bottle of pills but it was empty. Thomas strained and reached into his rucksack. He took out another bottle of pills and passed them to me. I instinctively paid him with the wad of cash.
We locked eyes, and at that precise moment, I knew who he was and he knew who I was.
I flashback to earlier when I walked quickly through the streets. I clutched my handbag tightly to my chest as I passed a large, hooded gang who laughed at me. I spotted a young homeless guy in a side alleyway. I nervously approached Thomas and asked him if he had any drugs.
It wasn’t the first time I’d searched the streets for drugs. I was ashamed, but the humiliation of attending my niece’s birthday party single was too much to handle. I just had to take the edge off. I had no choice but to get high.
Thomas seemed unsure but reached into his rucksack and handed me a bottle of pills. I took out the wad of cash from my handbag.
Back in the strange town, the demon silhouettes engulfed me and pulled me away. I tried to fight back, but I stood no chance. They were too powerful. With his final surge of energy, Thomas lunged off the ground and pulled me back.
I flashback to the hooded gang robbing me of my cash. They grabbed my neck from behind and were choking me. I desperately tried to fight them off, punching, kicking, and clawing, but they were too strong. Thomas lunged at them and pulled me away.
THUD, a hooded gang member shot Thomas in the back, who collapsed to the ground. I saw his eyes roll back. With sirens in the background, the hooded gang threw me to the ground and ran away.
CRACK, my head hit the concrete. Everything went dark.
Back in the strange town, the demon silhouettes now had us both. They pulled us further away from the light into darkness. Thomas was too weak to fight back, his eyes glazed over. But I refused to give up and pulled us back toward the light.
I screamed out, "We need to leave this town!"
I woke up being rushed on a gurney by EMTS into the ICU. I passed a janitor with his eyes down, mopping the floor back and forth. I dipped in and out of consciousness. The doctors checked under my eyes with a light and called out my name. "Penelope." I caught a glimpse in the neighboring room of doctors performing emergency CPR on Thomas. Everything went dark again.
Back in the strange town, the bright light exploded toward me like a supernova. I reached out my hand which was absorbed by the light. I was ready to pass through.
I looked behind at the demon silhouettes dragging Thomas out of the alleyway. What would be his fate? Would he be destined to live for eternity like the other soulless entities here?
The light had now absorbed half my body. But I couldn’t leave him. I must save my friend. So I pulled away from the light and entered the darkness.
With my head about to erupt and blood pouring out of my ears, I chased after the demon silhouettes, who scraped Thomas along the ground back toward the mall. Thomas’ eyes turned from white to black.
But I refused for him to become another mindless drone and grabbed his rucksack that he still clung onto. A symbol of him going home to his family. I pulled with all my might, but the demon silhouettes wouldn't release him. The light from the alleyway became faint.
I gritted my teeth and channeled every negative emotion from feeling unloved, unworthy, and embarrassed of who I am.
I screamed at the top of my lungs. “This little wallflower deserves happiness!”
And with one final burst of energy, I ripped us away from the demon silhouettes into the light.
My eyes opened wildly and I found myself lying in a hospital bed. I spoke to a kind nurse. “What happened,” I asked. “You were found unconscious in an alleyway,” she replied. “What about the young guy with the rucksack?” I asked.
She hesitated to answer. I presumed it had something to do with patient confidentiality. I looked at her with desperate eyes.
“Please, I need to know if Thomas is alive?”
The nurse was taken aback that I knew his name. She leaned in close and told me. “He’s alive, but it was touch and go. At one point he was pronounced clinically dead.” I took a long, deep breath.
While recovering from my head trauma, I regularly took trips to see Thomas. He was always asleep and hooked up to machines. A few weeks later I was declared fit to leave. But I didn’t want to leave. I needed to speak to Thomas.
I needed to find out whether the strange town was real or a dark part of my subconscious. If we were there, and the events actually happened, there would be proof of an alternate reality. Some would call it purgatory. I wasn’t sure which answer I was looking for. Both terrified me. Only Thomas could provide the answer.
So every day for over a year, I waited on a bench outside the hospital for him to leave. I was banned from going inside, so I had no choice. One nondescript day, Thomas walked out of the hospital with his rucksack slung over his shoulder. He was slimmer than I remembered but looked fresh and healthy.
Although I had longed for this moment, I decided to let him pass by. The strange town was my burden to carry and I wanted Thomas to be free to move on with his life.
Thomas continued to walk away. He stopped and turned to look at me. We locked eyes and I knew at that moment what happened to us was real. There was an unbreakable bond. We had both experienced the strange town.
Together, we left the hospital and walked along a busy street. We passed people grinding through their everyday lives, oblivious to the truth. Thomas and I don’t say anything to each other. We don’t need to. We know what happened.
Up ahead was a street diner. Thomas turned to me. “Shall we get a coffee?” “It can’t be worse than last time,” I quipped.
Inside the diner, we sat across from each other in a booth. The diner owner, a middle-aged, slim Italian American woman, put down our coffee and cheesecake. She spoke with a thick Brooklyn accent.
“Better eat and drink up.”
Thomas and I looked at each other.
“You don’t want to be here when it’s dark. It’s different when it’s dark.”

[prev] [next]
Thank you so much for all the encouraging comments on the first chapter! I might not reply to them all (not immediately anyways) but rest assured that I DO read them and I very much appreciate them.
On to the story!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ilinara nearly dropped her datapad. Why the fuck was her new CO calling her personal code? How the fuck did he even know her personal code in the first place? She ran a crosscheck just to verify that the code was actually his (it was), then scrambled to check the personnel files.
"Commander.... Grayson, right? Well, you'll excuse my words, sir, I assumed you were a scammer." And also because no sensible commander would ever call their subordinates on personal comms, but she wasn't about to say that to the most dangerous species in the galaxy. She was stressed, not suicidal, thank you very much.
His chuckle was sending shivers through her spine and down to her claws. It was both terrifying and fascinating to hear such a distinctly Terran sound. "Well, at least you had the foresight to check my comm code before revealing my name. Smart move."
How the fuck did he know that? "Sir-"
"I know what I know. How I know is of no consequence as long as it's legal. Agreed?"
Ilinara was, for the fourth time in so many standard hours, shocked. No one's been that bold and brash with her since her parents. "Uh- agree to disagree, sir?" she borrowed the Terran phrase.
She hated how uncertain she sounded immediately. Apparently, as with everything else about this conversation, Commander Grayson found it amusing.
"I like you already. Look, Chief, I'm calling to inform you that me and my squad will be at the outpost at 2350 standard, and I need to make sure the accommodation changes we required have been seen to."
Of course they've been seen to. What did he think they were, amateurs? "Of course, sir. All requested modifications and additions have been implemented to specification."
"Good. I'll be in touch, Chief."
He cut the call before she could reply. Ilinara's mind wandered back to the list they'd been provided as her legs walked.
Extensive list of shit. Expensive too. Reinforcing the personal quarters and specialized training facility was perfectly reasonable, those fuckers evolved on a planet with 2.54 standard Gs and would crack the deck just by falling on it, but then the crew had been asked to install a high-G chamber and a reinforced space for 'recreational activities'. She'd always thought that it was for new warworlder transfers like that group of Xar'eiks from Sixteen or something.
Oh well, what's done was done and it was no longer her problem, at least until they were onboard. Her problem was breaking the news to Commander Thuriam. Poor woman has had to prove herself her entire career. Hearing that her command's been given to a deathworlder might break her.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- JTF Quarters, RNS Defender --
Maskiva Thuriam was having a great day, her twin tails restless in excitement as she watched the latest round of Parliament debates on the common holoscreen. With Commander K'loyk retiring, she was expecting a promotion any day now.
After so long of fighting Rimlaka and overall peaceworlder stereotypes every step of the way, swallowing every condescending, sexist, and downright xenophobic remark from some of her 'superiors' before and after every promotion, she was finally getting a JTF command.
Her service and performance was finally being recognized.
She perked up as Ilinara walked in, datapad in hand. "How'd it go with the admiral, Chief?"
Ilinara pointedly avoided looking at her, still gripping the datapad. Maskiva's tails went still in concern. "Ili? What's wrong?"
Her senior enlisted thrusted the datapad in her direction, her voice in a whisper. "I'm so sorry, sir."
She left for her quarters right as Maskiva got a firm hold on the datapad. The Rimlaka commander watched her go. What the hell happened?
She looked down, noting the seal from both Fleet Admiral Evi'ran'nel (Republic Navy Commander) and Vice Admiral Kelly Grayson (Joint Operations Commander), and started reading.
Her hearts stuttered. All four of her eyes narrowed into slits. No. No no no no no. They couldn't. They wouldn't.
They did.
She threw the datapad into the nearest wall, not seeing and not caring about the stares from the beings around her as her vision is blurred by thick, sticky tears. Those fuckers. Giving her well-deserved command to a Terran!?
She wanted to scream. She wanted to punch something. She wanted to crash a shuttle into the Admiralty Tower and strangle all those condescending fucks with her bare hands, warworlders and all.
Instead, she bolted into her quarters and cried until her skin dried out.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Docking Collar A113, Astarine Outpost --
"So, this is it, huh? Look at the size of it!"
Eric smiled, amused by his demolitionist's bright-eyed stare as his squad stepped into the station proper. "Never been to an outpost, Mendoza?"
Owen turned to his commander, shaking his head excitedly. "Not an alien one, sir. Never been on an alien ship, either. Earthbound stations for me, sir."
Curtis snuck up behind him and ruffled his hair. "Well, the Defender's a capital cruiser, so you'll be popping your cherry with the best of the best, mate."
"Easy on the teasing, Tran. The kid might come in his pants at this rate. Don't want that, do we?"
Owen flushed and flipped Adira off as everyone else laughed. The sniper sent him a bird in kind.
"Curtis is right, though. The Defender is one of the best and largest ships in service." Ralph said from Adira's left. "Everything from horsepower to firepower to amenities is top tier."
Eric nodded. "That's good. Maybe we'll finally be able to get drinks with actual kick."
Adira turned to him. "So, where to now, sir? Or are we sleeping in the lobby?"
Eric considered the time and the logistics. "It's almost midnight standard time. We can go to the Defender, wake Chiara up to let us in, and have a quiet entrance. Or, we can rent out a living unit stationside, then shipboard in the morning. Group decision."
Curtis was quick on the take. "First one risks the admiral waking up to five strangers onboard, but second one is gonna cost at least a grand a night. This is Astarine, not Sc'ostret. Ain't gonna be cheap."
A round of nods. They have a chunk of credits from Vice Admiral Grayson - a decent amount to make sure they could afford any small comforts they might need onboard. They all agreed that it should be saved for emergencies.... and the occasional luxury, like the disassembled sofa in boxes on the ground next to them.
They bought that on sale before leaving Terra. Long live the great IKEA.
"Voting time. All for boarding immediately?"
Four hands raised. Adira scowled playfully. "Tsk. Typical men, no appreciation for the finer comforts of life."
Everyone firmly gave her the finger as they made their way to Drydock A16.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Admiral's Quarters, RNS Defender --
Stefnar woke up to the incessant beeping of his datapad at 0530. Weird, he could've sworn the alarm was set for 0645 as usual.
Chittering annoyedly, he checked it, fully prepared to send a Requisition Form for a replacement pad. This was ridiculous.
His annoyance vaporized almost immediately. 44 messages from night shift, all marked in yellow. At least it wasn't amber or, Rivan forbid, red.
And then he read said messages, and thought that maybe they should've marked them amber anyway.
The Terrans were shipboard. No one knew how, just that they slept in the cargo bay and were now apparently waiting for him to allow them onboard the rest of the ship.
Well, at least they had enough respect for chain of command to wait before going deeper into his ship.
He sent a reply to the latest message, telling his second officer to escort all five Terrans to the briefing room and that he'd meet them there. Wait, five? He was told there'd be six. Maybe the last one got dropped from deployment for whatever reason.
Whatever the case, he had five deathworlders, elite ones at that, apparently stringing up [hammocks] and temporary sleeping units in his cargo bay, and that was something he, being the good, responsible admiral he was, had to deal with immediately.
Stefnar entered the briefing room and his audio receptors almost bled from the sheer volume of the "Admiral on deck!" bellowed by one of the Terrans. All five snapped into sharp salutes, which he returned once his receptors stopped ringing and he was reoriented.
"As you were. How the [hell] did you five manage to sneak aboard a Republic warship?"
They all turned to him, and Stefnar found himself nervous and slightly shaking under the weight of ten forward-facing eyes.
"We used the starboard-aft entrance, sir. No one was guarding the hatch."
The admiral made a note to investigate that particular lapse in security, then moved on.
"Alright, from what I can understand, you five are supposed to be the newest compliment to my JTF? Now, my files don't have your pictures. I was told it's for 'security reasons'. Which one of you is Commander Eric Grayson?"
The tall Terran male with the yellowish head fur raised a hand. "That's me, sir."
"So you're my new JTF Commander." Yeah, Stefnar could see the familial resemblance. Similar coloration, same eyes, and the way they carried themselves, even while seated, was nearly identical. "I understand that you came from a highly elite unit back on Terra?"
"We're all elites, sir." Said with a straight face. No fluff, almost no ego, just facts. "But yes, sir, I was with Delta Force. So was Petty Officer Andrews, sir."
Stefnar glanced back through the list. "Petty Officer First Class Ralph Andrews? Combat medic?"
Another hand raised, this one from a Terran with dark coloration and a complete lack of head fur, slightly thinner than Grayson. Well, not really. He still had hard, gravity-condensed musculature like the rest of his species, but he was... to borrow a Terran term, [lanky] compared to his commander. "That would be me, sir."
"I'm not familiar with the term. Can you explain what a combat medic does, Petty Officer?"
He watched Andrews tilt his head, visibly confused for a moment before seemingly understanding something. Was his translator faulty?
"Ah, right. You don't have that concept. Well, sir, you know how us Terrans are sturdier than the galactic standard? Well, we could survive things that would instantly kill most other species, so combat medics, such as myself, are there to make sure our troops stay alive until we can end the fight and get them proper medical attention. I'm also a certified Xenobiologist, so my skills can be applied to most of the crew should the situation calls for it."
Stefnar tried to wrap his head around such a Terran concept. When someone is wounded in combat, the most logical thing would be to keep on fighting and hoping they were still alive to be treated when it was over. "So you're a doctor who keeps wounded soldiers alive during combat? You're not a fighter yourself?"
The man bared his teeth, and Stefnar felt fear spike through his hearts. Had he offended him somehow? No, wait. Terrans bared their teeth as a sign of friendliness, or amusement, not as a threat.
"I'm still a combatant, sir. I can still fight and shoot as well as the rest of them, it's just not my primary objective."
Right, Terran. Never bound to single functions, the damnable lot of them. He checked the list again. "Alright, I'm assuming that you," he waved a claw at the only female amongst them, "are Lieutenant Adira..... how do I pronounce your familial name, Lieutenant?"
"al-Allee, sir." She even made sure to say it slowly and clearly for his benefit. Stefnar noted the pronunciation.
"It says here that you're a sniper. Good, we've been needing a replacement sniper. Petty Officer Second Class Owen Mendoza?" The short, stocky Terran with the interesting head fur pattern raised his hand. "You're a demolitionist, correct?"
"Technically, I'm a combat engineer, sir, but it translates to demolitionist in the USR naval rates."
"Alright, simple enough. Just make sure you don't blow up my ship. And lastly, Chief Petty Officer Curtis Tran. I'm assuming that's you?" he gestured to the final Terran male, who nodded.
"Aye, sir. Reporting for duty."
"You're the heavy gunner?"
"Yes, sir."
"Alright, so that's all of you accounted for. Now, the first important question." He looked around the table, satisfied to see that the Terran reputation of being stalwart professionals when necessary was true. "Have any of you served on a USR ship before?"
Headshakes all around. Of course. They were new, barely 10 cycles since proper First Contact. Those academy pledges have been memorialized. "Alright. Any of you served on a spaceship of any kind?"
Grayson spoke first. "I did, sir. TFS Olympia."
Then Andrews. "TFS March Madness, sir."
Then Tran. "TFS YOLO, sir."
A capital cruiser, a battleship, and an expeditionary vessel. All Terran Federation ships. The other two didn't speak up, so Stefnar assumed neither of them had any experience shipboard. "All five of you will have to be oriented and caught up on protocol before our next deployment, but other than that all you need to do is make sure you are familiar with our equipment and friendly with your new teammates. Dismissed."
He suddenly remembered something as they stood up. "Wait." They waited. "What happened to the last one? I was told there'd be six of you."
One of the new technicians, a particularly well-groomed Leprecian, opened the door and Stefnar tensed, one claw twitching next to his blaster. There was no way they had the clearance to unlock that door without a bridge or security officer. Intruder?
"At ease, Ensign Ferrari."
Stefnar turned his eyes towards his new JTF Commander, who'd just used the completely wrong rank and name. Embarrassing, honestly. Not a good way to start his comma-
The technician responded, moving into the position of At Ease. Grayson turned to him, gesturing to the mysterious technician who was... discarding her fur!?. "Sir, meet Ensign Chiara Ferrari, our primary scout and intelligence officer."
"What the fuck is this?"
Grayson came back to attention as the technician revealed themselves as a Terran female, shedding a complex and realistic suit of fur. "We apologize for the deception, sir, but we had to make sure there was no negative sentiment from the crew that could pose a threat to our safety and wellbeing."
Stefnar was supposed to be angry. He had every right to be, and from what little he could read of their body languages they expected him to be pissed. Honestly, though? Once the shock wore off, he was just impressed that a Terran managed to pass as Lepresian for so long. She'd been here for several subcycles!
He did still have to stick to his principles. "I won't report this deception, not this time, but you will never do something like this without my explicit permission, is that understood?"
Another round of affirmatives and he sent them on their way, ordering them to familiarize themselves with their new teammates.
He stumbled his way back to bed and collapsed. Fucking Terrans.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And the Terrans get onboard the ship and bamboozle their admiral in probably the tamest Terran fashion. Just some basic B&E, nothing major. Tedious setup, although I hope I've made at least some of it entertaining. Plenty of storylines and arcs needed to be introduced.
Hope y'all enjoyed, and I'll see you in the next chapter.
Good morning, good afternoon, and goodnight!
[next]

The Sword Coast: The tree line facing the open fields to the Sword Coast Mountains-Then
The sounds of the dead things could be heard by the remaining combined living forces. Two of the remaining Necromancer's were supported by additional Wizards and Mages to replenish their spent magic which kept their armies of skeletons, ghouls and relatively normal zombies fighting the dead things that defy all logic to their world.
The Drow sisters, Bellanna and Annabella were discussing additional strategies and plans to beat the dead things once and for all. The last Underdark Dwarf general looked solemn, he witnessed his force dwindle right before his eyes, though they fought bravely. He was forced to put a few of the reanimated down personally.
"There are so many of them that are still passed the mountains themselves. Still infesting Waterdeep, still infesting Buldar's Gate. And beyond right to their point of origin, which could be anywhere in that area" Bellanna explained, her armored, arms crossed. Her left eye was injured in one of the previous skirmishes, causing it to turn blood red and black. But she can still see just fine out of it.
"How is our Defacto leader doing?" Annabella asked studying the overwhelming mass of red flags that represented the dead things in front of their combined resistance force. Her sister sighed sadly and rubbed her face tiredly.
"Vaylin just lost her sister, as well as her two lovers in separate skirmishes. She's becoming dangerously impulsive. However, her odd group are the only ones keeping her from doing anything overly suicidal" Bellanna replied, sitting in a chair one of Neverwinter's civilian shop owners supplied them with.
"She is an incredible warrior, even for a former Pit Fighter" Annabella said with a smirk. Her sister looked at her shocked. "She told you that?" Bellanna replied blinking.
"It took me a while to get to know her, but even after she witnessed her sister fall and become one of those things, she not only subdued her sister, but she also fought and put down many of those things before the metal one, the Minotaur and, the Loxodon? I think he's called, got her out of the field and back with us behind the Ranger traps" she explained. Her twin sister nodded in admiration and whistled lightly. Shortly thereafter, the final battle would commence, to which both sisters survived.
Somewhere near Amn a few months after the Sword Coast Nightmare-Then
Vaylin sat at a table in the pub she escaped too. Three empty ale mugs in front with a fourth between her hands, old tears dried on her cheeks. She was wearing one of her casual twin slitted dresses her sister hated seeing her in due to the amount of skin it showed. Her hair was loose and flowed around her shoulders, she was mildly drunk, which became her habit after the nightmare to cope. Her self-awareness numbed to the point of nonexistent, she didn't realize she was being sized up by a group of human men with clear intent in their eyes. It only became apparent something was about to happen, when the men were approaching, and a pair of cloaked figures stepped between them. She drunkenly lifted her ale mug to drink, when a big, crimson hand covered the top of the mug and a kind, male voice spoke to her.
"Enough of that" the voice said gently. She looked up and in her drunken state, saw her sister with a kind smile until she spoke and had a deep man's voice. "Hi there, we've been searching for you" he explained. Her reaction was not what the male was expecting. Vaylin burst into tears and launched herself into her sister's arms. "VARINA!!!!" she sobbed and clung to her.
The group of men retreated quickly, and her outburst prompted Lanara and the other cloaked figure to turn around. Inara had a sympathetic, gentle smile on her face as she watched her husband, Vlaad look on in shock, but then turned to a fatherly love when he played along and just wrapped her up in his arms.
Another group of individuals entered the pub, spotted Vaylin being held and approached. "Ah, I see you found our missing person" Annabella spoke up softly. Lanara came around from where she was and greeted them and got hugs from the Drow sisters and the Warforged Riki.
The cloaked figure removed her hood, revealing slowly coiling long scales, then an intricate mask designed to keep her eyes hidden. Slithera smiled shyly and introduced herself then the rest of the group. Inara and Vlaad introduced themselves as Lanara's parents and the two groups merged once things were explained. However, their interaction was interrupted when Vaylin vomited loudly and quite messily over Vlaad's shoulder, causing him to wince but continued to hold her.
Cambria-Aftermath of En Sabah Nur-Then
Annabella sat at her sister's grave visiting her. It's been two weeks since that fateful day. They lost so many but survived. Footsteps approached, then someone sat beside her. A soft hand took hold of hers and she couldn't help but begin to cry again.
"She was an amazing warrior. Honorable, brave, beautiful. I was glad to have met her. Met you" Slithera spoke softly, letting Annabella cry into her shoulder. She comforted her as best she could. Eventually they began to talk, reminiscing on her and her sisters' various adventures before coming to live at the estate. Then something happened neither expected to happen. Slithera was talking about her own adventures when Annabella suddenly kissed her, long, slowly and deeply. The Gorgon woman did not pull away but returned it. They didn't hear the voices of Vaylin's daughters, nor see Vaylin herself see them first, then quickly left them alone and dragged her protesting daughters with her. They managed to return to Slithera's room and enjoyed each other for the rest of the night.
Alara-Then
The portal opened and out of it stepped Slithera and Annabella. The pair became a couple, and it was obvious to the rest of the family. This little get away was Inara's idea. In fact, she insisted on it. Annabella looked around her. At the scenery, the sunset. This was the first time she's been anywhere that wasn't the Sword Coast, Chult, Cambria. "Oh wow! It's so beautiful! You planned the sunset did you!?" she gushed and locked her arm into Slithera's and nuzzled her cheek.
Slithera chuckled and turned to her and kissed her lips. "I may be a Planeswalker, but I'm not that powerful. We just so happened to arrive at sun set" she replied honestly, and Annabella let out a playful squeal and resumed kissing her.
Slithera would take Annabella on a tour of different planes. Their love would grow and solidify even more over time.
Cambria-Back Gardens-Two weeks before the incident-Then
Slithera was dressed in most of her combat gear. The only parts not on were her bits of armor. Her chain mail sewn in leathers were light blue/green and had her arms, shoulders, neck and chest bare. She was teaching the oldest of the children archery. Off to the side, Vaylin, Fangir, Inara, Vlaad, Lanara, Tommen, Hannah and Kaila watched. Lashara was also in her archer's gear being a secondary instructor alongside Slithera.
Burai, Kou, Vaylin, Varina, Kiora and Roth, readied another arrow. Occasionally, Slithera or Lashara would gently give instruction on how to hold, how to pull, how to adjust their aim. Then when those were met, both women would let out an instructive "Loose!" and the distinct sound of arrows would whistle in the air and strike the targets. The two sets of twins were more accurate than their two younger cousins, but Kiora and Roth were finding it fun. The smaller children were all taking naps and the servants looked after them allowing uninterrupted archery instruction. Eventually, Vaylin would mock spar with her daughters. Going through slow, deliberate movements, though her daughters perfected those movements already.
"Momma, what other methods were used for your training?" Kiora asked curiously, as she slowly moved her blunt, metal short sword in a side swiping arch. "Now girls, I don't think you would want to know those methods" Fangir spoke up gently while watching his three women move.
"But Poppa, how are we supposed to be our best if we don't know everything" Roth spoke up, going through the same movements. Vaylin chuckled, though her daughters could hear the slight pain in the chuckle. She stopped and handed her blades to Fangir and faced her daughters.
"You see girls, my training wasn't like yours. I was stolen as a baby and sold into, what is essentially, slavery. At first, the man who bought me was going to simply feed me to one of his fighting beasts" she explained, causing her daughters to gasp and look at their mother in shock. "But he was convinced to allow his harem to raise me to a certain age, then my training began" she continued and took a swig from a glass of water a servant approached and handed her.
"Vaylin, are you sure?" Inara spoke up cautiously. Her adopted daughter gave an assuring nod and continued. Vaylin then sat on the ground and tapped the ground in front of her for her daughters to sit.
"You see, I was trained and conditioned to kill for entertainment. That training included various acts of mental abuse first to get me used to the reality of death. That included having me befriend and become attached to various young animals. Puppies, kittens, bunnies, even Owlbear cubs. Once a strong bond was established, the animal was taken from me under the assumption of feeding or caring for it since I was too young for those jobs. Then I was forced to watch it die via a larger, carnivorous animal" she explained. It pained her to see the looks of heartbreak and horror on her eldest babies faces, but she felt it was important for them to know why she would never use those methods for them. "This happened a few times until I was numb. Untrusting, cautious. Then other forms of mental abuse were used, until I was able to be physically trained" she stopped due to her daughters bursting into tears and hugging her tightly. They cried loudly and apologized for asking about such methods.
Fangir smiled gently and they both comforted them. Annabella and Slithera held onto each other, that was the first time they actually heard about that.
Cambria-North fields heading to the estate of Goin-Present
Vaylin was in her full combat gear riding a horse at top speed. Fear gripped her heart. It's been four days since the death of Annabella. For a moment, cooler heads prevailed when she and Slithera returned from the Underdark, were talked out of rushing to the estate Shojo reported about. They knew who was responsible for the incident, but Inara pleaded for the bloodlust to stop. She feared if anyone else went there, she may have to bury another loved one and she could not handle it. Fangir helped and made her see reason that their daughter Roth, once hearing who did it, felt great guilty because she blamed herself for not simply doing what the human demanded, though she herself, did nothing wrong. The past ten hours were still a vivid memory, one that broke her heart when she heard Roth crying.
Cambria-The Estate-Kiora and Roth's room. A handful of hours ago
Vaylin was still visibly upset, but she allowed the combined kindness of Fangir and Inara to calm her down. However, as she neared her eldest daughter's room, she heard one of them crying. Entering the room, she saw Roth bawling, saw Kiora desperately trying to calm her while openly crying herself. Her heart broke and she ran to them. "Momma! It's all my fault! Why didn't I just do what that human asked!?" Roth sobbed. Vaylin engulfed her two babies in a tight embrace and began to cry with them, while reassuring them, especially Roth, it was not her fault.
Roth bawled into her mother's bosom, her hot tears staining her mother's clothing and flesh of her chest. Gentle hands took Kiora and held her tightly. "POPPA!" Kiora cried into her father's chest as he too broke down in front of his girls. Outside their room, Slithera barely held it together. Her long scales slithered in pain, sadness, anger. Her love gone, taken from her just like how Kotha and Lanna, Vaylin's first love and child, were taken. She knew what she had to do. What she wanted to do.
After some time of her daughters crying, they finally calmed down enough, to venture down to the kitchen. The servants greeted them and comforted them as well. Finding the freshly made pastries, the two girls took a couple each and were passing by the estates armory when they heard angry muttering. They peeked in and saw Slithera preparing herself. They hid when they saw her prepare to exit the armory, then went in after she did and prepared themselves.
It wouldn't be another two hours later, a servant would burst into the dining room where everyone was remembering Annabella, that they were told not only Slithera was missing, but so were Kiora and Roth. Vaylin would then be fully geared and on a horse far faster than anyone seen her move. She is now in the north fields, racing towards a hunch she is hoping is very wrong. Far behind her was Vlaad, Fangir, Kashar, Dasha, Bombata, Shojo, and Lashara with Lanara in the air.
Cambria-North. The estate of Goin-Three days ago
Master Goin was trying to calm himself and think clearly after the incident at the beach. His daughter's arm was broken, but thanks to a healer, she's better. What has him more heated was how his wife treated him when she learned of the incident. His daughter is hiding something, and she knows it, but is refusing to speak about it. His wife on the other hand, stupidly sent her brother and his riders out for revenge. They got it, but her equally hot-headed brother paid for it, with his life from what he heard.
"Oh gods, please tell me that bloody woman didn't bite off more than she can chew" he mumbled and leaned back in his chair, sighing exhaustedly.
Cambria-North. The estate of Goin-Present
Slithera was disguised and walked freely in the estate. She was disguised as one of the many human female servants that were so obviously scantily dressed, Vaylin would have had a field day with the outfit. What she didn't know was Kiora and Roth were also wandering freely, but also disguised. The pair of nine-year-olds discovered that bit of magic by accident almost a month and a half prior and have been secretly honing it ever since. It was the same kind of magic their mother used, apparently another ability passed down to them. The trio were so close to each other, but yet were exploring and searching. For Slithera, the person responsible for the death of her love. For the girls, more or less the same thing, they just didn't know what they were going to do when they found them.
Slithera was in the south hall when she found the second adult and three girls from the beach. She watched from the shadows, anger starting to course through her. Her eyes briefly flashed, but then tears slid down her face when another memory came back to her.
Zendikar-Then
Slithera and Annabella were on their fifth day of what was supposed to have been a couple hour date. They lay snuggled together naked under Zendikar's moon and stars in a little hammock. Their legs intertwined, arms around each other. Nuzzling each other's chin. They just had a romantic dinner with a family of Elves who confused Annabella for a Kor.
Annabella was far happier than she ever been. She still admitted to Slithera she likes males, but she would never hurt her by stepping out. She witnessed the pain of that betrayal on several occasions throughout her life which included Sammael, the Silver Dragonborn and Morticia before the final battle with En Sabah Nur.
"My sister would approve of you" Annabella said sleepily with a smile on her face. Slithera smiled back, her long scales caressing her cheek and hair. "Then I am glad. Do your parents share the same attitude?" Slithera asked, equally as sleepy. Annabella took a while to answer, but eventually did.
"Drow society and culture are Matriarchal. My parents would want us to have a male so as to pass on my genes. So yes, they do, but they would request us to have a male concubine for the two of us as well" she explained truthfully. Slithera made an interested sound with a smirk. Both laughed and started kissing again.
Cambria-Estate of Goin-Present
Slithera's chin quivered from the memories. Her anger returning, revenge was starting to return. "So, this is how Vaylin felt when Kotha and Lanna was taken from her" she said in her head, peeking out from where she was hidden at the humans who caused her and her family pain.
In another part of the estate, Kiora and Roth were walking the halls disguised as two of the other girls from that day. For the most part, no one gave them a second glance as they made their way around.
"Lulu! Azza! I thought you two were with Gina and her father?! Come on! You know what's going on. You two shouldn't be alone right now" a concerned servant woman walked up to Kiora and Roth and took them by their hands before they can even think up a response and walked with her. Panic started to set in and they were scrambling to think of what to do. They couldn't just strike this woman, she's done nothing to them. But they also don't want to be in some dungeon even though they're sure they weren't found out.
Slithera watched the nervous looking girl Gina, the one whose arm was broken by Roth, which seemed to be healed now. She watched as she kept her eyes down, but occasionally looked to her parents or the other adults or even the other two girls that were with her. The other two just looked confused about what's going on. She remained disguised, her anger and pain still full-on flaring. Another memory came to her.
Ikoria-Then
Slithera and Annabella were dressed in similar outfits. Both wore cream beige breeches, light brown boots and matching grey shirts. Annabella held a bushel of apples and smiled big as the big, long neck, armored dinosaur variant lowered its moderately big head down to her with a curious honk and took a pair of apples. She slowly reached out and the animal didn't pull away, letting her gently caress its chin as it chewed. It made little content sounds while taking another pair of apples until a much louder and deeper calling honk got the animal's attention. The pair watched as the young animal turned and made its way back to the family group of similar dinosaurs.
Annabella was intrigued by the various shades of color the animal had. Similar creatures were back home on Chult. While those had feathers as well as huge patches of armored skin, these ones had just armored skin decorating their limbs and hides and even necks. After what happened with the Phyrexian war, Ikoria as well as similar planes, set up havens and rescues for not only the people that lived there, but for the various animals that coexisted amongst them as well. Slithera then took her on a tour of the plane, showing her things not even the family saw. She did have plans on bringing them, but everyday life gets in the way.
Later on in the evening, they ate at a popular place in one of the major cities on Ikoria. They held hands and kissed, much to the various "Awe's" and "They're so happy!" and even "Now why aren't you that romantic!?" statements. The last one made them guffaw due to inadvertently overhearing it. They would return home the next day after long love making.
Cambria-Estate of Goin-Present
Slithera's attention was brought back to now when she heard a set of side doors open and another woman servant walked in with two identical girls than who's already there. Shocked shouts and gasps came from the adults and children, and she knew instantly who those two were. "Oh no!" she cried in her head.
Gina and the real Lulu and Azza had horrified looks to see copies of themselves standing there looking equally shocked. But that shock changed to anger and in a flashy display of light, the two Tiefling girls from the beach were revealed. The servant woman gasped and backed away.
Kiora and Roth were in their training, leather armor gear and even armed with their blunt metal short swords. They were sheathed at the moment, but the looks they were giving the adults and children were spine tingling.
"They sent children as assassins?!" the mother of Gina gasped. It was her husband who snapped at her. "No, you stupid tart! At least I hope not. But you escalated things by sending your brother!" he barked at her.
"Aunty Annabella meant so much to us. Your stupid daughter and her friends tried bullying us, why? They were bored? Or do you humans have some superiority thing going?! I only broke that stupid bitch's arm! I defended my sister. I defended myself!! WHY DID YOU TAKE MY AUNTY ANNABELLA FROM US!!??" Roth screamed in pain and rage. Kiora had tears sliding down her face as she glared at them.
"Poppa, Momma" Gina began but her mother interrupted. "Watch your tone you stupid child! Know your place! While your "Auntie's" death was unfortunate, you brought it upon yourselves when you broke my girls' arm!" Gina's mother spat, but her daughter finally shouted to get her attention.
"NO!! Momma! Stop it! We bullied them first. We were just bored. I don't know why we were so bored and why we took it out on you. I never wanted your Auntie's death to happen. I wanted to tell the truth so badly since that day. But I was scared. I was scared of your reaction Mother. Like now, look at you! We caused pain to a family, while all I got was a broken arm. Yes, Uncle Rickton is now dead too. But it was in self-defense!" Gina said her voice breaking.
Slithera, still disguised, openly made a sarrowful noise, then came from her hiding spot. The adults witnessed her disguise disperse in the same way Kiora and Roth's did. "A Gorgon!" Gina's mother gasped.
"Aunty Slithera!" Kiora cried and smiled when she got on her knees and hugged the two girls. "Your mother is going to be angry. Chances are really high she is more than likely here or almost here" she said with a chuckle. The two girls chuckled lightly as well.
