《Yaksha - Warders》 Chapter 1 - Electorally incapable. Ashoka Stalin was being escorted through the pristine walls of a new hospital. Okay, it was new-ish if one was being picky. He would have rather liked if the walls were pristine. It would have just felt right. His last name was on the wing, and he didn¡¯t like being associated with dull paint. In fact, he didn¡¯t like associated with dullness in general. Well, at least this wing was new, he reasoned. And his mother had raised and pumped a significant number of resources to make this whole place happen. And now, she was here to inaugurate the Kavita Stalin Wing of Incurable Diseases. That was the official reason for her being here. The unofficial reason was to meet her old friend Doctor Joshi, the ageing scientist who was supposed to be an physicist but was suffering from a curious case of cancer caused by radiation poisoning. For those who liked to gossip, she was coming here to discipline him after he had created a mess in Myanmar, and finally for those who had clearance she was coming here to inspect the safety of the locker of dangerous viral agents. But even that explanation felt flimsy to him. Soon, one of the bulky men beside him directed him to a mid-sized conference room and he sat down in a surprisingly comfy office chair. He knew this part, his mother was letting him stew. So he took off his shoes, Put his feet on the chair next to him, leaned back and closed his eyes. He opened them back up when he felt someone open the door to the conference room. Virmani with his salt pepper sideburns looked in, took a moment to gather him in, smiled and opened the door. Kavita Stalin walked in behind him and paused. Her nostrils flared and her eyes squinted. Ashoka looked at her with an impish smile and did not straighten up. She gave up and took out a tablet from her Hermes handbag and started playing a video. ¡°Care to explain this, Ashoka?¡± Kavita Stalin asked him in a neutral tone. Ashoka, didn¡¯t even look. He knew the video. On it, one of the princes of Myanmar was being threatened by the scion of an old Burmese warlord family. He was calling him a faggot, his wife a whore and Ashoka a slut. Or was it the other way? He couldn¡¯t exactly remember. Before anybody could react Ashoka did. He downed his whisky, turned the glass upside down, and swung it upwards. The glass made contact with the hilt of the knife with a thud rather than the tinkle of glass breaking and the scion stabbed himself in the neck with his own knife. Next came the screams and the video stopped. The whole episode lasted seven seconds. And all throughout the video, neither he or Kavita had looked away from each other¡¯s eyes. ¡°Well?¡± Kavita prompted him. ¡°The asset was in danger. I saved him. I should be getting recognition rather than this scrutiny.¡± Ashoka replied back mimicking her neutral tone that matched his mothers, Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°You were an ''attach¨¦,¡¯a diplomat, not a bodyguard.¡± ¡°No, I was there to create an unofficial channel between your bureaucrats and the royal family and I did that. And since that relationship was primarily based through the asset, I had to take action.¡± Ashoka wanted to smile at his mother¡¯s slight grimace but that was against the rules. Whenever they met, they ended up in a contest of facts. As Kavita often said, emotions are easy, you could see them on television. You can fake them in the parliament. Real victories came from facts that were undeniable. So Ashoka decided to add one more to strengthen his position. ¡°Last I checked, my efforts had facilitated six shipments to the royal guard.¡± Kavita wasn¡¯t moved ¡°I sent you there to create a backroom channel not backdoor the prince and frontdoor his wife. Now his father wants to kill you while his family has to laud you. The rebels want to kill you for killing a hero, and the Indian Ambassador wants to strangle you with his bare hands. His words, not mine.¡± Kavita said all of that with a straight face without raising her pitch. ¡°And now you are unemployable. Who would want to put a man who can kill with his bare hands in a room full of soft bodied diplomats?¡± Kavita stopped talkling after she noticed Ashoka¡¯s lips twitch upwards. They both looked at each other in silence for a moment. ¡°You planned all of this.¡± Kavita stated not questioned. This time Ashoka smiled and didn¡¯t even try to hide it. What he had done was brilliant and it was time to monologue. ¡°Yes mother, I did.¡± Ashoka dramatically sighed and continued ¡°I did my time over there. Made a lot of connections and climbed up the ladder. Just like you asked. Hell, I even seduced the two brats and whispered sweet nothings into their ears every night. And that opened the door for you and your initiatives, and you and I both know that they will continue without me there.¡± Ashoka straightened up and looked animatedly towards Kavita but and in a deeper tone continued ¡°Me killing that idiot was the perfect way for my story to end. This way the troublesome boy can go away, making the way for responsible adults. The high prince wanting to kill me is petty. He will get over that.¡± ¡°Did you prepare that speech?¡± Virmani suddenly asked from the side. ¡°Yes. Did it work?¡± Ashoka asked in a normal tone ¡°You need to add a little more bass to your voice and contrast them with silent spells. That kid will win you elections.¡± Kavita gave a withering look to Virmani but it softened ¡°Sunil, I keep telling you that he is electorally incapable. There is a reason I rejected him. Let me show you why?¡± She turned her gaze back at Ashoka and the warmth was gone ¡°So? According to your story you masterminded all those successes and got bored. Because you are better than Myanmar?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say that but their bugs are pretty gross and don¡¯t even get me started about the lizards.¡± ¡°So, the princess being pregnant has nothing to do with it?¡± Kavita inquired. ¡°Wait, what?¡± Ashoka asked. ¡°Drop the act, Ashoka. Is it yours?¡± ¡°Well, you see. The prince was a taker, not a doer.¡± Ashoka confessed. Kavita exhaled slowly trying to contain her anger ¡°Ten months. That''s how long your diplomatic career lasted. If I can¡¯t send you to a place like Myanmar, where can I send you?¡± ¡°In my defence, I was more of a spy than a diplomat.¡± ¡°You are supposed to be whatever I want you to be. Not a liability. We trained you to be better than this.¡± Ashoka met her cold look with nonchalance. ¡°See, Sunil? Thankfully, I have another son you can groom into being, something.¡± Kavita stated to her partner. Ashoka kept his face blank at his mother¡¯s words. Virmani looked at Ashoka and mouthed ¡°Pregnant?¡± Kavita watched him like a hawk until her smart watch buzzed. Ashoka shut down his reactions. He wasn¡¯t going to give her the pleasure. She wasn¡¯t going to win this one. Kavita shook her head with a huff and she got up from her chair ¡°I will handle this. You, until further notified, will be stationed here as my representative.¡± Ashoka blinked ¡°Here? In a hospital. In the desert? Doing what?¡± ¡°You are in Jaisalmer, Ashoka. Or, atleast near it. You could have some awareness of where you are.¡± With that last barb Kavita nodded at Virmani ¡°Sunil will provide you with documents.¡± And without wasting a moment she walked out the room. That was his mother. They called her a lot of things, The Indian Ice Queen was popular, so was the Commie Bitch but his favourite was the Cold Hearted Kali moniker. It just fit so well. A rough clearing of a throat brought Ashoka back from his remnunations. ¡°Nice move with the whisky glass.¡± Virmani muttered as he shut the door. ¡°How do you do it?¡± Ashoka asked. Virmani shrugged ¡°I love her.¡± ¡°How?¡± Virmani chuckled ¡°You both are so similar. She asked me the same thing once. Let me ask you, have you ever loved someone?¡± Ashoka rolled his eyes and sighed ¡°Love is commodification of pheromones. It is not real.¡± Virmani chuckled ¡°Well that is a new one. Last time it was invented by Hershey¡¯s and taken over by Durex.¡± Ashoka sighed ¡°Virmani, we are in a hospital in the desert of Rajasthan. On a road that nobody but the military conveys travel. The last thing I want to argue about is love.¡± ¡°Well, then we can¡¯t talk about much.¡± Virmani took out a badge and threw it over at Ashoka. It read. Ashoka Stalin Govt. Consultant Dept of Infectious Diseases The words, other than his name, were innocuous but the DRDO logo behind his name made his eyebrows shoot up. ¡°Umm¡­ Virmani, what¡¯s going on?¡± Virmani chuckled and left the room with ¡°Kid, why don¡¯t you find out yourself.¡± Chapter 2 - Wheels within wheels Sheetal watched her friend, mentor, and her boss, Dr. Joshi pick up his bishop and then put it down. She turned her attention back to reconfiguring her newly acquired electronic stabiliser to upgrade her wheelchair. The command she sent on her laptop made the two motors whir freely below her. Dr Joshi, looked up and then glared at her ¡°You know, you could at least look like you are trying?¡± Sheetal would have usually let his pieces survive for longer but today she was annoyed with him. She curled her lips upwards impishly and asked ¡°You want to call it a draw?¡± That would let the doctor save face and let her quickly get to the point of this work-play meeting. Dr Joshi looked around at her room. It had mechanical parts strewn around on one side and two cushioned sofas on another. Calling it a workshop would have been more apt. He shook his head and walked to a sofa blessedly empty of paper and lowered himself ¡°No, no. I lost.¡± They both looked at each other for a moment and then Dr. Joshi sighed. ¡°Alright, Sheetal. I have got the status reports, I have got the briefings and the statements. What am I missing and why are you giving me that look?¡± Sheetal took in a sharp breath and then exhaled slowly ¡°Why? Why?!¡± Sheetal stopped herself, closed her eyes and began again ¡°Professor, you left me here alone for two months.¡± ¡°So? I knew I could trust you and I can. You have everything under control.¡± Dr Joshi replied nonchalantly. ¡°Yes. But you left me here alone with that nepo baby.¡± Dr. Joshi sighed ¡°He has a name Sheetal. And might remind you, you are one too.¡± ¡°I am not. I earned my money and my status, and my right to be here.¡± ¡°Sheetal, he might not have a net worth in dollars, as a matter of fact I don¡¯t think he even has a bank account but¡­¡± ¡°What he doesn¡¯t have is sense.¡± Sheetal snapped back. And then the dam broke open. ¡°As soon as you left, he first tried to access the secured areas and when the security caught him, he just told them that he was doing his job. And then they were friends? How does that even happen?¡± Dr. Joshi leaned back as Sheetal raised two fingers. ¡°Then he asked for a coffee machine. Not the simple percolator kind. Or one of those capsule ones. This was one of those that was straight out of some luxury coffee places. The kind with chrome nozzles and dials. I said no, obviously. Next thing I know two muscled up soldiers are bringing it up along with a fridge full of Mobster Energy cans. Before I could get to the bottom of that I hear he is flirting with all the nurses in the wing, including the four men. Two of whom felt extremely uncomfortable, I must add. And when I decided to intervene I was told by the security personnel assigned to me, to relax. It is all friendly fun.¡± ¡°He found spies, Sheetal.¡± Dr. Joshi added in a soft tone. ¡°I know!¡± Sheetal yelled in frustration ¡°It would have been better if I had known that before I saw two nurses in handcuffs.¡± Sheetal raised another finger while her other hand grabbed a stress ball and began squeezing it. Dr. Joshi looked down and saw three more in different colours. One even had bite marks on it. He decided to let her vent. ¡°Yesterday, when the NSG commandos came, he decided to stand there on the first floor balcony in the buff.¡± ¡°Wait, he was standing there naked?¡± Dr Joshi asked in bafflement. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°They had cut the water off to install the new filters. That¡¯s not the point.¡± Dr Joshi grimaced ¡°Okay. What is the point?¡± Sheetal growled ¡°The point is what he called me.¡± In a tentative tone Dr Joshi asked ¡°Wheels within wheels. I heard that he calls you that. I will talk to him about that.¡± ¡°Not that. That means nothing. It is a stupid name he uses to get a rise out of me. It is what he said to me after I told him to put on some clothes.¡¯ Dr. Joshi braced himself. Ashoka was always a handful and wondered what he would have said now. He swallowed and asked ¡°What did he say Sheetal?¡± Sheetal squeezed her stress ball hard and mimicked Ashoka ¡°Listen to me wheels. You all can watch my perfect behind because I am not moving. Not for you and not for the commandos, no matter how crippled you all are.¡± Dr Joshi winced. ¡°This was five minutes before I got an email from the DRDO about the NSG commandos'' health conditions.¡± Sheetal looked at the co-leader of the initiative and asked ¡°How does he have access to classified information? Information that you and I weren''t cleared for until yesterday?¡± Dr Joshi sighed ¡°¡°Sheetal, what were you doing when you were eight?¡± Sheetal gave her mentor a flat look ¡°You mean when I was trying to not scream out because of my bed sores? Reading meaningless philosophy, and preparing to pass school.¡± Dr Joshi sighed ¡°Why do I always get stuck with overachievers?¡± Sheetal huffed ¡°Now don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t like working with me anymore.¡± ¡°No, what I am telling you is he is just like you.¡± ¡°Like me!?¡± Sheetal almost screeched and Dr. Joshi raised his hand to stop her. ¡°Look Sheetal, I met Ashoka when he was eight. He was arguing about the merits of tyrannical rulers over communism with three politicians and he was winning. And he was doing it by mostly basing his arguments on Marxist philosophy to annoy his mother. I don¡¯t know how he did it, but it was amazing.¡± Dr Joshi saw Sheetal opening her mouth and he held up his hand again to stop her. ¡°You know how he actually did it? He used psychology. He has read everything from Freud to Chanakya to Jung. His mother trained him to be the perfect politician, only he is¡­¡± ¡°A narcissist and a sociopath?¡± Dr Joshi smiled ¡°Yes, and looks like somebody has gone through his files. And so is Kavita. A sociopath not a narcissist. So be gentle.¡± Sheetal grimaced ¡°Nepotism!¡± ¡°Well, anyways, we recognised that trait in him and taught him how to read body language. It was all fine at first, then he started beating everyone in cards and then everything else. Then his training got more specialised. He never went to school, he didn¡¯t go to college, and he never had friends. He has targets.¡± ¡°So, you are saying that Ashoka went to some Batman ninja school in the mountains and that helped him guess that they were all, quote-unquote, crippled by watching them for fifteen minutes?¡± ¡°Oh, no. He must have realised that in fifteen seconds. There is a lot of subconscious movement we make when we walk, move and talk. A little grimace here, a little adjustment there, and to him it all adds up. And just for your information, there is no ninja school in the Himalayas. Believe me, we checked.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t try to change the subject, Dr. Joshi. Are you seriously telling me that our guest got all that information by the magical power of observation and not by hacking our systems?¡± Dr. Joshi laughed ¡°Hacking? Ashoka? Really child. The only thing Ashoka does with his laptop is watch porn.¡± Sheetal grimaced and then stopped ¡°How do you know that? Are you still monitoring our online activities?¡± Dr Joshi smiled ¡°You know, you both are so alike. Anti-authoritarians geniuses.¡± ¡°I am nothing like him.¡± Sheetal stopped when she saw Dr. Joshi¡¯s phone buzz. They both looked at it in hope, apprehension and terror. Dr Joshi picked up the phone and his face paled. Sheetal asked ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°We lost team one and two. We still have four members of team three but they don¡¯t know if they will survive. No matter what happens, site one is¡­¡± Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Done!¡± Sheetal spat the word out and continued ¡°I told them they needed to show their people the videos.¡± ¡°Sheetal, this is no time for I told you so.¡± This time there was no gentleness in Dr. Joshi¡¯s voice. He had transformed from the ailing old man to her boss. Sheetal lowered her head. People had died because of her discoveries and even though she wasn¡¯t directly responsible for their deaths. She bared some guilt. ¡°I am sorry.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t blame yourself girl.¡± Dr Joshi caught her look and comforted her with a hand to her shoulder. ¡°One thing you learn as a scientist is when you find something good, there is some idiot who wants to blow it up.¡± Sheetal gave him a pained smile. ¡°Also, there is no time for guilt. They have asked us to start the initiative.¡± ¡°Can we...¡± Sheetal began hesitantly and then started again ¡°Can we show them the videos? I think they will help.¡± Dr Joshi gave a slight nod ¡°You are right. We need to show them the videos first. Schedule a meeting for tomorrow with the colonel¡¯s core team. We¡¯ll let him break the mission to his people the way he wants to.¡± Sheetal sped her wheelchair to her laptop and began typing. She looked at her boss walking away gingerly and said ¡°Dr. Joshi, I still think everything will work out.¡± Dr Joshi smiled and nodded half heartedly. ¡°You know one thing I do not get.¡± Dr Joshi looked at Sheetal. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Why did you let that cripple comment go?¡± Sheetal snarled ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have but then he was waxing his body.¡± Dr. Joshi looked at her ¡°And that threw you off? The Sheetal Serai, who lectured the half naked yoga baba in front of the media about relativity.¡± Sheetal¡¯s face reddened and she mumbled ¡°He was waxing¡­ his stuff.¡± Doctor Joshi looked confused. ¡°His stuff with thin scars all over it. The kind you get after plastic surgery. Why did he have to have plastic surgery on his genitalia, professor?¡± Dr Joshi closed his eyes with a pained expression. He finally asked ¡°How do you know what those scars are?¡± ¡°I have similar ones on my back from the time they tried the experimental surgery to give me control of my legs.¡± Doctor Joshi looked at Sheetal for a moment and then answered ¡°Do you know what happens to spies who get caught?¡± Sheetal took in a sharp breath ¡°He got tortured?¡± ¡°Yes. And his mother gave up on rescuing him. In the end he was in the hands of the enemy for weeks. Until he broke out and freed himself.¡± ¡°Damn.¡± Sheetal whispered. Doctor Joshi nodded ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Is he stable?¡± Doctor Joshi chuckled ¡°Who knows?¡± And before Sheetal could ask any more questions he turned around and left her room without a word. Midday the next morning Sheetal rolled into a conference room and found the bane of her existence, Ashoka draped on a chair. Ashoka looked at her and grinned ¡°Hey wheels. There is one good thing about you brainiacs. You have boring meetings in cold rooms. Thank you for the great nap I am going to have.¡± Sheetal ignored the jibe and rolled herself to the right side of the head of the table. She busied herself in connecting her laptop to the conference room screen and only looked up to see the NSG commandos come in. The next time she looked up she saw the NSG commandos and Ashoka giving each other looks. Ashoka looked contemplative, while the NSG colonel looked inquisitive and his men looked dismissive. Which somehow, rubbed Sheetal the wrong way. She wondered why? Before she could introspect, Dr Joshi walked in and sat down nest to her. The NSG commandos stood up and the colonel greeted Dr Joshi with a curt ¡°Doctor.¡± and then another ¡°Doctor.¡± towards Sheetal Dr Joshi responded with a head nod ¡°Colonel. Captain.¡± Sheetal was going to respond similarly when they all heard a groan. ¡°Seriously, it''s like I am in a bad episode of Star Trek.¡± Ashoka got up and mimicked a robot ¡°Captain, Lt Commander, Commander.¡± Sheetal scoffed ¡°You didn¡¯t watch Star Trek.¡± ¡°I did. How else was I going to prove socialism doesn¡¯t work to white college girls? You know you remind me of them sometimes.¡± Doctor Joshi saw Sheetal getting annoyed and clapped his hands. He turned to Ashoka and ordered ¡°Boy, shut up and sit down.¡± Ashoka grumbled and in a cartoon bunny voice replied ¡°Yes, doc.¡± Dr Joshi turned to the room and smiled ¡°Alright everyone. Some of you have been briefed about the initiative, others haven¡¯t been. So let me begin from the start.¡± The lights in the conference room dimmed and a presentation slide popped up on the screen behind Doctor Joshi. It said, ¡®Vayu Initiative¡¯. ¡°The Vayu Initiative started five years ago when Doctor Sheetal Serai was looking for a sustainable and eco-friendly way to dry tobacco leaves for her family''s business.¡± A younger Sheetal¡¯s smiling face popped onto the screen. Doctor Joshi looked around and smiled ¡°Yes, she is that, Serai. She is also a mechanical engineer, a physicist, and has thirty research papers to her name. Seven of which are classified. Oh, and she also has twenty patents. Ten of which are being used by our government.¡± Doctor Joshi grinned ¡°Basically, gents, she has the biggest brains in this site, and she is slumming it with us apes here.¡± Chuckles erupted from the soldiers and Sheetal smiled as she took Doctor Joshi¡¯s place. ¡°Five years ago, I was travelling across Rajasthan with a few locals. We were near a small village just past Kelava when we saw these tiny little motes of light dancing in the wind.¡± The slide now focused on dusky sky with pin sized golden orbs ¡°The villagers were afraid of them and told us that they had burned three of their people to ash. We got curious and decided to analyse them. We thought it was just an urban myth and these things were an environmental effect. So, to disprove the myth I took out my heat sensing camera. The results were¡­¡± Sheetal paused and took a sip of water ¡°Troubling. Some of these motes of light were radiating heat in excess of a thousand degree celsius, others were at minus two hundred degree cold, but most of them were inert.¡± The slide changed to a video with five drunk men calling each other names while approaching the motes. ¡°My guide and five others decided to touch the motes and this is what happened.¡± Sheetal''s voice fell off at the end. On the screen three men heckled each other good naturedly. They ran at the motes with drunk voices. They laughed and grabbed at the red and blue motes. There was no warning, no screams, they just turned to ash and fell apart. Everyone¡¯s attention went to the fourth and the fifth men who had just stopped with their hands outstretched like statues. The video sped up and the dusky sky was replaced by a night time one. Now the surrounding were illuminated by headlamps of vehicles and the motes. The video slowed and first one then the other man came to. They looked at each other and almost together, they ran at the other motes. Behind the camera, Sheetal screamed for them to stop. One of the men stopped to look at her and was immediately body checked by the trailing man. The first man crumpled to the ground with a crack. The camera focussed on him and his collapsed chest. He gurgled twice with spurts of blood coming out of his mouth and then stilled. The trailing man skidded to a stop and looked down at the broken man. He turned his hands and looked at them in shock . Sheetal again screamed and begged him to stop. The man looked at the camera and shook his head ¡°No, I can¡¯t. If I do. I am dead.¡± With those words the man flew at a mote and stopped again. This time he stayed like that for a full minute and then fell apart into ash. Sheetal continued in a subdued voice ¡°We left and got help. Unfortunately, it took us five days. When we returned the village of thirty had only two survivors. One old lady and one crippled boy. The only thing is that the old lady looks like this.¡± On the screen there was a before and after picture. On the left side was a picture of an old woman smoking a hookah on the right was an ageless woman knowingly smiling at the screen. The screen changed again and this time everyone''s eyes focused on a smiling boy with malformed arms on the left and a Bollywood hunk on the right. ¡°The child you see is a teenager. When we questioned him, he said that the motes made him whole again but he had to do things to pay a price. We tried to contain and question him again and this happened.¡± On the screen a jostling phone camera footage began. A young man with spotty facial hair was following the ageless woman over a sand dune. The camera in a police jeep followed them. The three men next to the cameraman jumped out. Two of the men ran towards the young man. The third jumped out and started drawing a gun. The next moment the ageless woman was standing next to the gunman. She slapped him and his head twisted unnaturally. The cameraman squealed and looked at the woman. She shook her head and pointed at the confrontation. The camera man turned his camera and caught the first police officer getting chest crushed in with a kick. The second one swung a rod at the young man. It hit the back of the man¡¯s head and the young man slowly turned around with a snarl and looked at the constable. The constable back peddled. The man shot his hand out. The constable¡¯s head turned into mush. In the sudden silence the camera man¡¯s voice repeated ¡°Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god.¡± And then he screamed. The camera jostled twice and then focused on the ageless woman who was now sitting in the driver¡¯s seat. She turned to the cameraman and began. ¡°Tell them we don¡¯t want any part of their madness. We are leaving. You won¡¯t find us again. If you come after us, you will die.¡± What made the whole thing more eerie was that she never opened her mouth to speak. But both the camera and the man understood her. And just like that, both the man and the ageless woman were gone. The lights came back on in the conference room. And everyone took a few minutes to process what they had just seen. The colonel asked the first question ¡°Doctor Joshi, are we going after those two individuals?¡± ¡°You mean freaks, right Colonel?¡± Ashoka asked. The colonel turned to look at Ashoka ¡°Those two individuals are citizens of India. People who I and my team have bled for. They deserve our respect and need to be brought in for the crimes they have committed.¡± Ashoka sat up straight ¡°So that¡¯s what you are. Got it.¡± Dr Joshi shook his head with a glare at Ashoka ¡°Colonel. Those two quite literally disappeared. We are going after the motes, as Dr Sheetal Serai has named them.¡± The colonel leaned back in his chair with a nod. ¡°Well, shit!¡± Ashoka spat out and everyone looked at him. ¡°Now what?¡± Sheetal looked at Ashoka and then held her hands up ¡°Actually, never mind, I don¡¯t care.¡± Sheetal turned to the room in general ¡°Dr Joshi phrasing is incorrect. We are not going after the motes, they are already here. That is why this site was built here. After the village incident the motes disappeared or that is what we thought. It was more like they had expended all the power they had and had to recharge.¡± ¡°The village.¡± Sheetal popped an open image on the screen which showed a baron landscape of Ash and colourful blankets. ¡°Was destroyed and is now site two.¡± The image changed again to an empty school. ¡°We didn¡¯t know that the motes traveled then. We found them floating ten kilometers away from it. We learned from that and found more. And that is how DRDO created sites one, two, three, and four. All these sites are filled with servicemen and officers from different cores of defence.¡± Sheetal paused to take a sip and Dr Joshi continued ¡°You are in what was supposed to be site five before it was taken over by the Vayu Initiative. We are a civilian run body which is working with the government. We want to use these motes to heal and that is why you all are here.¡± Sheetal stopped and looked at the military men and smiled. She got a curt head nod from the colonel and smiles from his officers. Ashoka scowled at her ¡°Excuse me, you never said where are these motes coming from?¡± Dr Joshi gave Ashoka a knowing look and flippantly answered ¡°We don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Right, I believe that.¡± Ashoka responded sarcastically. Sheetal gave them both a look and sighed ¡°That is not entirely correct. Our best hypothesis is that these things come from nuclear explosions, and these are the ones which have floated up from the nuclear site in Pokhran. It is a hypothesis because these things don¡¯t follow wind patterns or any kind of pattern. We just keep finding them again and again in that area.¡± ¡°Please, hold on a minute Doctor Serai. Are you telling me that these things are floating around here and this site is not secure against them?¡± Sheetal looked from the Colonel to her papers and read his name from a sheet. ¡°Colonel Arivarasan Ramamurthy?¡± ¡°Ari will do Doctor.¡± ¡°You are half correct Colonel Ari. This site is not safe with them around. Nowhere in the world is safe, with them.¡± Sheetal hit a key on her keyboard and the image on the screen was replaced with an image of half burnt carcasses of camels and piles of ash. Another click, and the image changed to grey ash with CISF patches. Another click, and another pile of camouflage uniform. ¡°It goes on and on. Till now our loses have been sporadic, and minimum. But DRDO believes these things, whatever they are, they need to be contained. And with the healing nature of these motes, they present an opportunity which cannot be looked over.¡± ¡°Moreover, if they are not contained, they blow over the border, what do you think happens then?¡± Sheetal pointed her thumb at the screen. Ashoka groaned ¡°Best case scenario, they say we attacked them with a bioweapon. Worst case, they get a bunch of super soldiers who kick our ass. But what would really happen would be, that our crazy chaotic Neighbours will run to the Americans or the Chinese for help, and they will try take over with their expertise. And they would take over and our problems will compound because we will have two superpowers contesting just across our borders.¡± The captain on the table blinked ¡°Why would the Americans and the Chinese have any expertise in these motes?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you her the brainiacs Soulja Boy? Or is it man? These things come from nuclear stuff. Who has done more nuclear explosions than the Americans? Also, when have the Chinese not swarmed a problem with people?¡± Sheetal looked at Ashoka and then the other. Everyone was looking at him and Dr Joshi was grinning ear to ear. ¡°Wait! Where is the wind blowing?¡± Ashoka turned to Sheetal. Sheetal blinked ¡°Um¡­ I don¡¯t know. Why?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you name this thing as the Vayu Initiative. Anyway, didn¡¯t the other guys do their nuclear stuff in Ras Kohl hills? What are they doing with theirs? And are there blinking lights coming here? No, no. You said that these things don¡¯t travel in the wind. They¡­¡± Ashoka voice lowered until the room was silent. Sheetal turned to Dr. Joshi to begin again but he stopped her with a gesture. Ashoka suddenly slammed his hands on the table ¡°Dammit!¡± Ashoka looked at Dr. Joshi ¡°Will there be a war? Is this the reason Beijing is pushing into the Himalayas? And is that why the Americans are cozying up to us?¡± ¡°War?¡± Ari asked the two doctors in front of him. Dr Joshi smiled ¡°Explain your reasoning, Ashoka?¡± ¡°It¡¯s actually pretty obvious. I should have caught it when I stumbled on to the two spies. We have these motes, so do our neighbours. Our neighbour to the west is stumbling economically and yet, curiously their elites are pushing ahead like nothing is wrong. Our neighbour to the north who has been silent for decades suddenly pushing into the Himalayas, curiously at the places where the Americans installed their nuclear device and secretly blew it upin the seventies.¡± One of the soldiers snorted derisively ¡°Are we entertaining conspiracy theories now?¡± Ashoka gave the man a pitying look and then turned to Dr. Joshi ¡°No matter what happens in the north, Lahore is not capable of handling this situation. It will ask for help from the west. The Chinese will push their way in and then there will be a tug of war. I bet there already is. And if we let these motes fly towards the west, the American¡¯s wil flex and Beijing will show their teeth. Until the situation will escalates to bullets.¡± Dr Joshi chuckled ¡°Welcome back, Ashoka The Great. I was wondering when you would wake up.¡± Ashoka waved his hand ¡°Ha! Did you just quote Buddha doc? You know I am better than him.¡± ¡°Then you wouldn¡¯t have problem surviving whatever these things are and telling us how to do it.¡± Ashoka jolted up ¡°What, me?¡± ¡°Yes. You are consuming these motes with us.¡± ¡°No.¡± Ashoka laughed then sobered ¡°No doc. You have these fine patriotic soldiers here who will do what ever you want and even jump on a bomb, why do you need me?¡± The soldiers turned there glares at Ashoka and Colonel Arivarsaan voiced their thoughts ¡°Are you saying we are expendable?¡± Ashoka ignored them and continued ¡°Hold on doc.¡± Ashoka began pointing at each of the parties one by one ¡°You have health issues. She is¡­ wheels. They are broken. I am awesome. Why do I need these things?¡± The glares turned icy. The NSG commandos bristled and one of them snapped ¡°Because, you have been ordered to boy.¡± Ashoka gave the commando a pittying look and muttered ¡°That¡¯s nice soldier boy but I don¡¯t take orders from anyone.¡± Dr Joshi laughed ¡°Actually, the captain is right. Your mother said she needs a superhero in her left pocket.¡± Dr Joshi left the rest unsaid. Ashoka groaned and with a pained look asked ¡°My beautiful baby brother is in the Himalayas isn¡¯t he?¡± Dr Joshi smiled ¡°He is monitoring the situation. You unfortunately are the expendable one.¡± The room looked at Ashoka and the Doctor in silence. Ashoka fitted his teeth ¡°Fine! So how do we contain these motes?¡± Doctor Joshi smiled ¡°We consume them like the two freaks did in the video.¡± Ashoka groaned ¡°Doc, are you serious?¡± ¡°Absolutely!¡± Doctor Joshi replied ¡°Is that it? What nobody knows what happens when we consume it?¡± Sheetal cleared her throat ¡°The American¡¯s do but they are not telling anyone.¡± Ashoka threw his hands yup in the air ¡°Damn those yankee cowboys!¡± Dr Joshi ignored Ashoka has he began to mutter and tuned to the Colonel ¡°Prepare your team¡¯s Colonel. Half of your men will keep the site secure. The other half will grab the motes with us.¡± ¡°With you sir? Are you sure about that?¡± ¡°Yes, Colonel. Dr Serai and I will be taking part in the experiment.¡± Ashoka muttered ¡°I swear if they turn me into mind talking freak, I am going to torture them by singing, Nirma, washing powder Nirma, over and over again.¡± Sheetal looked at Dr. Joshi ¡°Do you think he is stable enough to take part in the experiment?¡± Dr Joshi chuckled ¡°No, of course no. But now he is motivated.¡± ¡°I am expendable? I am expendable? I am not expendable, I am awesome.¡± Chapter 3 - Game On! Sheetal walked Colonel Ari to the back of the hospital. She watched him take in the sight. The setting sun made the scene hauntingly beautiful. She had asked others what they saw when they looked at the motes. Some said they looked every other felt awed. But everyone she knew had been mesmerised by them. Even Dr Joshi who tried to see logic in everything had just stood them and watched. After a while he had muttered ¡°Its like a yard full of fairy lights, floating in the air and calling us out to grasp for knowledge.¡± Sheetal looked at Colonel Ari who had been walking with her trying to avoid the elephant in the room and took pity on him by starting the conversation. ¡°So what do you think?¡± Colonel Ari wet his lips ¡°They feel dangerous.¡± Sheetal nodded ¡°This is the first time you have seen them. People have that reaction sometimes.¡± ¡°Yes, I was busy sorting stuff out to come and look at them before. Although, I did hear that some of my boys had a reaction to them.¡± ¡°Yes, I heard one of your captains spoke to Dr Joshi about one of the motes. He and Dr Joshi seem to have gotten tied together.¡± Sheetal smiled at the dark man. Colonel Ari smiled and then his eyes locked on a mote ¡°That one. It is grey.¡± ¡°More mercurial.¡± Sheetal responded and explained ¡°Like the metal. Funny thing, that one. You would think that it would fade into the background because of its colour but every one of them are like¡­¡± Colonel Ari nodded ¡°Yeah, its like everything is sharper here. That¡¯s what scares me. As a commando I have been trained to ignore distractions to look for sharp or pointy things. Then why do my senses keep telling me that the pointiest thing here are these things floating in the air.¡± Sheetal watched Colonel Ari turn and twitch. Sheetal turned her wheelchair around to follow his gaze. All she saw from her vantage point was a bunch of soldiers. ¡°What is it?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°It¡¯s that, kid.¡± Colonel Ari spat out the last word like it was a curse and asked ¡°What is his deal?¡± ¡°He is the son of Kavita Stalin. And Dr Joshi says he has some skills.¡± ¡°He is a killer.¡± Sheetal snorted. Colonel Arivarsaan looked at her and smiled gently ¡°Doctor, that boy. I have seen people like him. We keep them out of our units. They are¡­¡± ¡°Sociopaths?¡± Sheetal held up her hand and smiled back ¡°I know, colonel. I laughed because it seems you haven¡¯t seen the viral video of him killing a guy in Myanmar. He is some sort of a hero on the black sites.¡± Colonel Ari leaned back ¡°Huh. Well, I just thought you should know.¡± Sheetal smiled and asked ¡°Are your men ready?¡± ¡°Yes, thank you for getting us the two days we needed to sort things out.¡± Colonel Ari looked at the motes and chuckled ¡°You know what the biggest delay was? Choosing the motes. You shouldn¡¯t have given us the thermal temperatures, the spectrographic reading and that other thing.¡± ¡°The density mapping graphs?¡± ¡°Yeah. We are soldiers, doctor. We are men of action. You gave us all these readings and we started to argue about their colours, the temperatures, and even the wind density and why and how feasible it would be to move them.¡± Sheetal grinned ¡°So, how did you all sort it out?¡± ¡°Dr Joshi helped. He told us to pick the ones which called out to us. For the ones who wanted the same mote we settled things with a coin toss.¡± Sheetal was a bit disappointed with the answer. ¡°Hey wheels!¡± Sheetal heard the call and sighed. Colonel Ari grimaced ¡°Why do you let him call you that?¡± Sheetal gave him a pained smile ¡°Just relax. If you just ignore him, he gets bored and goes away.¡± ¡°That is not going to be as easy as you think.¡± Colonel Ari muttered as Ashoka pumped his hands and rolled himself faster towards them on a wheelchair. Ashoka skidded his wheelchair to a stop next to Sheetal and grinned at her ¡°Hey, Wheels. These are some nice wheels.¡± ¡°Is that my¡­?¡± ¡°Your other wheelchair? Yup. This is better. Why do you roll around on a battery powered, over engineered thing.¡± Sheetal closed her eyes and visibly calmed herself. ¡°Wheels, Colonel Boring, have you been talking about me?¡± Ashoka asked with a grin. ¡°Yes.¡± Colonel Ari responded instantly. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Well, I have been thinking about you too? Why do you have an army rank if you are a commando?¡± Ari scowled ¡°Because I have cancer. I am not cleared for commando duty. I was transferred to the army to live out my time on earth.¡± ¡°Oh for crying out loud! I knew this mission was bad but sending me out there with soldiers with a death wish. I should have never killed that guy. Or at least I should have changed before doing that.¡± Sheetal grimaced ¡°Is there a reason you are here Ashoka?¡± ¡°Yes, I am coming with you. You know all the best glow balls here. I am picking the ones you choose.¡± Colonel Ari sighed ¡°I will be leaving you then. I picked the silver grey one. And so did most of my men.¡± Sheetal looked at him and nodded ¡°We start in ten minutes. I go first. Then you and your men.¡± Colonel Ari pursed his lips ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to reconsider? It should be us before the civilians.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry Colonel Generic, I will keep her company.¡± Ashoka added before any of them could respond. ¡°Didn¡¯t you just a few days ago think that this was suicide?¡± Colonel Ari asked in a heated voice. ¡°I still do. But I am now going with the person who knows best out these glowy thingies. That raises my survivability at least by ten percent. So, I am the smartest.¡± ¡°No, you are a conniving little weasel.¡± Colonel Ari loomed over Ashoka and Ashoka just grinned back. Colonel Arivarsaan took a step back and asked Sheetal ¡°Anything I can do for you doctor before¡­¡± He let his words hang as he looked at the poll of glowing motes illuminating the dark lawn. ¡°No, thank you Colonel. It was nice that you walked me here.¡± Sheetal smiled. The colonel snapped her a salute and with a glare at Ashoka walked away. Sheetal turned herself around and started moving towards her chosen mote. She heard Ashoka roll himself forward behind her and asked. ¡°You are not going to go away, are you?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°How did you get my athletics wheelchair?¡± ¡°It was just standing there.¡± ¡°In my room.¡± Sheetal let him catch up. ¡°Yeah, but your door was open.¡± ¡°Everybody¡¯s who is going to go into the experiment has their door open. It¡¯s so that we can get to their personal effects in case they pass.¡± Sheetal found her voice rising and visibly calmed herself. ¡°Well, not mine.¡± Ashoka responded with an impish smile. Sheetal gave him an annoyed look. ¡°Hey, I have my sex toys in there. I don¡¯t want anyone to see those or pass them on to anyone.¡± Ashoka shot back. Sheetal opened her mouth and closed it. ¡°Why don¡¯t you have any sex toys?¡± Sheetal¡¯s eye widened ¡°You did not go through my things.¡± ¡°I did. Why do you have a CNC machine in your bathroom?¡± ¡°It need water. Why were you in my room?¡± Ashoka looked around and then covertly scooted ahead in his chair. He flipped us the back of his t-shirt and revealed two baton like objects tucked in his back. Sheetal stopped her chair and turned towards him ¡°What? How do you even know¡­ Why? What?¡± ¡°Wheels. Take a breath.¡± ¡°Why do you call me that?¡± ¡°What, wheels within wheels? Because its true.¡± Looking at the blank look Sheetal gave Ashoka, he explained. ¡°Look, you think you run this place. Your word matters. And to some extent you do. But you and I are both aware of the fact that there are external factors who are interested in this place. And they might be doing similar experiments, somewhere else. That is why they take all your detailed reports and your findings. They also come back with advice which strangely works every time. So, that is why I believe that there is someone guiding the collective effort. And that someone is..." "Your mother?" Sheetal asked in a deadpan voice. "Oh, I hope not. She has no imagination." Ash said sotto-voce and then continued in a normal tone "I think we have a master with a bigger wheel churning it clockwise and anticlockwise. And you are on wheels. So, wheels within wheels.¡± Sheetal blinked and leaned back ¡°Huh. That sort of made sense in a crazy sort of way. It''s wrong but okay." Ashoka sighed ¡°That¡¯s what one of my strengths. I see past the nonsense.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Sheetal leaned forward ¡°What do you see around you right now?¡± Ashoka grinned at her and began pointing his hand around ¡°High-definition cameras 50 yards away, other sort cameras much closer, all designed to see past the flesh and look at what¡¯s happening inside us. Do you expect us to fail?¡± ¡°Is that it?¡± Sheetal ignored his question and pointed at the motes floating just a few meters away ¡°What about them?¡± Ashoka gave her a discerning look and stopped grinning ¡°On the surface they are vibrantly coloured tiny motes of lights bobbing up and down without any rhyme or reason. But they are more¡­¡± Ashoka¡¯s voice deepened as he looked at them and his fingers twitched ¡°They are responding to something, a sound that is guiding them. Or maybe I am just trying to mess with you.¡± Sheetal looked into Ashoka¡¯s eyes ¡°Does that sound, sound like a hum?¡± Ashoka leaned back ¡°Oh, thank my glorious ears. For a few days there I thought there was something wrong with them. Every time I came around here, I could barely hear anyone over the sounds.¡± ¡°No, you are not going crazy, some of us can hear¡­¡± ¡°Crazy? I am not crazy. I will never go crazy. I am too awesome¡­¡± ¡°Shut up! Did you say sounds? Like in plural? Not just one?¡± Sheetal asked Ashoka with a fierce look. ¡°Uh, yeah.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say anything earlier?¡± ¡°Because, I am too awesome to be crazy?¡± Ashoka shrugged. ¡°For god''s sake. What is wrong with you?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± Sheetal shot her hand out and grabbed Ashoka by his t-shirt to pull him towards her. He was surprisingly firm under his clothes. Still, he leaned forwards humoring Sheetal. And then ruined the effect by sticking out his tongue at her. Sheetal growled ¡°Listen you spoilt child. This experiment is the work of my life. If you have harmed it by not volunteering information, I will pummel you to the ground.¡± Ashoka opened his mouth and muttered ¡°Holy crap! They always told me that your kind existed, but I never thought I would meet one.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°A mad scientist. One who would do anything for an experiment. Not the comic book Hollywood version, a real life one. The one who would look past the pesky moral issues, the should nots, and towards a greater vision. So that¡¯s what you have been hiding?¡± Sheetal let Ashoka go and rolled her eyes ¡°I am not a mad scientist.¡± ¡°Of course you are not.¡± Sheetal turned her wheelchair around and rolled towards her destination in silence contemplating Ashoka¡¯s words. They had hit too close to home. She had broken contact with her family, cow towed to the government and was now responsible for sending soldiers to their deaths. ¡°You know, it''s not wrong to be selfish.¡± Sheetal jolted up. Ashoka continued ¡°So, you want to walk again? It¡¯s okay. You did everything to do that? That¡¯s okay too. Everyone is here because they want to be here. What you are reflecting on is what societies archetypes. Dr Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll, and that vampire doctor from Hollywood. This is real life. We don¡¯t dice up people. That is just messy.¡± ¡°Are you trying to make me feel better?¡± ¡°Yes. Also, sounds from the glow balls is kind of driving me nuts. So can you start talking and screaming again, please.¡± Sheetal stopped ¡°Dammit. Shut up. You¡¯ll make me lose my train of thought again. The sound, come with me.¡± Ashoka followed her with his curiosity peaked. Sheetal sped towards a brown mote and asked ¡°What does this one sound like?¡± ¡°Like a rumbling.... Brudadadadadada... Sort of sound.¡± Ash made the strange noise and the people watching him hid their smiles. Everyone but Sheetal. She rolled herself to an orange one and asked ¡°What does this one sound like?¡± ¡°Like a hiss. You know like water droplet on a pan.¡± ¡°And this one?¡± ¡°It¡¯s red. It sounds like lava.¡± Sheetal raised an eyebrow and then rolled herself to a grey mote. Ashoka grimaced ¡°That one, its¡­ It starts with metal clanking and then transitions to whizzing blades, to thwacking, to drums. No not drums, explosions?¡± Sheetal looked at Ashoka. ¡°What?¡± ¡°You said that you heard a sound. That all can¡¯t come from a sound.¡± ¡°Now, do you understand why it is so annoying to be here?¡± ¡°No. But hold on.¡± Sheetal reached in her wheelchair bag and picked up a radio unit. ¡°Dr Joshi, did you get all that?¡± ¡°Yes, Sheetal.¡± A loudspeaker mounted on the hospital announced ¡°Take him to the blue ones next.¡± ¡°No need. The clear blue one sounds like trickling water, the green blue one sounds like waves, and the deep blue one sounds like depth and drowning. The bluish white one sounds like a whoosh and the white one''s sound like air.¡± ¡°Oh, my.¡± ¡°So, am I awesome or what?¡± ¡°Or what.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± ¡°You need to take him to them Sheetal.¡± Doctor Joshi said on Sheetal¡¯s radio. Sheetal nodded ¡°Come with me.¡± Ashoka followed Sheetal as she delicately maneuvered herself past the crowding motes to a space where they began to space out. ¡°Oh, you are taking me to the whistling ones.¡± Ashoka stated. ¡°Whistling ones?¡± ¡°Yeah, I found them yesterday when I tried to get away from the chaotic noises. Their melody keeps the other ones away.¡± Sheetal stopped in front of six motes. Before she could ask Ashoka began to explain. ¡°The two golden ones on the right bobbing up and down tinkle and chime. The two in the middle, they alternate between a nothing when they are black and thuds when they are red. The ones on the left they are the ones that whistle.¡± Sheetal looked at the motes in question ¡°They are silver with streaming colours. Is the whistling melody caused when they change colours or is it because they are spiraling each other.?¡± ¡°No, they are both whistling together. We should pick these ones¡± ¡°Why?¡± Sheetal didn¡¯t deny him but asked. ¡°Which ones were you going to pick?¡± Sheetal eyes wandered to the golden motes. ¡°Seriously? What are you, a rapper? You see gold and you got to have that?¡± Sheetal rolled her eyes with a smile ¡°I will take your advice if you give me a valid reason.¡± Ashoka looked at the motes for a moment with a pinched expression. ¡°I don¡¯t know. They feel the most complete ones here and we should really grab them before the guys listening to us decide they want to store them for someone more important.¡± Sheetal eyes went to a red painted metal rod, a marker to mark distance, and also a microphone. ¡°Okay, lets do it.¡± Sheetal nodded. Ashoka grinned and rolled his wheelchair around the motes until he was facing Sheetal. He watched as Sheetal held her hand up and hesitated. Ashoka brought his palm to the mote and they stopped spiraling. ¡°Together?¡± Ashoka asked. Sheetal steeled herself and placed her hand next to the now stilled mote. She took in a breath and nodded ¡°In one, two, Three!¡± Chapter 4 - Meet leverage. Analysing. Parameters not recognized. Diagnosing. Sheetal clenched her eyes shut against the pain. Her body was spasmed uncontrollably, her teeth clenched together, and she screamed, but it came out more like a gurgle. Warning! No elemental, conceptual, or ethereal shards integrated. Warning! You have consumed a warder structural shard. Please consume shards now to improve your potential. She felt rough hands on her, a grunt and then someone lifted her off her wheelchair quickly. She felt a short spell of weightlessness and then fell into a chair. And then that annoying voice and words appeared again. No shards consumed. Diagnosing You have chosen not to consume shards now. You must consume a minimum of 20 shards within 20 days. Failure will lead to spontaneous internal combustion of body and soul. Congratulations You have unlocked warder storage. Storage capacity 10 slots Congratulations you have unlocked shard storage. Shard storage capacity - 5 shards. Warning! You are taking damage. Using stored potentiality to repair damage. Warning you have taken lethal doses of electrical damage. Warder structure activated. Using stored potentiality to repair damage. Loud cursing slowly brought her back to reality, and she saw Ashoka kicking her sparking wheelchair. ¡°Wha¡­¡± Sheetal croaked. Warning! You have consumed a warder shard. Shard consumption was not authorised by the Silver City Governing Body. The Silver City Enforcement Department has been notified. Warning! You have consumed a warder shard. A regional Kel has been informed of your status. Congratulations Aspirant. You have taken the first step beyond Ascension. Complete your warder mission and gain recognition to be honoured as a Shiang. Error. You haven¡¯t ascended. Ashoka turned to her and blinked rapidly ¡°Go away, words.¡± Sheetal wiped her teary eyes ¡°You can see them too?¡¯ ¡°Yeah and hear them. Why does it sound like a posh British lady?¡± ¡°What are they saying now?¡± Reevaluating. Configuring. Integrating Warder Aspirant Trial with the Ascension Process. Creating new threads. Generating possibilities to gather potential. New Mission. Survive sentient. Rewards To be calculated after survival. Sheetal looked away from the bottom right side of her vision. There was no better way to put it. The words and short sentences weren¡¯t really, at the side of her vision but at the same time it was. And as she read them, the words faded. But there was no time for her time to contemplate more about them. Ashoka hadn¡¯t responded to her. She looked up and saw Ashoka tearing a bag off her wheelchair. ¡°My wheelchair!¡± Ashoka turned and growled ¡°No, your sparking death trap chair. Honestly, where did you get these batteries? China?¡± Sheetal snapped back ¡°That is a German luxury wheelchair and its batteries are made in the states.¡± Ashoka dropped the bag in her lap and squatted in front of her. He looked at her for a moment and then sighed. ¡°You are okay. For a few minutes there, I thought I was going to be all alone here. In this desert!¡± ¡°Minutes? It¡¯s just been seconds. Wait a minute, where are the lights? And what happened to my wheelchair? Why are you just in a vest? And why are you sweaty?¡± Sheetal rambled out one question after another. Ashoka leaned back and looked at her eyes for a moment. Sheetal was getting impatient ¡°What?¡± ¡°Your burns. They just flaked off.¡± Ashoka responded with a hint of wonder in his voice. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°Okay! Let¡¯s start at the beginning. We came here. I was making an annoying joke. You started shaking and I tried to grab you and got shocked. And then your chair went, Nikola Tesla. And your face was kind of pushed against that bar, so.¡± Ashoka grimaced at Sheetal¡¯s horrified look and continued with a smile ¡°But that is all in the past. Basically, I used my hoodie to grab you and threw you into your other one. Lucky break, I kept trying to annoy you with that. But you were out already, so I tried to save whatever I could from your chair. Then you did a glow thing for a moment, woke up, said something and went out again. I think that happened twice and now you are here. You smell of burnt hair and flesh, but you are good.¡± ¡°What about my face?¡± Sheetal touched her skin. It felt tender but not painful. ¡°It¡¯s a bit red, but overall, it looks¡­¡± Ashoka leaned in ¡°Better? Your blackheads are gone.¡± ¡°I do not have blackheads.¡± ¡°Right sweetheart, you didn¡¯t have blackheads. What do you think I am blind?¡± Ashoka chuckled sarcastically and continued ¡°But you are right, you no longer have blackheads on the right side of your face. The left side still has blackheads.¡± Sheetal shot him a look which was quickly overshadowed by her former wheelchair erupting into flames. ¡°My wheelchair.¡± Sheetal repeated her earlier words. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s been doing that for the last ten minutes. Catching fire and then sputtering out. Your phone, tablet and laptop also erupted into fire.¡± Ashoka pointed to the bag in Sheetal¡¯s lap and said ¡°Those are the only things I could save.¡± Sheetal opened the bag and closed it with a scowl ¡°There is a spanner, a screwdriver, and a dildo here.¡± Sheetal glared at Ashoka ¡°I do not have a dil¡­¡± Ashoka watched as Sheetal reached in to grab the rubbery toy. Sheetal looked at the wobbly thing with an open mouth. ¡°Oh. You are holding it. Do you even know where it has been?¡± ¡°Ew!¡± Ashoka chuckled ¡°Yeah, that was supposed to be a joke. Also, you have no sex toys. Why don¡¯t you have sex toys?¡± Sheetal looked at the pink sex toy in her hands and screeched, reflexively flinging it away. ¡°You¡­¡± Sheetal began ¡°You¡­¡± ¡°Hush¡­¡± Ashoka held up a finger to his lips ¡°That did not sound right.¡± Ashoka moved away from Sheetal and blinked his eyes. ¡°If this is some elaborate way to deflect the tongue lashing, I am going to give you, it¡¯s not going to work Ashoka. Not this time. I have¡­¡± ¡°Oh, we are so screwed.¡± Ashoka announced. Sheetal looked at Ashoka¡¯s stiff posture and turned to the direction he was looking. She could see shapes there, moving in the dark. ¡°Are those people?¡± ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°Great, we can ask them for some help.¡± ¡°They don¡¯t look like they are here to help.¡± ¡°What? Why?¡± ¡°Do you know what people gathered together are called? A mob. And that looks like an angry mob, marching towards us.¡± ¡°We should talk to them.¡± Sheetal moved her chair forward. Ashoka grabbed the handles of her chair and pulled her back ¡°What bit about an angry mob don¡¯t you understand?¡± Sheetal turned her wheelchair to face Ashoka ¡°Ashoka, we are government officials. We have a duty to sort this mess out and not let it affect our initiative.¡± Ashoka looked at her as if she was crazy ¡°Listen to me Sheetal, you don¡¯t negotiate with a screaming mob. You run in and hide.¡± ¡°Ashoka, they are not screaming, shouting, or even saying a word. They are slowly making their way here. You need to calm down.¡± Ashoka looked at her with a baffled expression ¡°You are right.¡± Sheetal stopped and looked at Ashoka¡¯s bewildered face. She jutted her chin upwards and turned her chair to look at the people. ¡°Hello! I am Doctor Sheetal Serai. Are you lost?¡± Ashoka shuffled beside her and muttered ¡°They are not lost. We are.¡± Sheetal rolled her eyes and waved at the people ¡°Excuse me. Do you need help?¡± Ashoka stiffened and slid his tonfas out. Sheetal looked at him and then back at the people ¡°Don¡¯t mind my friend here. He is just a bit scared. Step by step, the dark silhouettes came into the light of her burning wheelchair and Sheetal gasped. She saw the first man. He was a scared mangled mess. One of his arm had been torn off at the elbow. His eyes were a pale blank white, and dead. His face had been clawed off by something big. Sheetal eyes looked at him and the people behind him. They were also the same. ¡°Eeeeh!