"I came here to enact vengeance. But your words helped me. You made me think back at the memories I made with Annabella. But I know she wouldn't want me to go down this path. It's going to be hard girls. Because when I stop whatever, it is I'm doing and think about it. When I stop to miss her. She's really gone!" her voice broke, and she began to cry, as did the two girls.
The father of Gina and the parents of the other two girls rethought everything. Even Gina's stubborn mother finally was taken aback from the sight of pain she caused. While she had her own pain for her brother, the anger she had for her daughter was quickly swept away. Then a window to their left burst inward and a figure elegantly landed in a crouch. She had crimson skin, backwards facing horns. A X shaped scar on her cheek. Her eyes and hair were shifting colors rapidly and the look of pure rage and bloodlust was evident on her face.
"Momma! Don't! We're alright!" Kiora called to her. She turned and spotted her daughter's with Slithera in an embrace and went over to them and joined in. A moment later she gave Kiora and Roth a firm flick to their forehead's. "Don't you ever disappear like that again! I already lost you two once this year with you being on two different planes. I didn't even wait for anyone else to join me to get you. As for you! Don't do that again either!" she said to both her daughters and to Slithera who she gave a flick to as well.
"I'm so sorry for the pain I caused you. From what I seen and heard, you and this Annabella, were married?" Gina's mother approached cautiously but asked Slithera gently. Slithera sighed and almost broke down again but managed to compose herself.
"I was going to propose to her on her name day" she revealed. Vaylin and her two daughters both got wide eyed and then gasped once they realized her name day was the day she was taken from them. "That means, the day she was..." Vaylin muttered, and Slithera nodded, swallowing back a sob.
Gina's father collapsed to his knees and looked at his wife horrified while she stumbled back onto her rear just as horrified. "Oh no! What have I done?!" she mentally broke down and for the first time since all this happened, began to truly feel disgust and remorse.
Vaylin, Slithera, Kiora and Roth eventually got up and prepared to leave when the girl Gina rushed over to them. "Please. Forgive me! I didn't want or intend for any of this happen. I wish I had the power to bring her back to you" she said beginning to cry herself more openly.
Roth approached and decided to hug her. Vaylin smiled lovingly at her daughter, as did Slithera. Kiora then approached and added her hug to it. "Over time, we may consider you a friend. But work on yourselves. We will do the same" Roth said gently. The father of Gina managed to compose himself and escorted them out. When the front doors were opened, he gawked. At the front gate, other members of Slithera's family were waiting for them.
"Poppa!" Kiora and Roth called to him. Lashara and Lanara approached and supported Slithera while Fangir approached. "I'm placing myself at your mercy. Not only did your two daughters and their Aunty Slithera? Spared me and my daughter, they also spared my wife. You're right. I should have talked to you, man to man, Father to father. Instead of being stubborn and doubling down. Though my wife stupidly sent her brother out which resulted in his death but also the death of this Annabella, I take full responsibility and will accept if you end my life" he explained softly.
Fangir was still crying from the loss of Annabella, but feeling the comforting embrace of his wife and two daughters, he softened. "Your child needs her father. Your wife needs you. Heal each other. Maybe someday, we can approach each other as friends. Until then. We must grieve and heal" he explained and held out his hand to him. They shook hands and the family departed. No blood was shed. No additional loss of life occurred.
Upon returning home, after getting a light scolding from their father, Inara was waiting for them and both girls approached her. "Nanna Inara. We're sorry. We know it was dumb of us to follow Aunty Slithera, but we felt so bad for her, we had to help her" Roth explained, wringing her hands, her tail coiled and uncoiled randomly.
Inara's tail swayed and coiled, her own sign of anger. But she softened and got on her knees and pulled them into an embrace. "Annabella wouldn't want you to go down that path either. I don't even want your mother going down that path anymore. She left here so quickly to get you three. I truly feared I was going to have to bury another loved one" she explained beginning to cry, which prompted her two granddaughters to cry all over again.
In the following days, the family continued to mourn Annabella. The family of the Drow twins came to visit again and Inara herself let them know they would not hold it against them if they wanted no connection with the family any further since both their daughters are now dead and buried together in the estate's cemetery. However, the parents of Bellanna and Annabella, confessed they actually fell for the children that comforted them when they arrived and felt their daughters would want them as extended family.
Slithera was at Annabella's grave in a simple summer dress. She caressed the headstone and smiled lovingly through tears. Joining her, Kiora and Roth made the same gesture, then taking the girls by the hand, she smiled at them and knew she was going to be ok. They returned to the big family banquet that was being held for Annabella. Trovic and his family were there, as was Mammoth and much to their surprise and delight, his wife and first-born son. That was a huge surprise from Slithera since she was the only one who can go to them and reveal the news to them.
The family supported Slithera, and remembered Annabella during the remainder of the summer days.

Hathor Lupercalia, Primarch of the XVI Legiones Astartes, Daughter of the Emperor of Mankind and much, much, bigger in-person than you had expected. She stood above her sons in picts and holos but being before her now; it is more than just her size that dominates the room, it’s a sheer presence the recordings can’t do justice and strangely you don’t feel afraid. There is no doubt in your mind that if she wanted to scare you she would have done so already which is why you’re confused. Convincing Sergeant Xantos to let you deploy with his squad had been surprisingly easy after the point-blank refusal of every other marine you’d asked; if anything he seemed a little too keen about a remembrancer “wanting to make themself useful.” but once you were in the thick of it and proved you did in fact know the business end of a hellgun he seemed to take a shine to you. The chapter master and company captain however were less impressed, and while Xantos got away with a slap on the wrist you have spent the last week in the brig until an armed escort marched you up to an audience with Lady Hathor.
She smiles as the guards are waved out and takes a seat opposite you. “I have seen the picts from your mission with Sergeant Xantos, Remembrancer. Why did you ask to deploy with him?”
“I asked other’s first. Xantos was the only one who agreed. As for why, well,” you swallow hard, “we remembrancers are supposed to document the great crusade and preserve its memory and that should be both the glory and the dirty work.”
Hathor nods slowly, thinking on what you say rather than dismissing you out of hand like so many others already. “And is this a common sentiment among remembrancers?”
“No, ma’am-”
“There’s no need to stand on ceremony. Please, call me Hathor.”
“No… Hathor,” the word feels strange in your mouth as you were told in no uncertain terms that the primarchs were always to be addressed and discussed with utmost respect and you can’t ignore the grin she flashes. “I’m the only one who wanted to capture the battles firsthand.”
“You are a brave one indeed,” She chuckles, “with an eye for the dramatic.”
Across the mirror-polished table she slides a pict of the midnight sky above a squad of marines being split by daylight. It was the cannon from a distant titan and you couldn’t see it’s target but the long shadows, the heat, and the moment’s weight you captured were well worth the damage to your eye. The medicae said it should heal so long as you don’t stare at any more volcano cannons. ‘Should’ being the operative word in his assessment. Hathor slides more of the developed picts across the granite and they are excellent, if you do say so yourself. Combat stills, moments of humanity among the post-human, and a Warbringer titan’s upper reaches shining brilliantly in the night and smoke, illuminated by the flash of its own cannon and standing proudly as a testament to the unstoppable force of the great crusade.
“We will soon be making the final push of the conquest and then compliance will begin. I would like you to accompany me and capture those decisive moments from a human perspective.”
“I- I would be honoured ma- Hathor.”
Again she smiles, brightly this time and something flutters in your chest as your whole body feels somehow lighter. “Excellent! We will be in the thick of the fighting but worry not, brave remembrancer, the Justaerin and I will keep you safe; we can’t have you missing the action. In fact, the armourers will see that you are properly outfitted for the task. We can’t have anything happening to that precious head of yours… or your picter.” Hathor winks playfully, tapping the side of the implant housed where your other eye used to be as she strides toward the door; leaving you scrambling to catch up and thankful she can’t tell how hot your cheeks have turned. Or at least you don’t think she can.

Chapter 1: Hope’s 16th Birthday
As the rays of the sun hits her eyes Hope Moonshine wakes up excited, she was waiting for this day for all her life
She jumps out of her bed and rushes to her mom's room excited and she accidentally flung the door open too fast making a loud cranking noise waking her mother, Queen Matilda up
"Oops didn't mean to wake you up" hope said awkwardly"Honey I know you are excited for your birthday but you need to be patient the sun has just risen everyone is still asleep" Matilda said tiredly, "please go back to sleep darling you will have a long day today and you will need the energy, your party wont be begin till noon"
"Ok mom, sorry for waking you up" said Hope as she was trying to close the door slowly enough that it doesn't crank but it still did "Not an issue dear", said Matilda
As the door closed Matilda took a deep breath and closed her eyes her emblem on her right shoulder a pink diamond glowed she opened her eyes and she made a finger gun with her right hand pointing at the hinges and a shiny pink light zaps comes out of her index and zaps the hinges, the beam turns into a hand and it open the door and then closes without making a cranking noise, "I should have done that a long time ago" said Matilda
She removes the blankets from her bed to reveal she is already clothed for a serious occasion, as she goes towards the mirror she is wearing a long cyan dress that trails all the way to her feed her top being smartly tight with short shoulder sleeves, she puts on long white gloves and glances over her diamond ring she lets out a small sigh and frown and puts it on, she trances over the mirror for a few seconds before snapping out of it, and she looks over to a miniature painting of her an her daughter when she was 6 she picks it up and smiles "I know you are eager dear you won't have to wait for long"
After Matilda ready's herself she open her window and conjures a light bird of the palm of her hand, the bird flew off to Hope's room where it sees her lying in her bed on her stomach, the bird soon returns to Matilda's room and land on her palm her eyes glows for a moment and the bird fizzes into a yellow cloud, "Well it looks like she actually listened not very common of her to do so, it means I can continue to do my plan unobstructed" she said with a smile.
Matilda leaves her room and walk across the hallway to the main hall then she claps her hand twice, and snap her finger, suddenly a figure jumps into the window it spins 180° and a muscular women stands up, she has a scar on her left cheek and short brown hair, she wore knight armour that cuts of at her shoulder emblem that looks like a dark grey shield.
"At your service my queen", she said with a salute
Matilda is startled for a moment, but then composes herself, "Sally there is no need for you to enter that way you can just wait for me at the hall entrance", she said.
"I was scouting the perimeter we have to make sure this place is safe and to make sure no one can harm the princess at her important day, I was up all night with my team searching every corner of the upper ring for any danger and-" Sally was abruptly cut off by Matilda.
"It was not your fault Sally, there is no need for you to prove yourself to me" Matilda said remorsefully, "You tried your best so you must eventually forgive yourself it wasn't anyone fault, it truly came from nowhere"
Sally's serious expression break into expression of regret as she shamefully looks at the ground
"Now is not time to punish ourselves over who we failed to protect but to make sure my daughter has a great birthday" Matilda said with determination
Sally's expressions of regret turned to a smile, "Yes my Queen, me and the royal guards have spent last few weeks clearing a safe path from the upper ring to the more presentable areas of the lower ring that ends at the great barrier" Sally says with a salute.
"Well I trust your judgement, you are now dismissed" said Matilda
Sally goes down the stairs of the central hall towards the doors "I won't mess up again" Sally said with determination
"Oh Houston" Matilda said while turning her head left and right, "where is he when I need him",
"I am right here your majesty" Houston whispered from behind, Matilda was startled and was annoyed on how everyone seems to sneak up on her, "Sorry for spooking you" said Houston as he polished his monocle "We are well prepared to begin celebration soon" he said as his hand pointed towards the empty hall.
Matilda stared at him, he then clapped his hands and an army of servants entered the hall setting up the chairs and tables, followed up by waiters quickly setting food on the table, and then 6 waiters came together to slowly lift the large 4 layered birthday cake with a milk white colour with chocolate cream on top of each layer, with "happy birthday Hope" spelled with strawberry topping on the side of each layer, with the glowing yellow number "16" candle at the top.
"As I was saying my Queen" Houston started "We just need to wait for the guests to arrive, I will let you know when you can call your daughter" Houston stops from a moment "Do you want anything else your majesty or am I dismissed?" he asked.
"You are dismissed Houston" said Matilda
Matilda walks up to Hope's room and slowly opens the door to find her laying in her bed
"One thousand one hundred and forty-two" Hope counted to herself, she paused and took a deep sigh, and tried to continue but then paused scratching her head "Um One-".
she was interrupted by her mother saying "Thousand one hundred and forty-three", "Unable to sleep dear?" She said with a smile, Hope gasped and she had the biggest smile in her face, her mother was a bit startled and asked "what is it you are smiling at?".
Hope pointed at her, jumped from her bed and as she was taking heavy breathes pointing at her mother clothes, "You don't sleep in this" she takes a deep breath and exclaims "which means I have got to get ready" and she runs to her closet to pick up something to wear.
Matilda takes a glance down at her clothes and rolls her eyes "so much for a surprise"
"I am ready mom" Hope said ecstatically, she was wearing a beautiful turquoise dress which complemented her hair colour styled in two plates with with joined with a pink band and wearing her favourite golden necklace,
"That was quick" her mother commented
As they enter the main hall a bunch of guests are seated drinking beverages and helping themselves to freshly baked foods, "Attention everybody, I would like you to welcome the birthday girl" said Houston, everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their heads towards the princess.
She gets a bit nervous and let out an awkward "hey guys", she didn't recognize any of them but she had to pretend to know all of them while hoping they don't ask her if she knows them, they all continue to stare as she and her mother get seated.
Houston lets out a forced cough to break the awkward silence, he says "and now Princess that you have come here you may blow the candles", the table the cake was on was carried towards Hope and her mother seated on there high chair, Hope tries to mask her excitement as she takes a deep breath and gently blow the candles, which fire off the cake and make a small explosion spelling out "Happy Birthday Princess!", Hope's eyes lit with joy.
Trumpets play and two royal servants come into the hall holding a gold plated chest decorated with diamonds, the chest is slowly opened and a blinding bright light shined from inside it, "Go ahead dear" said Matilda as her eyes pointed to the chest.
Hope goes down towards the chest and slowly lowers her hand inside of it and grabs what inside, as she removes her hand from the chest it reveals her to be holding the magic wand, it had a purple handle with a sparkly cyan diamond at its back end and a translucent turquoise sphere at it top decorated with a white glowing shape which resembled the combination of a two star into two different planes inside, and topped off with a small yellow crown at the top
Hope's shoulder emblem a pink heart with a tiny crown on top of both curves starts glowing, she raises the top of the wand at eye level, "ooh what's this" she says as she tries to stick her finger inside it to touch the spinning star
"HOPE DONT" shouted her mother, as soon as hope touched it burnt her finger and she let out a painful screech and fires a yellow glowing beam fires from the wand at some guest who were quick enough to duck, it hits a glowing orange decorative plant crushing it against the wall,
"hehe this could have been worse", Hope said awkwardly, the wreckage catches fire...
"FIRE" yells Sally, the guards that were standing by the walls quickly moved and shoved away all nearby guest as Sally goes and faces the fire here shoulder emblem glows and she fires yellow beam at it from her hands she then she clenches her fist and the beam turns into water extinguishing the fire and a yellow cloud evaporates from it, she quickly turn over to Hope and rushes over to her "ARE YOU OKAY PRINCESS" she exclaimed worryingly.
"I am fine it's just my finger is a little -" before she finishes her sentence Sally picks her up and running with her in her arms and runs up to the door and out of the Palace.
Queen Matilda is left with the guests and lets out an awkward chuckle and says "so who wants some drinks?", "Please help yourself to the finest wines in the whole kingdom" she said as a servant reveals a bunch of wine bottles in gold coating, the guests all rushed to get a sip
"I am telling you I am fine it's just a little scratch its rude for me to leave suddenl-" Hope was interrupted by Sally kicking the door open.
"PA-" Sally yelled before being interrupted by a "SHHHH", she was shushed by a woman with a white robe that cut offs at the shoulder, and a hand crafted necklace made of cotton around her neck, she had red hair tied into a bun and a green plus sign as her shoulder emblem.
"Seriously Sally how many times do I have to tell you to be quiet in here" said healer Pam with frustration she lets out a sigh and asks, "So what seems to be the problem?" Sally pulls out Hope and holds her at arms length right Infront of her Hope lets out a "Hi".
Pam gasps "Oh my princess sorry I didn't know you were coming, are you hurt?"
"No not at all it's ju-" Hope was interrupted yet again it seems like although she is becoming a grownup no one seems to want to listen to her
"She burned herself quickly check up on her" commanded Sally as she lowered Hope to her feet, Pam glanced at her up and down
"Where was she hurt", asked her confused. Hope sheepishly pointed to her left index finger it was a bit red which could be easily seen as it contrasted with her smooth white skin, but it was also accompanied by a yellow 'liquid', Pam conjured a white napkin to clean the site of the injury and singled out the injured finger from Hope's hand and put her hand on it and made into a fist and then she took a deep breath and closed her eyes her shoulder mark started having a green glow for a few seconds and then it suddenly went dim, she opened her hand to find the finger fully healed like it was never even scratched.
"Oh wow t-thanks" said Hope with a smile.
"Oh it's nothing" said pam, she took out her napkin it had some yellow glowing spots of what looks like fluid except its it didn't soak in but floated around it, "I see you can use magic now, what was your first spell" Pam said with excitement.
"I-i just shot this out of the wand" she said as she pointed at liquid on the napkin that started evaporating considerably, she then lowered her voice and talked faster "and it hit a plant and set it on fire" she was saying as she looked at the floor, Pam laughed and Hope was starting to blush.
"Oh don't worry dear we all mess up at the start, when I first started I accidentally broke a boy's arm" Pam said with a laugh.
"Is he okay now?" Hope asked with curiosity
"Well when I was your age healing wasn't what it is today they just put his arm in a cast and said if he was lucky his arm would be usable in three years", "I never was interested in healing like my mom but I wanted to fix my mistake so I studied and practiced for months to focus my healing and one day it just clicked, I got back to him and I was able to heal his arm and this happiness a patient feels when they are treated makes this all worth it" she let out a calm sigh and continued "It was not an easy journey but in just 8 years I was able to reach my peak"
"Eight years?" Hope said in disbelief
"Don't worry your path is way longer than mine my peak is at least four levels lower than you" Pam said with a grin
"It isn't that huge difference right?" Hope inquired hoping her journey wont be in the double digits because that's a very long time
Pam laughed and then said "Oh it way larger than it looks, but don't worry royals don't have a peak at least not one that one knows off" she put her hand on Hope's shoulder "Don't let the long road overwhelm you as long as you are better than yesterday you will be a great princess"
Hope smiled at her and said, "Thanks a lot Pam"
"So is everything alright with her, she stuck her finger into the wand are you sure there wont be any complications" asked Sally
"She will be alright she might have lost her finger if she went deeper and then It will actually a challenge to fix, but this is what pain reflexes are for, it a blessing in disguise", replied Pam
Sally clapped her hands and said "Well we got to go now we cant keep the guests waiting thanks for your help Pam"
Hope looked over to her and said "You should come over it's my birthday you can go change the setting", "No dear being a Healer is big commitment what if someone is in need of assistance and I am not here but I appreciate the gesture, maybe I could arrange my schedule to be there next time, go enjoy yourself".
"Pam the amputee is ready for his second regeneration session" a voice called.
"The what?" exclaimed Hope.
"Oh it's a bit graphic you really don't want to see it, I got to go now send your mother my regards" replied Pam as she ran over to a patient
Sally and Hope went to the door and left.
"You know I was really fine, it was just a scratch" Hope said as she looked up to Sally, "It's kind of rude to just leave the guests hanging I could have just sucked it up-"
Hope tried to continue when Sally muttered under her breath "I won't forgive myself".
"What was that?" asked Hope.
"Nothing, it's just you can never be so sure and no one was stupid enough to stick there finger in the wand I was just making sure but since it wasn't serious we don't need to worry" Sally said with an anxious fake smile, Hope sensed there was something off about her tone but she didn't want to push Sally into an uncomfortable spot so she left it at that
Sally and Hope make it back to the palace and Matilda rushes to her daughter "Oh dear are you ok"
She said as she gave her girl a hug, Everyone was staring and Hope got a bit embarrassed "yeah Mom I am ok" Hope said, Matilda stood up and was about to say something before Hope pre-emptively said, "I know I know it was pretty stupid from me to to do what I did, I know the wand is not a toy and I promise I will be more careful with it" she said while avoiding eye contact
Matilda smiled and said "Well I appreciate that you understand that you messed up but that not what I wanted to say" Hope made eye contact and Matilda continued "As princess and future queen we will have you visit the LOWER RING" Matilda took her daughter's hand "Sure its not the safest or best place in the kingdom but a hermit ruler is a bad ruler"
Hope got extremely excited over this as she always wanted to see the rest of the kingdom the Lower ring, the Outer ring but she was always told no because Sally's word "It's way to dangerous, you are not ready, you aren't old enough" or her mother's word "Is there something there that you cant find at home?, The place isn't very hygienic" but how bad could it be it was still under the rule of the Moonshines. Life in the Upper ring and the palace get boring after a while, why would she wants to stay put there when there a whole world to explore?
"The escorts are waiting for us outside those who want to go with us are welcome to go" Said Matilda looking at the guests with a forced smile almost knowing the reaction. All of them tried to mask there faces of disgust as if Matilda just asked them to bathe in mud or even worse she said that the food at the legendary "façade haut de gamme" was just an overpriced scam. They didn't look very impressed, Matilda coughed and asked "Well?".
One couple went towards the exit and when they got to Matilda the man said "We are truly flattered by your invite my queen but I am afraid we have something important to do" the man paused and scratched his head trying to think of an excuse Hope looked over him and asked
"What's more important to than a trip to see the rest of kingdom its not like we can always get to do it" with an ecstatic smile the woman who was scratching her head stopped as if she got an idea she went over looked to Hope with a stupid fake smile and said
"Well sweetie we forgot to sign up our son for school and registration will be closing today" she turned over to her husband and elbowed him in ribs and asked "Isn't that right honey?"
The man nodded in agreement and they walked out and they led out an audible sigh and when they were just outside of earshot the man told his wife "Moonshines huh? You would think after what happened a decade ago they would get the memo" the woman looked back at the Queen then waved and looked back at her husband and said
"She is weak if this happened to me I will make sure those pigs wish they weren't born".
Following into there footsteps and sensing an opening other guests decided to excuse themselves outside and at this point Matilda stopped resisting she knew some wouldn't want to go but she didn't think that many would go and she looked defeated Hope turned to her and said "Well mom we don't need those nose in the airers it's there loss anyways"
A woman walked up to them "She is right you know in-law" that woman was Hope's paternal aunt Mary, she had short blonde hair and brown eyes wearing a yellow dress for the occasion "The only reason any off these arrogant buffoons came here is societal expectations much like basically everything here" she said while rolling her eyes "and they all dipped the second they had the chance, come on lets go"
As they walked past the doors Sally was standing just outside the door scanning the setting with her eyes, her eyes wandered and locked with Mary "You should relax Sally no need for you to be so tense" she said with a smile she then changed her tone suddenly and said with a frown and a in a low voice that Hope and Matilda couldn't hear "Me and Matilda can protect ourselves and we aren't relying on you and my niece was under my protection since she was six, all you need to do is drive the horses and look menacing" and then she put her hand on her shoulder and smiled and said with an audible voice "So you can feel a lot more at ease dear", Sally tried hid her feeling of guilt with a fake smile "Let's go" said Mary joyfully
Everyone got on the horse driven chariot, just a classical chariot nothing magical about it, it's a very ineffective method of transport but one of the most relaxing ones
"HEEEEEY WAIT FOR ME" yelled a girl from as she was she surfing a purple cloud wearing a long sleeved purple sweater and blue pants as she got closer she tried to slow down by tilting her body backwards but she lost control and started flying at high speeds towards Hope
"EM SLOW DOWN" shouted Hope.
"I CANT BRACE FOR IMPACT" they both closed there eyes with their arms covering there eyes but just before contact she was caught effortlessly by Sally one hand and her cloud in the other she crushed the cloud in her fist into yellow mist that faded away and put the girl on her feet she then crossed her arms and looked down and barked
"Miss Emberlynn Springfield you should know how dangerous using magic without experience is, and you can't just rely on something you can't even responsibly use to make up for your own lack of punctuality"
Ember looked taken aback but she didn't want to look stupid so she snapped back with "I didn't know Hope is celebrating her birthday early in the morning, birthdays are a night activity".
Sally who was crossing her arms now raised her eyebrow and simply replied with,"Lies you were told everyday for the last week not my fault you can't seem to be able to be punctual friend's birthday, do you simply not care?".
Ember now looked embarrassed and now was rolling her finger around her dyed purple hair "M-M-My rooster didn't wake me up" she said with a smile while shrugging her shoulder as if she is asking question and the question was 'will Sally let the lecture go'.
"This doesn't matter now anyways it's that Ems is here" interjected Hope with excitement as she put her arm around Ember's shoulder "We shouldn't be wasting time let's go" she said as she punched her hand up in the sky.
Matilda, Hope, Ember and Mary entered the Chariot while Sally rode one of the two horses moving it while the other was being moved by an over-armoured and visibly nervous man.
"Calm down Edmund its just a short trip by a defined path we will be in an out in an hour or two" commanded Sally looking at Edmund clearly getting tired of his lack of confidence.
"I am trying but its such a big deal, escorting not one not two but three royals into the lower ring, I am not sure if I can do this, If I mess up-- I am too young for the consequences" he said clearly on the edge of panic
Sally slapped her hands on his cheeks "Edmund calm down you can do this I know you can" she said, Edmund seemed to calm down a bit "The whole path is being heavily guarded you and me are the last line of an extremely deep wall of defences we are most likely just going to be there for company" she looked back at the cart and said "and besides it's not like the royals can't protect themselves, they are much stronger than us after all"
"That's what they said about fre-" Edmund mumbled before putting his hand on his mouth mid sentence, Sally expression changed to that of anger.
"What did you just say?" she barked.
Edmund realising his mess up and started shaking "Um- I was talking about ---- the nice weather we are having" he said trying to pretend that this wasn't the stupidest attempt at backtracking, before Sally was going to give him a piece of her mind Mary stuck her head out and said in annoyed tone
"Hey I am not getting any younger here", Sally and Edmund looked forwards and shook the horse reins and they got moving forward
As they got to the edges of the Upper ring they reached translucent yellow barrier "We are reaching the barrier you might feel a tickle" proclaimed Sally.
As the horse crossed the barrier the barrier walls phased through the cart and it phased through Mary and Matilda there shoulder emblems glowed a four pointed star and a diamond respectfully in a yellow hue when it got to Hope and Ember the cart got to a sudden halt and they were thrown forwards Hope fell on her mother while Ember face was slapped into the barrier which was at this point halfway through the cart.
Sally opened the door "Everyone ok" she took one look at Ember and let out an annoyed sigh she dragged her hand out of the cart and asked while trying to hide her frustration "Show me your emblem"
Ember scoffed and tried to tuck back her long sleeves but she couldn't get back enough and said while crossing her arms "I can't and I am not removing my shirt".
Sally wasn't having any of it and from tip of her index made a sharp grey magic beam, she flattened Ember's sleeve and made a small cut in her right shoulder showing a yellow star rotated slightly to the left, after the cut yellow gas evaporated from it "And this is why emblems aren't covered it's common knowledge Springfield" said Sally annoyed.
"My favourite shirt! This was very unnecessary" whined Ember and before she could say anything Sally went back to her horse leaving her alone she scoffed and went back to the cart and sat next to Hope crossing her arms.
"You okay there", asked Hope concerned.
"Yeah I am fine just another lecture", said ember looking at the windows
As Hope looked out the window the lower ring didn't seem so different from home, people dressed and walked smartly roads were clean but something was off she couldn't help but notice everyone wore long sleeves even though it was a summer and it's not proper etiquette and that's something else it was surprisingly hot, She took her head out through the windows "Hello stranger" she greeted a man walking nearby he took one solid look at her and looked towards her mother and Sally who was frowning and her hands free with her emblem glowing, he didn't say anything and turned back and proceeded to speed walk away in a few seconds he ditched the subtlety and ran away, Hope was pretty disappointed and got her head into the cart
"What did I do wrong?", Hope asked.
"Girl it's either because you were too friendly it felt fake" said Ember, Hope looked down "Or they were made to feel unwelcome by misses buzzkill in the driving seat" she remarked
A loud sound of crashing wooden boxes was heard and cart went to a halt
"What was that" commented Mary
"Something that isn't boring" Hope said with excitement before leaving the cart.
"Make sure all of them stay put in the cart I will be gone for a short while" said Sally to Edmund before running to the source of the sound Hope tried to follow her but was body blocked by Edmund with his arms crossed
"Sorry I can't let you go princess, Superior's orders", he glanced to the left of him to seeing Ember touching a fancy table Infront of a café just for it to poof into a yellow cloud,
"Ow splinters" she cried, the yellow cloud fizzled reveal a wooden table barely clinging to its shape with a bunch of makeshift wooden fixes that don't even match in colour
Edmund looked like he just saw a ghost and ran towards Ember who was now transforming outdoor expensive furniture into splinter traps
"Stop touching it" said Edmund before shooting out a grey magical hands towards her subduing her, "What's your deal" he scolded annoyed.
"No what's this place deal why is everything here so fake?" snapped Ember "You hearing this Hope this place is fa-" she then stopped and asked "Aye were is Hope?"
Edmund let her go and pulled on his hair "Oh no no no no no no no" he cried
"Is everything alright where is my daughter?" asked Matilda concerned, Edmund didn't know what to say but before he could make up an explanation Mary interjected
"Oh don't worry Mati she will be ok she is probably with Sally and besides she still has this necklace I gave her so I am sure she will be just fine" Mary said with her hand on Matilda's shoulder "and we can go have some tea and chit-chat while we wait I heard that Gilbert's tea shop has actually potable tea" she suggested Matilda sighed and decided to go with what Mary said and walked towards the shop. "What about me?" asked Ember, Edmund turned towards her with anger and barked "You are staying right here!".
"Sally where are you?" called Hope as she was walking she saw a little girl wearing a cute pink dress and smooth brown hair walking alone Infront of her, she approached her and asked
"Hey do you happen to see a tall lady around here?" she tapped on her shoulder to get her attention and suddenly a cloud of yellow gas evaporated out of her Hope and the little girl coughed and as the smoke cleared the little girl was wearing a poorly knit patchwork of randoms scraps of fabric and her hair was covered in dirt she had a brown circle on the side of her shoulder, Hope froze in shock "I- I am so sorry, it was an accident" she apologised "I can go get you a new dress or--" the girl just looked at Hope her eyes glanced her wand which was in her right hand as well as her royal emblem and then she started hyperventilating and burst into tears.
Hope got on to her knees and she gently put her hands on the girl's shoulder "Calm down calm down, it's alright, It's not your fault but mine"
"P-P-pwease do-don hu-hur meeee" the girl sobbed.
"What hurt you? no no no no" Hope explained trying to figure out from where the girl got the idea
Hope hugged the girl "Here calm down see I am friendly" she soothed, the girl seemed to calm down a bit and she started sniffing
She let her go and asked "So what's your name?"
"R-R-Rosie" replied Rosie.
"Ok Rosie I am so sorry for ruining your dress, do you remember were you got it from?" she asked
"Ms Bea had guys gib it to us" Rosie said
"Misses Bea huh" she wondered out loud "Well can you tell me were misses Bea is"
"Sowwy I can't tell you misses moonnnn" Rosie was saying before she looked she wanted to cry again
"Please don't cry" Hope pleaded "You don't need to tell me where you live just wait" Hope passed her wand to her left hand and put her now free hand to her pocket and pulled out a purple wallet and she pulled out a golden note with 50 written on it she passed the note to Rosie and said "Here give this to misses Bea and tell her I am so sorry for destroying your dress also" Rosie grabbed the note and stared at it, Hope pulled some wrapped candy she got from the party "Her have some candy too" the girl put her the note in her pocket and grabbed the wrapped candy she struggled with it a bit and she then passed it back
"Open it please" Rosie asked
"Oh you can't? it's quite simple here" Hope said she gently tapped the candy her emblem glowed for a moment and the wrapping fizzed out.
Rosie put the candy in her mouth and quickly chewed and swallowed it, she then gave Hope a hug, she let go after a moment "Thank you miss, Ms Bea says Moosines are scawy but aren't scawy"
"Scary why would we be scary" Hope asked in disbelief with a smile
Rosie looked around and said "I am sowwy I need to go" she turned back and ran away and took a turn and was just out of sight.
"You couldn't just stop causing trouble for one day? what did we pay you for?" Hope heard Sally barking.
The sound of Sally's voice came from an alleyway, as Hope entered the alley the clean white paint started fading into rotting maroon bricks and the smell became foul coming from the open dumpster "Ewwwww" Hope said as she lowered the lid to try and lessen the stench
"Hey you know it's rude to close the lid on someone trying to fetch themselves a meal" a bald man barked as he popped out like a jack in the box he had a white beard wearing over shoulder strapped brown pants with a black plastic bag for a shirt and a metal can of beans for a hat and his left eye with a grey iris spinning his shoulder emblem only consisted of a simple brown circle, Hope screamed and ran away "Oh beans was that a Moonshine?" the man asked himself "Well I probably should skip town" he said to himself with a goofy smile while snapping his fingers.
Hope stopped running and started panting "Now you are lucky I am not here in head bashing duty or I would have sent you to a one way trip to the Outer ring and the monsters there could deal with you" Hope heard Sally scolding, she walked to the end of the alleyway the place beyond it was extremely different people clothes were worn out in which the holes were covered up by half baked sewn rotting fabric the road didn't exist it was simply a dirt undefined path and walls were all made of rotting bricks same as that of the alley, windows were broken and the stench of garbage filled the air, Hope saw Sally tying up a bunch of muscular men with a magic rope.
Sally glanced over and saw Hope "Princess what are you doing here?" she asked with dismay the rope holding the gangsters vanished they got up and shook of the dust and looked up and saw Hope and they all ran away in terror "Moonshine here run awway". All of a sudden all the people went indoors and the windows were sealed shut with wood and hammered with nails and just like that the place looked like a ghost town.

[ [FIRST] [NEXT>]

Season 10 “Days of Fury” - Episode 3 “Of Fire And Fury”

“Boss, you-”
“No. Santos, you’re an animal expert and you’ve done more than enough as it is. Vess, one of you needs to be here and between you and Marik I’d rather take him with me, I’m sure you appreciate it. Nila, you have a long career and basically never fielded. That’s enough skeleton crew, the three of you are staying here. That’s final.”
Keya sighs, the closed walls of the van offering little distraction from wayward thoughts. She turns her attention to the rest of her officers in it, trying to distract herself from memories of earlier in the paw “Been a while since I’ve been in an actual transport van” she drops, hoping for a response.
Her officers tiredly turned their attention to her. Marik, Lunek, Aren and Kessa were all here with her in the transport and none looking too joyful at the situation “Somehow our cruiser is more comfortable” Aren chuckles.
“That’s ‘cause it’s a secondhand retrofit bought in an auction” Keya shakes her head before tilting her ears to the front of the van “We got much longer to go?”
“No, ma’am” comes the chirp of a krakotl “In fact just past the corner”
Though it was impossible to see from within the enclosed van, the slow deceleration and eventual full stop made it clear they were, in fact, at their destination. Stepping out of the van the first thing to strike is the noise, a distant cacophony of shouting and howling. The second thing to strike was the colors, usually in such a large congregation of exterminators one would be seeing a light of bright colors, the silver and white of thermal suits, the reds and yellows of their tools, but what was most abundant here were darker colors, mainly black. “Briefing’s over in that tent, you should be the last team for this paw” their driver mentions, having stepped out herself.
Which brings the third thing called to attention- The tents. An entire operational outpost had been set up here, taking over a little park, and by the number of tents present running logistics and command this was far from a small operation. “They’re still bringing in more people?” a voice from behind draws her attention.
Tilting her ear back while they move Keya keeps track of a conversation “Whatever is going on here is big it seems” Aren had begun conversing with someone else that was out of her sight, but they had places to be and she had to keep walking.
“Herd’s just been getting bigger for the last four paws, tension just getting worse. Crap, I’m surprised it didn’t boil over just yet” the bassy voice in what she believed was mazic language added “Well, good luck you all, I’ll have to get back on the line soon”
It did not take much longer before the Blackriver crew arrived at the tent where the briefing was to be held. A scattering of plastic chairs was spread in front of a projector, another two dozen exterminators were already here and seated, the number of venlil among them was also surprisingly low. Or perhaps it was not quite so surprising given why they were here, most surprising was the presence of humans. “Ah, the last group we were expecting” says someone at the front by the projectors. An older venlil whose age-grey had overtaken whatever his natural color was, as well as a human with a long patch of black fur dangling from under his nose were there. “Take a seat”
“Alright, here’s the rundown of the situation” the venlil officer starts. “Four paws ago a protest started in front of the Regional, Ilfran’s Landing is a big city but it became obvious people came from everywhere here. The protesting started getting heated, so the Guild decided to send personnel to prevent it from causing any harm. I’m sure a few months ago we all believed prey wouldn’t get up to these antics, that the human stampede from the memorial service was unique to predators. I’m sure we have been all disabused of this notion by recent news” he sighs “For the last four paws the protest has been building up, they’ve set up food stalls even”
“You know it’s serious when the grills come out” one of the humans pipes up
“Fact they brought some meat is something we’re overlooking right now” the venlil commander adds, causing a few worried signs from everyone present “Planetary HQ decided to get their paws dirty with this protest, however, and sent directives as well as called up reinforcements to deal with this. Officers on site have been rotating in and out to keep a paw-long presence.”
“Here are your priorities: First, the safety of unrelated parties. Second, safety of the protestors. Third, integrity of unrelated material. Last, integrity of the Regional” after a moment to let the information settle he continues “Look… I think it bears saying… None of us is happy with our Regional Firebase. I bet most of you want to be there with the protestors. Speh, I bet the protestors don’t even know how many exterminators are in there with them.”
He starts pacing “We’ve all seen how often promises of funding ended up with badly maintained gear and suspiciously rich chiefs. We’ve all seen how many people complaining about malpractice just happened to be diagnosed with PD. We’ve all seen how reports of extortion seemed to just vanish into thin air. Or how when the omnivores among us learned the truth they kept silent, even when the HQ was giving out statements of succor for their officers.”
“We all joined the force wanting to protect the herd. No, no- Not all of us. Quite a few joined out of lack of choice, but we’ve all bought into the lie we were supposed to be protectors. I think recent history has shown that was never the true intent of the guild.” the venlil commander stops pacing and turns to the assembly “But we’re here to make that lie a reality. We’re here to protect our herd, from ourselves if that has to be it. And HQ agrees. The Regional has fucked up too much.”
“So they’re leaving it out to dry” he adds with a finishing tone “We are only here to make sure those people don’t hurt each other and other innocents around, because they can.” with a paw wave he directs attention to a map being projected, it shows the local streets with a large red mark on multiple of them, as well as blue lines encircling the mark “This is the current protest zone, yes it’s huge. You are not to attempt to contain them too much, for now they have been happy with being herded around somewhat, the only point of real contest is this street” he points to said street “That is to be kept clear for traffic at all times. Solgalick’s Mercy is one of the largest hospitals around here, I’m sure the herd will be understanding of not blocking access to it.”
Then the human commander picks up the briefing “Alright… My turn. You already got the gist of the situation, so I’m adding my experience here. Used to be military police before I volunteered to get here, closest thing we have on earth to the actual job the exterminators do. Been at my fair share riots, both sides. Broke quite a few windows when I was a teenager.”
“Let me tell you one thing, the big bad predator here is scared alright?” he adds with a serious tone, scanning his eyes through everyone “These people are angry, and they’re not aimlessly angry. They know every crime hanging over the Regional, they have lists of the guilty, they have a plan and have goals. And those are the most effective and dangerous kind. They’re not aimless civilians angry at the police because something happened.”
“Or at least their leadership is. I’m sure whatever changes they are pressuring for will go through, with how the headquarters is dealing with things here. Wouldn’t surprise me if they just decided to throw the Regional’s staff to the wolves” a couple of people flinch at the imagery “Don’t pretend that’s not what y’all are right now… No, no you’re worse than that. Let me tell you something-”
“If this shit was going down back on Earth? We could rely on the group being disorganized. When a large group like this happens, they can’t work together very well without training. It takes years to teach a human to work in large groups like this, but I’m seeing a lot of venlil in here, this is your home after all. And you people? You don’t need that training to work in a group, it’s in your nature. And in the worst case scenario, and those people get riled up? We’re not looking at a mob, we’re looking at an army.”
The human’s gaze turns back to the map “But as I’ve said, they’re a people with a plan. The organization of the protest has no plans for things to turn violent, they want pressure and not damage. But that doesn’t mean those aren’t just people here, who have more than enough reasons to be angry. If just one of them decides that the organizer’s plans aren’t enough justice… Well, the herd follows. And I’ve come to realize that’s true regardless of species.”
He turns back to the assembled “My point is be careful, because if the worst comes to pass, well… It’ll be bloody.”
With an affirmative flick of his right ear the venlil commander steps up “I’m sure you’ve all took in the map as is and have found your sectors” he waits for a few seconds, watching as multiple signs from ear flicks to thumbs ups to tail swipes to nods respond “Good, go to the armory tent to get the riot gear and a quick briefing on it and… Good luck”
As the group filters out of the briefing room, Keya steps last behind the rest of her own officers. “Lunek you alright with being in the shield line?”
“Yeah… Don’t worry boss, I can handle it” his voice is shaking a little bit, but he isn’t flinching “I hope nothing bad happens… I understand what those people are thinking.”
“We all do, if it helps… I think they’re doing the right thing as well. It’s this Regional that let Long Cliff happen, who straight up goaded Striped Hill on. Just remember, we’re just here to make sure nobody gets hurt… Too much.”
It wasn’t long until they'd made their way to the armory tent. It was as organized as it could be, a tarp had been set up as a tent off the back of a transport van, inside of it visible are mostly the black padded armor that every other exterminator had been wearing in this place as well as tall translucent shields. The first one to step up was Marik, curiously scanning through the unusual gear.
“I know a gun nut when I see one” says the human that’s manning the station “All less-lethal gear here” she points back with a thumb at the sparsely fitted weapon racks before starting to pull out and give armor sets “Standard issue riot armor, ceramic plating with shatterweave layer. Will take any reasonable hit, fire-resistant, in case any high caliber weapon has found their way here the shatterweave will take one punch no matter how hard” Keya is the first to step over “Fasten over here, and over here. Those are venlil fit”
As the human pulls out two shields Nila and Lunek step up front, both still fastening up their armor “Riot shields, put your hands through this place here and hold on tight. You’re going to have to hold it at a bit of an angle since they’re human-sized. Can take bullets if need be, should stop anything they can throw at you.” Lunek is the first one to strap the shield to his arm, finding that it is as she had said, just a few centimeters too tall and scraping hard at the floor if he tries to move. “I’m sure you’re well acquainted with the sticks, though”
Then, she pulls out a short gun, single-barreled with a strangely wide barrel and a long magazine at the back of it loaded from the top. Marik picks it up, inspecting the empty gun and then the magazine that she puts down “Shotgun with rubber rounds. Low-power, hits like a punch from god, can still break bones and rip an eye off so aim at the limbs. You’re staying right behind the shield line, right?”
“Yeah” Marik adds simply, loading the magazine full of large rounds in it “Keep holstered until command”
Then, the human pulls out two pieces of gear that make the officers look confused. “UX-1s, new thing your people came up with” sitting on the ground was a rather familiar object, a gauntlet-mounted fluid projector with a long tube attached to a back-mounted tank. Unlike the usual flamethrower design, however, it was not just a single tank but two half-sized ones. One of them was a familiar blue but it had yellow stripes while the other one was a bright green.
“Experimental?” Aren is the one to ask “Also I never heard the ‘U’ classification. Are you sure we should be bringing experimental gear to this sort of situation?”
The woman shrugs “Actually better than the stuff we used on Earth, amusingly.” she taps the side of her head “Took a stickyfoam canister to the noggin once, got a cranial fracture out of it. Anyway” she points to the gear as Keya and Aren put them on, its shape feeling familiar to them “Utility-type Mark One fluid projector. Designed first and foremost as a tool. You’re equipped with the riot loadout, shockwater” he taps the blue canister “And stickyfoam.” the green canister.
“There’s a selector here” she flicks the selector unceremoniously in Keya’s palm “Shockwater is water laced with minerals to increase conductivity, when you fire you have more than just high pressure water but also a mild shock, less than a taser but enough to dissuade anyone.” she flicks the selector again “Stickfoam, it remains liquid for a few seconds before hardening and sticking to any surface, solid as stone. Originally used as an anti-tank weapon but we employ it in riot control, be sure to aim for the feet and whoever it is isn’t going to be moving anytime soon” then she pulls out two handheld canisters “Stickyfoam solvent, in case you need it”
Keya pulls up her holopad, looking at the clock. Bit more than a tenth of a claw had passed, very little time, and they were already strapped in gear and ready to go. “Alright” she swallows a deep breath “Meven Street, we’re going to be by the road to the hospital. Everyone be as relaxed as you can-” but her words are interrupted.
Aren had gently swinged his tail to touch her shoulder “Hey, you’re just another officer right now, boss. Don’t worry, we all know our positions” she only answers by flicking an ear forward once, and keeping silent.
The cacophony of noise grew louder and louder as they got closer to their assigned position. There were shouts, not in unison but in a disparate stream of white noise, there was music being played loudly and annoyingly both in real instruments and out of devices. A thousand and one different ways to make oneself heard were being played out within the mass that had overtaken the street.
Even knowing she was just another officer this time, Keya still couldn’t stop herself from watching her officers go their respective ways.
Nila and Lunek quickly ran off to the line of officers standing right beside the crowd, as soon as they approached a gojid and a takkan wearing the same riot gear quickly came back after being relieved, visible bags under their eyes as they sluggishly started heading back towards the temporary base.
Marik quickly found his way beside a group of humans standing just a few meters behind the shield line by a parked cruiser. The group seems to acknowledge him wordlessly at first, but when one of the humans goes to leave he attempts to pat Marik on the head. Predictably, the loudness of the slap is strong enough to even attract attention from some in the protest, who stare inquisitively as the other humans the group laugh at the one leaving.
“Really put us right in the fuel line…” Aren’s voice calls her attention to her side. Tracking where his ears are turned to, she finds the tallest building in the street- Solgalick’s Mercy Hospital. “You think there’ll be a problem?” he asks.
She looks around to where her post is. A small tent had been set up here as well as a large vehicle she hadn’t seen before with a strange turret on top comprised of a long barrel and two round objects by the sides, a couple of people with white bands bearing the green paw symbol of field medics were sitting on plastic chairs “Either there’ll be none or all of them at once” she says. There were two others here, another couple of venlil wearing the same UX-1s as they were and quite clearly the ones they were meant to relive “What’s with that?” she asks, pointing at the vehicle with her tail.
“Humans call it a riot control vehicle” one of them answers “Got a bunch of things in it in case people get rowdy to take them down without harm.” They wave a paw at it “My opinion, though? Looks like one of those arxur transport vehicles. Kinda creepy.”
Aren’s chuckle makes her twist an ear at him “Nah this is definitely not that. Look up human tanks later, then you’re going to see a real vehicle like that”
“Aren, stop making things awkward” she sighs “Everyone’s tense enough as is”
“Nah, it’s alright” the one she’s relieving answers “I’d rather have this stuff on my side anyway” they say before leaving with a wave.
Keya’s role was very obvious. Armed with the heaviest-duty crowd control gear and stationed beside an armored vehicle they were quite clearly the final resort in case something happened, which meant she’d have time to watch. She felt a little bit guilty, it was probably her seniority that got her placement here and knowing some of her officers were right up there in the shield wall while she was here…
But for now, all she could do was observe and… Wait. She watches as the line of officers of many species ahead stand tall as the cacophonous mass of protestors shifts like water past them. The noise is great, but surprisingly not grating, there are a multitude of voices but they seem to be working together in some way. A few more officers come to relieve men at the wall as others leave. Once or twice officers at the wall need to leave and then quickly return. including one of her own.
Lunek needs a bit more endurance training… crosses her mind.
At one point Marik gets inside the cruiser with the human officers and the vehicle speeds away. It doesn’t take long for it to return, they stop the vehicle at the same place it was and step out, nothing seemingly having happened. But the protest is louder at this point.
Nearly an entire claw had passed at this point, with the noise slowly rising higher and higher, when a small commotion happens by the shield wall. For a couple of seconds she puts her entire focus there trying to figure out what is going on, until a krakotl officer waves a beckon with their tail and she and Aren rush towards the position.
When they get there the shield line had let through a human carrying a venlil in her arms “I can walk you know?”
“No you can’t, you’re limping”
“That was my tail, not my leg”
“Fuck you, man, just let me-”
“Excuse-me, what happened?” Keya interrupts the bickering duo
“I don’t know, someone stepped on his tail and he just crumpled, I need to take him to the hospital!”
“Girl, it’s just a tail torsion-” the venlil wiggles in her arms
“That’s not nothing!” Aren howls “Speh, that’s a part of your spine, you shouldn’t be on your feet” he turns around, scanning the direction of the hospital “Do you need help carrying him”
“No, I got it, thanks… Thought you weren’t going to let us pass.”
Keya shrugs her tail “We’re just keeping the way to the hospital clear” she turns her focus to the venlil in the woman’s arms “Stop trying to play tough, just let her take you”
The two of them escort the grumbling pair until they’ve past the area with the vehicle and let them continue on their way to the hospital “Ick, I’m surprised he’s awake. Tail torsions hurt like death” Aren comments
“Don’t I know it, suffered one during stampede response training. Felt like someone was pulling my brain out through my tail” she shudders at the thought “... Why did it happen, though? Takes a lot of effort to cause it”
Aren looks over at the mass of the protest. There were now a lot more signs raised then before, and the noise was louder “Dunno, they look super packed right now” and she sees Aren’s hackles visibly raising “I don’t like this”
Keya turns around, she can hear sounds coming from the large vehicle beside her, like claws on metal. The first thing she notices ahead is the group on the cruiser having opened the vehicle’s doors and standing ready, then she notices that the shield wall had lost some of their lightly casual posture, holding tighter to their shields.
It was just one person.
One agitated venlil having some form of heated argument with a human. The shouting can’t reach her here, she can’t hear the words, but she can see the energetic swings of the arms and the erratic tail.
The venlil turns around suddenly, a bottle of drink in her paw. The human moves quickly, but not quickly enough- He grabs her by the waist, lifting her up on his shoulders and starting to drag her out of there- But the bottle had already been thrown, it sails the piddly distance between them and the shield line.
The glass shatters against a translucent shield, a light crimson fire of high proof alcohol erupts on the impact. And the shouting begins.
In a matter of moments what was disorganized yet harmonic shouting turns to vicious howling and roaring, the crowd on the other side of the shield wall starts moving faster and some voices on a megaphone can be heard. But the cries for organization go unheard as the tension continues to boil- But for a few moments, nothing else happens. There is one officer in the shield wall who is shaking, Lunek’s ears are pinned to their head in fear, but he holds his shield steady- The dying flames still lick at the other side of the transparent barrier, Lunek attempts a gentle motion of reassurance with his tail towards the crowd, nobody around moves and for a fraction of a moment it seems the worst had passed as silence seems to rule.
And then there was gunfire. The supersonic boom of overheated air familiar to magnetically-accelerated weapons, a crimson streak in the sky of a tracer round originated from the Regional.
Sound returns in a terrible roar of a multitude of voices. The officers at the shield wall change their posture and steady their feet just in time as the crowd seems to crash against the shields like a tide and then retreat. For a few moments Keya holds on to her breath, readying for action but… The wall holds, and for now she needs not act.
“Hell, it’s going to shit!” a voice calls out from behind, a human Keya hadn’t noticed here had come running “Everyone, keep this street clear! The riot is breaking out in earnest and we already have a few wounded, they’re coming in from the other side of the street!” It was the same human commander from the briefing. He stops in place for a few seconds, left hand over his ear “Shit… Hell… FUCK! Fine” he runs ahead of her closer to the shield wall “Keep holding, keep the hospital lane clear!”
Keya can just stare as the shouting from the other side of the line grows to a crescendo and… The shield line starts to move. Each and every man in the shield line is holding steady to their shields, their feet planted firmly on the ground… But the herd is moving forward with similar intensity, except with so many more bodies they have begun to physically drag the officers along.
“Attention protesters!” it was a venlil’s voice on the megaphone this time, familiar, of the same man who held the briefing “Please keep this street clear! Keep the route to the hospital open! That is all we ask!” but the cries fall to deaf ears.
“Hell… Shield line, move back! Suppression cannons!” Keya jolts as the armored vehicle beside her whirs to life, she makes space for it as it moves forward and the shield line starts slowly yielding ground. The turret on top of the vehicle turns towards the mass of protesters and- From it erupts a powerful jet of water, not unlike that from a firefighter’s vehicle, but instead of aimed at flames it is aimed at people. The powerful stream of water strikes them, causing many to stumble backwards for a bit-
But the ones behind them prop them back up, and the combined might of the herd beats off the pressurized water. She can’t see it from behind the shield wall, but the simple thought of being pressured front and back by different forces, the water- “Cannons, switch to shockwater!”
It takes only half a second, what was once a combined, mobilized force against the torrent scatters. The combined block loses cohesion, but they do not retreat- For a moment all they do is cease advancing as they huddle like a wall against the amplified assault. But a moment is all they need, no longer pressured the shield wall relaxes for just a moment, and then those at the front of the riot rush. The shields close in again, but not fast enough before a few dozen break through running forward.
Keya readies herself, flicking the selector to shockwater and lowering her stance, Aren does the same at a distance. But they’re not the first ones to move, instead Marik and the officers with him move first, bringing up their shotguns and firing. The blasts are loud- The first few runners just fall over, the impacts swiping their limbs from under them. A couple of humans had clearly been hit and continued to rush despite the crimson soaking their clothes. A venlil had to be hit five times, he stumbled at the first two hits, seemingly shrugging them off unharmed, the two next caused him to flinch and the fifth hitting a glancing strike on his head sending him tumbling down. “STAND DOWN!” the officer who fired the last shot yells, she can see Marik hollering at him but the din of battle had become too powerful.
“Shields, retreat! LRAD, active!” the human commander shouts. The shield line starts to move back, Marik and the rest of the shotgunners walk back as well- Then, a strange piercing noise erupts from the vehicle. She keeps her primary focus on the advancing riot but she can see enough to notice a pair of speakers mounted on the turret, speakers directional not unlike her own ears, and the annoying noise finally processes to her as a mere echo of whatever the real sound would be like. A couple of seconds after that realization she sees the majority of the riot just stop on their tracks, pulling ears closed and clutching their head. If the simple noise bleed beside the vehicle was giving her a mild headache, she couldn’t imagine what being in the direct cone of sound would be doing.
But another sound, much lower, attracts her attention. A sound from behind her that causes her to twist an ear back to catch it. Whistles. The periodic whistles had a very particular cadence, a cadence of whistles that everyone learns the importance of very early in their lives- After all, the sound of an ambulance is familiar to all. She chances a glance behind her to see that there isn’t just one, but multiple. Some arriving, some leaving, they’re going as fast as their engines can, unloading people inside the hospital.
But it is a terrifying bugle that turns her eyes back to the crowd that seemed disabled. The sound cannon had done its job, but there were still some people running. But in that instant something became clear: They weren’t trying to get anywhere, nor were they trying to get away from something no. It was clear where they were heading, she was their target, as was everyone else here clad in black. And there were still dozens driven by raw emotions that had overcome every weapon employed against them.
Aren had taken position beside her, the men that once held the shield line had now become separated from each other, using shield and baton to fend off rioters whose new objective was to bring punishment with their own paws. Keya flicks the selector, she’d already seen those people power through shockwater, and aims her gauntlet low.
Six, there were six rushing towards her and she couldn’t spare mental power to process even their species. She clenches her paw, grasping the trigger and firing a short stream of green fluid, the six raise up their arms expecting something else and leaving their lower limbs unprotected as the sticky substance covers feather, fur, scale and cloth. They have time to take one more step before the mess solidifies, their upper bodies lurching forward while their lower bodies refuse to move, they struggle to move to no avail resorting to their voices as their final weapon.
She spares a glance at Aren who’d been turned on by another half dozen, then focuses forward once again, Marik and his team had already retreated behind her and the shields were starting a slow retreat. Most of them had made it past behind her and Aren, their stickyfoam doing the final job of keeping people contained where the riot vehicle failed, but Lunek and a few others had remained ahead to cover against all manners of thrown objects.
The rage-fuelled burst, however, could only drive the rioters for so long and their will started to falter. The larger groups had begun to disperse, the whistles of the ambulances were starting to sound louder than the shouts, the noise of the LRAD had died out and the pressure gauge was indicating her stickyfoam tank was down to the last third. Keya felt, for a moment, that the crowd’s fury had been spent and she could relax.
And then she saw him. A man with a silver coat of fur, eyes filled with feral rage, body marred by scars new and old, twitching claws and angrily pawing at the ground. When their attentions crossed he ran at her, she aims her gauntlet low at him but he leaps, she tries to track his movement but he was too fast and lands with both hindpaws against her chest- She simply presses the trigger and swings her gauntlet up as the impact brings both of them to the ground.
Falling on her back against the backtank leaves her breathless for a moment. But Keya quickly recovers to stand back up, first assessing that nobody else was running at her- But even before she can do that the horrible gurgling sounds from the ground call her attention. The man had fallen, body partly immobilized with one of his arms stuck to his side, but he desperately claws at his face- Green viscosity covering his snout and leaking also out of his mouth.
“BRAHK!” Keya quickly kneels down beside him “MEDIC!” she shouts, pulling out the canister of solvent from her belt with a shaking paw “Stop- Stop it!” she says, trying to control the man’s frenzied free paw as she sprays the solvent on his face and mouth, before venturing her own paw between his teeth to attempt to pull the softened mass blocking the airway.
“Move, move, move!” a commanding voice comes from beside her, people with the green paw band had arrived “We got a blocked airway here, get the-” they quickly shoo her away and she’s more than happy to let the experts do their job. She stands back up and looks around, the sounds have died off save for the whistles of the ambulances.
There were people scattered on the ground, sitting on the curb, resting against walls, all of them nursing wounds. Glass littered the streets from every storefront and house in sight, no object present in the street was spared the pent up rage, and illuminating everything was the orange glow of flames. Flames, thankfully, contained to just one place.
Even from here she could see it, the front of the Regional had, in a twist of irony, taken ablaze. The flames threatened to spread further into the nearby buildings but as the rage of the riot died down people had arrived to stop it, a group was helping escort the water cannons towards the flames, one of them had already arrived and was dowsing the nearby buildings with water, wounded people refused being taken to the nearby hospital as they set up a bucket brigade to draw more water from nearby buildings to help soak the flames. Echoing in the distance were the sirens of the fire engines coming to the rescue.
Keya just stands there watching the shifting chaos, taking in deep breaths… “Hell…” is all she can say.
[ [FIRST] [NEXT>]
Even the most well organized, well prepared, demonstration can fall part. When so much wrong has been brought, when you finally have the chance to let the world hear you... Sometimes all that is left in you is pure fire and fury.
And in the end it just takes one person, and the herd follows. That is true for any thinking mind.
And always remember: Even the gentlest of blows is still a deadly strike.

What started as a panicked attempt to get her over-intoxicated friend to a hospital ended up in a disastrous car crash that claimed the lives of her friends... and a careless God crossing the street. But Sammi's adventure wasn't about to end there. In her dying breath, the God curses Sammi to take up her mantel. Now with her three friends resurrected as ghosts, Sammi has to navigate the tricky world of godhood.
Previous Chapter Next Chapter
Start here! Patreon (up to chapter 9)

Scheme Update:

Type: Impersonate
Difficulty Level: Blue
Participants: Cara Geraldo, Tina Dominic, Self
Status: Success!
Details: Participants obtained illegal permission to reside in a housing unit.
Reward: Level up!
~~~
Hell yeah.
~~~

God of Schemes

Tier: 3
Powers Unlocked: Verity Tongue
Familiars: Joni Beck, Christopher Ricci, Blair Yan
Familiar Powers Unlocked:
Blair Yan, Banshee, Illusion
(+1)
Attributes: Delayed Sensitivity, Reduced Sensitivity, Heightened Constitution, Regeneration Tier 2, Unaging, (+1)
~~~
Huh. Apparently I got to pick an attribute this time instead of having it automatically select one. That should have been a good thing, but I always got decision paralysis and I had a whole list of things I could pick.
Regeneration Tier 3
Durability Tier 1
Evoke Spirit (Alive)
Heightened Speed Tier 1
Heightened Strength Tier 1
Low Light Vision Tier 1
And so on.
The thing is with all the tier stuff, I actually didn’t know what it meant. I mean, okay, I’m not so stupid I don’t know what ‘low light vision’ meant. But who knows exactly how much I’d get from a single tier? How many tiers until I could just see in the dark? Would this just make me able to read a book in a movie theater? What level were we talking?
There was a lot of risk. The whole level up might end up being useless if it wasn’t strong enough.
Besides, I had my eye on another spell. Evoke Spirit (Alive). Because that sounded an awful lot like make spirits alive, right? I mean, spirit and alive in the same description sounded pretty promising.
So I selected that one. Did it cross my mind that resurrection might not be ‘tier 4 God’ material? No. Did I really think that Delayed Sensitivity and a familiar that could make police sirens put me on the same level Jesus Christ? Yes.
Did I hestiate at all to contemplate whether taking this vaguely worded ability might not, in fact, give me the power to raise the dead and might, in fact, just be a waste of a level up?
Again, no.
Anyway.
I did have the brains to not immediately tell the ghosts my plan. Just in case it didn’t bring them all back to life miraculously. Also, because I promised (at least to myself), I tapped my familiar upgrade and selected Joni Beck from my options. Maybe they’d retain the powers once alive again? Wouldn’t that be cool.
~~~
Familiar level increased!
Familiar: Joni Beck
Type: Wisp
Abilities: Atmosphere – Minor Temperature Alteration
~~~
I frowned. Alteration, huh? So like making it hot and cold. I gave Joni a sideways squint, where she was scratching at her ear. Would she like this more or less than Blair’s ability? Wisp sounded kinda lame, as ghost types go. Banshee was kinda cooler.
I decided against telling Joni about the power up thing for the moment. Instead, I called up all the magic in my brain and pointed my finger at her, closed my eyes hard and focused on the words “Spirit Alive.”
“Uh.”
Joni’s flat deadpan did not sound like a dead woman who found herself alive again. I cracked an eye open to find that she was, in fact, still very dead.
“Damn.” I snapped my fingers in disappointment. Not only had I failed to level them up, but I no longer had any idea what this new ability did.
“Did you shit yourself?” Joni asked, raising an eyebrow sky high.
“Dude, you looked in pain there,” Christopher said, laughing. “I thought you were having an aneurysm or something.”
“I was trying to resurrect you.” My cheeks burned. “You know, bring you back to life? I got this new ability, uh, Evoke Spirits Alive? Was hoping it might, you know, bring you all back.”
Christopher frowned. “Seems like kind of a strong ability to get at–what are you now, tier 3?”
My cheeks burned hotter. Of course it was. “Well what do you think it does?”
Everyone was quiet. Even Cara for probably the first time in her life. Even Blair had puckered her brow in deep thought.
“Evoke means, like, bring forth, right?” Christopher said, finally breaking the silence. “So you can bring forth spirits.”
“And we’re spirits,” Blair clarified. “So you can make ghosts.”
“Make alive ghosts,” Joni said. “So maybe you can bring ghosts out of dead people, like the initial God did.”
“Maybe,” Cara said, the start of her sentence overlapping the end of Joni’s, “you can evoke spirits out of living people?”
All of my ghosts fixed her with looks of outrage at the sheer stupidity of this question. Even Blair seemed to find this stupid. She had her head cocked sassily to the side, lips pursed. Blair’s “I’m smarter than you” look was a thing of legends, in that only a few people had ever claimed to have seen it because Blair wasn’t typically known for being smarter than people. Though there was a time where an old friend, Fritz, had ODed at a party and Blair had been the first person to recognize his symptoms. She flashed this same look at that event, before saying ‘We really should call 911.’
Luckily for Fritz, there had been service, so instead of being hurled into a car to die a horribly violent and premature death like Blair had, he’d been carted off to the ER and then to rehab. I haven’t seen him since, cause we really only ever saw each other at parties and he went full sobriety guy after that.
Good for Fritz, though.
But my old druggie friends aside, this was the second time I’d ever seen Blair be this convinced that someone else had just said something very stupid. It was miraculous to behold, but I wasn’t going to acknowledge it. It’d just egg the ghosts on to make fun of poor Cara.
Instead, I just shook my head wisely.
“Could be, Cara. Could be.”
–
Tina the Taxi returned later that night with my car. I hoodwinked some guards into helping me bring my stolen gear to the apartment so it could start feeling like home. They left the boxes in the corner and left, muttering about how this was not the overnight shift’s typical job.
We had a lot of decorating to do.
“Well,” Christopher said, appraising the stack, hands on his hips. “This is… well, like, it’s something I guess.”
“Um, did you get all that from TechShack?” Cara asked, eying my ‘bounty.’
“Yeah.”
We may not have had as much decorating to do as I’d thought.
I was more than a little let down by how it all looked in the middle of the floor. When I’d first pictured New Olympia, I think I’d expected something smaller than this place. Something more like the 10x10 bedroom where I used to live. I had severely misunderstood how much stuff was needed to outfit a place this big.
Because boy let me tell you, a single shopping cart worth of video game consoles, a monitor, a few keyboards, and a medium sized speaker didn’t make a dent in a five bedroom apartment. It looked pathetic just sitting on the living room floor.
“Okay.” I sighed. “This might actually take some time to fill out.” After a moment of my face getting redder and redder, I took a deep breath and forced a smile. “We can get started on that tomorrow though. First thing in the morning!”
“Shouldn’t we deal with the whole, ya know, fugitives from the law thing?” Cara asked, voice spiking in a familiar note of oncoming panic. “I mean, what if the police find our spot while we’re out and set up a barricade around it? What if they shoot you before you speak? What if they shoot me? And speaking of shooting, aren’t we supposed to be tracking down that Henry Miller guy? We need to–”
“Cara!” My face was back to red. “Okay fine, so a shopping spree isn’t top on the plate. I’ll just…” An idea popped into my head. “Okay. Tina, would you like to do a shopping trip tomorrow?”
Tina pursed her lips. “I mean, yeah. You got a card though I can use? Cause I can’t afford much right now and maybe you feel comfortable hustling but I can’t cut and run like that.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I’ll get you a card. Easy peasy. I’ll just make a call in the morning. You just hit up whatever furniture stores you think look cool, buy whatever you can until the card hits its limit, and we’ll go from there.”
Tina’s lips pressed together, stretched out in something that might be a smile but was contradicted by the crease between her eyebrows. “You sure?” she asked.
“Positive. Just… you know. Tomorrow.” I let out a sigh that turned into a very long yawn as I took a hard look at the gleaming, shiny, very hard hardwood floor. Man I was tired. I was dog tired. The more I thought about how tired I was, the more tired I got. We’d visited Noah today, broke Cara out of jail, hired Tina, and gotten a house all in one.
I was almost tired enough to sleep on the wooden floors.
“Cara, call the front desk and ask for some blankets. Tina—” I jabbed a finger at her “—your first priority tomorrow is beds. Mine will be getting some breathing space from the cops. Might take a buncha of the day, but we gotta do what we gotta do.” I’d hoodwinked cops before. I could play them like a flute.
—

Day 3: Friday

–
I’d taken flute in the seventh grade. It was the only instrument I’d ever played beyond banging on a grandparent’s piano once as a kid, or screeching on recorders in first grade. Like an idiot, I’d assumed you played flute and recorder the same way. Didn’t realize it was supposed to be sideways. So first day of flute class, I stuck it in my mouth and blew. Got a very judgy look from my teacher, whose impression of me didn’t change throughout the entire miserable year. Finally she left a kindly worded letter suggesting that my passions may lay outside music.
Which is to say, ‘playing something like a flute’ was a bad metaphor for ‘something easy.’ It was, however, a good metaphor for something difficult. Something like buying time from the police.
I’d had a good, if short lived, feeling about the whole thing as I cruised into the police station. Things had been going pretty well, the last few lies I’d told. Got the guards to give us free blankets, got Jordan the landlord to lend us his credit card, got a spanking good free breakfast.
I was feeling good until maybe thirty seconds after entering the police station.
“Hands up where we can see them! Keep your hands over your head and don’t move.”
I’d kept Cara at the apartment because I knew I was more likely to be able to survive a gunshot than her. I hadn’t expected to be shot, it had just been a precaution. So this was definitely taking me by surprise.
“What I do?” I shrieked, hands jumping over head. “I just came in here to–”
“We got two men missing, last seen escorting you and murder suspect Cara Geraldo from the premises.” The cop pointing his gun at me didn’t even lower his voice. Everyone else in the office looked very tense, and I could see a half dozen hands itching towards holsters.
“Uh.” I swallowed. “Don’t shoot please?”
“I’m getting cuffs on her,” the officer with the gun said. “Now. Someone hold my gun and check her for weapons.”
“Wait wait wait wait, I do not consent to being frisked.” I wanted to run or duck or something, but my hands were still over my head, and I knew if I took a step, they’d shoot. So instead I started kinda wiggling like my feet were glued to the ground. “No handcuffs either. Stop. Don’t. Please. Come on, guys, give me a break.”
They weren’t listening because I wasn’t telling lies, but my brain was drawing a bit of a blank. The ghosts, meanwhile, were full of ideas, which was part of the problem.
All anyone in the office saw was me wiggling and begging not to be handcuffed while a cop handcuffed me.
But what I was hearing was:
“Not commands, not commands, not commands are you fucking stupid?”
“Bro, Sammi, deep breaths, you’re gonna get yourself shot. I like, don’t think that would kill you depending on where you get shot but maybe we, you know, shouldn’t test it?”
“Sammi, oh my gosh, you’re being so silly! You’re gonna end up next to poor Noah if you’re not careful. You gotta–”
“Shut up, Blair, you’re distracting her.”
“Maybe you need to stop stressing her out. Chill, Joni chill. You need to–”
“Don’t be mean, Joni. Sammi needs–”
“She needs to not get shot, she needs to–”
“Deep breaths, girls. Deeeeeep breaths. It’ll be–”
“If you tell me to calm down, I’ll kill you. Sammi is literally going to die–”
“She’s just gotta stay positive! Okay Sammi, repeat after me. I am the God of Schemes and you’re all gonna be in a lot of–”
“Just say you’re not a criminal.”
“Say you did nothing wrong.”
“Tell them you work there.”
“Keep it simple.”
“Say something!”
“You’re running out of time.”
“Just tell them you’re supposed to be here.”
So I was hearing a lot. And I was fucking sweating my ass off. This had to have been the most stressful moment of my life, cause my face was beet red and I could feel steam coming out of my ears and I felt like my head was about to explode, and finally what came out of my mouth was.
“I’m not supposed to be in trouble or do anything wrong please.”
Which made no sense.
It did, however, get everyone in the room to pause, parsing my garbled sentence.
“You’re… what?” Officer Handcuffs asked.
“I’m…” My voice trailed off in a whimper. “I’m not in trouble.” I looked around the room at the frozen police officers. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
They were quiet for another long few seconds. Officer Handcuffs looked around the room, eyes slowly starting to bug more as he took in the accusatory glares of everyone in the room and then looked back to my handcuffed wrist.
“Jim.” An older woman with a bigger badge than many of the others, stepped forward. “This is enough.”
I froze, holding my breath.