¡± Sheetal shrieked. ¡°Zombies!¡± Ashoka¡¯s upbeat voice rang out in contrast. ¡°Why are you so happy?¡± ¡°Because a mob is scary. People are scary. Zombies? They are okay. Smelly but okay.¡± ¡°What the hell is going on?¡¯ The bottom right of her vision blinked into existence. Sub-mission. Eliminate the enthralled. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Enthralled Eliminated 0/20 Rewards 4 Characters Blocks First kill bonus - 2 Crecks Ashoka chuckled and held up his two stick things. Sheetal¡¯s eyes widened and she quickly said ¡°No. No. No. We should go back to the hospital and let the commandos deal with this.¡± ¡°Hey, brainiac. Look around, the hospital is gone. Everything is gone. It¡¯s just you and me.¡± Ashoka looked away from the shuffling corpses and asked her ¡°Are you with me?¡± Sheetal looked at him and at the oncoming horde. She wet her lips and took out her wrench. The bottom right of her screen blinked again. Do you want to collab with Warder Aspirant Unnamed ¡°What?¡± ¡°Just say yes.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± Sheetal answered tentatively and the words disappeared. Warder collaboration created. Warder unnamed you are collaborating with Warder unnamed. Ashoka bounced on his toes with a grin ¡°Good! I will keep them off you for the most part. Those who fall near you, smash them with that metal tool. Okay?¡± ¡°What if I can¡¯t reach them? What if they get up after you have hit them with your sticks. What if we can¡¯t kill them before they bite us?¡± Sheetal was panicking ¡°Hey. Relax!¡± Ashoka turned to Sheetal ¡°Listen to me. Once again you are thinking of stereotypical Hollywood movie stuff. You don¡¯t need to shoot them in the head. You just need to mash up their brain. All brain¡¯s rest on cranial fluid. That means you just have to hit them hard enough to hit the skull wall and cause damage. It¡¯s simple anatomy.¡± Sheetal looked at Ashoka with an open mouth ¡°What? Why do you know that?¡± Ashoka grinned and moved ahead of her ¡°Because I am awesome. Here, let me teach you how to be awesome.¡± Ashoka moved. Two seconds later he was there before the puff of sand from his initial movement had settled. He duked left and shuffled right and brought on his metal rods on the head of an enthralled and spun the second one at another. He jumped back and was next to Sheetal within two heart beats. ¡°See¡­ Easy.¡± Sheetal shivered. It felt nice and unnatural at the same time. Like someone had delicately massaged her insides ¡°What was that?¡± She asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know but it felt good.¡± Sheetal looked at Ashoka ¡°Hit them with your sticks again. Let me figure this out.¡± Ashoka turned a glare at her and lifted his weapons up ¡°These are tonfas. Not sticks. Not night sticks.¡± Sheetal gave him a blank look. Ashoka stomped to an oncoming enthralled and straight kicked him in the head. The creature fell lifelessly to the floor. ¡°They are¡­¡± Ashoka shifted slightly and punched the shortened end of his sticks into another one¡¯s head. ¡°An ancient Japanese weapon.¡± Thump! Another of the enthralled went down. ¡°Created in Okinawa and¡­¡± Thwack! ¡°Used by Thai¡¯s, Chinese, and Malay.¡± Thump. Thump. Thump. ¡°Tonfas!¡± Sheetal looked at her mad partner manhandling the zombie things with her mouth open. After the third one went down Sheetal realised that Ashoka had everything under control and looked sideways until the notifications on the sides popped open. Eliminated. Enthralled Potentiality + 10 Eliminated. Enthralled Potentiality + 10 Eliminated. Enthralled Potentiality + 10 Sheetal looked up from the notification and stated ¡°Hey, Ashoka, I think every time you kill one of the zombies we get something called potentiality. I think its that thing which makes us feel good.¡± Ashoka kicked one of the zombies away making others stumble and turned to Sheetal ¡°Are you saying that this thing inside our heads likes it when we kill things?¡± Sheetal looked at him appalled. Ashoka grinned and screamed ¡°I love this place.¡± Sheetal''s look turned aghast. Ashoka watched her for a second and then at a dead thing stumbling towards him. He bucked to the right, grabbed the female zombie by the hair and in a smooth motion flung it towards Sheetal. ¡°Here you handle this one.¡± Sheetal screeched ¡°What!?¡± She saw the dead creatures heading towards her. She saw it open its mouth hungrily to bite. She saw it trip on its feet. Sheetal closed her eyes as it fell to its knees right in front of her. Instinctively she tightened her grip on the wrench in her hand and brought it down upon the dead woman¡¯s hideous face. Thump. Sheetal heard a crunch and felt the zombie fall in the loose sand of the desert. ¡°Huh? That didn¡¯t go according to plan.¡± Ashoka¡¯s disappointed voice brought her out of her fear. Sheetal opened her eyes and glared daggers at Ashoka ¡°I am going to kill you.¡± ¡°Hey, be happy. You killed one. And it felt good.¡± Sheetal started to respond but Ashoka whooped and started battling more enthralled. He started announcing his moves. ¡°I will kick you in the head.¡± Thwack. ¡°I will bump you in the face.¡± Thump. ¡°I will bang you in the temple.¡± Thunk. Sheetal closed her eyes and tuned him out. She needed to gather herself. There was a lot to unpack here and arguing with Ashoka was not going to help. She needed to sort this stuff out before others came here, where even here was. And why hadn¡¯t they arrived. At least two of the soldiers should have arrived by now. Had they aborted the experiment after they had consumed the motes. No, she couldn¡¯t think of that right now. What did she have? A wrench, a screwdriver, a bag with her deodorant, and a lighter. No, that wasn¡¯t what she needed to check. It was the bit with this potentiality. As she thought about it, text in her vision appeared and disappeared. The glowing ball of colours pulsed and expanded to show her two bars. Warder Unnamed. Potentiality 645/ 2500 Warder Unnamed. Potentiality 2255/2500 She somehow knew the first bar belonged to her. But why was it so low? ¡°Hey, why don¡¯t I have potentiality?¡± Ash didn¡¯t respond for a moment and then shrugged ¡°Maybe its because you almost died?¡± ¡°What do you mean I almost died?¡± In response, Ashoka kicked another one of the enthralled towards her ¡°Fight now. Talk later.¡± Sheetal gritted her, moved forward and hurled her spanner wrench right to left. She made contact with the dead thing¡¯s cheek bone. It didn¡¯t go down. She looked at it and its broken face. Sheetal yelped and hit it again. And again. It finally crumpled and this time stayed dead. ¡°Nice.¡± Ashoka nodded. Sheetal looked up at Ashoka who gave her a curt nod. Sheetal looked at her wrench and decided to go back to reading the text in front of her. She mentally scrolled backwards. Things that immediately stood out to her were Warder Shard, Ascension, and the other shards. The rest were damage notifications with regeneration notification. Sheetal stopped. What was this? She looked at the orb floating on top right. It expanded and stated¡­ Warder Aspirant Unnamed Underneath that was a scaled down version of her standing upright. Like she had been able to stand when she was seven. She stopped that train of thought too. She looked besides her model. There were three options there. Shard Integrity, Warder Structure, and Potentiality Assignment. Her eyes hovered over Shard Integrity. Text in red appeared right below it. No shards found. She moved on to the Warder Structure. Three options opened up below the main text. Linear. Constellation. Ribboned. The linear one showed nine glowing orbs inside her silhouette like model. It resembled a chakra map inside an ayurvedic clinic with other points next to the main spots. The constellation option resembled a galaxy with multiple glowing spots rotating around each other. With one main spot being the darkest shade of black compared to everything else. Ribboned had tens of orbs ribboned across her model''s limbs, torso and head in a mesmerising pattern where the ribbon never overlapped. Sheetal looked at and followed them ribbon for a moment and then looked at the silhouette. It looked like someone had wrapped her like an Egyptian mummy. Sheetal did not even like that idea a bit. She moved past ribboned immediately. She looked at all three and picked the constellation option. And error message popped open once again. Error. No shards found. Sheetal went to the last tab. Potentiality assignment. That did nothing too. She could see occasional streams but it all went into the Warder Structure. She tried to get something more out of the tab but was soon taken out of her investigation. ¡°Hey! Hey!¡± Ashoka¡¯s panting voice made her look up. He had moved away from her. He was now ten steps away and back pedalling while jabbing out of the reach of the last five enthralled. ¡°A little help here?¡± Sheetal blinked. The enthralled had somehow started working together. They were all attacking him together. When he tried to attack one, the other would attack him at the same time. And he was getting pushed back towards her. She needed to do something but¡­but¡­ What could she do? She tried to roll her wheelchair but it was stuck in the desert sand. She looked at the bloody wrench in her hand and at Ashoka scrambling back from an out stretched hand of the dead. What could she do? She had no weapons, she had no legs, all she had was this stupid wrench. Her vision zoned out until she could see all five enthralled. It was like the time stopped for a second. She suddenly knew that these things would kill Ashoka. He wouldn¡¯t go down quitely but they would win. Then they would tear chunks of him while he screamed in pain and agony and then they would come after her. She would be helpless. They would take their time in killing her and eat her while she was alive. And all her dreams, all her accomplishments, all her sacrifices would amount to nothing because all she had was a wrench. ¡°A stupid worthless wrench!¡± Sheetal screamed and threw the tool at the enthralled. It shot out of her hand with a crack and streaked towards the undead with a line of glowing after image. It impacted the second one to the right, missing Ashoka by a hair and exploded into shrapnel. ¡°What?¡± Sheetal squeaked. ¡°The fling?¡± Ashoka finished her words. Warder structure activated. You have used pure potentiality to imbue an attack. Disruptive Resonance. Potentiality 350/2500 Warning! Potentiality Low. Warning Potentiality is the essence that makes you, you. Lowering it may result in death.Please procure more potentiality or wait for it to regenerate. Sheetal stopped with her hand raised. Ashoka stomped on the downed enthralled¡¯s head next to him and turned to look at her. ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I just threw a wrench and that happened. And then¡­¡± ¡°I am not talking about you throwing something. I am talking about you almost hitting me with it.¡± ¡°I¡­Uh¡­ Well I didn¡¯t mean to do that.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t aim. Can you?¡± Sheetal closed her mouth with a pop and then muttered ¡°I have never tried. Or had to.¡± Ashoka watched the last three injured enthralled stumbling to their feet and shook his head. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s make a deal. I will stop annoying you and you will stop throwing things. Deal?¡± Sheetal eyes zoned in and out of focus as she thought about the last message. She didn¡¯t need to recall the message to understand its meaning. She also felt it. She felt tired and hollow. More than she had felt just before she threw the flipping tool. She slumped in her chair and just took deep breaths. Slowly she started to feel better. A few seconds later Ashoka was there, propping her up before she could fall out of her chair. Then her body hummed again and she felt much better. Congratulation Submission Cleared. You have received¡­ 1000 Potentiality. 1 Creck 4 Character Blocks Sheetal looked at Ashoka¡¯s hand holding her and muttered ¡°Thanks. What the¡­ What was that?¡± ¡°Um¡­ Your not hammer thing, going boom? Well I don¡¯t know, but I think it did this to you.¡± ¡°It was a wrench.¡± Sheetal corrected Ashoka ¡°Okay. But it did not return to you. If you are going to use tools to fight they should at least return to you.¡± ¡°What!?¡± ¡°Yeah. Otherwise what kind of superhero are you going to make?¡± ¡°I am not a superhero.¡± ¡°You just threw a claw thing at zombies and blew them up. Boom.¡± ¡°You know I didn¡¯t mean to do that.¡± She said tiredly. ¡°Okay, but I mean we are fighting zombies and I fought fifteen of them. Alone. So I am a superhero and so are you.¡± ¡°Oh for god¡¯s sake. Are you trying to convince me that I am a superhero so that you can say you are one too?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Sheetal chuckled ¡°You are mad.¡± and then she began to laugh until her eyes began tearing up. Ashoka looked at her with worry in his eyes. He had been omitting a lot from his story. Okay, he was lying. But that was only because he did not want her to freak out like she was doing now. Honestly, how was the truth going to help? Truth like the fact that they had been here for more than an hour. How she had almost died twice now. Once when her stupid chair blew a circuit and the second time when her electronics exploded. That was why he was keeping her off balance to stop her from thinking about stuff. To add to that, he had started seeing things. Things like wavy patterns in the air, only these were made out of colours. Colours that had attracted his attention to the enthralled. Which had all worked out. But behind the red enthralled were two purple glowing outlined that had kept moving rapidly towards them. One of them had done something that had somehow made the last five enthralled to attack him together. That wasn¡¯t good. That left him with a problem. Should he roll the dice or not? Sheetal calmed down and wiped her teary eyes. She looked at him ¡°What is it?¡± Ashoka raised an eyebrow and with a pant in his voice asked ¡°Are you okay?¡± ¡°No. But I think I will be.¡± Ashoka grinned ¡°Good. Now let me go and deal with our downed enemies.¡± They both heard sand shift and with wide eyes Sheetal asked ¡°They aren¡¯t dead?¡± ¡°No. But you did blow them to bits. Literally. I think I saw an arm flying away into the distance. Now look away. I am going to go and stomp their heads in.¡± Sheetal grimaced and swallowed. Ashoka rolled his eyes dramatically ¡°That didn¡¯t gross you out? I was sure that was going to make you puke. Remember the time when I was waxing my pubes? You screamed and shouted, and called me names for days.¡± ¡°That was gross.¡± Sheetal nodded. ¡°They weren¡¯t even long.¡± ¡°Oh, does that make a difference?¡± ¡°They weren¡¯t even smelly like the zombies I have been throwing at you.¡± ¡°Wait a minute. Have you been throwing the zombies at me to gross me out?¡± Ashoka put his hands on his knees and answered ¡°Yeah. How else am I supposed to find out what grosses you out more than hair?¡± Sheetal glared at him. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll go stomp some skulls. You sit here and sulk.¡± ¡°I am not sulking, I am reading the notifications.¡± Sheetal stopped ¡°Wait, you don¡¯t see them?¡± ¡°Oh the words and the ball? Yeah, I switched them off when we came here. You can hit the ball to switch them off, you know.¡± Ashoka said offhandedly and the expected reaction came instantly. ¡°What!? How? When? How did you even figure that out before me?¡± ¡°I am awesome.¡± Sheetal growled and her eyes glazed over. Ashoka turned around and almost let out a sigh when he heard Sheetal start cursing him ¡°He is awesome?¡± Sheetal hissed and continued ¡°He is awesome? No, he is a stupid brat.¡± Her mumbling was followed by ¡°Hey, that¡¯s new.¡± Ashoka saw the purple outline move in the dark. It whizzed from centre to left and then to the right. And suddenly it was past him and behind him. It was fast. Too fast. And it was going after Sheetal. He wanted to look back but he controlled himself. He kept a nonchalant expression on his face and added a limp to his gait. He needed whatever was coming at them to underestimate him. He reached the undead. It had a huge chunk blown off its torso. He visibly hopped on one foot and steadied himself before he stomped down. Behind him she began reading aloud to dampen the sound of crunching bones. ¡°You are using potentiality to power a structural ability. Using heightened emotions - Empathy, Focus, Strength, and Dexterity. Error. You do not have the dexterity required to aim. Warning, you might hit a friendly.¡± Ashoka walked to the next one ignoring the speeding enemy and repeated the process. He saw the spark of something move into him and into Sheetal. He reasoned that that must be the potentiality Sheetal had been talking about. Sheetal twitched behind him and continued. ¡°You have used an external object. You have invested potentiality. Congratulations. You have unlocked the ability imbue. You have eliminated 3 enthralled.¡± The second purple enemy moved to his left. It was thinking about tackling him. ¡°The potentiality stored in your soul structure is spent. Please gather potentiality or wait for its regeneration. You will be able to access this ability ¡®Imbue¡¯ in 3 hours.¡± Ashoka felt more than saw, the purple enemy¡¯s outline turn red. He felt it grin and look at the other no red outline and make its decision after Sheetal¡¯s words. Ashoka suddenly realised that this thing in his head was not showing him outlines just for the sake of it. It was a friend or foe indicator. And it had classified these two new people as foes. ¡°I think I used something called an ability.¡± Sheetal told Ashoka. Ashoka stomped to the final enthralled. It was already dead but just to be sure he stomped on its head and slumped forwards tiredly. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Sheetal asked with concern in her voice. Ashoka panted audibly and in a hoarse voice replied ¡°Yeah, I am just tired you know. And I need some water.¡± Sheetal looked around. All she saw was sand and dead bodies. Most of which had been taken down by Ashoka while she was locked in her own panic. She suddenly felt a pang of guilt. ¡°Well... Well¡­ Well¡­ What do we have here?¡± A voice asked from beside her. ¡°A crippled mortal and a mortal.¡± Another voice answered. As soon as she turned to the source of the voice she saw a tall woman tackle Ashoka to the ground. The owner of the voice grabbed Sheetal by the throat and leaned in. It grinned and Sheetal saw shark teeth on blue toned skin. Her notification bar quickly blinked into existence. Nishachar (Night Stalker) Shards Incorporated - 1 Speed. Sheetal tried to scream. The Nishachar tightened his grip and only a wheeze came out. With panic in her eyes she tried to break the man¡¯s grip. The creature before her just chuckled. ¡°You look tasty.¡± She gave up and looked around for something and saw Ashoka. He had somehow tied up the woman with his legs and was looking at her with his head cocked to one side. Ashoka looked up at the scrambling female. She was blue. Not blue because he had her in her triangle choke but quite literally blue skinned. And she had pointu teeth very close to his crotch. That made him shiver so he arched his back and hyper extended her arm. As expected, the woman grabbed her extended arm that gave him a moment to look back at Sheetal. She still hadn¡¯t got it. He mouthed ¡°Think.¡± ¡°So nice of you both to come here. We haven¡¯t tasted fresh mortal flesh in so long.¡± The Nishachar next to Sheetal looked at her bosom with drool and grinned. Her bad guy was a talker. That was good. She still had time to get her stuff together. He on the other hand had a crazy woman in a triangle choke who was now trying to chin his grapes. He grimaced as an elbow connected with his thigh. Ashoka reached and picked up one of his tonfas from the sand. First things first. He needed to protect his awesomeness. Instead of slamming the bottom side on her head, he shoved the handle under her chin and tightened his free arm around the handle. Now she was choking and her teeth were nowhere near his jewels. He sighed in relief and shot the blue woman a fierce grin. The woman growled in anger and planted her feet. Ashoka snorted. He knew what she was trying to do. She wanted to pick him up and slam him down. That wasn¡¯t unusual, it was even a great offensive move. He had been on the receiving end of it many times. But all those times the man had been twice his size and muscled up to the gills. Ashoka¡¯s smile slowly faded and his confidence faltered. He felt a bout of weightlessness as something pushed him off the ground. He glanced down and saw sand press down under him. He looked up and saw the blue faced woman jerk him up with a fierce grin. His tonfas under her chin loosened enough for her to breath. He saw her take a lung full of air and glare at him. Ashoka looked at the woman with an open mouth and asked ¡°How?¡± In a hissing voice the female nishachar answered ¡°I am the world¡¯s force.¡± Ashoka felt something press into him from behind and push him towards the woman.. He snarled back ¡°Yeah? Meet leverage.¡± With a sudden shove, Ashoka shoved his body against the invisible barrier and jerked his body sideways. His body moved right and so did the woman¡¯s head with a crunch. He felt a satisfying pop travel through the metal pole of his tonfa. The woman stiffened and Ashoka tightened his legs and continued his roll. Using the momentum he spun the woman sideways off her feet and slammed her down into the sand head first. Sheetal felt the hand on her throat slacken. What Ashoka had just done was amazing. She at first thought the woman had the upper hand and then somehow Ashoka had tied her up in his legs. Then, the female nishachar had done something to lift him up on her shoulders. In response Ashoka had twirled and driven the woman head over heels into the sand. Now she was twitching in her death throes. Shestal felt scared, disgusted, relieved, and awed at the same time. All those emotions had overlapped and she did not know how to process things and had frozen up. Thankfully a notification on the side of her vision blinked and brought her out of her stupor. You have killed a Nishachar allied to the Rakshasa Empire Rewards - First kill bonus - 1 Creck 1 Character Block The notification momentarily distracted her but not as distracted as the shark man was. He was stupified by the death of his partner. Even before they had started fighting the man had been looking away from her, discounting her as a cripple. Now he had his eyes locked on Ashoka who had sprung up to his feet. Thoughts flashed through Sheetal¡¯s brain and a plan formed. She quickly dug around in her bag. And in one of the side pockets she had found exactly what she had been looking for. Her motions made the Nishachar look at her. Sheetal squeaked as the Nishachar turned around and snarled. He lifted his hand to hit her but this time she was ready. She raised the can. The man stopped and then looked at the deodorant can with a baffled expression. Sheetal pressed the nozzle and sprayed the man in his eyes. He screamed and closed his eyes. ¡°Seriously!? A deodorant?¡± Ashoka asked from somewhere in the distance. Sheetal snarled and used her other hand to flick the metal lighter open. Sheetal couldn¡¯t hear well with the blood rushing in her ears. She clicked and a jet of fire popped into existence. She brought it to the spray with numb fingers. Whoosh! The man brought a hand to bat her can away. The flame caught and the spray turned into an inferno. The night stalker screamed. His hand and his face went up in flames. Sheetal growled and pressed the nozzle harder. She kept pressing it until it would go any lower. The Nishachar shuffled back and tried to bolt. Sheetal moved forwards until she was on the edge of her chair. He stumbled and fell. Sheetal aimed the stream of fire at his downed body as he tried to roll. ¡°Oh!¡± Ashoka walked to her and looked down at the scrambling enemy. Sheetal ignored him and threw the now stuck open can at the Nishachar. ¡°Eat this you freak!¡± Sheetal shouted. The can suddenly exploded and sprayed the man all over. The night stalker screamed. He got to one foot and started to get away. But then fell back down midway and just began to claw himself away from her. ¡°Okay. A deodorant. Not a weapon I would use, but it worked.¡± Ashoka''s calm voice brought her out of her panic. She looked up. Ashoka was casually walking towards the burning man. He looked at the man trying to toss dirt everywhere and sighed. ¡°Damn nerds. Have to make everything complicated. You have a screwdriver. Poke him in the throat with it. No, you want to use a portable flamethrower. You crazy Musk wannabes.¡± Sheetal shivered at the thought of stabbing someone. Ashoka looked at Sheetal and shook his head. With a pitying look, he slammed his tonfa down on the burning head twice. You have killed a Nishachar allied to the Rakshasa Empire Rewards - 1 Creck 1 Character Block ¡°Tough way to go. And they call me cold!¡± Ashoka gave Sheetal a look. Sheetal ignored Ashoka. This was insane. Everything was insane. There were zombies. Blue skinned women picking up men without a grunt and cannibalistic men looking at her chest while talking about eating her. Her eyes began to tear up and then the burning carcass in front of her collapsed into itself. ¡°Huh, this one turned into Ash too.¡± Sheetal looked up at Ashoka with an open mouth. Ashoka laughed ¡°Yeah, mine did that too. It made a sound like whoop and turned into Ash. The enthralled didn¡¯t do that. They just turned into sand.¡± Sheetal looked down and saw a white mote float out the dead nishachars remains. Its serene spinning nature contrasted sharply with everything happening around them again everything Sheetal had just gone through. ¡°And yeah, that happened to mine too.¡± Ashoka added in an upbeat voice. He walked to one of the enthralled and kicked it. It fell apart into sand. Sheetal screamed ¡°Okay! I am done. I am seriously done! What in fudge is going on?¡± ¡°Oh, now you decide to freak out. Not when you melted the poor guy¡¯s face?¡± Ashoka asked. Chapter 5 - Shopping with Whiswo is, Whiswow! Colonel Arivarsan scowled. He remembered his old mentor¡¯s words. Bullets are dangerous. Politicians more so. They have agendas. And that old adage was proven again today. Somehow, he didn¡¯t know how Kavita Stalin had been notified of Ashoka and Dr Serai¡¯s discovery so soon. And now she wanted him back. To that end, she had single handedly scrapped his team''s mission and saddled him with junior officers from the army. They had jumped out of a Cheetah helicopter and rushed to him. They also had specific orders to grab air, and water shards. Apparently, the higher ups wanted flying men and deep-sea divers now. At least, he could still take Singh, his second in command and two other NSG commandos to protect the doctor. Speaking of them, he saw them guide the army soldiers to their motes. They reached out and stopped mid movement. It was like time had stopped and they had turned into statues. His eyes went to a screen that was focused on Dr Serai and that brat. They both stared at each other blank faced. Something told him that they weren¡¯t here anymore. He nodded to Singh who began his long walk to the steely mote he had chosen. The doctor, and the captain tasked to keep him safe moved with him until they reached the red motes. ¡°It¡¯s not as bad as you think, colonel.¡± Colonel Ari turned to the tablet screen and looked back at Kavita Stalin ¡°Madam MP, with all due respect, you just threw my operation into the gutter.¡± Kavita put on a fake smile and in a comforting tone responded ¡°Your operation can go on colonel, and your men can regain the chance they were offered as long as you bring Ashoka back.¡± Arivarsaan pursed his lips and then nodded. Kavita nodded back with a smile. This one looked more genuine but still was a bit off. ¡°Just do you part. And I promise you, not just ten of your men, but all twenty-two of them will have the chance to get rid of their medical conditions.¡± Just the sound of their conditions being used so casually as a bargaining chip made his blood boil. After all they had sacrificed, after all they had done to protect politicians like these and now, they were using him and his men. ¡°Colonel. Calm yourself. I don¡¯t need your heart to give out before you even take the mote.¡± Arivarsaan gave Kavita a nod ¡°Fine, Madam MP. I will take the mote and then drag your son out of whatever trance he is locked in. Once you have him back and your family whole, you will let me make my men whole.¡± Kavita gave the colonel a baffled look and then laughed. That was the first time he had seen her actually laugh. ¡°You think this is about emotion? I now see how I must be coming across. Colonel, I don¡¯t much care about Ashoka. He is a lost cause/ I only care about what he can do. Do you know what I had to do to get him back to India after his last fiasco? Threaten him with inter continental ballistic missiles.¡± From the corner of his eyes Arivarsaan saw the doctor move to a red mote and wait for the captain. They both grabbed their motes and stilled. Kavita continued ¡°That boy, if he is not controlled, can be more dangerous than a battalion of the best trained soldiers. And once again, that annoying boy has stumped me and proven to be more useful than I thought. I don¡¯t want him, but our country needs him. We need him to identify these motes and make their installation into our people successful.¡± A red light on the ceiling began to whirl and an alarm began to blare. Colonel Arivarsaan turned and looked at three medical professionals running to the motes. He followed their trajectory and saw flood lights focussed on a pile of sand. No, not sand, but ash, that was slowly floating away into the wind. The colonel focussed his eyes back onto the tablet ¡°Madam, two of the army¡­¡± ¡°I know. I have the live feeds running on my computer right now.¡± Arivarsaan exhaled, relieving the pent-up stress he was holding ¡°Madam, I understand your motivations but let me remind you, we don¡¯t know what these things do. I will take a mote, and I will return, your son and the doctor, I don¡¯t know whether they will survive until then.¡± Kavita looked up ¡°Oh they will survive. That girl is a cockroach. I stepped on her so many times and yet she is still here. She is like me. But Ashoka, he is¡­ He will not die because of some glowing motes. If you want him dead, you put a gun to his head and shoot him at a point-blank range. And then you repeat it twice more.¡± Ari looked at the woman on his screen appalled. How could a woman talk about her son like that? He visibly calmed himself and nodded. ¡°I should go. We don¡¯t have time to waste here.¡± Kavita¡¯s lips twitched upwards in a mockery of a smile, and she nodded ¡°Good luck colonel.¡± Arivarsaan dropped the tablet on the desk and ran down from the observation area taking two steps at once. He sprinted towards the ash pile and on the way, he caught one of the young army officers. He grabbed the man by the arm. ¡°Lieutenant.¡± The man looked scared but straightened ¡°Sir?¡± ¡°Where are you going, son?¡± ¡°To¡­¡± The man in uniformed white looked at him and then at the pile of ash on the ground. He turned to the two army officers standing next to him and they looked on blankly. ¡°Boys, this is critical. Grab the motes you were assigned. We need to save the rest of our personnel. Be brave for our people and let¡¯s save them before whatever happened to our brave boys from happening again.¡± The young officers straightened, and unison saluted with a ¡°Yes sir!¡± The lieutenants ran to their motes and Arivarsaan sighed. They weren¡¯t badly trained. They were just so young. Only if they could have a couple years of combat experience would have done them good, although they might have also realised that he was putting it on thick. All these thoughts breezed past him as Colonel Ari sprinted past the medical professionals in hazmat suits. A glance showed him that they were collecting the ash and separating them in two different piles. Good, he thought, at least their families would get some closure. With that one final thought he reached his mercurial mote and without a hint of hesitance, he grabbed it. Colonel Ari blinked. His years of training made him scope out his surroundings instantly. He was in a building. It looked like a large temple. He spun, collecting all the information he could. The two men who had turned to Ash were on the ground, not moving. As his eyes fixed on them, he saw parts of them flake off into grey ash. ¡°How?¡± His eyes focussed on the commotion straight ahead. Through the overlapping voices he saw Dr. Joshi and Captain Abesh Konkani throwing chairs and other pieces of furniture at the large archway of the temple. Major Singh, who was piling things up looked at him and then beyond the furniture. His eyes went past him and registered caucasian civilians in threadbare clothes. Then his brain caught on and he saw them for what they were. No, not civilians but dead pale beings. The way they moved, their stuttering walk, their lifeless eyes, and their stitched-up mouths made them look ominous. One of them reached out to the leg of a chair. Instead of reaching out and pulling on it, the brainless creature just tried to walk through the obstacle. ¡°Colonel, I need your sidearm, sir.¡± Arivarsaan looked at Singh and took out his sidearm. Major Singh was like his brother to him and he let him take the lead while he assessed the situation further. He turned his head back at the door and saw Captain Abesh Konkani call out to the doctor. ¡°Doctor Joshi, we got another smart one.¡± Captain Konkani pointed at a dead woman who was trying to grasp an upturned pew. The doctor ran to the site, raised his arm and shot out a stream of fire from his fingertips. ¡°What the¡­¡± Ari muttered in shock. Colonel Ari looked at Singh to ask about the strange sight and saw the major slide the magazine out of the body of his pistol, with his unchamber the bullet in one hand. ¡°A moment sir.¡± Singh said distractedly and took aim. Before the colonel could react, he threw both his magazine and the bullet into the horde of enemies. Colonel Ari followed the magazine¡¯s trajectory with an open mouth. It flew past the piled-up furniture and exploded with a bang before it even reached the ground. The shrapnel from the explosion took down a handful of the enemy and rattled against the furniture. The captain turned around and shot Singh a dirty look and then quickly looked back as more dead people piled into the barrier behind the first ones. And to add insult to injury, some of the downed enemies got to their feet in eerie silence and began to jostle the barrier. Colonel Ari took a deep breath and in a controlled voice asked ¡°Major, report.¡± ¡°We are in a temple sir. A temple of that god¡± Singh pointed at the seven-armed angry god with cracked skin and angry eyes standing tall over everything. The major continued ¡°I came in around forty minutes ago with Rastogi. Found the two army lads dead of explosion of their sidearms and smoking.¡± ¡°Yeah, they turned to ash on the other side.¡± Singh closed his eyes ¡°So, I am not going crazy then?¡± Colonel Ari shook his head and asked ¡°What about the politician''s boy and the doctor?¡± Singh nodded ¡°No sign of them colonel. Dr Joshi is not happy about that. I suggest not bringing them up.¡± Arivarsaan cursed in a whisper ¡°Damn it! Singh, we need to find where those two are. That brats mother wants him back. He has suddenly turned into a strategic resource.¡± ¡°Great, first as NSG commandos we had to protect politicians and now their spoiled children?¡± Colonel Ari closed his eyes and in a stern voice ordered ¡°Continue with your report major.¡± Singh straightened ¡°Okay, where was I. Yes, when I came in colonel, the captain and the doctor were already struggling against the¡­the¡­the dead civi¡­¡± The major pointed at the dead people beyond the pews and the tables and licked his lips in discomfort. ¡°The enemy. Singh.¡± Colonel Ari stated as he looked into Singhs eyes. Singh took in a deep breath and nodded curtly ¡°Dr Joshi and the captain sensed something from my weapon and made me throw it into the crowd.¡± Singh lowered his voice to a whisper and continued ¡°Honestly, my friend, if the boy captain wouldn¡¯t have threatened me with a glowing ball of fire. I wouldn¡¯t have thrown my weapon. He saved my life, and I am glad but don¡¯t tell him that.¡± ¡°Pride, my friend?¡± The colonel asked with a faint smile. ¡°Of course, pride.¡± Singh shot back ¡°After all, I wasn¡¯t stupid enough to go on a vacation, bugger some ladyboy in Thailand and return with aids.¡± Colonel Arivarssan gave him a disapproving look but let the comment slide and looked around. ¡°Where is Rastogi?¡± ¡°They took him. They must have heard the explosion and come in. When we arrived, they were swarming the bodies. We saved their bodies, but they swarmed Rastogi as he fought them and took him. They also took their dead, as they retreated. And then we established a perimeter.¡± The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Singhs words were calm, but his eyes were anything but. He looked like he was on a razor edge. Colonel Ari closed his eyes. Two of his men were dead, one was missing, and his second in command was about to explode. And he was barely five minutes into the mission. ¡°Hold on. Did you say you came in forty minutes ago?¡± ¡°Yes. Sir?¡± ¡°Check your chronograph. How long has it been?¡± Singh checked ¡°Forty seven minutes.¡± Colonel Ari lowered his voice ¡°I saw you take the mote barely fifteen minutes ago.¡± Singh leaned back ¡°What does that mean?¡± Colonel Arivarsaan twitched and tried to rub something off his eyes. He stopped and looked at the¡­ words?¡± Analyzing. Parameters recognized. You have consumed a Quicksliver Shard Please wait while it is integrated. Colonel Ari¡¯s baffled look must have been evident because the major cleared his throat. ¡°Are you¡­ You must be seeing words?¡± Colonel Ari looked up ¡°Is that normal?¡± Singh grimaced ¡°I think it is. At least doctor Joshi said it was normal. Since we could all see them. I agree with him. The boy wonder said that it was like a video game hud.¡± Ari shook his head ¡°I don¡¯t know much about that. I am more of a candy crush guy.¡± Singh got a sour look ¡°Maybe I should have played them. They gave both the doctor, and the captain the ability to throw fire.¡± Colonel Ari looked at the Captain Abesh gathering a handful of embers of fire. He threw them at the encroaching enemy. ¡°Singh? What ability did you get?¡± Singh scowled ¡°I took the metal shard. I can make my knife sharper by just looking at it. Also, I am faster with blades and my ability should make my blades indestructible.¡± Arivarssan looked at Singh with a baffled look ¡°That is good. I thought with your background of performing in the Gurudwara and knife fighting, you would like that?¡± ¡°I would, if I had a metal knife.¡± Singh took out his knife. It was a beautiful bark blade with a laser edge. But it was made out of carbon fiber. The colonel chuckled ¡°I think this is what the yanks call first word problems.¡± ¡°Shut up and give me your stupid hunting knife sir.¡± Arivarssan reached out to his back and handed Singh the blade. ¡°What did you get?¡± Singh asked Colonel Ari lowered his voice ¡°It says that I have a quicksilver shard. It¡¯s still integrating so I don¡¯t know what ability I will get yet.¡± The major looked at the captain who was making embers dance in the air and sighed ¡°I hope it''s better than that. Otherwise, the boy wonder will be unbearable.¡± ¡°Singh. Stop being jealous. You are good with knives. And you are better in close quarters than anyone else. Now go keep an eye on those two. They are our artillery now. And for god¡¯s sake drag the doctor back from the door. He is trying to climb the barrier to get a closer to the enemy.¡± Singh looked at the doctor and grimaced. ¡°Why is it that people with no common sense have the biggest brains?¡± and ran to the two fire slingers. Ari watched Singh drag Doctor Joshi down and lay into him. He was about to walk away when he heard a pop. He instinctively reached for his sidearm and stopped. He didn¡¯t have any bullets. That moment of hesitation would have been his end if the two clearly dazed men who had appeared out of nowhere weren¡¯t wearing Indian Army uniforms. ¡°Lieutenants, throw your magazines, and your ammo and any bullets you have into the enemy.¡± The LTs looked at him blankly and at the milling dead he was pointing at. The colonel used his command voice ¡°Now!¡± The young men hustled to comply instantly. A few minutes they were watching slack jawed as their ammo exploded. ¡°Good. Now which shards did you consume?¡± ¡°Air, sir.¡± They both said together again and stood in attention. ¡°Fire and fire. And air and air?¡± Colonel Ari muttered. The lieutenants were too busy looking at the undead enemy with horrified fascination. ¡°Okay, air one.¡± Ari pointed to the one on the right and continued ¡°Stay here, when the naval lieutenant gets here tell him to get rid of his ammo. If the dolphin lover has any.¡± That got a chuckle from the two army men and relieved some tension from their posture. ¡°Also put him to some use. Tell him to get us some clean drinking water. We will need it. Air two, come with me.¡± Colonel Arivarsaan jogged to the doctor. He looked rough and haggard. Past him, Singh was using his knife to sharpen a leg of a stool into a spear. Every time he scraped the wood, his knife glowed. ¡°Doctor.¡± Arivarssan nodded ¡°How are you doing?¡± Doctor Joshi gave Singh an exasperated look and then nodded at the colonel ¡°Scared, angry, frustrated, excited, awed, and curious. That is all the emotions I have been through in the last hour colonel. How do you think I feel?¡± Colonel Arivarssan looked at the man. He was usually so calm but today he looked strung out and ready to pop. Ari realised that he needed to head this situation out before he did anything else. ¡°Doctor, this is lieutenant Air one. His shard is initiating. I was wondering if you could instruct him what to do next.¡± ¡°Air?¡± The captain turned to look at the young lieutenant. ¡°Thats not really my name.¡± The new lieutenant started to explain. ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± Captain Abesh shot back and continued ¡°I just want to know if you can make my embers flow to the heads of those things out there?¡± ¡°That is not a bad idea.¡± The doctor scratched his rough beard ¡°But we need to be smart about this. If we keep lighting fires, we will soon run out of oxygen. Can you do something about the air quality in here?¡±¡± Ari watched the lieutenant next to him get a deer in headlights look and then the young man steeled himself. The captain sniffed the stale air and agreed ¡°Yeah, do something about the air in here.¡± Good, Arivarsaan thought and raised his head to take a look and saw a magazine full of ammo fly over his head. He grabbed the doctor and shoved him back. The expected bangs followed by ricocheting shrapnel. He looked at his men, who had all taker cover and ducked. Then two men came running to him. ¡°Announce when you do something like that again.¡± Colonel Ari growled at everyone. His men straightened and gave him sheepish looks. He was about to continue with the dressing down when he felt something click inside him. Congratulation. You have integrated a Shard. Type - Quicksilver You have taken your first step towards Ascendancy. Please choose a name. Names are important and have meanings Ascendent. Choose one wisely. Colonel Arivarsaan looked at the small box in frustration. He quickly picked the three alphabets that would let him go past this prompt and back to his men, only two find another set of prompts. Congratulations Ari. You are considered the leader of your forces. Do you want to be recognized as their leader? Ari growled ¡°What is with this thing?¡± ¡°Oh. Your shard initialised.¡± Doctor Joshi stated. ¡°Ari, go sit in the corner. It will take you a minute or two to get the hang of things.¡± Ari raised his eyes at the casual use of his name but then it just felt right. He nodded and walked to a wall. He set his back against it and went back to his prompt. Congratulation Ari. You are considered the leader of your forces. Do you want to be recognized as their leader? ¡°Yes.¡± Ari mumbled. You have unlocked three leadership paths. Path One Warlord You lead your men to raid and pillage your enemies. You gain the ability Aura of Intimidation. May your enemies will always run from you and may your men be too scared to catch your ire warlord. Path Two Commander You are a commander that achieves his goal with the least amount of casualties. You gain the ability Command Voice. May your words always reach your soldier to guide them in all conditions commander. Path Three Chieftan. You are the chosen chief of your people and you fight for them. You will gain the ability Hold The Walls. May your presence bring courage to your people and strengthen their hearts and limbs. Ari looked at the three options in front of him. How did this all work? The ball on the top of his vision blinked and buzzed. A new notification popped into his vision. Sentient Ari. Do you want some help? ¡°Yes.¡± Ari muttered. Do you want to go to the automated help section or do you want to speak to a sentient? ¡°A person.¡± Ari almost shouted and then waved off his men who had jolted at his echoing voice. Another set of notifications popped in. Congratulations. You are visiting the shop section. As a first time visitor you have been credited 1 Kreck. Locating a free sentient. Shop keeper Whiswo found. Have a nice shopping experience. In his mind, Ari saw a curtain lift to reveal swords, spears, and knives. Ari looked on in disgust. What was this? Some mediaeval nonsense. ¡°I can sense your displeasure. You know us sellers can sense emotions right?¡± Ari turned and focused on a snake. ¡°What are you?¡± ¡°What am I? A naga of course. And you are a human. Hold on. Wait.¡± The naga shot out a thin tongue and shook. The next moment the upper half of his body transformed into a bare chested handsome man¡¯s. ¡°Better?¡± The naga asked. ¡°Uh¡­¡± Whiswo sighed ¡°So, let¡¯s look at you. You are not an apex human, not a cyborg variant, and not psionic. Just a base human variant. How disappointing.¡± Ari looked at the creature''s mouth where the thin pink tongue had disappeared and then gave the man snake thing a blank look. ¡°Well? You asked for some help. How can I help you?¡± Ari didn¡¯t even know where to begin and then got his thoughts in order. He needed to protect his men ¡°I¡­ We are being swarmed by zombies. How do we stop them?¡± The snake man blinked ¡°Zombies? Wait, where are you from?¡± ¡°Earth.¡± ¡°Never heard of the place. Hold on.¡± Whiswo reached for a bracelet on his wrist and pointed at Ari. It glowed and he muttered ¡°A new ascended I see. One with only one shard. That is not good.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Whiswo held up a finger ¡°Hold on. I am still trying to find your location. Ah! Got it. You are in the trials of an Arata.¡± ¡°Where?¡± ¡°Okay, I have good news and bad news. Good news is that I can help you. The bad news is that you are not fighting zombies. You are fighting enthralled. And where there are enthralled there is the Rakshasa Empire. Soon you will run into one of their minions and then you will be dead.¡± ¡°So, how can you help?¡± ¡°I can arm you. Pick one of the weapons from the shelf and start hacking the enthralled.¡± Ari looked at the rusted swords and daggers on the shelf and grimaced. The naga looked at Ari with a knowing smile and asked ¡°Are you looking for something in particular?¡± Ari cleared his throat ¡°Yes. Do you have any automatic or semi automatic weapons?¡± This time the naga looked at him blankly. ¡°Um¡­ What are those?¡± ¡°Guns. Firearms. You put a bullet in and it shoots out through a chamber. Please tell me you have guns.¡± ¡°Interesting.¡± The naga brought one of his gold painted nails to his lips. ¡°How does this bullet shoot out?¡± ¡°The bullet is packed with gun powder. It is an explosive¡­ You don¡¯t have any guns do you?¡± Ari sighed. ¡°Oh, no. I have guns. Just not the kind you are looking for.¡± The naga waved his hand and the rack behind him slid sideways to reveal another rack. This one had rifles lined up next to each other. They were grey and had hollow stocks. ¡°These are Continuum Rifles Model Three one twos. I also have three hundred thirties and the sniper shoulder launcher Seven one sixes. To operate these you will need¡­¡± The naga raised a pad and tapped it ¡°One electro shard, one metal shard, one focus shard, one reflex shard. Actually, you have a quicksilver shard so let¡¯s get rid of that. And let¡¯s add spectrum eye upgrades and one density shard to give you the strength to use these weapons.¡± The naga tapped his pad and then looked up ¡°That will come to 31 Krecks. That is without the weapon. Together I can do it for fifty seven krecks.¡± Ari sighed ¡°I only have one kreck.¡± The naga smiled deviously ¡°I know. Tell you what, you tell me your story and I¡¯ll see how I can help you.¡± Ari raised his eyebrows ¡°Really? Why?¡± The naga moved and poured a dark liquid into two glasses that had appeared out of nowhere. A familiar bold smell hit his nose and Ari smiled. You have consumed Serupian Graffe You are under the influence of a nootropic - Caffeine Concentration and Focus - Up. The naga looked on as Ari downed the drink and sighed in pleasure. ¡°What?¡± Ari snorted ¡°Don¡¯t you know that a soldier always knows to get his food, drink, sleep, and shit done before things get messy.¡± Whiswo laughed ¡°You have serupian where you come from don¡¯t you? ¡°We call it coffee.¡± Ari saw the snake man snicker ¡°You didn¡¯t even flinch at the bitter taste. That showed me.¡± ¡°Hey, Whiswo. Can we get to the point? My people are fighting the enthralled right now. I need to get back to them.¡± ¡°Well, my human friend, thank you for that. Now, you were going to tell me where did you come from, why you are in the ascension trials, and what your people are like?¡± Ari poured himself another cup of coffee and looked at the lizard man ¡°Why do you want to know all that?¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? You are a human variant I have never seen before. If you are here, more like you will come. And I want to be perfectly placed to serve the emerging market. So, what do your people like to eat? What do they like to drink? I know they like their caffeine but what about liquor. Are your people sea weed eaters, or do they prefer plankton?¡± ¡°Uh, neither. We like meat and grains.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Sounds like a harvest world. Must be boring.¡± ¡°It is not.¡± Whiswo waved Ari words away and continued ¡°And you like projectile weapons for combat? Can you show me one of these gunpowder bullets?¡± Ari slumped ¡°No. Our ammo exploded when we got here.¡± ¡°Huh. So, a non reactive universe.¡± The naga took a sip of his coffee ¡°Well Ari, my dear customer. I have good news for you and bad news. The bad news is that those kinds of weapons do not work in a reactive universe. The good news is that I can help you in another way.¡± ¡°How?¡± Ari braced himself. ¡°By selling you another shard of course. It will not be anything special. Just a class one shard. But it will help. And that is what you asked for didn¡¯t you?¡± The naga smiled. Ari leaned back. Actually he had asked for some help when the prompts came up. ¡°Before that, Can you help me understand how abilities work?¡± ¡°Oh that¡¯s basic. But since you are from the butt end of nowhere, you wouldn¡¯t know. So listen up, when a sentient consumes a shard, they integrate it into their soul. The shard strengthens their soul and changes their inner being. This new being projects an invisible field, that some call an aura, that allows them to will the area around them to react to their needs. Some create fire, some ice, and some just like to fly. Gods damn those garudas.¡± ¡°Okay. I will need a much better description than that.¡± The naga took out a pipe from somewhere and lit it up. He continued ¡°All in due time my new friend. But first you need to understand there is a downside to the shards. When we who are ascending die and turn into ash. No clothes, no weapons and no more body for our families to cry on. All we leave behind is our shards. Some say that the shards consume your soul just like you consume a shard. I say that is poetic nonsense and when the soul leaves in the ascension process it takes everything essential, leaving just ash.¡± Ari frowned. The two army men¡¯s dead bodies came to his mind. ¡°I am sorry. Did I hurt your religious sentiments somehow?¡± Whiswo asked. ¡°No. I just lost two men.¡± ¡°My condolences.¡± Ari took a breath ¡°What about abilities that do not come from a shard?¡± Whiswo straightened ¡°Like what?¡± ¡°Like the warlord, chieftain and commander ones. I got offered those before I came here?¡± ¡°Ari, my friend, why did you not tell me that you are a leader of your people?¡± Whiswo pulled out another packed pipe and handed it to Ari. ¡°Thanks, but I don¡¯t smoke.¡± Ari found a table to put the pipe down upon. ¡°To answer your question, abilities that do not come from shards come from the soul and are amplified by the shards. By your earlier words, did you get an ability to lead your people?¡± Ari debated about what to tell Whiswo. Whiswo smiled ¡°Ari, I can sense your hesitation, but you should know, you represent a great opportunity for me. You see, I need you to survive. If you do so, you will send your ascended to my shop. That is how great monopolies are born. Not that I will create one. I will create a conglomerate that will rise up to cater to this new market. Yes. I will bring in my whole family. I will be chosen as the patriarch of my clan. I will have tens of wives and serpentine maids. They will bear my seed and lay eggs of my young. I will become one of the great nagas. And through that I will gain more power. You fight to gain your power, I trade.¡± Ari watched the snake man get a faraway look in his eyes and a thin sheen appeared on the creature''s scales. Whiswo turned to Ari with a steely gaze ¡°Human, I need you, so be honest. Tell me what you got and I will help you to the best of your abilities.¡± ¡°Okay. Okay. Calm down with those eyes. I got the warlord option.¡± ¡°No.¡± Whiswo shot out. He continued ¡°That is a trap. A warlord leads with fear. You must have got an intimidation aura. The aura makes your people scared of you and does not promote loyalty.¡± Ari leaned back on his heels ¡°I have two other options, Chieftain and Commander. I am leaning more towards the commander.¡± ¡°A communication ability?¡± ¡°Yes. Relaying orders is critical in a battle.¡± The naga nodded ¡°You humans sure like to talk. Fine, that is a good ability. A specialist one but decent.¡± ¡°Now, about your quicksilver ability?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what that does.¡± ¡°Allow me to tell you. You will be able to move faster. Your blood is slowly transforming into quicksilver. When it finishes your blood will have a silverish luster to it. Your reflexes will be faster and in combat the speed of your strikes will pack a punch. I propose you mix that shard with these.¡± Whiswo showed his fangs and took out five shards ¡°These all together will make you a Supreme Legionnaire.¡± ¡°Five?¡± Whiswo tapped the table and an image of a muscular human male with a square jaw appeared out the table. He lifted his hands and what at first looked like a strange body armour slithered across his body like snakes. ¡°You can have eight, but most sentients usually prefer to have five or six. It keeps an ascendent balanced and helps them grow their shards to do this.¡± The body armour unfolded into four tentacles. Two of them settled over the man¡¯s shoulders. One went behind and below the man. The fourth and final went under the man¡¯s right arm and to his face, where it turned into a display. The man¡¯s normal arms held up a rifle and he began to shoot. Then the two tentacled arms glowed and he shot laser beams into the distance. Ari looked at the hologram and asked ¡°Grow a shard?¡± Whiswo nodded ¡°Yes, shards start from class one and grow to class nine. Although, let me be honest, I have never seen a class nine shard but I have seen plenty of class two and threes. At class three, you will be able to do this.¡± The man took a dramatic posture and unholstered two guns shooting them rapidly and the bent his knees and braced himself. In a blink of an eyes the two tentacles facing outwards intertwined and then shot fist sized beam that visibly pushed the man backwards. ¡°The supreme legionnaire was first developed by an apex human race who fought an alien invasion of spectral insects. After the war they were thankfully sanctioned by warders and forced to disarm. Otherwise, they would have destroyed themselves and now they are mostly peaceful.¡± Whiswo explained and noticed Ari¡¯s interest continued ¡°They still sell the equipment and the shards. And I happen to have in my possession the five shards and the armour.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have the money for this.¡± Ari stated. ¡°I know. I can give you a metal shard for one creck. Those are cheap. But if you allow me to sell the information you have in your head. I will arm you and your people with two shards each.¡± Ari sighed ¡°Whiswo, this is great but I need something to fight with right now.¡± ¡°And that is why I am giving you the metal shard. Quicksilver is a noble reactive metal. The neuro shard will let you mix that with any base metal and create a strong alloy. An alloy that you will be able to control with¡­¡± Looking at the blank look in Ari¡¯s eyes Whiswo stopped. Ari shook his head ¡°Look, I get it. This is all nice but I will probably need an instructional manual to learn how to use these but I need something to fight with right now man. My team is in a dire situation.¡± Whiswo tilted his head ¡°You don¡¯t understand, do you? I will transfer all relevant information on how to make these shards work within five seconds of you consuming these shards. Just take them and see.¡± ¡°Okay then. But what are you going to do with the information in my head?¡± Whiswo grinned ¡°You are fighting the enthralled. People do not like the Rakshasa. They want to fight the enthralled and the creatures empire breeds. I am going to tell them exactly where to find them and wipe them out for a price.¡± Listening to the greedy tone of Whiswo Ari reluctantly agreed ¡°Okay, how do we do this?¡± Whiswo smiled and raised a finger at Ari¡¯s forehead ¡°Like this.¡± Ari heard a clicking sound in his ear and then Whiswo held up two shards ¡°Put the neuro shard in your head and the metal shard in your belly. Ari reached his hands out and put them on the shards. Notification began populating the bottom of his vision. You have consumed a Metal Shard You have consumed a Neuro Shard. Integrating new shards into soul structure. Congratulations. You have created the Armoured Soldier combination. ¡°Now¡­¡± Whiswo continued and held up his finger again ¡°Here is the knowledge.¡± As the last notification faded, knowledge on how to use the shards was suddenly popped into Ari¡¯s brain. He looked at Whiswo and muttered ¡°Wow!¡± ¡°That is right friend Ari. Shopping with Whiswo is always Whiswow! Now will there be anything else?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Then¡­¡± Kaching! You have spent 1 cred. You have traded information. You have received two shards. Ari felt something change inside him and before he could ask anything he was being pushed out and back into the temple. Whiswo waved to him and shouted ¡°Don¡¯t forget to send your people to Whiswo and come back soon.¡± Whiswo¡¯s smile fell off his face. He shivered and transformed back into his snake body. He hissed ¡°Disgusting ape creatures. He stank up my shop.¡± The naga looked at his countertop and with the sharp end of his tail he tapped it. Moments later a cowled head popped out of it. A female voice asked ¡°What is it trader?¡± ¡°I heard you were looking at the possible location of the new world. I think I might have found their location.¡± ¡°What¡¯s your price?¡± ¡°Three thousand Crecks.¡± Whiswo replied instantly. The cowled face looked at Whiswo for a moment then nodded ¡°I will pay you two now. And a hundred more if your information pans out.¡± ¡°Deal!¡± ¡°So, where are they?¡± ¡°In the ascension trials. Next to Rier.¡± The person under the cowl smiled ¡°Thank you.¡± Whiswo showed his fangs ¡°And do let the Kel know that dealing with Whiswo is always Whiswow.¡± Whiswo responded with a smile. Chapter 6 - A Subway For Horny Dogs Sheetal threw her lighter at Ashoka. The guy wouldn¡¯t shut up. The lighter would have missed Ashoka by a foot, but he shot his hand out and caught the lighter effortlessly and looked at it. Sheetal shot Ashoka a dirty look and Ashoka glared right back at her. ¡°What¡¯s your problem, girl?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have a problem, boy! You are the one with problems. Narcissistic sociopathic problems.¡± ¡°Those are not problems. Those are my character traits. Good ones. The kind that kept you alive right now.¡± Ashoka flung his hands in the air. ¡°No, my deodorant and my lighter kept me alive.¡± ¡°Really? Me fighting all those enthralled and taking out the woman didn¡¯t save you?¡± Sheetal growled ¡°It did but then a blue faced creep wanted to eat me, breast first.¡± Ashoka grimaced ¡°Yeah that was creepy. But I had it under control.¡± ¡°You had nothing under control.¡± Sheetal shouted at Ashoka ¡°If I hadn¡¯t gotten my lighter out on time.¡± ¡°He would have smacked you. But you would have lived and then I would be on him.¡± ¡°Smacked me? And you were okay with that?¡± Sheetal glared daggers at Ashoka ¡°Wait don¡¯t answer that. I think I already know the answer to that. Thankfully I came up with a plan just in time.¡± ¡°A plan to burn the guy¡¯s face off?¡± Ashoka threw his hands up in the air in frustration. ¡°He was trying to eat us.¡± Sheetal spat back. ¡°Exactly! You think your reactions are normal.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Ashoka looked at Sheetal in disgust ¡°You normies are freaks. You act like you are the sensible ones then something happens and you get scared, angry and emotional and do horrible things. When I kill things I don¡¯t go overboard. I don¡¯t blind people and melt their faces. I just kill them. That is because I don¡¯t feel things the way you all do. For me, they are just targets who deserve a clean kill.¡± ¡°Clean kill? Clean kill!¡± Sheetal shouted and pointed at Ashoka ¡°Look at the way you are talking. And, you think I am the one with problems?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Ashoka looked at Sheetal as if she was insane. Sheetal opened her mouth and then shut it. ¡°I am not justifying myself to an¡­¡± ¡°Say it.¡± Ashoka urged her. Sheetal growled ¡°You want me to say it?¡± ¡°Yes. Say it!¡± ¡°An¡­An¡­¡± Sheetal stopped ¡°Yup, you can¡¯t.¡± Ashoka responded with a smug smile. Sheetal eyes widened and in a small voice she asked ¡°Why can¡¯t I swear?¡± ¡°You are not special, sweetie.¡± Ashoka rolled his eyes and then grumbled ¡°Neither can I.¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Sheetal¡¯s voice wavered. ¡°How would I know? You are the one with the big brains.¡± Ashoka flung his hands up in exasperation. Sheetal closed her eyes. ¡°Oh, is the poor little baby going to cry now?¡± Ashoka needled her. Sheetal opened her eyes and glared at Ashoka ¡°You are doing this one purpose.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Annoying me. Keeping me off kilter.¡± ¡°No, I am not.¡± Ashoka lied unconvincingly. ¡°You are!¡± Sheetal pointed at Ash¡¯s expression. ¡°First of all, are you an old British lady that you would use the word kilter? Secondly, yes. Thirdly, you are going to thank me later for this.¡± Ashoka listed out the three responses on his fingers with his hips cocked to one side. ¡°I am going to thank you for annoying me?¡± Ash cocked his hips to the side and made a heart his hands ¡°Yes. And you will love me for it.¡± Sheetal leaned back and didn¡¯t take the bait. Not this time. Not even when he held his Japanese anime girl pose. Ashoka was dreading this bit. The danger was gone and Sheetal¡¯s adrenaline was coming down. If he didn¡¯t get her emotions up, she would collapse in the middle of nowhere while they were still in danger. Ash sighed ¡°Dang it. Are you going to shut down on me, now? Or are you just going to vomit? If it''s vomit, go ahead. I will just take a step back.¡± Sheetal didn¡¯t reply. Ashoka danced to the glowing orb and pointed at it ¡°Hey look, weird glowing thing. I bet it would make a nice night lamp.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a speed shard.¡± Sheetal replied mechanically. Ashoka looked down at the thing. You have found Speed Shard Level 1 Integration Possible ¡°Ah¡­ Okay.¡± Ashoka shrugged and then looked at his partner ¡°You want it?¡± Sheetal didn¡¯t respond. Ashoka walked to her and after a moment took a knee in front of her ¡°Okay listen to me nerd. The first thing civis do when they get into combat is panic. The second thing they do is scream and shout. Then when the situation ends they are spent and shut down. That is why I have been needling you. And I will continue to do so.¡± He waited for a reaction and when he didn¡¯t get one, he continued ¡°You see, you have already panicked, and then you did some more when the blue weirdos showed up. Now you are shutting down. Honestly, it is a wonder that you lasted so long and wonders of wonder, you didn¡¯t piss yourself.¡± Sheetal looked at Ashoka. ¡°Still nothing?¡± Ashoka asked. Sheetal just deflated. Ashoka moved closer ¡°Hey. Hey. Geek! Come on. Say something. Call me an idiot. Do something, just don¡¯t shut down on me.¡± Sheetal raised her hand, looked at it. ¡°Okay? Don¡¯t take this the wrong way but you are looking at your hand like a dumbo. But it''s okay if you just want to. I won¡¯t tell anyone. Just¡­¡± Thwack! Ashoka fell on his butt holding his face. He looked at Sheetal who had landed a thunderous slap on his face and was looking triumphant. ¡°Hey, that hurt.¡± Sheetal groaned in delight ¡°Damn, that felt good!¡± Ashoka looked at Sheetal from the ground. He rubbed his face and shrugged ¡°Okay, maybe I deserve that.¡± ¡°Yes, you do. Now explain.¡± ¡°Explain what?¡± ¡°How did you fight those zombies? How did you fight that woman? What do you mean that I died? How do you know how to operate a CNC machine? How did you use my 3D printer to make those grips on your battens? And, here is the most important question, why are you so calm?¡± Sheetal shot out one question after another. ¡°Oh, is that all? Do you want to know anything else darling?¡± ¡°Yeah, why are you suddenly more gay?¡± Ashoka rolled his eyes ¡°Okay. Those are a lot of questions. Let me think.¡± Ashoka took a moment to gather his thoughts in front of Sheetal¡¯s insistent look. He began ¡°I am calm because I have been trained to be in dangerous situations. Think Rocky training montage, take out the chicken, and add actual brains to it. That¡¯s how I was trained. In that same training, I was taught how to operate CNC machines and 3D printers. That¡¯s how you make guns by the way. Especially, when you are in a country with corrupt officials. You know, countries like Bhutan.¡± ¡°You are a spy.¡± Sheetal muttered in realisation. She kept forgetting his background with his over the top words and actions but now she was beginning to realise how he operated. ¡°No, I am a diplomat. An attach¨¦¡¯ to the Indian consulate. Or I was, before you sucked me into a mad world. And also, I am not gay. I am bi. I am just not down playing it like I do in front of others.¡± ¡°Bi?¡± Sheetal asked in disbelief. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°Yeah, bi. Like, I don¡¯t care what sex you are, as long as you don¡¯t have big jugs.¡± Sheetal¡¯s brain malfunctioned slightly ¡°Jugs?¡± ¡°Yeah, tremendous massive jugs!¡± Ashoka pointed at Sheetal¡¯s breast ¡°Like the udders on your chest. They are like these big sweaty balloons hanging off your torso. They are disgusting.¡± Sheetal watched Ashoka actually grimace at her breast. That was a first. Men usually tried to look down her chest. And he was grimacing? ¡°Okay.¡± Sheetal exhaled ¡°Noted.¡± ¡°You are shutting down again.¡± Ashoka muttered and continued ¡°I know it is hard but you need to focus on something.¡± Sheetal nodded ¡°Yeah, something more meaningful than your strange sexual preferences.¡± Ashoka cocked his head to the side ¡°Oh my god. You are a virgin.¡± Sheetal pursed her lips ¡°I am not a virgin.¡± ¡°Really? What¡¯s your favourite position?¡± ¡°Ah, all of them.¡± ¡°Uh. Huh.¡± Ashoka said in a sarcastic tone. ¡°For your information. I have had three boyfriends.¡± ¡°Okay, then you must know what to do with these balls?¡± Ashoka grinned cheekily while pointing at the shard. Sheetal looked at him and then at the floating shards ¡°What do you mean? I will consume mine and you can suck on yours.¡± ¡°Nice double entendre, girl. If you go on like that I am sure in twenty years you might find someone to unclog your drain.¡± Sheetal shoved Ashoka ¡°Move. Just go and get your shard and leave me with mine.¡± ¡°Okay, don¡¯t hold my awesome humour against me but can we discuss the shards. I have already got mine. Can we discuss yours?¡± ¡°What¡¯s there to discuss? We need the shards to stay alive.¡± ¡°Yeah, I know but mine is stupid.¡± ¡°You want my shard, don¡¯t you?¡± Sheetal squinted at Ashoka. ¡°Maybe?¡± ¡°Oh for god''s sake. What¡¯s your shard?¡± Ashoka muttered something under his breath and flicked the sand with his fingers. Sheetal watched him transform from the most annoying man she had ever met to a ten your old. She leaned back and asked ¡°What did you say?¡± ¡°Puhl Bub.¡± Ashoka mumbled incoherently. ¡°Spit it out already.¡± Ashoka chuckled and started ¡°That''s what she said.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t! Just tell me the shards name or we are done with this conversation.¡± ¡°Fine.¡± Ashoka said dejectedly ¡°It¡¯s something called polar force.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ That explains a lot.¡± ¡°What? No it doesn¡¯t. So it¡¯s polar and it can make ice? We are in a desert, for crying out loud.¡± Sheetal blinked ¡°Stop talking you idiot. Everything with polar doesn¡¯t mean cold. It''s¡­ Oh why am I even explaining this to you? Just let me look at it.¡± ¡°So, I can have the speed shard?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Really? Your¡¯s is better, you know?¡± ¡°No. That¡¯s how that woman picked you up.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Sheetal rolled her eyes and ordered ¡°Just show it to me.¡± Ashoka grinned and made a shard appear in his palm. He threw it at Sheetal and ran to get the speed shard. He whooped, cheered, and danced ¡°I am going to be fast. I''m going to buzz around and kick so many heads that I am going to make football players envious.¡± Sheetal didn¡¯t care. She tuned him out. She only had eyes for the shard spinning in her hand between hues of green and red. Back home shards barely pulsed. Here it was alive and zinging her fingers as it hovered just over her palm. You have found a shard. Polar Forces Level 1 Integration Possible Sheetal licked her lips and looked sideways at the box that had just opened up. It was asking her to put the shard just below her navel. Sheetal began to bring the shard to her midsection and then stopped. What in the world was she doing? She was actually going to put something unknown inside her body. She was a scientist. She needed to test this thing out before she should even consider doing something with a glowing ball of plasma. ¡°Yeah baby!¡± Sheetal looked up and saw Ashoka do a backflip and land on his feet. ¡°What?¡± She asked. Ashoka looked at her and asked ¡°Did I do that fast? Was I a blur?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ No.¡± Ashoka looked confused and then got a distant look in his eyes ¡°Oh dang it! It says it needs to integrate before it is active.¡± ¡°You put it in already?¡± ¡°Yeah. Why wouldn¡¯t I?¡± ¡°Because it could be unsafe.¡± Ashoka stopped and looked at her with an open mouth ¡°Ah¡­ Well I didn¡¯t think of that. And I put it in my spine.¡± he shrugged ¡°Feels pretty okay to me. But what if it gives me a tail? Do I have a tail?¡± Ashoka spun around trying to look behind him. Sheetal flung her hand up in the air ¡°You don¡¯t have a tail.¡± Ashoka stopped and looked at her ¡°Oh. Thank god?¡± ¡°Why would it give you a tail? Actually, I don¡¯t want to know. Just tell me how it feels?¡± Ashoka cocked his head to the side and thought about the answer for a moment ¡°Uh¡­ It doesn¡¯t feel like anything.¡± ¡°What happens when it integrates?¡± Ashoka¡¯s shoulders drooped ¡°It¡¯s telling me that I need to read a manual to operate the speed shard. And I have to buy it using a creck.¡± Sheetal saw Ashoka look sideways again and quickly started ¡°Hold on. Don¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°Aaaaooow!¡± Ashoka held his head and squatted down into the dark desert sand. ¡°You clown. You did it, didn¡¯t you? Well? Are you okay?¡± ¡°Yeah. I am okay. It was just like a brain freeze.¡± ¡°A brain freeze?¡± ¡°You know when you have a half frozen mobster energy drink in a gulp? It was like that but instead of filling me with caffeine it left me with instructions, no, lessons, let¡¯s just call it knowledge.¡± ¡°Knowledge? Like what?¡± Ashoka opened his eyes and looked at Sheetal and in a bad Keanu Reeves impression answered ¡°I know kung fu.¡± ¡°Oh I see. So you are still a dumb fud. So you are okay.¡± ¡°Hey! That¡¯s hurtful.¡± Sheetal smiled to herself and took in a breath. Then before she could overthink, she brought the shard to her navel. As it came closer the shards began to spin faster and faster and then with a suction it disappeared into her. Analyzing. You have consumed a Polar Force Shard. Please choose a warder structure - Sheetal quickly went through the warder structures. Linear like the name suggested was a line and the most basic one common to warders and something called ascendents. Ribboned was an overcomplicated mess on intersecting spirals. She disregarded that immediately. Constellation was an empty space where she could put shards in like stars. Congratulation you have chosen Constellation Please wait while it is integrated. Congratulations Warder. You have taken the first step towards Ascension. To know more about the shard and how to operate it please read the Polar Force shard Manual. Buy the Polar Force Shard manual (Basic)? Price - 1 Creck Yes/No? Sheetal gritted her teeth and hit yes. Everything started slow. At first she felt words, thoughts and concepts stream into her head. Some she knew, others were new. Then there were others that were twisted on their heads. But on closer inspection they all began to make sense to her. When that was done, she was inundated with equations that morphed into geometrical shapes and concepts. Sheetal soaked it all in and was looking forward to more when the stream of knowledge abruptly ended. Sheetal opened her eyes and saw Ashoka looking at her. ¡°What?¡± ¡°You were smiling? Why were you smiling?¡± ¡°Because, I know a little bit about how a planet works now.¡± Ashoka rolled his eyes ¡°Sounds boring.¡± Sheetal grinned and then her eyes caught an insistent blinking to the side of her vision. It was the ball. It was blinking angrily. She looked at it and it expanded into a pop up window.. Please choose a name. Names are important and have meaning, Warder. Choose one wisely. Sheetal began adding her name and stopped when the limit was reached. ¡°Why?¡± A notification at the bottom of her vision responded to her words. Warders initiates must start with a new identity. You have three character blocks. You have reached the limit of the characters assigned to you. You add more alphabets, numericals, or special characters when you earn a character block. ¡°Hey, She? What''s wrong?¡± ¡°This thing is not letting me add my name?¡± ¡°Oh, that.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash sharply and realised that she had thought of him as Ash ¡°You too?¡± ¡°Yeah. It''s cool though. As someone once said, what''s in a name?¡± ¡°It¡¯s my name!¡± Ash raised his hands ¡°Fine! Fine. Don¡¯t go all laser beam eyes on me. Talk to the computer. I didn¡¯t do anything.¡± Sheetal sighed. He was right. She needed to see what this computer thing in their head wanted. How did it even get in there? Did it have some setting that she could exploit? She looked back the window. Congratulation She You have consumed a Level 1 shard. Shard Type Polar Force Category 1 You have unlocked an ability. Hover. This is a movement ability. Allows shard host to hover from one place to another. Sheetal looked out her screen in shock and mumbled ¡°This can not be possible.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ She?¡± ¡°Not now.¡± Sheetal was annoyed and disgusted with the ability. She had a polar forces shard. The forces that governed every magnetic and electrical force on a planet. And this thing could only help her hover? She was not going to take this. Ash shook her and looked past her at the desert. ¡°Umm¡­ She, we need to go.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Sheetal shouted. New Mission Evade Capture You have eliminated scouts of the Rakshasa Empire. Their superiors have sent out beasts to investigate the cause of their absence. Evade the beasts and the party following them. Rewards - 10 Crecks 2 Character Blocks Sheetal turned to her partner and his new name popped into her mind. Ash. It wasn¡¯t just a name, it was a taste of charred something on her palate. ¡°You have an ability, right? Please tell me its something good.¡± ¡°It¡¯s called Run.¡± ¡°Seriously, you had a speed shard and it gave you ¡®Run¡¯?¡± Ash tore his eyes of the distant sand dunes and looked down at her ¡°Yeah, its perfect because we really need to run.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash and his stern expression and asked ¡°What¡¯s going on Ash.¡± There, again, something had made her say that name. The same something that was stopping her from cursing. Aawoooo! ¡°What was that?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Dogs. No. Angry dogs.¡± She¡¯s eyes widened and she looked at the dark desert. She couldn¡¯t see anything but Ashoka had been able to see and feel things from the shards so maybe he could sense the must She closed her eyes and reached inwards. ¡°She?¡± Something cracked and unfolded deep inside her soul. With deep breath She used all the knowledge the manual had fed into her and as she released it a charge flowed from her core into her extremities. The sense was unusual and yet familiar. Familiar like the back of her screwdriver. ¡°She!¡± Ash ran to the back of her wheelchair and began digging its wheels out. She opened her eyes and pushed against the charge all around her. Something below her belly responded and sparks flew out of her skin. Ash scampered back ¡°What the?¡± He looked from her to the chair and back. She twirled to look at him and then her eyes flashed. A streak of lightning flew out of her and into the sky. Garumb! With squinted eyes he looked at She as the glow from her body subsided. Ash looked at her for a second and nodded in appreciation as Sheetal floated in the air. ¡°She. That¡¯s fire and all but you just announced to everyone exactly where we are. And now, we really need to go.¡± Sheetal scowled ¡°I thought you were going to stop annoying me.¡± ¡°Fine! I lied.¡± Aawoooo! There it was again. And this time the howl was closer. Aawoo! Aawoooooo! Two more howls joined the first one and Ashoka looked at the shifting sand on the nearest sand dune. Ash reached out to grab Sheetal¡¯s wheelchair and thought better. ¡°Are you going to electrocute me?¡± She heard something scrambling nearby and looked. As her head moved, her body followed her motions slowly. She tried to stop her turn and only resulted in slowing herself.¡± Ash sighed ¡°You have no sense of preservation, do you?¡± Shel yelped ¡°Is that a wolf?¡± ¡°Oh, you mean the one of the sand dunes?¡± ¡°Is there another one?¡± ¡°Yes. The one behind you?¡± Shetaal turned the other way and slowly started turning. ¡°Why are they wolves here?¡± ¡°They are not wolves, They are dogs. Four feet tall and two feet wide giant dogs. They ever have collars on their necks.¡± Sheetal finally got a look at the dog under the light from the galaxy of stars above them and began to move away from the mutated mut. It wasn¡¯t fast but it was something. Ashoka took a step and waited with an unamused look. Sheetal finally drifted past him. ¡°They have collars?¡± ¡°I just said so.¡± ¡°Wild dogs don¡¯t have collars, Ash. Why do they have collars?¡± Sheetal in a panicking voice asked. ¡°Because dogs don¡¯t belong in the desert. These dogs must be domesticated. I bet they are pets of the Nishachars. You know the people we killed.¡± ¡°You killed. I just defended myself.¡± Sheetal shot back. ¡°Yeah, try explaining it to them.¡± Sheetal turned to glare at Ash and saw another one of the mutated monstrosities past him. The moonlight illuminated the creature for a moment, and She saw the large dog things chewing on something. It turned its strangely luminated eyes on her and Sheetal squeaked. ¡°There¡¯s another one. This one has dark matted fur and red streaks on its face.¡± Ash casually turned towards the creature and responded in a lower tone ¡°Those are not red streaks. That is blood. It¡¯s from the arm it is chewing on but that¡¯s not the bad part.¡± ¡°That''s not a bad part. Then what is?¡± ¡°That I recognise the camo on that arm. It¡¯s from one of our guys.¡± She gulped and then turned to look at Ashoka ¡°Ash, what are we going to do?¡± ¡°First you are going to answer my question?¡± ¡°What question!?¡± ¡°If I touch you, are you going to electrocute me?¡± ¡°Oh? Not if I lower the volts.¡± ¡°Good.¡± ¡°They are giant dogs, Ash. There is nothing good about this.¡± ¡°She. Dogs don¡¯t belong in the desert. They can¡¯t survive in it. They need water, food and better ground to run in. So don¡¯t panic.¡± Ash explained in a calm voice ¡°Have you seen them? They don¡¯t look perturbed.¡± ¡°Of course I have seen them. I have been seeing them for a while now. Then you did the lightning thing and then they saw us.¡± Sheetal snapped ¡°Well if you told me about them earlier, I would have kept it down.¡± ¡°The computer thing told you. I didn¡¯t think I needed to.¡± Ash snapped back. Ash took in a breath to calm himself ¡°Okay, they have this smoky stuff all over them. You know, like the night stalkers, only different.¡± ¡°Wait do you mean?¡± ¡°I mean that these dogs belong to the nishachars? They have the same aura or something. The one the earlier Nishachars had. The one that I could see and prepare so that I could fight them.¡± ¡°And that helps us how?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see that aura anywhere behind them. And these doggos are just standing there. Waiting for their masters. That means we have a chance.¡± ¡°Wait, does that mean you knew that we were going to be ambushed, and you left me alone at the mercy of that cannibal?¡± ¡°First of all, they weren¡¯t cannibals. Whatever they were, they weren¡¯t human. Secondly, I knew you were going to be okay. Your guy was a talker. Talker¡¯s need to convince themselves to kill.¡± Sheetal glared at him. ¡°What!? You had a screwdriver. You were going to be okay.¡± ¡°Do us both a favour. Don¡¯t make plans next time.¡± Sheetal fired back. Ash looked back and then at her ¡°What if I said, I have a plan right now?¡± She glared at him and then relented ¡°What is your plan?¡± Ash looked back ¡°I will run ahead and look for the soldier''s gun or something. Run back and when I am at my top speed I will shoot it at the dogs.¡± ¡°That is a horrible plan. What if you can¡¯t find a gun?¡± ¡°I will find a rock.¡± ¡°That¡¯s even worse. We are in a desert. It is full of sand. Not rocks. And that doesn¡¯t even cover the fact, what happens if you miss?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t miss, She!¡± Ash responded in an offended voice. ¡°And what about me?¡± ¡°You can slowly float here until I get back. The dogs are not in a hurry. They must have trained them. They won¡¯t pounce just yet. They are waiting for their owners. Also, it looks like they are full. So, they will save you for their breakfast. They¡¯ve already had dinner.¡± She turned sharply to face ash and spun ¡°Stop being annoying and making stupid plans.¡± ¡°My plan is not stupid.¡± ¡°Yes, it is. First of all, how can you be sure that these things won¡¯t attack me as soon as you run?¡± ¡°Because they are hunters. They hunt. They will run after me, not you.¡± ¡°So, you are going to sacrifice yourself for me?¡± Ashoka snorted ¡°Heck no. I am going to kill them before they can even get within a meter of me.¡± ¡°That is if you get a gun.¡± ¡°Or rocks.¡± Ash added. ¡°Really? Do you see any rocks?¡± ¡°Um¡­ They must be rocks here and there.¡± ¡°Yeah, buried six or seven feet under the sand you dunce! They are heavier sand. They sink.¡± ¡°Hey, you cursed. It wasn¡¯t that good but¡­¡± Ashoka leaned back as Sheetal glared at him with angry eyes. Shel growled ¡°Just shut up and let me make the plan this time?¡± Ashoka stopped next to her and spat out ¡°Fine! What¡¯s your plan?¡± She looked at the three dogs slowly making their way down the sand dunes on both sides of their position and gulped. She hovered behind Ashoka and grabbed Ash with both hands. One around his bony collar bone and the other around his chest. ¡°Now you run and drag me.¡± Ash took a step and turned his head in surprise. ¡°That¡¯s your plan?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Ash bent his knee to take Sheetal¡¯s weight, but it wasn¡¯t there. In fact, he felt lighter. He looked down at his feet and saw the sand firming around his feet. ¡°Um¡­ How did you do that?¡± ¡°Polar forces are electrostatic in nature. They exert a force that can bond and unbond atoms and molecules if the charge is right.¡± ¡°What does that even mean?¡± ¡°It exerts pressure.¡± Ash took a step to get his balance and muttered mimicking Sheetal ¡°Electrostatic nature. Bonding atoms. how would anyone who is not a nerd understand that?¡± Shel grinned and shot back ¡°All you need to do is think and learn, you know. But I know it¡¯s hard for you. After all, you don¡¯t like to think.¡± ¡°Ash looked at her from the corner of his eye ¡°Did you just try to insult me?¡± ¡°Tried? I did insult you.¡± ¡°Seriously? Well, at least you are not thinking about the dogs stalking us.¡± ¡°You know. Thank you for bringing that up again you¡­you¡­ Japanese cartoon wannabe.¡± ¡°It¡¯s called anime. And please stop. You are not good at this thing.¡± Ashoka responded in a flat voice. ¡°Oh, and you can do better with this age restricted speech nonsense?¡± ¡°Hey, She, do you see any horns on the dogs stalking us?¡± She turned to the nearest dog who had stood up from where it was sitting on the top of a sand dune. It was glaring down at them and was all ready to give them a chase. She gulped and squeaked ¡°No.¡± ¡°Oh, thank the heavens. We are saved.¡± ¡°What? Why?¡± ¡°Because you look like a subway for old horny dogs.¡± Sheetal blinked and then hit Ash on his shoulder ¡°Ash, I will find a way to punt you in your, avocadooooos!¡± Sheetal''s voice turned into a scream as Ashoka began to run and she heard a throaty chuckle erupt from his chest. ¡°You, ash hole.¡± Ashoka responded with obnoxious laughter ¡°Oh, it''s on now, She. It''s so on.¡± Chapter 7 - It liked what it saw. Ari looked at the naval lieutenant who had disappeared and a few minutes later appeared out of nowhere. The young man blinked and looked around. He really needed to get their names and onboard them into his unit. But right now, it didn¡¯t seem like the right time. Especially when one of the man¡¯s arms was growing bluish white and he was looking at it like a dumb goat. ¡°Son?¡± The lieutenant didn¡¯t respond. ¡°Water!¡± The LT straightened and looked at him ¡°Yes sir?¡± ¡°What did Whizwo give you?¡± ¡°A shard sir. A concept one. It¡¯s called purity. It will work with my water shard to produce effects that would sanitise the wounds from the dead.¡± Ari nodded ¡°Good. We need a medic.¡± ¡°I thought so too commander. I mean colonel, sir.¡± Ari waved his hand dismissively. That had been happening more and more. People were calling each other with their chosen names. And all of his men had defaulted into calling him Commander Ari once or twice by now. ¡°What¡¯s your name son?¡± ¡°Nameer sir. Lieutenant Nameer Muhammad but just Nameer now.¡± ¡°Nameer, well done.¡± Ari clapped the man on his shoulder and turned to the Wind shard LT ¡°You can go in now. And remember, that guy is fishing for information on us. I would usually say no to that but right now, it is the only currency we have. Just don¡¯t reveal anything sensitive.¡± The wind lieutenant nodded, closed his eyes and faded out of existence. Nameer shivered looking at the transition and then added ¡°The snake man didn¡¯t seem that bad, sir. He only asked me about the creatures we were fighting. I think he was a bit disappointed that we hadn¡¯t seen anything other than the enthralled. He just gave me a shard and sent me on my way.¡± Ari looked at the man, no, the boy and shook his head. Singh thankfully walked to him at that moment and barked ¡°What are you standing here for, fish lover?¡± The lieutenant looked at Singh with wide eyes ¡°Sir?¡± ¡°You are some sort of medic, right? The doctor and the captain have been fighting for hours now. Fix their wounds boy.¡± Singh punctuated the last sentence slowly and forcefully. ¡°Yes sir!¡± Nameer saluted instinctively and ran off. Ari sighed ¡°They are all so young.¡± Singh shook his head ¡°No sir, they are so dumb.¡± ¡°Singh.¡± Ari chided but when Singh took out all the side arms he had collected. Singh whispered ¡°Arivarsaan. This is madness. And only know of one man who can guide us out of madness.¡± ¡°Me?¡± ¡°No. General Shaiketh. But since he is dead. You will do.¡± Ari gave his old friend a look and then chuckled ¡°Really, you old goat?¡± Singh smiled and handed Ari a chocolate bar from his camo pant ¡°Hey, He trained both of us. And you always won in the wargames. I need that man who beat all odds now. Not the semi retired colonel transferred to the army for a desk duty. I need the Inspector Genral who made terrorist piss in their pants.¡± ¡°I am not that man anymore Singh. I am too old, and too broken to be that man.¡± Singh snorted ¡°No, you are not that man but something new. You are our commander. I need Ari. These kids need you. You hear me? So, drop the niceness and unleash the beast. Sir.¡± Ari stiffened ¡°You told me never to do that again or you would not work with me ever again.¡± ¡°I stopped you to save you, not the enemy.¡± Singh snarled ¡°To the dirt with those civilian bullying bastards. I would have executed them too. I stopped you, to save your soul. You are the best man I know but what we need right now is not the best man but the best weapon. So, take these guns, do whatever you have to do and get us out of this place.¡± Ari raised his eyebrows and smiled ¡°Is that an order major?¡± Singh grinned back ¡°Yes sir, it is.¡± The lieutenant who had just disappeared suddenly appeared and stirred. He blinked rapidly. ¡°Now sir, I will take care of the new meat, sir. Let¡¯s see if we can get them to some sort of a standard. You go ahead.¡± Singh pointed Ari towards the temple altar. Ari watched his old friend grab the hand of the young man and drag him away. He stood there for a moment remembering the old days. He wasn¡¯t proud of what he had done in jungles. But when he had returned to the village, they had been operating from to see five of his men dead and a village full of civilians tortured, raped and murdered, he had lost it. He had set up an ambush after ambush. When he and his men had caught up to the main body of the bandits, he had captured them and then burnt all but two of them alive. Just so that they could run and tell all those who were left, what happened when you messed with the commandos. He expected to be dismissed for his actions. However, the higher ups had been pleased. They had covered up the incident and then given him the command role. To his chagrin, the command was right. His actions had worked. The bandit presence in the area had disappeared almost overnight and the area had now become a peaceful tourist destination with its wildlife and waterfalls. Ari shook himself out of his thoughts and nodded. He wasn¡¯t that man anymore, but he could be something else. He walked to the corner and picked up the jacket they had turned into a rough pouch to hold all their useless guns. He stopped next to a wall and slid down it. There was something about the guns he was missing. He opened the pouch and looked in. Scrap metal found. 4.25 Kgs Impurities found Discard? Ari pulled the weapons out one by one and looked at them. He closed his eyes and thought about the knowledge in his head. It told him that he needed to push potentiality into the metal shard in his chest. He followed its direction and felt something change. His blood flow pulsed and churned, and he shut it off. It wasn¡¯t painful but strange. For a moment there he felt, well he did not know how to put it. It felt as if his blood was seeping into his skin and doing something. He looked at the window that had popped into the side of his vision. Potentiality. 498/500 He kept looking at it for a second and saw it increase by one. Ari licked his lips and steadied himself. This wasn¡¯t the time to contemplate things. On the other side of the room his men were holding back the enthralled and he needed to join the fight as soon as possible. He started again. He felt the strange sense of his blood churning and feeding something into his body. He took a moment to get used to the feeling and then his fingers moved. They dug into the metal. As he got comfortable, he used his palms to need the metal which acted like play dough in his hands. As he worked, flakes flew out of the metal and grease slipped out. He watched the metal in his hands slowly turn from a black metal to a lustrous a dark silvery grey. He let his instincts take over and his hands moved on their own and his thoughts began guiding his action. Soon he tore the dark metal creating five perfect balls which he rolled into his palms. Ari stopped and looked at his hands. Had he done that? Then he looked at the window. Potentiality 330/500 Ari heard a whistle and looked up to see Abesh looking at him impressed. ¡°Nice job boss. Are we going to throw those things at the enemy?¡± Ari rolled his eyes and smiled ¡°Abesh, sometimes you can be really smart. Other times, you are denser than this ball of iron.¡± Singh scoffed ¡°Most times commander. Most times he is denser than one of your balls. And not the one you are holding up.¡± Abesh gave Singh a displeased look and then in a huff shot a jet of fire out into the enthralled. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Ari looked back down and at the balls. An hour ago, it wouldn¡¯t have been possible but as he concentrated his mind, his senses, and his hands something told him that what he wanted was pretty simple and easy. All he needed to do was create a harmony in between his metal shard and the quicksilver shard just below it. He looked sideways and the window that showed him the visual representation of his body. It was bisected in the middle with a line. The line showed eight spots. Three of which were filled. The top one was glowing bluish white with his neuro shard. There were two empty spots below it and then came the metal shard. And finally, there was his quicksilver shard. He read the description of his shards. Neuro Shard. Passive Effect - Increases comprehension by 3%. Active Effect - Increases all mental processes by 20%. Metal Shard Passive Effect - Helps you understand the quality of anything metallic. Active Effect - Gives you the ability to mold metal. Quicksilver Passive Effect - Increases stamina by 4%. Active Effect - Increases agility and dexterity 11%. Ari took the balls and rolled them into his hands slowly using his metal shard. He kept doing it until he had thin cylindrical tubes. Wherever he touched the metal softened on the other side it hardened until it could not be moved. The feeling was eerie, but he continued and then finally with his fingers he flattened the tubes into flat surfaces. He looked at the five metal strips in front of him with a sense of triumph. Then a new pop up blocked his vision. Entering Creator Mode. Would you like to take smithing as a profession? Yes/No? Ari blinked as in his mind visions of knives appeared which were soon replaced by swords, and then clubs. What was wrong with this place? Why did everything revert back to mediaeval weapons? In disgust he hit no. Another pop up popped up to replace the first one. Would you like to take up sculpting as a profession? He hit no, again. And before another one could pop up, he mentally focused on what he wanted. An image popped into his mind. Create a Gauntlet? ¡°No.¡± Ari said sternly. A disgusted frown crossed his face. Why was whatever this thing inside him was, so obsessed with melee weapons from the Middle Ages? And what kind of idiot would wear a gauntlet in the present era? Those things were nasty. They had no range of movement, barely protected the wearer and usually led to broken hands. No, he needed something else. Then as he looked at the gauntlet spinning around in one of the windows, he realised that he could use the skeleton of the design. With that in mind, he took the nearest strip and put it aside. He would use that as tape. He followed the knowledge buzzing around in his head and streamed some of the potentiality into his quicksilver shard. A chiming sound was added to the humming of his metal shard. His palms that were buzzing earlier became nimbler with the harmony of the quicksilver and his palms began to glow. That glow seeped into the metal and the dull metal became reflective like silver. ¡°Not, too big. Not too small, and not too fancy. Just something that works.¡± He muttered to the strip in his hand. He pinched one side of it and began to roll the first strip back and forth across his left hand. He covered his palm, his knuckles and three fourth of his fingers. When he felt the strip becoming loose or running out p, he used the strip he had put aside like tape. Soon he had one of his hands covered like a boxer. He stopped and looked at the window on the side. Potentiality 150/500 He took in a deep breath and the potentiality in his meter increased by two. Ari¡¯s eyebrows rose in thought. Was he breathing in the potentiality? Was it in the air? He shook his head. This was no time for idle thoughts, but he could not continue. What he had done to his hand was cover it in a spring that was compressed like suspension of lory underweight. If he let the pressure release the whole thing spring out shredding out his hand. ¡°Something wrong commander?¡± Ari looked up and saw the boy captain looking at him. None of them who were in his squad used the captain¡¯s real name. His name was Abesh which literally translated into someone who has complete control, and yet the boy was the most impetuous person he had ever met. And somehow, even this computer system could not change the way they thought about him. Ari smiled ¡°Abesh.¡± Abesh turned and looked at him with worry in his eyes. ¡°Sir? Is something¡­ Can I¡­ What do you need sir?¡± ¡°Relax boy. I just need to tape my hands. The best-case scenario, I will tape my hands with metal. The worst-case scenario, I will crush them into stubs and have metal stubs to beat the enemy back.¡± Abesh eyes widened ¡°Umm¡­ I think I should get the major, sir.¡± ¡°Good idea captain. Do that.¡± Ari watched the boy captain jog off and concentrated on his breathing. Every breath increased his potentiality by one or two, so he closed his eyes and relaxed. Soon after a handful of meditative moments his potentiality was up to four hundred. He grabbed the third strip. He had used the first two on his left hand, the third and fourth were going to go on his right. He began wrapping the rubbery metal around his wrist and palms proceeding upwards. Soon head his hand covered with one of the strips but that¡¯s when he ran into problems. Earlier, when he was wrapping his left hand, he could use his right hand to hold the strip and reach for more strips and tape. Now with his left hand taped up in metal, he had limited mobility. Also, he was right-handed. He tried holding the end of the strip with his pinky finger and reached for the tape strip with his left. He fumbled and missed. Then his pinky finger began to slip as the metal stiffened without his left-hand pushing potentiality into it. Ari¡¯s eyes widened. This was bad. He knew how the metal would react. What he had created with his manipulation was a spring to help him punch a wall and compress under pressure. As soon as it would come loose, it would release all its tension, leaving his hand in the middle of a blender. Before Ari could do anything, someone handed him the strip. Ari quickly tore off a chunk of the strip, turned it into tape and tied the metal strip off. He quickly reached for the second strip and started rolling it over his rights hand until he felt things settle down. Finally, Ari looked up and saw Abesh looking at him with a confused look on his face. ¡°Is everything okay, sir?¡± Ari sighed in relief ¡°Yes, but it was a close one Abesh.¡± ¡°Just came back to tell you that the Major just went to the Whiswo''s shop. Looks like I came back right on time.¡± ¡°Yes, you did Abesh. Now help me get the rest of this stuff done.¡± Abesh nodded and began to assist him. With four hands the process became much easier. It also gave them some time to have a little discussion. ¡°Sir.¡± Abesh started ¡°I need to know what my chain of command is now?¡± Ari looked at Abesh for a moment and Abesh began to clarify. ¡°You are the commander, sir. That is a fact, and it feels right. But Singh and I do not have any rank¡­¡± Ari rolled his eyes. He knew where this was going, and he let Abesh talk while he tied off the strip with his tape. He lifted the leftover tape strip and rolled them around on his fingertips. Using his metal shard he created eight spikes. One by one he added them to his knuckles, digging them in until they were firmly in place. He looked at his taped hands and nodded in appreciation and tuned Abesh back in. ¡°All I am saying is that since we both don¡¯t have rank, he shouldn¡¯t speak to me like the way he has been. And I am not going to listen to anyone who insults me, much less take orders from them.¡± Ari looked at the boy captain and chuckled ¡°Are you done boy wonder?¡± Abesh popped his mouth close and nodded. ¡°You want to tell Singh that you both are equal in rank? Go ahead, do that. I won¡¯t step in between you and the whopping you are going to get.¡± Abesh stiffened and then asked ¡°Sit, why does he hate me?¡± Ari exhaled ¡°He doesn¡¯t hate you. He is just disappointed with you. You had potential kid. You had everything we wished we could have had when we were younger. And you went to some brothel and brought back an autoimmune disease. Then you got discharged. It broke his heart. I can look beyond that fact, but Singh? He trained you.¡± Abesh chewed his upper lip ¡°What if I can beat it? What if I can be better both physically and magically?¡± Ari looked at him ¡°What do you mean?¡± Abesh jutted his chin towards the strange statue ¡°It gave me a quest. It doesn¡¯t go against our mission and the reward would be healing and a spell. The doctor has already accepted a similar one, but I wanted to run it through you first.¡± Ari looked at Abesh ¡°What do you mean that the doctor has accepted a mission?¡± ¡°Not a mission, sir. A quest.¡± ¡°Who gave him the permission to do that?¡± ¡°Uh¡­Sir, he is a civilian and not under your command.¡± Ari took in a sharp breath ¡°I will discuss that with him later. You will not take a mission. I cannot have divided loyalties, captain. Is that clear?¡± ¡°Now help me up.¡± Ari extended a hand and Abesh pulled him to his feet. Ari looked at his wraps and smiled. He wasn¡¯t much of a blade man like Singh or a sniper like Abesh, but he used to be an army boxer and a damn good one. And with what he could do with metal he was going to make these enthralled screams. But he could not do that while having an unknown factor behind his back. His eyes drifted to the strange statue. The seven-armed marble man with the cracked skin looked down at Ari imperiously. He stood up and faced the statue. It¡¯s golden eyes with flickering red firelight. ¡°It¡¯s eyes. Did they always do that?¡± ¡°No commander. They started doing that when we started pushing the enthralled away.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Okay chap. What do you want?¡± Ari muttered in a low tone. In response a notification popped into his mind. Quest Received Take out the trash. Clear the Enthralled off the Temple Grounds Rewards Class 1 Healing from Yaksha Agni Fire blessed shards Accept Quest? Yes / No Ari stumbled backwards and looked at the statue in shock. ¡°You got one too? That¡¯s good, commander. Now you can judge it on your own.¡± Abesh smiled and added ¡°See? We can get healed.¡± Ari stood there speechless for a moment. It was tempting. He could be free of his cancer just like that. It was tempting. So tempting that he did not know how Abesh hadn¡¯t agreed to it instantly. But nothing came just like that. ¡°I don¡¯t think that is how it would work, Abesh. Also, it is a statue of a Yaksha. If I remember my mythology, they weren¡¯t always the nice benevolent gods.¡± ¡°Not exactly.¡± An echoing voice drifted into their conversation. Ari turned sharply. There was something eerie about the voice. He relaxed slightly when he saw Doctor Joshi smiling at him. ¡°I know. My voice changed. It¡¯s because my blood has fire in it.¡± Ari looked at the doctor for a minute and then asked ¡°What do you mean by not exactly, doctor?¡± ¡°I mean Yaksha and Yaksini in my recollections were mostly benevolent. Sure, if you anger any of our mythology, they will smite you in an instant.¡± The doctor gave Nameer an apologetic look and continued ¡°I mean the Hindu mythology.¡± ¡°Where is my apologetic look doctor?¡± Singh appeared out of nowhere and asked while walking towards them. Ari smiled with relief after his old friend walked up to him and said ¡°Took you long enough.¡± ¡°Well, you know sir. Had to meet the locals. Discuss a few things with them.¡± Singh stated cryptically and then continued ¡°So, why were we talking about mythology, why?¡± ¡°Look at the statue for a second.¡± Abesh responded. Singh squinted at the boy and then looked at the statue. He jerked back. ¡°What in the¡­¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Doctor Joshi responded. ¡°Does that mean¡­¡± Singh muttered ¡°That the gods are real?¡± Doctor tapped his chin and shrugged. ¡°No!¡± Singh responded in a chiding tone ¡°I mean does that mean that we are stuck in a crazy world where a seven-armed man can exist?¡± Joshi scowled ¡°Not a man. A yaksha.¡± Singh sighed ¡°And here we are. Without our weapons. And without our gear.¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± Doctor Joshi¡¯s hollow voice rang out of him ¡°Your hypothesis is flawed. Who says we are in a world? Do you see the moon out of the windows?¡± Ari and his squad looked at the windows. The doctor was right, there was no moon. ¡°Then where is the light coming from?¡± Nameer asked ¡°From a nebula.¡± ¡°What does that mean doctor?¡± Ari asked. ¡°We are somewhere else. Far away from anything or anyone we know.¡± The doctor sighed. ¡°Nice one, doctor. And with that spooky hollow voice too.¡± Singh shook his head ¡°So we are in a Hindu mythology something and we should shit our pants? Not going to happen.¡± Everybody looked at Singh. ¡°Gents, you can¡¯t tell me your mythology is all hippy peace and love. Honestly the first time I looked at a statue of Kali, I was eight and I couldn¡¯t sleep for a week.¡± Singh shot back. ¡°Singh.¡± Ari muttered. Singh continued ¡°Commander, honestly, the Hindu mythology makes the Norse look like amateurs. And the Greeks look like teenagers with nerf guns.¡± ¡°Singh!¡± Ari shot out in a stern voice. Singh raised his palms ¡°I am just saying, if someone expects us to fight monsters out of your mythology, shouldn¡¯t we have rocket launchers?¡± ¡°Technically, Agni is not a god. He is a Deva.¡± Abesh added. Nameer looked around at the frowns and then the other two lieutenants who were keeping their distance. He gave up and finally asked. ¡°Sirs. I don¡¯t mean to butt in but what is the difference? They are all gods right.¡± Abesh sighed ¡°No. A deva is a divine being. Not a god. There is a difference of scale in their beings.¡± ¡°And here he is referred to as a yaksha? What are yakshas?¡± Ari asked. Joshi smiled ¡°Mostly formless spirits. But they can become as powerful as demigods and gods. Agni is one of the yakshas that defines the universe. How powerful do you think he is?¡± Ari looked from the doctor to the statue with glowing eyes and asked ¡°So, we are in a temple of a god, and it can exert its will, in this world?¡± Joshi sighed ¡°Once again, this is not a world. It¡¯s what the notification said. It''s a trial.¡± Doctor Joshi muttered in his strange echoing voice. ¡°Okay. I have had it. Doctor Joshi, what is wrong with your vocal cords?¡± Singh clapped the doctor on the shoulder and asked. ¡°I had radiation poisoning and then I looked at the statue. It looked back and liked what it saw.¡± Doctor Joshi smiled. Everyone gave Doctor Joshi a look. He grinned ¡°Don¡¯t worry, he doesn¡¯t mean us any harm. He is actually quite pleased with us. We are fighting the enthralled and he likes that. But if we annoy him. Then we are in trouble. He mostly wants us to do a job for him.¡± ¡°How do you know that doctor?¡± Ari asked ¡°He told me.¡± Singh backed away. His hand drifted to his empty holster and then to his knives. Ari stepped forward and in a calm voice asked ¡°Doctor. Are you saying that the statue over there spoke to you?¡± Doctor Joshi smiled ¡°Of course not. It¡¯s a statue.¡± Everyone relaxed slightly. Joshi looked at the statue and continued ¡°But, then I prayed to it. That is when I heard his voice in my head.¡± ¡°Shit? Commander?¡± Singh asked. Ari exhaled ¡°As eloquent as always Singh.¡± ¡°This is no time for jokes, commander.¡± Ari just smiled and then looked at everyone. They were all looking at Joshi in trepidation. Ari could imagine what was going through everyone¡¯s mind. Had he lost his mind? Has the stress of being in warzone broken him? Had he sold out to some unknown power? Was he a ticking time bomb? Ari shook his head ¡°Doctor. There are no such things as gods. But it does not matter. We have to clear out the temple one way or another. We need to make a safe fallback position. Also, we have two civilians out there. We need to find them and bring them back to safety. This place is as safe as any out there. And if the intimidating strange statue wants to heal us to make this place safe, I am going to take its deal. But we will not take any shards that come with any strings attached.¡± Joshi looked distracted for a second and then said ¡°Good. Lord Agni says, almost all of the Nishachars have left to fight a bigger threat. Leaving their soulless enthralled behind. We should begin before they come back.¡± Abesh smiled ¡°So, the god wants to give us gifts to do our job? I say we smile and take it.¡± Singh scowled at Abesh and shook his head. Ari looked at Singh and shook his head slightly, stopping him before he could start. Ari looked at the doctor ¡°The statue wants us to kill bad guys. We want to kill bad guys. I don¡¯t see harm in that. Anything more, we are not going to take.¡± Ari stepped back and walked to the wooden barrier. After a minute Singh caught up to him. ¡°Commander. Ari. If this turns out to be like Assam¡­¡± ¡°Oh come on Singh. Nothing can be as messed up as Assam.¡± ¡°Remember what you said over there. It¡¯s just a little ambush.¡± ¡°It was just a little ambush.¡± ¡°There were twenty of them sir. And one had a rocket launcher.¡± Ari chuckled ¡°Yeah. Little ambush.¡± ¡°Then our allies sold out to the Chinese. And attacked us from behind.¡± ¡°We expected that.¡± Singh looked at Ari with pleading eyes. ¡°Come on, Singh. It¡¯s just going to be like old times.¡± Singh sighed ¡°Yeah, I know sir. And that is what I am afraid of.¡± Chapter 8 - If they die, they die. General Athena of the continuum raised her left hand and rotated the ring on her wrist. With a few quick taps on the bangle on her left hand started emitting a light. The light slowly transformed into a hologram that was projected over her palm. The hologram showed two people, zipping through the desert. Subjects Unidentified. Identifying Race - Human. No Deviations Detected. Identifying Shards. Subject One - Polar Forces Subject Two - Speed Athena heard the sand behind her shift and then the whining of a mechanical servos as the continuum soldier behind her used the more power than necessary to keep himself steady. The desert sand shifted and created a deeper indentation of a footprint on the loose sands of the trials desert that would lead hunters to them if not dealt with. Her eyes went from the cyborgs climbing up the dune to her and back to the two people running across the desert lit up by the red nebula overhead. Running may have been a lose term. The young man was running. His female partner was holding onto him and being dragged behind him like a wraith. She held up the hologram and saw the trial¡¯s energy accumulate inside them. Trials Energy - 86% Approximate time until tokens are generated - 11 min Athena turned her head when she heard a feminine grunt as the woman in a similar armour to the first cyborg steadied him. That was the problem with the noncombatants. They liked to prance around with their armours whenever they decided to come down to the field. She on the other hand was wearing just a body vest. At least the woman standing next to her was smarter. She had left her armour in her transport vehicle. Not that she needed it. Most of her body was non biological. She was more cyborg than human. She knew that some of her augments, like the ones in her head, were voluntary. That left half of her head shaved. She could have covered it up with skin and hair grown in the labs, but she didn¡¯t. The augments took pride in their cybernetics. That really didn¡¯t bother her. What bothered her was that when she had started, she was a spitting image of Athena. If someone saw them then, standing side by side, they would call them twins. Now, she looked like a twisted version of her. Athena heard the people climbing up finally make their way up. More people followed the first ones. One of the most notable ones was the woman using the squid configuration of the continuum armour. Metal tentacles dug into the sand as she propelled her climb up the sand dune. But her attention was on the quiet one. The one who was as old as her but hid himself in plain sight. Like always, he was sure footed in his light armour and silent. Too silent. The fact that he hadn¡¯t made a move meant that he was scheming. Athena did not like the man but like him she was going to play the passive role. So, she did not even look his way. She did not want him to know that she recognised him. She did not know even if his wives knew about him but right now wasn¡¯t the time. But the time was closer than ever. ¡°Tina? Why have you called us?¡± Athena from the side of her eyes looked at the high councillor of the continuum as he asked the question. People called him the heart and soul of the continuum and a handful of years back she would have too. But now, she knew better. ¡°Well?¡± Taran 45 prompted her. Athena pointed at the two people running past a sand dune as demonic dogs chased them. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°We have visitors, councillor.¡± Ruby used the tentacles coming out of her sides to land next to her Athena ¡°Who are these people? New invaders from the Rakshasa Empire?¡± That was the problem with Ruby. She was always angry and always looking for a fight. ¡°No. They are humans. Plain and simple humans.¡± Athena explained. Everyone looked at the two people in the hologram and then at her. ¡°How can that be?¡± Taran 45 walked up to her and looked at the hologram in her hand. The man was running with the woman on his back. The woman looked scared while the man had a stupid grin on his face. ¡°Where did they come from?¡± Parvati J18 asked after a moment. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I picked them up when I was putting up the barriers against the upcoming sandstorm. Athena pointed to the large pole like device that was projecting energy upwards into the sky and continued. ¡°I found them running away from those dogs. I thought they were lost travelers from the Arata¡¯s city but now I think they have a connection to the city of fire.