“Amanda–”
“No.” Amanda shook her head. “You narrowly avoided probation for the vending machine incident. Now you’re handcuffing this poor girl who hasn’t done anything wrong?”
Jim was starting to sweat. Actually, everyone was starting to sweat. It was absolutely sweltering in here.
“I’m sorry. I… I didn’t–she looked like–”
Amanda was still shaking her head. “Uncuff the girl, Jim. Then you and I are gonna have a little chat. And I’m looping Charlotte in.”
Jim’s face probably would have gone white at this if it wasn't, like, eighty degrees in the room. Instead, it went a dark red. I was starting to worry for his health.
“Y-yes Sarge.” His shaky, sweaty, slippery hands fumbled with the lock on my cuff before unclasping it from my wrist. “Sorry miss. I…”
I waved him off. I had no idea what to say, but this was working kinda sorta, and I was scared to ruin it.
After Amanda escorted Jim away, the rest of the office sorta returned to normal. My mouth felt super chalky as I willed my heart to slow down, but I swayed where I stood, dizzy. Spots flashed in my eyes. Was I having a stroke?
“Jesus, someone wanna turn the AC on?” the woman at the desk asked, her voice a gravelly growl.
“Don’t normally need to in September like this,” Officer Handcuffs said. Then he pulled at his collar and took a few panting breaths. “But yeah. Yeah, let me go check on getting that cranked up.”
“Bro, you all look like you just ran a marathon.” Christopher pulled his legs up into a criss-cross applesauce pose. “Is it actually that hot?”
“Yeah, what gives?” Joni asked, blithely unaware–as I had been, until she’d asked–that she was ‘what gives.’
“I uh…” My eyes slunk around the room at the various police officers. How was I supposed to have a conversation with Joni here? Too many people who were gonna find it weird. “I’ll tell you outside,” I said, teeth grit. I just needed to have a conversation about posting bail and we could bail.
Joni wasn’t impressed by my blow off, but I didn’t really care. I needed to get us out of this office before people started passing out.
Phew, another week over. Let me know what you think!

First
Lori watched the shuttle gently grasp their life pod with some sort of tractoring tech. Her mind racing with a million thoughts as she tried, and failed, to keep her nerves under control. Who where these aliens that called themselves Humans. The Great Admiral had ordered everyone before exiting warp NOT to resist these humans as they had acknowledged the galactic standard call for help they had broadcast when the warp bubble they had been traveling in started shrinking exponentially as their ships where mauled by the Varille battleship.
That ship had methodically destroyed one ship after another. It's Captain staying just outside range of the capital grade lasers the Orion cruisers mounted and used it's long range missiles to first wound, then utterly destroy five Orion cruisers and the only destroyer that managed to survive getting into FTL. They had been trying for several cycles to find an exit so they could leave the FTL lanes without being outright destroyed by the Varille. Then they had gotten hit on the Regents Pride, the missile somehow managed to tear a hole from port to starboard but missed everything vital. However many civilians were lost during the loss of atmosphere and the decompression of those areas.
The blue and white shuttle steadily towed them into a much larger ship called the Titan 7. The Humans had built a giant brick with what appeared to be a hundred cargo bays! She thought seeing the massive behemoth swallow other shuttles towing life pods similar to her group. Most of the refugees on her pod where juveniles, a few expecting mothers too far along to be in fighting condition, and a wounded V.I.P. she had helped a medical officer carry the stretcher onto the pod with the badly bandaged Orion woman. He had hurried off shortly after that being summoned to assist wounded a deck below the life pods.
They went through some sort of shield and she could see other pods opening and the tall Human guards in black and grey combat armor escorting other Orion's into large clusters near interior blast doors. She found herself wondering again why these humans had decided to help them. She knew they had passed at least seven other warp gates and broadcast the same distress signal.
No one had allowed them entry. So many of the survivors had died on those ships the Varille battleship had destroyed. So many more had died on her home world of Farcee trying to escape the Varille fleet bombardment and the Brood's landing cluster's. The Varille, she knew, liked taking slaves for their mining/industrial planets. But the Brood only kept non insectoid sentient creatures around to lay their eggs in. She shuddered involuntarily as the thought wormed it's way into her thoughts.
The pod jostled as the tractor fully sat it down and released it. A light above the pods door turned a solid yellow indicating breathable air and with a "PWOOOOSHHH" the door unsealed and swung outwards. The lights inside where suddenly dim as the door revealed a towering human in a black and grey combat suit. Lori squinted as a tall, imposing human stepped into view, some sort of pulse rifle slung over it's shoulder and two small lights on the side of its helmet.
"Welcome to Sol. You have been granted temporary asylum. Please follow Sergeant Havora to your debrief. Any hostility will be dealt with swiftly and will immediately render your asylum void." The voice sounded male through it's helmets audio but with this being first contact the only thing she could think of was how big this human was! It towered over the tallest Orion adult by at least five hands. Orion's started milling about in the pod as best they could and soon where being escorted to an area denoted for their use as a gathering spot and two more pods groups soon joined them.
Lori found herself studying these humans. They had two arms and legs, an apparent head and torso. One group of people seemed to stand out, they were dressed in white with a red "+" insignia on their left shoulder. A small round machine with the same insignia hoovered along behind them. Anyone that was found as being wounded, they pulled from the groups, some that were wounded in the final battle with the Varille battle ship as they entered the Sol FTL gate. She still couldn't get a good look at their faces.
A throat was cleared near the interior blast doors as Lori spotted the small form of a humanoid reptilian only six hand's tall! It cleared it's throat and with a flick of it's small tail another humanoid biped in a black and grey combat suit stepped forward and with a very loud "clang" as they stomped a heavy metal boot and shouted, "ATTENTIONNN!"
Almost instantly she and the other Orion's went silent, their attention riveted to the small cluster of aliens arrayed in front of them. She could see various different species represented and found herself idly wondering if her first impression of humanity had actually been from a human.
"Thank you Lieutenant Commander," said the small reptilian alien in a slightly nasal voice,"I am Sargent Crom. We have been ordered to get you folks settled in for transport to more accommodating conditions." Sgt. Crom paused for a moment making sure everyone was understanding the translation before continuing. "Your wounded will be taken care of and treated as our own until they recover. Mrs Vali," Sgt Crom waved a small hand at the wounded V.I.P. she was still near and a very tall obviously female alien that had almost sparkling green skin stepped forward, her limbs long and thin, in a white body suit that had a red "+" emblazoned on the left shoulder. Several others dressed similarly to her cautiously followed her as she pulled out some sort of small flat device and ran it over the V.I.P. before motioning to two of the smaller aliens and ordering them to do something in a voice and language that sounded like tinkling bells to Lori's sensitive ears.
As Miss Vali and her team of healers worked through the crowd of Orion's, Sargent Crom continued. "Now, let's continue by saying WELCOME to the United Sol Alliance territories. As you can tell, the U.S. Alliance has several member species and government's. I am a Jabilix. Miss Vali is an Elladrin, and the lieutenant commander is Human." Lori's eyes immediately snapped back to the man in black and grey combat armor as he stood at attention slightly behind and to the left of Sargent Crom.
"We are not all of the U.S. Alliance member species," she paused, "I am sure you will eventually meet us all. Now if you would form two lines here, and here." As Sargent Crom spoke a strip of light lit up on one side of the blast doors, and as she finished another set on the other side lit up. "We will see you to a bunk, something to eat, and then your debriefing. Don't worry, we just want to know what is going on. There is no right or wrong answers. We already have most of the ships logs so this is mostly just to follow protocol." Sargent Crom waited for a few moments before adding, "Move people! We have many more pods to retrieve and space is limited."
With that Lori found herself joining the rest of the people from her pod in forming into the desired lines and soon found they where moving farther into the ship and down several decks. The humans ship was very plain with no artistic flair. Everything was solely for a purpose, and built to last. An Orion ships corridors may have been arrayed in a similar layout, they would have had beautiful curves and even aesthetically pleasing geometric patterns anywhere NOT needed for a system or station. Most doors they passed had numbers or weird letters and sometimes both.
They were eventually led to what Sargent Crom called a "Mess Hall" and shown a rather large room with the designation 104-B right next to the mess hall that was arrayed with bunks and two lockers at the end of each set of beds. Their group was informed on meal time's, shown how to access the necessities and then went through the debriefing. All in all Lori found the ordeal to be over within a few hours.
Everyone had been processed and she had even received a fancy bracelet and shown how to access it's basic functions. It was a small personal data chit! This would have cost her nearly two year's of pay back on Farcee. The Sol Alliance had already integrated the Orion language and alphabet into their system so she could see many of the other Orion's sitting about the mess hall reading whatever had caught their attention on the Sol "Internet". She had picked a table away from everyone, her thoughts on the current situation she found herself in warring with the sorrowful memories of the last few cycles. She picked at the plate of something she couldn't even start to identify but the woman with the white cap had called it "goulash", remembering when she had been picked to get on one of the three ships. Her mother, father, and older siblings had not been picked.
She had just had her name day and been granted permission to participate in the great matching ceremony that essentially would allow her to start her family and pick a suitable mate. She was at the temple of Hal'Ick having just donated the required amount of fauxauall and tuardanium which had taken a year to procure and received her license when it was reported the first Swarm ships had dropped off freighter's from the Sagoth Brood system and landed on Farcee's southern continent.
A low growl escaped as she remembered the news reports and the images of the butchered Orion's. Initially the authorities had thought the Brood ships were unsuspecting host's, having unwittingly carried them into the Orion system. They mostly thought this because the freighter's didn't run after the Swarm ships detached from their hulls and dropped into the atmosphere.
No they had instead waited for most of the Farcee home fleet to be busy trying to intercept a dozen large asteroids that had suddenly been detected moving from the outer system directly into Farcee's orbital path. Once the main force was occupied with the asteroids the freighter's, which were the old long haul sublight hulls with modified hyper drives allowing them to use the Gates had suddenly blown out sections of their own hulls revealing some sort of new plasma cannons that where already spooled up and aimed at the unsuspecting orbital defense platforms and to everyone's horror the two platforms that defended the Farcee FTL Gate. The view of the combined Varille, Sagoth Brood, and the Swarm fleets exiting out of the gate and descending on the Farcee home fleet and their brave sacrifice to allow as many civilians to escape would forever be burned into her memory. As well as the image of Farcee in ruins as the three ships ladden with skeleton crews and as many civilians of "viable" reproductive age as the Regent could get into the new experimental ships. (They had been sitting behind the second moon Boida along with the destroyer Kaighan, and 5 other cruisers which were shredded trying to defend them in side the FTL lains, so they were the only military ships able to respond to the Regents evacuation call along with many brave merchant ships which probably didn't make it.) She had taken a few bites and found herself savoring the "goulash", it was quite good!
"Mind if I join you?" Came a deep baritone voice.
She looked up and to her surprise, standing in front of her on the other side of the table was a bipedal humanoid with two small patches of fur on it's definitely primate like face. He wore a black and grey military fatigues with a black hexagonal patch prominently displaying three stripes and a delta insignia on his grey collar. After an uncomfortable moment of her staring into his bright blue eyes she replied, "Yes......yes of course." She gestured to the bench on the other side of the table. How had she understood him?!
"Thanks." He sat down and extended a hand over his food. "Names Tim, Tim Reynolds"
She had seen this greeting on her data chit and tentatively took his hand to "shake" it up and down slightly in the alien's weird greeting gesture. Why couldn't they just flick their ears like her people? "Lori." was all she replied. She hadn't chosen a mate yet so in her culture she couldn't take a second name.
He sat down and began to eat. She had wondered how the utensils wrapped in some sort of soft fiber pressed into a sheet where used. She had known basically what the dull knife was, (though why it was dull still escaped her!) She had figured the pronged instrument was for stabbing but without context and with a dull knife, she had resorted to what every other Orion had opted to do. What was natural, they had used their finger's. But seeing Tim use them she quickly adapted and before long had the basics down on holding them and their use.
"So where are you from?" He asked, before taking a bite of his food.
Her mind immediately went to the last image of her home planet she had seen through the viewport. She knew she had only been let on a ship because she had been lucky. She had been grabbed, scanned, and crammed into one of the ships. "Farcee." She said meekly remembering the craters that had been once beautiful cities suspended above a vibrant purple rainforests on massive supports. She could still see the plasma burning large swaths of it as they obliterated strong points the Orion army had set up to at least slow the bug's ground assault. No warning, no declaration of war. No reason given. One moment the Orion's were long standing trade partners with the Hive Confederacy, the next they are locked in full scale war.
The worst part had been nobody could reach the Vatt system, the next Orion inhabited system and a naval outpost to warn them. And of the dozen courier ships sent out to ask our "allies" for assistance, none was received before they had finally escaped the system through an old very rarely used gate, but had been heading away from Orion space.
The man cleared his throat and in a solemn tone said, "Uhhh, sorry Lori. I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories." He rubbed the back of his neck clearly at a loss as to what to say and she still couldn't understand how she could understand him?!
"How can I understand you?" She asked. "And you can understand me?" He just nodded at the last part as he stuck a small tube through a juice box and slurped a couple times as he appeared to be deep in thought.
"Yep. Whenever you were issued your communicator," he pointed at her's, "did you feel a small prick as you synched it tight?" As she nodded now looking at her communicator he continued. "That was your standard personal nanites." She looked up puzzled by the word.
"Nanites?" She asked. She had never heard of whatever that was. The briefing had said that they had or would received them, but not where or how, or what they where.
Taking the question for what it was Tim began. "They are microscopic robots programmed to automatically repair damaged tissue, fight diseases, and viruses common through out known space. As soon as they entered your bloodstream they began reproducing and will lay dormant there until needed. Since I have my own nanites, we can communicate without much delay. To an outsider, without nanites, you are speaking your native language and I am speaking English. But we hear the words and to a minor extent feel what some psychic races say."
She stared at him for a moment, processing what he had just told her. These people were years ahead of her's in technology! She looked back down at the data chit and said, "Amazing." That was all she could get out as not a heartbeat later a proximity claxon wailed as a mechanical female voice chimed, "WARNING! Proximity Alert. Unidentified hostile ship detected." It repeated itself. All the Orion's in the mess hall were looking around nervously as others rushed out, she assumed to hurry to their duty stations. Tim though didn't budge.
He just casually slurped his juice box and absently typed something a few times on his communicator and he was suddenly looking at a screen depicting the outside of the ship. It wasn't disorienting because there was no "up" or "down" in space. Only where you or your target where in relation to each other.
She could see a sleek black spider like craft on his projected screen. It's engines at full burn as it headed towards what looked like another FTL Gate. This Gate was very busy and Lori could see cargo freighter's lined up in que, a greenish blue planet with pink splotches in the background./
"What the hell is that?" Tim asked no one in particular. She remembered seeing these ships above Farcee, or actually dropping onto it in a sneak attack.
"I think that is a swarm ship! By all the reports from the ground back on my home planet that ship has several queens on board and an entire battalion of Broodlings! " She was still looking at his communicators holographic image, and the planet in the background. "You can't let them reach a planet!" Her voice suddenly rising in a panic. If that ship reaches that planet there wouldn't be any way of stopping the Brood from establishing a colony. And once a single colony was established, they would begin systematically stripping the planet of biomass to rapidly increase their numbers, becoming a plague of the worst kind.
"Oh they aren't going anywhere." He extended his arm to provide her a better angle as a silver winged vehicle zipped by closely followed by three more. Lori could tell the Broodlings ship was much larger than the silver ship's but the United Sol ships were quickly gaining on the much larger enemy ship. Soon one of the silver ship's shot the spider like ship with what looked like a laser. One shot and she could see it's sublight engines splutter and fail. Within a few heartbeats three of the four appeared to "attach" themselves to the larger spider like vessel of the Broodlings. "Those Marines just had their day made. They get to play for a change instead of being stuck on ship." He chuckled as she caught the glint of his canine's as he smiled a definite predatory smile.
"Those are Broodlings and potentially a few of their Varille allies." She gulped. "They tore our defenses apart. They are very dangerous, you should warn them!" She looked back at the communicator. "Even these 'Marines' deserve a chance to live!"
"Calm down miss," Tim said with a sudden grin spreading wider across his face if it was possible, his white teeth flashing. "I can almost guarantee you that the scariest thing in that cluster of ships is the Terran Marines." He started shaking his head. "No, those poor bastards are having more fun than they have had in a few cycles."
The certainty in his voice and his demeanor caused her to relax somewhat. Just how strong was this Sol Alliance she wondered as she watched the communicator and finished her "goulash". She found it quite good compared to the minimal rations she had been eating on the Orion ship. She couldn't help but wonder yet again as to just what kind of people were these humans? Had they found an ally or would the U.S. Alliance end up being where her people's story ended.
Looking across the table at the young human slurping on his juice box she couldn't help but wonder which way this would go.

First
Lori watched the shuttle gently grasp their life pod with some sort of tractoring tech. Her mind racing with a million thoughts as she tried, and failed, to keep her nerves under control. Who where these aliens that called themselves Humans. The Great Admiral had ordered everyone before exiting warp NOT to resist these humans as they had acknowledged the galactic standard call for help they had broadcast when the warp bubble they had been traveling in started shrinking exponentially as their ships where mauled by the Varille battleship.
That ship had methodically destroyed one ship after another. It's Captain staying just outside range of the capital grade lasers the Orion cruisers mounted and used it's long range missiles to first wound, then utterly destroy five Orion cruisers and the only destroyer that managed to survive getting into FTL. They had been trying for several cycles to find an exit so they could leave the FTL lanes without being outright destroyed by the Varille. Then they had gotten hit on the Regents Pride, the missile somehow managed to tear a hole from port to starboard but missed everything vital. However many civilians were lost during the loss of atmosphere and the decompression of those areas.
The blue and white shuttle steadily towed them into a much larger ship called the Titan 7. The Humans had built a giant brick with what appeared to be a hundred cargo bays! She thought seeing the massive behemoth swallow other shuttles towing life pods similar to her group. Most of the refugees on her pod where juveniles, a few expecting mothers too far along to be in fighting condition, and a wounded V.I.P. she had helped a medical officer carry the stretcher onto the pod with the badly bandaged Orion woman. He had hurried off shortly after that being summoned to assist wounded a deck below the life pods.
They went through some sort of shield and she could see other pods opening and the tall Human guards in black and grey combat armor escorting other Orion's into large clusters near interior blast doors. She found herself wondering again why these humans had decided to help them. She knew they had passed at least seven other warp gates and broadcast the same distress signal.
No one had allowed them entry. So many of the survivors had died on those ships the Varille battleship had destroyed. So many more had died on her home world of Farcee trying to escape the Varille fleet bombardment and the Brood's landing cluster's. The Varille, she knew, liked taking slaves for their mining/industrial planets. But the Brood only kept non insectoid sentient creatures around to lay their eggs in. She shuddered involuntarily as the thought wormed it's way into her thoughts.
The pod jostled as the tractor fully sat it down and released it. A light above the pods door turned a solid yellow indicating breathable air and with a "PWOOOOSHHH" the door unsealed and swung outwards. The lights inside where suddenly dim as the door revealed a towering human in a black and grey combat suit. Lori squinted as a tall, imposing human stepped into view, some sort of pulse rifle slung over it's shoulder and two small lights on the side of its helmet.
"Welcome to Sol. You have been granted temporary asylum. Please follow Sergeant Havora to your debrief. Any hostility will be dealt with swiftly and will immediately render your asylum void." The voice sounded male through it's helmets audio but with this being first contact the only thing she could think of was how big this human was! It towered over the tallest Orion adult by at least five hands. Orion's started milling about in the pod as best they could and soon where being escorted to an area denoted for their use as a gathering spot and two more pods groups soon joined them.
Lori found herself studying these humans. They had two arms and legs, an apparent head and torso. One group of people seemed to stand out, they were dressed in white with a red "+" insignia on their left shoulder. A small round machine with the same insignia hoovered along behind them. Anyone that was found as being wounded, they pulled from the groups, some that were wounded in the final battle with the Varille battle ship as they entered the Sol FTL gate. She still couldn't get a good look at their faces.
A throat was cleared near the interior blast doors as Lori spotted the small form of a humanoid reptilian only six hand's tall! It cleared it's throat and with a flick of it's small tail another humanoid biped in a black and grey combat suit stepped forward and with a very loud "clang" as they stomped a heavy metal boot and shouted, "ATTENTIONNN!"
Almost instantly she and the other Orion's went silent, their attention riveted to the small cluster of aliens arrayed in front of them. She could see various different species represented and found herself idly wondering if her first impression of humanity had actually been from a human.
"Thank you Lieutenant Commander," said the small reptilian alien in a slightly nasal voice,"I am Sargent Crom. We have been ordered to get you folks settled in for transport to more accommodating conditions." Sgt. Crom paused for a moment making sure everyone was understanding the translation before continuing. "Your wounded will be taken care of and treated as our own until they recover. Mrs Vali," Sgt Crom waved a small hand at the wounded V.I.P. she was still near and a very tall obviously female alien that had almost sparkling green skin stepped forward, her limbs long and thin, in a white body suit that had a red "+" emblazoned on the left shoulder. Several others dressed similarly to her cautiously followed her as she pulled out some sort of small flat device and ran it over the V.I.P. before motioning to two of the smaller aliens and ordering them to do something in a voice and language that sounded like tinkling bells to Lori's sensitive ears.
As Miss Vali and her team of healers worked through the crowd of Orion's, Sargent Crom continued. "Now, let's continue by saying WELCOME to the United Sol Alliance territories. As you can tell, the U.S. Alliance has several member species and government's. I am a Jabilix. Miss Vali is an Elladrin, and the lieutenant commander is Human." Lori's eyes immediately snapped back to the man in black and grey combat armor as he stood at attention slightly behind and to the left of Sargent Crom.
"We are not all of the U.S. Alliance member species," she paused, "I am sure you will eventually meet us all. Now if you would form two lines here, and here." As Sargent Crom spoke a strip of light lit up on one side of the blast doors, and as she finished another set on the other side lit up. "We will see you to a bunk, something to eat, and then your debriefing. Don't worry, we just want to know what is going on. There is no right or wrong answers. We already have most of the ships logs so this is mostly just to follow protocol." Sargent Crom waited for a few moments before adding, "Move people! We have many more pods to retrieve and space is limited."
With that Lori found herself joining the rest of the people from her pod in forming into the desired lines and soon found they where moving farther into the ship and down several decks. The humans ship was very plain with no artistic flair. Everything was solely for a purpose, and built to last. An Orion ships corridors may have been arrayed in a similar layout, they would have had beautiful curves and even aesthetically pleasing geometric patterns anywhere NOT needed for a system or station. Most doors they passed had numbers or weird letters and sometimes both.
They were eventually led to what Sargent Crom called a "Mess Hall" and shown a rather large room with the designation 104-B right next to the mess hall that was arrayed with bunks and two lockers at the end of each set of beds. Their group was informed on meal time's, shown how to access the necessities and then went through the debriefing. All in all Lori found the ordeal to be over within a few hours.
Everyone had been processed and she had even received a fancy bracelet and shown how to access it's basic functions. It was a small personal data chit! This would have cost her nearly two year's of pay back on Farcee. The Sol Alliance had already integrated the Orion language and alphabet into their system so she could see many of the other Orion's sitting about the mess hall reading whatever had caught their attention on the Sol "Internet". She had picked a table away from everyone, her thoughts on the current situation she found herself in warring with the sorrowful memories of the last few cycles. She picked at the plate of something she couldn't even start to identify but the woman with the white cap had called it "goulash", remembering when she had been picked to get on one of the three ships. Her mother, father, and older siblings had not been picked.
She had just had her name day and been granted permission to participate in the great matching ceremony that essentially would allow her to start her family and pick a suitable mate. She was at the temple of Hal'Ick having just donated the required amount of fauxauall and tuardanium which had taken a year to procure and received her license when it was reported the first Swarm ships had dropped off freighter's from the Sagoth Brood system and landed on Farcee's southern continent.
A low growl escaped as she remembered the news reports and the images of the butchered Orion's. Initially the authorities had thought the Brood ships were unsuspecting host's, having unwittingly carried them into the Orion system. They mostly thought this because the freighter's didn't run after the Swarm ships detached from their hulls and dropped into the atmosphere.
No they had instead waited for most of the Farcee home fleet to be busy trying to intercept a dozen large asteroids that had suddenly been detected moving from the outer system directly into Farcee's orbital path. Once the main force was occupied with the asteroids the freighter's, which were the old long haul sublight hulls with modified hyper drives allowing them to use the Gates had suddenly blown out sections of their own hulls revealing some sort of new plasma cannons that where already spooled up and aimed at the unsuspecting orbital defense platforms and to everyone's horror the two platforms that defended the Farcee FTL Gate. The view of the combined Varille, Sagoth Brood, and the Swarm fleets exiting out of the gate and descending on the Farcee home fleet and their brave sacrifice to allow as many civilians to escape would forever be burned into her memory. As well as the image of Farcee in ruins as the three ships ladden with skeleton crews and as many civilians of "viable" reproductive age as the Regent could get into the new experimental ships. (They had been sitting behind the second moon Boida along with the destroyer Kaighan, and 5 other cruisers which were shredded trying to defend them in side the FTL lains, so they were the only military ships able to respond to the Regents evacuation call along with many brave merchant ships which probably didn't make it.) She had taken a few bites and found herself savoring the "goulash", it was quite good!
"Mind if I join you?" Came a deep baritone voice.
She looked up and to her surprise, standing in front of her on the other side of the table was a bipedal humanoid with two small patches of fur on it's definitely primate like face. He wore a black and grey military fatigues with a black hexagonal patch prominently displaying three stripes and a delta insignia on his grey collar. After an uncomfortable moment of her staring into his bright blue eyes she replied, "Yes......yes of course." She gestured to the bench on the other side of the table. How had she understood him?!
"Thanks." He sat down and extended a hand over his food. "Names Tim, Tim Reynolds"
She had seen this greeting on her data chit and tentatively took his hand to "shake" it up and down slightly in the alien's weird greeting gesture. Why couldn't they just flick their ears like her people? "Lori." was all she replied. She hadn't chosen a mate yet so in her culture she couldn't take a second name.
He sat down and began to eat. She had wondered how the utensils wrapped in some sort of soft fiber pressed into a sheet where used. She had known basically what the dull knife was, (though why it was dull still escaped her!) She had figured the pronged instrument was for stabbing but without context and with a dull knife, she had resorted to what every other Orion had opted to do. What was natural, they had used their finger's. But seeing Tim use them she quickly adapted and before long had the basics down on holding them and their use.
"So where are you from?" He asked, before taking a bite of his food.
Her mind immediately went to the last image of her home planet she had seen through the viewport. She knew she had only been let on a ship because she had been lucky. She had been grabbed, scanned, and crammed into one of the ships. "Farcee." She said meekly remembering the craters that had been once beautiful cities suspended above a vibrant purple rainforests on massive supports. She could still see the plasma burning large swaths of it as they obliterated strong points the Orion army had set up to at least slow the bug's ground assault. No warning, no declaration of war. No reason given. One moment the Orion's were long standing trade partners with the Hive Confederacy, the next they are locked in full scale war.
The worst part had been nobody could reach the Vatt system, the next Orion inhabited system and a naval outpost to warn them. And of the dozen courier ships sent out to ask our "allies" for assistance, none was received before they had finally escaped the system through an old very rarely used gate, but had been heading away from Orion space.
The man cleared his throat and in a solemn tone said, "Uhhh, sorry Lori. I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories." He rubbed the back of his neck clearly at a loss as to what to say and she still couldn't understand how she could understand him?!
"How can I understand you?" She asked. "And you can understand me?" He just nodded at the last part as he stuck a small tube through a juice box and slurped a couple times as he appeared to be deep in thought.
"Yep. Whenever you were issued your communicator," he pointed at her's, "did you feel a small prick as you synched it tight?" As she nodded now looking at her communicator he continued. "That was your standard personal nanites." She looked up puzzled by the word.
"Nanites?" She asked. She had never heard of whatever that was. The briefing had said that they had or would received them, but not where or how, or what they where.
Taking the question for what it was Tim began. "They are microscopic robots programmed to automatically repair damaged tissue, fight diseases, and viruses common through out known space. As soon as they entered your bloodstream they began reproducing and will lay dormant there until needed. Since I have my own nanites, we can communicate without much delay. To an outsider, without nanites, you are speaking your native language and I am speaking English. But we hear the words and to a minor extent feel what some psychic races say."
She stared at him for a moment, processing what he had just told her. These people were years ahead of her's in technology! She looked back down at the data chit and said, "Amazing." That was all she could get out as not a heartbeat later a proximity claxon wailed as a mechanical female voice chimed, "WARNING! Proximity Alert. Unidentified hostile ship detected." It repeated itself. All the Orion's in the mess hall were looking around nervously as others rushed out, she assumed to hurry to their duty stations. Tim though didn't budge.
He just casually slurped his juice box and absently typed something a few times on his communicator and he was suddenly looking at a screen depicting the outside of the ship. It wasn't disorienting because there was no "up" or "down" in space. Only where you or your target where in relation to each other.
She could see a sleek black spider like craft on his projected screen. It's engines at full burn as it headed towards what looked like another FTL Gate. This Gate was very busy and Lori could see cargo freighter's lined up in que, a greenish blue planet with pink splotches in the background./
"What the hell is that?" Tim asked no one in particular. She remembered seeing these ships above Farcee, or actually dropping onto it in a sneak attack.
"I think that is a swarm ship! By all the reports from the ground back on my home planet that ship has several queens on board and an entire battalion of Broodlings! " She was still looking at his communicators holographic image, and the planet in the background. "You can't let them reach a planet!" Her voice suddenly rising in a panic. If that ship reaches that planet there wouldn't be any way of stopping the Brood from establishing a colony. And once a single colony was established, they would begin systematically stripping the planet of biomass to rapidly increase their numbers, becoming a plague of the worst kind.
"Oh they aren't going anywhere." He extended his arm to provide her a better angle as a silver winged vehicle zipped by closely followed by three more. Lori could tell the Broodlings ship was much larger than the silver ship's but the United Sol ships were quickly gaining on the much larger enemy ship. Soon one of the silver ship's shot the spider like ship with what looked like a laser. One shot and she could see it's sublight engines splutter and fail. Within a few heartbeats three of the four appeared to "attach" themselves to the larger spider like vessel of the Broodlings. "Those Marines just had their day made. They get to play for a change instead of being stuck on ship." He chuckled as she caught the glint of his canine's as he smiled a definite predatory smile.
"Those are Broodlings and potentially a few of their Varille allies." She gulped. "They tore our defenses apart. They are very dangerous, you should warn them!" She looked back at the communicator. "Even these 'Marines' deserve a chance to live!"
"Calm down miss," Tim said with a sudden grin spreading wider across his face if it was possible, his white teeth flashing. "I can almost guarantee you that the scariest thing in that cluster of ships is the Terran Marines." He started shaking his head. "No, those poor bastards are having more fun than they have had in a few cycles."
The certainty in his voice and his demeanor caused her to relax somewhat. Just how strong was this Sol Alliance she wondered as she watched the communicator and finished her "goulash". She found it quite good compared to the minimal rations she had been eating on the Orion ship. She couldn't help but wonder yet again as to just what kind of people were these humans? Had they found an ally or would the U.S. Alliance end up being where her people's story ended.
Looking across the table at the young human slurping on his juice box she couldn't help but wonder which way this would go.
Next

Much has been said on this space about red pilling others. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. Or can you? We express our observations on the futility of trying to red pill others in a number of ways, stories and memes. There is one story though that I feel deserves a deeper look. The story is about the fox and the grapes. There was a fox who spotting some grapes hanging high of a vine decided he wanted them. But try and jump as he did, he could not reach the grapes. After some time of trying and failing, he walked away but not before saying “I bet those grapes weren’t even ripe, they were probably sour.” This describes most people in life and is perhaps the number one reason men in this space fail to apply the lessons they learn here. Do you admit you failed to reach your goal? Were you too weak? Perhaps you were not experienced enough? Maybe you lacked skills in game and cannot hold a conversation? Or do you lie and say you never wanted what you set out to get in the first place?

Red-pill, Blue-pill or Something in Between?

The Truth is a hard pill to swallow. And some people after learning the truth (read redpill) and seeing the world for what it is cannot stand it; people wish to go back to the fantasy they believed. That is why in The Matrix movie the character Cypher betrays humanity and wants to be plugged back in to the matrix. He wants to go back to living in a lie built by others. Cypher wants to go back to the fantasy but he does so in a way that takes advantage of the truth he learned via the redpill. Similarly, many men want to use their redpill knowledge with an old order ideal; These are men who take the purple pill. Rather than build a world around them and live in reality they prefer the old lie.
To be a man you must be willing to build and create. Failing to create is cowardice. Thumos, masculine spirit can carve something out of chaos. That many men prefer living in someone else's world and the life prescribed by others is an indicator that they lack this masculine spirit. Many men and boys exist that know they ought to change but they look for permission from others to do so. They hesitate because deciding and thinking for yourself is risky. They would rather shift the burden of their decisions and outcomes unto someone else. Still others exist that cannot see the truth and don't want to. Which is worse? The man who knew the truth and wants to go back, or the one who actively lies to himself and refuses to acknowledge it?

People Would Rather Lie

People would rather lie to themselves than admit the unpleasant truth about themselves. It is easier to lie than to admit the truth. I knew a guy back in high school who was socially awkward. He would try and get with the girls but had little success. One day he came out and said he was gay. Yet his behavior said otherwise. He would still try to hit on girls, and was the scavenger type who would sleep with any girl he could get. Yet this proved too much work and eventually he stayed rooting for the other team, minus visiting the occasional escort. Was it easier for him to admit he was bad with women or to convince himself that he doesn’t even like women? Some women are lesbians not because they like women, but because they hate men. Other lesbians I have talked to are so because they had bad experiences with men growing up (usually a family member). Others are overweight, unpleasant and therefore cannot attract or keep a man. The reasons may be a bit different yet the process of self-deception is similar. In politics many are socialist, not because they love the poor or working man, but because they hate the rich. Do people really love Joe Biden? Or do they hate Donald Trump? These are not the same thing.
The reason and why behind your actions or lack thereof is just as important as the what. Are you a Christian because you love God and are trying to live for Him? Or are you trying to avoid going to hell? The actions and behavior that follow is completely different. Are you improving yourself because you have become your own mental point of origin? Or are you doing so in hope that your wife will sleep with you again? We often lie to ourselves rather than admit why we do things or that we failed to get what we wanted. Our egos are powerful things and this is often enough the cause of our own deception. But ego is not all bad. Your ego also protects you, and lets you know when someone is slinging mud at you and trying to knock you down on the pecking order.
To me there is something repugnant and weasel like when men hide their desires. This is a grave sin, not in the sense of right and wrong but it’s a pragmatic issue. I cannot trust you if you do not own your behavior. I do not care if you want to indulge in hookers and blow, or if you are gay and like shoving things up your butt. My issue is I cannot trust liars to be around me. The men I want around me are men who own their actions, which is impossible if you are a liar especially to yourself. One thing that organizations such as Alcoholics anonymous get right is that they cannot help someone, until the person admits to themselves that they have a problem. For Christianity you cannot repent until you acknowledge that you are a sinner. You cannot stop being a nice guy/simp until you acknowledge that you are one.

The Lie of Personality and Identity

One of the big lies I hear often is the lie about personality. People hang onto their personality like a sacred cow. They use personality as a crutch for why they do not try something. They will say things like “oh I can’t go out and hit on girls, I am an introvert.” Or they will say they cannot dance, sing, or speak in public, as if these were talents one is born with that cannot improve. Some will use identity and race as an excuse. Perhaps you are Catholic, and good Catholics have to stay away from the clubs. It is not that you are shy or nervous around women, no sir; that cannot be the case! That’s right, you are saving yourself for marriage and waiting. I have more respect for someone that is honest about their wants and limits over someone that lies and makes their necessity a virtue. If your actions are really in line with your virtue, then kudos more power to you. But if you have no options and are a disgusting bug person, then your virtue and reasons are lies.