¡± She answered and then she panned the hologram to show an overview of the abandoned city. The city had been deserted for a while now. It only had mindless throngs of the enthralled. Now there was a nishachar walking the streets. Exerting control over the enthralled as he led a vetaal towards the yaksha¡¯s temple. Athena A07, a clone of Athena 8 looked at her with a displeased look ¡°That is no reason for you to summon us here, general. I do not report to you. I follow Jay 7. Not your ragtag band of battle freaks.¡± Athena 8 gave her an exasperated look ¡°Sister. I would have called Jay 7 here if I could get in touch with him.¡± Athena A07 sneered ¡°I have told you before not to call me your sister, General. Jay is recuperating. He has left me to manage the operations while he incorporates his new arm.¡± ¡°Just because you are politicking doesn¡¯t reduce our biological connection A07.¡± ¡°No, the fact that you continue to live in the past, does. Now you haven¡¯t answered my question, Athena. Why did you insist that we come here?¡± Athena sighed ¡°Because I think they are warders.¡± That stopped everyone in their tracks. ¡°What do you mean they warders?¡± Taran 45 asked ¡°How do you know that?¡± Ruby asked over Taran¡¯s voice. ¡°What makes you think that they are warders?¡± Even the usually quite Parvati J16 chimed in. Questions piled up one after another as Athena 8 kept silent. When everyone fell silent Athena looked at her colleagues in the eyes and answered ¡°Our ATI, Marshal Lara found the resonance of their soul structures familiar to the one that Jay Chandra had. She found the resonance similar yet different. So, I had her scan them further. The results are not conclusive, but I thought you should know.¡± ¡°Warders¡± Taran said in a whisper ¡°The last one we knew started the continuum. And now there are two of them?¡± Athena A07 scowled ¡°Of course, and you being his special little protege want to take charge of them? Well not this time. Jay Chandra is dead. You have no power anymore. Jay 7 leads us now.¡± Athena really did not like A07, but she hid the fact under a mask of patience that was only occasionally broken by exasperation. General Athena just looked at Athena A07 and finally snorted ¡°If I wanted to do that, why would I have called you all here? I have a job to do, A07. A quest was generated for us by the system. We need to clear out the fire city. I am going to that.¡± Ruby turned a sharp look at Athena ¡°Why?¡± ¡°It is what JC would have wanted. He told us to fight the Rakshasas. I am going to continue with his last orders.¡± A07 rolled her eyes ¡°Jay Chandra is dead Athena. His orders do not matter anymore. You would be better served to follow Jay 7.¡± ¡°Nevertheless, I am going to go and drive the nishachars out of the fire city. You all can play politics. I am going to fight a battle with my war monkeys. That¡¯s what me and mine are good at. Meanwhile, one of mine will collect the warders and bring them to the forward operating base.¡± ¡°Which one?¡± Taran 45 asked ¡°Taran E65. He is the friendliest person I know.¡± The high councillor nodded ¡°Good choice. I will have a chat with them when they get there.¡± ¡°If they get there.¡± Ruby announced as she pointed to a hologram spread out in front of her ¡°They have attracted attention. I see more of the Rakshasa minions heading towards them.¡± Athena A07 looked at the hologram and ordered ¡°Ruby get to your ship. Fly to them and protect them. These two are our strategic assets now.¡± ¡°No.¡± Ruby F said with a challenge in her eyes. ¡°What do you mean no?¡± A07 growled ¡°A07, I do not take orders from you. I take my orders from Taran 45. You do the mentor¡¯s bidding and I follow the High Councillor.¡± ¡°Jay leads us.¡± ¡°Not all of us.¡± Athena looked at the two women shouting at each other and shook her head. They were all so divided. She did not know how they all had survived up till now. Taran stepped in between the two women ¡°A07, Ruby is right. She is the captain of my ship and if these two are really warders they won¡¯t have any trouble dispatching these scrubs.¡± Athena wanted to stay quiet, but she decided to chime in ¡°Councillor, look at them. They do not have the shards to fight back against multiple enemies.¡± Taran looked at her and shrugged ¡°Tina, if they are warders and if they are worth us fighting for, they will survive. If they are not¡­¡± ¡°But¡­¡± Athena began and stopped when Taran held up his hand. ¡°I thought you did not want anything to do with them?¡± Athena closed her mouth. She reminded herself that it wasn¡¯t the time for her to make a move. Instead, she just said ¡°Councillor. You should know that they have only have one shard each.¡± Taran 45 nodded ¡°Thank you General. If they survive, I will keep you in mind. If they die, they die.¡± Athena looked at the two running away from their position and prayed for their safety. Then she remembered that they had almost generated their trail tokens. Hopefully that would give them an edge in the fight. Chapter 9 - You are mine. BEEP! You have received a trial token. Overlaying navigation directions to the nearest trail gates. Please choose the trail you want to go through. Sheetal looked at the words that had popped in front of her out of nowhere. From the hitch in Ash¡¯s steps she knew that he had seen them too. Moments later, when he began to curse she knew that her guess was right. ¡°Gods dang spam. Keep popping up from nowhere. No matter how many times I hit the ball it just keeps coming back.¡± ¡°Ash!¡± Sheetal hissed ¡°Focus!¡± ¡°How can I, with this thing distracting me every fifteen minutes?¡± ¡°Ash the dogs are catching up.¡± Sheetal wasn¡¯t wrong. Ash could hear the panting dogs close the distance in between them. Then came the barks as they got nearer. Ash looked at the words that had shifted into a small window at the side of his vision. They were now hovering over a map with three glowing places. Ash turned left and began running towards the nearest one. Which got them closer to a hell dog. The mutt took that chance to pounce at them. Sheetal felt its hot breath on her neck and cringed. Luckily the dog missed her and then they were past their canine pursuers. Sheetal looked back and saw the dog that had almost bit into her skidding on the desert sand. It turned and growled at her. Sheetal gulped as it began to chase them both. Sheetal screamed ¡°Ash, what are you doing? In response Ash screamed over the wind ¡°Following the GPS.¡± Sheetal looked at the line overlaid on her head up display and growled ¡°That¡¯s not a GPS. GPS needs satellites.¡± ¡°Can you even for a moment stop poking holes into this system in our heads. I am scared that it will take offence and do something to our brains.¡± Sheetal looked at the back of her partner¡¯s head ¡°That makes no sense but okay. Why are you doing that? Where are you taking us? ¡± ¡°To the nearest dot on the map.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°She. There are dogs behind us and who know what is following them. We need a safe space to rest and figure this stuff out.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t call me that. My name is She. I mean I am She.¡± She grimaced ¡°I prefer to be called Sheetal.¡± Ash chuckled ¡°Okay, She. Whatever. Now just hold on. I am going to do the nitro boost thing again.¡± Ash, ever since he had taken the shard he was fast. Faster than any man had the right to be. He moved faster than anyone She had ever seen. And since she had been around soldiers with reflexes and strengths honed to precision, she knew Ash was unnaturally fast. But that was not compared to how fast he was when he used his shard. She tightened her hands around Ash, gripped him harder and announced ¡°Okay, I am ready.¡± She felt it just like before. She felt it when Ash fed his potentiality into his shard. The world around them suddenly slowed, The dust plumes under the dogs chasing them stopped mid air. Even her coat that was flapping in the air stopped and then in a jolt they were off. Ability - Run Duration - 5 Seconds Potentiality Usage - High Ash¡¯s ability didn¡¯t last that long. He could only use it for five seconds at a go before he needed to rest and regenerate the potentiality but in those five seconds he was fast. Most probably as fast as a car running at forty to fifty kilometres per hour. ¡°Yeepeeei!¡± Ash screamed in excitement. ¡°Ahhh!!!¡± She screamed in terror. And then it was over. Ash slowed and began to take huge gulps of air. He coughed and almost fell to his knees catching himself at the last moment. She crashed into his back and kept herself pressed to him with her eyes closed. Ash panted ¡°She?¡± She didn¡¯t respond. ¡°She!¡± ¡°Wha¡­ What¡­?¡± ¡°Can you¡­¡± Pant ¡°Stop¡­¡± Pant ¡°Doing that?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Pressing your bazookas¡­¡± Pant ¡°Into¡­¡± Pant ¡°My back?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Look¡­¡± Ash took a deep breath to get his breath and then continued ¡°I know you are scared. I know you don¡¯t like the speed thing but those balloons on your chest make me really uncomfortable.¡± She let go of Ash and he fell to one knee and then glared at her chest. ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t get it? I thought you were bisexual. That means you like women too. And women have breasts.¡± Ash glared at her ¡°Yes I like women. I just don¡¯t like you. Not like that. And I like women who have smaller ones. The ones who don¡¯t just bounce around like they have a life of their own.¡± Awooo! A mournful howl stopped their conversation and She turned around. Ash watched her overshoot the turn and then bit by bit slowly turn back around. ¡°How far¡­¡± Ash took a deep breath to get his breathing back into control and started from the top ¡°How far are the dogs?¡± Sheetal watched the dogs running after them in the strange light of the nebula ¡°They had left them a few kilometres or so behind but they had started giving them a chase once again. ¡°Five, maybe six minutes.¡± Ash got to his feet and looked at the dogs ¡°No, more like three to four. Dogs are fast. And these ones, they are faster.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t outrun them can we?¡± Ash was silent for a moment and then looked at She with a contemplative look. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°What?¡± ¡°She, we got lucky with the blue weirdos. They underestimated us. These dogs, we can¡¯t¡­¡± She looked at Ash and sighed ¡°I know. But you can run away without me holding you back, can¡¯t you?¡± Ash grimaced. She smiled at Ash ¡°You need to run. Getaway from here. I will¡­¡± ¡°Oh, shut up.¡± Ash kicked the sand under his feet ¡°I can¡¯t believe I am doing this. Heck, I don¡¯t even know why. Any other person, by now, I would be leaving them to die.¡± ¡°Ash, we both don¡¯t have to die here.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you to shut up?¡± Ash gave her a sharp look and screamed ¡°I AM GOING TO KILL YOU, YOU DANG DOGS!!!¡± She looked from Ash to the dogs. They stopped and lifted their ears and homed into their position. One after another they began running straight for them. ¡°Great now they know exactly where we are.¡± Ash huffed ¡°Grab me. Let¡¯s see how far we can get and then we will do whatever needs to be done.¡± Ash ran and She kept holding onto him. She¡¯s breath hitched every time she saw the dogs gaining on them. Ash didn¡¯t slow down. He kept running for more than fifteen minutes, even when he was out of breath. Then in a final act of defiance he engaged his speed shard. The scenery buzzed past them and the dogs were left behind. She was just starting to feel more confident when Ash in the middle of the run lost his footing and collapsed underneath her. They both skidded to a stop on the sand that parted for them like water. That was mostly because of She¡¯s shard and its electrostatic nature. It also stopped them from getting any injuries from the fall. Still she placed her hand on Ash¡¯s back and ran a burst of static into his skin. That would stop any dirt from clinging to him. But when she did that, she could feel his heart thumping hard and artistically. He had pushed himself too hard. His body was covered in sweat, and his breath¡¯s were coming short and fast. dripping sweat on to the sand. She rolled off him and floated up. ¡°Ash, are you okay?¡± In response Ash let out a wheezing noise. She tried to move Ash and just ended up shaking him ¡°Why did you have to push yourself this hard?¡± Awooo! The first howl was accentuated by two other dogs barking. She turned and scoped up the sand dune they had skidded down. She saw one of the dogs. It had stopped and was waiting for its barking friends to catch up to him. Its eyes caught the light of the twinkling nebula above them, and She saw its snarling teeth as it growled down at her. She involuntarily moved a few centimetres back and then caught herself. ¡°Ash, get up. You need to go.¡± Ash lifted himself up onto one foot, slipped and fell back to the ground. He let out a pitiful groan. ¡°Ash. I will try to hold them off but you need to run.¡± Ash turned his head to give her a disbelieving look ¡°You¡­¡± He said and then burst into a coughing fit. ¡°Yes, me. Now go.¡± She looked past him and at the dogs they were running and falling down the sand. Ash looked at her and responded with a defeated smile. ¡°Don¡¯t give me that look boy. Only one of us is getting out of this mess and we both know that it is you.¡± Sheetal pointed at the dogs behind Ash. They had stopped ten or so feet behind Ash half turned back. She yelled the last words ¡°Only you can outrun these stinky dogs.¡± In response the dogs began growling and snarling. Ash groaned as he slowly sat up and looked at them. In response the dogs scampered back a foot or so. ¡°Ash¡­¡± ¡°Shut up, She.¡± Sheetal glared at him and then at the dogs. Ash continued ¡°They have run us down and now they are getting their breaths back. It¡¯s when they start circling and stalking us that¡¯s when they will attack. Let me get my breath back until then.¡± ¡°No, you need to go before that.¡± ¡°I am not leaving you.¡± ¡°What!?¡± In a hoarse voice Ash answered ¡°I didn¡¯t run all this timer to let you die.¡± ¡°And I can¡¯t have you die because of me.¡± ¡°She, the reason I ran all this while was to tire these cursed mutts out. They will be tired and slow now. That will give us a good chance against them. Now let me get my breath back¡± Sheetal teared up ¡°Ash! Just go.¡± Ash looked at She¡¯s contorted face and smiled ¡°You know, I thought about it. But I can¡¯t leave you. I don¡¯t want to leave you.¡± Ash said and then in a growl completed ¡°You are mine.¡± Sheetal turned to look at Ash ¡°What?¡± ¡°I am not leaving you.¡± ¡°No. Not that. What do you mean, I am yours?¡± Ash shrugged ¡°You are mine.¡± ¡°Exactly! What do you mean by that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Ash while panting tried to explain ¡°You know like a cell phone you really like. The one who does weird things and hangs at the worst times. But you love it? Mayber because of its design. Maybe because it just feels right. Or maybe because it¡¯s not from that stupid fruit company. You are like that.¡± ¡°What in all the gods name is wrong with you?¡± ¡°Nothing. I am awesome.¡± ¡°Oh for fuds sake, this is the wrong time to get emotional. Just run.¡± ¡°I am not¡­¡± Ash watched the dogs as they inched closer and began to growl in earnest ¡°She. I don¡¯t have emotions like you do. Like everybody does. I don¡¯t know why I am feeling like this but since I am awesome I am just going to say you are mine and you are awesome too.¡± ¡°Ash¡­ Thank you. That is the first compliment you have given to me. It was nice. But these things are going to kill us both now.¡± In a defeated voice She muttered ¡°They have started circling us.¡± ¡°Yeah, but not barking. They are still out of breath.¡± Ash chimed in. She exhaled ¡°Oh, we are so dead.¡± Ash with a pained expression got to his feet and asked ¡°One of them, the one closest to you is going to jump at you. He is going to try and tear you out of the air. Can you hold him off?¡± Sheetal turned to look at the dog nearest to her. It barked at her. She flinched. A glint shot into the mongrel¡¯s eyes looking at the reaction he had elicited. ¡°I need an answer, She.¡± She¡¯s voice quivered ¡°I¡­ Uh¡­ I will¡­ try.¡± ¡°Do or do not do. There is no try.¡± She blinked ¡°Did you just quote¡­¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ Yeah¡­Yeah. You are a nerd. And you all like that green goblin from that stupid movie series. You all also like to say it is Sci-Fi. It¡¯s not. It¡¯s fantasy.¡± Sheetal almost turned to look at Ash but stopped at Ash¡¯s words. ¡°Don¡¯t take your eye off the enemy stupid. Keep looking at him. He will attack if he sees you distracted.¡± Sheetal grumbled ¡°It¡¯s not fantasy. It¡¯s sci-fi.¡± ¡°Yeah that is why magical swordsmen fight other magical swordmen with light swords.¡± ¡°They are called lightsabers.¡± ¡°Do you even know what a saber is? It has a curve.¡± She opened her mouth to respond and that¡¯s when the mutt in front of her pounced. Ash had been watching the two dogs who had correctly identified him as the tougher target. He saw one bunch up on his hind legs and the other one lowered its head. Ash, who had taken out his tonfas, spun one to cover his left arm. The other one he kept pointing outwards. He knew how the dogs were going to attack. He had seen this before. Whether they were tiny, big or hounds they all reacted the same way. One would go high at his throat. The other one would go for his ankles. They both barked to startle him and then pounced. Ash lowered himself and moved. He tucked his leg in and slashed with his tonfa. He felt the dog who was pouncing on him bit down on his raised arm. Its teeth crunched down on the metal and he let the large dogs weight pull him. That gave his outstretched tonfas that extra momentum. Crack! Ash felt a jolt of impact vibrate from his tonfa to his arm. He looked at the dog. His tonfa had hit it straight in the temple. It flopped down and Ash grinned. Then he looked at the dog who had pounced. It had let go of his arm and was biting the air. This time Ash pounced. The dog tried to jump. Ash brought down his tonfa to its right. Thump. Then jabbed his left tonfa at its eye. The dog opened its mouth to yowl. Ash didn¡¯t give it a chance. He growled ¡°Eat this crack face.¡± He showed his other tonfa up its open mouth until he felt something give. The dog stiffened and Ash jerked his tonfa out with blood and bits. You have killed a hellhound. You have earned - 1 Creck Ash spun his tonfa and turned. The first dog was trying to scramble to its feet. He could wait. He ran to it and kicked it in the throat. The dog fell on its side. Before it could move again, Ash stomped its head. Once, twice and finally thrice. You have killed a hellhound. You have earned - 1 Creck Ash ran his eyes though the notification and then spun. He needed to know if She was okay. With wide eyes he looked in She¡¯s direction and stopped. He titled his head sideways with a stupefied expression and flung his hands in the air in frustration. Sheetal with widened eyes had seen the dog jump at her. She brought her hand to cover her face and closed her eyes. It was an instinctive reaction. As was curling herself into a ball. With her attention completely shot she fell to the ground. That first reaction had saved her life. Then the dog tried to come in low. Just when it was about to bite her She used her levitation ability and flew up to evade the dog¡¯s teeth. The dog on the other hand was pinned right below her under her power. Sheetal looked at it for a few seconds baffled. Then her mind began to process what was happening. Polar forces. It was not about levitation or about electricity like the one she had shot into the air. That had just been an electrostatic by-product. They were about dipole effects. And right now if she was floating the negative pole floating in the air, everything below her was the positive pole. Which included the dog¡¯s ugly head. She slowly comprehended that fact and increased the pressure. Levitating higher than she usually did she looked down and saw the dog¡¯s head disappear into the sand. That was good. She did not want those teeth anywhere near her. The dog tried to wrench itself free and She increased the pressure once again. The dogs violently jerked left to right and She in response increased the effect again. Levitating seven feet above the dog She knew she could not push anymore and tried to look for another solution. ¡°What the heck, She?¡± She could barely hear Ash over the blood rushing in her ears. She was confused, afraid, and happy at the same time. That is why she gave Ash a blank look and asked ¡°huh?¡± ¡°You have a screwdriver. Use that.¡± ¡°Uhhh¡­?¡± She did not know why Ash was looking at her like that. ¡°Seriously, you are drowning a dog in the sand. Why are you doing this to me?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Making me feel for our enemies.¡± Sheetal blinked and looked down at the dog. She saw its feet scratch the desert sand ineffectually. The thing was about to get free or was it? She turned to Ash and muttered ¡°Help?¡± Ash threw his hand up in the air and walked to her. He raised his tonfas over the dog and nodded ¡°When you are ready, let the dog go.¡± Sheetal shook her head violently ¡°It will eat me.¡± ¡°She, let the dog go.¡± She gave Ash a panicked look. ¡°She, I am here. I will take care of the dog. Hust let it go.¡± She used her hovering ability to move as quickly as she could away from the dog and hid herself behind Ash. She saw the dog¡¯s head erupt out of the sand in a fountain of dust. Ash quickly brought his tonfa down on the dog¡¯s spine with a crack. The dog keened and then thudded to the ground. A notification popped into She¡¯s vision. You have killed a hellhound. You have earned - 1 Creck She released a long breath and flew down only catching herself at the last moment. Ash steadied her and looked at her. Ash looked at She¡¯s wide eyes and asked ¡°Are you okay?¡± ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t know what happened. Well, I do know somewhat but¡­¡± Ash waved her words aside ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. You are okay.¡± She grabbed Ash¡¯s hand and turned it ¡°Ash, you are hurt. Did one of those things bite you?¡± Ash looked at the two puncture wounds on his forearm. The dog must have gotten him in the first exchange. He shook his head and opened his mouth to explain when something caught his eyes. He saw the dog turn into sand and fall apart except for one part of its pelt. He looked closer. There was a brand there. As he looked at it he saw potentiality slowly tearing it apart. Usually when something died here, most of the potentiality dispersed into the air while some rushed into him or She but this, it was different. ¡°Ash, your wound, it just disappeared.¡± Ash ignored She. His eye was on the pattern on the piece of pelt left behind. The brand was a series of circles. They would have created a bullseye if the circles were complete. Only these were in segments. As he watched one part broke down and potentiality rushed out of it and into the distance. That part caught fire. It was a ghostly blue fire that made She yelp and float backwards. She turned around and saw other places where the dogs had died, lighting up in flames too. ¡°Okay, what the fud is going on?¡± Ash didn¡¯t take his eyes off the brand. He was slowly beginning to understand something and as the next part broke down, he followed the potentiality with his eyes. It rushed back to the direction they had come from. Ash grimaced ¡°Oh bull!¡± ¡°What?¡± She asked. Ash pointed at the brand with his tonfa ¡°This is a tracking thing? I think it is a tracking symbol.¡± Buggles erupted in Ash¡¯s mind. Congratulations Warder. You have shown an understanding of Glyphs Glyph unlocked - Track. Collect two more glyphs to get access to the compendium. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± She asked. ¡°God dang those blue weirdos. They put trackers on their dogs.¡± Ash cursed ¡°She, we don¡¯t have time for this. Grab hold of me. We need to run. And right now.¡± Chapter 10 - An arms race? Sheetal watched the desert speed past while she held onto Ash. They ran past the biggest sand dune she had seen yet while her brain processed everything they had been going through. ¡°We are alive.¡± She¡¯s words came out in a squeak. ¡°Oh good, you are back.¡± Ash responded in a jolly tone. ¡°Ash, we are alive.¡± ¡°Yeah, I know that.¡± She was silent for a moment. Ash turned his head to look back at her and asked ¡°Hey are you still with me?¡± ¡°Yeah, I am just trying to figure out what happened.¡± Ash grinned ¡°It happens. The shock gets to you and you sort of shut down.¡± She began ¡°The last thing I remember is the dog dying.¡± Ash felt She¡¯s breath hitch and she went silent. He was worried about this. The pressure was getting to She. Unlike him, the girl dangling off his back hadn¡¯t been trained for espionage and thrown head first into an active warzone. He knew sooner or later every civilian in a war broke down or shut down. He could have delayed the after effects by keeping her occupied but he couldn¡¯t negate them. So, he decided to let her be. Now she was coming out of shock and he needed to gently bring her back. Ash grumbled ¡°Yeah, I had to kill dogs to save you stupid face.¡± ¡°What!?¡± She¡¯s gaze turned hard. ¡°You heard me. I had to kill puppies because of you.¡± She spluttered ¡°Wha¡­ Oh you¡­ You know, fud you.¡± Ash laughed. It was a loud laugh. ¡°You think this is funny?¡± ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°You are such an Ash.¡± Ash giggled ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Now shut up and tell me where are we going?¡± Ash¡¯s shoulders shook. ¡°Are you laughing at me?¡± Ash¡¯s silent chuckle turned into a wheezing laugh ¡°Shut up and tell me?¡± ¡°Oh you silly brat. You know what I mean now spill.¡± She hit Ash on his shoulder ¡°Fine. Fine. Gods you are a violent person. We are going to the blue dot on the map. The one called the trial gate on your GPS thingy.¡± Sheetal looked at her hud and the window on the side of her vision expanded. Trial Gate Distance 1.2 Kilometres ¡°Why? We have got rid of the¡­ Of the¡­¡± ¡°Puppies?¡± ¡°Ash!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°They weren¡¯t puppies. They were demonic mongrels.¡± ¡°Okay. Okay. Yes we got rid of them. But sooner or later their owners will come looking. And I want to have a nice gate in between us and them.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± She looked at Ash ¡°That makes a lot of sense.¡± ¡°Of course it does. I am awesome.¡± Sheetal slapped Ash on his head ¡°Will you stop and take this seriously?¡± ¡°In five minutes.¡± Ash replied promptly ¡°That¡¯s when we will be at the gate.¡± ¡°No, I mean talking.¡± ¡°She, you have met me, haven¡¯t you? I don¡¯t stop talking, for anyone.¡± She groaned ¡°I know.¡± She looked around, The desert somehow felt placid around them. The wind was gone and the sand dunes around them sat still. It felt like the world was holding its breath. The feeling was unnerving after all the madness they had been through. ¡°Uh¡­ She?¡± Ash skidded to stop and looked ahead She poked out her head from behind Ash and looked at what he had been looking at. ¡°Is that a gate?¡± Ash asked. Ash¡¯s confusion wasn¡¯t unwarranted. There was a ten foot tall metal door in front of them. The problem was that it wasn¡¯t attached to anything. It was just standing there on its own without any support or anything behind it. The fact that they had approached the thing diagonally made the scene even more unnatural. Sheetal let Ash go and levitated herself ahead ¡°It looks more like a door.¡± They both moved to it slowly and the carving on the door became clearer. There was a fountain in the backdrop on the left and on the right there was a white marble with a bowl fire on it. In the front there were two beady eyes glowing like ruby¡¯s at them. Ash took a step closer and licked his lips ¡°Does the fountain mean there will be water if we open the gate?¡± She licked her lips too. Suddenly, she realised how long it had been since either one of them had had a drop of water. She could empathise with Ash. he had been the one that had been doing the running and most of the fighting. She muttered ¡°I hope so.¡± She moved closer and felt a tugging sensation in her chest. The gate was pulling her inside. ¡°Uh¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, I feel it too.¡± Ash answered her unasked question ¡°What do we do?¡± She asked in a rush. ¡°There is water in there.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t know that.¡± ¡°Yeah, but water.¡± Ash stated hoarsely. She looked at Ash and he looked back at her. She asked ¡°What about the eyes?¡± Ash shrugged ¡°If it¡¯s some squinty eyed guy. I will kick his butt if he gets in between me and the water.¡± She though about it for a moment and then reluctantly nodded ¡°Okay, then let¡¯s go.¡± Ash knocked on the gate ¡°Hello? Anyone in there?¡± She gave him a sharp look. Ash smiled ¡°Just making sure.¡± She rolled her eyes ¡°Will you ever not be annoying?¡± Ash chuckled and grabbed She¡¯s hand ¡°Okay, together?¡± She nodded ¡°In one¡­ Two¡­ Three!¡± They both jumped in. Sheetal reeled. There was a flash of white that she felt inside her mind. It made her thoughts go blank and the sudden vertigo made her. She whimpered and wobbled. Then something tackled and pulled her down. She hit the floor and was about to fight when she heard a loud squelching noise. That was followed by Ash stern tone. ¡°She, run, fly, get away. Now.¡± Sheetal blinked her eyes and through watery eyes she saw Ash shoot back to his feet. He hit something large and ran away from her. The large indistinct thing scrabbled and turned to follow him. The large thing, perhaps as tall as a horse and wider than an SUV moved unnaturally to face Ash. That is all that she could make out in the dimly lit room. She needed to clear her eyes before making sense out of anything more. So she closed her eyes and pushed against the floor. She flew up into the air and rapidly blinked until her eyes began to focus again. She wiped her tears and looked down. And then she stopped with her mouth agape. The side of her hud pulsed and notified her that she wasn¡¯t losing her mind. Wind Tailed Scorpion. Shards 3 Warning! You are too underpowered to fight this beast. ¡°What the¡­¡± Rest of She¡¯s words were left unsaid. Her mind refused to comprehend what she was seeing. There was a truck sized scorpion battling Ash. And it was winning. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Ash blinked his eyes. And tried to focus his vision. His first reactions had been instinctive. He played them back as soon as She took off into the air. There had been a blinding flash and then he had seen a bluish white light heading straight for She. Whoosh! Ash had pushed She out of the way of it. As his eyes cleared he saw a large tail impact the ground where She had stood and burrow inside the muddy ground. He had known that his friend was blinded. He was half way blinded too. But unlike She, he could if not see then perceive things with shards. It was a strange thing. The first time he had felt it was when he had fought that bulky blue skinned woman. The shards when in use had glowed brightly in his eyes just like the way it did now. CLACK! Ash saw a white flash light up the and head straight for him. He jumped to the right and barely dogged a claw. It was fast. Faster than its tail. The tail had flown through the wind. The claw on the other hand cut through it with a sharp sound. Just like he did when he used his speed shard with his tonfas. Knowing that he had a moment or two he used his foot to kick the extended claw which was still trying to get him. It wasn¡¯t to do any damage but to use the momentum to roll away from the smelly thing and attack it from its blindside. He created some distance and looked at what he was fighting. And saw a humongous scorpion trying to free its tail while periodically glaring him with its red eyes. ¡°What the¡­¡± Ash shook his head and decided to act first and ask questions later. He drew out his tonfas and hit it twice. Thimp. Thump. The scorpion, if it cared, didn¡¯t show any effects. Ash looked up and saw She blinking her eyes rapidly while looking at him. ¡°Uh¡­ She? Any ideas?¡± She¡¯s heart flew up into her mouth when she saw Ash barely dodge a speeding claw. Ash veered sideways at the last moment. Kicked the claw. Rolled on the muddy ground and shot up to his feet. Then he hit the scorpion¡¯s carapace with his tonfa with a thump. Then he looked at his tonfa dumbly. Then he hit it again. And then again. Then he glared at his tonfa and then at She. ¡°Well?¡± ¡°What are you doing?¡± She screeched. ¡°Fighting!¡± Ash snapped. ¡°You are not doing a good job.¡± ¡°Hey, floaty, stop backseat driving.¡± She scowled ¡°It¡¯s tail is stuck in the ground.¡± ¡°I know that.¡± ¡°Well run away from it.¡± ¡°It will get free sooner or later and then what are we going to do?.¡± ¡°It¡¯s slow on its feet. So we¡¯ll run.¡± ¡°No.¡± Ash shot back. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because that would give it the distance it needs to skewer me with its tail.¡± She was about to snap back when the scorpion heaved. With a squelching sound the tail came loose and the scorpion faltered. It took a few seconds for it to right itself. In those moments Ash moved to its left and started hammering his tonfa on its body ineffectually. ¡°Ash¡­¡± Whatever She was going to say got stuck in her throat when she saw the scorpion train it beady red eyes on her friend. ¡°Oh fish.¡± Ash said in a whisper and then the scorpion was on him. He swayed to the left. Dodged an oncoming claw. Kicked the scorpion in its face. The scorpion hissed and moved to bite him. Ash cartwheeled away. Then dodged the other slower claw. The scorpion lifted one its legs to skewer him. Ash ran. Bent backwards and dropped to his knees. He used all his flexibility to skid under a spiky leg. He jumped up to his feet and spun. Thump. Thump. Thump. Ash hit the scorpion thrice and then moved to his right. He needed to keep himself on the scorpion blindside. The scorpion skittered on its spindly legs to follow him. In response Ash whirled like an ice skater and hit it again and again. Thump. Thump. She watched Ash and the scorpion make circles on the muddy ground and yelled ¡°Will you stop dancing and start getting some distance from it?¡± Ash growled ¡°If I do that, it will do the tail thing again.¡± ¡°What tail thing?¡± ¡°The one it almost hit you with.¡± She blinked and looked at the scorpion tail. The scorpion¡¯s tail was primed and aimed just above its head. It was also dripping something acrid over its hard carapace. He was right. If Ash tried to move away from it then it would bring it down on him like a hammer. That meant Ash was right. It took She two seconds to actually agree with the statement. That was something she was having trouble with. She nodded and whispered ¡°He may be right but I am not going to tell him that. Now think. How do I rescue the dumb-ash trying to break through an exoskeleton of a house sized scorpion with chopsticks?¡± Her last words came out in a loud frustrated growl. ¡°They are tonfas!¡± Ash yelled from somewhere underneath the scorpion. When had he gone under the dang thing? She shook her head and yelled out her question. ¡°You are underneath the dang thing? Why are you under the tempo sized scorpion?¡± ¡°I thought its belly would be less protected.¡± Ash replied in a muffled voice. ¡°Is it?¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°Ash, it¡¯s lifting itself up to¡­ Get out of there now.¡± Ash just managed to scamper out from under the scorpion when it brought its bulk down. And while the scorpion got his feet under itself he began to hit it again and again. She looked at Ash. He was putting a brave face on but she could see that he was beginning to tire. She needed to help him quickly. Before the stupid man got himself killed. She was done feeling useless. So she began to look around. They were in a cave. It was not large but enough to park ten trollers in it. It had a fountain on the left that was spouting water. The water dripped down into a clean pool that was overflowing into a natural pond. A large one. So large that it covered half of the cavern and turned the soil underneath them into mud. On the other side there was a marble altar with a pot of fire in the centre. It periodically spouted a large flame in concert with the fountain. That part was covered with ashen slabs of rocks that slowly moved up into white marble. That wasn¡¯t important. What was important was the fire. She could use that fire only if she could find something to burn. But there was branch, wood, or even paper. So, that was not a viable approach. Sheetal looked back at the water. Maybe they needed to drown the scorpion. She turned to look at the water ¡°Ash, do scorpions swim?¡± ¡°What!?¡± ¡°Maybe we can drown it.¡± She turned to look at Ash and saw that the scorpion had almost backed Ash into a wall. Ash did the dodge thing again and faked left and went right. He skidded under the claw and once again freed himself from the wall. Then like before he started bludgeoning the scorpion. Sheetal had to give it to him. Ash never gave up even when he knew that his actions weren¡¯t having any effect. But as usual his strikes didn¡¯t even leave a mark on the scorpions exoskeleton. Ash took in a large gulp of air and yelled back ¡°Scorpions can survive underwater for days. And those are the small ones. Who knows what this mutated monstrosity can do.¡± ¡°We need to get out of here.¡± There was panic in She¡¯s voice. ¡°What do you think I am trying to do?¡± To She¡¯s surprise there was a hint of panic in Ash¡¯s high pitched voice too. She started whirling around to find some way to help Ash. All she saw was fire and water everywhere and then something glinted on the side of her vision. She turned sharply towards the shining object. Just at the bank of the pond, there was something metallic. She started moving towards it. ¡°Umm¡­ Hey, chesty! Where are you going?¡± Sheetal ignored the provocation and replied ¡°To get a better weapon.¡± ¡°I already have¡­ Oh shiz!¡± Sheetal heard Ash¡¯s footsteps as he resumed fighting and kept an ear out for him. The rest of her focus went into steadily moving towards the hint of a weapon she had seen in the water. It took her what felt like ten minutes but most probably was less than one, to reach the edge of the pond. There she saw a severed arm. It was holding a large sword. She lowered herself into the water and tried lifting the weapon. She grunted under the weight of the weapon. For a moment she wondered, how did those people in the HBO series fight with these things? The sword in her hand was longer than her arm and heavier than a microscope. And it was unwieldy too. Sheetal gave up on trying to lift it above her waist and just used her shard to lift herself and the weapon in the air. After the initial resistance she was able to make it in the air. Her arms shook under the weapon¡¯s weight. Her breaths came out heavy and ever inch she moved felt like a marathon but she persevered. ¡°Hold on Ash, I am coming!¡± Ash grunted ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry, I am not going anywhere.¡± Sheetal looked up and at her partner. She saw that the scorpion had finally gotten hold of Ash¡¯s weapon in a claw. Ash was now periodically dodging the other claw and bludgeoning the scorpions maw with the other one. ¡°Let go of your stick.¡± Ash snapped back ¡°It is a tonfa!¡± Sheetal raised herself higher and slowly floated above the scorpion ¡°It is a stupid stick. This is a weapon.¡± Ash looked up and shot a glare at She. Then he did a double take. She had a long sword dangling from her hands. It was swaying left to right and its weight was dragging her down. But that wasn¡¯t all. There was a severed arm attached to the hilt of the sword. Ash dodged the oncoming claw again. Thankfully it was not the speed one. That one had grabbed his favourite right tonfa. He kicked the scorpion on its face and yelled ¡°What is this? An arms race?¡± She, who was now hovering only a foot or two above the bug, gave him an annoyed look and let go of the sword dramatically. Ash blinked. No, he hadn¡¯t imagined it. Instead of stabbing the scorpion from up high, She just let the sword go. The sword fell. And instead of falling point first, the arm attached to it dragged it to the left and hit the scorpion on the dull side of the blade. Tink. Clank. Tinnnngggg. Even so, the sword scrapped a line onto the thick carapace of the scorpion. The scorpion jolted. It turned and its beady red eyes focussed on the sword. It slowly turned to look at She. She was startled and looked back at the scorpion with widening eyes. ¡°Uh¡­¡± ¡°She, fly up. Now!¡± Ash ordered It was too late. The scorpion dug its pointy feet in and shot its tail at She. ¡°Ah!!!¡± Sheetal screamed as the tail came down on her. Ash lost sight of her beyond the bug¡¯s bulk. Ash freed himself from the wall and ran towards She. Once again, he had to do a double take. She had her hands extended. A foot above them was the scorpion¡¯s tail pushing down on her. It was a strange sight and for a second Ash just stood there. It was like She, a scrawny woman was holding back the largest spear he had ever seen with some Japanese cartoon voodoo nonsense. Then his mind made sense of the situation, and he realised that was exactly what She was doing. She was using her polar powers to keep the stinger at bay. Her shard flared in his eyes as the scorpion used its body weight to push down on her. It was one of the strangest wrestling matches he had ever seen. And he just looked at the contest for a moment or two. ¡°For the love of Gods, don¡¯t just stand there. Do something!¡± She screamed at Ash. Ashoka blinked and jumped into action ¡°Oh, right.¡± Ash ran for the sword, grabbed the blade with the hand still attached to it. It was close to one of the scorpion¡¯s legs but the large bug didn¡¯t even turn to stop him. He had gone from a threat to annoyance in a second. And right now, he was happy about that fact. Ash pried the large, bloated hand loose from the swords hilt. He lifted it up with a grunt and looked at the shimmering blade. ¡°Boy this heavy.¡± ¡°Ash? I can¡¯t hold on.¡± Sheetal yelled as the scorpion began to use its legs to win the contest. Ash turned to look at She just in time to see a pointy leg coming at him. Ash jumped back. He took a moment to give the wind tail scorpion a once over. The only soft spot he could see on the creature were the narrow segments in the tail. She screamed ¡°Are you going to do something?¡± Ashoka looked at the sword and then at She ¡°Before I do this, I am just going to say, you are not going to like this.¡± She glared at him ¡°Stop whining and start fighting!¡± ¡°Fine.¡± Ash growled and shot into movement. He ran towards She and the scorpion head. He approached them from the side. He focussed on the insect¡¯s tail. The scorpion sensing his movement turned one of its beady red eyes towards Ash. At the same moment he engaged his speed shard. Ash¡¯s last two steps blurred into one. He used all that momentum to swing the sword upwards. The sword in his hand blurred. It went through the scorpion¡¯s tail like a hot knife through butter. Critical Hit Damage - 22% Ash in his sped-up state saw the sword cut upwards. He saw the stinger and the bulb go flying. He spun with the sword¡¯s momentum and hit the animal again. This time in the bug''s front shoulder. Hit. Damage 4% Then his speed shard fizzled out and everything started moving in its natural pace. The scorpion screeched and back pedaled. His blade that had got lodged into the arachnid''s carapace got pulled out of his hand. Blug. Blug. Blug. ¡°Ewwwwww!¡± She screeched and violently thrust her hands upwards. The motion flipped the bug over onto its side. And it let out a high-pitched hissing, keening scream. Ash turned to look back at his partner. She was ringing her hands. ¡°What is this? And why does it smell so bad?¡± She was covered in blue blood and awful smelling viscous liquid. Ash looked at her with a sheepish smile and then decided to ignore her. Instead, he ran to pick up the scorpion¡¯s stinger with the bulb. He grabbed it from the ground and looked at the scorpion. It was swaying left to right to get back to its feet. Ash got a stronger grip on the stinger and then ran back to the scorpion. Ash matched its momentum and brought the stinger up just when it righted itself. The stinger shot through the exoskeleton without much effort. Damage 3% Ash gritted his teeth and with both his hands pushed down on the bulb. It churned the poison inside and spurted it into the scorpion. Wind Tailed Scorpion Health - 64%...63%...62% Status - Bleeding. Poisoned. The scorpion who was reeling under the injuries suddenly felt the new hole and let out another wail. Ash shuffled back and picked the tonfa he had dropped next to Sheetal. She had her eyes closed and asked ¡°Ash. Is that you?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± She visibly relaxed ¡°Ash, what is this stuff? Yuck! It tastes horrible.¡± ¡°That is excrement.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Scorpions do their thing from a place in their tails. They also use it to create poison they sting you with.¡± ¡°Mmmmm!¡± She yelled with her mouth closed. ¡°Good news is that I got the insect.¡± She spat blue blood on the floor and inaudibly said something which sounded like ¡°Shop in ah no a effect. whey a mamaammmal.¡± ¡°What?¡± Ash asked. She wiped her mouth with a sleeve and repeated ¡°Scorpion are not insects. They are animals.¡± Ash rolled his eyes ¡°She. Stop being wikipedia.¡± ¡°Fup Ooh!¡± Ash looked She and then at the scorpion. It was reeling in pain and was a disoriented mess. The fight had left its beady red eyes. It was trying to escape towards the fiery altar. Wind Tailed Scorpion Health - 31%...30%...29% Status - Bleeding. Poisoned. ¡°I should probably go and put it out of its misery.¡± She shook her head violently with her eyes closed. Ash looked at her and the smell hit him. He almost gagged and took an involuntary step backwards. She shot her hand out and grabbed Ash¡¯s cargo pants. ¡°Okay. Okay. Hold on.¡± Ash leaned down and picked up She in a princess carry. She mumbled something and then spit out scorpion fluids. ¡°Just hold on.¡± Ash walked to the pond and into it. Just when the water covered his knees, he spun and flung She into the deeper end. ¡°Yeeeee¡­.!¡± Splash. Ash walked out and looked at the scorpion. It had stopped moving. Wind Tailed Scorpion Health - 14%...13%...12% Status - Bleeding. Poisoned. Ash undid his shirt and threw it down on the floor. It had scorpion goo on it. He slipped out of his hoes and socks. Behind him She floated up to the surface spluttered and then went back in. Ash looked at her and then continued to undo his pants. She suddenly flew out of the water. ¡°You, blaster! You threw me¡­? ¡°Yup.¡± She stopped and looked at Ash taking off his underwear. ¡°Uh¡­ Ash? What are you doing?¡± Ash cocked his head sideways ¡°What does it look like? I am taking off my clothes to take a bath.¡± ¡°With me!? In here?¡± She asked in an astonished voice. ¡°Sweetheart, don¡¯t flatter yourself.¡± Ash rolled his eyes ¡°Although, you can watch if you want to. I won¡¯t hold it against you. After all I know I am aweso¡­.¡± Splunk. Sheetal watched Ash lose his footing and go back first into the water. Sheetal rolled her eyes and waited for Ash to come out Ash came out of the water with a grimace ¡°Damn that hurt.¡± ¡°Excuse me? You are naked. Again.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Ash looked at She ¡°Listen I am covered in blood, sweat, dirt, grime and awful. And that is your fault. I had to pick you up.¡± ¡°You know we could take turns washing up.¡± ¡°Nope. I am going to wash up now. You can get out if you want to. If you don¡¯t mind scorpion feces in your hair.¡± She grimaced and shivered. ¡°Fine. I am giving you the permission to fling those two woks on your chest around in front of me.¡± ¡°Woks? Did you call¡­¡± She crossed her hand on her chest ¡°You know what you are a brick. A brick who doesn¡¯t have any sense of modesty?¡± Ash snorted ¡°Look at me She. Do you think I have anything to be modest about?¡± She watched Ash as he dunked himself into water and swam to the fountain. He dunked his head in and started lapping up water. She turned away and then looked back at him. Slowly she raised her shirt and ran her hands on her back. And after a moment she threw her shirt off and started exploring her back with her fingertips. Ash swam back ¡°Hey backscratcher. You should go get some water.¡± ¡°Shut up.¡± Ash blinked ¡°What is it?¡± She stopped for a moment and looked at her partner. Then in a hesitating voice muttered ¡°Ash, your scars are gone.¡± Ash looked at her in incomprehension She pointedly looked at Ash¡¯s nether regions. Ash looked down at himself and then moved his thigh. Then the other one. Then he bent down. Finally, he took a hold of himself. Turned his stuff left, then right and then lifted it up. ¡°She. My scars are gone.¡± She turned away from Ash as he explored his manhood. ¡°Yes!¡± Ash cheered. ¡°Can you stop?¡± ¡°She, look. I am perfect.¡± Ash pointed his limp stuff at her. ¡°Ah, no thankyou.¡± ¡°But¡­ But¡­ Look, my scars are gone.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Ash did a merry little jig ¡°She, my greatness is great again.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ What!?¡± Ash waved at her dismissively and turned around ¡°Hey scorpion, look my scars are gone. My greatness is flawless again.¡± Wind Tailed Scorpion Health - 4%...3%...2%...1%...0 Status - Dead. Achievement - David vs Goliath Rewards 2 Exotic Weapon Shards 40 Crecks 2 Characters. Please wait for your regional Kel¡¯s representative at this spot to give your rewards. Approximate wait time - 2 hours. As Ash and She watched the scorpion lit up from inside. Three of its spots began to glow and then it erupted into fire which engulfed its entire body. The fire didn¡¯t last long. Within seconds all that was left of the scorpion was Ash. ¡°Dang! Now who am I going to show my flawless body to?¡± ¡°Oh for fuds sake Ash¡­¡± Ash huffed ¡°Not you. You are not going to appreciate my greatness anyway.¡± ¡°Can you stop calling that thing greatness?¡± ¡°That¡¯s its name.¡± ¡°Oh gods. Why me?¡± Ash looked at She ¡°Girl, you are a mess.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because you chopped the scorpion tail off while I was under it.¡± ¡°First of all, you told me to do it. Second, I told you that it was a bad idea. Third, thank you would be the right thing to say right now. Fourth, you should take off your clothes and wash them. Fifth, I have soap, shampoo, conditioner and breakfast bars. Do you want granola, chocolate or peanut butter? You can get some water while I get them out.¡± Ash splayed his fingers and looked at her. She looked at him with her mouth open ¡°Why do you have all those things? And where do you have them stored?¡± ¡°In my cargo pants. You don¡¯t leave home without essentials. Didn¡¯t they ever teach you that? ¡± Ash pointed back at the pond¡¯s bank and then added ¡°I also have a collapsible bottle. Now that we have water, we can run on and away from the blue weirdos.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­¡± Ash nodded ¡°Okay. You do your open mouth thing. I am going to go get the shampoo. You really need to get that blue stuff off your hair.¡± Chapter 11 - Hide my whisky. Whoosh! Doctor Joshi raised his arms, and a vortex of fire shot out of him turning the upcoming silent zombies into a charred mess. The heat was so intense that the floor began to glow, and the ground turned red. It wasn¡¯t the first time that the doctor had done this. He had first shown this same power when they had first started. But now it was more intense. As if something had amplified it. Ari after constructing his improvised taped gauntlet had expected to jump into the zombies and started punching and brawling only for the doctor to pull him back and preempt his action by raising his hand and turning everything in his way into charcoal. Thankfully, this power had had a positive outcome though not related. Nameer had raised his hand after the fire storm and gathered all the moisture out of the air and poured it into three bottles. The team had baulked initially. Nobody liked drinking water harvested out of the dead, even though Nameer insisted that it was completely distilled. That¡¯s when Singh had caught his disapproving looks and in one case torn a young lieutenant a new one. That had driven the others into submission. And now they were all hydrated. Ari turned his head and saw a steel flask held out to him. He gave a thankful nod to Nameer and caught everyone¡¯s eye before taking two large gulps. He stopped and looked at the bottle. It was cold and tasted better than the last one. He raised his eyes and looked at Nameer. Nameer smiled ¡°I asked Captain Abesh to suck the heat out of the water.¡± He lowered his voice ¡°And sir, I didn¡¯t distil the magnesium and minerals in the water.¡± Ari took another sip and contemplated. He knew where the minerals were coming from but that wasn¡¯t what was bothering him. His people were changing so quickly and so was he. Nameer powers aside, Abesh was beginning to show his strength. He could suck the heat out of the air to create a cold region. The result was that his embers transformed into thumb sized balls of fire which he could fling at the enemy. Singh who had started hacking and slashing had started dancing with his blades. Although knowing his background that wasn¡¯t any surprise. Singh had always been good with melee weapons. But the fact that every time his blade got damaged, he just plugged it into a body, and it came out good as brand new. The source of the metal was obviously the blood in the enemy¡¯s bodies. But the biggest change was not in any of his active team members. It was in the two junior lieutenants. One had sped so fast ahead during the initial brawl, that he had been enveloped in the enemy. They had not seen him after that. The lucky bastard. If he would have gotten his hands on the boy, he would have skinned him alive. The other one, well he had been bitten and scratched in this brawl. Now he had black lines travelling through his veins. Nameer had been trying to purify his blood, but the results weren¡¯t looking good. ¡°Abesh, make a cold spot.¡± Ari ordered his marksman. Abesh moved away from the heat to the back of the passageway and began to wave his hand around. Ari glanced at the doctor. The man was walking into the crackling fire and glowing stone floor with a peaceful smile. ¡°Commander, I don¡¯t like what¡¯s happening to him.¡± Singh stopped next to Ari and said. ¡°I don¡¯t like what¡¯s happening to any of us.¡± ¡°Yes sir, but he is the one who knows what¡¯s really going on here.¡± Ari snorted ¡°I don¡¯t think any of us know what¡¯s going around here and that is the problem.¡± ¡°Listen, Ari, if I don¡¯t get out of here could you¡­¡± Ari shot Singh a hostile look ¡°Don¡¯t you dare start. I don¡¯t want my second in command doubting himself. And I don¡¯t want to hear any of your morbid thoughts.¡± Singh gave Ari a blank look ¡°I was just going to say, could you hide my whisky. My wife is going to kill me if she gets to know that I have been drinking whisky with my diabetes.¡± Both the men looked at each other for a moment and then began to chuckle. Ari controlled himself and muttered ¡°You are such a¡­¡± ¡°Yes. Now take some advice from someone who is better in hand-to-hand combat. Stop landing haymakers on the enthralled. Sure, watching them go down with their heads caved is satisfying but it is not the metal on your arms that¡¯s your strength. It¡¯s the thing in your head that makes you the best of us. Aim for their hearts and guts. People bleed more from those spots.¡± Ari nodded and then heard a yelp. Ari turned. The lieutenant who had been slumped on the spot was up and looming over the downed Nameer. Nameer scrambled backwards holding the two bottles in his hands like a shield. The lieutenant enthralled began to pounce. The next moment an arrow appeared in the enthralled¡¯s head. Singh whirled and looked at the slit in the wall. Ari ran to the downed Nameer and visually checked him for wounds. ¡°I am fine sir. I am fine. I backed away before he could bite me.¡± Nameer sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than Ari. Ari looked at the slitted window on the wall and saw a man in combat fatigues waving to him. The man dramatically pulled out a bow from a quiver on his side and aimed it at Ari. Ari moved Nameer and himself to the side. A few seconds later an arrow hit the wall and clattered to the floor. Singh moved to it before Ari could and picked it up. There was a shiny stone embedded in its shaft. Ari took it from Singh and looked back at the man. The man held out his hand with something glittering in it and placed it in his ear. Ari followed the motion, and the stone flew next to his ear like a magnet. With a jolt Ari realised what it was. It was an earpiece. Not one that went into your ear but one that attached next to your ear. They called them bone conductivity earphones. Only, this was stone and cold on his skin. Then as nothing happened, he wondered if he could take it off now that it was attached to him. Ari shrugged. It was another thing, in a list of things. Sensing no danger, he tapped the stone, and a voice spoke to him. ¡°Hello. Can you hear me?¡± ¡°Hello? Who is this?¡± ¡°Oh thank the heavens. I am Major Eddy Mbungwa. BRICS Sentry Force. May I know who I am speaking to?¡± Ari looked at the outline of the man and responded ¡°There is no such thing.as BRICS Sentry Force.¡± The man chuckled ¡°Of course there isn¡¯t. None of the BRICS countries will create a combined force and hide it from the Americans.¡± Ari chewed his lip ¡°You just killed one of my men.¡± ¡°No, I saved one of your men and you know it.¡± Ari did but he needed to make his first words confrontational to see whether the man was a friend or foe. He took a moment to gather his thoughts. Thankfully the man gave him the time he needed. Mbungwa just looked at Ari from a roof next to the temple and then finally began ¡°Listen. Man. I just saw the fire and explosions and thought I could help a fellow human.¡± ¡°Okay, Major Mbungwa. What are you doing here?¡± ¡°The same thing you are, I suppose.¡± Ari sighed ¡°You are trying to become a super soldier.¡± ¡°Yes. And so were the Russians I came in with.¡± ¡°And where are these Russians now?¡± Mbungwa was silent for a moment and then responded ¡°You are fighting them.¡± Ari looked at the burning corpses and then back at the man. He looked deflated. ¡°That''s a lot of men.¡± Ari observed. ¡°And women. The kind that won¡¯t be missed.¡± Mbungwa sighed ¡°They were the dissidents from the war.¡± Ari clenched his jaw and then relaxed. Not his country. Not his problem. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°Mbungwa. I am Commander Ari. I mean Colonels Arivarasan. NSG Commandos.¡± Ari introduced himself. The man looked up at Ari ¡°NSG? You are Indians?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t look like you are from site one or two.¡± Ari raised his eyebrows ¡°We are not.¡± The man nodded ¡°Operational secrecy. Understood commander. May I join you to discuss things further?¡± ¡°Join us? How many people do you have?¡± ¡°I am the last one left from my group, commander. The last member of my team was eaten by dogs. The same ones that ate your man a few hours ago.¡± Ari stopped ¡°The lieutenant?¡± ¡°Looked like one. Young, with a moustache?¡± Ari cursed ¡°Gods dang this place.¡± ¡°Oh crap!¡± Mbungwa rushed out of Ari sight and hid behind a wall. ¡°Mbungwa? Is everything okay?¡± ¡°Sorry to rush you commander but the dogs. They are heading into the temple. Do you want me to take a sniper position?¡± ¡°No, we will handle the dogs. You should concentrate on reaching us.¡± ¡°Commander. These are not your regular mongrels. These are big things with¡­¡± Awooo¡­ Awooo¡­ Awooo¡­ ¡°Oh, my word.¡± Mbungwa muttered ¡°What is it?¡± Mbungwa scampered ¡°There is a three sharded stalker with them. They are the ones who did this to the Russians. Commander, watch out for the gas they are going to unleash on you. If you don¡¯t have shards you will turn into the enthralled. If you have more, you turn into something worse.¡± ¡°What could be worse than a zombie?¡± ¡°Something called a Vetaal.¡± ¡°A vetaal?¡± ¡°Yes, you will face them soon enough. I think the Nishachars are tired of throwing minions at you commander.¡± Ari stopped ¡°Mbungwa. Thank you. And stay away. Let us handle them. We will tell you when it is safe to come in.¡± ¡°Good luck commander. I hope you live long enough for me to meet you face to face.¡± ¡°Thank you and stay safe.¡± Ari touched the earpiece and it fell into his hand. He put it in one of his pockets. He looked at his men and then at the doctor who was looking at him with glowing eyes. ¡°Doctor. Can you burn the gas?¡± Doctor Joshi just grinned. Ari began briefing them all and laid out his plan. He looked up to see if everyone had understood his plan. ¡°Vetaal? Like in Vikram and Vetaal?¡± Abesh asked in response. ¡°No, that was Bikram and Betaal. Wasn¡¯t it? Singh asked Ari grumbles ¡°Phonetics. They both are the same thing.¡± ¡°Okay commander. But does anybody know how we got stuck in nostalgic DD shows?¡± Abesh asked with a smile. Singh snorted and then shot a sharp glare at Abesh ¡°Boy, if you haven¡¯t noticed we are fighting creatures that do not look like bad special effects from a nineteen eighties tv show. And we are dropping like flies against them.¡± Abesh glared back at Singh ¡°Yes, but panicking will get us nowhere. What do they look like, commander?¡± Ari shot a look at Abesh ¡°I don¡¯t know. And I don¡¯t think this is the time to get into it with your superiors, captain.¡± ¡°They look like humans but with sharp teeth and protruding canines. They move like reptiles. They will cling to the walls and will jump off them to attack from unusual angles. Visually they are darker. Almost green skinned and have distinct protruding ribs.¡± Doctor Joshi answered the question with his eyes closed. Singh looked at the man ¡°Uhm¡­ How do you know that doctor?¡± ¡°I can see them, Singh. I can see everything in this temple. It¡¯s a gift I got for pleasing the Yaksha.¡± Doctor Joshi opened his eyes and smiled at Singh. ¡°Okay. Either I am going crazy, or you are.¡± Doctor Joshi smiled benevolently at Singh. Ari had never seen anyone, but a parent give that look to a child and it unnerved him. It was like an unknown power humouring them. Ari shook his head. None of them had the time for this. ¡°Nameer, stay back and support. Abesh, cover Nameer, and snipe the enemy. Singh, you are with me.¡± Ari ordered and his men scattered. Ari turned to look at the doctor and they both looked at each other for a moment. Then without looking away Ari addressed his old friend ¡°Singh, can you give us some room to talk?¡± Singh looked at his commander with lifted eyebrows and then began walking away ¡°Okay commander, but don¡¯t take long.¡± Ari nodded at Singh and opened his mouth to talk but was cut off by Doctor Joshi¡¯s words. ¡°You need to trust me, Ari.¡± ¡°Trust you, doctor?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I do trust you, doctor. If I didn¡¯t, I wouldn¡¯t be creating my plans around the description of the enemy you just gave us.¡± Joshi shook his head ¡°Then you need to trust me more.¡± Ari pursed his lips and in a low gravelly voice asked ¡°Trust you more?¡± ¡°Yes. I am trying to help.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think I can do that doctor.¡± ¡°Why? Because I sound different now? We all have been changing. You have metal wrapping on my hands. Singh just a few hours ago chopped off a woman¡¯s head with a hunting knife. I saw Abesh burn a man¡¯s skull from the inside not half an hour ago. And you saw how Nameer collected water from the air.¡± Ari nodded ¡°Yes, but they all look startled when the enemy turns into sand. Every time. You don¡¯t.¡± Joshi sighed ¡°That¡¯s because I know why that is. These enthralled, that we are fighting are no longer people. By the gods, they aren¡¯t even undead. They are puppets animated by foreign potentiality.¡± Ari frowned ¡°I don¡¯t know what that means but here is a better question, how do you know all that doctor?¡± Joshi smiled ¡°Lord Agni told me about them.¡± Ari stiffened and tried not to look at the statue in the hall behind them. Joshi nodded ¡°I see. You won¡¯t trust me. Not until I have proven myself to you. I will do that Ari and then we will have a long conversation.¡± Ari heard Singh clear his throat loudly ¡°It¡¯s time commander.¡± Ari looked at the doctor for a long moment and then nodded ¡°Okay doctor, please take a spot behind us. Do you fire ball things and try not to fry us while you are doing that.¡± Singh stiffened at his orders. His old friend did not like to have an unknown quandary behind him but a look from Ari made him relaxed. The doctor smiled and then moved towards Abesh. Ari turned to the archway leading to the next area of the temple and waited. He did not have to wait long. Thin tendrils of greenish smoke started seeping in. It was heavy and clung to the floor. It slowly moved inwards and when it reached the glowing floor it sparked into fire. Fire that shot back with a whomp and then¡­ Boom! Ari and Singh recoiled with the sound. Their eardrums vibrated so hard that for a moment they felt as if they had gone deaf. Slowly their hearing returned and when it did, they heard something unusual. Hooting laughter and a chuckle made them look backwards. Joshi was standing serenely while Abesh was laughing and jumping up and down. The only person who did not look at ease behind them was Nameer. The man was giving the two fire magic users a weary look. ¡°Did you know that was going to happen doctor?¡± Singh asked the smiling man. ¡°Yes.¡± The doctor responded in his haunting echoing voice. ¡°How about telling us these things before they happen next time?¡± ¡°Okay Singh. Well then you should know that the enemy has lost two of its three Vetaals. The ascended Nishachar has lost an arm. But that won¡¯t stop him. He can attach it back if he tries but¡­¡± Joshi rolled his eyes and looked at Ari ¡°No, this one is dumber than he looks. He is not doing that. He is unleashing the dogs. And now they are heading straight for us.¡± Singh looked at the doctor ¡°Are you¡­¡± Whatever Singh was going to say next was cut off when Joshi yelled ¡°Here they come. Prepare yourselves!¡± Singh looked at the doctor with his bushy eyebrows raised and then turned back ¡°I swear, when I go back home, I will light up fire, only to piss on it.¡± Ari smiled and then the smile fell off his face. A hound, four feet tall and three wide ran into the passageway after bouncing off a wall. It snarled and growled. ¡°Abesh¡­¡± Ari began and stopped when a ball of fire flew past him. It hammered into the hound¡¯s head and blew the right side of face off in a bloody gore. The hound stood there for a moment and then collapsed sideways onto the floor. Ari turned back and looked at the boy wonder with an annoyed look. Abesh smiled at his handy work exhaled ¡°Commander, I had the perfect shot. Unfortunately, I can¡¯t do that again for three minutes.¡± Doctor Joshi announced ¡°I will take the next one. Ari, Singh, the last one is yours.¡± Ari turned back to the door and saw the next hound walk in hesitantly. It took a step and then began yowling as its feet landed on the heated stone. As soon as it opened its mouth Joshi pointed at it. The heat from all sides rushed into the dog''s mouth. Then fire spewed out from its nostrils. Ari looked back and saw Joshi with one hand raised and a snarl on his face ¡°Burn you, filth. Burn you, unclean creature. You are done defiling my yaksha¡¯s temple.¡± Ari looked back at the mutt to see its matted fur catch fire. It fell to the floor with its paws scratching the floor. Moments later the only thing left of it was acrid smoke and sand. Singh sighed ¡°First the kid and now the old man? They are sure showing us up, commander. I think it¡¯s time we let loose too.¡± Ari watched the last hound run in and stop at the edge of the cooling floor. ¡°I don¡¯t know Singh. I can¡¯t shoot fireballs.¡± Ari muttered. Singh nodded ¡°Yeah, but I have knives.¡± Ari watched the dog bunch up on its hind legs ¡°And I have metal gloves.¡± The hound pounced. Singh shuffled to the right. Ari swayed left. Singh brought his knives up and Ari planted his feet. Ari swung for the fences. An uppercut caught the hound¡¯s jaw raising its head. Singh shot into the opening. Slashing in an ex. Blood spurted out of the hound''s throat. Ari wasn¡¯t done. He landed another punch. A looping hook from his left hand. The hounds open up mouth shut on itself with a loud clack. From the corner of his vision, Ari saw a tongue flying away. He ignored it and made way. Singh appeared again. This time he dug his knives into the open wound and twisted his knives. The hound tried to lower its head. Ari snarled and landed a straight right to stagger the mutt. It staggered and then fell sideways. Ari followed the thing by landing punches with his protruding spikes. One, two, three, five, eight. Singh pulled him away and shoved him ¡°Commander!¡± Ari glared at the dog with gritted teeth and then shot a look at Singh. ¡°It¡¯s dead commander.¡± Ari turned his snarl into a deep breath and nodded. Clap. Clap. Clap. Ari turned to the door and saw a strange sight. A blue skinned man was clapping a hand on one tied to his belt. ¡°Ascendeds. Five of them. I suppose I can be a little wasteful then.¡± Nishachar (Night Stalker) Shards - 4 Affiliation - The Rakshasa Empire The Nishachar unhooked the arm from his belt and threw it on the floor. After a moment, it sizzled and began to blacken. He took in an appreciative breath. ¡°Mmm¡­ I love charred meat. Oh, I am sorry. Was that one of yours?¡± Ari looked at the hand. The fatigues on it. Ari saw red and moved to confront the man only to stop with a steely grip on his shoulder. He looked back and saw the doctor move in front of him. Doctor Joshi pointed at the ceiling where a human with green skin shriveled all across its body was slowly moving towards them like a lizard. It looked at them with blackened eyes and hissed. ¡°Fresh. Fresh. Fresh.¡± The thing whined. Vetaal Shards - 2 Affiliation - The Rakshasa Empire ¡°Yes pet. Fresh souls for you to feed. Fresh bodies for me to eat.¡± The Nishachar answered the Vetaal. Doctor Joshi glared at the Nishachar. He walked into the scorching floor and announced ¡°The nishachar is mine. You take care of the abomination.¡± The blue man looked at the doctor and spat ¡°Priest!¡± ¡°Yes, defiler. You dared to intrude on the territory of a yaksha. I am your punishment.¡± ¡°You will die, priest. Your people will be turned into our cattle. Just like your predecessors were.¡± The Nishachar said and moved. He blurred across the distance. A second later his hand erupted out the doctor¡¯s back. The doctor grunted and grabbed the man¡¯s arm. Fire erupted out of the doctor¡¯s wound and his open mouth. The nishachar screamed. The doctor aimed his head. Bathing the nishachar face in fire. ¡°No. What¡­ are you?¡± The Nishachars asked as his hair caught fire and skin began flaking off. Even so, the nishachars started regenerating his injuries. Joshi glared down at the blue skinned creature. He spoke with blood splattered lips and a throat full of fire. His crackling voice reverberated all across the temple shaking the walls. ¡°May your soul be purified in the fires of creation. May your sins be burned from existence. May your next life be of penance.¡± Ari watched in stupefied awe as the fire and the heat ahead of him disappeared in an instant. It appeared in a glowing white ball in the doctor¡¯s left hand. The doctor shoved the ball in the blue man¡¯s chest. Much like the nishachar had done earlier. But where the doctor had grunted and stayed standing. The nishachar screamed and turned to ash. The doctor swayed on his feet and Singh moved to catch him. The vetaal waiting for its opportunity jumped, aiming at Singh¡¯s back. Ari snarled. He ran across the distance and caught the thing by its face. He pivoted on his hip and slammed the abomination into the wall. Before it could react, he landed a three-punch combo to its head. He heard bones crush under his blows and snarled. ¡°You dare mess with my people?¡± Ari lips frothed over with spit. ¡°You dare attack them from behind?¡± Ari¡¯s one punch turned into another until they turned into a rapid series of punches. The vetaal tried to fight back by slashing his claws at Ari. Ari took the blow on his raised hands and then parried them aside. ¡°Oh no you don¡¯t you fudding freak.¡± Ari turned his knuckles over. One, two, three. Ari hammered his blows into the vetaal¡¯s body. Every blow dug his spikes into the twisted creature''s body. Every move slashed its flesh open. Ari did not stop. His hands turned into pistons hammering and ripping the creatures apart. ¡°Umm¡­ Commander. It¡¯s dead.¡± Ari looked at Nameer covering behind Abesh. Ari looked at the creature''s mashed torso and head. He took a step back and shrugged ¡°It was still standing.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because you didn¡¯t let it fall, sir.¡± Abesh nodded in appreciation ¡°You moved faster than the blue guy did.¡± ¡°And smoother too.¡± Nameer added reluctantly. Ari glanced at the two boys ¡°It¡¯s called boxing. You both need to try it sometimes.¡± The vetaal in front of Ari turned into ash in a flash and fell to the floor leaving behind three glowing shards. Ari moved towards them. ¡°Stop.¡± Ari whirled to see a Doctor Joshi walking towards them with Singh supporting him. ¡°Doctor? You are not dead?¡± The doctor smiled that strange smile ¡°I am blessed by Agni. In his temple I am as tough as a warder.¡± He shook his head ¡°Never mind that. We should have the yaksha¡¯s fire purify these shards. They come from a corrupted world. They might turn you into one of those things if you consume them.¡± Joshi pointed at the pile of ash that had been the vetaal moments ago. Abesh ran to support the doctor from the other side ¡°Doctor, are you okay?¡± ¡°Yes, child.¡± Joshi replied in a pained voice. Abesh shook his head ¡°Doctor, you have a hole in your chest.¡± Ari looked down at the doctor¡¯s torso and stopped. There was a hole in Joshi¡¯s chest. As he watched fire spewed out of it, mixed with blood and then became a bit smaller. The doctor held out his hand to reveal three glowing shards. Ari looked at the doctor, his healing chest, and then his palm ¡°Don¡¯t we consume these things as soon as we touch them?¡± The doctor chuckled ¡°Not all of us, commander. Some of us are different, and with a different purpose given to us by the yaksha.¡± Ari frowned ¡°Why are you giving these to me?¡± ¡°These are okay to consume. They were purified by my blood.¡± Ari took a step back ¡°Doctor, we¡¯ll talk about these shards when you heal. Right now, we need to assess the situation around us.¡± Joshi¡¯s smile turned frosty ¡°I told you that I will prove myself to you. I took on a nishachar with four shards and saved your lives. What else do you want?¡± ¡°A little more clarity doctor.¡± Joshi sighed ¡°Fine. Don¡¯t take too long to make up your mind, commander. There are other things happening out there. And if you won¡¯t arm yourself and your men, you will be ground into ash and sand.¡± Chapter 12 - Hairy Harry She checked her reflection in the pond. She turned right and then left. The scars on her back from the various rounds of surgery had vanished. The scar from her appendicitis was missing and even the infrequent spots on her skin had vanished. She raised her left arm and looked at her ribs, the birthmark she had been born with was gone too. Was she dreaming? Was all of this real? What if it was not? And what if all this was real? What did all of this mean then? ¡°She?¡± Ash¡¯s voice pulled her out of her spiralling thoughts ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°What are you doing?¡± Ash asked. ¡°Looking.¡± ¡°Looking for what?¡± She turned to him. He was floating on his back in the water as if nothing in this world could bother him. She¡¯s breath hitched in her throat and she took a few quick breaths ¡°So¡­something¡­¡± Ash turned his eyes to her. He stood up and walked to her. In a calming voice he stated ¡°She, you need to relax. You are hyperventilating.¡± She focussed on her breath. Took in two slow lungsful of air and looked at her bro... partner. Noting that She had got her breath back he sat down next to her at the edge of the pool ¡°Now tell me, what are you looking for?¡± She took a large lungful of air and muttered ¡°Ash, my body has completely changed.¡± Ash nodded ¡°Yup. Mine too.¡± She looked at him inquisitively ¡°Really? Then why are you so calm about it?¡± Ash sighed ¡°She, those scars on my body are just the superficial wounds. I have broken my ribs, wrists, fingers, and my left knee. I have been methodically tortured, gotten shot numerous times, and even got my teeth knocked out. Those things hurt and continue to hurt even after you recover from them. Now, I don¡¯t feel the dull aching pain when I step wrong. You know, at first, I thought I was just blocking it out just like I always did but now¡­¡± She watched Ash¡¯s face transform into a grin and she completed his statement ¡°You are awesome?¡± ¡°No. That is when I do something. Right now, I am perfect. And so are you.¡± She turned away from Ash. ¡°She?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t feel perfect.¡± She croaked out ¡°I am not like you. My injuries might have gone but I feel like I have given up everything that I was for them, and I still can¡¯t walk.¡± Ash Looked at his partner and asked ¡°Are you¡­ Like doing that thing with your eyes?¡± She glanced back at him with teary eyes. ¡°Oh man. You are doing that thing.¡± ¡°You mean¡­¡± Sheetal sniffed ¡°Crying?¡± Ash grunted ¡°Emm¡­ Yeah.¡± ¡°She, look. You are perfect. Look at yourself. You are flawless just like me.¡± Ash held up his hands ¡°My calluses from my tonfas are gone and so are your frown lines. Along with the coffee stains on your teeth. Seriously, you should have taken care of them and your blackheads. But now, you don¡¯t have to. You are per¡­ No, I take it back you are not perfect but okay.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t have any blackheads.¡± She broke down ¡°Really? No seriously? No blackheads.¡± ¡°Shut up!¡± ¡°Right. Okay.¡± Ash exhaled and started again ¡°I was going to wait for a better time to do this, but this might be the best time.¡± She looked at Ash ¡°What?¡± ¡°Open your computer thing in your eyes.¡± ¡°The hud?¡± She sniffed. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°It¡¯s already open.¡± ¡°You keep it on? Of course you keep it on. Nerd.¡± She wiped her eyes and scowled at Ash ¡°Brat.¡± ¡°Cry baby.¡± ¡°Freak.¡± Ash smiled ¡°Now that is the spirit.¡± She rolled her eyes ¡°What do you want me to see?¡± Ash blinked ¡°You don¡¯t see it?¡± ¡°See what?¡± ¡°There are two blank characters after your name. The system gave you two more characters.¡± Ash smiled. Sheetal looked at her name over the scaled silhouette of her body ¡°Okay, so?¡± Ash chuckled ¡°Now I was going to do this later because the idea of you floating around with the name Sheet was going to be hilarious but¡­¡± Ting. Gift Received. 2 Characters from Warder Ash. She blinked and looked at her friend ¡°Ash?¡± Ash held up his hand ¡°Now you have gotten back a little bit of something you lost forever. And with this you can feel a little more yourself.¡± She looked at him and then slowly added the alphabets to her name. Sheetal Class - 0 Shards - 1 Affiliations - None ¡°So? How do you feel?¡± Ash asked Sheetal with a smile. She looked at her screen and then at Ash. For a moment she just sat there looking at him. Then in a blink of an eye she grabbed him and hugged her partner. ¡°Ahhh! You¡­You¡­are naked.¡± Ash screamed. Sheetal nodded with teary eyes ¡°So are you.¡± ¡°I know. Can you stop?¡± ¡°No.¡± Sheetal replied with teary eyes. Ash was a manipulative jerk with narcissistic tendencies. Heck he was a sociopath. But whatever this place was, it had taken everything from her, even her name. And he had fought for it and returned some of it back. The fact that it was her name, the way Sheetal was now free to think about herself meant everything to her. Sheetal raised her head slightly and asked ¡°¡°What about you? You could have your name back too.¡± ¡°Meh! I like Ash. It suits me. I can be Ashoka or Asha. Ashley or Asher. See? It just works.¡± ¡°It also helps you be a better spy.¡± ¡°No, I am done with that.¡± Ash exhaled. She looked at him again and snorted ¡°You are such a weirdo.¡± And then kissed Ash on his cheek. Ash stiffened ¡°Please don¡¯t do that.¡± Sheetal rested her head on Ash¡¯s shoulder and asked ¡°But seriously you are okay with being Ash?¡± ¡°Yeah. Why wouldn¡¯t I be?¡± ¡°Because, if this system changed everything about us, who are we anyways?¡± ¡°You are you.¡± ¡°No. If everything has changed about me. Then am I really me?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Ash tried to free himself from Sheetal¡¯s grip and stopped when she tightened her hands around him. He continued ¡°Fine. Do you know what psychic continuity is?¡± She blinked ¡°Those are some awfully long words for you.¡± ¡°Ha ha¡­ Very funny, She.¡± This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°My name is Sheetal now.¡± ¡°Right, She.¡± Sheetal pondered his response for a moment. He had called her She but unlike other times she was being compelled to think of herself with that name. In fact, his use of her former name felt like a term of endearment. ¡°So, psychic continuity is the act of our brain to make sense or an object in a linear reality. Take for example a pen. If the pen runs out of ink and you install a new refill, is it the same pen? You want to say yes but it stopped being the same pen as soon as you took out the refill.¡± ¡°Ash, whatever happened to us didn¡¯t take out a refill, it changed our bodies.¡± Ash rolled his eyes ¡°And yet we are the same. Sure we see boxes full of spam now but we are the same people. I am still awesome and you are still a nerd.¡± ¡°Why are you so okay with this?¡± She yelled. ¡°Because it is not our blood and bones that makes us who we are. It is what we do that makes us, us.¡± Sheetal was silent for a moment and then muttered ¡°That¡¯s a good line. It¡¯s complete pseudo science hogwash. But it is a good line.¡± Ash opened his mouth to respond and stopped when he heard someone whistle a tune. Ash turned his head towards the sound. He knew that song. A song about a gambler meeting his end in his sleep. That was his mother¡¯s favourite song. For realist she had a thing for easy death. Unlike her he knew wasn¡¯t going to happen for her or him. People like him and his mother got assassinated in the open, to send a message to their supporters. Or they mysteriously landed in enemy hands and abandoned to be tortured until death. A man in a hat appeared next to the altar. He adjusted his leather vest coat and looked around. He turned his head left and then right. Then focussed on their clothes drying next to the fire and stopped. The man shrugged, took out one of his holstered guns and looked at his shoes. He grimaced ¡°Just my luck! Another one of those dark and dreary subterranean holes.¡± The man muttered to himself and shrugged ¡°Could be worse. I hope they didn¡¯t die to the sharded guardian. That would make this trip a waste.¡± Ash shot into motion. He quickly picked up his tonfas and placed himself between Sheetal and the man. The dark blinded cowboy didn¡¯t respond to his actions but turned slightly to look in their direction. ¡°Hello?¡± The man pushed his locks away from his face Both Ash and Sheetal held their breaths. After a moment of silence the light skinned man released a frustrated exhale and with a slight grunt aimed his gun upwards towards the ceiling. Sheetal tightened her hand on Ash¡¯s shoulder ready to move but was stopped when two rounds were shot up in the air. She watched the bullets reach their apex and stop. They lit up like flares just below the roof and didn¡¯t float back down. They just sat still in the air and bathed the area in bright bluish white light. Sheetal squinted and covered her eyes with a gasp ¡°Fudge that¡¯s bright.¡± She looked at the man and a text box covered her vision. Name - Harry Milton Species - Human (Apex Variation) Class - 2 Affiliation - Frontier Faction The man nodded his head, holstered his gun and then swiped a screen upwards to scroll it. Unlike the screens both Ash and She used, Harry¡¯s screen was visible to both of them. They saw him touch the screen to push it away and then stopped. ¡°Huh, warders? Where in heck did warders come from in the trials? And what¡¯s this about weapon shards? Where am I supposed to get weapon shards?¡± The fire in the altar sputtered and then shot out two lances of flames upwards. The flames transformed into two bright glowing motes of fire that congealed into shards. Harry looked at the shards floating down and held out his hand. The glowing shards landed in his outstretched hand ¡°Well, that solves that. You lot, you must have really impressed the formless one.¡± Ash, who had stepped in front of She to cover her, looked at her with a baffled expression. The cowboy swiped his brow under his cowboy hat and looked at them. He stopped for a moment as his eyes made contact with She¡¯s bare chest. Then he whirled around ¡°Holy mother of light, lady. Those are some mighty knockers.¡± Sheetal covered her chest with her arms ¡°Umm¡­ Uhh¡­¡± Ash grinned ¡°Told you they were big.¡± Sheetal smacked Ash¡¯s arm. ¡°Now... now. You don¡¯t speak to women like that.¡± The cowboy chided Ash. ¡°Hey, this girl, she is my¡­. Well¡­. Something. Basically, you don¡¯t tell me how to speak to her.¡± Sheetal, who was scrambling for something to cover herself with, shot a glare at Ash. ¡°Something?¡± Ash shrugged and whispered ¡°What would you call us?¡± ¡°Well you are a crude little thing aren¡¯t you?¡± Harry asked Ash with his back turned. ¡°Yes, he is.¡± She nodded. ¡°Thought so..¡± Harry nodded to himself and then asked ¡°Are you descent now my lady?¡± Sheetal lowered herself into the water and replied ¡°Yes, sort off.¡± Harry turned back around and looked at Ash who had walked closer to him ¡°What, you didn¡¯t take the time to cover yourself?¡± ¡°I am not lowering my guard or disarming myself.¡± Harry gave Ash a once over. He looked at his nakedness and the lack of care of anything but the woman behind him. He raised his eyebrows and then nodded ¡°Got to respect the fact that you are doing everything to protect your sister.¡± Ash looked at She and then the man. He shrugged and gave an imperceptible nod. ¡°Okay then. Let¡¯s get down to business shall we? Warders. Young ones. With one shard each. Basically babies. Well that¡¯s unusual. ¡± Harry looked at the three shards on the ground laying where the scorpion had gone down and continued ¡°I suggest you slot those¡± She, who was now covering her chest with her arms underwater voice asked ¡°Is it safe to do?¡± Harry smiled ¡°Of course lady warder. In fact, you need to power up if you want to survive the Rakshasas.¡± ¡°Rakshasas? Oh you mean those blue guys?¡± ¡°Well, the blue ones. They are Nishachars. They are from a planet with toxic air. They survive there by living underground in caverns like these. That¡¯s why they are blue. They also eat their human slaves. But they are just scouts and weaklings. But be weary. There are more of them everywhere. As a matter of fact, you might be able to help me. Here take this.¡± Quest Received - Cull the intruders Quest Provider - Bad Harry Description Bad Harry, a Class 2 Ascendent who has retired on Reir has tasked you to repel the invasion of the Rakshasa Empire by killing the invaders. Rewards 1 Kreck per 10 Vetaals killed. 1 Kreck per 5 Nishachars killed. 10 Krecks for every Asura killed. Sheetal blinked and got a thoughtful expression on her face. Ash ignored Sheetal ¡°Hey, cowboy.¡± ¡°The name is Bad Harry.¡± Harry shot a look at Ash and then tipped his hat at She ¡°Harry to you my lady warder.¡± Sheetal focussed back at Harry and nodded with a smile. Ash looked at Harry with a deadpan look ¡°Okay. Stop flirting with her, Bad Harry. Now, why are you here and how were you playing the gambler when you came in?¡± Bad Harry stopped in his tracks. He slowly turned to look at the two warders in front of him ¡°You know the song?¡± Harry¡¯s question came out in a lower voice. ¡°Yes. Kenny something. Although I prefer the Johnny Cash version.¡± ¡°Wait, you are from Earth?¡¯ Harry¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°And you are warders?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°Holy, mother father. How is that even possible?¡± Harry suddenly yelled. ¡°Uh¡­¡± Bady Harry¡¯s voice started increasing with every question ¡°What are you doing here? Why are you here? How are you here!?¡± ¡°Why is Gamorah?¡± She giggled. Ash gave She a chiding look ¡°Shut up geek.¡± ¡°Hey.¡± That was a good movie. Ash ignored She and looked at Harry ¡°I guess the same way you got here.¡± Ash snapped back ¡°I came down here 268 years ago with the Navajo tribe. By the looks of you, you just popped in didn¡¯t you? Let me guess, you saw floating lights and wondered, what would it be like if you just touched them. Didn¡¯t you?¡± Sheetal began ¡°That is not entirely accurate. We did some preliminary tests and¡­¡± Ash cut She off ¡°Hold on hick. Don¡¯t take that tone with us.¡± Ash said in a warning tone. ¡°Hick?¡± Bad Harry asked. ¡°Hick?¡± Sheetal repeated the word. Ash shrugged ¡°I don¡¯t know, that¡¯s what the American¡¯s call cowboys in movies right?¡± ¡°What movies do you watch?¡± Sheetal asked Ash Hary kicked the mud below his feet ¡°Oh for crying out loud. At least tell me that there aren¡¯t thousands of shards floating around on the planet.¡± Ash looked at She ¡°Well?¡± She shrugged ¡°More like just a few thousand.¡± Ash raised an eyebrow. ¡°Okay a few thousand in India.¡± Harry hung his head and started pacing in front of the pond ¡°They told me, no Harry, leave the Reir. The planet is not safe. They told me don¡¯t invest all your money in the city, things are going to go bad. They told me that the Asuras are coming. But no Harry, you absolute imbecile, you had to stay. You wanted to play politics. You wanted a place in the court of Kel.¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± Sheetal started. Harry held up his hand ¡°Hold on. I am not done yet. Heck, lady, you don¡¯t even know what¡¯s happening do you, do you?¡± ¡°No.¡± Ash responded ¡°But I am faster and she can float.¡± ¡°Hover. I hover.¡± She corrected Ash Harry rolled his eyes and continued pacing ¡°If there are thousands of shards flying around on Earth, that means there is a weak point in the barrier between the trials and the Earth. Earths! No, let''s not over complicate things. We already have a place full of base humans. The perfect fodder for the empire. If they get to know about it, they are going to use that to open a gate. A gate that the Rakshasa empire can use to invade the planet. Eat the humans and convert their souls into raw potentiality to fuel their war machines.¡± ¡°You mean our planet?¡± She asked Harry gave Sheetal and Ash an annoyed look ¡°No. Not our planet. Earth is no longer my planet. I belong to Reir now. But, because of this mess I will have to fight for it once again. To save Reir. Because if the Rakshasa conquer your world they will have enough blood, meat, and souls to replenish their supplies and become stronger. And come at us hard¡± Harry explained. ¡°Great, I have no idea what that means. But I am so glad I am not there anymore¡± Ash responded. Harry gave him a disgusted look ¡°Oh you think you can just run away? No you miserable thing. You are a warder. You will have to fight the Rakshasas. There is no escaping that. And you will have to get your people involved in this fight. You both don¡¯t sound like Americans. Who are you from anyways? Mexicans? Argentinians? Arab or Spanish? ¡± ¡°Americans? There are Americans here?¡± She asked ¡°First of all, I never said, I will run away. I just like to be aware of what¡¯s coming for me. Secondly, we are Indians. We don¡¯t lie down for anyone. Third, are you going to make sense or just keep grumbling incoherently. Fourth, what is this Rakshasa Empire? Fifth, who is this Kel guy?¡± Harry blinked ¡°Indians?¡± She nodded. Harry turned and yelled ¡°Of course. They are Hindus! No wonder the Yaksha Agni has a soft spot for you.¡± ¡°Ummm¡­ Actually, I am communist, and she is an atheist.¡± She shot a look at Ash ¡°Hey, who said I am atheist?¡± ¡°You are a scientist. A physisisis-cist?¡± ¡°A mechanical engineer, electrical engineer and a physicist.¡± Sheetal corrected Ash and continued ¡°And all that doesn''t mean I am an atheist. I keep saying gods so many times.¡± ¡°Yeah, but you don¡¯t really mean it.¡± "Who do you think I am, you?" "What did I do?" "You are a fake communist. You are an elitist. With you being the elite amongst elites." "That would make me an autocrat. I am not an autocrat. That is too much work and not in enough fun." Harry growled ¡°Warders. I don¡¯t have time for this.¡± He chucked the two golden Shards at Ash ¡°Here, put them on your sticks. They will improve them.¡± ¡°They¡¯re tonfas.¡± Ash corrected Harry ¡°I don¡¯t care!¡± Harry snapped back ¡°I need to go and inform others. We need to prepare for this. Heck, he might want to see you. He is curious like that. He might want to recruit you. Or he might just kill you. He is a cat. I don¡¯t know how he will react.¡± ¡°Who?¡± She asked. Harry looked at them ¡°Never mind. Do yourself a favour. Slot those shards on the ground and then go to another trial. Get more shards. Become powerful. We will need you soon.¡± Harry turned around and walked towards Agni¡¯s altar. Before he reached it the floor under him pulsed and then he was gone. Trial Complete. You have received 2 Weapons Shards 40 Krecks This trial area will collapse in 30 minutes. Please evacuate the area before the collapse. She was reading the new set of messages when Ash asked ¡°Okay, what the heck just happened?¡± ¡°I know he went from being slick and charming to broody and angry in a heartbeat.¡± She replied distractedly ¡°You thought that Hairy Harry was charming?¡± ¡°Yeah. He was.¡± She nodded. ¡°Didn¡¯t he say he was 250 years old or something?¡± ¡°Nah! I think he was just confused.¡± Ash shook his head ¡°Virgin!¡± She pursed her lips ¡°Will you stop that? Ash held up his hands ¡°Fine. But I don¡¯t like that guy.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°He didn¡¯t answer my question.¡± ¡°What question?¡± ¡°How did he play that music?¡± Sheetal rolled her eyes Ten minutes later they were both dressed in their damp clothes and looking down at the shards next to their feet. You have found 1 Speed Shard 1 Wind Shard 1 Sense Shard Integrations Possible ¡°I am still not very sure about these shards.¡± She muttered. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Ash, we are seeing boxes when something comes in front of us. Our bodies have changed. We don¡¯t even have the scars that made us, us. How far do you want to push things before nothing about us remains the same? How long before we stop being us?¡± Ash raised an eyebrow ¡°So? I should take the speed shard?¡± Sheetal looked at him in disbelief ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear a single word I just said.¡± Ash picked up the speed ¡°Yeah, you said you don¡¯t want to change. That means I get the speed shard. You can do the flying around stuff with the wind shards.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant.¡± Ash felt a pull from the speed shard. Like the first one he felt it when his body told him where it wanted to go. The sensation was replicated on Ash¡¯s hud. Warder Soul Structure Found - Ribboned Possible Integration Spots Upper Spine - Atlas C1 - Available Heart - Right Atrium - Available Brain - Cerebellum - Available Lower Spine - Lumbar L5 - Occupied Initially when Ash had to slot his speed shard, he was given three options. Linear - Common Structure Constellation - Advanced Structure Ribboned - Customisable Structure Linear was a straight line of eight shards which glowed brightest. The other shards in that structure were represented with smaller dots and his hud called them subsidiary shards. He supposed that the straightforward nature of a Linear soul structure had its appeal, for an infant. And he was pretty sure that his younger brother would have picked that. But he was not Abhay, and he was absolutely sure that he was not common. The constellation soul structure, well that was messed up. It reminded him of some sort of an art project. Or should he call it a puzzle? It was all about achieving some sort of a balance. He could not just throw in shards into the constellation. They needed to complement each other. And all he wanted to do was jump around, have fun and punch bad guys. Okay he wanted to bludgeon them to death. And since he was no longer in India, he didn¡¯t need to worry about the cops, or his mother. So that had put that nonsense firmly out of the picture That left him with the ribboned soul structure. Which was to be honest, the ribboned soul structure was also the prettiest one amongst them. It was like someone had wrapped the mockup of his body in sparkling multi coloured wraps. That made his frame look skinny hot. Well, the mockup of his face under the ribbon looked a bit uncomfortable but since the thing was not really on his face so it wasn¡¯t a problem. That is why he had picked Ribboned. And now it was telling him where to put the shard in his hand. That was awesome. Just like him. The only problem was that the first one had slotted itself in the base of his spine. Every time he channelled potentiality into his shard it felt like he had a protrusion on his back. He had gotten used to the feeling but initially he had wondered if he had a tail. When he had asked She about that, Sheetal had given him one of her patented, you are so weird looks. Anyway, this speed shard wanted to go at the top of his neck. Ash let it do just that and smiled in the slight tickling sensation as it followed his ribbon structure. Sheetal watched as the speed shard flew into Ash¡¯s torso. It spiralled all over his body and then flashed twice when settled at the top of his spine. All the while Ash smiled goofily with his eyes closed. He was the strangest man she had ever met. But one thing kept bringing her back to the shard she was hovering above. She needed to stop being a burden on Ash. That didn¡¯t mean she was going to mess with her senses. So the sense shard was completely out of the picture. That left the wind shard. She picked it up and just looked at it. Warder Soul Structure Found - Constellation Number of Shards 1/20 Do you want to integrate wind shard? She licked her lips and hit yes. The shard flew into her body and the box with the mockup of her body expanded to cover her vision. Then it zoomed further into her torso. The shard flew into her empty constellation. When it reached her polar forces shard. It began to orbit it vertically. With each orbit, its speed increased and those began to multiply by tens. Soon the shard couldn¡¯t take the pressure and began to break down into wind. The feeling wasn¡¯t painful. On the contrary, it was like eating something light and nutritious after being starved for a day. Sheetal revelled in the feeling and then felt a phantom pain shoot through her head. ¡°Ahh!!!¡± Ash¡¯s voice made her snap out of her hud. ¡°What the fud was that?¡± ¡°What?¡± Ash grunted. She looked at Ash. His eyes were flashing red. ¡°What did you do?¡± ¡°Used the sense shard.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Ash clenched his eyes shut ¡°Well with the look you were giving it, you weren¡¯t going to use it. So, I did.¡± ¡°Why would you do something without discussing it with me?¡± ¡°Uh¡­. Um¡­.¡± ¡°What?¡± Ash was silent for a moment and then decided to plunge ahead ¡°I also used the weapon shards.¡± Sheetal gave him a look which obviously he couldn¡¯t see with his eyes clenched shut. ¡°You are giving me a death glare, aren¡¯t you?¡± He raised a hand ¡°Before you start screaming at me again let me clarify. Those shards wanted to go into my arms, but I decided not to do that. I put them in my tonfas. Look, it worked.¡± Ash held up his tonfas. The scuffed textures from his tonfas were gone. They were smoother and darker now. And instead of the shine of machined steel they looked they had been anodised silver with golden dust particles here and there. ¡°Okay, we will discuss that later, but can you stop¡­¡± Rumble. The ground below Ash and She quaked. Ash with his eyes closed almost lost his footing. He collected himself at the last moment and squinted his eyes open. Tears ran down his eyes and he closed them back again. ¡°Oh man, that hurts.¡± He croaked out. Sheetal looked around and stated ¡°We need to get out of here.¡± Her words were punctuated with the part of the ceiling falling down into the pond. Ash nodded ¡°Yeah¡­ She, I can¡¯t see.¡± Sheetal grabbed Ash by his arm and pulled him behind herself ¡°Come on. Just follow me.¡± Chapter 13 - Wayward Visitors Pretty took out a brush and brushed her hair. She had long black that shone in the starlight. That was one of the perks of being one of the clones of the original Parvati. The other one was her long eyelashes. The original Parvati had some very nice genes. She could attest to that. Parvati was a bit of a star in the old historical video. She was what many called a star influencer in her teens and college. That had helped her pay for her PHD in biotech. Her education alongside her experience in media had made her a hit. The continuum had seen that and quickly recruited her to be a face of their operations. Parvati hadn¡¯t stopped there. She used her continuum salary to study other branches of biosciences. When the continuum found out, they had reimbursed that money back to her and paid for all her further expenses. That had made her extremely loyal to the continuum and its founder Jay Chandra. So much so that she had worked hand in hand with him to beg, borrow and steal technology from Rier to create the cloning program Pretty was born from. But as they say, every story has a good part and a bad part. When things had fallen apart in their world, Parvati had changed. She had gone from the optimistic youth working to better humanity to a woman who saw nothing but a bitter reality. Soon she had lost youthful glow, the makeup and the mascara eyelashes. And in came the frown lines, the wrinkles and the dark circles under the eyes. Pretty hated looking at those photos of her progenitor and did everything to keep herself from going that route. She had her moisturisers, anti-wrinkle creams, and when all failed, she tried her level best not to frown. Her brushing done, Pretty took out her nail filer and started giving herself a dry manicure. After that, she applied some lip paint. That done she painted her nails. Now with everything done she started to look around. She was in Taran E65¡¯s motorised trike. The effort Pretty put into her face was not even a fraction of what 65 put into his trike. That was evident by all buttons and knobs everywhere. Unfortunately, none of them responded to her. Just to make sure of the fact she hit one. She did not know what it did, but she pressed it, nonetheless. Then started turning a knob. ¡°Will you stop that?¡± Pretty who was going to flick a switch stopped and looked to her side ¡°T? Are you awake?¡± Taran E65 took off the visor on his eyes ¡°Don¡¯t call me that.¡± ¡°Well, you don¡¯t have a nickname.¡± ¡°I choose not to have a nickname.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s stupid. Your name doesn¡¯t even match your job.¡± Taran E65 looked at Pretty ¡°Seriously?¡± ¡°Yeah, you are a clone of the original Taran that¡¯s okay but E¡¯s are Engineers. You don¡¯t do engineering. You blow up things.¡± ¡°I am explosives engineer and I demolish structures.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not a real thing.¡± Pretty huffed. ¡°Do you know the original Parvati was a biologist?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then why are you like this?¡± ¡°Did you just call me dumb?¡± Pretty asked in a low voice. Taran E65 lips twitched upwards, and he put his visor back on. Pretty smiled. She liked Taran E65¡¯s humour and said so ¡°That was not bad E65.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t call me that either. That¡¯s what our bosses call me.¡± Taran said while flicking on his visor. ¡°Okay. But¡­ Are you going back to sleep?¡± ¡°I am not sleeping. I am scouting for our wayward visitors.¡± Taran E65 said in an exasperated tone. Pretty looked at her friend and then hit a number of buttons in rapid succession. ¡°What!? Why are you¡­¡± Taran almost shouted. Pretty cut him off ¡°I am bored!¡± Taran took off his visor and held it out ¡°Do you want to take a look?¡± ¡°Ew. No. Your visors are all sweaty and smell weird.¡± Taran sighed. He touched a button. His chair, which was in a reclining position, straightened. He reached past the front chair and ran hand on the trike¡¯s console. The buttons all returned to their normal positions. Then he flicked a switch that turned the windscreen into a screen that was focussed on a metal gate. A moment later the roof of the side windows also transformed from black to showing the outdoors. They were all zoomed into various points in the distance. The only thing that was left was the floor underneath them. Taran E65 looked around, nodded and then turned a pointed glare at Pretty. ¡°What?¡± Pretty asked ¡°Why me?¡± ¡°Hey it wasn¡¯t my choice to come here with you. General Athena assigned me to this task.¡± ¡°Why couldn¡¯t you ask for another one?¡± Pretty shrugged ¡°Because everyone else would flirt with me.¡± Taran E65 frowned ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you not to flaunt your cleavage at Aditya M83?¡± ¡°I had just lost my arm. I wanted a new one.¡± If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°You had a new one.¡± ¡°I had a cybernetic. What do you want me to be, another one of those new way augments.¡± ¡°How did you even get him to clone you a new arm? Isn¡¯t the wait time for that in years?¡± ¡°I gave him a handshake. Then another one with my new hand.¡± ¡°A handshake?¡± Taran E65 slowly realised what Pretty was talking about ¡°Oh. You know I am going to have a talk with that medic.¡± ¡°Oh, come on. He is cute and quiet.¡± Taran E65 growled ¡°All Aditya¡¯s are quiet. That is the problem.¡± ¡°Yeah, but he is a shy one. Seriously, I had to make the first move every time. Even after I took him to bed. I had to ask for more, verbally, even after giving him coy looks and hints.¡± ¡°You took him to bed?¡¯ ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that. I have needs.¡± ¡°Pretty!¡± Taran hissed. ¡°No, T65. I had him as a boyfriend. And you don¡¯t get a say in my sex life.¡± Taran E65 looked at Pretty ¡°T65? That was really bad. Even for you. Also, when I am not shooing away the boys you flirt with?¡± ¡°Yeah, you need to stop doing that.¡± ¡°If I stop doing that you end up shooting them, with your shotgun. You know the one with those scarily large barrels.¡± ¡°That was one time.¡± ¡°The man was an officer.¡± ¡°I was eighteen.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why you didn¡¯t get punished.¡± ¡°You saved him.¡± ¡°Yes, but only after you shot his leg off.¡± ¡°I was aiming for the middle one.¡± Taran E65 rolled his eyes and then stopped. ¡°What?¡± Pretty asked. ¡°Behind you. The rakshasas are back.¡± Pretty turned and watched the window she was looking through zoom in and then again. There were four of them. And they were looking down a sand dune. ¡°Huh, I thought they left already.¡± Pretty muttered. Taran hit a few switches on the trike¡¯s console and requested a closed channel to General Athena. Pretty poked Taran E65 ¡°Tar, there are more of them this time.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t¡­¡± Taran stopped his response as he ran a scan ¡°Oh my.¡± ¡°Oh. This is bad.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Shhh¡­¡± Taran sent a request once again and then sent one on an open channel. This time his request was accepted by none other than Taran 45. The high councillor of the continuum. An older Taran¡¯s image replaced the one of the gates on the screen and he asked ¡°Yes, Taran E65, what seems to be the issue?¡± Taran E65 pursed his lips ¡°High Councillor, sir, we are here tailing the two warders.¡± ¡°Possible warders.¡± The high councillor corrected E65. ¡°Yes sir. Well sir, there are four Nishachars here. Two of them are the usual one sharded scouts. The third is a two sharded gravitron specialist. The third one, sir, he is a four sharded constable.¡± The high councillor who was eating something stopped chewing ¡°A constable?¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± ¡°Four shards¡­ Hmm¡­ Thats¡­¡± E65 cleared his throat to cut of Taran 45 ¡°High Councillor sir. A little bit of clarification. Both the Rak ascended are three and four shards respectively and have symbiotic shards. If they work together...¡± Taran 45 raised his eyebrows and was silent for a moment ¡°Hmm¡­ That is interesting. Observe their battle. Do not reveal yourself. And send their scans and the recording of the battle to me.¡± ¡°Sir?¡± E65 blinked. Taran 45 smiled on the screen and in a dismissive tone said ¡°E65, if they are warders, they will survive. If they are not, then they will be of no consequence.¡± ¡°Sir, they only have one shard each.¡± ¡°They went into a trial, right? They should have picked up a couple more shards over there.¡± Taran 45 dismissed E65¡¯s concern. ¡°Sir¡­¡± ¡°No, E65. You will not involve yourself. Whoever these people are, whether they sink, or swim depends on if they are warders. And I want the recordings of their soul structure for the betterment of the continuum.¡± ¡°And I want these warders dead. So, when these new people come to us, they are bloodied, bruised and broken. That will make incorporating them and their world into the continuum easy. Also, you will be able to negotiate from a position of power. Isn¡¯t that right, High Councillor?¡± Taran E65 heard the familiar voice. Everyone knew that half metallic half female voice. And prayed the owner of that voice wouldn¡¯t take interest in their mission. His hopes were shattered when the screen on the trike split into two. The high councillor¡¯s frame was pushed to the side as another one of the continuum leaders joined the open channel. Taran E65 eyes slightly widened as Athena A07 joined the call. ¡°A07, this is none of your concern.¡± The high councillor said on the call. ¡°I disagree.¡± ¡°I allied with you and your faction so that I can do what we need to do not for you to take over critical missions A07.¡± The high councillor said in a stern voice. ¡°I am not taking over, high councillor. And let¡¯s not fight in front of the children.¡± Taran 45, the high councillor of the continuum gave A07 a penetrating look and then reclined in his chair. He motioned for A07 to continue. Athena A07 smiled and gave him a curt nod. Then she turned her cybernetic eyes on Taran E65 and Pretty ¡°Hmmm¡­.¡± Taran E65 put a hand over his chest and saluted ¡°Assault commander.¡± Athena A07 smiled slightly ¡°Ah, the demolition engineer. I think I used you in fire city, didn¡¯t I?¡± ¡°Yes, assault commander.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ That was a good job you did there. Funny that you don¡¯t have any augments, to help you with it, young man.¡± ¡°No, ma¡¯am. I have never really gotten hurt and qualified for them. Also, with people requesting them every few minutes or so, the wait times for them are too long. So, I just use my brain and fingers to do the best job I can.¡± Athena A07 smiled ¡°And you do that well. Tell you what, perform well in the upcoming days and I will recommend you for three augments of your choice.¡± Taran E65¡¯s soul shook with Athena A07¡¯s words. Augments were just another way for the continuum hierocracy to control them. And he did not want any of those parts on him. But he kept the disquiet of his face and gave the assault commander a grateful nod. Athena smiled at him and turned her gaze to Pretty ¡°What about you young Parvati? Do you have an augment?¡± Pretty squeaked ¡°Yes, Assault commander. I did.¡± ¡°Did?¡± ¡°My arm assault commander. I had it cloned.¡± Athena A07 pursed her lips ¡°Why?¡± Pretty licked her lips nervously and then shrugged ¡°I like¡­¡± Pretty stopped and blushed. In a small voice she continued ¡°Sex is better with flesh, assault commander.¡± The high councillor cracked a smile and Athena A07 twitched as she blankly looked at Pretty. Taran E65 decided to look everywhere but at the three people around him. Finally, Athena A07 nodded ¡°Ah, I remember you now. You are the young promiscuous one.¡± The high councillor chuckled ¡°Are you going to get to a point A07. Or are you just going to embarrass the young lady?¡± ¡°Yes. Forgive me, high councillor. I got sidetracked there.¡± Athena A07 nodded and then continued ¡°I don¡¯t disagree with your approach councillor. Your advances again and again have proven to be beneficial for all of us. That is why everyone considers you to be the heart and soul of the continuum. What I disagree with is the fact you haven¡¯t considered what happens if the warders survive.¡± ¡°Survive? After fighting people who are three, maybe four times stronger than them?¡± Taran 45 tried to sound dismissive, but his sharp eyes gave away his excitement. Athena A07 grinned showing off her metallic teeth ¡°Yes. What happens if these warders win against a constable and his retinue?¡± This time Taran 45n¡¯t hide his interest ¡°Do you think they could prevail against four Nishachars? When one of them is a four sharded constable?¡± Athena A07 shrugged ¡°Who knows. It¡¯s been so long that we have seen a warder at work, but you remember the stories from when Jay Chandra walked amongst us.¡± ¡°Propaganda A07.¡± The high councillor dismissed Athena A07 concerns. ¡°Maybe. Maybe not. Let¡¯s not take any chances, shall we?¡± The assault commander said to the older Taran and turned her gaze to Taran E65 ¡°E65, you will not interfere. You will stay hidden under your camouflage field. If those two win, then you will bring them in. I am sending you a backup to subdue these wandering warders if needed. And Jay has asked me to send Marshall Lara to further evaluate these new warders.¡± ¡°Possible warders.¡± Taran 45 snarled. ¡°Yes, possible warders, councillor.¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± Taran E65 started and then stopped. ¡°What is it boy?¡± Athena turned a sharp glare at Taran E65. ¡°Why not just kill them, Assault Commander?¡± E65 asked. ¡°No!¡± Taran 45 screamed and then took in a deep breath to calm himself ¡°E65, do not raise a hand towards them. You too, Pretty. Warders are monitored by the system itself. Threaten a warder¡¯s life and the system will punish us if we are lucky. If we are unlucky, it will purge us all.¡± ¡°Purge us, sir?¡± Taran 65 took in a shuddering breath. Athena A07 locked her jaw and with gritted teeth asked ¡°Taran 45. What do you know?¡± The high councillor shook his head ¡°It¡¯s second, maybe third hand information. Almost gossip that I picked up drinking in the free city.¡± E65 took in a deep breath as Taran 45 and Athena A07 started arguing about the competence of the source of the rumour. That was good. Because that meant no one was paying any attention to him. It also validated the reason he had asked the question. No, he didn¡¯t want to kill the warders, he was trying to keep his cover. In fact, his real boss, General Athena has sent him to keep them safe. She had her own plans, but the time wasn¡¯t right for them just yet. Taran E65 nodded when the two leaders quieted down ¡°Then councillor and assault commander. May I give two suggestions to you both?¡± Athena A07 looked at Taran 45. The older Taran nodded ¡°Go ahead boy.¡± ¡°These people, sir, they don¡¯t have any cybernetics. They might find them intimidating and they might mistake us for enemies. I suggest I speak to them so that we can bring them in peacefully.¡± Athena A07 tapped her chin. Before she could respond the high councillor laughed ¡°That is a good idea kid. Well done. I agree.¡± ¡°Yes. I agree too.¡± Athena A07 nodded ¡°What is the second one?¡± ¡°We send Pretty back to General Athena. She is really annoying and won¡¯t let me work.¡± Taran E65 said in a pleading voice. That elicited a snort from both his superiors and an open-mouthed look from Pretty. Athena A07 nodded ¡°I will ask one of my Augs to chauffeur her back to the fire city. Back to her momma who likes to pamper her.¡± ¡°Thank you, ma¡¯am.¡± The high councillor nodded ¡°Good job E65. proud of you boy.¡± and dropped off the connection. Athena A07 sighed and muttered ¡°Politicos. They always need to have the last word.¡± and then she was gone too. After the connection was cut off the screen switched to the image of the gate. This time two people stumbling out of the trials. The woman was supporting her male friend. She laid him down and began to fuss over him. ¡°They are back. And one of them is hurt.