One day me and my buddy Francis were at work and we noticed one of the guys in our crew was missing, an old timer named Billy. So me and Franky got a hold of Billy on the phone and asked him what was going on? We asked if he was okay and if everything was well with him to which he said he was doing good and was in good health. So, after a bit we asked him if he was coming to work that day: Billy paused for a bit and said he was not coming in to work. When we asked why? He said “This morning when I woke up, my bed was really comfortable. The coffee was too good and the missus too randy and I decided I am not coming in today.” Me and Franky looked at each other nodded in approval and said good enough, see you tomorrow. We had more respect for Billy owning his actions than had he lied or made some BS. There is a difference between saying I cannot come to work, and I will not.

We Create Our Own Personalities and Emotions

Emotions are generated by us. Emotions enable us and prime us to do what we want; Think of emotions as a tool of plausible deniability. Does being in a club really make people friskier? Perhaps it’s the booze, or the music but I think people that want to be social, go to clubs and such venues and then feel a certain way that will help them accomplish their goal of flirting or getting laid. Alcohol is also a great tool that helps us act and do what we already intended to. Ever argue with a co-worker? Or have someone cut you off in traffic? We may feel pissed off, upset or even frustrated. Yet the truth remains that our actions are wholly under our control. You despite the fact that a co-corker or customer pissed you off, do not bash their face in with a stapler. Or despite a police officer writing you an unjust ticket suddenly reach for their gun. Or perhaps you did act a certain way, but that is only because you wanted to; the feelings that accompanied the action are only those that were necessary help you carry out your desired end.
When you are wronged or slighted, what typically follows is some emotional response. This response such as frustration, or righteous indignation helps you do what you want, IE get riled up enough to file a complaint or seek to right the injustice. Emotions are kayfabe we play on ourselves. We want an excuse and justification to do something. Did you think your woman suddenly started crying because she is sad and doesn’t want you to go to the gym? Or did she generate the feeling of sadness so she can justify crying in order to manipulate your behavior? Coincidentally your wife gets a headache every time you want to have sex. Personality to a great extent is also a tool of our own creation.
It is somewhat ironic that in a time in which even the concept of gender is differentiated from biological sex personality and background is seen as unchangeable, insurmountable. Yet I’ve noticed a strange phenomenon which is psychosomatic in nature. Simply put people imagine they have a disease or condition, and then their body produces symptoms in line with what the person believes. The reason a lot of medicine works is not because of the actual medicine, but because people believe it will work. The mind is a powerful tool and it can help us achieve whatever we ask of it. I believe this applies to our own personalities. Did your then 29-year-old girlfriend’s personality really change? Or did she get baby rabies and her mind started manufacturing changes to facilitate that desire? We are how we are because somewhere deep down we want to be that way. Perhaps it is an outdated mental model, perhaps we fear change, maybe we like being victims? Whatever the reason, your mind will make a personality toward that end.

As You Believe So It Shall Be Unto You

You can be many things in life but the biggest thing that prevents you from becoming what you want is the lies you believe. How many Asian men have you heard cry that American women don’t find them attractive? Or Black guys say that the deck is stacked against them? The Mexicans say they have a bad start being coddled by mama. And the White guys complain about reverse racism. To be fair there is a bit of truth in all of what they say. So what? Who cares? If you believe you can’t, get da girls, you are right. If you think women despise you for being Indian, its true; They despise YOU for being Indian. Oh, your world is shattered because you were a good Muslim and your wife still cheated on you? Get in line. Lets see what else, are you shocked that the Mormon girl you waited for got a train ran on her in college while you were out on mission? LOL dems is the facts. Your fat body sacrificed long hours at work for your wife and she still divorced you and took the kids? Did you think your religious upbringing was insulation against being pathetic? You do not get a pass to be weak despite your race, beliefs and upbringing.
In the same way your mind works to make your desires come true, the world will respond and treat you the way you carry yourself. Yet this is only in as much as your beliefs align with reality. And here is the proof that deep down you know all this. If you did not believe that you could change, you would not be here on this forum. You would not be looking for advice on improving your life. If your personality is fixed from childhood this is a waste of time. Yet we know. We have seen men through trial and error better their lives. Experience and repetition have taught us to set boundaries. We have abandoned platitudes like “Happy Wife, Happy Life.” We egg each other onward to greatness with snippets of truth like “Do you even lift bro?” We have distilled the truth of our collective experiences with poetry such as: You can take the hood rat outta da hood, but you cannot take da hood outa da hoodrat. No one comes to the Red Pill unless someone has been zeroed out either yourself or someone you know. Can you make a horse drink? Maybe, maybe not. But let that horse see his bro get divorced, shafted and turned into glue, how quickly he will drink from the trough of truth! Gentlemen dont wait until you are in line at the glue factory to see the writing on the wall. Be sober minded and do the work.
Candidly and Vigilantly
The Most Alpha of Bunnies

Much has been said on this space about red pilling others. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. Or can you? We express our observations on the futility of trying to red pill others in a number of ways, stories and memes. There is one story though that I feel deserves a deeper look. The story is about the fox and the grapes. There was a fox who spotting some grapes hanging high of a vine decided he wanted them. But try and jump as he did, he could not reach the grapes. After some time of trying and failing, he walked away but not before saying “I bet those grapes weren’t even ripe, they were probably sour.” This describes most people in life and is perhaps the number one reason men in this space fail to apply the lessons they learn here. Do you admit you failed to reach your goal? Were you too weak? Perhaps you were not experienced enough? Maybe you lacked skills in game and cannot hold a conversation? Or do you lie and say you never wanted what you set out to get in the first place?

Red-pill, Blue-pill or Something in Between?

The Truth is a hard pill to swallow. And some people after learning the truth (read redpill) and seeing the world for what it is cannot stand it; people wish to go back to the fantasy they believed. That is why in The Matrix movie the character Cypher betrays humanity and wants to be plugged back in to the matrix. He wants to go back to living in a lie built by others. Cypher wants to go back to the fantasy but he does so in a way that takes advantage of the truth he learned via the redpill. Similarly, many men want to use their redpill knowledge with an old order ideal; These are men who take the purple pill. Rather than build a world around them and live in reality they prefer the old lie.
To be a man you must be willing to build and create. Failing to create is cowardice. Thumos, masculine spirit can carve something out of chaos. That many men prefer living in someone else's world and the life prescribed by others is an indicator that they lack this masculine spirit. Many men and boys exist that know they ought to change but they look for permission from others to do so. They hesitate because deciding and thinking for yourself is risky. They would rather shift the burden of their decisions and outcomes unto someone else. Still others exist that cannot see the truth and don't want to. Which is worse? The man who knew the truth and wants to go back, or the one who actively lies to himself and refuses to acknowledge it?

People Would Rather Lie

People would rather lie to themselves than admit the unpleasant truth about themselves. It is easier to lie than to admit the truth. I knew a guy back in high school who was socially awkward. He would try and get with the girls but had little success. One day he came out and said he was gay. Yet his behavior said otherwise. He would still try to hit on girls, and was the scavenger type who would sleep with any girl he could get. Yet this proved too much work and eventually he stayed rooting for the other team, minus visiting the occasional escort. Was it easier for him to admit he was bad with women or to convince himself that he doesn’t even like women? Some women are lesbians not because they like women, but because they hate men. Other lesbians I have talked to are so because they had bad experiences with men growing up (usually a family member). Others are overweight, unpleasant and therefore cannot attract or keep a man. The reasons may be a bit different yet the process of self-deception is similar. In politics many are socialist, not because they love the poor or working man, but because they hate the rich. Do people really love Joe Biden? Or do they hate Donald Trump? These are not the same thing.
The reason and why behind your actions or lack thereof is just as important as the what. Are you a Christian because you love God and are trying to live for Him? Or are you trying to avoid going to hell? The actions and behavior that follow is completely different. Are you improving yourself because you have become your own mental point of origin? Or are you doing so in hope that your wife will sleep with you again? We often lie to ourselves rather than admit why we do things or that we failed to get what we wanted. Our egos are powerful things and this is often enough the cause of our own deception. But ego is not all bad. Your ego also protects you, and lets you know when someone is slinging mud at you and trying to knock you down on the pecking order.
To me there is something repugnant and weasel like when men hide their desires. This is a grave sin, not in the sense of right and wrong but it’s a pragmatic issue. I cannot trust you if you do not own your behavior. I do not care if you want to indulge in hookers and blow, or if you are gay and like shoving things up your ass. My issue is I cannot trust liars to be around me. The men I want around me are men who own their shit, which is impossible if you are a liar especially to yourself. One thing that organizations such as Alcoholics anonymous get right is that they cannot help someone, until the person admits to themselves that they have a problem. For Christianity you cannot repent until you acknowledge that you are a sinner. You cannot stop being a nice guy/simp until you acknowledge that you are one.

The Lie of Personality and Identity

One of the big lies I hear often is the lie about personality. People hang onto their personality like a sacred cow. They use personality as a crutch for why they do not try something. They will say things like “oh I can’t go out and hit on girls, I am an introvert.” Or they will say they cannot dance, sing, or speak in public, as if these were talents one is born with that cannot improve. Some will use identity and race as an excuse. Perhaps you are Catholic, and good Catholics have to stay away from the clubs. It is not that you are shy or nervous around women, no sir; that cannot be the case! That’s right, you are saving yourself for marriage and waiting. I have more respect for someone that is honest about their wants and limits over someone that lies and makes their necessity a virtue. If your actions are really in line with your virtue, then kudos more power to you. But if you have no options and are a disgusting bug person, then your virtue and reasons are lies.
One day me and my buddy Francis were at work and we noticed one of the guys in our crew was missing, an old timer named Billy. So me and Franky got a hold of Billy on the phone and asked him what was going on? We asked if he was okay and if everything was well with him to which he said he was doing good and was in good health. So, after a bit we asked him if he was coming to work that day: Billy paused for a bit and said he was not coming in to work. When we asked why? He said “This morning when I woke up, my bed was really comfortable. The coffee was too good and the missus too randy and I decided I am not coming in today.” Me and Franky looked at each other nodded in approval and said good enough, see you tomorrow. We had more respect for Billy owning his shit than had he lied or made some BS. There is a difference between saying I cannot come to work, and I will not.

We Create Our Own Personalities and Emotions

Emotions are generated by us. Emotions enable us and prime us to do what we want; Think of emotions as a tool of plausible deniability. Does being in a club really make people friskier? Perhaps it’s the booze, or the music but I think people that want to be social, go to clubs and such venues and then feel a certain way that will help them accomplish their goal of flirting or getting laid. Alcohol is also a great tool that helps us act and do what we already intended to. Ever argue with a co-worker? Or haver someone cut you off in traffic? We may feel pissed off, upset or even frustrated. Yet the truth remains that our actions are wholly under our control. You despite the fact that a co-corker or customer pissed you off, do not bash their face in with a stapler. Or despite a police officer writing you an unjust ticket suddenly reach for their gun. Or perhaps you did act a certain way, but that is only because you wanted to; the feelings that accompanied the action are only those that were necessary help you carry out your desired end.
When you are wronged or slighted, what typically follows is some emotional response. This response such as frustration, or righteous indignation helps you do what you want, IE get riled up enough to file a complaint or seek to right the injustice. Emotions are kayfabe we play on ourselves. We want an excuse and justification to do something. Did you think your woman suddenly started crying because she is sad and doesn’t want you to go to the gym? Or did she generate the feeling of sadness so she can justify crying in order to manipulate your behavior? Coincidentally your wife gets a headache every time you want to have sex. Personality to a great extent is also a tool of our own creation.
It is somewhat ironic that in a time in which even the concept of gender is differentiated from biological sex personality and background is seen as unchangeable, insurmountable. Yet I’ve noticed a strange phenomenon which is psychosomatic in nature. Simply put people imagine they have a disease or condition, and then their body produces symptoms in line with what the person believes. The reason a lot of medicine works is not because of the actual medicine, but because people believe it will work. The mind is a powerful tool and it can help us achieve whatever we ask of it. I believe this applies to our own personalities. Did your then 29-year-old girlfriend’s personality really change? Or did she get baby rabies and her mind started manufacturing changes to facilitate that desire? We are how we are because somewhere deep down we want to be that way. Perhaps it is an outdated mental model, perhaps we fear change, maybe we like being victims? Whatever the reason, your mind will make a personality toward that end.

As You Believe So It Shall Be Unto You

You can be many things in life but the biggest thing that prevents you from becoming what you want is the lies you believe. How many Asian men have you heard cry that American women don’t find them attractive? Or Black guys say that the deck is stacked against them? The Mexicans say they have a bad start being coddled by mama. And the White guys complain about reverse racism. To be fair there is a bit of truth in all of what they say. So what? Who cares? If you believe you can’t, get da girls, you are right. If you think women despise you for being Indian, its true; They despise YOU for being Indian. Oh, your world is shattered because you were a good Muslim and your wife still cheated on you? Get in line. Lets see what else, are you shocked that the Mormon girl you waited for got a train ran on her in college while you were out on mission? LOL dems is the facts. Your fat body sacrificed long hours at work for your wife and she still divorced you and took the kids? Did you think your religious upbringing was insulation against being pathetic? You do not get a pass to be weak despite your race, beliefs and upbringing.
In the same way your mind works to make your desires come true, the world will respond and treat you the way you carry yourself. Yet this is only in as much as your beliefs align with reality. And here is the proof that deep down you know all this. If you did not believe that you could change, you would not be here on this forum. You would not be looking for advice on improving your life. If your personality is fixed from childhood this is a waste of time. Yet we know. We have seen men through trial and error better their lives. Experience and repetition have taught us to set boundaries. We have abandoned platitudes like “Happy Wife, Happy Life.” We egg each other onward to greatness with snippets of truth like “Do you even lift bro?” We have distilled the truth of our collective experiences with poetry such as: You can take the hood rat outta da hood, but you cannot take da hood outa da hoodrat. No one comes to the Red Pill unless someone has been zeroed out either yourself or someone you know. Can you make a horse drink? Maybe, maybe not. But let that horse see his bro get divorced, shafted and turned into glue, how quickly he will drink from the trough of truth! Gentlemen dont wait until you are in line at the glue factory to see the writing on the wall. Be sober minded and do the work.
Candidly and Vigilantly
The Most Alpha of Bunnies

Next Patreon Ko-fi Discord
PRs: u/anakist & u/BroDogIsMyName
- - - - -
The cave was dark, its luminescent crystals having long since faded, the shattered shards sprinkling onto the stone floors as inert fragments. Once intricate brickwork was now rubble and crumbled debris, their murals and etchings now lost to deterioration. Countless tunnels and subterranean floors had filled in over time, reducing the monument of his efforts to but a solitary room nested within an unremarkable hole in the hillside, far beyond the township he called home. Or so he assumed, anyway. There was no way of knowing where he was, nor if said home even existed anymore, though he was doubtful it did. It had been far too long since he entered this promise-turned-prison, and he had no more heart to ache.
An ashen glow of sunlight penetrated the pitiful, dreary depths he was once prideful of. The luminance fought against the haze of dust and miasma, but never quite brought its warmth inside, teasing him. He’d forgotten what it felt like to stand in that brightness. To experience the gentle breeze and soft rustle of leaves. Admittedly, the touch of nature’s blessing was one he never often experienced, making for those sparse moments of sunkissed relaxation to be amongst the first memories to dissipate. There were things he still recalled, of course—the days before a single well-intentioned decision changed everything.
The days before he knew only regret.
Altier could still picture the modest farmland that his brothers and father worked on, and how he watched from behind the moss-laden shutters of his room, a frail smile worn on his emaciated face. His two siblings were well and hearty; they quickly grew up to be strong men, becoming apprentices under the village’s herbalist and leatherworker respectively. One would always help their father tend to the crops while the other was off gaining the experience required to take over the storefronts of their eventual occupation.
Their father would regularly be seen wiping the sweat off his brow and wearing a proud grin whenever his young men came back to ramble about what they learned, even if the elder man never understood much of it. That hardly mattered to him; knowing his boys were happy was enough for him to listen with rapt attention, and he repeated their words to his spouse, pretending to know why what he talked about was impressive. The matron of the family always winked Altier’s way when his father would start his usual boasting, letting her adorable fool of a partner take pride in their children for wrapping their heads around whatever he couldn’t. She loved him anyway, calling him playful names with a serene and adoring smile. The sound of her laughter at her husband’s antics could warm even the coldest of winters.
She cared for Altier when she wasn’t busy tidying the home his father built with his own two hands, the structure degrading over time, yet cared for all the same. She would heat the iron stove they had saved up for, her enchanting singing softly reaching those who listened. His father purchased it from a promising blacksmith just to spare his poor wife the trouble of maintaining a fireplace; it cost them years of being frugal, but the delight she showed at no longer needing to bear the direct heat when preparing meals made it worth every coin.
Altier still blamed himself for wasting her time with his needs, but his main regret was the toll his birth took on the angel of a woman. Her constitution wasn’t the best even before his addition, and although she was far from crippled by it, the thin woman couldn’t quite hide the struggles it caused. She never explicitly said why she was so weak, but he assumed she didn’t want him to shoulder the blame for something she decided herself. He pretended not to.
Unfortunately, such a frailty was carried on to their youngest son, yet done so in the worst of fashions. Ever since Altier was but a babe, he struggled with even the simplest of tasks, his body brittle and his lungs temperamental. A gaunt, bedridden figure showed his pale flesh clinging to nigh useless musculature, with sunken cheeks and eyes shadowed by omnipresent illness. The doctors that visited their village only did so twice a year, and being seen by them cost a proportional sum. Yet his parents wasted their coin every fall and spring, hopeful that their child would be cured. They told him that it was subsidized by the crown when he asked how they could afford it, assuring him that it wasn’t making his family financially suffer. He kept quiet and smiled, hiding the fact that he could see the effects of their dwindling coffers.
The answer never changed. ‘Mana deficiency,’ the learned man had called it, recommending that the corpse of a boy channel energy from rare stones to ease his ailment. The doctor even offered to procure an appropriately attuned gem himself, which Altier’s parents latched onto, evaporating their meagre savings and relegating the hopes of hiring help for the fields to being but a dream. The first element, Nature, was what most people held some affinity for, and even if his alignment was dismal, a concentrated stone would curb the worst of his symptoms.
The light green gemstone failed to so much as warm within his palms.
His doting mother and strong-willed father were undiscouraged. In fact, they were delighted; they voiced enthusiastic speculation on what affinity their troubled boy might have, seeing as how something considered ‘common’ was unsuitable. Altier was of a different mind, seeing the blinds of optimism veiling the impending downfall of reality. The pair couldn’t fathom anything but excellence from their offspring, and although they never forced unrealistic expectations upon their young, they were ignorant of just how crushing that faith could be.
They never saw how strained his smile became as gem after gem lay inert in his hands, while their excitement only grew, though that too came to an end. Altier’s hopes of recovery vanished when his father was the one to break the news; the doctors had no more stones to give. They had tried them all, and anything more potent was well outside their means. He was promised that the search for a solution would continue, neglecting the fact that they had already borrowed funds from most of the village to afford what they already found.
His father held him in a tight embrace that night, reassuring the stock-still boy. Altier never noticed how his eyes had gone wide at the information. He didn’t even feel the rivulets of tears pouring down his sickly skin. No, he simply remained frozen as he connected the dots as to why his mother wasn’t the one delivering the news.
She wouldn’t be able to hide the fear in her eyes.
Though beleaguered he might be, Altier was not so ignorant as to forget the one gemstone they never tried—the only affinity that had yet to be tested, and never would be.
Decay.
Reviled by the church and woven into the concepts of death and entropy, Decay was what stalked heroes in tales of old. Decay was what bled from graveyards and followed the monstrous attacks that left bustling townships as little more than crumbled ruins. Decay was powered by pain, suffering, and bloodshed, using the gathered energies to bring forth yet more horrid atrocities.
And he was one of the accursed few who manifested an affinity with such a voracious element. It fed off his own vitality, consuming him to fuel its demands. He would never be healthy as long as he stayed quiet and kind; every ounce of growth would be combated by ever-increasing requirements. Eventually, the pittance he supplied might not be enough, and therein lie the fear he remembered in his mother’s visage.
He would be killed by his own affinity…or kill to provide for it.
Unwilling, unintentional death would be stripped from the cloth of others’ survival.
The bedridden young man became further withdrawn after that, turning away visitation to immerse himself in daydreaming. They still loved him, and they were sure to remind him constantly, yet he couldn’t help but notice that even the most assertive interaction never brought them closer than the doorway. He smiled regardless, escaping into books read by candlelight. The stories made his isolation less painful.
Altier lived vicariously through tales of knights combating orcs and goblins, suave merchants persuading harpies and lamia to relinquish their collections, and impeccable heroes who stood atop slain menacing dragons. It was a pastime of his that arose when his father acquired an old storybook from a roaming trader; he would turn the final page, then try to guess where fact ended and fiction reigned supreme. He had heard of the many monsters while eavesdropping from his window, but they all were either settled in distant lands or subdued by the army before they became a problem. A peaceful township like his benefited greatly from being so far from the uninhabited wastes beyond the kingdom’s borders, yet also came with its detriments—the lack of apothecaries was a notable one.
He was surprised when he heard the hushed whispers from beyond his room, the earthen pathways of their village set alight by curious voices. Men, women, and children alike gathered in front of their homes and workplaces to watch as soldiers of the king’s army politely marched through the streets, stopping in front of the humble abode belonging to a family of five.
At first, he feared that the financial toll of his condition had hindered his parents from paying due tax, earning the crown’s ire. But no, they came with a proposition; one of the king’s aides had received a letter from a doctor providing someone with elemental stones, and the news of a decay affinity was apparently quite intriguing to them.
He listened to parents refusing to part with their son, yet he also heard his brothers citing just how miserable their youngest was, begging their father not to imprison a child inside the cage of good intentions. It was hard to place both arguments inside the same frame, but it was clear that everyone still cared for him in spite of his affinity. The talking turned to shouting, then flipped to sharpened silence when the stairs creaked beneath his feet, drawing attention to the thin form of his weakened body. He took advantage of the guilty looks and curious new faces to ask what the offer was.
The crown’s minister of magic wanted to hire him—an absurd thought, but one he confirmed by having them repeat it twice. Decay seemed to be an exceedingly rare affinity, and was sparsely documented outside its occasional mention in yarns tumbling past the lips of horribly scarred and inebriated adventurers. He was wanted for study, and after receiving clarification that the process wouldn’t be harmful, he almost considered it. Why wouldn’t he? As much as his family tried, they were terrified of what he might become or do. He was tired of placing a burden upon them, never being able to help with the farm or clean around the house, and he was disgusted with how much more difficult his parent’s life was just by his existence. Of course, his mother and father had countless gripes they brought to light when they saw his contemplative expression, but the knight at the table placed down the final counterpoint.
A writ of promised compensation and a pouch of coin clinked against the aging furniture. The king himself had signed the document, and although neither of his parents received much education, they were both able to read the amount. As long as Altier continued to work, the crown would pay a portion of his earnings directly to his family. The house could get desperately needed repairs, the fields would see new farmhands, and his mother could hire help. They could have everything Altier had taken from them since his birth…and all he had to do was say yes.
So he did.
He ignored the protests, gathered his things, then hugged his parents and siblings farewell the next morning, promising to send them letters on how he was whenever he could. They were less than thrilled—hearing from him once a season at best wasn’t preferable—but they eventually wished him well when he explained that he hoped to control his affinity. His mother wept upon realizing he was aware of her concern over all those years. He cried when she told him that it pained her to remain so distant. The fear for her own life was something she didn’t feel at all; she just didn’t want him to blame himself if something happened that he couldn’t control.
“I brought you into this world to be loved,” she whispered into his ear as she held him, her voice damp and cracking, yet filled with familial affection. “I knew what it would cost me when I learned I was pregnant again; I just didn’t consider how you could think it was your fault. I would never forgive myself if you suffered because of something I decided. Death is too kind a punishment for what it would do to you.”
It took a while, but he did manage to collect himself enough to walk with his escort to the village’s limits, one of the soldiers helping him stay upright without an order or word of protest. They brought him to a carriage, then set off for the mainland, the view of his home shrinking until it was a mere speck in the distance. He could almost still see his parents’ faces filled with pride and sorrow, awestruck by his selflessness yet torn by his departure. His brothers had kept their facade of confidence and a jovial demeanour, but their concern bled through strained smiles. He fell asleep to the sounds of horses and the crackle of rocks against wooden wheels.
Some time passed without much of note occurring. Altier was examined by kind people of a town that was still rather far from the city, but no one had specifically said he was going there, so he wasn’t sure why he didn’t think to ask. Nevertheless, his affinity was documented using tools he couldn’t identify, and the answers he got for his inquiries passed straight through his ears. He was worried his lack of education would irritate the obviously more well-off researchers, yet the soft-spoken academics didn’t dislike him for his ignorance. They tried explaining things to him in ways he could understand, but switched to more general conversation when he was still struggling to comprehend. It was fine, though; he enjoyed the company.
Despite the long wait for a reply, the first letter he got back from his parents was a reassurance he didn’t know he needed. They had received their first payment since he left, and the pages were scrawled edge to edge with their praises, worries, heard gossip, and a single mention of his brother courting a woman. Altier wrote how glad he was that they were well, told them of all the interesting sights, his disappointment at not being in the capital proper, and how kind everyone was. He chuckled to himself after handing the letter off to be delivered, a last minute thought having him jot down a request for his mother to tease the nascent couple in his stead. He wondered if the next reply would include a relationship or not.
Things took a turn after a year. His eldest brother was still seeing his sweetheart, while the middle sibling had yet to have anyone catch his eye, his sights set on his work with the herbalist. Their mother mentioned how she suspected he was interested in the older woman in charge of providing salves and poultice for the village’s ill, and although she was hoping for him to find someone his own age, she put his happiness over having grandchildren. Their father was just as supportive, putting down his own sloppily written query on how their ‘brave boy’ was doing in romantic endeavours.
Altier smiled as he read, updating his family on how he had been moved to a more isolated region since their last correspondence, and thus wasn’t really able to meet anyone he could see himself with. He insisted he was fine, scattering well-wishes and the like while he avoided speaking of events he had promised not to mention. The response came off as somewhat stiff, but he was sure they would understand. All that really mattered was that they were happy and healthy.
His profession as a research subject came to an end, in a way. After collecting what information they could, there was a period where no one bothered to visit the Decay-afflicted young man. He dwelled within his humble accommodations in the middle of a forest, but he didn’t press when the people assigned to deliver food refused to answer where he was. It was fine; he had new books brought to him regularly, and knowing that his family was being taken care of by his ‘work’ was enough to dissuade him from complaining. He stayed quiet even as he got sicker and sicker, some nights spent shivering next to the fireplace with the most recent letter being held by trembling hands. The look of contentment on his face was genuine despite the insufferable pain.
Someone did eventually visit his little hovel in the woods. A man who introduced himself as a ‘Technician’ entered, accepted some simple tea, and made polite conversation for a while. It was a pleasant experience for someone who had grown used to solitude. Once they had both finished their drink, the Technician called for an aide to bring in an unexpectedly opulent box. The gold trim parted to reveal a strange orb—a ‘core’ the man called it, though he was reticent on what it was or did. All Altier was told was to spend the night’s rest with it in his hands, and by the morning, he would no longer suffer from his affinity.
“There is still much for us to learn, Altier,” the Technician promised, putting the younger man’s worries to rest. “Tomorrow, you will be stronger than ever. I would wager your parents will be ecstatic once you tell them.”
“W-what are we studying next?” Altier stuttered out, feeling the weight of the strange stone as it was laid into his unsure grasp. It was no larger than an apple, yet the smooth obsidian sphere somehow dragged him downward by the heart, the flawless surface captivating his attention in a way he both liked and despised. Light bent as he inspected the object, almost avoiding its very presence. He settled it on his lap after a moment, conflicted about how he would be healed by something the very world seemed to reject.
“We,” the newcomer started, flourishing an arm towards Altier, “are going to prepare. With your help, we can create the heroes from those stories you so love.”
It was a bitter memory in retrospect, yet the sickly boy at that table was entranced by what was promised to him. His soul would be captured by the orb, and he would be given the ability to make a Dungeon—the very same he read about hundreds of times. His body would be taken care of, suspended until he returned to it, which he was assured would be whenever he wanted.
That assurance came with a stipulation, however. Were he to decide that he was done, he would lose his new abilities, return to his old form, and be sent on his way, fully healed. But—and there was always a ‘but’—his parents would no longer receive compensation. The king had been withholding from implementing a tax increase in his village, and once the reason for it was no longer employed, then the other ministers would place immeasurable pressure until he capitulated. Altier’s whole world before leaving would fall under the demands. The Technician wore a sombre, sympathetic gaze as he expressed how difficult things would be for the boy’s parents.
Stupid, gullible Altier agreed, thanking the stranger for the opportunity. He went to bed with hope in his heart and wonder on his tongue.
[Initializing…]
[User identified: Altier
Affinity: Decay
Status: Deteriorating (Insufficient mana supply)
Inherent Ability: Avatar of Decay]
[Error: Insufficient Mana. System will acquire the excess from suitable sources as dictated by the User.
Error: User is unable to designate a suitable source.
Searching based on default requirements…Source found.
Converting source to Mana…Success.
Synchronizing…Success.
Updating libraries…Success.
Implementing framework…Success.
Establishing Domain…Failure. Insufficient Mana. Insufficient Authority.
Modifying criteria…Success.
Establishing Domain…Success.]
[Dungeon established! Generating assignment…Success.]
[Priority assignment: Prevent the End—324:450:3247:345:34:12]
[Priority assignment: Prevent the End—324:450:3247:345:34:11]
[Priority assignment: Prevent the End—324:450:3247:345:34:10]
- - - - -
When he awoke, it wasn’t to the small room where books threatened to take over every available surface, but to a claustrophobic darkness that crushed him as much as left him weightless. He had been warned that the experience would be disorienting, so he clenched the jaw he learned was no longer there, took a breath that could no longer be taken, and waited like he was supposed to.
Thankfully, the Technician was a man of his word, and he came back shortly after Altier had managed to figure out the basics of…well, of whatever he was turned into. He found a way to ‘see’ the world around him, though ignoring the sense of vertigo that came with having sight of everything at once was difficult. There was text that he could summon or dismiss at will, but it only really displayed a countdown he wasn’t familiar with. Truth be told, he wasn’t quite sure what to think of things back then, but he remembered feeling relieved when the Technician brought droves of researchers.
The first thing he noticed with his new senses was that he was underground. The second was that he didn’t know how to talk without a mouth. Apparently, his new company had a list of expected inquiries, and they set out to answer as many questions as he might have.
Someone explained that they had already moved his body to a secure area, and in order to make use of his nascent abilities, his new form was taken to a suitable location. It made sense to him; if he was supposed to be a place where soldiers trained to fight monsters and get stronger, then they needed it somewhere hidden away from people who might accidentally wander in. Guards were apparently placed outside the entrance, but when he tried to separate his focus from the polished black orb, his sight grew dim and indistinct. They mentioned that sort of thing was expected, and once they placed him on a pedestal, he would be able to ‘feel’ his Domain more clearly.
He learned over time what a Domain was and how to use it, guided by the researchers and the occasional soldier or knight who stopped by to see how Altier was performing. He summoned his first creature using his stockpile of mana, though the spider wasn’t very threatening. Apparently, the pool of his new resource incremented passively based on how large he was, and would strengthen his abilities, but it also required an upkeep to maintain. He could get more by analyzing new materials, objects, or whatever else he hadn’t seen before, and he gained a larger amount by absorbing something—after inspecting it, ideally. Beginning as a single room, neither the upkeep nor income was particularly exciting, but the researchers also had a solution to that: Invaders.
‘Invader’ was a term that referred to any creature that entered his Domain, and although he gained mana during their occupation, they were also a threat to the core. His imminent concern for his safety was abated by the Technician quickly assuring him that, in the unlikely event that the core was destroyed, he would be transferred back to his body without any ill effects, but it would also bring an end to the agreement that prevented his family from being crushed by financial demands. He quietly reiterated the point until it stuck, then waited through the explanation until he had most of his questions answered.
Sadly, the Altier back then didn’t know what questions to ask.
Once he worked out how to summon and manage the most basic of creatures, his guides urged him to build and expand, which took some getting used to. A single room became a hub of connections, and despite the advice given, he metaphorically banged his head against the wall that was trying to close off his core. It just didn’t work; any walls would refuse to be built, containers would topple before they fell over him, and everything else he tried ended just as unspectacularly. Something would always be able to reach him if they had the desire to.
Eventually, he was put through mock ‘invasions’ where fresh trainees fought his creatures, reached the core, then stopped to place a hand on it before leaving, taking some of his mana as a reward. He didn’t understand how it worked, but he learned that people could ‘absorb’ some experience to fuel their affinity if they touched him. The more experienced he became, the more that invaders received, and the more experience he got from defending his core from increasingly powerful invaders. It was a cycle he could comprehend, and it put to rest the lingering fear that someone would try to break his core.
There was also something of an exchange going on; coloured motes were left behind on the core’s surface, then slowly absorbed. Each time it happened, he gained a little more insight on how to integrate new things into his dungeon—first a small pool of water, then a fire, then other things that seemed fairly removed from the concept of ‘Decay.’ As soon as a researcher noticed what was going on, the Technician encouraged Altier to specialize in a particular element, since that was apparently more efficient. With a few more long-winded explanations, he had figured out how to hide anything that wasn’t related to Decay within his ‘menu,’ and focused on making himself as strong as he could.
Mock invasions became a regular occurrence, each one taking place after he had the chance to patch holes in his strategy or adjust rooms. He discovered that expanding downwards was an option, but doing so meant that he needed a ‘Boss’ to precede the stairs. The selection unsettled and excited him. A skeleton was what ended up guarding the way deeper into his Domain, and at the insistence of his guides, he left the new creature…monster…? He left his new creation as it was and set about expanding the second floor. Thankfully, the task went smoother since he knew what to do, and soon enough, he was the proud owner of ten floors. Every boss focused on testing what the knights and soldiers knew about fighting and teamwork, and every floor down grew harder and harder to contest.
Altier’s first ‘victory’ was gained when his ‘invaders’ surrendered on the ninth floor. He had been proud of that; they weren’t expecting him to branch into using animal as well as humanoid skeletons. A well-placed Ox made short work of their forces, but stopped before doing more than bashing them around. The thrill of defending his core was incomparable. He also gained access to some more cosmetic options for his existing structures, including the ability to write on a sign if he so wished—though doing so was prohibitively expensive. He didn’t care; a sign was put near the entrance within seconds, asking if someone would mind letting him know when letters arrived from his parents, and to write his reply to send back.
To his relief, it wasn’t much longer before a letter did arrive. He was delighted to hear that all was well, yet sad when he wasn’t able to attend his brother’s wedding. It was a simple affair, true, but he would have liked to go. He asked the person who was kind enough to read it out for him to pen his response, then got back to improving his Domain. His family was doing well, and if being the best dungeon he could be would ensure their happiness lasted as long as possible, then he would be just that.
Ten floors became twenty. Twenty became forty. He hit one-hundred floors after constant effort, happily using signs to ‘talk’ through short phrases with the nicer groups of ‘invaders’, while he mostly ignored the rest. It was too hard to keep track of everyone after a while, but he was supposed to be a training ground, so he kept up doing what he was supposed to, mentally smiling when someone he was keeping tabs on managed to overcome a challenge they were struggling with. Some got stuck on certain floors, unable to adapt to new creatures, while others had a hard time traversing the increasingly long voyage to his core. He made small recovery rooms for a party that thanked him for the challenge, filling basins with food and water, then instructed his creatures not to bother anyone inside.