¡± Taran E65 announced. ¡°Gesh that. What do you mean I am annoying?¡± Pretty asked in a high-pitched voice. ¡°Language Pretty.¡± Pretty folded her arms over her armoured chest ¡°I will give you language¡­¡± ¡°Pretty! Listen! I can¡¯t reach General Athena. I need you to go back and tell her everything that happened just now.¡± Pretty blinked ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Pretty, I needed them to think that I am sending you off because of some silly reason, and not because I want you to report everything that is happening here to the General.¡± ¡°Oh. I see.¡± Pretty was silent for a minute and then muttered ¡°Well that¡¯s smart.¡± ¡°I am glad you agree.¡± ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t agree. In fact, if you call me annoying in front of our bosses again, I will shoot you. In the nuts.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°With my shotgun.¡± ¡°I am sorry.¡± ¡°It''s shells scatter.¡± ¡°I get it.¡± ¡°They will hurt.¡± Taran E65 closed his eyes ¡°I know Pretty. I know.¡± ¡°A lot.¡± Chapter 14 - Saucy Red. Ash slowly squinted his eyes open and then shut them back again. Blinding lights stabbed into his eyes making him groan. So much so that he did not know what he was even looking at or which way he was facing. Keeping his eyes closed wasn¡¯t any better. His brain went back to when someone had thrown a flashbang grenade next to him. The light from the grenade had emitted a light of seven megacandelas and burned into his vision. It had blinded him for ten odd seconds and left after spots that he could see for a day. Ash felt himself being lowered and then felt himself fall. Thud. Ash opened his eyes again and cried out ¡°Ouch.¡± It wasn¡¯t from his fall it was from everything around him. Everything was too bright. The light from the stars of the nebula pinched into his brain. The gaseous cloud around the stars thrummed into his temple. ¡°Sorry.¡± Sheetal said in a pant and continued ¡°I am not used to using two shards at a time.¡± Ash turned his head towards Sheetal and recoiled. He could see inside Sheetal. No, not her body but inside what made her, her. Inside there was an empty space where a shard stood tall. Around that were whirring winds that screeched in rage as they emitted a blinding white light that made him groan. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°No.¡± Ash responded. ¡°You idiot!¡± Sheetal cursed. ¡°She. Stop yelling.¡± Ash pleaded ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because we are in an empty desert and the wind will carry your voice and attract attention.¡± Sheetal paused, took in a breath, and then in a hiss asked ¡°What were you thinking?¡± ¡°Eh¡­¡± ¡°You weren¡¯t were you. Honestly a tree has more brain cells than you.¡± Ash squinted his eyes open again and watched Sheetal hovering above him with a scowl. ¡°Ow!¡± Ash quickly shut his eyes and rubbed them. Sheetal massaged her temples and muttered ¡°What am I going to do with you?¡± ¡°Nothing. Just give me a few minutes. I feel the pain slowly subsiding.¡± It wasn¡¯t a lie. He was getting better, mostly. The sharpness of the pain was gone but it was still throbbing behind his eyes. Compared to what happened when he had slotted the shard into the space behind his eyes, this pain he was feeling was light touch. Sheetal looked at her partner holding his head in hands. She was about to say something else when the door she had just dragged Ash out of exploded in a puff of yellowish gas. There was no bang, no real explosion, just poof and then it was gone. Sheetal looked at for a second and then lost it ¡°I said we need to be careful. I said we should experiment. I said we don¡¯t know what is happening to us but no¡­ You think you are unbreakable. You can this world we know nothing about is your playground. And you can do anything and¡­¡± Ash tuned Sheetal out. She was grumbling and annoyed. He got that but there were more interesting things to look at right now. Things like the sand he was sitting on. It was soaked with potentiality glowing a golden hue. The air around them, glowing with all sorts of streams of different colours and something up in the sky which kept nagging at him. He saw all that even when he had his eyes clenched shut. ¡°Are you even listening to me?¡± Sheetal asked Ash in a sharp tone. Ash sighed. He did not know why Sheetal was so mad. He was the one who was the one who was in pain. If anyone had the right to be mad at the world, it was him. Maybe it had finally happened. The stress, the danger, and the physical exertion had finally gotten to She. And now she had finally lost it. ¡°Uh¡­ Yes?¡± Ash answered hesitantly. ¡°Perfect! Just perfect.¡± She snarled ¡°What did I just say?¡± ¡°A lot of things. I don¡¯t know which one you are talking about.¡± Ash did not understand why the nerd was giving her that look again. And yes, he could tell that she was looking at him. He did not know how but he just did. ¡°Oh really? Repeat something I said back to me.¡± Sheetal said in a challenging tone. Ash turned her head towards her. Sheetal was pacing up and down in front of him in a huff. Was she having one of her days? No, that couldn¡¯t be. That was still a good ten days away. That¡¯s when he avoided her the most. That¡¯s when she got angry and preachy. That wasn¡¯t her right now. Also, ever since he had taken the shard, his bodily functions had stopped. So had hers. She hadn¡¯t figured that out and he was not going to bring that up anytime soon. Honestly, how hard was it to figure out that neither of them had to pee or poop even after they had filled themselves with protein bars and water. And yet she wanted to clear a space in the cave for them to do their business. The woman was completely oblivious to what was happening to them. So, then, what was wrong with her? She threw her hands up in the air ¡°I said that we shouldn¡¯t mess with those shards.¡± ¡°Oh that.¡± Ash said in a bored tone. ¡°Yes, that.¡± Sheetal snapped back at him. ¡°Okay, my bad. But¡­¡± ¡°But, nothing!¡± Sheetal screamed. Ash squinted his eyes open and blinked rapidly. His eyes watered but he could still open them a bit now. Sheetal stopped and looked at him. In a gentler voice she asked ¡°How¡­ Are you okay Ash?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Yeah I am getting better but can you not scream and tell me something?¡± Sheetal floated closer to Ash and sighed ¡°Okay. Yes. Maybe, I went a little overboard there. Go ahead, ask.¡± ¡°Great. So now can you tell me if my eyes have turned red now?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Red. You know the colour.¡± ¡°I know the colour but why?¡± ¡°Well, I took that shard because it was the perfect shade of sultry red. So, are my eyes red now?¡± She looked at Ash with her mouth open for a full minute. She slowly lowered herself down to Ash¡¯s eye level and looked straight into his eyes and asked ¡°Let me get this straight. You decided to pop something into your eyes because it was red and you liked the colour?¡± ¡°No. It wasn¡¯t in my eyes. It was the space behind my eyes and it wasn¡¯t just red. It was saucy red. Like the shade from Maybelline.¡± ¡°Maybelline?¡± ¡°Yes. The cosmetics company.¡± ¡°Saucy red?¡± ¡°Yeah, like the lipstick.¡± ¡°The lipstick?¡± Ash smiled ¡°Yes. So, are they red now?¡± Sheetal took in a deep breath and then erupted ¡°What the fud is wrong with you?¡± She screamed and a gust of wind blew sand around them everywhere. The shard use pitched into his eyes and Ash shut them against the glare A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Ah¡­ Nothing!¡± Ash snapped back as he closed his eyes against the pain. Sheetal visibly calmed herself ¡°Ash, this world is not our world. We don¡¯t understand how it works.¡± ¡°I know.¡± ¡°Do you?¡± Ash opened his eyes and glared at She ¡°Hey, She, you didn¡¯t answer my question.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a dumb question.¡± ¡°Fine then answer me this. Why aren¡¯t we freezing?¡± She who had begin to loom over Ash lowered herself down to his level again and glared ¡°What are you on about now?¡± ¡°The fact that you don¡¯t know tells me everything.¡± ¡°What has that got to do with anything?¡± ¡°She, you are being too cautious.¡± ¡°Listen, you crazy guy. There is no moon in the sky. That above us, is a sky lit by a nebula of stars and gases. That is not the Milky Way. Heck that thing over us is not even Andromeda. People here are either walking dead or cannibals with super powers, and there are boxes full of notifications in my sight. And they are giving me detailed explanations of everything around, when it is not rewarding me to kill creeps or strange mutated creatures. And now the only safe place we had has disappeared.¡± Sheetal was screaming at the end. ¡°In a rush of gas.¡± Ash added. ¡°Yes, in a rush of gas.¡± Sheetal stopped and looked at Ash ¡°Wait you saw that. You had your eyes closed.¡± Ash smiled ¡°Yeah, as I said you are being too cautious. That disappearing was a good thing. We got paid and it gave us potentiality.¡± Sheetal blinked then checked her hud. Ash wasn¡¯t wrong. When the gate disappeared. It had topped up their potentiality. She ignored Ash and continued ¡°That is not the problem. The fact is we don¡¯t know what is happening to us and you keep putting strange things in your head. That is the problem.¡± Ash shrugged ¡°It''s not a new thing for me. I keep putting strange things in my head. Usually they are attached to people¡­¡± ¡°Will you stop that?¡± ¡°Fine. Fine. Relax! You don¡¯t know. I got it. But, if you don¡¯t want to see the boxes in your sight just hit the rainbow orb. That¡¯s what I do.¡± Ashoka explained. Sheetal looked at the multicoloured ball in her vision to shut the hud and in a huff almost did what Ash said. Then she stopped herself. Why was she listening to the idiot in front of her? Annoying or not, the windows helped her understand the world around them. ¡°That is not the point, you¡­you¡­¡± Sheetal tried to find the best word to curse. It was hard. So dang hard with this system constantly censoring her. Ash closed his eyes and exhaled ¡°Hey, I was just trying to help.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± ¡°Fine. I will stop.¡± ¡°Good.¡± ¡°Just tell me are my eyes red or not?¡± Sheetal let out a growl from the back of her throat. ¡°Well?¡± Ash pushed. ¡°No! They are not. They are grey.¡± ¡°Grey?¡± Ash¡¯s disappointed tone made Sheetal more annoyed. ¡°Yes. Grey. Happy?¡± ¡°No. Grey is sad. What am I going to do with grey?¡± ¡°Can we stop discussing your eye colour and go back to you stuffing unknown things into your body.¡± Ash grinned cheekily ¡°You should try it sometimes¡­¡± ¡°One more word and I will slam you into the ground.¡± Sheetal said in a threatening tone. ¡°Alright, got it. I am just going to get up and sit over there. Away from you. While you calm yourself. Just, don¡¯t float away like a balloon.¡± ¡°I am not a balloon.¡± ¡°Could have fooled me with the amount of hot air you are spewing.¡± Ash mumbled under his breath. ¡°Do you want me to crush you?¡± ¡°Right. Got it. Not the time for jokes.¡± Ash got up with his eyes closed and unerring walked to a small pile of sand and layed down white resting his head on his makeshift pillow. Sheetal glared daggers at him and watched Ash for a moment. When Ash layed down, Sheetal took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. Every time she thought she had finally gotten a handle on things something happened which made her lose control. And the last twenty minutes were the perfect example of this. First, they had slotted their sards. Only, in her case, she didn¡¯t slot a shard. She consumed it. It was unlike anything that Ash did. Even Harry, the cowboy who had shown up out of nowhere and then disappeared in a blink had used the word slot and that had bugged her. But instead of worrying Ash, she had kept her unease down. She could live with that fact since the speed of her movement had drastically increased. And now she felt she could move with the wind or against it. But then Ash, the dumbest guy she had ever met, had decided to slot one shard after another and blinded himself. Then the gods dang roof had started to cave in and the safe space they had been resting had literally fallen apart. Now they were back to square one, in a desert full of dangers. Sheetal looked at Ash, he was looking up at the sky and blinking his eyes and cringed. She could still remember the phantom pain she had felt before he had screamed. Sheetal frowned. How had she felt that? It was like somebody had sowed a bunch of needles through her eyes and into her brain. She bit her lip and opened her hud, and started scrolling through her notifications. Ash watched Sheetal grumble and then relax. Soon her shards dimmed and he knew that she was reading her boxes. That was good. He had about ten minutes before things got exciting again. And he needed to figure everything out by that time. Luckily he had a hint of what he was doing now. And when he was ready, and with a bar full of potentiality, he wasn¡¯t going to run. He was going to make them run. Or die. He liked the second idea more. He took in a breath and panned his sight around. Nothing had changed. Four sand dunes away at the top he saw four bodies full of shards. They looked in his direction and started methodically making their way towards them. On the other side, there was something. Something that obscured his vision. But whatever that was, it wasn¡¯t moving. If it was an animal or something else, it wasn¡¯t hostile. After all, it had the perfect chance to attack them when he had been blinded. Now that he was, if not back to normal, but close enough, he wasn¡¯t worried about whatever or whoever was hiding on the opposite sand dune. Ash smiled. The fact that he could see that far, and clearer than before was coming in handy. He could even comprehend the fact that there was something hiding from him. That already made him feel safer about his situation. What did one of his trainers say? Yeah, the most dangerous enemy was the one you didn¡¯t see. And now he could not only see people, he could see their shards every time they used it. Just like he could see Sheetal¡¯s shard. He could see them slowly coming into some sort of equilibrium inside her soul. Unlike her, he didn¡¯t need to read about what was happening, he could see the wind storm circling her pulsing polar forces shard in her body. Now more than ever, he understood that shard. It had nothing to do with cold, it was something like a magnet. Well, whatever it was, he wasn¡¯t interested in that. He was more interested in the sky. Please choose your next trial. Trail of swiftness - 11.3 kms Trial of power - 14.7 kms Trial of magic - 9.3 kms Ash hissed. The dang prompts were back in front of him again. He reflexively thought about shutting them off and then paused. He looked back at the crazy scientist and sighed. ¡°Hey, She? Want to go do another trial? ¡± Sheetal closed her eyes and in a flat tone asked ¡°What about the words, leave me alone, you don¡¯t understand.¡± Ash smiled. He wasn¡¯t really interested in going to another trial but just wanted to probe her and see if she was calming down. He was going to need her soon. Sheetal was one of the most amusing creatures he had met. She was, with her own admission on some other planet, swallowing glowing balls of power, while fighting blue people out of mythology, and she was annoyed about a phallic joke. He grinned ¡°You know, I am never going to do that right?¡± ¡°Why?¡± She asked in a pleading voice. Ash chuckled ¡°Because, I like you. You are almost as awesome as I am.¡± She slumped ¡°You are a weirdo.¡± ¡°You are a nerd.¡± ¡°You are a slut.¡± ¡°You are a prude.¡± ¡°You are shameless.¡± ¡°Virgin.¡± Sheetal raised her hand to stop Ash ¡°We are not feeling cold because our potentiality is warming us up. We are spending it to stay warm. But we are regenerating even faster by just breathing in the air.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Ash nodded with a smile. ¡°So, why did you ask me the dang question?¡± ¡°To make you understand that the world around us is magic. It¡¯s literally in the air. To survive this place we need to accept it rather than take a conservative approach.¡± She closed her eyes ¡°That is nonsense. There is no such thing as magic. There is a scientific explanation somewhere here and I am going to find it.¡± Ash watched Sheetal wave her hand in the empty space in front of her and shook his head ¡°You know you need to accept whatever is happening to us and flow with it. You fighting everything is not helping.¡± ¡°You know what is not helping? You, stuffing things in your head leaving us in a precarious position.¡± Ash knew that she was right about that. He grimaced ¡°Okay, maybe that wasn¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°And you left your collapsible rubber water bottle in there. Now just like before we don¡¯t have any water.¡± Ash opened his mouth to argue and then tapped the large pocket on the back of his thigh. He closed his mouth with a soft ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Do me a favour, think¡­¡± Sheetal stopped mid-sentence and then started again ¡°No, you are not good at that. Just when you are going to do something, don¡¯t. Ask me first.¡± Ash, who had lifted himself to his elbows, dug his toes into the sand like a child and muttered ¡°Okay.¡± Sheetal blinked ¡°Okay? Just like that?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Ash nodded ¡°The next shards we are going to get are not far away. So, when we get them, I will not put anything in my head.¡± She nodded ¡°Okay¡­.¡± Then she stopped ¡°What do you mean, the next shards aren¡¯t far away.¡± Ash smiled ¡°The owners of those dogs. They are almost here. And this time you are ready. You can take two or three of them.¡± Ash announced. ¡°What!?¡± Sheetal shrieked. ¡°Relax. I have a plan.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Okay I have a part of a plan. It mostly depends on the sky and what I read in it.¡± ¡°On what?¡± ¡°Yes. You see, when I was in pain and lying on the sand something happened. It was all in the sky.¡± Ash began to explain. ¡°In the sky?¡± Sheetal said in disbelief. ¡°Hey, now you are just repeating everything I am saying.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash with wide eyes ¡°Start from the beginning. What do you mean by the owners of the dogs?¡± Ash stood up and walked to Sheetal ¡°No, let¡¯s start before that. You know when we came out. There was a light that was stinging my eyes. It took me a while to get used to it. And I did and then it clarified.¡± ¡°What are you talking about? Actually, never mind that Ash, there are people coming after us. We need to¡­¡± ¡°Hold on, let me explain.¡± Ash took Sheetal by the hand and pointed at the sky. It was a majestic sight. It sparkled and shimmered gloriously. Ash pointed at it and his finger moved in a pattern. ¡°Do you see it?¡± Sheetal looked at her partner ¡°No.¡± Ash frowned ¡°You don¡¯t?¡± ¡°What am I supposed to see?¡± ¡°The¡­ Hmm¡­¡± Was this something like the shards? Ash knew Sheetal couldn¡¯t see them. But to him, they were clear to see. Was it something to do with the fact that he was good at digging out secrets. ¡°Ash?¡± Sheetal prodded him. Ash¡¯s eyes wandered the sky and picked out the pattern again. No, he wasn¡¯t imagining it. ¡°She, what do you see?¡± Sheetal¡¯s was beginning to panic, and her words came out in a rush ¡°Stars, and a night sky full of blue, red and green gas. Ash, have you lost it?¡± ¡°And before it?¡± Sheetal gave Ash a concerned look ¡°There is nothing before it.¡± Ash raised his hand again and traced the pattern. It wasn¡¯t in the stars. It was closer than that. It was being projected from various beacons. Like the light bat signal in the sky. On instinct he pushed some potentiality through his finger and traced the pattern outline with his index finger. As he came to the end of the pattern, streams of neon coloured light formed around his hand trapping it. ¡°What the¡­?¡± Sheetal muttered. ¡°Ah ha!¡± Ash fist pumped with his other hand and turned to look at the woman next to her ¡°See?¡± Sheetal looked at the spot with Ash¡¯s finger. The place had solidified and was refracting the light from the stars like tinted glass. ¡°Now who is going crazy? I told you I was awesome. Do you believe me now?¡± Ash continued rambling while Sheetal observed the solidified piece of air. And yes, it was air, she could sense that much through the wind in her soul structure. She raised her hand and touched the spot. It felt like touching a warm piece of smooth glass. Then she tapped it. Clink. Clink. Sheetal looked at the spot in awe and muttered ¡°It¡¯s like crystal.¡± ¡°I call it the Ash Signal.¡± Sheetal turned to look at Ash ¡°The Ash Signal? Wait, do you mean like the Bat Signal?¡± ¡°Yea¡­¡± Whatever Ash was going to say faded away in a sigh. ¡°What?¡± Ash grumbled and took her hand with his free hand and Sheetal felt a new box appear in vision. Analysing. Analysing. You have created a cosmic glyph. Accuracy of Glyph Created - 96% Warder Shard detected. Congratulations Warder. By understanding the world around you. You have taken a step towards a higher level of understanding. Glyph added to personal lexicon. Glyph type - Hold Generating Hint. Warder everything in a reactive universe has will. From a grain of sand to the breeze it travels on, to the final destination it has been called to. Everything has a will, no matter how small it is. May these words find wisdom in you. ~ Tesh Arakha. 8th Chakora of Devang Number of Glyphs Acquired - 2/5 Trace Hold Collect and Identify five glyphs to get a rank of Glypher. Sheetal read through the notifications and the hint. She did not know what that was all about, but she knew Ash was able to see shards. And now he had dug out another thing in this strange desert. Ash grumbled ¡°But, it is just hold. What am I supposed to do with hold? Tell the oncoming blue freaks, here night stalker, hold my tonfa?¡± Sheetal looked at Ash and now in a much calmer voice asked ¡°There are nishachars coming here?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Can we outrun them?¡± Ash shook his head ¡°We can try but¡­¡± ¡°But?¡± ¡°There are two of them who have speed shards. I have two but sooner or later, they will catch us.¡± Ash scowled. Sheetal muttered incoherently while looking at the spot with Ash¡¯s finger and then asked ¡°You said you had a plan?¡± ¡°No, I said I had part of a plan. And it depended on this glyph being something better. It just looked so awesome in the sky. You know?" ¡°Hold.¡± Sheetal muttered. ¡°Hold.¡± Ash nodded grumpily. ¡°Hold?¡± She asked. Ash looked at Sheetal ¡°She, let''s stop doing the repeating thing.¡± He sighed ¡°I guess we run and fight.¡± Sheetal snapped her fingers and smiled ¡°Hold!¡± ¡°She?¡± ¡°I have a plan.¡± Sheetal smiled ¡°Uh¡­¡± Sheetal turned around look at Ash ¡°Don¡¯t give me that look.¡± Ash exhaled loudly ¡°She, but its hold.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Ash gave Sheetal a concerned look ¡°Umm¡­ She, why are you smiling?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you get it? It¡¯s hold.¡± ¡°No.¡± Ash shook his head. She rolled her eyes ¡°Really? That¡¯s stupid. Even for you. It¡¯s hold. And nobody but you can see it.¡± Ash ignored her and turned back towards the four blue auras with shards moving towards them. They were much closer than they were supposed to be. The speed shard ones were moving slower than they could. Most probably to keep pace with the heavy hitters in the group. Ash¡¯s eyes turned to the three and four shard nishachars. The four sharder looked powerful. He couldn¡¯t see his face or make out his body but that was the feeling he got from his shards. The feeling he got from the three-shard guy was of an immovable object. What their shards were, he couldn¡¯t tell. She looked at Ash¡¯s pensive expression and asked ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°How much do you like living?¡± ¡°What kind of question is that?¡± ¡°A good one.¡± Sheetal grimaced ¡°I like living Ash.¡± ¡°Enough to kill one or two people?¡± She grimaced and swallowed ¡°I hate this.¡± ¡°But you will do it?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± She exhaled ¡°Good, because there are four of them and you are the one with the plan.¡± Ash watched as Sheetal¡¯s face transformed in fear and then she took in a breath and visibly calmed herself ¡°Okay. We can do this.¡± ¡°Great!¡± Ash nodded ¡°We can start by freeing my finger from this.¡± Ash waved at the glyph he had just created. ¡°What?¡± Sheetal blinked Ash whined ¡°She, I am stuck. And now my shoulder is starting to get tired.¡± ¡°You, idiot!¡± Chapter 15 - Peacock Sheetal looked at the large glyph Ash had drawn in the sand under her feet. Sheetal helped by solidifying the ground while he sketched out the design with his tonfas. The glyph was strange. It was not like any word or even a hieroglyph she had ever seen. There were no interconnecting lines. It was broken up in between spheres and lines that never intersected. And when she looked at it her mind just breezed past its existence. Honestly, she did not know how Ash could actually read it much less recreate it. Thankfully he could and was willing to give her plan a go. To her surprise he had quietly listened and then agreed that her plan had merits. He wanted some adjustments which she incorporated. And he was ready to go. Sheetal had expected more resistance, and hat had made her give him a pensive look. ¡°What? I don¡¯t know how your superpowers work. I just run and move. You do that science mumbo jumbo thing. Just let me bludgeon people and we are good.¡± But as the fight came closer, Sheetal had begun to doubt herself. She watched Ash walk to the last part of the glyph. She related the pressure on that part and Ash quickly straightened a line. He took in a breath and with a finger imbued it with potentiality. He quickly jumped back and looked at his work. His actions were warranted. The last time he had created a glyph, he had gotten stuck in it. Getting out in the end was simple. Ash had to suck in the potentiality he had spent which made him grimace and confess that it was like breathing in a smoke. It also made the whole glyph fizz out. In the end through trial and error they had figured out that to create a glyph and not get attached to it Ash had to quickly imbue a part and move away from it. Ash looked at his handy work and nodded. The glyph was almost perfect. Analysing. Glyph Created - Hold. Accuracy - 97%. Ash looked at the notification in annoyance. This damn spam thing was getting on his nerves. He hit the rainbow ball and shut off his hud. Then he turned to look at She who was biting her lips nervously. ¡°You can let go now, She. The glyph will keep its shape on its own.¡± Ash instructed. Sheetal nodded and released the pressure on the area and flopped to the ground. Ash looked at her pale expression and asked ¡°Are you running low on potentiality?¡± Sheetal looked at him for a second and shook her head ¡°No. It¡¯s not that.¡± ¡°Ah. You are nervous.¡± ¡°How can I not be? There are four of them.¡± ¡°Yup, and these ones are tougher. Two of them have more than two shards and you will have to fight them.¡± Sheetal gulped ¡°You know, I had never killed anything before today. Much less a human.¡± Ash gave Sheetal a look ¡°Not even a mosquito?¡± Sheetal shot an annoyed look at Ash ¡°You know what I mean.¡± Ash smiled and chuckled ¡°If it helps, you should stop of them as humans. They are demons, not humans.¡± She¡¯s breath quickened ¡°Demons?¡± ¡°Yes. It¡¯s in their name. Nishachar. Mythological demons of the night. Didn¡¯t you read Hindu mythology in school?¡± ¡°No. They don¡¯t teach demons in school.¡± ¡°Well, thank the stars I never went to school.¡± ¡°Ash. How was that supposed to help¡± She, who was beginning to panic, suddenly stopped and then asked ¡°You didn¡¯t go to school?¡± ¡°No. Why would I go to school? They teach dumb things in school.¡± She looked at Ash and groaned. ¡°Oh, we are so fuded.¡± Ash watched Sheetal grimaced and asked ¡°Fuded?¡± Sheetal hung her head ¡°Gods dang this censoring algorithm.¡± Ash laughed ¡°I thought it was pretty funny.¡± ¡°You would, wouldn¡¯t you?¡± Ash sighed ¡°You know She. Your plan is a good one.¡± Sheetal looked back up at Ash and Ash continued. ¡°It has surprise, battlefield advantage and plays on their hubris. Everything you need to to gain an advantage in a fight.¡± Sheetal squinted at Ash ¡°Why do you do that?¡± ¡°Do what?¡± ¡°Act like you are dumber than you are and then use words like hubris?¡± Ash frowned and Sheetal continued ¡°I mean if you are smart why don¡¯t you act like it?¡± Ash sighed ¡°Because your enemies don¡¯t underestimate you when you are smart. They do when you are a simpleton.¡± Sheetal frowned ¡°Then why did you act like that with me?¡± Ash shrugged ¡°I was exiled and imprisoned into a hospital with secrets that I wasn¡¯t party to. Everyone over there was my enemy. Then I came to know you. And then just acting like a moron around you and irritating you was the only fun I had.¡± Sheetal shook her head ¡°You are a¡­¡± Sheetal stopped talking and her eyes widened ¡°They are here.¡± Sheetal pointed to the top of the dune. Ash casually turned to look at the enemy ¡°Don¡¯t point She. It¡¯s impolite to point.¡± The four people on top of the sand dune looked down and saw Ash looking at them with his glinting grey eyes. One by one they jogged down the dune. They slowed into a walk as they came closer. The front two parted as the four sharder walked to the front. Nishachar Constable. Shards Incorporated - 4 Mental Channel Unknown Unknown Ash blinked. He somehow could identify these new shards. Was it because of his new sense shard? As his mind went to that outcome, he knew that he had reached the right conclusion. He turned to look at the other three people. Nishachar Shards Incorporated - 3 Gravity Matter Unknown Nishachar Shard Incorporated - 1 Speed Nishachar Shard Incorporated - 1 Speed Ash casually tapped his chin. The last two were as expected. The three sharder seemed more dangerous than the one taking the lead so why was he the one in a position of power? Was it because he was a constable? But then why wasn¡¯t the three sharder a constable? Ash realised he was stuck in a circular logic and dismissed the thoughts from his mind. Also, behind him he heard Sheetal had begun to hyperventilate. He needed to pot her at ease first. ¡°Hey, She?¡± Ash paused for a response. ¡°Ye¡­Ye¡­Yeah?¡± ¡°You remember the water bottle I lost? Do you think one of these guys has one that will replace ours?¡± Sheetal took in a shuddering breath and turned her eyes from the menacing figure of the large Nishachar looming right in front of her to look at others. As she did her the panic that had gripped her slowly subsided. ¡°I¡­Uh¡­I don¡¯t think so.¡± Sheetal finally replied. The nishachar in the lead stopped and looked at the two recently ascended in front of them. He dramatically dusted off the desert sand from his coat and asked the three sharder a question. ¡°What do we have here?¡± The three sharder gave Ash and She an assessing look and replied ¡°A cripple and a mental cripple lord constable.¡± Ash cocked his head to the side and nodded ¡°Look She, it is a peacock and his bird buddies.¡± Ash said in a loud whisper. The four sharder heading the group stiffened momentarily and then shrugged off the insult. ¡°Ascenders, you have trespassed. This region belongs to the Rakshasa Empire. You will comply.¡± If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Um¡­ No?¡± Ash waved dismissively ¡°You see, I would have earlier. In good faith. Then your people attacked and tried to eat my junk. That¡¯s when it got personal. I don¡¯t like things when they get personal. So once again, no.¡± The peacock did something which made his eyes glow red and snorted menacingly ¡°You are in the lands of Nishachar. If one of ours wants to take a bite out of you, they can.¡± Ash heard Sheetal¡¯s breath hitch behind him and slowly came to the realisation that the four sharder was doing something using his mental shard. He scratched his head and chuckled. ¡°Hey, stop that. You are tickling my brain. I knew it. You guys aren¡¯t scary. You are just ticklers.¡± Ash watched the Nishachar¡¯s eyes dim. And he smiled in satisfaction when the Nishachar began to frown in consternation. The constable turned the full force of his gaze at Ash and this time he felt it. Goosebumps ran up and down his skin and the red eyes of the Nishachar burrowed into his psyche. Ash felt his fight or flight responses urging him to do something. He pushed them down. Slowly methodically purging his emotions until all that was left was pure adrenaline. Ash enjoyed the high from the adrenaline for a second and then smiled ¡°See¡­ You aren¡¯t tough¡± Ash took a moment to calm his excited voice ¡°Complying with you will just hurt my ego. You are just like the two scrubs that got their butts kicked by a cripple and a boy. At least until when my partner here got keyed off and burnt that guy¡¯s face off.¡± The nishachar in the lead took half a step back and looked at Ash in confusion ¡°You don¡¯t fear me?¡± Ash grinned ear to ear ¡°Nope. You are a talker just like the guy who got his face melted off. But you will fear me before I put you down like a rabid dog.¡± The speedsters flanking the party hissed together. ¡°You will die, you, insolent freak.¡± ¡°We will rip you to shreds.¡± The three sharder took a step and stood next to his leader ¡°Lord constable, may I?¡± The peacock snarled and then nodded. ¡°Ascenders, you stole a shard from us?¡± ¡°No, I killed your brainless mob, killed your people, and took their shards. That¡¯s a plural by the way. That is two shards from two of your dumb flunkies. And it wasn¡¯t even that tough.¡± Ash lifted two of his fingers and grinned. ¡°Give it back. Recompensating us adviced. It means you might live.¡± The three sharder ordered. Ash rolled his grey eyes ¡°Really man? What about I am going to kill you and take your shards don¡¯t you get?¡± The peacock lost it. He pointed at his two flunkies and snarled ¡°Kill this bug and bring that cripple to me. She at least has enough sense to make a decent meal.¡± Before Ash could respond the two one sharders blurred into motion. They launched themselves at Ash. One came low and the other one high. Just like the beasts they sent after them. Ash tsked in disappointment. and didn¡¯t even engage his speed shard. He just took a casual step back and spun. One of his hands unhooked a tonfa from his back and the other one scooped some sand. Ash watched as their blurry faces gained a look of consternation when he didn¡¯t use his speed shard. Then hungry grins replaced the confused look. Ash languidly finished his spin and flung the sand in the lower one¡¯s face. She shrieked ¡°Aa¡­¡± Thump. With closed eyes the woman ran face first into his bent knee. A moment later the other one, who had his eyes locked on the woman ran into him his tonfa. Squelch. Ash heard a sickening crunch and looked at the man pityingly. The man tethered. He brought his hand up to his throat and fell to his knees. Ash looked at the woman drowsily stumbling upwards and decided to put her out of her misery. He stomped her head. Once. Twice. He lifted his leg to hit her a third time and saw that her head had caved in and decided to forego it. He turned his head and looked at the man choking and writhing in the sand. Then back at the blue woman who was turning into ash. He swiped his hand and took her speed shard. And watched the other one as he kicked the sand and thrashed about. He looked at the constable and the other one. They were both blinking in surprise at him. He couldn¡¯t blame them. The fight had taken less than two seconds, and they didn¡¯t have speed shards. For them it must have looked all choreographed. Heck even Ash felt a little let down by the speedster''s performance. Ash sighed dramatically and looked at the peacock ¡°See? Now I have three shards. And you have just lost two more of your people. Honestly, complying with you would have done nothing but hurt my pride.¡± The peacock looked at his friend. They both nodded and moved. Ash wasn¡¯t surprised. He wanted them to come at him. He bent his knees to jump backwards and engage his speed. Then the peacock burrowed into his brain again. Moments later he was back there. He wasn¡¯t Ash. He was Ashoka. A younger more childish version of himself. Hanging in a dark, dank, smelly hole in the ground. He was butt naked, spread eagle, and he did not know how long he had been hanging from a rope. His torturer puffed on the last bit of his cigarette and stubbed it out on Ashoka¡¯s inner thigh. He grunted tiredly. He didn¡¯t have even enough strength to scream. All he needed was an hour or two of sleep, but he knew he wasn¡¯t going to get it. Once again, he cursed his handler for getting caught because of stupidity. The torturer saw his dejected look and laughed. ¡°Hey rich boy, you like seducing our men, right?¡± Ashoka didn¡¯t respond. He was taught not to respond. He knew that if he kept quiet. His mother would get him out any day now. All he needed to do was to just hang on. Only, he did not know how long that would take. He had been hanging here for at least three days and the man had stopped carving into his crotch. Just yesterday they had sent in doctors to tape him up. That meant that things were pretty bad down there. So bad that he was even afraid to look. The torturer slapped him and growled ¡°Look at me boy.¡± The torturer picked up a plier. He grabbed Ashoka¡¯s nipple and squeezed. He screamed. The torturer showed Ashoka his shark toothed blade and continued ¡°Let¡¯s see how you do that with only one of your nipples.¡± And in front of Ash¡¯s horror filled eyes the man brought the toothed knife down and began to slowly saw into his flesh. Ash growled in anger and bucked. He was back. Ash felt something pulling him back. For a moment he scrambled and then recognised the scent of Sheetal¡¯s power all around him. It was like soft spring air carrying him through the air towards her. He turned his gaze back at the blue skinned man with red eyes flying at him. The nishachar¡¯s grin turned triumphant. Ash¡¯s eyes widened as the peacock¡¯s cocked fist shot out. The world slowed as Ash felt a sharp pain on his torso. He looked down and saw a fist crushing his chest inwards. Then came a thud that ran through his body and then everything faded. She watched Ash rocketed past her with blood spurting from his mouth. ¡°Ash!¡± Sheetal screamed. Sheetal¡¯s world slowed. She felt a sharp pain in her chest that almost doubled her over. Just a moment ago she was there. Tied up in Ash¡¯s body watching as the sadistic torturer carved chunks out of him. Then her mind had recoiled when the knife was about to dig into him. That¡¯s when she had acted. She had used her wind to lift him up and out of the charging demon¡¯s reach. Only she hadn¡¯t been fast enough. Sheetal watched as Ash¡¯s lifeless body rag dolled through the air and landed a few metres away from her. Her eyes focussed on his chest. It was caved in on the left. Sheetal wanted to go to him, crawl to him even, but then her eyes shot to the sounds of two people landing in front of her. And she turned her gaze at them. The constable tried to move and then looked down when he could not. The other one fell to his knees and planted a hand to arrest his movement. Sheetal looked from them to Ash¡¯s broken body and then turned a murderous gaze at them. The peacock looked at his friend ¡°Get up. Use your shards and get us out this¡­ Whatever this is.¡± The other nishachar grunted ¡°I can¡¯t lord constable. As soon as I exert any power it stops. I can¡¯t even move my hand.¡± Sheetal closed her eyes. Why? How? How had her plan gone so wrong? She had wanted to use Ash¡¯s annoying personality to compel them to jump into the hold glyph but then everything had gone wrong. And it was all because of her. ¡°You! Cripple. You don¡¯t deserve a shard. Submit and I will make it quick.¡± Sheetal turned her head and looked at the nishachar¡¯s constable. He was stuck in the pattern with his hand stretched out in a punching position. He jerked his hand backwards and to her surprise the sand slightly moved under him. ¡°No, it wasn¡¯t her fault. It was this fudging butt who had done this to her little brother. And she was going to make him pay. A wet cough and short breaths made her head turn again. ¡°Ash?¡± He didn¡¯t reply. He was dying. Chocking on his own blood. He was so stupid. And so was she. Why had he agreed to stupidly confront these blue tinted people out in the open? Why had he agreed to her plan? Why had he held out hope that his mother, the heartless psycho, would send anyone to rescue him? And now he was dying. And she was going to¡­ She was going to¡­ Her eyes went from her dying friend to the cannibals who had done this to him. Her hands trembled with all the anger and unreleased rage pent up in her. No. She needed to calm down. The two people in front of her were dangerous. She needed to kill herself. Maybe if they had the shard, they would help her dying friend. She tried to control her shaking hand as her thoughts started spinning in circles. ¡°What the heck am I thinking?!¡± Sheetal screamed. Ting! Resisted Mental Attack Obey. As her mind cleared, Sheetal realised what had happened and her eyes locked onto the large nishachar. He recoiled and grimaced. Anger that had been bubbling up in her mind and erupted. Sheetal growled ¡°You bastard.¡± ¡°Listen¡­¡± Sheetal was done listening. Her anger called for a release and her shards responded. The world around her went blurry. The wind started churning around her and lifted her into the air. She rose, higher and higher until she was looking down at the two nishachars below her. Her polar shard glinted in her soul and called to her. Sheetal pushed her potentiality into it. The two men grimaced and the constable stumbled but kept his footing. He turned his head up and glared at her. ¡°Is that the best you can do girl? If that is so, you should give up right now. Because when I get out this trap, I am going to rip your soul apart to fuel my weapons.¡± Sheetal glared back at him ¡°You want more? Fine, I will give you more.¡± Sheetal reached out. The knowledge that the one creck had bought what felt like weeks ago made her hands move. Laws of attraction and repulsion were fixed in her world but here¡­ Here they were hers. This was it. This was what she needed. This is what she was always meant to be. Ash had been right. Instead of reasoning everything she needed to accept the way things were. Why hadn¡¯t she accepted her shard? It was her. It was her soul. If she had done that Ash, her foolish brother, he wouldn¡¯t have been dying. More anger blossomed in her mind, and she pushed that into the shard. She did not need distractions. She needed power. Power was the answer to her problem. Power to use the weight of the world to leverage against the blue skinned freak. What had that crazy woman said to Ash? I am the world¡¯s force. Well now, so was she. Sheetal snarled and pushed the shard to comply. ¡°Repulse.¡± The area underneath her became vortex. She became the positive pole of the area and the area underneath her became the opposite. Laws of attraction and repulsion took hold and pushed down on the area right under her. And in the middle the two nishachars shook as the weight of all the air and the atmosphere doubled over the two men. The men buckled and the three sharder fell to the ground. Sheetal grinned fiercely. The constable grunted and fell to his knees. With a grunt raised his head to look at her. There was fear in his eyes as he screamed ¡°Stop.¡± Sheetal glared back. How dare he tell her to do anything. He had taken her little brother from her. And now he was ordering her? Sheetal raised a finger and ordered once again ¡°Repulse!¡± More air, wind and atmospheric pressure rushed to fill in the compressed area underneath her. And then that began to push into the blue skinned men too. The man next to the constable screamed as his bones began to shatter. Sheetal didn¡¯t let up ¡°REPULSE!¡± The constable let out a pained yell as his knees shattered and ankles flattened ¡°Aah!¡± Warning! Shard Integrity declining. Shard integrity at 99% Your shard will fail at 94%. Sheetal¡¯s eyes widened as a sharp pain made her body clench up. The power she was using fizzled out of her control and she dropped a foot and then caught herself in the air. Warning! Shard Integrity declining. Shard integrity at 98% Your shard will fail at 94%. The blue man looked at her and shook his head clear ¡°Cripple.¡± You have taken a force shard from the Nishachar nobility. Your punishment of death can be forgiven. We can settle this civility. You may pay us with thirty litres of blood and twelve kilos of your flesh. Just let us go and¡­¡± Sheetal looked down at the man in disbelief and then rage. She raised a finger again. Warning! Shard Integrity declining. Shard integrity at 97% Your shard will fail at 94%. A pain ran through her midsection and Sheetal¡¯s concentration flattered once again. Sheetal caught herself. She was now only six feet above the man. Pain was okay, it was a nagging friend that told her that she hadn¡¯t conquered her goal yet. And crushing this freak was now her goal. The nishachars looked at her teary eyes and laughed ¡°It will have to be from tender areas though. We prefer thigh, buttocks and stomach.¡± Warning! Shard Integrity declining. Shard integrity at 97% Your shard will fail at 94%. She growled ¡°Shut up you, freak. I will¡­ I will¡­.¡± The three sharder grunted and then began to chuckle ¡°I won¡¯t deny it. It is novel to see a two shard ascendent with so much grit. But I have four shards weakling. Sooner or later, you will break that shard and then I will start ripping into you. Just take the deal.¡± Warning! Shard Integrity declining. Shard integrity at 96% Your shard will fail at 94%. He was right. Shards had given her and Ash powers. But he had more. And what if her shard failed before she could crush the man mountain. She should have run but Ash, her little brother was¡­ He was glowing in silver mercurial colours? A silverish light seeped out of his bones and into his muscles and skin. A thin thread of smoke drifted out of his mouth, and he groaned. ¡°What!?¡± The nishachar asked in horror. She turned her eyes off the blue creature and asked ¡°Ash? You, are alive?¡± In response Ash jumped up to his feet and looked from her to the blue skinned demon. There was no humour in his eyes. His characteristic smile was absent. His expression had gone blank. He looked at Sheetal and in a flat tone asked ¡°What did you do to my glyph?¡± Sheetal blinked ¡°I tried to crush him when he got trapped in it.¡± ¡°You are a warder?¡± The Nishachar asked and then looked up ¡°He is a warder?¡± ¡°We both are.¡± She responded from above. The Nishachar lifted his hands and laughed ¡°Two. Two! We were done before we even started.¡± Ash squinted his eyes and looked down upon the man wordlessly. He didn¡¯t twitch, he didn¡¯t move, he just waited for the man to say his piece. And the blue skin man complied. ¡°Listen warders. There has been a misunderstanding. The Rakshasa Empire does not want a quarrel with the Silver City. Free me and we can discuss terms. And then we can put this in the past.¡± Ash nodded and then blurred. He buzzed past Sheetal and scooped up the fallen speed shard from the ash of the dead one sharder. Sheetal¡¯s eyes widened as she focussed on Ash. A shard light vanished as the shard flew into Ash''s chest. For a split second, a portion of his body glowed as the shard settled inside him. ¡°Ash?¡± Sheetal felt something cold from her¡­. Sheetal mind blanked out. Behind that coldness was an unbridled rage. Rage that made her want to lash out. But then those eyes were upon her. Those deadly grey eyes and an uncharacteristic soft almost girly voice. It said ¡°It¡¯s okay. Move back. It will be over soon.¡± A sharp pain went through Sheetal and broke whatever trance she was under. She grunted and replied in pain filled scream ¡°I can¡¯t. My shard is failing.¡± Warning! Shard Integrity declining. Shard integrity at 95% Your shard will fail at 94%. Shard failure in 50 seconds Sheetal straightened and continued ¡°Fifty second and then I am done.¡± Ash¡¯s eyes softened and looked at her in concern. Then his eyes locked onto the nishachar constable and turned icy. He growled ¡°I just need fifteen.¡± The nishachar tried to lift himself up and grimaced as his crushed knees didn''t respond ¡°Warder, wait. We can talk this out.¡± Ash lifted his tonfas to his side ¡°You like to play with people''s brains? Let me show you how it is really done.¡± Whoosh! Crack! Crack! Sheetal blinked. All she saw were after images. Ash running at the blue bastard. Him bringing his tonfas down. One after another at the same spot. And then standing above the kneeling man with cold eyes. The nishachar brought his hands up but he was too slow. The constable pleaded ¡°Listen. Stop. I am sorry.¡± Ash moved in a blur once again and buried his tonfa inside the man¡¯s head. He looked down at the man and in almost a whisper muttered ¡°No. Now you are.¡± He drew out his tonfa and looked at it with a contemplative look. ¡°Ash. I can¡¯t hold¡­¡± Sheetal began. Ash was there a moment later underneath her ¡°Let go, She.¡± Sheetal did as he asked and fell into his arms. Sheetal sighed in relief and with teary eyes looked at Ash¡¯s blank face. ¡°Are you¡­¡± Sheetal asked and then stopped herself Ash just looked ahead with a blank expression. Sheetal reached out and gently turned his head towards her ¡°Look at me.¡± Ash didn¡¯t resist. ¡°I was there. I saw what that man in Cambodia did to you.¡± Ash¡¯s eyes focussed on her. She couldn¡¯t recognise the look in his eyes, but she continued ¡°I want us to get powerful. More powerful than anything in this world so that we can go back and kill that bastard.¡± Ash didn¡¯t say anything. He just looked at her. Sheetal wiped her tears and touched his face ¡°We will do that. Do you understand me?¡± Ash blinked ¡°There is no need. I burned him alive. I burnt all of them alive. And watched as they screamed.¡± Sheetal smiled ¡°Good. Then we only have to deal with everyone that left you in that hole.¡± A tear trickled down Ash¡¯s eye and he turned his face away from Sheetal. She turned his face back to her ¡°Now. Say something silly. I want my little¡­ I want the Ash I know back.¡± Ash looked at her for a long moment and then broke a slight grin ¡°I could see your panties when you were flying.¡± Sheetal hands went to her skirt and then she gave him an accusing look ¡°You looked?¡± ¡°It was hard not to, with your skirt flying around everywhere. Boyish trunks? Who buys those things for you?¡± ¡°I buy those. And they are not boyish trunks.¡± Ash¡¯s voice returned to normal ¡°You buy them? From where?¡± ¡°Online.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°Hey! They are comfortable.¡± ¡°You need to respect yourself more.¡± Ash sighed. ¡°What the hell is that supposed to mean?¡± Sheetal screeched. Chapter 16 - We are the continuum. Ari watched as his team mingled at the building¡¯s entrance. Behind the temple was full of Ash and clear of the enthralled. Outside a horde of zombies waited to swarm them. None of them moved or even twitched. They just stood there like statues. Ari felt a tingle from one of his pockets and reflexively reached for the spot. As soon as his hand touched the object causing the discomfort he realised what he was palming. It was the communication stone. Or should he call it a crystal? It was a smooth stone but inside it now he knew that there was crystal. Or that was what the system told him. Comm Crystal. A basic communication device created out of a crystal and then encompassed into stone for added protection. This device when worn uses vibrations to conduct sound to the receiver. Ari took out the crystal and put it just over his ear. As soon as it stuck, he heard a beeping noise and then a sigh. ¡°Commander, it took you long enough to answer.¡± Mbungwa¡¯s voice sounded even more tired than before. ¡°Mbungwa, I was a little busy. Had a nishachar and a vetaal to deal with, and just when I thought that we had won a horde of zombies came running after them.¡± ¡°Well it would have been nice to know that you were still alive commander.¡± Ari grimaced. Mbungwa was right. But in the heat of battle, and subsequent trouble in their party caused by Joshi their communication line had broken down. He could do nothing but agree with his ally. As Ari thought about that, his eyes drifted to Joshi. He was instructing Abesh to use his embers in a different manner. Abesh had a thoughtful depression on his face. Those two were getting closer and he did not know what to do about that just yet. ¡°I am sorry Mbungwa. I will hand this stone to one of my men to keep an eye on it from now on. To answer your question, yes we are alive and we all are frankly speaking quite well.¡± ¡°I see. That¡¯s good. This world does have a way to heal your nagging injuries. If it doesn¡¯t kill you with new ones. Speaking of the dangers, commander, I don¡¯t think you are out of the woods just yet.¡± ¡°I can see that. There is another horde just outside these doors. Are they waiting for us?¡± ¡°Yes sir, they are. They are being held in check by a group of nishachars and vetaals.¡± Ari frowned ¡°How many are they?¡± Mbungwa was silent for a moment and then replied ¡°Twenty nishachars, fifty vetaals and over a thousand enthralled.¡± Ari gulped and then asked ¡°Are you safely hidden from them Mbugwa?¡± Mbungwa laughed ¡°There is no place safe from them, commander. But yes, for the moment I am hidden away. But what is the point?¡± Ari could hear a sense of defeat in Mbungwa¡¯s voice. He tried to comfort the man ¡°Mbungwa, you need to stay safe. We will get out of this.¡± ¡°No, commander.¡± Mbungwa chuckled mirthlessly ¡°Before you say anything else let me tell you. I have been here for weeks already and I am out of rations. I just had the last gulp of water I had stored. My squad¡­¡± Mbungwa''s breath hitched and Ari could hear the pain in his voice ¡°My squad, they were like my family. I had to put them down with my own hands when they turned into those mindless things. So, when you come out, I am going to give you sniper support with my bow. Hopefully some of you will stay alive to tell my people what happened here and to warn them from sending more people in here.¡± Ari stood rooted for second and then sighed ¡°Very well major. Tell me where you are.¡± ¡°The building to the left of the temple. I am on the roof behind the¡­ What the¡­ What was that?¡± ¡°Mbungwa? Mbungwa!?¡± ¡°Commander, I think I saw¡­¡± Thud. Boom! A large explosion shook the temple walls and dust from the roof floated down obscuring Ari¡¯s vision. Ari blinked rapidly and cleared his eyes. Ari touched the stone. It was still stuck near his temple. ¡°Mbungwa what is happening out there? Are you okay, man?¡± ¡°Yes, commander I¡­¡± Mbungwa¡¯s voice got cut off again. Then Ari heard a beep then an unfamiliar female voice came onto the channel. ¡°You on the comm crystals. This mode of communication is insecure. The enemy has been monitoring your communications and knows exactly where you are. We are blocking this line of communication until our battle is resolved.¡± With another beep the line was cut off and Aris stone fell down from his temple. Ari caught it in the air and looked at the door. Boom! Another large explosion shook the temple and Ari looked at the door with widening eyes. The enemy knew exactly where Mbungwa was. How could he have been so stupid? No line of communication was completely secure. They should have used keywords and passphrases to discuss their operations. Ari shook himself. He could chastise himself later. Right now he needed to go and save Mbungwa from the horde. Boom! This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Another explosion shook them all and before anyone could ask anything Ari used his command voice ¡°Everyone. Take your places. We are going out there to rescue a stranded soldier. Singh, you will be in the front with me. Nameer you will be in support of the artillery. Abesh, Doctor Joshi, we will call out targets to you. When we don¡¯t take out targets of opportunity.¡± Ari began marching to the door. He watched as everyone scrambled to take their places. Everyone but Joshi. He just looked around and then casually walked to Abesh and joined him. Ari frowned and then shook his head. Not now. He will have to do something about that later. Ari kicked the door open and braced himself for the oncoming rush of the enemy. Instead of the enemy, he saw chaos. Red beams from all across the city cut through the enthralled in front of Ari¡¯s vision. The enthralled all over the place stumbled and fell to dust like chaff. Then vaulted grenades flew into the horde just outside the temple grounds. With a series of bangs they erupted vaulting the standing enthralled into the air. Just when he thought he had seen it all an artillery shell landed in the distance. BOOM! It erupted in fire and carnage that shook Ari¡¯s bones. Out of the fire ran out a group of nishachar and vetaals. Following them were what at first glance looked like robots. As Ari watched, the first one raised its gun and shot a volley into a lagging vetaal¡¯s back. One of the nishachar stopped and motioned to the robots behind him. The enthralled that were stumbling to their feet turned their head simultaneously and charged at the robot. Another one of the robots, stopped next to the first, raised its large shotgun and with two simultaneous blasts turned the charging enthralled into a mess. Ari looked back at his people and ordered ¡°Abesh, do your thing. Cut the zombies down.¡± Abesh nodded. Raised his arms and pushed them ahead. Embers flew out into the back of the enthralled. Wherever they made contact they erupted into fire. Joshi snorted ¡°Not like that boy. Like this.¡± Joshi raised one of his arms. Embers flew up and when Joshi pushed, the embers flew parallel to the enthralled heads. His embers erupted catching the enthralled heads on fire. Lines of enthralled turned into sand creating more havoc into the enemies line. The shotgun robot turned to look at them, she paused, and shot two barrel of fiery plasma into the enemy while keeping eye contact with Ari. The first robot who was mowing the enemy down with a continuous stream of fire looked at the shotgun one and then Ari and his people. It, no she, looked at the shotgun wielder and ordered ¡°Pretty, focus!¡± The shotgun wielder jolted ¡°Umm¡­ Yes, general.¡± Ari was taken aback by the girlish voice coming out of the robot. He looked at Singh and asked. ¡°Are those..?¡± ¡°Armours.¡± Singh responded in a wondrous tone. Nameer stepped closer to Ari ¡°Commander, sir, there is a man waving at us from the building to the left.¡± Ari looked at the directions Nameer was pointing and saw a large man waving at them. The man suddenly turned cocked an arrow to his bow and fired at a target Ari couldn¡¯t see. ¡°Men, with me.¡± Ari ran out of the temple. His men followed. In the chaos caused by the sudden attack of the robot people the enemy couldn¡¯t make a concentrated move. That allowed Ari and his men to pick out any enthralled that turned towards them and turn them into sand. Ari punched out crushing a female enthralled skull and turned. Besides him Singh appeared in a blink of an eye. He shoved his knife into an eye socket of a bewildered looking enthralled man. Abesh behind him shot one ember after another at the enthralled stumbling towards them from the side. Nameer who had been silent up till now also joined in by creating a jet of water that punched through two enthralled at once. Ari nodded in satisfaction and moved ahead. There were more in between him and the building and he lashed out. Punch, hooks, and jabs. He used them all to break through the enemy. Moving one step after another. Even as he and his men used their powers there charge came to a halt. There were just too many zombies and then it happened. Their momentum halted. Then he had to take a step back. Then another. And soon even as they fought harder, they were pushed back again. Ari wanted to charge in and unleash his anger but he just couldn¡¯t do that. His men depended on him and there were just too many enemies in front of. He looked for an opening and saw nothing. Annoyed he was about to take a step back when he heard the distinct sound of continuum riffles. Crack. Crack. Crack, Crack¡­. A hail of fire of whining red bolts fired from more than twenty automatic rifles dropped the enthralled to ground. Then one of the robot people stopped next to him. He grabbed Ari, lifted him up and began dragging him back. The man in the armour screamed ¡°What in all the gods name are you people doing?¡± Ari screamed back over the thunderous rapport of fire ¡°Going to save one of our people!¡± The man in the armour exhaled, shook his head and sighed ¡°That building is being occupied by two nishachars. The night stalkers are trying to break through to him to grab a hostage. But, don¡¯t worry, he has barricaded himself on the roofing and we will get him out soon.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry? How can I not worry?¡± ¡°You need to go back to the temple¡± The man put Ari down and pointed back the way they had come Ari shouted at the man ¡°I am not going anywhere.¡± ¡°Yes, you are..¡± A female voice came from an armoured soldier manhandling Singh. Ari watched Singh punch the armoured figure. His fist met the armoured head with metallic sound and then Singh sucked in a breath with a pained grimace. The armoured woman just looked at him and shook her head. She pushed Singh back into the arms of Nameer and turned to Ari ¡°Listen, one of you had the right idea. He stayed back. You can¡¯t run into an active combat zone and expect to stay safe. We would have had a clear line of fire if you weren¡¯t blocking our sights. We will rescue your man and bring him to you. You amateurs need to get out of here right now.¡± Ari looked from the woman to his men and only then noticed that Joshi was not with them. Ari closed his eyes. Amateurs? Maybe that was the right word to use for this goof up. What was wrong with him? Why had he charged in like this? They had no weapons or armour, and he had lost one of his people. The armoured woman continued ¡°You should go back and clear out the temple. Create a safe zone for him to recuperate when he is freed.¡± Ari looked around and saw tens of armoured figures looking at him and relented ¡°The main complex is free of the enthralled.¡± ¡°Then clear out the east wing. That¡¯s where the living area is, right?¡± Ari nodded ¡°Okay. But tell me who you people are first.¡± The woman nodded ¡°We are the continuum.¡± ¡°We continue and persevere.¡± The rest of the armoured figures chimed in. His men looked around and then one by one the fight went out of their eyes. Ari knew that they were overmatched and motioned his men to stand down. He began moving back to the temple. After a few steps Singh came running to him and started walking beside him. Ari kept his voice low ¡°How¡¯s the hand?¡± Singh grunted ¡°Broken.¡± ¡°That wasn¡¯t very smart Singh.¡± ¡°Neither was running through a hail of bullets my friend.¡± Ari nodded ¡°I don¡¯t know what came over me.¡± Singh nodded ¡°You are on a short fuse ever since we lost our men.¡± ¡°Yes, but I should have known better. Dang it, I do know better. I didn¡¯t even realise that we had lost Joshi somewhere.¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t. He never stepped out of the gate of the temple.¡± Ari clenched his jaw and asked ¡°Cowardice?¡± Singh shook his head ¡°No. There was something else. He moved with us and then just stopped. There is something seriously wrong with that man. You need to figure out what.¡± Ari sighed ¡°Yes. But there has just been so much happening here and he is a civilian, a political animal with government support and we need to get our men here to be healed. And I just don¡¯t want to¡­¡± ¡°Everyone down!¡± A loud voice made Ari and his people turn to look behind him. Ari saw the armoured soldiers running and taking cover behind buildings and walls. Ari heard thudding footsteps behind and was about to turn when he felt and armoured hand gently rest on his shoulder. He looked at the hand, then at the faceplate and then saw the familiar large barrels of the shotgun from the girl earlier.. ¡°Hey handsome.¡± The girl said from under the blank faceplate and continued ¡°We should get down.¡± Ari felt the girl gently push him lower and did not resist. On his way down he asked ¡°Why are we ducking?¡± ¡°General Athena got annoyed and had decided to use E65¡¯s explosives.¡± Ari looked at the building Mbungwa was trapped in with concern. The girl followed his look and giggled. ¡°No, not there. Remember the creeps we chase away earlier. They ran into a large building. The general is going to destroy it.¡± Singh who had lowered himself next to Ari looked at the girl ¡°Destroy a building? Through what? A rocket, an artillery shell, or a missile.¡± ¡°Nope, a grenade.¡± ¡°A grenade?¡± Abesh asked ¡°That wouldn¡¯t destroy building.¡± ¡°E65¡¯s grenades will do that. It would most probably¡­¡± Ari saw a brilliant flash of white light and then he closed his eyes against the glare. It only lasted for two seconds. And. strangely, there was no sound. Ari opened his with a confused look and then it came. Rrrrrumble. The sound didn¡¯t come from the explosion. It came from air rushing to the spot where the explosion had taken place. ¡°What the heck was that?¡± Nameer asked when the sound died down. ¡°Oh, damn that E65. He made them more powerful again.¡± Pretty turned from the sight of the flash to Ari ¡°That grenade, kind of deleted two buildings not just one.¡± ¡°Deleted?¡± Singh asked. ¡°Yes. Taran E65 is the only one amongst us skilled enough to use antimatter to make compression grenades. They literally delete chunks out of reality.¡± ¡°Gods dang. Why would you use something like that?¡± Abesh muttered. ¡°We don¡¯t but then they started shooting soul bolts at the General. Those things are vicious. They don¡¯t attack your body. They attack your soul. The bolt went through her visor and nicked her. Thankfully General Athena is class two. But she got really keyed off after she realised that one of those could have hit me, or any one else with her. She is protective like that.¡± ¡°So she deleted two buildings?¡± Ari asked ¡°Full of the Raks.¡± The girl nodded. Ari looked at the armoured girl ¡°The raks?¡± ¡°The Rakshasa Empire people. The raks.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Watched the girl lift herself to her feet/ It was a smooth motion. The armour didn¡¯t hamper her at all. She held out a hand to help him up. Ari took the offered hand and got to his feet. ¡°I am Pretty by the way.¡± Ari smiled ¡°You sure sound pretty.¡± Pretty giggled ¡°Okay, handsome. I got to go now. See you around.¡± Ari watched Pretty run off around the corner and watched Singh take her place. ¡°You sure sound pretty?¡± He asked. Ari shrugged ¡°It just sort of came out.¡± Singh cleared his throat ¡°Commander, I think she was looking for your name.¡± ¡°Oh. Hmm¡­¡± Singh sighed ¡°It okay my friend. Abesh will keep a look out for her, won¡¯t you Abesh?¡± Abesh looked at Singh and then at the armoured soldiers around them ¡°How am I supposed to do that? They all look the same.¡± Singh grinned ¡°Oh you will find a way boy wonder. You will find a way.¡± Chapter 17 - Crushed Tomato Sheetal watched Ash. He wasn¡¯t being his usual self. He was trying. He was still joking and teasing her but his annoying smile was forced and she could see straight through it. She looked at his face for a second and then just decided to deal with the issue bluntly. ¡°Ash, you okay?¡± ¡°Yeah, I am awesome.¡± The usual smugness behind his words wasn¡¯t there and Sheetal¡¯s face grew concerned. She kept looking at him silently sitting next to her looking away at the distance. ¡°Ash, what is it? Why are you silently brooding? Talk to me.¡± Ash looked at her silently and did not answer. ¡°Well?¡± Sheetal pushed. Ash gave her a flat look. ¡°Come on, you can say what¡¯s bothering you. It¡¯s not going to hurt.¡± For a second Ash remained silent and then he exhaled ¡°You weren¡¯t supposed to see that. Why did you see that?¡± ¡°See what? You getting tortured?¡± Sheetal asked in a soft voice. ¡°Yes. I am awesome. Back there, that was a moment that I wasn¡¯t.¡± Ash replied in a soft growl. Sheetal rolled her eyes ¡°Let me break this down for you buddy. You are not awesome.¡± ¡°Of course I am.¡± Ash responded instantly ¡°You just don¡¯t see it yet. You will. Soon. But you didn¡¯t have to see me like that.¡± Sheetal blinked ¡°You think I had a choice? It was whatever that guy did.¡± Sheetal pointed to the pile of Ash with four shards. Ash turned his head from her to the remains of the nishachar and growled ¡°I wish, I could kill him again. I should have done him slowly. Made it last and made it painful.¡± Sheetal raised her hand ¡°Okay, now you are going psycho on me. Stop doing that.¡± ¡°I am not a psycho. I am a sociopath. There is a difference you know.¡± ¡°Really? Like what.¡± ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t need to kill people to feel great about myself. I already feel great.¡± ¡°Do you?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Ash took in a breath and muttered ¡°Maybe not this exact moment but I am getting there.¡± ¡°Okay while you do that do you want to tell me how you are still alive?¡± Ash blinked and shrugged ¡°The same way you are. You did the glowing thing too, remember?¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t.¡± ¡°Oh right, you were unconscious then.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°It happened when your chair chinese chair electrocuted you.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Sheetal bit her lip and then gave Ash a look ¡°And it was German, and you know that.¡± ¡°Hey, calm down. I am just teasing.¡± Ash smiled at her but she saw the vulnerability behind his smile. Sheetal exhaled and watched Ash massage his right hand. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with your hand?¡± ¡°Nothing. That guy was tough. I hit him with everything I had and the shock ran through my tonfa and into my hand. It¡¯s going to be okay in a bit.¡± Sheetal didn¡¯t know what to do so she decided to turn the conversation into a different direction ¡°So, what are we going to do about my shard?¡± ¡°Oh thank god.¡± Ash sighed dramatically ¡°For a moment there I thought you wanted to talk about your rug down there.¡± Sheetal stopped and looked at Ash. That was the first genuine grin he had shown her in the last five minutes. She decided to play along. ¡°Oh tell me why would we talk about that?¡± ¡°Because the situation down there is untenable?¡± Sheetal didn¡¯t have to put on an act. Her eyebrows rose all by themselves and she blurted out ¡°Untenable? How dare you?¡± Ash grinned grew wider and he fake bafflement ¡°What? Oh. You think I was¡­ No. No. wasn¡¯t talking about your you know?¡± She glared at him ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yeah, I was talking about your legs. Your legs. Seriously girl, you need to do something about your legs.¡± ¡°Ash hole!¡± Sheetal growled ¡°Virgin.¡± Ash shot back. ¡°I am not a virgin.¡± ¡°Really with that stuff there.¡± ¡°Ah ha¡­ You were talking about¡­¡± A grunt stopped there back and forth. They both turned to look at the three sharder trying to crawl away on crushed limbs. ¡°OMG, She! What did you do to him?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ I used the ambient environmental forces pressing down on a five metre area and doubled them with a dipole effect. And then kept multiplying the effect again and again.¡± ¡°What?¡± Ash looked at her as if she had spoken in tongues. Sheetal sighed ¡°I pushed them down with my magical powers. A lot.¡± ¡°Oh. Okay, but why did you have to be so brutal about it?¡± ¡°Brutal? You just caved in a man¡¯s head.¡± ¡°Yes. And, why can¡¯t you just kill people like me? Why does it always have to be, burning them alive, and crushing their bones until they protrude out of their skin?.¡± ¡°And why can¡¯t you just stay on your feet once in a fight?¡± ¡°Hey, the first time was on purpose. I had the woman in a triangle choke. This time¡­ I slipped. It happens sometimes. No biggie.¡± ¡°You slipped?¡± ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°You got punched.¡± ¡°No. I am too good to get punched. I slipped and he¡­sort of grazed me.¡± In a pained voice the nishachar muttered ¡°You are both mad. You have killed the constable. This means war.¡± If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Shut up.¡± Sheetal snapped at the crushed man. ¡°Interesting.¡± Ash walked to She and picked her up ¡°Let¡¯s talk to the crushed tomato.¡± ¡°Talk? No, I don¡¯t want to talk to this cannibal freak. He and his friend tried to mess with our heads.¡± ¡°And you turned him into a boiled tomato. Who is now spewing all over the pace. I think he learned his lesson.¡± Ash acknowledged and then asked the blue man ¡°Didn¡¯t you, tomato?¡± ¡°Fine.¡± She slumped in Ash¡¯s hands ¡°I don¡¯t care. Let me down and give me your stick. I will finish him off.¡± Sheetal said tiredly. ¡°Really?¡± Ashoka looked at Sheetal with worry in his eyes. ¡°Yes, Ash. I am tired. And these things are not human. They want to eat us. We should just put them all down.¡± Sheetal snarled at the end. ¡°Okay, where is She? And what have you done with her?¡± Sheetal looked at Ash for a moment and then in a soft voice muttered ¡°I don¡¯t like what they did to you.¡± Ash frowned ¡°That wasn¡¯t this guy or his friend. That was a Cambodian I killed long back.¡± ¡°Yes, but they made you relive that. If anyone does that¡­¡± Ash lowered Sheetal to the ground and said ¡°Then I will deal with it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the point Ash.¡± Sheetal grabbed Ash¡¯s hands in hers ¡°You don¡¯t have to. I will be there right beside you.¡± Ash looked at Sheetal and nodded ¡°Thanks. And you will turn everything into crushed tomatoes. Got it.¡± ¡°Not funny Ash, I mean it.¡± Ash turned to look at the crushed man ¡°You hear that tomato? She, here, wants to crush you some more.¡± The man didn¡¯t respond. Ash lowered himself and scooted next to the man¡¯s head ¡°Hey bro. How¡¯s it going man? Having a good day?¡± The nishachar snarled and tried to bite Ash. Ash didn¡¯t even move. He just moved his hand out of the way and flicked the man on his head. Ash smiled ¡°Great. So you are listening. Here¡¯s the deal. You can tell me where you keep your water, food, shards and other awesome things. And I will kill you fast or I can let She over here, do that crushing thing again.¡± The nishachar raised his hand out of the sand and gave Ash a pained smile ¡°Your woman can¡¯t do anything anymore. She chipped her shard.¡± ¡°Good! Then I get to teach her how to use my tonfa. Or¡­¡± Ash looked down at the man deviously. The man looked at him with pain riddled eyes ¡°Or?¡± ¡°You can tell us things like if we are in trouble with whatever law enforcement you have here. How do we fix her shard? Then you can tell us about the shards. Food. Shelter. Water. And where to get them.¡± ¡°Also. Call me his woman one more time and I will punch you in the grapes.¡± Sheetal added from the side. Both the men looked at her for a moment. ¡°What?¡± Ash shook his head ¡°That¡¯s just mean She. The man is already down.¡± Sheetal ignored Ash and snarled ¡°I am not his woman. He doesn¡¯t even like women.¡± Sheetal pointed at Ash ¡°Not true. Love women. Just not the crazy ones with heavy chests.¡± Sheetal shot Ash a look and then asked ¡°Why are we talking to this blue weirdo?¡± ¡°Because I am thirsty, She. Running around fast like that makes me thirsty.¡± Ash pointed to the pile of shards from the constable and added ¡°He is my source of water. I want my water.¡± She grumbled ¡°I am thirsty too.¡± ¡°And that is why you are cranky.¡± Ash added and then turned to the downed nishachar. ¡°I am not cranky.¡± Ash looked at her and smiled. Sheetal reiterated her words ¡°I am not cranky. I just don¡¯t want to feel pity for this freak. He doesn¡¯t deserve it.¡± ¡°Noted.¡± Ash nodded and turned back to the crushed Nishachar ¡°So, how does suffocating to death under a pile of sand sound, blue guy?¡± The nishachar gave him a baleful look. ¡°Alright. Take the shards from the peacock, She. I will bury the tomato¡¯s feet so he doesn¡¯t get away. There is a sand storm that¡¯s coming this way. That will finish the job¡± ¡°Sandstorm?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Sandstorm?¡± The nishachar croaked. ¡°Yes. Can¡¯t you see it? It¡¯s the dark thing with purple lightning over there.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see anything.¡± ¡°Purple lightning?¡± The nishachar looked worried. That caught Ash¡¯s attention but he didn¡¯t show it. Ash casually turned back to the man and nodded ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Kill me! Just kill me and I will tell you anything. Just kill me.¡± The nishachar tried to flop around and move. And then groaned in pain. ¡°No.¡± Ash denied. ¡°Fine.¡± She picked up Ash¡¯s tonfa and scooted towards the blue man. ¡°Wait.¡± Ash looked at She with an annoyed look and clarified ¡°Let me talk to the guy.¡± Sheetal stopped and watched Ash. The look he was giving the nishachar was one she hadn¡¯t seen on his face. It wasn¡¯t dispassionate. It was like he was looking at a bug he wanted to crush under his feet just to see how much a mess it would make. She had seen this look, but never in person. It was the look he wore in the video when he killed a man with a whisky glass. And slowly Sheetal realised that this wasn¡¯t the usual quipping, smiling, funny impudent Ash. This was the man they sent out there to solve the mess his mother and the government wanted solved. The way he looked right now made a shiver run down her spine. In a flat voice Ash asked the nishachar ¡°Okay, why should I let you die?¡± The nishachar looked around with panic in eyes ¡°Purple lightning means the continuum. You have no idea what they will do to me if they catch me.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°They are things. Mortals who used to be flesh and are now covered in metal. They will tear me apart while keeping me alive. Drain my blood and put metal things in me. I have seen it before. They tortured one of my men for weeks before he lost his mind.¡± ¡°Fine. Tell me the safest place to get the best shards?¡± Ash asked in the flat voice he was using. The nishachar opened his mouth and thought about the answer. He looked Ash in the eyes ¡°The best place to get shards is in the free city vault. It is three kilometres from the city in the south.¡± A notification popped in his vision and he hit the damn orb thing to shut the display off again without even reading it. Ash gave the Nishachar a flat look. His voice dropped an octave. Ash gave the man a cold look ¡°You just lied to me. Do you think I will just walk into a trap?¡± The nishachar let out a rattling breath ¡°What do you want?¡± Ash¡¯s voice turned frosty as he looked down at the nishachar. He turned into a predator looking at a prey. ¡°Now give me the real answer.¡± ¡°Ten kilometres to the west. There is a trial. It is an easy one. You just have to fly over a few obstacle. The girl can do that and you will have shards and water.¡± Ash''s face turned steely ¡°Not good enough, tomato. This is your final chance. Otherwise I will pick you up and drag you to your enemy myself.¡± The tomato licked his lips with a bloody tongue ¡°The best shards here are in the old liminal laboratory. I don¡¯t know what is in there but the Rakshasa Empire had us secure it. We are¡­ Were its guards.¡± A notification popped into Ash and She¡¯s vision. This time Ash didn¡¯t rush to close it. Liminal laboratory Direction - 23 Kilometres West. ¡°So, it¡¯s empty now?¡± Sheetal, who had been listening quietly asked. The nishachar laughed ¡°What? You think we are that stupid. It has over thirty guards with thousands of enthralled and hundreds of vetaals.¡± Ash smiled ¡°Okay, thank you. Now how do we fix her shard?¡± ¡°Potentiality. You need potentiality to make a shard whole. Kill me, and when the potentiality enters you don¡¯t let it enter your soul. Move it to the shard. That will fix the shard.¡± Ash looked at the man and then leaned back. He looked at Sheetal and she blinked. He had gone from a cold dispassionate killer to the smiling buffoon in an instant. The transformation was so sudden that Sheetal had completely missed it. ¡°So, can you do that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± The blue man on the ground croaked ¡°There is skill. It¡¯s called soul shard maintenance. The texts for that are really hard to get. But you are warders. The system is open for you. You can buy it with your Crecks if you have some.¡± Ash nodded at Sheetal and she looked at her windows. One of the windows had a search bar on it. She started entering the text. Even before she reached the end three text with associated prices appeared in the search results. Soul. Shard. Maintenance. Price - 25 Crecks Soul. Shard. Mechanics. Price - 55 Crecks Soul. Shard. Engineering. Price - 145 Crecks Sheetal blinked and the boxes returned to normal ¡°Ash there are three entries in here. The cheapest one is twenty five crecks. I only have twenty crecks.¡± Ash reached out and touched Sheetal¡¯s hand. Ting. You have received 20 Crecks from Warder Ash Sheetal looked from the notification to Ash. She opened her mouth but Ash just held up a hand. ¡°Don¡¯t. We are in this together. Also, I am not very good with money. I really don¡¯t know what to do with it. You are the genius amongst us. You figure it out. If I need something. I will just ask for it, okay?¡± Sheetal smiled and nodded. She looked at the first option under the search bar and bought the skill, Soul. Shard. Maintenance. Sheetal froze in spot. As shock went through her mind and then travelled all the way into the empty space where her constellation was supposed to be.. Slowly the knowledge of what her shards were. What her soul was unfurled in her mind. She wasn¡¯t just skin, muscle, and bone. There was more to her. Something that couldn¡¯t be comprehended. Something that was there and yet not there. That is where these shards went. They went into her soul and became a part of it. The more she used them, the more her soul incorporated them. Until they broke down and melded into her, just the way her wind shard had started breaking down. But unlike her wind shard her polar forces shard was different. It wasn¡¯t so mailable. And with s start, she realised where she had gone wrong with the shard. It was like a diamond. Hard yet brittle. The polar forces shard was never supposed to be used like the way she was using it. It was supposed to be used in conjunction with other shards. She had to make it whole and then add more shards to support the shard. Only then she could use its full effect. Sheetal opened her eyes and looked at Ash looking at her with concern in his grey eyes ¡°What?¡± Ash frowned ¡°I just saw something happen inside you. A white light went from your brain to that place and then shot back into your mind. It looked like it was going to hurt but your expression didn¡¯t change.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash. He could see inside her? For a moment she felt naked and then realised that he had seen her naked. This felt a little more intrusive than that. ¡°Can you not do that?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Look inside me?¡± ¡°How am I supposed to not do that?¡± Sheetal frowned ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know. And yes it worked.¡± ¡°Okay then. See, talking to the tomato was totally worth it. Now we can kill him.¡± Sheetal reached for Ash¡¯s tonfa and he smacked her hand away ¡°Unhand my tonfa. Its mine. You have a knife.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°From the guy whose face you burnt off earlier. He dropped a knife remember?¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Sheetal reached down to her belt and took out the knife and hesitated. The nishachar nodded and continued in a rush ¡°I am a gravitron specialist. I recognised what you did there. You increased the polarity under us. If I had been quicker, I could have countered you. My shards will serve you well.¡± ¡°Why are you telling me this?¡± Sheetal asked ¡°So that you can make it quick?¡± Sheetal gulped and looked at the knife in her hand. ¡°You also have a screwdriver if you want to use that.¡± Ash added. Sheetal just glared at him. ¡°Fine, use the knife then.¡± Ash folded his hands and backed off. ¡°You were a worthy foe warder. Hunters in this world of preys. Do not hesitate.¡± The nishachar urged ¡°Shut up.¡± Sheetal screeched at the nishachar and then looked at her partner ¡°Ash, where do I stab him?¡± Ash crooked an eyebrow and then pointed at a spot on the back of the man¡¯s neck ¡°Stab him here. It will be quick and fast.¡± She grabbed the knife in both of her trembling hands and closed her eyes. With a jerk she brought the knife down. And then again, and again. The nishachar screamed. Ash flung his hands in the air ¡°Oh for crying out loud. How can you miss three out of three times?¡± Sheetal opened her eyes and saw the nishachar convulsing ¡°He didn¡¯t die?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because you stabbed with your eyes closed.¡± ¡°I¡­Uh¡­¡± Ash pointed with his tonfa ¡°There.¡± Sheetal brought her knife down and stabbed the man through his neck. Bluish blood spurted out of the nishachar¡¯s neck and splattered them both. Ash rolled his eyes ¡°Well at least you got his carotid artery.¡± The blue man choked twice and then finally stilled. You have killed a nishachar. Potentiality absorbed. Sheetal quickly closed her eyes and grabbed a hold of the potentiality and moved it towards her Polar Forces shard. A system notification rang out in her head almost breaking her concentration. Do you want to use acquired potentiality to repair your shard? Yes/No. Sheetal mentally screamed yes and watched as the potentiality rushed into the shard. The chip in the shard began closing and then another notification took the place of the first one. Do you wish to use access potentiality to upgrade your shard? Yes/No. Sheetal hit yes again and watched as her shard began to grow. He shard began to glow bright and the energy it gave off increased. Shard Type - Polar Forces. Class 1 - 1%...2%...3% Ash watched Sheetal as her shard hungrily drunk in the potentiality that had seeped into her skin. Then the shard repaired itself and grew in the empty space. A light from it blasted outwards seeping into her physical form changing her imperceptibly. A notification popped into his vision. Weapon upgrade in progress. Please don¡¯t move your weapon. Ash pushed the notification aside and looked at his first tonfa. Weapon - Right Tonfa Type - Soul Eater Bonded to Warder Ash. Will upgrade to Class 2 after consuming - 100 Souls. Current souls consumed - 1 Sheetal opened her eyes and looked at Ash holding his tonfa over the pile of grey dust the blue man had turned into. For a moment she heard a phantom scream from the weapon and then there was silence. ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± Ash said too quickly, and Sheetal looked at him. ¡°Okay fine.¡± Ash shrugged and added ¡°I just wanted to see what kind of shards this guy had and if they were any good for me.¡± Sheetal squinted at Ash and then looked at the three shards in question. Shard Type Gravity - Class 1 Matter - Class 1 Metal - Class 1 Sheetal lifted herself into the air and hovered over Ash ¡°Oh no. You already took most of the shards from the scorpion trial. I get these ones.¡± Ash sighed ¡°Okay, that¡¯s fair.¡± Before Ash could do anything, Sheetal scooped up the shards and gave him a challenging look. ¡°Fine, but I am taking the shards from the other guy. I want whatever made the peacock so tough.¡± Sheetal looked at the shards in the distance and stated ¡°Not before I have a look.¡± Shard Type Mental - Class 1 Channel - Class 1 Density - Class 1 Strength - Class 1 ¡°Hey.¡± Ash protested. Sheetal folded her hands over her chest ¡°How many shards do you have? Four?¡± ¡°Five.¡± Ash corrected and then added ¡°Seven if you count my tonfas.¡± ¡°I have two Ash.¡± ¡°But now you have five.¡± Sheetal gave Ash a flat look and began floating towards the shards. Ash got up to follow Sheetal and continued whining ¡°And mine are all speed.¡± When Sheetal scooped up a shard Ash added ¡°Think how bad you will feel when I fall at that speed. I might break something.¡± Sheetal rolled her eyes and scooped up one more shard ¡°She¡­ Come on¡­ Be nice.¡± Chapter 18 - Your obnoxiousness is the exception. Taran E65 looked at the six continuum soldiers in front of him. They weren''t the most powerful or skilled, but they were the most dangerous. Taran turned his eyes from the squad colloquially named superb seven and then turned his eyes back to the two warders moving away and towards the next trial. The squad didn''t look happy letting them go. Taran turned his back to them and touched a button on his Armour''s wrist. It projected the landscape over his open palm. "Are you just going to stand there and do nothing?" Taran A197 asked in a belligerent voice. Taran E65 didn''t respond. A197 turned his gaze to his squad "Why are we listening to this youngling anyway?" The squad didn''t have a response to his words and looked at each other with contemplative looks. E65 turned back and looked A197 in the eyes "Because the high councillor and the assault commander put me in charge of this operation." A197 didn''t look pleased with the reminder of that fact. In his mind Taran A197 who liked to go with the name Tar was the best of the Taran who were of a combat class and to be overshadowed by a kid who was unpodded five years after he had slotted his shards just rankled. Tar scowled "Son, I have eaten more dangerous things than you have imagined. Do us all a favour, step back and let us lead. We are the superb seven." E65 looked at Tar spread his hands to highlight his team. He wasn''t wrong, His team was a sight to behold. Two large men, Jays 83 and 84 flanked the group. Ruby F435 was their aerial support, Parvati M141 was their medic. Aditya A303 was their silent sniper and the biggest damage dealer. But they weren''t the decision makers it was their leader. Taran E65 turned his eyes to Parvati A333. The one everyone called Trips. She was scowling at Tar and E65 knew that by his words, Tar had put whatever plans Trips had into question. E65 looked calmly at Tar and in a non-confrontational voice asked the air above his upturned hand "Marshall Lara, who is in command of this operation?" The hologram above E65''s hand pulsed and transformed into a glowing blue ball "You are E65." E65 finally smiled "Marshall Lara, what were your recommendations to me earlier?" The AI above his hand hummed "Confronting the warders when they were perturbed after the battle with mentalist was not recommended. We need them to be stable before we approach them. My recommendation was to let them find a trial. Help them clear it to gain their trust so that we could bring them in without any conflict. E65 nodded and looked at Tar "See, A197? My reasons for letting the two warders go are valid." Parvati 333''s scowl turned harder "That maybe so E65. But they are close to completing their class one transition. After they have another couple of shards from the trial, apprehending them will not be so simple. The situation will become harder, and we will have to resort to violence." The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. E65 sighed "That''s where you wrong Major Trips. Warders don''t just have 8 shards. We don''t exactly know how many shards they need to transition but I estimate that it should be fifteen or sixteen." The squad in front of him sucked in a breath in shock. "Bull!" Tar muttered. "Nonsense!" Ruby F435 spat out. "Impossible." Trips chimed in. E65 pointedly looked at the holographic ball in his hand "Marshall Lara could you please clarify our doubts." Marshall Lara''s ball representation pulsed green, red and then back to blue "The information I am about to reveal is classified. And I am only revealing this because you have two Jays in your squad. They most probably know some of this because their progenitor Jay Chandra was a warder. Warders don''t have the soul structure of an ascendent. They are far more complicated than normal ascendant. Even more complicated than me, an ATI created with ten shards." Everyone looked at the two Jays standing silently on their flanks. One of them nodded. Tar looked ill "Then we need to stop them, right now. We need to get our hands on them and force them to come with us before they get more powerful." Ruby F435 nodded emphatically "I agree. If we don''t, we might not be able to get them to come back with us." "I say we roll out right now. Overpower them, tie them up and throw them in the back of our assault craft." Tar added. E65 looked at the Jays. Following his gaze Trips turned from one Jay to the other. Finally, 83 in a bassy voice stated "That boy, he was fast." Jay 84 looked at the ashes getting swept up in the winds of the oncoming storm "The girl, she took the gravitron shards. She will be hard to deal with." Parvati M141, the medic of the group, turned to look at her people "If we fight, there is a high chance of casualties. Both on our side and theirs. In either case, we would have failed the mission. Do we really want to take that chance?" "Oh, come on needles. You know we are better than that." Tar protested. "Are we though?" M142 asked "These two warders, they, have been here in the trials for how long? Six? Maybe seven hours? And they have somehow gotten their hands on over ten shards that we have seen with our own eyes. How long did it take for you to accumulate your shards, Tar?" Tar snorted "I could have gotten my eight shards much earlier if I just took every shard that I got in a fight." M142 sighed "But what if you had double the number of slots? Would you have given up on a shard then?" Tar looked at his medic in annoyance ¡°Whose side are you on needles?¡± ¡°Alright that¡¯s enough, Tar.¡± Major Trips put her foot down and then turned to look at E65 ¡°What¡¯s you plan kid?¡± E65 smiled ¡°I am going to help them get everything they want and then sweet talk them to come back with me?¡± Parvati 333 raised an eyebrow ¡°And how are you going to do that?¡± E65 flicked the hologram in his hand and transformed and zoomed out until it showed the trails the two warders were heading for ¡°By going into the trial with them.¡± ¡°Do you think that will actually work?¡± Tar asked the younger Taran. ¡°It will if you don¡¯t come with me.¡± Tar scowled and E65 rushed to clarify ¡°I mean all of you. I don¡¯t want them to get overwhelmed by our number or intimidated with your bionic augments.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with our augments?¡± Ruby F asked in a challenging tone. ¡°Nothing. But you have to know that to the normies they look dangerous, right?¡± Ruby lips twitched upwards ¡°That¡¯s because they are dangerous.¡± E65 smiled back ¡°And that is why I am glad that you are here watching my back, L.T.¡± Ruby chuckled. Major Trips looked at her team and then nodded ¡°Fine, we will go with your plan E65. We won¡¯t be able to support you in the trails if we stay back but outside it, we have your back young man.¡± ¡°Thank you, Major.¡± Parvati 333 rolled her eyes ¡°You can thank me by completing our task E65. Not by kissing my behind. I swear all you Tarans are sweet talking scheming politicians.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± Tar protested. ¡°Not you Tar.¡± Major Trips corrected her statement and A197 smiled until she finished her words ¡°Your obnoxiousness is the exception not just amongst the Tarans but in all of the continuum.¡± E65 hid his pang of guilt as the whole squad chuckled, laughed and snorted. These were good people he was going to betray with his actions and not for the first he wondered how he had gotten to this position. E65 smiled as the team bantered and kept his peace. Major Trips watched the tension drain out of the confrontation E65 and then smiled ¡°Taran E65, but if those two give us any problem, we will blow their limbs off and then drag them to High Councillor.¡± Taran E65¡¯s smile faded off his face ¡°Major¡­¡± ¡°No E65, I don¡¯t want to hear it. I don¡¯t know why the politicos are doing what they are doing but I don¡¯t play politics. I just do my job. And I am going to do it no matter what happens.¡± Parvati 333 said with a stern expression on her face and then nodded to Taran E65¡¯s vehicle ¡°Now get into your over engineered trike and lead us to trials the warders are heading to.¡± Taran E65 sighed and walked to the trike. He got into it and recalled General Athena words when she had addressed them in her secret address. One of the lines had stuck with him and he muttered it as he hit the ignition. ¡°We will have to break them to make the continuum better.¡± The problem was that he did not know whether he was supposed to break the warders who had just popped out of nowhere or the Rakshasa. And without more context he was just another lost traveler in this sea of sand and sometimes that just got to him. Chapter 19 - Congrats, you’ve got balls now. She and Ash ran through the desert towards the trial with water. This time Sheetal kept a loose hand on Ash and sped alongside him. With her new shards she did not need to hold on to him. She could use her wind shard to keep pace with him if he did not use the full capability of his speed shards. Still, he was faster than her and he kept a hand on him to be dragged along in his wake. At first, Sheetal didn''t have to do much. Ash ran through the desert and she just followed. Then the sandstorm Ash had been talking about earlier caught up with them. Ash tried to outrun it but then his potentiality ran out and he had slowed. She had watched as the winds began blowing her onto her face and tugging on her clothes. Before the storm made it worse, Sheetal had instinctively done something that she could not explain. Okay that was a lie. She knew what she had done but not totally. Sheetal knew her physics and had an instinctive understanding of this place, whatever it was. Basically, this place that held all the trials did not completely break the laws of physics. The shards in their bodies helped them bend it. With that understanding she had spent one Creck to learn more about her gravity shard. This time the knowledge of transfer was smoother. She understood the basics of gravity. It was all about the attractive forces of matter and how those forces got amplified when matter came together to create huge chunks in space. This time the knowledge didn¡¯t have to fight her conceptions and settled into her brain only adding stuff here and there when her knowledge was either wrong or lacking. In the end it just showed her how to use gravity for her benefit. The process was over in the blink of an eye and Sheetal wanted, no, Sheetal needed to know more if they had to survive the wild sandstorm heading towards them. So she spent another creck to understand the wind shard and its capability. Once again the system filled in the gaps in her knowledge and then gave her the answers she was looking for. When it was over Sheetal was left pouting. The answer was so simple that she did not understand why she hadn¡¯t thought of it herself. And then she realised that she couldn¡¯t have thought of it because she hadn¡¯t known how to use her new shards. Sheetal frowned and then with an effort of will let the negative spiral of thoughts go. It was easier than before and she looked at her new Mental shard in her hud and wondered if it was helping her do that. Finally she looked at all the shards floating in the empty space on her hud. She pushed the gravity shard into the ball of wind and polar forces. As soon as the gravity shard made contact with the ball of wind it compressed and the winds started shrieking inside her soul. Not done yet, Sheetal pushed matter and metal into the ball. The ball of wind began to grow rapidly until it was a large ball of dark rocks with black veins of metal topped with howling winds. That left her with one last shard. The one that refused to go into the ball. Her mental shard. She let it be. And looked turned to look at the dust cloud heading to envelop them. She raised one arm above herself and created a circle over her head. The result was instantaneous. The wind around them died down to a soft breeze, the sand fell before it hit them and the ground underneath Ash¡¯s footsteps became firmer. Sheetal smiled. It was so simple. All she needed to do was create a bubble. A bubble whose outer edge of the wall was the representation of the gravitational force of the ball inside her. The middle was the representation of the polar forces it exerted and the inner layer was the wind that howled in her soul. Those winds fought against the storm¡¯s force only letting in the calmest winds. Sheetal nodded in appreciation of her handy work. She looked at Ash and saw his glazed eyes, sweat streaked face, and frown. She was about to ask what was wrong when Ash stumbled. He righted himself instantly and kept running. But just after a few steps he stumbled again. This time his muscles cramped and his body stiffened. She had been so busy in her work that when Ash stumbled and fell, She wasn¡¯t ready. Her body did not go down with him, she just flew on tumbling through the air. Before she could really panic a tight grip settled on her flailing arm and pulled her back. She gasped in pain as her forward momentum dragged her and her dangling legs back. She hissed ¡°That hurt you, barbarian.¡± and slapped Ash on his stiff forearm. Ash grunted ¡°Eh¡­ Sorry¡­ I just¡­¡± Ash apologised and then grabbed his left arm with a pained expression. She stopped. Ash never apologised. The last time around was five months ago. And even then he had not been sorry. He had apologised when ordered to do so by his mother. Not to mention that it was insincere and delivered with a cheeky smile. Right now he wasn¡¯t smiling. He had gone from holding his left arm to rubbing his chest while looking at something in the distance. She looked at the spot he was looking at and saw nothing as usual. ¡°Ash? What¡¯s going on?¡± He glanced at her with a contemplative look and answered ¡°Something is up ahead.¡± ¡°Yeah, the trial, right?¡± ¡°No, not that.¡± Ash answered in a pained voice and grimaced again. Ash pointed in the general direction ¡°I think they are people and they are somehow hiding from us. They must be using magic. Otherwise I think I would have caught a glimpse of their shards.¡± ¡°I still don¡¯t understand how you do that.¡± Ash chuckled mirthlessly ¡°I am awesome.¡± ¡°Nishachars or something worse?¡± ¡°No, not them. This magic smells different.¡± ¡°Smells?¡± Ash slumped on the ground ¡°Yeah, can¡¯t you smell the nishachar magic? It smells like rotten eggs.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash ¡°No, I don¡¯t smell magic Ash.¡± She paused and asked ¡°And what does this magic smell like?¡± ¡°Like a petrol pump.¡± Sheetal took a moment to process Ash¡¯s words and then a better question popped into her head ¡°Wait a minute, so what does my magic smell like.¡± Ash looked at Sheetal with an arched brow ¡°Like hay fever.¡± Sheetal blinked ¡°What? What does hay fever smell like.¡± Ash chuckled ¡°Like the smell of flowers, fresh cut grass and spring. It¡¯s absolutely annoying. Makes me want to sneeze all the time.¡± ¡°Ha¡­Ha¡­Very funny, Ash. So these people are not enemies? Maybe we should go talk to them.¡± Ash just gave her a look ¡°No She, these guys have been following us since the trials. They stood by and watched while we battled the mental guy. And they didn¡¯t help. Now they are out there in the sandstorm. And we don¡¯t know what they want. I say we keep clear of them.¡± ¡°Ash, that¡¯s going to be hard with whatever is going on with you.¡± Ash shook his head ¡°I am going to be okay. Just give me a few minutes. And then we will continue with our plan of getting all the water, food and shards we can get our hands on before more of those stinky blue people show up.¡± ¡°Ash, you do know that we are in a better place than when we started. We can handle things now.¡± ¡°Can we?¡± She glared right back ¡°I can fly now dumbo.¡± ¡°Yeah, straight up and then you float back to the ground five feet from where you started.¡± She flung her hands in the air and started floating away from Ash. In response the area clear of the sandstorm moved with her. ¡°Look. We are in the storm and it¡¯s not hitting us. I did that.¡± Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! In response Ash looked around and blinked ¡°Huh? When did you do that?¡± Sheetal looked at Ash¡¯s baffled expression. She realised that he had been out of it for a while now and he had missed her creating the barrier. ¡°A while back, Ash. Are you okay?¡± Ash took in deep calming breaths and his face relaxed ¡°Yeah, I think I am going to be now. Just give me a bit. Now that we don¡¯t have to run, I can take a while and recuperate.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash and began grumbling ¡°Your stubborn little mother clucker. Why are you telling me what the heck is wrong with you?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ She, what are you doing?¡± Ash asked. ¡°Cursing!¡± Ash raised his eyebrows. Sheetal just looked at Ash ¡°Fine, you try to curse.¡± ¡°Not what I meant. I mean why are you slithering to the right?¡± ¡°I am trying to pace up and down but I am using most of my powers to keep this storm off us, okay?¡± ¡°Just so you know you are really bad at it. Although, if there was a sport about pacing, really-really slowly? You might win an Olympic medal. Just a bronze though. I bet some old lady would beat you.¡± Sheetal didn¡¯t respond. She turned away from Ash and looked at the wall of sand separating her from the rest of the world and screamed. ¡°Aaaaahhhhh!¡± Ash ignored her outburst and when she was done, he asked ¡°Feel better?¡± ¡°Actually, yes. I do.¡± Ash chuckled and blinked. He empathetically scratched his midriff ¡°Damn that is weird. There is a big ball of rock inside you now...¡± Sheetal looked at Ash as he stopped ¡°What? Oh. Can you stop looking inside me please¡± Ash snorted ¡°Like I have a choice.¡± Then his smile turned into a full grin ¡°Hey She, congrats, you¡¯ve got balls now.¡± Sheetal rolled her eyes ¡°Really?¡± Ash grinned back "Okay, one is smaller than the other but who am I to judge?¡± ¡°Ash, stop trying to change the topic.¡± Sheetal gave Ash a hard look and asked ¡°What is wrong with you?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ I don¡¯t want to say.¡± ¡°That¡¯s really mature, Ash.¡± ¡°Listen if I say anything you will get mad again and you will scream. Then I will scream. Then we will get into a catfight and we will end up rolling in the sand trying to claw each others faces. That will just end up in dirt getting in our clothes and in our privates. So let¡¯s just avoid all that and drop the topic, okay?¡± ¡°Catfight?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you haven¡¯t thought about it.¡± ¡°No, I haven¡¯t but if you don¡¯t tell me what is going on. I will fling you in the air.¡± Ash looked at She and tried to laugh her words off then her serious expression made him reconsider his next words. Sheetal nodded ¡°That¡¯s right buddy, try me.¡± Ash slowly raised his hands ¡°Okay. Fine. Just don¡¯t start flipping out, okay?¡± Sheetal folded her hands over her chest and asked ¡°What did you do now?¡± ¡°You know how I slotted four speed shards inside me?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Well that was kind of a wrong move.¡± ¡°Explain.¡± Sheetal growled. ¡°Well one of those speed shards I put in was in my right atrium which is¡­¡± ¡°Your heart?¡± Sheetal asked in a high pitched voice. ¡°Uh¡­ You look like you are going to scream at me again.¡± ¡°What did I tell you about not putting these shards in your vital areas?¡± Sheetal asked in a flat tone. ¡°No, you said, head. I didn¡¯t put anything in my head.¡± Sheetal took a deep breath to calm herself and then asked ¡°So, what happened.¡± ¡°Well, I kind of had a stroke.¡± ¡°A heart attack?¡± ¡°No, not a heart attack. It was a little stroke. The boxes came flying up and told me that I had a small little¡­¡± Ash looked at Sheetal''s thunderous expression and asked ¡°Why are you looking at me like that?¡± ¡°Show me your shards.¡± Sheetal ordered. ¡°Hold on. I am not done with my explanation just yet.¡± Sheetal gave Ash an incredulous look ¡°Now what did you do?¡± ¡°Well, apparently my heart wasn¡¯t strong enough so I decided to make it strong with the shard you could use.¡± ¡°The strength shard?¡± ¡°No, I decided to use that later. The best place for that was in my arms. But since I only had one, and I didn¡¯t want to have one buffed up arm of those gym rats, I decided to wait for a better time. So, I used the density shard.¡± ¡°What the heck is wrong with you!?¡± Sheetal screamed ¡°She, you are screaming again.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t shove the shards just anywhere.¡± Sheetal moved towards Ash. Ash backed away a step and then stopped ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because it has to make sense.¡± Sheetal took a breath and started again ¡°Ash. We can improve these shards by increasing their potency. All that potentiality we got is used to do that.¡± Ash gave her a blank look ¡°Uh¡­ What?¡± ¡°Have you not been reading your notifications?¡± ¡°The spam? No. I just hit the ball and shut it off.¡± Ash dismissed the thought. Sheetal closed her eyes and counted to ten. ¡°Hello? Ash to She. Why do you have your eyes closed?¡± Sheetal opened her eyes and glared at her¡­ At her¡­ friend? No. Not a friend. Well something else. ¡°Ash, what happens when you increase the strength of your speed shard and not your density shard? Which are both next to your heart?¡± ¡°Umm¡­¡± ¡°Your heart is going to fail.¡± Sheetal explained. Ash gave Sheetal a strange look. ¡°Why are you looking at me like that?¡± Sheetal asked. Ash gave Sheetal a guilty look ¡°Well¡­ It kind of already happened.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°But you are wrong too. It doesn¡¯t work like that. If I had just used the density shard on my heart, then maybe. But I added the density shard to stabilise my heart, not the other way.¡± ¡°Explain¡± Sheetal moved towards Ash and looked at him with a steely glare. Ash stopped at the look Sheetal was giving him. ¡°You know, when we were fighting that crazy constable, I needed to use as much speed as I could. So I put a speed shard in my heart. After that it kept beating faster and I could feel it straining¡­¡± ¡°You were having a heart attack while we were fighting?¡± Sheetal asked in a deadly voice. ¡°No.¡± Ash said unconvincingly and quickly added ¡°The guy was already dead. So, I decided to sit with you while my heart stopped doing weird things.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me?¡± Sheetal snarled. ¡°Well, you started acting all tough and killed a guy by stabbing him a lot. And then you went and got all silent and broody. So I decided to broach the subject later?¡± ¡°And?¡± Ash scratched the back of his head ¡°Well right now, it happened again so to stop my heart from bursting I put in the density shard.¡± ¡°Right now? When you fell, you almost died?¡± ¡°No?¡± Ash lied as he scooted backwards from an angry Sheetal. Sheetal gave him a flat look. ¡°Relax. I wouldn¡¯t have died. Every time my heart did the aching thing, the glowy thing happened, and it fixed it.¡± Ash replied in a squeaky voice. ¡°The glowing thing is our potentiality being used to repair our organs to bring us back from the brink of death you blockhead.¡± ¡°Well, it was a little glowing thing only around my heart.¡± Sheetal rushed at Ash and grabbed him by the collar of his dirty white t-shirt. She growled ¡°Ash, you bonehead. If you do anything like this again. I will make you fly.¡± Ash felt She¡¯s power encompass him and jolt him upwards. He looked at his folded feet which were now hovering a foot above the ground. ¡°Understand?¡± Sheetal asked with the same growl. Ash nodded quickly ¡°Okay. Okay. Calm down.¡± Sheetal closed her eyes and let Ash go. He fell back to the ground and rubbed his bottom. With her closed eyes she heard him scamper away from her while muttering ¡°How the heck do you know where to put the shards anyway?¡± Sheetal opened her eyes and glared at the younger man ¡°I just bought a book called Soul. hard. Maintenance. You dimwit.¡± ¡°Oh, that. But isn¡¯t it just maintenance though.¡± ¡°Ash. Shut up. I am trying to figure out the best way to handle this.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, She. Listen. I don¡¯t need a book to tell me what¡¯s going on. I can see my shards. They are okay.¡± Sheetal turned to look at Ash ¡°Ash, what does your magic smell like?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Ash was silent for a moment and then shrugged ¡°I don¡¯t know. I can¡¯t smell my own magic.¡± ¡°Exactly. Then how the heck can you self diagnose yourself?¡± ¡°Okay that is some straight up doctor talk and you are not that kind of doctor.¡± ¡°Listen to me you dumbo¡­¡± Ash shot up to his feet ¡°No She, you listen to me. I will be okay. I just can¡¯t push myself that hard right now.¡± ¡°How do you even know that?¡± ¡°I can see shards and what they do. This one is changing my heart into something tougher. Until that happens I can¡¯t push myself like I did with that blue skinned mental guy.¡± Sheetal blinked and stopped. For a moment she just looked at Ash. ¡°Yeah.¡± Ash smiled and in a confident tone added ¡°I am awesome.¡± ¡°Right, awesomely dumb.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± Ash chuckled ¡°I know what I am doing. If I get close to death I will do that glowing stuff and come back all fixed.¡± Sheetal pinched the bridge of her nose ¡°I repeat. You are a dimwit.¡± ¡°We concur.¡± A female voice announced. Sheetal and Ash stiffened. They both slowly turned around. A strange figure was standing tall in the sandstorm just outside the barrier Sheetal had made. The sand and the winds lashed the world around it, but the figure just stood there like a statue. ¡°May we join you?¡± The figure asked. Ash slowly drew out his tonfas ¡°I was wondering when you would show yourself. Come on then, let¡¯s have a look at you.¡± The figure nodded and the futuristic armoured figure slowly walked towards them with their hands raised in a peaceful gesture. Ash whispered ¡°Okay. That¡¯s fire bro.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± A male voice responded from the helmet. ¡°Hey, what happened to the hot female voice?¡± Ash asked. ¡°I am still here.¡± This time the voice came from the armour. Ash walked closer to the armoured figure and leaned in to look in the helmet. He frowned as the helmet¡¯s visor remained opaque. The man inside the helmet held up a hand and moments later a glowing seem began travelling down vertically in the middle of the helmet. The seam split into six as it sectioned the helmet into six separate parts. The helmet hissed as it released cool air and parted like clamps all the way from the top of the head to the neck. Then on unseen struts and hinges the parts slid onto the shoulders of the clean-cut man to create epaulettes. Sheetal¡¯s eyes lit up when she saw the mechanics of the helmet and then her eyes travelled down to the rest of the futuristic armour. Ash on the other took two steps back with a frown adorning his face as he looked at Taran E65. The man smiled ¡°Hello! I am Taran E65. A scout from the Continuum forces. Do you mind talking to us?¡± ¡°Us?¡± Sheetal asked. A moment later seven lights lit up the sandstorm and moved towards them. Sheetal slid towards Ash. Ash took a combative stance ¡°No. Not until you reveal the source of the hot voice.¡± Sheetal turned to look at Ash with a disapproving look. ¡°What? I haven¡¯t gotten some for three months. And that is because someone complained and decided to separate me from the staff. Not cool, She.¡± Sheetal rolled her eyes ¡°We couldn¡¯t afford for you to bring attention to the initiative.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t bringing any attention to us.¡± ¡°Yes, you were.¡± ¡°Do you think that after all the debauched things I was letting them do to me, anyone was unhappy? Much less talk about it?¡± Taran looked at the two warders. They had squared off against each other and were ignoring him and the superb seven. He cleared his throat. ¡°Hem¡­ Hem¡­ Hem¡­¡± The warders completely ignored him and continued arguing. Sheetal floated lower and glared ¡°Oh yes, they talked. They sang when I questioned them.¡± ¡°Of course, they did. They were trying to save themselves.¡± ¡°You, seducing half the hospital staff was offensive. Organising an orgy? That was wrong on so many levels that I can¡¯t put it in words.¡± Ash quirked his lips ¡°In my defence it wasn¡¯t the first orgy. And they didn¡¯t talk about that, did they?¡± Suddenly all the armoured suits around them lit up their flood lights to their maximum levels blinding Ash and She momentarily. While Ash and She blinked away the after spots the female voice asked ¡°Are you both always like this?