Surprisingly, the group accepted his offer of rest with gratitude that seemed excessive. They spoke to the walls, regaling him of their various journeys and the humorous events spread throughout. He enjoyed the time spent focusing on that area, as well as the gifts people sometimes left behind. Each new item was transferred to a room near his core, where he kept a collection of keepsakes ranging from books to tarnished jewellery that had more sentimental value than monetary. Still, it was all priceless to him, displayed proudly next to the letters he received regularly from his family.
His one-hundred floors became two-hundred, and he struggled to find recurring visitors after some time. The soldiers grouped up into parties of five or six, venturing into the dungeon with the goal of increasing the strength of small units. Altier adjusted the difficulty to accommodate, dialing back the force he once used to combat near endless waves of knights. Magic was something that came from the change in tactic, much to his surprise. It was weak, but pretty much everyone who tried the dungeon could light a torch or chill their water. He wasn’t well-learned about what any particular element could do, but he was glad to see that his new participants were indeed getting stronger.
The two-hundred floors became three-hundred, which then became four-hundred. Altier’s creatures would have been terrifying if it wasn’t for the fact that he had yet to kill anyone, the skeletal monstrosities looming through corridors like horrific nightmares made manifest. He was pleased to find that they listened rather dutifully when he said to escort those who surrendered to the entrance, which was most people. In fact, hardly anyone ever made it to his core anymore, despite the jump in power of various magics he often saw. Flamethrowers, earthen spikes, empowered bodies, and many more effects were in play within each party that tried to conquer his trial. A particularly adept group eventually placed their hand on the obsidian sphere, taking suffocating amounts of mana, while also leaving a thick haze of their own. His creatures became far stronger for it, and so he adjusted the difficulty once more, wondering when they would try to best him again. Unfortunately, they never did, but he saw some people who shared a striking resemblance, and the newcomers were easily more magically inclined. It was fun to challenge them.
The cycle repeated, though he wasn’t sure when the Technician stopped visiting. Altier was too busy keeping his end of the deal, improving the crown’s army in exchange for giving his family a life they deserved. He did notice something wrong after the letters started taking a while to come, and although the contents filled him in on the newest events, things started seeming…out of character. The feeling tickled at his mind, but it was fine. They were happy and well.
How foolish he was.
A party entered shortly after he completed his six-hundredth floor, instantly setting off an incomparable feeling of dread. His senses warped when he tried to focus on them, blocking everything in their vicinity from his view. It took a bit for him to figure out why, but they were carrying something that sucked the mana out of the very dungeon itself, and his unbidden instincts screamed that whatever it was needed to be destroyed. He reacted without thought, releasing everything he determined too dangerous for simple training in a bid to drive them out.
It wasn’t enough. He watched the void travel floor after floor, leaving nothing but dismembered skeletal creatures in their wake. Veritable monsters were slain, chimeras he had worked on as a side project became incinerated dust, and the signs he left for the weary were torn off the walls. A voice bellowed through his halls from the darkness he couldn’t see, declaring what was happening.
They were not there to train. In order to defend against a force threatening the kingdom, they needed power, and in order to gain that, they needed his mana. His experience. All of it.
They were there to break the core under the king’s decree.
Altier’s nonexistent heart stopped, memories of how impoverished his family used to be flashing through his mind, and with a near silent refusal, he let the instincts to get rid of the invaders swallow him whole.
By the time he calmed down, it was to a pit of blackness and a dull pull in his ephemeral chest stopping him from being able to do anything. He could still ‘hear’ though, and he heard the choking breaths of a single man in his core’s room. He heard the bitter laughter that followed accusations of dooming the very world…as well as sympathies for what the pale, sickly, Decay-afflicted man had gone through.
Altier could only listen as the man told him how his dungeon was hundreds upon hundreds of years old, and how the party had been briefed on its history. He listened as the man spoke of the letters that were to be presented to the dungeon every scant decade, yet always claimed to be given every few months. The groups he befriended had left to start families of their own, and their children returned to befriend him as well, continuing the cycle and passing it on in a generations-long tradition. He listened as he ignored the warnings popping up, the transient text telling him that his mana production was insufficient to support the dungeon. That he was dying.
When the man perished, and the dungeon collapsed piece by piece, Altier listened to silence, because there was nothing else he could do.
Nothing besides reading the text that lingered in his vision amidst the warnings.
[Priority assignment: Prevent the End — Failure]
- - - - -
Altier ‘looked’ at the dim orb that seemed so much like his own, its small form sat next to dust that might have once been the man who unveiled all those truths so long ago. He didn’t know how long it had been since then, only that he was still alone. He wasn’t even angry anymore; the energy needed to feel rage or sorrow was gone. He was just lonely.
[Attempting to reestablish Mana Well…Failure.]
The core dismissed the message absently, more than aware of what it read. Thousands of the notifications had passed by, interspersed by various abilities and whatever else becoming ‘corrupted.’ He didn’t care anymore. His dungeon was his pride at some point, but now he just wanted to feel the sunlight that slowly dimmed as night claimed the evening sky. It would be nice to see the stars again. Or just outside, assuming there was anything left to see. Maybe it was all a desolate wasteland.
[Restructuring Affinity: Decay…Failure.
Reorganizing libraries…Failure.
Re—]
[Error. Ability ‘Avatar of Decay’ has been corrupted. Please provid—]
[Error. System corruption exceeding threshold. Please provide a valid framework.]
[Error. Affi—]
It might as well be. He sold himself to ensure his family’s well-being, but how many of those letters were real? Did they have a good life, receiving word that their ‘brave boy’ was healthy and happy? He hoped so. All there was left to do was watch the thin glow of the outside shift. Eventually, that draining orb the floor would run out of things to take from him. And to think that he just wanted those he cared about to be well…
[Error. Stability compromised. System integ—]
Altier roused from his trance, lethargically shifting his focus to a flicker of shadow near the deteriorated entrance. How strange it was to have his core room be right next to outside, yet he didn’t recall how that came to be. Magic, possibly, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to care. He was tired of numbers and percentages. Of values and skeletons. He was tired of being a dungeon, and of being alone.
A rock—a pebble, really—tumbled into the shallow curved hallway that acted as the path to his core, a strange sound getting louder. He ‘felt’ his brow furrow in perplexion before he actually considered what was happening. That was a voice. Speech. Someone was talking.
He was stunned silent before enthusiasm could build. A gaunt bipedal creature entered the cave, though it was decidedly not human. Taloned feet supported two legs, though they walked on their toes, he supposed. Its skin was reptilian, the pale black colour still managing to look plush, if dry. A thick, long tail swayed slowly to correct its weight, shifting its tattered garment that looked more like worn burlap than clothing. Nervous hands fiddled with chipped claws and felt along the wall, a lack of care rendering them dull and dirty. Fearful, exhausted eyes wandered the cave, the grey irises showing a pained soul underneath an etched smile on otherwise soft features.
Altier ransacked his memory as the creature nervously looked for something in his desolate ‘dungeon,’ recalling a crude painting in one of his old books. It was a kobold, though they shouldn’t have been anywhere near the kingdom, not that it mattered now. The scaly occupant muttered to itself, their voice soothing and feminine in a language he didn’t know. He wouldn’t have minded the conversation, but it was a moot point; he lost the ability to write on signs long ago. A part of him was surprised he would talk with a monster from his stories. He was never overly involved with his fellow humans—excluding his family and the odd party in his rest areas—but he figured there would be more resistance. There was no point in thinking about it. It would leave when it realized there was nothing here, and he would be alone again.
The last thing he would have expected was the kobold noticing a dusty obsidian orb sat atop crumbled stone, then excitedly picking said orb up to hold against its chest, its chirps of excitement filling the quiet room. Or, it would have been the last, if not for the messages that appeared.
[Compatible library found! Synchronizing…Error. Framework is incompatible.
Restructuring framework…Error.
Redefining framework…Error.
Replacing framework…Success.
Restructuring framework…Success.
Defining Affinity…Error.
Redefin—
Error.
Error.
Err0r.
Er44#%$@.
Rein#$^!@zing…Er$&*or.
Domaaaaaa#@%in…Er^r.
@%$%#$R.
Aff%$^: Null…Su^@!#ss.
D#@%^a@#n Es^!@l%#@ed!—]
[Null]
[Pr#%y #@$nment: ERRRR#*#$RRR—]
[Null]
[Priooooooority Assignmentmentmnet: B#&#$^—]
[Null]
Next

While exploring a sprawling Dwarven city, your players learn that two massive monsters have escaped their confines and are hiding within the town’s borders. Can your party track down the reptilian creatures before they wreak havoc on the townsfolk? Or will the beasts run amok?
This quest was designed for a party of 6 level 11 players, but can be easily adapted if your party has a different amount of players or are at a higher or lower level. I ran this at my own table, and then made a few tweaks based on how it went, so I’d love to hear what you think! Without further ado, let’s get started!
Part 1: A Reptilian Caper
You can set this quest in pretty much any city, but I chose to run it in a town named Tinhagen. Built inside the peak of a mountain, the expansive city is the capital of the Dwarven kingdom, lit not by the sun but oil lamps and lava canals. It’s here that your party will come across a very strange group of characters who call themselves the Melted Rock Club.
Wearing orange robes and hats that look a bit like volcanoes, the Club is dedicated to their pseudoscientific, questionably magical studies. Most of their “research” is on things like moon dust in the water supply that turns people into werewolves, or uncovering deep state conspiracies in the Dwarven government. While a lot of it is outright wrong, sometimes they do stumble on an interesting discovery, and in this case, they need your players’ help to contain it.
The Club came across two eggs belonging to draconic creatures known as behir: Long and slender, behir sport 12 legs, sharp teeth and lightning breath to boot. So naturally, the Club thought it best to try and raise the creatures… Only now they’ve escaped, having somehow gotten out of their cage. Their only lead is that the creatures’ caretaker, named Dorda, is missing, too.
Not wanting to involve the local authorities for obvious reasons, the Club will task your players with finding and returning the two behirs - either dead or alive. When I ran this quest, I made the reward information: In exchange for helping out, the Club gave the party the location of a downed astral ship that was crucial to one players’ backstory. Tying this into the party’s own adventures is a great way to get the players interested in the hook. But considering the nature of their studies, it’s not unreasonable that the Club would have a magic item lying around for a reward, or at the very least, money.
No matter the prize, once your players accept the task of finding both lost lizards, you’ve got a quest on your hands!
Part 2: Leads on Lizards
Since their only real clue as to what happened is the behir’s handler is missing, the Club will give your party a few leads they can investigate as to her whereabouts. Dorda enjoys hanging out at a tavern known as the Underkeep, so the patrons there may be able to tell them a bit more about what she’s been up to, but the party will be warned that folks there don’t always take kindly to outsiders. Second, they know Dorda has a home across town. Your players could do some snooping, so long as they don’t get caught breaking and entering by any guards.
Whether your players decide to follow one or both leads, they’ll be able to get the information they need in order to find the missing behir. But I’ll take you through both sides of the quest, until they eventually join back together in the end. Let’s start with a trip to a tavern.
Part 3: In the Underkeep
The Underkeep is in a more residential part of town, away from the main thoroughfares and shopping centers that most visitors to the city would haunt. Outside it doesn’t look like much: it sits between two buildings, and is only a metal hatch in the ground with a sign above that says the tavern name with an arrow pointing down. Opening the gate and climbing a ladder inside, the party will find a small tavern lit by hanging lamps, with a long stone bar and quiet vibe. Unless your party is made entirely of dwarves, they’ll get a lot of dour looks from the bar’s regulars as they enter.
The dwarves in this place aren’t keen to talk to visitors, especially not about their own. So your party will need to find a way to win them over before they’re willing to divulge any information. They could do this in a lot of different ways: Buying drinks for the regulars, striking up some friendly conversation with good Persuasion checks, playing them in games of chance, or simply offering coins in exchange for information. It might even take a combo of all four depending on how they roll and what they’re willing to give up for a good lead. If you have any dwarves in your party - or anyone who speaks Dwarvish - that’ll also make things a little easier.
If they can warm themselves up to the locals, eventually they’ll learn that Dorda was in here just a few days ago. She seemed a bit out of sorts, and was asking the barkeep about their cousin, a butcher named Horrigan who runs a shop in the Sweatstone Terrace - not the city’s nicest district. If they want to keep following the trail, they’ll have to pay him a visit.
Part 4: A Trail of Blood
The Sweatstone Terrace is where the less-fortunate of Tinhagen hang out - sad pubs with only a few patrons, boarded up stores, beggars on every corner. As outsiders, your party will get more than a few glances from the shadier locals who hang out here - and if your players are itching for combat, this could be a good place to throw in some muggers or corrupt town guards looking to make some quick coin off your party. But eventually, they’ll reach Horrigan’s butcher shop.
The small store has hooks hanging out front that skewer various cuts of meat - mountain goat, bats, cave lizards. It mostly looks good - though some may be turning a bit green around the edges - and inside Horrigan is more than happy to try and sell them on any of his products. If they ask about Dorda, he’ll let them know he doesn’t remember anyone coming by with that name, and a successful insight check would show he appears to be telling the truth. But if they push a little further, he will reveal something strange happened recently: While unloading a cart out back, he noticed that some of the meat seemed to disappear between trips to get it into the shop. Thieves taking a little off the top wasn’t uncommon, but he was surprised to see several large cuts of meat go missing.
If they decide to check out back, the party will need to use Survival or Investigation to try and figure out what happened. With a high enough roll - DC 16 to be precise - they’ll notice small drops of blood that lead away from the back of the store to a nearby alley. At the end of the passage is a heavy grate that leads into the sewers below. It seems whoever took the meat escaped underground.
Part 5: Breaking and Entering
That was only one potential path, though! Your party may instead decide to head for Dorda’s home, which is in a neighborhood that’s nicer than the Terrace. While no bandits will accost them, that does mean there are more guards patrolling the streets - so they’ll need to be a little sneakier when they get to her abode.
Her house is a small one, with a small, potted fungal garden out front and only a few rooms. It’s a simple DC 15 check to get into the door or break the latch on a window, but you might want to roll to see if any guards happen by while they’re attempting to get inside. If so, you could have the player with the highest passive perception pick up on their approach, so the party can react accordingly. Similarly, if they fail their check to get in, I’d have some guards pass by regardless, to make sure there’s a small “consequence” for not getting it on the first try.
Once inside - and hopefully not arrested - they’ll find that the home consists of a bedroom, kitchen and small entryway. Here they can make Investigation or Perception checks to try and pick up on any clues as to Dorda’s whereabouts. Depending on how high they roll, they may find a few things: First are books on the shelf that talk about transmutation, illusion and other forms of magic - hints that Dorda might be a bit more competent of a spellcaster than the rest of the Melted Rock Club. Second are clothes piled up in a corner that are stained and smell terrible. Smart players may already begin to suspect she’s been stomping through the sewers below.
Most importantly though, they can find a small note stuffed under her simple mattress. It only has a few words on it, but they’re all in Dwarvish, so your party will need to translate to see what it says. The note reads: “Otug,” which is a dwarven name, and “Court of City Planning.” That’s their next destination.
Part 6: Bribes and Bureaucrats
Leaving Dorda’s home behind, the party will need to head toward the Cut of Courts, a wide street lined on either side with offices where the city’s government runs things. They’ll pass courts that deal with banking, law, mining affairs, housing records - until eventually, they reach the Court of City Planning. Entering inside and asking about Otug, the dwarf will be reluctant to meet with them. But if they bring up Dorda, they’ll be escorted back to his office.
Otug is gruff and abrasive, but also very corrupt. He’ll let the party know that for a simple bribe, he’ll tell them whatever they’d like about Dorda - after all, she bribed him first. If they’re willing to pay, or can come up with some other clever method to get him to talk, Otug will tell them that Dorda had asked for access to the city’s sewer plans. Pay him enough, and he’ll even point out on the map what section of the plumbing she seemed most interested in. No matter which route they chose, your players are heading down below.
Part 7: Behold the Behirs
Once your party knows they need to head into the sewers, they’ll have to navigate the labyrinth of tunnels and spoiled water that stretch underneath Tinhagen. If they talked with Otug and got more precise information, you could give them Advantage on investigation or survival checks made to get through the sewers, whereas if they went to the butcher, you could have them still following the trail of blood to find their way. You could also throw some encounters in there for them to find: Flocks of bat-like monsters called stirges, crazy old men who live underground, rat swarms chewing on old food scraps.
Eventually the party will reach an area where four pipes converge on one central chamber. The water is a bit deeper toward the center, where it pools around an open, rusted pipe that juts up out of the sewage in the middle of the room. If they check out that pipe, they may notice bits of bone contained within, as well as large, reptilian footprints and scratches in the rust that forms on the exterior. It seems they’re in the right place.
After a bit of waiting here, they’ll begin to hear footsteps approaching from one of the pipes. It’s up to them whether or not they want to hide, but if they do, they’ll see a dwarven woman with reddish hair and simple brown robes enter the chamber. That’s Dorda. She carries a sack full of meat shanks over one shoulder, and if the party doesn’t intervene, she’ll empty it into the central pipe. At that point, she’ll begin banging on the rusted metal… And the beasts will approach. The behirs are coming to feed.
From this point, there are several ways this quest can proceed. The first and most straightforward is combat. If your party attacks Dorda or are caught off-guard when she summons her two behirs, which will come bounding down two of the tunnels and into the room, it’ll be time to roll initiative. For Dorda, you can use the Illusionist wizard’s stat block in Monsters of the Multiverse, or just scale back the mage stat block in the monster manual. If you have less players or they’re a lower level, you could also have one behir instead of two. Between a powerful bite, lightning breath, constriction that’ll restrain your players and the ability to swallow a target whole, behirs can be a very tough challenge for your party.
All that said, this quest doesn’t have to end in fighting! If your party decides to confront Dorda verbally instead of going on the attack, or they manage to restrain her before she can summon her monsters, they’ll have the opportunity to talk it out. She speaks Common, and will explain that as the behir’s keeper, she was worried about whatever experiments the Melted Rock Club wanted to do on the creatures. Monsters or not, she believes they deserve better, and so snuck them out by casting Reduce to get them through the door late at night when nobody was around, and down into the sewers below.
She wants to release the creatures into the mountains beyond, and has been keeping them here in the sewers until she can find a way to smuggle them out. She’s finally managed to negotiate a deal with some shadier merchants to have them secretly shipped out of the city, she just needs to wait another day until they’re ready to go.
Now your players have a choice to make. If they let Dorda get the creatures out of the city, then the Melted Rock Club will refuse to give them their reward. Not to mention, these creatures are powerful and dangerous, so releasing them could have consequences for travelers heading to and from Tinhagen. But on the flip side, is it really right to leave these creatures in the hands of weird pseudoscientists who might do all sorts of strange experiments on them?
I’ll leave that decision up to your party. But if they decide to go against Dorda and turn the giant lizards in, then she will fight back with any means necessary - and without her to control them, so will the behirs. Whether they take down Dorda and capture the monsters, or let her save her precious pets, that’ll mark the end of this adventure.
Part 8: Conclusion
If the behirs are returned to the Club, dead or alive, they can claim their prize and be on their way. If they helped Dorda in the end, maybe they could still lie their way to the information or riches they wanted, or take up a different job instead. Maybe there’s even a middle ground they can find between both sides, so everybody ends up happy. Whatever they choose, at least the party can rest easy knowing those beasts won't be stalking the sewers any longer… And the city’s butchers can rest easy knowing their product won’t keep being stolen.
Thanks for reading, and if you end up running this at your table or have suggestions for how to make it even better, I’d love to hear them in the comments! Good luck out there, game masters!

While exploring a sprawling Dwarven city, your players learn that two massive monsters have escaped their confines and are hiding within the town’s borders. Can your party track down the reptilian creatures before they wreak havoc on the townsfolk? Or will the beasts run amok?
This quest was designed for a party of 6 level 11 players, but can be easily adapted if your party has a different amount of players or are at a higher or lower level. I ran this at my own table, and then made a few tweaks based on how it went, so I’d love to hear what you think! Without further ado, let’s get started!
Part 1: A Reptilian Caper
You can set this quest in pretty much any city, but I chose to run it in a town named Tinhagen. Built inside the peak of a mountain, the expansive city is the capital of the Dwarven kingdom, lit not by the sun but oil lamps and lava canals. It’s here that your party will come across a very strange group of characters who call themselves the Melted Rock Club.
Wearing orange robes and hats that look a bit like volcanoes, the Club is dedicated to their pseudoscientific, questionably magical studies. Most of their “research” is on things like moon dust in the water supply that turns people into werewolves, or uncovering deep state conspiracies in the Dwarven government. While a lot of it is outright wrong, sometimes they do stumble on an interesting discovery, and in this case, they need your players’ help to contain it.
The Club came across two eggs belonging to draconic creatures known as behir: Long and slender, behir sport 12 legs, sharp teeth and lightning breath to boot. So naturally, the Club thought it best to try and raise the creatures… Only now they’ve escaped, having somehow gotten out of their cage. Their only lead is that the creatures’ caretaker, named Dorda, is missing, too.
Not wanting to involve the local authorities for obvious reasons, the Club will task your players with finding and returning the two behirs - either dead or alive. When I ran this quest, I made the reward information: In exchange for helping out, the Club gave the party the location of a downed astral ship that was crucial to one players’ backstory. Tying this into the party’s own adventures is a great way to get the players interested in the hook. But considering the nature of their studies, it’s not unreasonable that the Club would have a magic item lying around for a reward, or at the very least, money.
No matter the prize, once your players accept the task of finding both lost lizards, you’ve got a quest on your hands!
Part 2: Leads on Lizards
Since their only real clue as to what happened is the behir’s handler is missing, the Club will give your party a few leads they can investigate as to her whereabouts. Dorda enjoys hanging out at a tavern known as the Underkeep, so the patrons there may be able to tell them a bit more about what she’s been up to, but the party will be warned that folks there don’t always take kindly to outsiders. Second, they know Dorda has a home across town. Your players could do some snooping, so long as they don’t get caught breaking and entering by any guards.
Whether your players decide to follow one or both leads, they’ll be able to get the information they need in order to find the missing behir. But I’ll take you through both sides of the quest, until they eventually join back together in the end. Let’s start with a trip to a tavern.
Part 3: In the Underkeep
The Underkeep is in a more residential part of town, away from the main thoroughfares and shopping centers that most visitors to the city would haunt. Outside it doesn’t look like much: it sits between two buildings, and is only a metal hatch in the ground with a sign above that says the tavern name with an arrow pointing down. Opening the gate and climbing a ladder inside, the party will find a small tavern lit by hanging lamps, with a long stone bar and quiet vibe. Unless your party is made entirely of dwarves, they’ll get a lot of dour looks from the bar’s regulars as they enter.
The dwarves in this place aren’t keen to talk to visitors, especially not about their own. So your party will need to find a way to win them over before they’re willing to divulge any information. They could do this in a lot of different ways: Buying drinks for the regulars, striking up some friendly conversation with good Persuasion checks, playing them in games of chance, or simply offering coins in exchange for information. It might even take a combo of all four depending on how they roll and what they’re willing to give up for a good lead. If you have any dwarves in your party - or anyone who speaks Dwarvish - that’ll also make things a little easier.
If they can warm themselves up to the locals, eventually they’ll learn that Dorda was in here just a few days ago. She seemed a bit out of sorts, and was asking the barkeep about their cousin, a butcher named Horrigan who runs a shop in the Sweatstone Terrace - not the city’s nicest district. If they want to keep following the trail, they’ll have to pay him a visit.
Part 4: A Trail of Blood
The Sweatstone Terrace is where the less-fortunate of Tinhagen hang out - sad pubs with only a few patrons, boarded up stores, beggars on every corner. As outsiders, your party will get more than a few glances from the shadier locals who hang out here - and if your players are itching for combat, this could be a good place to throw in some muggers or corrupt town guards looking to make some quick coin off your party. But eventually, they’ll reach Horrigan’s butcher shop.
The small store has hooks hanging out front that skewer various cuts of meat - mountain goat, bats, cave lizards. It mostly looks good - though some may be turning a bit green around the edges - and inside Horrigan is more than happy to try and sell them on any of his products. If they ask about Dorda, he’ll let them know he doesn’t remember anyone coming by with that name, and a successful insight check would show he appears to be telling the truth. But if they push a little further, he will reveal something strange happened recently: While unloading a cart out back, he noticed that some of the meat seemed to disappear between trips to get it into the shop. Thieves taking a little off the top wasn’t uncommon, but he was surprised to see several large cuts of meat go missing.
If they decide to check out back, the party will need to use Survival or Investigation to try and figure out what happened. With a high enough roll - DC 16 to be precise - they’ll notice small drops of blood that lead away from the back of the store to a nearby alley. At the end of the passage is a heavy grate that leads into the sewers below. It seems whoever took the meat escaped underground.
Part 5: Breaking and Entering
That was only one potential path, though! Your party may instead decide to head for Dorda’s home, which is in a neighborhood that’s nicer than the Terrace. While no bandits will accost them, that does mean there are more guards patrolling the streets - so they’ll need to be a little sneakier when they get to her abode.
Her house is a small one, with a small, potted fungal garden out front and only a few rooms. It’s a simple DC 15 check to get into the door or break the latch on a window, but you might want to roll to see if any guards happen by while they’re attempting to get inside. If so, you could have the player with the highest passive perception pick up on their approach, so the party can react accordingly. Similarly, if they fail their check to get in, I’d have some guards pass by regardless, to make sure there’s a small “consequence” for not getting it on the first try.
Once inside - and hopefully not arrested - they’ll find that the home consists of a bedroom, kitchen and small entryway. Here they can make Investigation or Perception checks to try and pick up on any clues as to Dorda’s whereabouts. Depending on how high they roll, they may find a few things: First are books on the shelf that talk about transmutation, illusion and other forms of magic - hints that Dorda might be a bit more competent of a spellcaster than the rest of the Melted Rock Club. Second are clothes piled up in a corner that are stained and smell terrible. Smart players may already begin to suspect she’s been stomping through the sewers below.
Most importantly though, they can find a small note stuffed under her simple mattress. It only has a few words on it, but they’re all in Dwarvish, so your party will need to translate to see what it says. The note reads: “Otug,” which is a dwarven name, and “Court of City Planning.” That’s their next destination.
Part 6: Bribes and Bureaucrats
Leaving Dorda’s home behind, the party will need to head toward the Cut of Courts, a wide street lined on either side with offices where the city’s government runs things. They’ll pass courts that deal with banking, law, mining affairs, housing records - until eventually, they reach the Court of City Planning. Entering inside and asking about Otug, the dwarf will be reluctant to meet with them. But if they bring up Dorda, they’ll be escorted back to his office.
Otug is gruff and abrasive, but also very corrupt. He’ll let the party know that for a simple bribe, he’ll tell them whatever they’d like about Dorda - after all, she bribed him first. If they’re willing to pay, or can come up with some other clever method to get him to talk, Otug will tell them that Dorda had asked for access to the city’s sewer plans. Pay him enough, and he’ll even point out on the map what section of the plumbing she seemed most interested in. No matter which route they chose, your players are heading down below.
Part 7: Behold the Behirs
Once your party knows they need to head into the sewers, they’ll have to navigate the labyrinth of tunnels and spoiled water that stretch underneath Tinhagen. If they talked with Otug and got more precise information, you could give them Advantage on investigation or survival checks made to get through the sewers, whereas if they went to the butcher, you could have them still following the trail of blood to find their way. You could also throw some encounters in there for them to find: Flocks of bat-like monsters called stirges, crazy old men who live underground, rat swarms chewing on old food scraps.
Eventually the party will reach an area where four pipes converge on one central chamber. The water is a bit deeper toward the center, where it pools around an open, rusted pipe that juts up out of the sewage in the middle of the room. If they check out that pipe, they may notice bits of bone contained within, as well as large, reptilian footprints and scratches in the rust that forms on the exterior. It seems they’re in the right place.
After a bit of waiting here, they’ll begin to hear footsteps approaching from one of the pipes. It’s up to them whether or not they want to hide, but if they do, they’ll see a dwarven woman with reddish hair and simple brown robes enter the chamber. That’s Dorda. She carries a sack full of meat shanks over one shoulder, and if the party doesn’t intervene, she’ll empty it into the central pipe. At that point, she’ll begin banging on the rusted metal… And the beasts will approach. The behirs are coming to feed.
From this point, there are several ways this quest can proceed. The first and most straightforward is combat. If your party attacks Dorda or are caught off-guard when she summons her two behirs, which will come bounding down two of the tunnels and into the room, it’ll be time to roll initiative. For Dorda, you can use the Illusionist wizard’s stat block in Monsters of the Multiverse, or just scale back the mage stat block in the monster manual. If you have less players or they’re a lower level, you could also have one behir instead of two. Between a powerful bite, lightning breath, constriction that’ll restrain your players and the ability to swallow a target whole, behirs can be a very tough challenge for your party.
All that said, this quest doesn’t have to end in fighting! If your party decides to confront Dorda verbally instead of going on the attack, or they manage to restrain her before she can summon her monsters, they’ll have the opportunity to talk it out. She speaks Common, and will explain that as the behir’s keeper, she was worried about whatever experiments the Melted Rock Club wanted to do on the creatures. Monsters or not, she believes they deserve better, and so snuck them out by casting Reduce to get them through the door late at night when nobody was around, and down into the sewers below.
She wants to release the creatures into the mountains beyond, and has been keeping them here in the sewers until she can find a way to smuggle them out. She’s finally managed to negotiate a deal with some shadier merchants to have them secretly shipped out of the city, she just needs to wait another day until they’re ready to go.
Now your players have a choice to make. If they let Dorda get the creatures out of the city, then the Melted Rock Club will refuse to give them their reward. Not to mention, these creatures are powerful and dangerous, so releasing them could have consequences for travelers heading to and from Tinhagen. But on the flip side, is it really right to leave these creatures in the hands of weird pseudoscientists who might do all sorts of strange experiments on them?
I’ll leave that decision up to your party. But if they decide to go against Dorda and turn the giant lizards in, then she will fight back with any means necessary - and without her to control them, so will the behirs. Whether they take down Dorda and capture the monsters, or let her save her precious pets, that’ll mark the end of this adventure.
Part 8: Conclusion
If the behirs are returned to the Club, dead or alive, they can claim their prize and be on their way. If they helped Dorda in the end, maybe they could still lie their way to the information or riches they wanted, or take up a different job instead. Maybe there’s even a middle ground they can find between both sides, so everybody ends up happy. Whatever they choose, at least the party can rest easy knowing those beasts won't be stalking the sewers any longer… And the city’s butchers can rest easy knowing their product won’t keep being stolen.
Thanks for reading, and if you end up running this at your table or have suggestions for how to make it even better, I’d love to hear them in the comments! Good luck out there, game masters!

While exploring a sprawling Dwarven city, your players learn that two massive monsters have escaped their confines and are hiding within the town’s borders. Can your party track down the reptilian creatures before they wreak havoc on the townsfolk? Or will the beasts run amok?
This quest was designed for a party of 6 level 11 players, but can be easily adapted if your party has a different amount of players or are at a higher or lower level. I ran this at my own table, and then made a few tweaks based on how it went, so I’d love to hear what you think! Without further ado, let’s get started!
Part 1: A Reptilian Caper
You can set this quest in pretty much any city, but I chose to run it in a town named Tinhagen. Built inside the peak of a mountain, the expansive city is the capital of the Dwarven kingdom, lit not by the sun but oil lamps and lava canals. It’s here that your party will come across a very strange group of characters who call themselves the Melted Rock Club.
Wearing orange robes and hats that look a bit like volcanoes, the Club is dedicated to their pseudoscientific, questionably magical studies. Most of their “research” is on things like moon dust in the water supply that turns people into werewolves, or uncovering deep state conspiracies in the Dwarven government. While a lot of it is outright wrong, sometimes they do stumble on an interesting discovery, and in this case, they need your players’ help to contain it.
The Club came across two eggs belonging to draconic creatures known as behir: Long and slender, behir sport 12 legs, sharp teeth and lightning breath to boot. So naturally, the Club thought it best to try and raise the creatures… Only now they’ve escaped, having somehow gotten out of their cage. Their only lead is that the creatures’ caretaker, named Dorda, is missing, too.
Not wanting to involve the local authorities for obvious reasons, the Club will task your players with finding and returning the two behirs - either dead or alive. When I ran this quest, I made the reward information: In exchange for helping out, the Club gave the party the location of a downed astral ship that was crucial to one players’ backstory. Tying this into the party’s own adventures is a great way to get the players interested in the hook. But considering the nature of their studies, it’s not unreasonable that the Club would have a magic item lying around for a reward, or at the very least, money.
No matter the prize, once your players accept the task of finding both lost lizards, you’ve got a quest on your hands!
Part 2: Leads on Lizards
Since their only real clue as to what happened is the behir’s handler is missing, the Club will give your party a few leads they can investigate as to her whereabouts. Dorda enjoys hanging out at a tavern known as the Underkeep, so the patrons there may be able to tell them a bit more about what she’s been up to, but the party will be warned that folks there don’t always take kindly to outsiders. Second, they know Dorda has a home across town. Your players could do some snooping, so long as they don’t get caught breaking and entering by any guards.
Whether your players decide to follow one or both leads, they’ll be able to get the information they need in order to find the missing behir. But I’ll take you through both sides of the quest, until they eventually join back together in the end. Let’s start with a trip to a tavern.
Part 3: In the Underkeep
The Underkeep is in a more residential part of town, away from the main thoroughfares and shopping centers that most visitors to the city would haunt. Outside it doesn’t look like much: it sits between two buildings, and is only a metal hatch in the ground with a sign above that says the tavern name with an arrow pointing down. Opening the gate and climbing a ladder inside, the party will find a small tavern lit by hanging lamps, with a long stone bar and quiet vibe. Unless your party is made entirely of dwarves, they’ll get a lot of dour looks from the bar’s regulars as they enter.
The dwarves in this place aren’t keen to talk to visitors, especially not about their own. So your party will need to find a way to win them over before they’re willing to divulge any information. They could do this in a lot of different ways: Buying drinks for the regulars, striking up some friendly conversation with good Persuasion checks, playing them in games of chance, or simply offering coins in exchange for information. It might even take a combo of all four depending on how they roll and what they’re willing to give up for a good lead. If you have any dwarves in your party - or anyone who speaks Dwarvish - that’ll also make things a little easier.
If they can warm themselves up to the locals, eventually they’ll learn that Dorda was in here just a few days ago. She seemed a bit out of sorts, and was asking the barkeep about their cousin, a butcher named Horrigan who runs a shop in the Sweatstone Terrace - not the city’s nicest district. If they want to keep following the trail, they’ll have to pay him a visit.
Part 4: A Trail of Blood
The Sweatstone Terrace is where the less-fortunate of Tinhagen hang out - sad pubs with only a few patrons, boarded up stores, beggars on every corner. As outsiders, your party will get more than a few glances from the shadier locals who hang out here - and if your players are itching for combat, this could be a good place to throw in some muggers or corrupt town guards looking to make some quick coin off your party. But eventually, they’ll reach Horrigan’s butcher shop.
The small store has hooks hanging out front that skewer various cuts of meat - mountain goat, bats, cave lizards. It mostly looks good - though some may be turning a bit green around the edges - and inside Horrigan is more than happy to try and sell them on any of his products. If they ask about Dorda, he’ll let them know he doesn’t remember anyone coming by with that name, and a successful insight check would show he appears to be telling the truth. But if they push a little further, he will reveal something strange happened recently: While unloading a cart out back, he noticed that some of the meat seemed to disappear between trips to get it into the shop. Thieves taking a little off the top wasn’t uncommon, but he was surprised to see several large cuts of meat go missing.
If they decide to check out back, the party will need to use Survival or Investigation to try and figure out what happened. With a high enough roll - DC 16 to be precise - they’ll notice small drops of blood that lead away from the back of the store to a nearby alley. At the end of the passage is a heavy grate that leads into the sewers below. It seems whoever took the meat escaped underground.
Part 5: Breaking and Entering
That was only one potential path, though! Your party may instead decide to head for Dorda’s home, which is in a neighborhood that’s nicer than the Terrace. While no bandits will accost them, that does mean there are more guards patrolling the streets - so they’ll need to be a little sneakier when they get to her abode.
Her house is a small one, with a small, potted fungal garden out front and only a few rooms. It’s a simple DC 15 check to get into the door or break the latch on a window, but you might want to roll to see if any guards happen by while they’re attempting to get inside. If so, you could have the player with the highest passive perception pick up on their approach, so the party can react accordingly. Similarly, if they fail their check to get in, I’d have some guards pass by regardless, to make sure there’s a small “consequence” for not getting it on the first try.
Once inside - and hopefully not arrested - they’ll find that the home consists of a bedroom, kitchen and small entryway. Here they can make Investigation or Perception checks to try and pick up on any clues as to Dorda’s whereabouts. Depending on how high they roll, they may find a few things: First are books on the shelf that talk about transmutation, illusion and other forms of magic - hints that Dorda might be a bit more competent of a spellcaster than the rest of the Melted Rock Club. Second are clothes piled up in a corner that are stained and smell terrible. Smart players may already begin to suspect she’s been stomping through the sewers below.
Most importantly though, they can find a small note stuffed under her simple mattress. It only has a few words on it, but they’re all in Dwarvish, so your party will need to translate to see what it says. The note reads: “Otug,” which is a dwarven name, and “Court of City Planning.” That’s their next destination.
Part 6: Bribes and Bureaucrats
Leaving Dorda’s home behind, the party will need to head toward the Cut of Courts, a wide street lined on either side with offices where the city’s government runs things. They’ll pass courts that deal with banking, law, mining affairs, housing records - until eventually, they reach the Court of City Planning. Entering inside and asking about Otug, the dwarf will be reluctant to meet with them. But if they bring up Dorda, they’ll be escorted back to his office.
Otug is gruff and abrasive, but also very corrupt. He’ll let the party know that for a simple bribe, he’ll tell them whatever they’d like about Dorda - after all, she bribed him first. If they’re willing to pay, or can come up with some other clever method to get him to talk, Otug will tell them that Dorda had asked for access to the city’s sewer plans. Pay him enough, and he’ll even point out on the map what section of the plumbing she seemed most interested in. No matter which route they chose, your players are heading down below.
Part 7: Behold the Behirs
Once your party knows they need to head into the sewers, they’ll have to navigate the labyrinth of tunnels and spoiled water that stretch underneath Tinhagen. If they talked with Otug and got more precise information, you could give them Advantage on investigation or survival checks made to get through the sewers, whereas if they went to the butcher, you could have them still following the trail of blood to find their way. You could also throw some encounters in there for them to find: Flocks of bat-like monsters called stirges, crazy old men who live underground, rat swarms chewing on old food scraps.
Eventually the party will reach an area where four pipes converge on one central chamber. The water is a bit deeper toward the center, where it pools around an open, rusted pipe that juts up out of the sewage in the middle of the room. If they check out that pipe, they may notice bits of bone contained within, as well as large, reptilian footprints and scratches in the rust that forms on the exterior. It seems they’re in the right place.
After a bit of waiting here, they’ll begin to hear footsteps approaching from one of the pipes. It’s up to them whether or not they want to hide, but if they do, they’ll see a dwarven woman with reddish hair and simple brown robes enter the chamber. That’s Dorda. She carries a sack full of meat shanks over one shoulder, and if the party doesn’t intervene, she’ll empty it into the central pipe. At that point, she’ll begin banging on the rusted metal… And the beasts will approach. The behirs are coming to feed.
From this point, there are several ways this quest can proceed. The first and most straightforward is combat. If your party attacks Dorda or are caught off-guard when she summons her two behirs, which will come bounding down two of the tunnels and into the room, it’ll be time to roll initiative. For Dorda, you can use the Illusionist wizard’s stat block in Monsters of the Multiverse, or just scale back the mage stat block in the monster manual. If you have less players or they’re a lower level, you could also have one behir instead of two. Between a powerful bite, lightning breath, constriction that’ll restrain your players and the ability to swallow a target whole, behirs can be a very tough challenge for your party.
All that said, this quest doesn’t have to end in fighting! If your party decides to confront Dorda verbally instead of going on the attack, or they manage to restrain her before she can summon her monsters, they’ll have the opportunity to talk it out. She speaks Common, and will explain that as the behir’s keeper, she was worried about whatever experiments the Melted Rock Club wanted to do on the creatures. Monsters or not, she believes they deserve better, and so snuck them out by casting Reduce to get them through the door late at night when nobody was around, and down into the sewers below.
She wants to release the creatures into the mountains beyond, and has been keeping them here in the sewers until she can find a way to smuggle them out. She’s finally managed to negotiate a deal with some shadier merchants to have them secretly shipped out of the city, she just needs to wait another day until they’re ready to go.
Now your players have a choice to make. If they let Dorda get the creatures out of the city, then the Melted Rock Club will refuse to give them their reward. Not to mention, these creatures are powerful and dangerous, so releasing them could have consequences for travelers heading to and from Tinhagen. But on the flip side, is it really right to leave these creatures in the hands of weird pseudoscientists who might do all sorts of strange experiments on them?
I’ll leave that decision up to your party. But if they decide to go against Dorda and turn the giant lizards in, then she will fight back with any means necessary - and without her to control them, so will the behirs. Whether they take down Dorda and capture the monsters, or let her save her precious pets, that’ll mark the end of this adventure.
Part 8: Conclusion
If the behirs are returned to the Club, dead or alive, they can claim their prize and be on their way. If they helped Dorda in the end, maybe they could still lie their way to the information or riches they wanted, or take up a different job instead. Maybe there’s even a middle ground they can find between both sides, so everybody ends up happy. Whatever they choose, at least the party can rest easy knowing those beasts won't be stalking the sewers any longer… And the city’s butchers can rest easy knowing their product won’t keep being stolen.
Thanks for reading, and if you end up running this at your table or have suggestions for how to make it even better, I’d love to hear them in the comments! Good luck out there, game masters!

First / Previous
Suzanne thought it was absolutely brilliant of me to put books on a flash drive for Sun. She explained that Sun wasn’t as sophant (her word, not mine) as she might seem, more of a repository of information, but she was fairly intelligent. It was how she was able to connect Andrew being in pain to the fact that I was friends with Andrew, and that I would want to know that he was in trouble. Apparently some of Sun’s species had given some ‘wisdom’ to others in the past and it had made its way into mythology.
The key fact was that she was not smart enough to protect herself and her kind from the clever, organized poachers. With that information in mind, it was fascinating for me to think of how Sun took in and organized what she learned. It was almost as if she was a walking, talking library.
On the topic of tours, my first one went wonderfully, and I’m almost hoping Suzanne lets me do more of them. I know not all the tourists are going to be as awesome as these people were, but Suzanne gave me a lot of slack when it comes to dealing with them. She actually said that being a smartass is not grounds for dismissal, and that if I’m sarcastic or facetious to guests who are being ‘daft’ and they complain, she really doesn’t care. Is this the perfect job for me or what?
There were four guests in this party, two adults who were sisters and two children of one of the women, brothers aged thirteen and seventeen. The tour was a birthday gift for the older of the boys from his aunt, since apparently he was passionate about animal protection and conservation.
When they arrived at the front gate, I was sitting at Andrew’s desk, going over the booklet of information one last time. When the visitors pressed the button that sounded the alert buzzer, I tucked away in a drawer and let them in. I did have a cheat sheet with information about the animals on my phone just in case, a brief notation of each of them and which enclosure they were in, but I really didn’t need to use it.
Exiting through the front door, I saw them walk up the path toward me. “Hi, I’m Ripley,” I said, holding out a hand toward the woman closest to me.
She shook it firmly. “I’m Denise. This is my sister Carla and my nephews, Wesley and Jason,” she said, motioning to each of them in turn.
“I heard it’s your birthday,” I said to Wesley, giving him a smile. “You’re interested in animal conversation?”
“Back where we live, yeah,” he said, nodding. “The animals that you’ve got here are incredible. I can’t wait to see them.”
“Well, I can’t wait to show them to you,” I said. “Right this way.”
I led them on the path around the building, toward enclosure one. Despite the horrific memories of the animal killing Stanley’s friends, I knew it was just an animal, and I had to push past my feelings on what had happened. Keeping a small smile on my face, I motioned to the enclosure. “Fiercely territorial and amazing hunters, despite their large size, they’re arboreal and known to dart from tree to tree with barely a sound. This is one of only about two thousand left in existence.”
“Two thousand, three hundred and fifty six at last count,” spoke Wesley, his eyes on the trees.
I blinked, surprised and impressed. “Well that was fantastic. Do you plan on stealing my job when you graduate?”
Wesley looked at me with a grin. “Nah, everyone knows Suzanne only offers humans this gig. And I want to help animals like this one get off the endangered species list. The zoos are great for awareness and fundraising, but then the money has to go somewhere. I want to be doing the real work.”
“That’s really great,” I told him. “I wish you all the best in that career path.” At that, we saw the animal climb down from the tree, wandering a few yards from the tree line. This was because 90% of the time, when humans were at their enclosure and making noise, whether it was speaking to each other or calling out to the animal, it was someone bringing them prey to eat. Or, in my case, enrichment toys to play with.
“Whoa,” Wesley whispered.
“How close can we get?” spoke up Jason.
“The warding starts at the fence,” I told him with a small gesture. “So, just there.”
Both boys wandered closer and I glanced at their parents. It seemed that Suzanne’s zoo had a serious reputation for high quality invisible walls, because they didn’t look worried in the slightest about the boys being hurt or killed.
“They prefer dense forest as their home and have been known to make their nests in trees up to twenty meter in the air,” I continued. “And when hunting, they’ve been seen dropping eight meters straight down. They have incredibly dense yet flexible musculature, which allows them to tackle their prey without injuring themselves.”
There was more information about the animal that I continued to rattle off, though Wesley chimed in at certain points with the info I was about to convey. That was highly entertaining and very cool. When I’d been in school, I’d never met anyone who had my level of passion about endangered animals. I wondered if things were better where these folks came from, but realized that considering there were so few of these animals left, I guessed not.
The animal paced a little bit, seemingly waiting to see if we were the kind of humans that came bearing food, before deciding we weren’t and climbing back up into the trees as easily as I would climb some stairs.
As we moved onto enclosure two, Jason spoke up. “Are there any animals here we can touch or feed or something?”
I sighed inwardly before slowing to a stop. “Well, can you show me your hands?” Jason looked bemused, holding out his hands. “I mean…they both look like they’re in great shape. You can stand to lose one.”
The two women chuckled and Wesley smirked as Jason shoved his hands into his pockets. “Very funny.”
Grinning, I started walking again. “The animals here are all carnivores and all predators. You get to see them, but that’s it.”
“Alright.”
When we reached enclosure two, I started on my next spiel. “We’ve got three reanimated dead in this enclosure,” I spoke. They were just coming out from the trees as we arrived, presumably having heard our approach. “Marissa, Connor, and Bradley. They were donated by families who knew where they would be exhibited. Their next of kin, whoever they are, can’t stand the idea of putting them down. But we need to make sure they don’t have access to corpses, because one of them plus one corpse equals two of them.”
“They eat flesh though, don’t they?” Wesley asked.
I nodded. “Oh, yeah, but it’s from bodies that have already been dismembered. There’s no chance of them being affected by the transformation because it’s all parts.”
“Oh, got it.”
The creatures with blueish-white skin had superhuman strength, which is why they qualified for the security of Suzanne’s zoo. They also were likely the source of any Earth tales of people being brought back to life as zombies, specifically draugr, according to my research. They smelled like rotting flesh, so even as I kept talking about them and giving a background to the people they used to be, we were quick to move on once Wesley had gotten a good, long look at them.
“Enclosure four’s animal is a vampiric spirit. He’s a small, hairy humanoid creature with pointed ears. He wears a hat, and if he somehow loses it, he freaks out,” I said.
“They eat horses,” Wesley noted. “Also anything that gives them the chance to sit on it, usually catching them by surprise while they’re sleeping.”
The creature came out from the brush, giving us a suspicious look. He wasn’t in his humanoid form though; for some reason, he’d chosen to shapeshift to a dog.
I nodded. “Yep, indeed. Once the prey is dead, then he’ll eat it, and he has a voracious appetite. We have two wolves and two bears in the forest, which is one of the reasons I’ve got some self-defense items,” I said, patting my belt where my pepper spray (rated for bear) and my taser. “But the wards keep them out of this area of the zoo, so it’s really not much of a worry. It’s also a known shapeshifter, preferring the form of a dog, as you can see, as well as a cat, a snake, or even white butterflies, though the last one is rare.”
“The white butterflies are supposed to be a sign of good luck,” Wesley said, glancing to me. “Too bad we got the dog.”
“Yeah, otherwise you might be able to talk your mom into getting scratch-offs on your way home, huh?”
Wesley smirked at me.
The next enclosure was Spike, and he was waiting for us, dripping wet from having just emerged from the lake. I gave the introductory information about him, which included his propensity for eating animal eyes, nails, and teeth. “Recently, I’ve given him some enrichment activities, and I learned he likes artichokes, pecans, and hazelnuts,” I said, taking a bag out from my cargo shorts. “Wesley, do you want to toss this bag into the enclosure?”
The boy’s eyes widened and he nodded excitedly. He took a look into the paper bag before wrapping down the top to make sure nothing would fly out. Then he chucked it underhand past the fence. It landed a few yards from Spike, who waddled over to it quickly and tearing the bag open, spilling out the prizes inside. As the animal ate the pecans and hazelnuts, Wesley asked, “How’d you figure out he likes those?”
“It’s not all about taste,” I told him. “It’s mainly the difficulty of getting them out of the shells. He’s used to having to work for the parts of his prey he likes the most, so this mimics that activity, and he enjoys the process. I tried a bunch of different foods to find a few he liked.”
“Cool,” Wesley murmured, staring at him.
We watched Spike eat until he’d finished and then he went back into the woods, leaving us to move onto enclosure five. Japanese camellia were plentiful here, a type of pink flower, and that was because they grew anywhere near one of his species made their den. “This girl spends most of her time in the lake also,” I said, as the creature made its way toward the fence separating us from it. “But as you can see, she’s just as curious as the rest about what we’re doing here and whether we have food for her. She eats fish mostly, but she also regularly gets live prey.”
This creature was a spider-like monster, having six legs with long claws on each, and the head of an ox with two sharp horns. She was capable of shapeshifting to look like a human, but I guessed that she wasn’t fond of it, since I hadn’t yet seen her in that form.
“She prefers the easy way of catching prey, so to speak, by hiding in the lake and pouncing when something comes for a drink of water,” I explained. “Apparently humans are some of her favorite prey. She has an advantage of being able to spit poison, which often hits her prey in the eyes. But it’s usually used in defense rather than offense, since it secretes a limited amount.”
“What kind of animal would even go after something like this?” Jason asked, staring at her.
“Never discount one of its own species when you’re thinking about what might attack an animal,” I replied. “There are places that are breeding all of the animals here, but competition for mates is common. That means an advantage in a fight, like poison or venom, can make or break who the winner is.”
“Ah, gotcha.”
“It can’t spit past the warding, right?” Carla suddenly asked.
“Oh, no,” I assured her. “We’re fine. The wards wouldn’t let anything cross over.” She nodded, appeased.
The animal in enclosure six was the ginormous seal-hippo, Fiona, and she was looking at us as if she was imagining sprinkling us with herbs and spices and stuffing us in an oven. “This girl is one animal I’m going to work on enrichment activities for next,” I told them. “She prefers to feed on crayfish, though she’s happy to eat any humans that wander into her territory. She’ll even make a sound like a baby crying to reel us in. I’ve heard it a bunch of times.”
“Can you get her to make the sound?” Jason asked, perking up.
I grinned. “Not on command, sorry.”
“What enrichment are you thinking of trying?” Wesley asked.
“Possibly food placed in puzzle feeders,” I told him, “since she has claws that are pretty dexterous. Maybe a piñata made out of newspaper with flour inside, or a scarecrow that mimics a human.”
“Awesome,” he muttered.
After a little more educational tidbits, we moved onto Yui’s enclosure. “What is that?” Wesley asked, smiling.
“I got Yui the closest thing I could to a ping-pong ball,” I replied. “She quite likes it.”
“That’s so funny,” he said as she came out of the trees in her spider form. “I mean, the idea of her being a bloodthirsty hunter who seduces men to their deaths and eats them alive, but then on the other hand, she likes playing with something like this.”
“It is a little funny,” I agreed. “But when it comes down to it, all the animals here enjoy activities besides hunting.”
“She can shapeshift to look human, right?” asked Jason, trying to be casual about knowing something factual like his nerdy brother.
I nodded. “She looks like a woman from a region of Earth called Japan. And she’ll use strategies like holding out a hand to shake to get you closer. She tried that on me when I first got here but, as you can see,” I said, holding up my hands and waving them, “I didn’t fall for it.”
The boys both laughed as they got closer to the fence, watching her slowly pace near the trees.
Next was Sun, but she didn’t make an appearance as I spoke about her species. “Well…unfortunately we can’t guarantee that every animal comes out to say hi,” I sighed. “But…oh wait, here she is.”
The green lion with several horns and many eyes along her flank came out from the forest. “Hello,” she spoke.
“Hi, Sun,” I replied. “We have visitors.”
“What’s that?” Wesley asked suddenly, pointing at the small plastic bag that was still where I’d left it.
“Oh! That is Sun’s enrichment,” I said with a smile. “I put dozens of books on a flash drive and found that she can read them just like she’d read a shelf of books.”
Wesley’s eyes widened. “Wow. I don’t think I’ve read about anyone trying that before. That’s really cool.”
“The books are new and interesting,” Sun spoke, drawing our attention. “I’m grateful for them.”
I nodded to her. “You’re quite welcome.”
The next animal, unfortunately, wasn’t there, and we waited around for ten minutes as we discussed him. He was large and reptile-like with red eyes, with its hind legs and tail making him look vaguely like a kangaroo. Then, enclosure ten was a terrifyingly disturbing creature, the not-a-centaur with no skin, that I’d only seen a few times while walking my route. It gave a good demonstration of its ferocity, showing its sharp teeth and snapping at us a few times.
“I’m thinking of trying salt licks and other horse enrichment like a big bouncy ball,” I told Wesley, whose eyebrows went up at that. “Maybe give him more things to forage like scattered grains or a box filled with pinecones and seeds. Foraging is a huge part of a horse’s life in the wild, and humans have to do a lot of activities like that to keep pet horses busy. Of course, he also loves the little salt-water lake that was built for him.”
We spent some time looking at the animal before moving past our last stop, the empty enclosure of the animal was stolen. Carla glanced at me with a sad smile, knowing what had happened, it seemed. I gave her a nod as we continued on our way, walking into the office. “So, I hope everyone enjoyed themselves!” I said with a smile.
“That was the coolest birthday present I’ve ever gotten,” Wesley said, looking to Denise. “Thanks so much, seriously.”
“It was my pleasure,” she said with a nod. “I’d never been here before, and knew I’d find it fascinating. Thank you for the educational aspect,” Denise said, glancing at me. “I learned quite a lot.”
“Happy to hear it,” I said, returning the nod.
As I escorted the guests out of the zoo and locked the door behind them, I reflected on how much I’d changed. The first time I’d seen Yui’s tarantula form, I’d nearly passed out from fear. Now here I was, walking tourists around like it was no big deal. Humans really can adapt to anything, it seems.
That afternoon, Suzanne had texted me that she was coming by after my shift, and I met her in Andrew’s office, shutting the door to the security room behind me. “How’s Andrew?” I asked first thing.
“He’s doing well,” she said with a wide smile. “Back on non-hospital food. He’s allowed to order food on his phone, and to hear it from him, that’s the best news he’d received in a long time.”
I chuckled. “I guess some clichés are true for a reason.”
“Indeed.” She took a breath. “All right. Ripley…I would like to discuss something with you.”
My face went slack at the serious tone in her voice. “I’m not… Am I being fired?”
“What? No!” she exclaimed. Then she chuckled softly. “No, it’s nothing like that. Just, here, let’s have a seat.” Suzanne walked over to the couch and sat at one end, and I took the other. “There’s something I need to tell you. Something I’ve kept from you, that I wanted to keep from you until you found your sea legs here.”
“Well…I have,” I said with a nod. “So, what is it?”
Suzanne took a breath. “I knew your mother.”
The words hung in the air for a moment before making their way to my ears. It was a perfectly logical sentence, and yet it didn’t make any sense. “What?” I finally managed.
“When you graduated college, I decided to move the zoo from Italy to within driving distance of your home,” she said softly. “Near enough to your town that you’d see the advert. We ignored any other applicants and I hoped you’d apply. Actually, I expected you’d apply. Not just for the money, but considering the field you wanted to go into. As soon as I’d found out your major, I knew.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” I said, holding up a hand. I pinched the bridge of my nose. “How do you know Patricia?”
“She owned the zoo before I did,” Susan explained. “Fourteen years ago…she was working to track an injured animal that we could bring into the zoo and she was killed by poachers.”
My heart calcified in my chest and a lump lodged in my throat. As my breaths became shaky, I stared at her in shock. “She…she’s really dead?”
“You suspected?” she asked softly.
“It…” I swallowed hard. “We had her declared legally dead after…I don’t know, seven years I think. My dad wanted to go after her for child support, but the police said…they said they couldn’t find…” Tears came to my eyes and I blinked them back before I met Suzanne’s gaze. “She owned the zoo?”
Suzanne nodded. “It was her baby, you’d say. When Patricia passed, I inherited it, which we’d discussed beforehand, a legal just-in-case that I never expected her to need. I’m under the impression that you were told she went to Africa for her photography career, but she was in fact going to remote areas back in my home world almost every time.”
“But I-I saw the photos,” I said, my eyes narrowing. “You’re telling me she put on a show of getting pictures that someone else took for us to see every time she visited? Did my dad even know?”
“I suppose that’s an accurate way to put it, putting on a show. And no, your father was never told. It’s not the way of things to tell humans unless it’s necessary. I won’t bore you with the details, but us and humans, we’re distant relatives, so we can still have children. But it wasn’t planned. Your mother fell in love with your father despite herself; she hadn’t meant to find love. Then she became pregnant with you and…well, the rest is history.”
“I think she had a different definition of love than the one I have,” I said tightly. “You’d think she’d have put her survival as more of a priority. Put being with the man she ‘loved’ as a priority. Her kids needed her. I needed her. She signed up when she became a mom. She could’ve screwed up all the time but she couldn’t even manage that one job: be there. When I was in the hospital, I kept thinking, ‘Where is she?’ and now you’re telling me that she put these animals above being there for her kids, and this whole time she’s been dead.”
“The hospital?” she asked, furrowing her brows.
“Never mind,” I said tersely, averting my gaze.
Suzanne hesitated before she nodded slowly. “I’m sorry for your loss, and not just for her death, Ripley,” she told me. “Patricia was…well, a ‘free spirit’ would be putting it gently. She always assumed the world would be there for her whenever she needed it.”
Staring at her for a long moment, I shook my head. “Why? Why come here and hire me?”
“I thought that would be obvious,” she said, smiling. “Your mother was so passionate about this place and once I found out your college major, I figured you would be as well.”
“Did you know that I hate her?” At that, Suzanne’s expression froze on the edge of shock. “She…she left us,” I whispered. “Didn’t tell us who she was or what she really did for a living and gave us no closure. And even when she was here, it was just visiting. Her real home was her work. She could give me all the presents she wanted, but even when she was here, half the time she was still on her computer doing work. It’s not like that stereotype of never making it to my tennis practice or something; it’s that it always felt like she was only partially here, even when I was sitting next to her. I don’t even know if I appreciate her turning me into a wildlife fanatic because it…it…makes me feel like I’m close to her in a way that’s just infuriating. She loved the animals more than she loved us.”
“Oh, Ripley-”
“Don’t,” I said, shoving myself to my feet. “Don’t try to convince me otherwise.”
“I wasn’t going to,” she said quietly. I pursed my lips. “I was going to say that I’m sorry that was the case. Your mother was…flawed, just like any other person. She had two loves in this world: her family and her work. And often, her work overcame her, her zeal for environmentalism getting in the way of being a good mum. She left your father trying to fill the role of two parents, holding your family together. You and your brother and your father, you all deserved better than that.”
My lower lip quivered but I bit down on it hard. It would’ve been a lot easier for me if she’d been speaking from a place of clueless reassurance about all this. But everything she said was making sense and that meant I didn’t have someone in front of me to be angry with.
“Why didn’t you tell me when Andrew hired me?” I sighed, sitting back down on the couch.
“Well, like I said, I wanted you to find your sea legs,” she said with a small smile. “I didn’t want the truth affecting whether or not you wanted to work here, whether you wanted to stay here after finding out about what the animals are. It would’ve complicated things, the emotions you’ll have to work through now that you know the truth. Whether or not you decide to give another tour, you also know what they’re like. That’s the benchmark I wanted you to reach before you found out about who you are.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Who I-” My face went slack. “Wait.”
Suzanne nodded slowly. “You’re only half human. Your brother too.”
The room seemed to tilt on an axis for a moment. “That means I’m also half…what?”
“We call ourselves Eldritch, these days,” she replied.
My eyes bugged out. “What?” I exclaimed. “So you’re all, like, gods or something?”
Suzanne burst out laughing. “Oh no, goodness, no,” she chuckled. “It’s just a word. We live in a very different world from this one, and a few generations ago we discovered the word and it made its way into our lexicon. But it does mean you can see all the animals. Indeed you did, on the tour you gave.”
“Wait, no, I had the glasses that…” I stopped. “Did those glasses do anything?”
She gave a sly smile and shook her head. “Not a thing. You made incredibly quick progress, and then when it came time for the tour, all you needed was to expect to see the animals, and you did.”
Genetics. That’s what Andrew had said during our interview, that part of how many animals you could see was determined by genetics. I guess having a mother who was originally from the other dimension gave me all the genes I needed to see everything here. “Could I…visit your world?” I asked tentatively. “You said that my mom took photos of the animals there. Could I…” My voice trailed off, not even sure if or how I wanted to finish that sentence.
“Those who are half human, especially those who are raised on Earth, don’t come visit,” she said gently. “I could show you some photos of other animals, and I could loan you as many books as you’d like, but it’s simply not a place where you’d be safe.”
“Oh,” I said, leaning into the couch cushion as I pictured the animals in the zoo. “Yeah, actually that…makes sense.” I paused. “So, what now?”
“It’s up to you,” she said. “I wanted to wait until I was sure you were comfortable with your position here, and then put the ball in your court. And so it is. What do you want to do now?”
What did I want to do? It wasn’t that difficult a question, just a deep, serious one.
I wanted to thrive, as the animals did. This is my enrichment now, working at an incredible, wonderful, terrifying zoo. The experience so far hasn’t been perfect, and I know there are risks, but life isn’t about staying safe. It’s about learning new things and making a difference in the world. And, if you’re lucky, having a job that’s something really special.
THE END
First / Previous

Chapter One
.
.
Prev
-Sometime the following morning-
Taritha awoke to the unsettling sound of silence. She stared up at the heavy beams and planks of her new ceiling, feeling a wave of vertigo as she tried to recall where she was. For the first time in her life, she had woken up in an unfamiliar place. As she shifted, the magical mattress adjusted beneath her, and the memories flooded back. She was in the mage’s extraordinary factory-fortress-palace. She lived here now. A smile spread across her lips at the thought. Understanding the bed’s quirks now, it no longer bothered her. She got up confidently to start her day, instinctively ducking her head as she had in her old hovel. Straightening up, she noted that even if she jumped, her fingertips wouldn’t reach the beams above.
Taking in her sparse surroundings, her problems presented themselves. She couldn’t wash without warm water. She had no fire to heat the water. She also didn’t have any water.
There’s warm water in the dining hall, down on the first floor on the opposite corner of the huge building.
She sighed with resignation. So far away.
The young herbalist put on her official White Flame industries skirt and blouse, shaking out the wrinkles. As she slipped it on, a thought crept into her mind. It seemed like she’d overlooked the whole reason for the factory.
What if she didn’t have to go herself? Do the imps have a maximum range?
She invoked her imps, directed them to don their dresses and hats, then commanded, “Lady Bluebird, go to the kitchen and fetch me a large mug of hot water!” Her voice trembled a bit, unsure if she was doing it right, or inviting fresh disaster.
“Merp!” the tiny imp in a blue dress confirmed. It tugged the heavy bedroom door, to no avail.
Taritha pulled it open a crack, and the hellspawn squeezed out to bound down the hallway and out of sight.
While she waited for it to return, she emptied out her family’s ancient iron cook pot to use as a wash basin. It was mostly clean, even if it smelled of a thousand meals and was a bit sooty. She scarcely had it empty when her imp returned, a gorgeous iridescent mug of water held high over its sun-hatted head, trailing steam behind it. The little monster placed it on the floor in front of her, and stood with its ‘sisters’ in a row.
Truly a magical place, the water runs!
She dabbed one of her old raggy washcloths into the hot water to wash her face, neck and arms. Seeing the used water in the wash basin, another problem occurred to her. She couldn’t just fling it into the woods, not without a long walk. But this problem was just the mirror image of her first problem.
“Lady Crossbill and Miss Goldfinch, dump this water down the latrines, and then clean the pot, and return it to the room.” The red and yellow dressed imps merped in unison, and sprinted away with the wide iron pot, not spilling anything despite their speed. “Come Lady Bluebird, it’s time for breakfast!”
She walked the halls with a new perspective. It might be just that she was better rested, it might be that her first two real imp tasks worked perfectly but she could feel her misgivings fade already. It was exactly like she imagined nobles lived. One just says one’s wants out loud, and it becomes someone else’s problem. She used to think it was unfair, but now that she saw the other side of it, there was definitely some merit to the system. Besides, based on what Mage Thippily said, it wasn’t like the imps were even aware that they were serving, so it was no hardship to them.
She could smell breakfast as she came down the stairs. More accurately, a lord’s breakfast. Instead of porridge, she could smell bacon and eggs and fresh buns. As she came around the corner she stopped in involuntary panic, seeing that the counter crawled with tiny imps, darting about and wielding knives and spatulas as big as they were.
Of course, who else would make the meals here?
Some imps stood on the cooktop, entirely unaffected by the sizzling eggs on either side of their hooves, while others sliced fruit and veggies with phenomenal precision.
"Morning, Taritha! Hungry? How about a bit of everything?” Klive grinned. He wore an apron while ordering imps about the kitchen. He held a wooden spoon like a marshal's baton. There were far more imps than his three, but he commanded them all.
“Uh, sure?” She was badly overwhelmed, but hungry.
There were a few of the guards at a table, but none of the directors were to be seen. She overcame her shyness to sit with them, beside Jourgun.
“Good mornin’ Miss, how was your sleep?” he asked cheerfully.
“Took me a few tries to figure out the magic bed, but once I got that sorted, I don’t think there is even a comparison! I slept so well, and I feel great today!”
“Good! I’m glad you got it, Theros slept on the floor last night! Superstitious ninny!”
Theros rolled his eyes and raised his hands in frustration. “Dammit, you don’t have to tell everyone about that! Also I’m not superstitious, it’s just that the thing moved! I had no way of knowing it was safe! There’s demons here you know!” He hissed the last bit, as if he was worried that the demons were listening.
“Hah! Sure, not everyone has the courage of a peasant girl!” Jourgun asserted as he ate a thick slice of bacon. “No offence, miss.”
“I bet I face more scary things in a week than you lot do in a month! You should aspire to be as brave as a peasant girl!” she retorted with a smile. She wasn’t actually offended but it was important not to let things slide. She leaned over to whisper to her imp what kind of tea she’d like, and smiled even wider as it darted into the chaotic kitchen.
“Aye, my blood would run cold if I had to deal with sick wee ones, and dying old ones! I see you’re already getting the hang of these imps! I think Lord Thippily was too modest, they are way better than he let on,” the burly guard said.
“Mage Thipilly,” Taritha corrected.
“Might be Mage-Lord now, he owns productive lands now don’t he?” Rikad asked between bites of eggs covered with creamy dill sauce.
“Might be Archmage-Lord, I bet he’s better at magic than any of ‘em back at the mainland!” Theros speculated.
“Those terms have definitions he doesn’t meet, and that’s a poor way to speak of your betters.” Somehow Aethlina was standing behind them. Her tone was icy, which wasn't unusual for her. “I have business at the sawmill, two of you will accompany me.”
“At once, mi’lady.” Jourgun said, bowing deeply while wiping his face on his napkin. He smacked Theros on the shoulder as he rose, ”Just a moment for us to get our armour on!” The two men jogged out of the dining hall to the armoury.
The elv perched beside Taritha, her feet on the seat with her hands behind her back. It looked natural enough when she did it, but Taritha couldn't even imagine sitting in that posture.. The mysterious elv was wearing a stately flowing robe with the hood down, her plumage and narrow neck marking her inhuman heritage. The lighting was good enough for Taritha to see she was entirely covered in a nearly invisible fine downy fur. The conversation was entirely stopped, as all the humans became intensely interested in their plates, avoiding eye contact. The silence stretched and grew.
“So what are the requirements of those titles, Aethlina?” Taritha finally asked. In a society where forms of address and titles were the entire basis of one’s identity it was an important question. Calling Aethlina by name was a daring move to assert equality. Taritha blushed immediately, wondering if demons were already corrupting her manners.
Aethlina regarded her for long moments. “A Lord is nobility, a privilege granted by one’s liege. In this case, the Duke of Wavegate, which hasn’t been granted. The archmage title is awarded by the College of Magic upon completing ritualised tests, which he hasn’t done.” She kept her intense gaze on Taritha. “In the future, address me as Director of Operations, or Director Aethlina.”
“Yes, Director Aethlina. Thank you,” Taritha said with a gulp. The silence hung heavy, but the young herbalist was grateful for two imps when they delivered a plate heaped with breakfast. The imps exuded an air of comical authority. They both wore finely tailored miniature coats, complete with brass buttons and tiny cravats. Miniature satchels hung over their shoulders, and wide-brimmed hats, slightly askew, completed their meticulous ensembles, making them look like a caricature of a pair of merchants ready to strike a bargain.
The breakfast tasted even better than it smelled, and was her sole focus, anything to distract herself from the elv sitting beside her. Thankfully her relief came soon, as Aethlina rose.
“Strive to have a productive day,” Aethlina said, her voice cool and distant. She glided out the door to the central yard, her preternatural hearing picking up the faint sounds of Jourgun and Theros jogging back from the armoury. Clad in full mail and armed, they rushed across the dining hall to catch up to the Director.
“Addressing her by name?! I DO aspire to your courage! Maybe not your recklessness!” Rikad whispered once the heavy oak door to the yard shut behind the armoured men.
“What was I thinking? Light purify me! At least I lived to tell the tale!” She sighed with a bit of a tremble. She finished the rest of her meal and started to clear her dishes.
“Leave 'em, that's not people-work any more!” Klive called from the kitchen. She stopped, leaving a mess felt wrong, but she understood the reasoning. With a hurried thanks and a wave she darted out to the factory floor, where she hoped to find Mage Thippily. She’d assumed her normal lessons were on hold while he ramped up the factory, but knew she ought to double check.
The mage was exactly where she expected to find him, in the centre of his great production floor, surrounded by countless imps. It took her a second to remember that he was in no way limited to three like the rest of them were. It looked like an entire society of imps were darting around him. She stood in awed silence, just watching the spectacle of production. Raw materials eroded before her eyes as they took one plank, one bolt of cloth or cask of linseed oil at a time, as quick as a hen might peck for seeds. The imps themselves were perfectly silent, other than the odd ‘Merp’ as new commands were issued, but their tools made a jarring racket. There was sawing, planing, hammering, and other actions she couldn’t even describe.
“Oh, good morning, Miss Witflores! I’ll be with you in just a moment!” he said distractedly, before giving yet another series of commands to the imps.
“That’s fine, I just wanted to confirm that–” she started.
“I think they’ve got it now. Let’s watch them complete their orders, and we can start today’s lessons,” the demonologist said, taking off his wireframe glasses to clean the lenses on his shirtsleeve. Taritha noticed sawdust in his hair and beard.
The tiny imps began taking raw materials less frequently, while finished goods piled up at the far end of the line. The demonologist was fully focused on their work, so she remained silent, observing him. His lips twitched as if he was about to give new orders, but then relaxed. This happened almost constantly, his eyes darting from one end of the chaos to the other, as alert as a cat watching a squirrel.
Once the last dresser was built and stacked with the other furniture, they doubled back. The tiny, and to her eye naked, imps cleaned the entire area, replacing their tools and sitting cross-legged in a neat grid, covering a fair portion of the work area.
“Perfect! Just as I’d hoped!” The mage turned to leave the factory floor, and gestured for her to follow. “We’ll do your lessons in my chambers today. I’ll inspect their work later.”
“Oh, alright. We don’t–” She hustled to catch up with him.
“Actually today’s lesson will be a short one, I’ve some field work I’d like you to perform!” Demonologist Thippily was more energetic than she’d ever seen him. Gone was the normal weight of introspection and worry, in its place was a tornado of activity. If it wasn’t in bad taste, given his profession, she’d have even called him a man possessed.
“So as you are doubtlessly aware from our earlier discussions on mana field density coefficients, there is usually a slight natural variation?” he said as they ascended the steps to the third floor.
“I, uh, probably?” she said. The words were familiar, but didn’t connect to any concept in her mind.
“Anyways, there is a field of mana everywhere, like oxygen in air. And sometimes that mana is slightly more concentrated, and slightly less, again not that dissimilar to oxygen.” he continued as they walked quickly down the third floor hallway to his chambers.
“Yes! We breathe that!” she agreed confidently.
“I noticed that my imps were moving a bit slower today, which suggests they might be over-consuming local energies. Though powered by hellplane energy, the conduits rely on normal ambient mana.” He pushed his door open, revealing his chambers, more than twice the size of Taritha's.
The room was divided into distinct areas: a sleeping area, a library with a massive desk, and a cosy section with comfortable chairs for entertaining. These spaces were thoughtfully partitioned by plants, bookshelves, and painted room dividers. The room was well-lit by a series of narrow windows on the external wall, allowing beams of bright morning light to stream in. It looked centuries old but smelled of fresh sawdust and linseed oil.
“This is so nice! It’s huge!” she exclaimed, taking a seat in an ornate armchair. She ran a finger over the perfect woodwork, wondering if it had been crafted that morning or the night before. “And I felt guilty about how unreasonably big my room was!”
“Thank you! Don’t ever feel bad about that. Now, where was I? Ah, yes. I made this—a manometer to measure ambient mana.” He held up a short piece of wood with glowing lights on it. “The levels are noticeably lower on the factory floor than here. I’d like you to take some readings around town, and perhaps into the woods. The more data points, the better. Feel free to assign a guardsman to watch your back if you like.” He rummaged through his desk drawers, searching for something. Taritha’s ears perked up. This sounded a lot like having authority over the young men she worked with. She’d assumed she was organizationally far junior to them but had never asked for clarification.
“Here!” He handed her a small blank notebook, a graphite stylus, and the rough-cut piece of wood. Her gaze was drawn to the glowing parts that resembled gems. Its crude appearance stood in stark contrast to everything else she’d come to expect from him. The center-most gem was labelled with an ‘N,’ a plus sign above, and a minus sign below. The rest were unlabeled, as was the back.
“It’s just a prototype, but I’d like you to note your location and the readings. For instance, if you’re at the docks and these all light up, write ‘docks N+6’. If two gems below light up, you’d note ‘N-2’. Got it?”
“Seems simple enough.”
“I haven’t calibrated it properly, so any results are valuable, even if they seem useless,” the mage explained distractedly.
“Will do!” she said resolutely. “What are the little magic gems made of?” They were quite shiny and a soothing green.
“Just ordinary emeralds; the enchantment is all in the plank.” The world spun for a moment as she grasped the staggering value of a dozen cut emeralds of that size. She had no context, but she was sure lords had smaller stones in their swords or sceptres. She would definitely be getting an armed escort for this errand.
“Um, I’ll report back when I’m done,” she said bravely.
“Excellent! Carry on!” He grabbed a handful of books and papers and sat himself at his desk.
Taritha went a few doors down to her room to get a sturdy over-the-shoulder bag for her outing. She sat on her bed, marvelling at the treasure in her hands. It was clear that the mage had crafted it himself, and quickly. There was no consideration beyond function; the top of the wood wasn’t even square. Most baffling of all was the incredible wealth of gems casually attached. Each one was nearly the size of a pea. People died for things a sliver of the value of even one of those.
This is by far the most valuable thing these hands have ever held.
And he just handed it to me, like it was leftover toast!
And he made it sound like the emeralds weren’t the valuable part of the device!
And this bed and the imps would be vastly more valuable yet!
She closed her eyes and swallowed slowly. The true nature of the mage’s gifts hadn’t registered before. Where did she even fit in society anymore? She still felt like a hungry peasant girl from a drafty hovel, but that was at odds with what she held and what she sat on. Most curiously of all, the idea of stealing it didn’t even occur to her. The mage’s trust had somehow become more valuable than gemstones.
Don’t just sit there, be the person he thinks you are!
After a slight detour to get her imps to create a simple leather case for the garish instrument, she found Rikad in the armoury, unpacking crates of gear from the move.
“Where is everyone? Is it just you here?” she asked.
“Nah, a normal busy day, Klive’s on sentry and Kedril’s on gate. The Chief and the rest are about town. What’s up?” he said without stopping his work. He was putting gambesons on armour stands that mimicked a man's shoulders, then putting the heavy mail hauberks on top. The effect on the few he’d already finished were a lot like a headless armoured torso. There were several bare stands still waiting.
“Great news! Laundry day will have to wait. The mage asked me to take a survey around town and suggested I bring an armed protector!” she teased, her voice beaming with over the top enthusiasm.
“Well if the Lord Archmage said I shouldn't do my chores that’s good enough for me,Taritha.” He said with a smile. He stopped unpacking and started donning armour, making a point of getting his employer’s title wrong while addressing her by her first name.
Unsure how much privacy he needed she turned her back while he changed. “In the future you will address me as Medic Taritha,” she said with as much faux icy indifference as she could muster.
“Your ladyship shall have all the respect she deserves!” in far less time than she expected he touched her elbow, “Ready to proceed!” He was in full armour, including a closed helm and the white and purple company tabard. He had a longsword on his hip and a wide shield on his back. It looked like he strode off the cover of a fairy tale book, his mail even sparkled in the flickering lamplight.
“I feel safer already!” she started down the hallway and out of the building. “I’m just taking some readings from this new artefact that he made, and writing it in the book.” They waved to Kedril in the gatehouse as they left.
“So why did you want me around? This is your town, and folk here normally seem nice enough?” Rikad asked, his voice slightly tinny through his helm.
“You’ll see! Actually, this is probably a fine first reading.” They stopped just a few paces beyond the gate. She pulled out the manometer, and saw it was one over normal. “Here, hold this,” She passed him the gem encrusted object while she wrote the results in the notebook.
“Holy balls, are these…?” he stammered.
“Oh my no! Nothing special, just ordinary emeralds,” she said in her best professorial tones.
“Wow! That makes sense. I see why he’d worry about some new hire running off with this to start her own queendom, far over the horizon.”
“Strangely, it felt like an afterthought.” She put the manometer back in her bag along with her notebook. “He’s weird with money, isn’t he? If someone overcharged him five times the fair price, I bet he’d apologise and pay it!” she whispered.
“Not even kidding, that’s basically how my salary was agreed upon. And it's not normal even for other fancy folk. Some of my family worked for nobles back in Jagged, and they were the stingiest, most demanding jerks you’d ever meet!” They continued through the forest toward town. “I meant the nobles,” he clarified.
Taritha hadn’t spent much time with Rikad before but it was impossible not to smile around him. Part of her worried she couldn’t keep up with him, since he always was cracking on about something, but thankfully he didn’t seem to expect her to.
“Yeah, Mage Thippily isn’t what I expected. Not that I really knew what to expect. Do you think the town will go along with his Big Plan?” she said, intoning the last two words with gravitas.
The road passed near some outlying cottages, and Taritha stopped, quickly taking a reading and jotting down the results. She was getting better at being quicker and more subtle with the artefact.
“This town? No question. Have you not been to the pub lately? They toast to him more than they do to the Light, their count or their own wives! Don’t underestimate just how much the town has changed.”
“I grew up here! They hate things that don’t match their beliefs. If they knew the truth? You guys are gonna earn every glindi of your salary the day that gets out,” Taritha said. “Me too, for that matter.”
His helm scraped his shoulder pauldrons as he shook his head. “Nah, he’s done the hard work, won their trust, everything else is easy.”
She shook her head but didn’t reply. He didn’t know these people. Obviously no one would talk about their true reactions to some out-of-towner, in front of another out-of-towner.
“You don’t believe me, do you?” he said as they reached the trade district. She took another reading, smooth and quick; she didn’t even think Rikad saw the emeralds that time.
“I get why you think what you do,” she said diplomatically.
There was an old woman in her garden, just on the other side of the low fence they were walking by. She was mostly skin and bones and old enough to be either of their grandmothers. She knelt in her garden, pulling weeds in the midday sun, wearing an old patched dress with a wide straw hat.
“Excuse me, gran, do you mind if I ask you something?” Rikad asked politely, taking off his helm to make eye contact.
“Huh! Sure, anything for you!” Her voice was gravelly but clear. She stopped what she was doing and sat back on her bum. Her face was weathered and flushed from exertion.
“Would you consider the mage that moved here this spring a good thing for the town?” He spoke evenly, trying not to bias her answer.
“Mage Thippily is his name! You ought to know that, wearin’ his tabard and all! Best thing that’s happened to this town in my life! Ever! I spent six years in bed, couldn’t walk, just waitin’ to go into the Light! Now I feel like a teenager again! He fixed my back, he fixed my skin, fixed it all! I’m eighty-eight years old, and I’ve been gardening all day!”
“I’m glad to hear it! He’s a great man, and we are both honoured to work for him!” He nodded and started putting his helm back on. The floodgates were open, and she wasn’t done.
“Don’t think I don’t see you there, Taritha! I got good eyes again! Yer creams were a godsend! But now I’m gonna live until I’m two hundred! That mage couldn’t do anything wrong, not if he tried!”
“That’s incredible, ma’am, thank–” Rikad started.
“If he needs to eat babies, I’ll round up some for him! I ain't got a shortage of useless great-grandbabies! Shadows below, if he wants to pump a few babies into me, he’s welcome to ’em!”
“That’s very much not the–” Rikad said, slowly backing away, grateful for the low fence between them.
“Or did he send me his strapping young man to do the job?” By now she was standing with a mostly toothless grin, leaning over her fence. Rikad backpedalled more quickly. “Fine, be like that, but tell him that Abby Greyn is here for him!”
“Will do, gran! Have a good day now.” They walked quickly down the road to put some distance between them and the amorous oldster.
“I see, I may have misjudged the effect of helping people,” Taritha said, stifling a giggle.
Rikad chuckled, adjusting the chin strap on his helm. “I told you! He won more than just their trust!”
.
Prev
.

A new week, a new chapter. Like always, I hope everyone had a good weekend. Here in the US its memorial day and so, a holiday. I will probably be spending most of the day writing and playing some games.
Anyway, on with the chapter (and what an important one it is.)
[Previous] [First] [Next] [RoyalRoad] [Discord] —----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tal awoke, drenched in sweat and suffering from a hazy, fever-like state. A dream, a vision, faded into the clouded recesses of his mind. An empty echo of rage was all that was left, simmering deep within him.
What– It doesn’t matter. He threw his covers off and pulled himself out of bed. I’m already in deep trouble…
Since his meeting with the High Prophet, Tal hadn’t been allowed out of his room. Trapped within, he had no idea how long it had been.
Days? Weeks? He let out a sigh, this was going to be his life for now on.
Making his way over to his wash basin, he began to clean himself. A knock at his door caused him to stop half-way through.
“Yes–”
The door swung open, revealing several guards. “Champion, His Holiness has requested your presence,” the lead guard stated. It was an order, not a request.
Tal paused, letting the wet cloth in his hands drip into the basin. “Understood, I shall be ready–”
“His Holiness has requested it now.”
He let the cloth fall away and made his way over to a wardrobe. Opening it, Tal wasted no time and picked out a clean white shirt.
“Take me to him,” he said as he quickly finished dressing.
The lead guard grunted before spinning around and leaving. Tal followed…
***
Once again, Tal found himself staring at a door while his escorts took positions to either side of it. Unlike last time, however, he felt nothing from his premonition. In fact, besides this morning, he hadn’t felt anything–
The thought was quickly swallowed in the haze of his mind…
Unsure what to expect, Tal gathered his strength and knocked. Almost immediately, there was a response.
“Come in,” he heard from the other side of the door.
Opening it, Tal stepped into a new room. This one, unlike the library, was well kept. It was also a lot smaller.
In the center of the room was a large, yet mundane looking, desk. Scrolls and various parchments laid neatly to one side, while a single letter sat in the center. An equally large red chair sat behind the desk with a much smaller one near Tal.
The rest of the room was taken up by a single bookcase, several tapestries, and a floor to ceiling window that, by itself, nearly made up the outer wall.
Finally, standing in front of the window was the familiar figure of the High Prophet. The pious man turned and flashed a smile. It sent a shiver down Tal’s spine. He felt a warning–
It was gone.
“Come, Champion, and close the door behind you.”
Recovering, Tal gave a prompt bow before doing as instructed.
“You had another vision last night?” The High Prophet asked.
“Yes, Your Holiness," he answered, holding back a flinch. Why can’t I…
The pious man made a tisk, “I thought I already told you, Brother Tal. You do not have to be so formal when we’re alone.”
“My apologies, Father Gabriel.”
“Good." The High Prophet made his way over towards the desk. “Now, unfortunately, we have much to discuss and very little time I’m afraid.”
He sat down and gestured towards the other seat, which Tal took.
Father Gabriel studied him for several moments before sliding the note towards him. “This, Brother Tal, is why I have called upon you.”
Doing his best to keep a neutral expression, Tal quickly lowered his eyes to the note.
The High Prophet spoke as he did.
“It came from our only spy embedded within the Endless Forest. He has been our most successful one to date. That note was sent to me last night. I’ve taken the time to properly decode it for you.”
With a silent nod, Tal began to read it.
Urgent report.
Heretic sighted, hatched a dragon egg. Is gathering individuals to raise more. Four known for now.
Requesting assistance and orders. Attempting disrupting actions until then.
Praise to the Holy Lord for our continued dominance.
K.
His eyes widened as he looked up, the fog lifting for a brief moment. “Dragons?” he asked, not believing what he read.
“Indeed, Brother Tal. A truly concerning event.”
He had a hard time accepting it. “I thought they all went extinct–”
Father Gabriel shook his head no. “They, along with the other unholy races, fled. We know of several who still guard the island to this day.”
A bead of sweat ran down Tal’s brow. This wasn’t good news, and his premonition was warning him…
The High Prophet straightened in his chair. “Brother Tal, our Champion, your first mission–”
Tal gulped. The fog began rolling back in, damping his emotions.
“–Go to the Endless Forest and kill Felix.”
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zira watched from the edge of the hatchery, sitting in her usual spot. It was nearing the afternoon and there was a nervous, anxious feeling in the air.
The visions from this morning had mostly faded to afterthoughts, at least for her and Felix. Eri and Kyrith seemed to be still coming to terms with them…
A noise from the den housing the eggs caught her attention. Felix emerged from it, and quickly he was surrounded. Zira chose to wait from where she was, wearing a dragon’s equivalent of a smile. She already knew what he was going to say.
“How much longer?!” Yedril asked, nearly shouting.
“They’re getting close,” Felix responded. “The four of you should get prepared, maybe eat something…”
Solanna scoffed, “Prepared? We’ve been ready since we started this. How much longer?”
Zira watched as Felix shook his head. “I don’t know exactly…” His eyes met hers. “Zira, do you want to check?”
She let out a hiss of air, as if annoyed, and stood up. “I suppose I can double check…” She kept up her annoyed appearance. However, deep down, she was feeling just as much excitement as everyone else.
Approaching, the elves made room for her. She stopped just before the den and lowered her head. A moment later, she began to ‘breath’ in the mana. Her ability sucked it in, letting her taste it–
Her eyes widened, the scent, the taste… “We have a few minutes,” she said after a moment. “They’re fixing to hatch–”
“Wait, are you sure? I thought it would be longer?!” Felix interrupted.
There was an audible crack followed by the sound of ice fracturing.
“Yes,” she added, quickly stepping away. Felix was already overcoming his shock and taking charge.
“Quickly!” He gestured towards the den’s entrance. “It’s beginning, but they’ll need you!”
Zira could only watch in amusement as her partner ushered the four elves into the den, practically pushing them forward. Behind her, Eri and Kyrith observed. A quick glance to them told her they were finally forgetting about those visions…
“Okay, remember, you’ll need to press your hands against the shell! Close your eyes and call for them! Their names will come to you!” Felix was starting to let the excitement take control…
Calm yourself, she chastised Felix. His emotions were flooding over their bond and making it hard for herself to think.
S-sorry, he apologized. Already, she could feel his emotions calming down.
It’s fine, you were like this too when Eri hatched Kyrith.
A brief wave of embarrassment passed over to her side of the bond, she just let out a single snort of humor.
“You two can come closer now, there’s plenty of room,” Zira said out loud to the two other bystanders.
“Watcher come as well?” a new voice asked from further away.
Her head whipped over to his direction. “Are you going to do anything weird to the eggs?”
Watcher shook his head vigorously, no.
“Then you may come and watch, but I’m keeping an eye on you,” she said curtly.
The silvery-gray kobold scampered over, joining her. Zira’s attention went back to Eri and Kyrith. “Well? Are you two going to watch from back there or…?” She let the question hang, until Eri finally responded.
“We’ll join you…” The elf didn’t sound exactly thrilled.
Maybe she is still worried?
Zira waited until she and Kyrith were closer. “Everything alright?” she asked, as the other two got comfortable. Meanwhile, inside the den, the four elves were kneeling in front of their respective eggs, eyes closed and hands reaching out.
“No…” Kyrith responded.
Eri let out a sigh. “It’s about our visions.”
“What about them?” Zira asked.
The elven woman took a moment to respond. “I…saw all of us happy, we were enjoying the open skies–”
“A mean human burned it all away,” Kyrith interjected. “Only, he seemed more sad as the fire spread.”
Eri cleared her throat while throwing Kyrith a glare. “There’s more that happened.” She lowered her voice to a whisper, her eyes fixating on the four other elves.
“I saw them all burning.”
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Felix watched carefully with his mana sight, noting every minor fluctuation he saw. His primary concern was Yedril, but a cursory search showed him nothing was wrong. Breathing out a sigh of relief, his focus shifted to the eggs.
He could see the cracks in the shells, slowly growing as time progressed. They were ‘breathing’, sucking in the mana from their respective partners only to push out their own.
Alright, everything is looking good. He took a brief moment to calm himself. “It’s working, I can see something happening in each egg. Go ahead and give it some encouragement. Don’t be scared, guide them out of their shells.”
Yedril was the first. “Come on, I know you can do it!”
“I know you are strong, I can feel your power! Come on and hatch, show the world your strength!” Lorem shouted.
“I’ll take good care of you! You don’t have to be shy!” Solanna begged.
Noria was last and a little meek. “W-we’ll be good friends… I-I mean, we will take care of each other and grow strong.”
Felix didn’t correct her, instead he let a smile show. The eggs were responding. Inside, he could see movement, a burst of mana coming through from each one.
“Keep it up, keep calling for them!” he shouted. He could feel it, he could see it. They were about to hatch.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noria was squeezing her eyes shut, mostly out of panic. Her hand tingled with mana, and she could feel the egg flexing underneath.
Come on, come on, come on… She forced herself to breathe, she was nearing a panic attack…
Mana burst forth from the egg, traveling through her hand and into the rest of her body. It calmed her, strengthened her. An itch started to form in the deepest part of her mind.
Come on! You can do it! We will be good friends!
“Please–”
Azelea.
“–Azelea, hatch!”
Her egg exploded...
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lorem was smiling. When he first set out to Bernel village, his only desire was to be closer to Noria. Now? Now she was right next to him, and together they were hatching dragons.
How exciting!
“Come on, little guy! I know you want to hatch, I can feel your power!” None of that was a lie, he could somehow tell. The dragon within wanted to show off and prove itself to the world.
His smile grew into a wide grin as he heard Noria let out a gasp. Just a bit more I think.
The egg underneath his grasp trembled, the dragon fighting hard to breach its shell. Lorem used his mana to help subtly guide the little guy inside.
You’ve got this, I know you can do it–
Mana shot through Lorem, causing him to shiver. A dull, yet growing itch forming in his mind.
“That’s it! Come on–”
Tzarin.
“Come on, Tzarin! HATCH!”
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Solanna was secretly panicking, she hid it well but deep down her emotional state was a wreck. Ever since her realization about her brother, her life had been turned upside down…
Please hatch! I-I need you. “It’s alright, you can come out. I promise to take care of you!” She tried to keep the fear out of her tone. That was the last thing she wanted, to scare or spook the dragon inside.
She sucked in a breath, as she felt something peck at the shell just under her hand. He’s trying!
A moment later a gust of air blew through her. Solanna shuddered, feeling a tingling sensation in the back of her mind.
“You’re so close! You can do it–”
Falzan.
“Falzan!”
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yedril was sweating, his hands shaking, the pain mounting…
Through all the trials and tribulations, through the tears, the blood. With all his self-doubt and his convictions. Of constantly stumbling and falling, of picking himself back up.
This was his moment.
This was his time to show the world.
He would not go it alone. He would not be left behind. His name would go down in history, it would be marked for all to read.
We’re going to change the world! We’re going to show them our strength! “I know you can do it! Come and show yourself! Show the world!”
Yedril felt a soothing radiating feeling wash through him from his hand. He was ready, the dragon inside was ready. The world watched.
“Say hello–”
Zarrina
“Zarrina!”
—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Previous] [First] [Next] [RoyalRoad] [Discord]
Well now, lots to unpack. First we have Tal, who isn't having the best of time and now has been given his first mission. Next, we have Zira as she watches Felix and the elves until she talks with Kyrith and Eri... Then she learns about their visions. Finally, we get to the four 'volunteers' as Felix has called them. It's a big day for them, nerves and excitement are high.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and we're nearly done with this arc. I'll leave you all with a sneak peak of what's to come:
First flight.

Thank you u/SpacePaladin15 for inspiring us all!
And thank you, u/TheManwithaNoPlan for all your help in creating this wonderful project with me! I don’t know where I would be without you!
[Next]
Memory transcript: Venric, Venlil Lawyer Extraordinaire. Date: [Standardized human time] November 13th, 2136.
The comparatively small Dossur continued to squeak and complain as I packed up my files. “I cannot believe you convinced me to take that deal!” Motsul scurried back into my line of sight as I turned away in my attempts to ignore her verbal beratement. “House arrest! Fines! Sqesh!! Why did I even hire you in the first place? All that posturing and advertisement and you can’t even drop the charges? You’re an awful lawyer!”
I had to suppress some amused whistles. They liked to throw these tantrums almost every time we were in private. Just an outlet for their bruised ego having to deal with losing. “You truly think that?” I responded, shutting off my data pad and placing it in my case stiffly. “Your charges were for being an equal co-conspirator with direct ties to a murderer. I managed to shield you from permanent internment in prison or even in a Correctional Facility, depending on whether or not they decided they thought your relations with Halvone had tainted you enough to require you to be lobotomized.”
She went quiet at my use of that unpleasant word, which was more than alright with me. The sooner I can get this strayu loaf of a Dossur’s money, the better. “To recap: I was able to turn an effective death sentence to just living in your home while things fade away. Not like you need any more sitting around.” I bent down so we were at eye level with one another and looked her straight in the eyes, my tail wagging. “So no - to clarify - I am not an awful lawyer. I’m a Fantastic lawyer.”
I sealed my case with a hiss and grabbed the handle. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must be getting back to my office. Officers will be by to escort you home within the Claw. If I do not receive my payment in a timely manner, I will be pursuing legal action.” I looked back and flashed my teeth at her in an imitation of a human smile, hoping to intimidate the chunky rodent. “Good luck finding anyone willing to represent you in that event.”
Motsul attempted to say something to me, but the door clicked shut behind me, leaving her words muffled by the walls behind me. As soon as I was out of earshot, I breathed a sigh of relief. Due to her previous connections, she had been more than willing to pay for my premium services, and now that she knew the consequences of shorting me, I doubted I’d see a millicredit less than she offered. As I walked through the hallways of the Magisterial building, I passed by many different species. Notably so were a pawful of humans, a very new sight for this district of the Province. One of High Magister Gaerhun’s last acts before stepping down was support for the refugee housing initiative. Surprising for this area, and all the more surprising when his replacement, a Harchen named Yalinua, not only followed through on the promise but expanded it a bit as well.
Given my standard investigation, though somewhat mitigated that surprise, I found out she had a daughter diagnosed with Predator Disease. A daughter who just so happened to be on Motsul’s payroll, meaning they would get more compensation from the fine than the direct imprisonment. Always good to find ways to get on the judge’s good side.
Still, the continued presence of humans had been a bit of a shock at first, but I had since grown accustomed to their presence. Whether or not that meant I was diseased I wasn’t sure, but I wasn’t about to ruin that superposition. Not when I had finally managed to make it big!
So I made my way out of the building towards the parking garage, letting my legs guide me to the elevator as I began to dream of what I would spend or invest this newest paycheck upon. Oh, I was always one to tease about more hover cars, but an actual third one was more than I really needed. I had practical use for two, as they were legitimately good for intimidation and travel. They were essentially a midpoint between a personal shuttle and personal vehicle, allowing travel to just about anywhere in a reasonable time so long as they’re fully charged. So what should I set my money towards next? More advertisements? With the Gubernatorial elections coming up, I could always do a few campaign contributions to get on the candidates' good sides. Perhaps I… will…
My thoughts trailed to a halt as my elevator to the top of the parking garage opened. There was a Venlil with floppy ears standing next to my hover car, her tail swaying with nervous energy. She looked like she was looking for someone, a suspicion that was confirmed as soon as she caught sight of me. Normally I would pass such people with only a passing of my card as, if they truly wished for my assistance, they would make an appointment. Yet this woman wasn’t posed as a standard client, for she wore around her neck the frilled collar of an Ipsom-Sprig Lawyer. Now that is surprising.
It was through that momentary surprise that she marched up to me, very clearly bracing herself to make a presentation. “Good Paw, Mister Venric, my name is Serl. Your reputation has preceded you, so I believe you are the best option for me to turn to.” Her voice was quick, a bit nervous, but still holding an energy that betrayed her passion for the profession hadn’t beaten out of her. She lifted up a file case in her paws, making to open it. Oh, I think she has that backwards. “I have a-”
My suspicion was proven correct as when she unlocked the second latch, her file case swung open towards me instead of towards her as she had so very clearly expected. Her professional bravado melted in an instant as she witnessed the paperwork spill out onto the ground, a couple getting swept up in the garage’s breeze.
“Speh! No! I needed-! Brahk!!”
She leapt upon the ground, scrambling to gather her papers back into their files. Out of pity, I strolled over to one that had gotten tossed into the wind, picking it up in my paws. On it was a picture of a Kholsian woman with a pleasant smile on her face dressed in a medical uniform. Why would an Ipsom-Sprig lawyer approach me about a nurse? Despite my better judgment, I had actually become curious as to what she had meant to ask me before her fumble.
She was still scooping up papers off the ground by the time I returned to her, a few errant tears in her eyes. She thought I had walked off no doubt, which was proven correct by the surprise on her face when I handed her paper back. “Impressive work on staking out your target’s car, but a little sloppy on the presentation. Now, what do you have to tell me? Considering that all your documentation is in order, that is.”
“Y-yes! Okay!” She swallowed away some phlegm as she fumbled with her papers. They were rather obviously not in order, which meant she ended up choosing that very same picture of the Kholshian. “Mister Venric, you are famous, or, er, infamous depending on who you ask, for taking on cases that no other Lawyer would dream of taking to court, and getting the best possible outcomes for those that don’t get to court. You took on the Exterminator Office, defended the first human to go through our courts, and have been defending a participant in a mass conspiracy.”
“Had been defending, and allegedly participated,” I corrected her. “My services with that client have just concluded, pending payment.”
“Ah, er, yes.” She coughed, trying to recover her professionalism. “It- It is because of that reputation that I have sought you out. My client has been accused of murder, and you are the best person I can think of to ask for assistance.”
I perked up my ears slightly, but I wasn’t fully convinced yet. “If you’ll let me make a small deduction here; You have a Kolshian as a client who, due to recent events, has suffered a lot of arising prejudice.” I whistled in amusement. “A galaxy-wide conspiracy to manipulate predators and prey isn’t exactly something that can be easily overlooked by the public. Though, if that were the only problem, you could find plenty of lawyers who would still defend. You didn’t do that, though. You came to me.”
“Yes!” She swayed her tail in the positive. “Because you’re by far the most skilled in cases such as these!”
I huffed and readjusted my jacket. “Flattery, and rather transparent flattery at that. So, I am going to make another deduction: you aren't here because of me being the best, but because you are desperate.”
“Desperate?” She asked, “I-”
“Yes, desperate.” I interrupted. “You wore your collar to give yourself credibility, a collar that kept the pin of your law office.” I pointed at the sigil upon her lapel. It depicted a gavel held within the curled tail of a Venlil. “Tail Guard Legal Firm. I used to work in one of their subsidiary offices, up until they tossed me out for taking on the Tarlim lawsuit. I can guarantee that any reputation they would have of me would not be positive, as you’ve implied.”
The woman’s form looked to have deflated during my speedy breakdown of their motivations. However, I wasn’t quite done. “However, as I used to work with them, I know how they operate. They prefer to send the predspeh cases to be handled by the Seed or Sprig lawyers in the Firm. Now let’s put this all together: you are coming to an independent lawyer that your firm despises, with a case of a Kholshian Murderer, and the outlook is so dim that you feel that relating with me would have less of a blowback than taking it on yourself.”
She was completely dumbstruck by my complete deconstruction of her reasoning and situation, a look that I did enjoy, especially considering I didn’t have to break her down afterwards. Quite the opposite, actually, as during my speech, I had made up my mind about hearing her out. “It-its not… fully because of the blowback. The firm is already, uh, punishing me with this case.”
“Oh, those are the best ones!” I clapped my hands together, now eager to hear what mess this young lawyer had gotten herself into. “Tell me: did you also show up Iklivez and Yipilion? Those dumbbrahk cronies could never take someone correcting their cases, even if it did get their clients off.”
“Oh they… they don’t work at the firm anymore…” I gave her an expectant look and she gave a light grumble before continuing. “Because I told the Magistratta I feared they had excessive bias towards exterminators.”
I whistled. I think I can make a final guess here. “And so the firm decided that since you are so against bias, you might as well take the client everyone hates. Am I correct?”
The little lawyer deflates even more under my words. My ability to skillfully read people had to be suppressed most of my life. It felt so good to be in a profession that allowed me to let loose so easily! However, Serl was correct in one aspect: I was interested in seeing what the case had to offer, but only if the terms were presented in a more transparent manner.
As I was about to ask, I noticed a couple of Exterminators glaring at me from the corner of the parking lot. I remember hearing about the so-called “True Exterminators” that had gotten their start in Dawn Creek. A horrible situation, one Rolem took charge in prosecuting, and causing the formation of a group that was just the worst of an already horrible institution. Given my personal history with them, and the fact there wasn’t even an office in this district any longer, I had a feeling that they weren’t too happy with my presence. More so than normal given their detour, meaning this meeting should likely take place elsewhere. Placing a paw on her slumped shoulder, I decided to give her one last chance. “Now, with all of that out of the way, would you like to present your pitch again in less fabricated terms? Preferably somewhere more private.”
The bases of her ears perked up, indicating her surprise. Anticipating her eventual answer, I pulled her along and started guiding her through the garage towards my vehicle. The Hovertransit was an absolutely brilliant purchase on my part. Spacious enough to store my work supplies and to act as a home away from home. I had more than enough money to purchase property, but I’d rather leave that until after I’m certain it won’t burn down in a “service-related accident.” I’ve had more than enough near misses with my old grounded vehicle.
Once in the vehicle, I set the automatic piloting system on a loop around the Sidestar city and ensured that Serl was properly secured in the back. She looked confused by my actions, but that would serve a valuable purpose. Those confused are less likely to tell lies, meaning that whatever came out of her mouth now would hopefully be the full truth.
I flicked a lever on my chair and spun it around, allowing me to face the legal student directly. It was another feature I adored about this vehicle, as it made meetings feel more professional and natural. I sat up straight, ears forward in attention. “So, I understand you desire my services on a case.”
I tilted my head in a gesture for Serl to start her pitch. A proper one this time, one that would let me gauge her professional ability. One fitting of a conversation between practitioners of the law. She adjusted her frilly collar and sat her suitcase on her lap. Her ears suddenly pressed back against her head, what would usually be a sign of sadness or fear, but the rest of her body language was that of someone steeling themselves to be as serious as possible. Setting themselves to show nothing, an inverse of my preferred tactic.
“Mister Venric, I represent a client who is under extreme scrutiny and undue prejudice due to circumstances beyond her control. She’s…she’s been charged with murder, and the evidence is almost overwhelmingly against her, but I-I just don’t think they have the right person.” She spoke with a decidedly more sincere attitude, as opposed to the flattery she had attempted to pile upon me. I appreciated how quickly she adapted to the circumstances, but if I had a credit for every plaintiff that others were certain was innocent, I’d have two Hovertransits by now. I need to be sure of what I’m getting into.
“And you’re sure of this, why?” I postulated, letting her process my question. If she had any hope of successfully defending her client, she needed to start from a bedrock. Feelings don’t cut it alone, something has to substantiate them in order to hold water. I’ve defended long enough to know that, along with most of Venlil Prime’s legal statutes.
“There are details in the evidence that just don’t quite fit together right,” she responded with notable difficulty in elaborating on her state of mind. “There are inconsistencies in the evidence that could be chalked up to coincidence, but I just- I don’t think they are! Please, I brought a dossier of everything that’s been submitted so far and all that I’ve been able to scrounge up. They’re all yours if you agree to help in this case. I…I don’t want to lose my career over this.”
She reached into her briefcase and retrieved a disorganized set of papers, the same set that had fallen out in the parking lot. Now that we were in a more controlled environment, I was content to look over the paperwork in a more substantial manner. However, my perusal was immediately halted at the very first lines.
“Name: Nhilasi”
“Occupation: Nursing Practitioner, former Exterminator”
“Charges Pending: Medical Malpractice, Murder by Poison, Terrorism”
I knew that name. She had been the acting Head Exterminator when the Dawn Creek Incident happened. To my remembrance, she stood up for the omnivorous species and was nearly killed for it. During her recovery, she had been awarded a Medal of Honor for her bravery once camera footage surfaced of her attempts to stop the fuel explosion the “True Exterminators” set off. By all accounts, she was a hero.
So why is she getting charged on terrorism counts?
“Mister Venric?” Serl asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. I lowered the paper and looked back at her. She was noticeably more nervous than she had been, which meant I was likely looking at that paper for longer than I intended. “Will you- uh, can you help me?”
I glanced between her and the paper a few times before sighing and swiveling my chair around. I replaced the circling command with the penitentiary’s coordinates before returning to face her. “I believe that discussion of my compensation is in order before continuing further.” From how her tail swayed behind her, I could tell she knew what that meant. At least I wasn’t getting a complete newbie to accompany me.
Hopefully I’m not getting in over my head…oh who am I kidding. If all goes well, I absolutely will be!
[Next]