¡± ¡°Hey, it¡¯s the hot voice again.¡± Ash smiled ¡°Hello, hot stuff. Which one are you?¡± The voice chuckled ¡°I am in every armour. To clarify you unasked question warder, I am an AI. But thank you for your kind words. However, if you want, I can introduce you to a willing biological individual who I am sure would enjoy your attention.¡± Taran frowned ¡°Marshall, if you are talking about Pretty. I do not approve.¡± Ash stopped and looked around. The armoured suits were shaking in laughter. ¡°AI? You are an AI?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Like, a code of ones and zeros?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Well, dang me!¡± He responded in a deflated voice. ¡°Really?¡± Sheetal hissed. Ash shrugged at Sheetal and then turned to Taran E65 ¡°Okay armoured guy¡­¡± Ash turned his gaze to the armour and in a husky continued ¡°And you, hot voice. What do you want?¡± Taran gave Ash a look ¡°Umm¡­ My eyes are up here, warder.¡± ¡°Yeah, well I wasn¡¯t speaking to you.¡± ¡°Ash!¡± Sheetal smacked Ash on his shoulder and floated ahead to address E65 ¡°My partner here is a bit crass. But his question is valid. What do you all want?¡± Taran E65 smiled ¡°I want to accompany you into the trial and help you get, how did you put it, all the water, food and shards you can get your hands on.¡± Sheetal raised an eyebrow and looked at Ash. Ash grinned ¡°Yup. They have been listening to us.¡± Sheetal turned to look at Taran E65 for an explanation. E65 just shrugged ¡°If you want to keep your words private maybe you should consider not being so loud?¡± Ash cocked his head to the side ¡°Huh? Nah, we¡¯ll be loud.¡± Sheetal ignored Ash and continued ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Well, I couldn¡¯t help you earlier with the constable, I didn¡¯t have adequate back up. Now that my people have arrived, let me make it up to you.¡± ¡°So, you were watching us.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash. Ash looked from the man to the other figures in the storm lighting up the area with their floodlights and then back at Taran E65 ¡°Okay, fine by me.¡± ¡°What?¡± Sheetal whirled at Ash. ¡°The man wants to help, She. Let¡¯s let him help.¡± ¡°They have been spying on us.¡± ¡°Eh¡­ Who cares? I am thirsty and hungry.¡± Sheetal blinked and then looked at Ash¡¯s expression. Somehow, she got the feeling that Ash was not saying something aloud and he just wanted her to agree with him. The feeling was so clear that she floated a step back and to her surprise agreed. ¡°Okay, lead on¡­¡± Sheetal paused ¡°Uh¡­ What was your name again?¡± ¡°Taran E65.¡± Ash grimaced ¡°E65? That¡¯s a horrible name.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Sheetal nodded ¡°How about you give us your real name.¡± ¡°Eff that. What about we just call you Tee.¡± Taran looked from one warder to the other and sighed ¡°Please don¡¯t call me that.¡± ¡°Why not just Taran?¡± Taran shook his head. ¡°How about E?¡± Taran E65¡¯s shoulders slumped ¡°No.¡± Chapter 20 - Corporate HR Lingo Sheetal watched the people around her. After their decision, they had all moved into the stormless bubble she had created. After a minute or two of Sheetal standing around watching them and the armoured people looking back awkwardly. Taran E65 moved his people to the side to confer with them. None of them spoke aloud, but with their postures and twitches, Sheetal knew they were conversing. Taran E65 looked at the squad surrounding him. They had effectively broken both the warder¡¯s line of sight of him and his uncovered face. Taran turned his gaze to Paravati 333 and stated ¡°Major, this is not what we agreed to.¡± ¡°Plans change E65. You need to be more flexible.¡± Tar shrugged. Taran E65 ignored his older variant and continued looking at the Major ¡°Why are you changing our plans so haphazardly? Our job here is almost done, Major. Let¡¯s just get these two some water, some fish, and a shard or two, and go home.¡± Parvati 333 gestured to the gate ¡°Have you taken a look at the gate, E65? It is a waterfall. An unlimited source of water in this gods cursed desert. Fresh water, without any beasts. The continuum always needs fresh water. And here it is.¡± Taran E65 ¡°It¡¯s in a trial major. One wrong move and the trial will disappear.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s why we will not make a mistake and you will keep those two buffoons from the beasts in there.¡± Parvati 333 said sternly. E65 stiffened ¡°Are you seriously relegating me to a babysitting mission Major?¡± Parvati 333 snorted ¡°I didn¡¯t do that, our leaders did that and you agreed.¡± ¡°My mission was to procure two assets and bring them in quietly with your support. I can ask Marshall Lara to repeat the orders I received for everyone¡¯s benefit.¡± Taran held up his hand with the glowing AI. ¡°Do not threaten me with the ATI, Taran E65.¡± Parvati 333 snarled and in a more measured tone continued ¡°You might be favourite of the command but to me you are just another unaugmented grunt. Do you seriously think I will get reprimanded if somehow you got lost in the desert?¡± Taran E65¡¯s eyes widened and in a confused tone he asked ¡°Are you threatening me Major?¡± Parvati 333 took in a deep breath ¡°Threatening you? Not quite. But I am reminding you that the desert is a hard place for one unaugmented man without any support.¡± E65 looked at all the members of the superb seven squad. They had all closer ranks with their leaders and were waiting for his next move. Taran E65 shook his head and muttered ¡°This is a mistake, Major.¡± ¡°No, you are being shortsighted E65. It¡¯s because at the end of the day you are an engineer. And unless something is lying scattered in front of you, it doesn¡¯t grab your attention. And that is why you can¡¯t see new possibilities when they are even pressed close to your face.¡± Ash ran a gaze over the huddled continuum people, he looked at the stiff body language of the robot soldiers and then went back to looking at the metal carvings on the metal gate. Sheetal hovered next to him and looked at the carving. There was a huge waterfall that ranged from the top of the arched gate to the bottom. Before the waterfall were numerous floating platforms. And that was it. No beast. No enemies. And no glowing eyes. Something about that rubbed Ash the wrong way and he asked Sheetal ¡°Hey She? Do you think the situation inside this gate is going to be as simple as it appears?¡± Sheetal looked at the gate and then dismissed the thought as not important. There were more important things to be addressed right now. More important like the metal armoured people with large guns strapped to their back and her br¡­, no, friend¡­ No, that was too impersonal. Her bratty little Ash was dying. Her bratty little Ash? What the heck was wrong with her. ¡°She?¡± Sheetal shook her head to dismiss the wayward thoughts and tried to address the developing situation ¡°Ash, I want to talk¡­¡± ¡°Not now, She. Let¡¯s wait until our new friends start the conversation.¡± Sheetal looked baffled for a moment and then turned from Ash to the continuum squad. ¡°Could you not look?¡± Ash said in annoyance. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°You just gave up the fact that we are talking about them. And now that they know, let''s start gossiping.¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t want to talk about them?¡± Sheetal asked while folding her arms. Ash chuckled ¡°Yes. But now that we know that they can hear everything we say, let¡¯s say something spiteful.¡± Sheetal from the corner of her eyes saw one of the continuum soldiers glance at them and then hide his movement. ¡°Spiteful?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Yes, like how do you think they pee and poop with all that armour.¡± ¡°That¡¯s spiteful?¡± ¡°Okay, how about, their armour makes them look like big black¡­¡± ¡°Ash!¡± Sheetal hissed. Ash chuckled ¡°Still annoyed about that?¡± Sheetal snarled ¡°That was not yours.¡± ¡°I know. That¡¯s why I stole it.¡± Sheetal closed her eyes ¡°Do you think that this is the time to discuss your kleptomania¡± ¡°No?¡± Ash asked and then shrugged ¡°Okay. Fine let''s get to the point. ¡°Point? What point?¡± ¡°Points actually. Points like they might not say anything aloud but their gestures are loud enough to let us know they are fighting?¡± Sheetal watched the continuum soldiers pause for a second and look at them. In response Ash waved ¡°Hey, tough guys. We can¡¯t hear you but we can see you.¡± Sheetal snorted ¡°Yeah, that might be embarrassing but its not spiteful.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Okay, how about how bad they stink when they come out of all that stuffy armour?¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Said like someone who has never worn a bulletproof jacket? You reek after taking that off.¡± ¡°I am trying to be serious here.¡± ¡°And I am trying to distract you.¡± Sheetal gave Ash an annoyed look but she soon realised that he was looking past her, Sheetal turned and watched two of the continuum people walking towards them. One of them looked at the gate and then turned to Ash. ¡°Warders.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± Ash said in the same tone. ¡°You are right. Our armour can pick up audio, cancel the ambient noise and relay the important speech even if it is whispered. That¡¯s how we know what you have been talking about.¡± ¡°Oh I figured that out already. Tell me something I don¡¯t know.¡± Ash made a dismissive gesture. ¡°Very well. Our digestive functions in our body have been revamped. We don¡¯t need to excrete out the waste anymore. It is a well known fact that we, the ascended, don''t need toilets. And for that matter, neither do you.¡± ¡°What?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°I know that too.¡± Ash muttered and gave Sheetal a pointed look. The woman inside the armour looked from Sheetal to Ash ¡°Okay how about this. Our armour regulates our temperatures inside. It keeps us two degrees cooler than our optimum body temperature. That means we are never dehydrated or have the need to lug around litres of water in battle.¡± ¡°Nice!¡± Ash nodded in appreciation. The woman stood up tall. Her face might have been covered but her body language looked smug as she continued ¡°That means when we come out of it, we smell fresh and clean. And we definitely do not reek.¡± ¡°That one got under your skin, didn¡¯t it?¡± Parvati M141 lifted her right hand and one of her fingers parted to reveal a scalpel ¡°How about I get under your skin?¡± ¡°Needles.¡± The one in command said warningly. Ash turned to look at the woman on the right. And realised that the one who he was talking to wasn¡¯t in command. ¡°Sorry Trips, I mean Major. But that reek comment did get under my skin.¡± ¡°Needles?¡± Ash asked with a quirk of his lips. The woman sighed ¡°I am Parvati M141. My call sign is needles.¡± Ash giggled goofily ¡°Needles and Trips.¡± Parvati 333 sighed and shot her medic a look. Ash¡¯s eyebrows rose into his forehead. They both glared the same way. Were they sisters? He looked from one to the other. Then he turned to look at the others. There were two large men standing on each side of the party. Ash ran a quick gaze over them. They had the same musculature structure and the same sort of gait. Then there was Taran E65 and the man the was arguing with. They both had the same sort of posture. And even the rapid gestures they were making at each other looked the same. So much so that if E65 didn¡¯t have his helmet off he wouldn¡¯t have been able to make out which one was which. The last one was the only one who looked different. He was a tall lanky man standing at the periphery of the group. ¡°Hmmm¡­¡± Ash turned back and looked back at the two women in front of him. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°Since I have answered some of your questions, may I ask some of mine?¡± Parvati M141 asked. ¡°What do you want to know?¡± Sheetal asked. The woman turned to Sheetal and asked ¡°How many shards can your body take?¡± Ash cleared his throat before Sheetal could respond ¡°I don¡¯t know. How many can yours take?¡± ¡°Eight. Now, will you tell me how many?¡± Needles asked in a challenging voice. ¡°Eight?¡± Sheetal muttered looking at Ash. Ash grinned ¡°It¡¯s more than eight. A lot more than eight. But why do you want to know?¡± ¡°The ¡®M¡¯ in my name stands for medico. I am a healer. I am responsible for the health of this group. I need to know everything about you if we want this trial to go smoothly.¡± Ash looked at the woman ¡°You are coming into the trials with us? I thought only Taran E65 was heading in with us.¡± ¡°There has been a change of plans. This trial has water. We need water. We will go in and fill up our tank.¡± ¡°What tank?¡± Sheetal asked. In response Major Trips hit a button on her forearm. Nothing happened for a second. Then a space just outside Sheetal¡¯s bubble of air rippled and three vehicles appeared out of nowhere. The sandstorm had mostly passed and only wayward gusts of sand remained that meant when the vehicles turned visible Sheetal and Ash had a clear line of sight at the woman sitting inside the lead transport with a rifle pointing towards them. The woman turned her head left and then right. For a moment, the short woman looked at all the people looking at her and then cursed. ¡°Trips! A little warning before you make me visible?¡± Parvati 333¡¯s shoulders drooped ¡°Sorry, Rub. I was making a point.¡± Ruby F435 grumbled, got out of the vehicle and slammed the door behind herself. Major Trips pointed at the second vehicle in line ¡°Jay 83 and 84. Turn that one into a tanker. Ruby F435 assist them please.¡± Sheetal hud instantly identified the vehicle. Transport Vehicle Category Class 1 Type - Modular Sheetal watched in awe as the two large men trudged to the vehicle and opened up a panel. One of them held a button while the other one pushed on the vehicle from one side. The vehicle¡¯s width compressed. Ruby walked to the front of the vehicle and pushed on the grill. A set of tires slowly descended next to the first ones. She walked to the back and another set came down. Ruby walked inside and one by one, the vehicle¡¯s windows disappeared. Soon the vehicle had transformed from a normal transport to a blocky rectangle that could be driven inside of the gate. While her team worked Major Trips continued ¡°We have come here to tell you that we will not be battling the beasts inside. If we do that, the trial will disappear. And we need water from the trail.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean we won¡¯t be getting any shards then?¡± Ash asked. ¡°Yes, its unfortunate but water is more important than a hunt.¡± Sheetal turned an annoyed look at Major Trips ¡°So, everything that Taran guy just said was nonsense?¡± Parvati 333 stiffened ¡°I wouldn¡¯t go that far.¡± Sheetal rolled her eyes ¡°Yes it was. Tell you what, you all do what you want to. We¡¯ll go in, get ourselves a drink and then we¡¯ll be off.¡± ¡°No.¡± Major Trips replied in a stern voice. ¡°What do you mean, no?¡± Ash in a neutral tone. ¡°You need to come with us.¡± Needles quickly jumped into the conversation and continued ¡°We have a base. You will be safe there.¡± ¡°Safe?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Yes, none of the Raks would dare assault our based.¡± Parvati M141 nodded and elaborated ¡°There are hundreds of us there. We also have automatic defences that protect us against any dangerous flora and fauna that escaped the trials. Food, water, and shards? We can get you all that in the base.¡± ¡°That may be so. But you have just broken your word. The first word you gave to us. All the business experience I have is screaming at me to not to deal with you. You can not be trusted.¡± Ash watched the others while Sheetal spoke. The two large men were now folding the vehicle¡¯s chairs until they looked like bumps on the floor. Taran E65 was standing alone looking defeated. They weren¡¯t the issue. The issue was the other man Taran had been arguing with had taken a position on the periphery of the bubble with his rifle in hand. His rifle was pointed at the ground but was aimed towards them. And the last man, Ash did not know when, had positioned himself behind Ash and Sheetal and was eyeing them with a hand on his pistol. The Major leaned towards Sheetal confrontationally ¡°You will come with us if you know what is good for you.¡± ¡°Or else?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Or you will die slowly of hunger and dehydration.¡± Parvati M141 added. Ash saw the building confrontation and quickly waved to Taran E65 ¡°Hey, E¡­ Something, something number guy. What do you think we should do?¡± Taran E65 raised his head and looked at Ash ¡°Um¡­ You are asking me?¡± ¡°Yeah, man. You are the only other guy who looks as disappointed as us.¡± Ash smiled and added ¡°Okay, you look more disappointed than us. So, what should we do?¡± Taran licked his lips ¡°I suggest you come with us. We do have food and water. We can discuss with the command group about the shards.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Ash nodded easily. Sheetal turned to Ash with a questioning look ¡°Ash?¡± Ash shrugged ¡°She, they want to give us food, water and shards. Without us having to run from one place to another. Let¡¯s take the deal before the nice people change their minds.¡± Sheetal stopped and then nodded ¡°Uh¡­ When you put it like that¡­¡± Ash grinned ¡°I know. Told you I am awesome.¡± Sheetal rolled her eyes and asked ¡°What makes you think they will keep their promise this time?¡± Ash began to walk towards Taran E65 and Sheetal followed him. He pointed at E65 ¡°E something didn¡¯t break his word. The others did. Let¡¯s trust in our new buddy. He is still going to get us food and water right?¡± Taran E65 nodded ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Good because I am hungry.¡± ¡°And thirsty.¡± Sheetal licked her lips. ¡°You mean right now?¡± E65 asked. ¡°Yes.¡± Ash and Sheetal said together and looked at each other. Then they laughed. Taran E65 opened his mouth and said ¡°Uh¡­I¡¯ll see what I can do for you.¡± and walked to his trike. Ash heard a shuffling sound and turned. The man that had been arguing with Taran E65 stepped closer to them. ¡°Hello?¡± Ash asked. The man turned his head down to look at Ash ¡°You are smarter than you look.¡± ¡°And you are?¡± The man invaded Ash¡¯s personal space and in a growl muttered ¡°I am Taran A197. Unlike the youngling fetching you food, I am an assault class.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Ash watched Sheetal from the side of his vision prepare to take flight. ¡°You think you can sweet talk your way out of anything do you?¡± ¡°Sweet talk? I don¡¯t sweet talk man. I am annoying. Even I know that.¡± Ash shook his head hoping Sheetal would take the hint. Tar pocked Ash with a finger ¡°Well, what makes you think that we will give you the shards you want?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ Your boss said she would?¡± ¡°What makes you think that you are worth it?¡± Tar brought his gun up and pointed just a few inches away from Ash¡¯s chest. Ash looked at Sheetal ¡°Hey She?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Am I worth it?¡± ¡°Most probably not.¡± ¡°Then why did this man¡¯s boss said she would give me the shards?¡± ¡°Most probably to shut you up.¡± ¡°Yeah, that tracks.¡± Taran pressed his helmet visor on Ash¡¯s forehead ¡°You think you are funny?¡± Ash gave the man a confused look ¡°Mate I don¡¯t know what you are on about¡­ Wait your name is Taran too? What gives?¡± Taran A197 who had started audibly growling stopped and just looked at Ash ¡°Maybe you are not as smart as I thought.¡± ¡°Yeah, I am not.¡± Ash turned from A197 to look at E65 who was jogging back and asked ¡°Are you both related?¡± A197 leaned back ¡°You are a dunce.¡± Taran E65 walked back with a bag and scowled ¡°Shut up Tar.¡± Taran A197¡¯s shoulders shook as he laughed ¡°Yeah, a dunce and an E class. Sounds like the start of a bad joke.¡± He straightened and then asked ¡°So, you both agreed to our conditions quite quickly. Why is that?¡± Ash shrugged ¡°You have water. We need water. Also, I have been running a lot. And my shoes are one step from giving up.¡± Tar looked at Ash¡¯s sneakers. They had holes in their fabric and a cracked sole. Sheetal blinked ¡°Ash, when did that happen.¡± Ash sighed ¡°When I did the speed thing with the mental guy.¡± ¡°You mean the mentalist constable¡± Taran E65 corrected Ash. ¡°Huh?¡± Ash asked Sheetal shook her head ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say anything?¡± Ash turned from E65 to Sheetal ¡°She, with everything strange happening around us all the time around us, my shoes were the least of our problems.¡± Sheetal flung her hands in the air ¡°Communication, that is the bedrock of collaboration.¡± Ash gave Sheetal a look ¡°Okay, corporate HR conference lingo.¡± Ash from the corner of his eyes saw Tar lower his rifle on his back and relax his shoulders. Sheetal grumbled something inaudible. Ash turned to Taran A197 ¡°Hey, Tar man. You got your helmet up. Did you understand what she just said?¡± Tar chuckled ¡°Yes, your friend here just called you a stubborn basket case.¡± ¡°Oh, then that¡¯s okay.¡± Ash nodded ¡°That¡¯s normal for her.¡± Tar gave Ash a look ¡°You know agreeing to come with us was the right move.¡± ¡°I know. Look at all the food E something got us.¡± Ash peeked in the bag ¡°Is that a cold drink? Robot guy, you are the best.¡± From the side of his vision, Ash watched Tar slam his gun to his back and walk away. Ash sat down on the sandy ground and pulled Sheetal down with him. He watched the continuum people look at them for a moment and dismiss them as a concern when he began taking out tins of food while smacking his lips. Ash popped a can open and handed it to Sheetal and muttered ¡°Hey chill out dude. You are not the first guy who has been railroaded by a superior and you won¡¯t be the last.¡± Taran E65 blinked and looked down when he realised that Ash was talking to him. ¡°Are we talking?: Sheetal asked tentatively. Ash shook his head. Taran pointedly flexed the wrist which was glowing blue and muttered ¡°Sure we can talk. But I would suggest not saying something that would cause problems.¡± He paused for a second ¡°The superb seven are touchy.¡± ¡°Superb seven?¡± Sheetal asked with raised eyebrows. ¡°That¡¯s what they call themselves.¡± ¡°Wait, and you are not a part of their team are you?¡± ¡°No, why?¡± ¡°Because their name doesn¡¯t track. There are only six of them.¡± Sheetal looked at the squad milling around and stated. ¡°Yes.¡± E65 scowled and after a moment muttered ¡°They say they keep a position open for someone who would impress them. But to impress them you have to beat one of the Jays.¡± ¡°The Jays?¡± Ash asked. ¡°The big guys. They are¡­ Well, they are good.¡± E65 said with grudging respect. Ash nodded ¡°Well, that¡¯s fire and all, Taran E some numbers. But enough of them. We are with you. So when are we going in?¡± Taran E65 looked at Ash ¡°It¡¯s E65 and do you still want to follow me? After¡­¡± Ash looked at E65 slumped shoulders and lingering frown ¡°Hey, it happens. Especially with strong powerful women. They huff, puff, and take over without any consideration, and soon all you are left just holding your dong. If you are lucky. If you are not, you are left clutching your berries, in a ball.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash and shook her head ¡°And still some men never learn.¡± ¡°She, if a man learned, you would lose all respect for him. It¡¯s like when you women say to men, be open with your feelings, talk about things, and cry if you need to. But as soon as a man does that, you all cringe, block his number and delete him from your lives.¡± Sheetal opened her mouth and closed it. Then grumbled ¡°Not all of us.¡± ¡°Are you going to tell me that you don¡¯t do that?¡± Sheetal bit into something that looked like a baby corn ¡°I can tell you I have never done that.¡± ¡°Right, of course. You are a virgin.¡± Sheetal glared at Ash ¡°And you are a hoe.¡± ¡°Prude.¡± ¡°Dunce.¡± ¡°Nerd.¡± ¡°Blockhead.¡± Taran E65 looked at the two warders with an open mouth and said ¡°Uh¡­ Um¡­ I am just going to go and talk to the major. Try not to kill each other while I am away, okay?¡± E65 took a step and realised that he was being ignored by the insults flying back and forth. ¡°Geek.¡± ¡°Slut.¡± ¡°Hardhead.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not even an insult, you airhead.¡± Taran E65 shook his head and wondered if the two people behind him were insane. He walked to the corner of the barrier and looked outside. A line marked the difference between the inside and outside. There were footprints and tyre tracks on one side, on the other was wavy sand. The storm was gone and with the flex of his hand he realised that the warders had completely lowered the strange bubble they had created. He stood there for a moment looking at the starry nebula overhead and then he heard someone walking to him. He turned around and looked at Parvati 333 making her way to him. For outsiders it was hard to tell one continuum soldier from another but to one who was born and brought up in the continuum it was easy to spot the difference. And then there were the arguments and their advantages. Parvati 333 had both spinal and cranial augs. That made her both surefooted and fast. Not as fast as Ash had been. The man had almost teleported but he could bet that the major could outrun him in stamina. Parvati 333 stopped next to Taran E65 and looked at him ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to snap at you E65.¡± Taran looked at the officer ¡°Yes you did Major. You don¡¯t like the unaugmented. You look down on us.¡± Parvati 333 pursed her lips and nodded ¡°I don¡¯t look down on you. It¡¯s your abilities I question. You could be so much more.¡± Taran E65 chuckled ¡°I have performed my duties better than anyone in the demolition core and yet I face criticism everywhere I go.¡± ¡°That may be so but you are one bad day away from turning into ash.¡± Taran shook his head ¡°Major, don¡¯t you think I haven¡¯t tried to get augs? I three thousand seven hundred sixty eighth in number to get cranial augments. The assault commander has promised that if I get these two back home she will get me the augs I need. That is why I want to complete this mission so bad.¡± Parvati 333 looked at Taran E65 for a moment and nodded ¡°Okay E65, we will go in first.¡± Parvati 333 said in a low voice and while looking at the warders continued ¡°You can bring up the rear with those two weirdos.¡± Taran E65 frowned ¡°Major, I am asking you once again to reconsider.¡± Maor Trips scowled ¡°E65, I have already decided that we are going in.¡± E65 opened his mouth to argue only to be stopped by the harsh glare Parvati 333 shot him. He slowly backed up a step and gave her a disgruntled look. Parvati 333 sighed ¡°Taran E65, I agreed to your conditions before we knew that these two warders had stumbled onto a trial with pristine water. Water, E65. We need water. The continuum needs water much more than it needs two bumbling fools. And I am ready to stake my career on that.¡± ¡°What about my job Major. I am supposed to bring in the warders without any conflicts. No matter how easy a trial looks, it¡¯s still a trial.¡± ¡°Then why did you agree to take them in?¡± ¡°To show them that it was dangerous. Then I was going to drag them out and be on our way.¡± Parvati 333 made a dismissive gesture ¡°Whatever the case E65 I don¡¯t see any issue in bringing them in. They have agreed to that already. Now, if all that is stopping you is your bruised ego I suggest you take a step back and take a wider view.¡± Taran E65 clenched his jaw and stepped back ¡°As you wish Major Trips but have you considered one simple fact? Why are the high councillor and assault commander interested in the warders if they are just two simple fools?¡± Parvati 333 rolled her eyes ¡°I don¡¯t know but I like to give my superiors much more than what they demand of me. So I am not only going to come back with two wayward lost lambs but also the location of freshwater and a tank full of it. They will praise us when they don¡¯t have to bargain for water from the Rundheers. And I will put in a recommendation for you too.¡± E65 shook his head and sighed ¡°Very well major. I will follow your lead. You want me to bring in the rear? I will do so. My only recommendation is that you take Marshall Lara with you. She will help you assess the best possible spot to pump the water into the tanker so that we can get out of here as fast as possible and bring the warders to the councillor.¡± Parvati 333 looked at Taran E65 for a long moment and then asked ¡°You want to actually give away the privilege of holding the Marshall?¡± E65 smiled curtly ¡°I like to give my superiors exactly what they ask for, nothing less and nothing more. If that requires me to give away some honour, so be it.¡± Parvati 333 nodded and held out her right arm. Taran reached out and touched her forearm with his. The blue glowing light blinked in between their arms and then transferred to Parvati 333¡¯s armour. Taran E65 took a few steps back and turned back around to look at the stars. The major watched him for a moment and then muttered ¡°You are not bad, kid. You just need to be more.¡± By the time Taran turned to look at the major she was walking away. E65 sighed in relief and then quickly opened a secure channel. He tried to get in touch with General Athena 8. When his channel didn¡¯t connect he tried in getting in touch with Pretty. Beep. Beep. Ding. ¡°Hey T.¡± E65 smiled at the familiar voice ¡°Please don¡¯t call me that.¡± ¡°You sound grumpy. Ew. Grumpy T. Not my favourite.¡± ¡°Pretty, I need to talk to the general.¡±E65 tried to keep the conversation on track. ¡°Oh well that¡¯s going to be impossible. General Athena got shot in the head with a soul spike.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Yeah. Some Rak scum thought he could take out the general like that. What a ninny. All he did was mess up her helmet and destroy her comm links.¡± ¡°Oh, thank the gods.¡± ¡°Yeah. The dingo was aiming at me too. She saved me, T.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Very funny, T.¡± E65 could hear the scowl in her words and he could feel himself relaxing by just talking to his friend. He shook himself to get back on track. ¡°Pretty, I have just gotten rid of the Marshall so that I could talk to you so I need to make this quick. The superb seven have hijacked my mission. I can¡¯t bring the warders to the fire city. I will need to take them to the forward operating base after I am done here. Also, I don¡¯t know how to say this but the warders, they feel a bit strange.¡± Pretty was silent for a moment ¡°Okay, I just told the General what you said. She says keep the warders away from here. There are too many Nishachars here. And she is expecting a push by the Rakshasas. Take them to the FOB. We will get them out of there as soon as we can. She doesn¡¯t expect that Jay 7 will do anything to them. And what do you mean by strange?¡± Taran chewed on his lip for a moment ¡°They might be insane.¡± ¡°What? What makes you think that?¡± ¡°A lot of things. They keep joking even when people are threatening them. They look at guns pointing at themselves and shrug it off. They also keep casually insulting each other while all that is happening. It¡¯s like something is broken inside them.¡± Pretty relayed his words to General Athena and came back ¡°Okay, here is what the General says. It¡¯s most probably normal. But we saved people they know and we will inquire about them and their behaviour from them. But right now you need to keep them safe and get them to the FOB.¡± Taran sighed ¡°Okay. Tell her I will protect them with my life. But I can¡¯t promise anything. The suburb seven found water and they are now fishing for a promotion.¡± ¡°Oh, those dingos.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± E65 heard the engine of the tanker start with an electric wheeze and turned around to look at the vehicle. The Jays had taken point with Tar and his laser rifle. Then came the vehicle with Parvat M142 and Rubs sitting inside it. Behind the tanker, the major and the silent Aditya 101 brought up the rear. Taran looked at the warder getting to their feet and quickly added ¡°Pretty I got go. I am bringing up the rear with the warders.¡± ¡°Stay safe T¡± ¡°You too Pretty.¡± Parvati turned to look at him ¡°E65, give us five minutes to check everything out inside and then come in.¡± Taran nodded and jogged back to the warder¡¯s side. They all watched the two Jays push the gate open and jump in. The vehicle followed the two large men and Tar. With one last look at E65, Parvati 333 jumped into the trail. E65 stood there for a moment and then let out a long sigh. ¡°Okay, so now the harpy and her sheep are gone. Why don¡¯t you tell us what is going on, spy?¡± Taran blinked and looked at Ash who was standing with his hands on his waist. Sheetal looked at Ash and shook her head ¡°Don¡¯t stand like that.¡± ¡°What, why?¡± ¡°You look like an anime girl.¡± ¡°You mean a waifu?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what that is but stop.¡± Ash rolled his eyes dramatically and turned back to look at E65 ¡°Well, Mr. bad spy, are you going to talk or what?¡± ¡°How do you know I am a spy?¡± E65 asked. Sheetal snorted ¡°Because Ash is one. I guess he knows how to spot one too.¡± ¡°She, you don¡¯t tell people that I am a spy. Well now you can since I am not one anymore.¡± Taran looked from one warder to the other and sighed. He did not know even where to begin. He opened his mouth and said ¡°So¡­¡± Chapter 21 - Blue Butt. Taran E65 looked at the two warders demanding answers from him and felt a bit self conscious. As their look went from inquisitive to a bull bore glare he began to fidget. He scratched his neck and looked everywhere but at the two pairs of annoyed eyes glaring at him now. ¡°I need a moment.¡± E65 held up a finger. Sheetal folded her hands over her chest ¡°Well go on then.¡± Taran E65 took in a deep breath. It didn¡¯t help. So, he tried to walk away to gain some space. Sheetal watched the continuum soldier take a few steps away and then followed him to the gate. The man was being evasive, and she wasn¡¯t going to allow that. She looked back and saw Ash following them both with a grin on his face. She decided to deal with him later. Right now, she needed to deal with the man in the futuristic armour. Taran E65 turned around and asked ¡°Can you give me some space please?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve had a moment, T. Now I need answers.¡± ¡°My name is¡­¡± Taran began but was immediately cut off by Sheetal. ¡°I don¡¯t care. Why did you follow us? Why are you asking us to come with you? And why are your people pointing their guns at us?¡± Sheetal shot out her questions in a rapid fire. Taran E65 frowned ¡°Is that all? Or do you want to add another question or two?¡± Sheetal thought about it and responded ¡°Yes, and why are you being so evasive?¡± Ash giggled behind her and Sheetal shot him a look and pointed a finger at her partner ¡°Shut up, you.¡± Ash held up his hands while trying to control his laughter. E65 sighed ¡°Fine. I followed you because you are warders. I don¡¯t exactly know what is so special about you but, General Athena 8, the leader I have chosen to follow, thinks you can get out of this prison we are stuck in.¡± Taran waved to the world around them. ¡°Prison?¡± Sheetal squinted. ¡°Yes, prison. The trials are a prison. At least for people like you and us. You haven¡¯t been here long. You don¡¯t know what it is like. We have seen people come and go. Heck some even return from Reir but we, the continuum, are stuck here.¡± Sheetal frowned ¡°Elaborate.¡± T sighed and began ¡°Unlike you, we have no world to go back to. Our world is dead. We killed it. We treated it like a large industrial hub to fuel the empire. We polluted it beyond anything you could imagine. When we ran out of resources, we brought down asteroids to mine. Then we went to war. And we destroyed everything.¡± ¡°Frick. You mined asteroids? How did you do that? I understand how you would go to space with chemical propulsion. But descending back with payloads of tons, that is another matter altogether.¡± Sheetal asked in a whisper. Ash gave Sheetal a look and shook his head ¡°We¡¯ll circle back to that. Actually, I won¡¯t, but crazy here, most probably will. Right now, tell me, you aren¡¯t painting a very good picture of your people so why should we come to your base?¡± E65¡¯s shoulders slumped ¡°Originally, I wanted to take you to the fire city. That¡¯s where General Athena is but that place is being invaded by the Nishachars and Vetaals. It is not safe for you, and we can¡¯t let them get their hand on you.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Ash pushed. T turned to look at Ash and pointed at his chest ¡°The shard you took to become a warder is important. Don¡¯t ask me why. I don¡¯t know. The raks would want those shards if they found about you. There is only one place we can keep you safe for now. The FOB.¡± ¡°F.O.B?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Forward operating base.¡± Ash explained, E65 nodded ¡°Yes. Look, the fire city would have been our first choice, but we are already having a hard time keeping your people safe over there. If you end up there, the raks will increase their assault and try to capture you. Best case scenario, they will hold you hostage. Worst case scenario¡­ They will kill you for the warder shard and use it to increase their assault on us.¡± ¡°Our people? You found our people?¡± Sheetal asked in a hopeful voice. Ash gave Sheetal a complicated look and then turned back to Taran E65 ¡°So, why are you spying on your own people?¡± Taran visibly flinched ¡°That¡­ That is a complicated question.¡± Ash smiled ¡°Yeah, I am sure it is. But now we are here alone in the desert without that glowing light recording everything we are saying. So, spill it.¡± T licked his lips and then began ¡°Basically the continuum has split into two parts. The augs or the augmented. They are supremacists who think that if you are not augmented you are not equal to them. That¡¯s the faction Parvati 333 belongs to. The second ones are the ones in power. The thrivers. They believe that continuum if it comes together as a whole will thrive once again.¡± ¡°By the look on your face T and your actions, I don¡¯t think you belong to either one of those. So, what about your group?¡± Ash asked with quirked lips. T squinted at Ash ¡°How did you¡­¡± E65 shook his head and continued ¡°It¡¯s not my group. It¡¯s one I belong to. The perseverance. It is operating in the shadows for now. But we are close to declaring ourselves. We believe we need to fight and persevere against all odds to gain back our honour and freedom. And that¡¯s where you both come in.¡± Ash grimaced ¡°Honour? Seriously? That makes no sense.¡± ¡°Of course it does. Just because you don¡¯t understand the concept doesn¡¯t mean it does not make any sense.¡± Sheetal chided Ash and then looked back to E65 ¡°So, T, why are you friends pointing their guns at us?¡± ¡°My name is¡­¡± ¡°T! Tee.¡± Ash quickly interjected. E65 looked at the two warders giving him challenging looks. He shook his head and started ¡°My name is...¡± Sheetal shook her head ¡°There is no way we are calling you by an alpha numeric name.¡± ¡°Yeah, who the heck do you think you are Musk¡¯s son?¡± Ash added. ¡°Uh¡­¡± T blinked. ¡°What is with you names anyway? Why are you all Taran, Jays, and Parvatis.¡± Sheetal asked. T sighed ¡°Well we are clones.¡± ¡°What?¡± Sheetal blinked ¡°Yeah, I thought as much.¡± Ash exhaled. ¡°You did?¡± Sheetal turned to Ash. ¡°They have the same bone structure, basic musculature and micro gestures. Sure, they don¡¯t think like each other, but their traits are quite similar to one another.¡± Ash explained. This time both Sheetal and E65 looked at him. Finally E65 opened his mouth and muttered ¡°Dang! You are a spy aren¡¯t you. Maybe as good as the Adityas.¡± ¡°No, he¡¯s better.¡± Sheetal said emphatically and then continued ¡°Now, you didn¡¯t answer me. Why are your people threatening us with their weapons?¡± Taran grimaced ¡°It¡¯s because¡­¡± Flash! A blinding light momentarily blinded everyone but Sheetal. Sheetal turned to look behind and saw Taran A197 stumbling out of the gate. Half of his helmet was gone. The other half sparked and was burning his face. ¡°Tar?¡± E65 blinked his eyes rapidly and in a shocked voice asked ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Taran A197 looked around and replied curtly ¡°Ambush.¡± ¡°Is everyone okay?¡± E65 asked. A197 shook his head and pointed to Taran E65 thigh ¡°E65, I need that.¡± Everyone turned to look at the spot A197 was pointing at. Suddenly A197 grabbed Sheetal by the throat and pressed her back to his chest. Ash whirled and saw A197 point his gun at him. Ash¡¯s eyes widened. Before he could move A197 pressed the trigger. Ash used his speed and threw himself to the side. A flashing hot beam crossed the distance in between him in an instant. The beam still caught him. A lance of fire cut across the side of his face. The hair from the top of his left eyebrow to the back burnt. And Ash screamed and rolled off into the sand. ¡°ASH!¡± Sheetal screamed. ¡°Shut up or I will turn you into a charcoal, cow.¡± A197 growled. E65 reached for his rifle and A197 pointed his gun at T and shook his head ¡°Don¡¯t E65.¡± ¡°Tar¡­¡± Taran A197 didn¡¯t wait to hear T¡¯s words. He jumped back and pulled Sheetal in with him. The flash momentarily blinded Sheetal. She blinked to clear her eyes. She began to use her powers to free herself Sheetal croaked ¡°Get off me.¡± Suddenly something hard and cold pressed into her neck. She tried to turn her neck to look at the spot. Before she could manage that her muscles spasmed and her body stiffened. Her teeth bit into her tongue and she landed on the ground with a thud. Sheetal with tear filled eyes looked up and saw a taser crackling in the hands of Ruby F435 hands. ¡°Why did you do that Rub?¡± Taran asked Ruby F435. ¡°We can¡¯t have her flying off, Tar.¡± ¡°By ash and sand, no we¡¯ll have to carry her.¡± ¡°What do you mean we? You will carry her.¡± Taran A197 gave her a look. Ruby F435 huffed and hurried him up. ¡°Hurry up. She is already healing. And this thing doesn¡¯t go any higher in settings.¡± Ruby gave her taser a disgruntled look. The woman was right. Sheetal on her could see her potentiality dropping as she healed. Taran A197 picked her up and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Sheetal raised her head to glare at the Ruby woman. In response Ruby tazed her again. This time in her throat. Sheetal choked and went limp. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. F435 cracked her neck ¡°Did you get the other one?¡± A197 shook his head ¡°The Jays were right. That boy is fast.¡± Ruby F435 sighed while walking besides A197 ¡°That¡¯s for the good anyways. We can¡¯t kill warders Tar.¡± A197 growled ¡°I don¡¯t understand that. We should just kill them and get it over with.¡± F435 grimaced ¡°No. Kill one warder and you will have to deal with ten more.¡± A 197 grunted and looked at Ruby F435 ¡°There are nothing special. We got them pretty easily.¡± ¡°Yeah, because we surprised them.¡± ¡°Whatever. Now let¡¯s pick up the pace before those raks do anything stupid to the major.¡± Ruby nodded and then her eyes widened. She yelled ¡°Tar watch out.¡± Plasma shots zinged next to Taran A197¡¯s feet. He looked back and saw Parvati M and the two Jay¡¯s pointing their weapons at him and Ruby. Parvati M141 shouted across the distance and the crowd of Nishachars looking at both the parties ¡°Tar, put the warder down.¡± Taran A197 looked across to the corner where Parvati M and the two Jays were hiding behind their light shields with their backs to a rocky outcrop next to the water. The nishachars didn¡¯t seem to care. They had their enemies cornered and they had outnumbered them. A197 sighed ¡°Don¡¯t do this Parvati M.¡± ¡°Tar, if the Raks want something then we should be trying our level best to deny them. We shouldn¡¯t be handing them strategic assets.¡± A197 clenched his jaw ¡°83, 84 stop Parvati M.¡± When the Jays didn¡¯t do anything Ruby F435 snarled ¡°You musclehead morons. Don¡¯t you want to keep our squid together? Kill her and come with us.¡± In response to her words both the Jays raised their gun not at Parvati M but at them. 84 shook his head ¡°Warders are special. You cannot harm them.¡± 83 nodded ¡°If you do. Not just you but all of the continuum will have to pay for your actions with our lives.¡± Taran snarled ¡°I am not afraid of some implausible threat from some mythical silver city. And not afraid of some Kel that we haven¡¯t seen ever since I first opened my eyes.¡± Behind him Ruby raised her rifle and pointed at Sheetal ¡°Stand down 83 and 84. Or I will shoot her.¡± Bang!¡± Taran A197 flinched. He looked down at himself and then at the smoking barrel of Parvati M141. He heard a thud behind him and turned to look at Ruby F435. She had a hole in her throat. Her gun had fallen from her hands, and she raised them to her throat. With a horrified look Ryby blinked at Tar and tried to say something. ¡°F¡­¡± Taran A197¡¯s words were cut short when Ruby fell and the damn fire lit her up from inside, turning both her and everything she was holding into ash and slag. Taran A197 turned back around and screamed at the nishachars and vetaals ¡°You want me to get the warder to your boss? Then stop them.¡± The raks looked at each and then all hell broke loose between the three stranded soldiers and the Rakshasa soldiers. Back in the desert, Ash shot back up to his feet. He felt Sheetal¡¯s fear run through his veins. He snarled in pain and fear. E65 rushed to Ash and helped him up and Ash took a moment to control his urge to bash E65¡¯s face in. He looked so much like A197 that it was a struggle to remind himself that they both were not the same person. ¡°Hold still.¡± T took out a tube from his belt and squirted some gel like liquid on Ash¡¯s face. Wherever the liquid touched an ivy feeling replaced the burning sensation. Even so, Ash didn¡¯t stop snarling until he looked at the confused look on E65¡¯s face. Ash took in a deep breath and withdrew his tonfas from his belt and growled ¡°T? Are you with me or against me?¡± ¡°What?¡± Ash gave T a look ¡°Your friend just tried to kill me and kidnapped my sister T. Are you with me or against me?¡± E65 shook and his voice came out trembling with anger ¡°That bastard. What was he thinking?¡± ¡°T? Make up your mind. Right now.¡± Ash¡¯s voice was flat. E65 looked at the warder and took a short step back. His grey eyes held no humour. His face had turned angular with barely held fury and his tonfas were glowing a pale yellow. And they looked hungry. Taran E65 licked his lips ¡°Warder, your weapons are¡­¡± Weapon - Tonfas Left Type - Souldrinker Souls Consumed - 1/5 Weapon - Tonfa Right Type - Souleater Souls Consumed - 1/5 Ash held them up and looked at them. He nodded ¡°Yeah. No more mister nice guy.¡± E65 gulped and unhooked the rifle from his back and unholstered his wide barreled side arm ¡°Do you even know what having those weapons means?¡± ¡°They eat souls?¡± E65 exhaled ¡°No, but we can discuss that later. But right now¡­¡± T nodded ¡°I am with you, my warder. Lead us to battle.¡± Ash¡¯s hud came to life. Party formed. Member Added Taran E65 Affiliation - Continuum - Perseverance Faction (Hidden) Call Sign Assigned - T Note - All potentiality gained will be divided between you and your partner. Party members will gain potentiality from your share. Ash did not know what that meant and he didn¡¯t care. He just wanted to¡­ No, he needed to go and save Sheetal. He grimaced and was about to hit the ball on his hud when his hud disappeared. Instead of the boxes one line of text appeared at the bottom of his vision. Quickly replaced with another. Shard Detected - Sense Creating a new overlay. Transferring overlay to Party members. Entering Battle Mode Fight on warder. ¡°What the¡­¡± E65 blinked. ¡°Later T. We are going in.¡± E65 nodded and walked next to Ash ¡°Yes, of course.¡± Ash took a breath and walked in. Flash. Ash landed wet squishy mud. His eyes caught a pile of ash a few metres away with glowing pile of shards in the pile. He ignored them. He looked around and scanned his surroundings. Just like his instructors had taught him. One by one he broke everything into a three dimensional, three hundred a sixty-degree grid and memorised everything in an instant. He closed his eyes and pictured everything. Behind him was a tear in reality growing in its mercurial colours. Thirty metres ahead, at two o''clock was a riverbank. Beyond it was a raging river that disappeared into the distance. On top of the water were platforms that floated in the air. Standing on those were strange lizard bodied humanoids that growled and hissed down. Straight ahead was a road weaved to the right and led to a massive waterfall that flowed into the river whose loud noise muffled every sound in the area. Ten metres at eleven o''clock rocky outcrops started. Their sharp rocks would make traversing hard. On the bank of the river and close to ten metres away were barrels. Most probably holding water. Infact, the whole trial was filled with those. They would provide decent cover if they got into a firefight. Ash opened his eyes and looked at the enemy he was facing. His eyes landed on one of the nearest platforms. He saw a man pointing at the three lizard-like people. They all turned and jumped down to a lower platform. New Enemy Identified Vetaals. Type - Class 0 Affiliation - Rakshasa Empire Faction - Kapasura Ash watched the three enemies turned red in his vision. That made spotting them and their actions easier in his vision. He watched them kneel, bunch up their legs and jump again. This time they were heading towards a platform that was almost at the ground level. Two of them made it. The third took a glowing blue ball of energy to his chest and splash into the water. He traced the line of fire and spotted the two Jays. They had their backs to a large rock and had taken cover behind yellowish transparent shields that projected out from their fingers. As he watched one of them lowered his shield that protected them from head to toe and emptied his rifler into the tens of enemies harassing them. Something about the ongoing action made Ash focus on the combat. The world blurred in his vision and the shards inside Jay 83 body flared. He saw potentiality seep into them from his blood, travel through his shards, back into his arteries and into his rifle that spewed out round after round into the nishachar. The enemy dropped in front of him but the line of people behind the first ranks quickly reached out and pulled their dropped comrades behind them. Ash watched the injured nishachars, their howls of pain and writing stopped. Their shards flared and soon, one by one they got back to their feet madder than before. Ash heard a thump next to him and saw E65 land beside him. He turned his gaze from him back to the front. He watched one of the injured vetaals rushed back with a glowing dagger. The blue skinned nishachars holding crossbows and swords parted for the mad creature. Suddenly, Parvati M141 stepped in front of Jay 83 and shot the rampaging creature in the head. To Ash¡¯s surprise, the vetaal still didn¡¯t die instantly. She crawled back and started getting up. Then another glowing blue ball from Parvati M141 blew her brain out. There was a moment of silence on the battlefield. Then a ripple went through the rakshasa soldiers. And then, their crossbow bolts and swords started glowing a sickly green. And there were hundreds of them. They all were highlighted red. Thankfully none of them were looking at them. Taran E65 took in a sharp breath beside him and muttered ¡°Those are soul bolts and soul edges on the swords.¡± Ash felt a pang of pain and turned to the source. Strangely it was not from his body or the weapons. It was distant. He turned to look in the direction and saw A197 in the middle of the horde. They parted to let him through and then closed ranks behind with their eyes trained towards the isolated continuum soldiers. Ash watched Sheetal buck on A197¡¯s shoulders. The man dropped Sheetal and kicked her prone figure in the stomach. Air rushed out of Sheetal and she doubled over. A197 shouted ¡°Get up you worthless cripple.¡± When Sheetal couldn¡¯t, Taran A197 grabbed her by her hair and began dragging her. In Ash¡¯s new hud, A197 turned from a red to a blazing red. Even deeper than the shade of red the nishachars and the vetaals were painted. It was like the system itself had categorised A197 to death and he was happy to comply with it. Ash snarled ¡°I am going to kill that guy.¡± T suddenly turned to Ash¡¯s right, pointed his rifle past him and shot towards an unseen enemy. Ash heard a pained hiss and a thump of a body hitting the squelching ground. Ash turned to see two vetaals charging at him with their claws extended. Ash took a step to the side. Putting one in front of the other and blocking the other. He heard two quick hisses behind him. He smelt the sharp smell of E65 weapons discharging behind him. It smelt like vinegar and iron. He put that out of his mind and concentrated on the vetaals. The vetaals had a strange way of walking. They could be bipedal one moment and then transition into a four-legged lizard form. Even so, footwork always gave away an enemy¡¯s reaction. He looked at the first vetaal. He saw how the first one bent his knee and land on his arms. He retracted his right arm. The second one sidestep the first one with his claws held high menacingly. That was a faint. Ash didn¡¯t react. Ash turned his gaze back to the first one just as he slashed. Ash leaned back and sent a pulse of potentiality into his shards. His hands blurred. Instead of blocking the blow he twirled his left tonfa under the slash. Then with a slightest of effort he pushed the hyperextended hand past his body. In the same moment. he took a step and thrust with his right tonfa. Right into the open mouth of the second vetaal. He felt a bit of resistance. With a jerk straightened his elbow. The tonfa dug into the vetaals throat. The vetaal tried to slash his claws downwards. Ash moved to the left. Twisting the neck of the vetaal with his soul eater. He felt something pop. Ash grinned and rushed in. Ash with his new and improved sight saw the tonfa hum to life and with a pulse suck at the strange creatures being. The vetaal¡¯s eyes glazed over. And with a crunch the souleater ate the hideous creature¡¯s being. Souleater - Souls Consumed 2/5 Ash glanced at the simple message and then flipped his left tonfa. He grabbed it from the air. Just as his speed normalised. Instead of holding it from the handle, he was grabbing it by its point. He grunted and swung. The first vetaal whirled and brought his hand up to slash. Before it could complete its movement. Ash completed his strike. The tonfa¡¯s handle made contact with the creature¡¯s temple like a hammer. Thwack.. The vetaal stumbled to his knees. Ash looked at the creature¡¯s dazed eyes. He flipped the tonfa again. Grabbed it by the hand and dug it into the vetaal¡¯s broken skull. Gulp. Souleater Left - Souls Consumed 2/5 Ash turned back to look at E65 and saw him shooting at a platform with three nishachar. They ducked and took cover behind leaking wooden barrels. He turned his eyes downwards. Back to the path. Two nishachars caught his eyes. They unsheathed their swords. Their shards flared momentarily, and their weapons began to glow a sickly green. With nods to each other they began walking towards him. Ash cracked his neck and muttered ¡°T? We need to go.¡± ¡°One moment please.¡± Ash glanced back and saw E65 lower his rifle. He raised his wide barreled side arm and pressed the trigger. ¡°Seriously? You put away your rifle for a gun?¡± T ignored him and pressed the trigger. Whump. Ash blinked as a glowing pulsing white ball flew out of the barrel of the gun. In a parabolic arc it flew to the platform. And in a blinding flash made contact with the floating platform. A blinding white flash momentarily blinded everyone in the battlefield. The strangest thing was that the impact of the ball made no sound. A moment later the platform crumbled and pieces of it fell into the water with splashes. E65 nodded ¡°We can go now.¡± Ash looked at T with an open mouth. And then hesitantly turned back to face the nishachars. They were looking at the devastation. Ash nodded ¡°Have anything for them?¡± T nodded ¡°Hold on a minute.¡± He began to load his gun with a pulse of dark blackish purple energy. Ash took the moment to look at the man and then at the smallish gun ¡°Is that a grenade launcher?¡± E65 smiled ¡°Yes! Yes, it is. Do you have these wherever you come from?¡± ¡°Ye..Yeah. But not small ones with blinding lights.¡± E65 nodded ¡°Mine are special.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°They use antimatter rounds.¡± Ash took a small step away from E65 ¡°Geez man holster that gun. I don¡¯t want to get vaporised.¡± They both heard a yell from the Raks and then there was no time to talk. E65 took a knee and opened up on the horde harassing the isolated Jays and Parvati. The two blue swordsmen rushed Ash. The first swordsman pointed his blade and thrust. He did not react. It was a faint. The man¡¯s footwork gave the ploy away. The second one on the other hand came in low to high with a slash. Ash sent a pulse of potentiality to his shards and parried. The blade moved off its line and he stepped closer. Then blue men had watched him fight earlier and expected his speed. They took a step back together. Away from his weapons. That was okay, he had eight limbs and two weapons. Ash spun. He used his speed to bring up his leg. In a whirl of speed, he heel kicked the first swordsman on his head. The man stumbled and Ash used the momentum to propel him towards the second man. He closed with the man. Ran inside the guard of the swordsman. And jabbed his souleater towards his throat. The man, at the last moment, brought his weapon up to block his tonfa. Ash watched as the man parried and in disgust kicked his enemy in the jewels. The man opened his mouth to take in a breath. Ash jabbed his tonfa outwards. The blue man jerked his head away, stumbled back and avoided the blow. Ash snarled. These people were good. Better than anyone he had faced yet. And he did not have time to fence with them. He could feel Sheetal being dragged through the mud and her pain. He needed to finish this quickly. Ash cracked his neck. With a grunt he sent a trickle of his potentiality into all his speed shard. In a blink of an eye, he was faster. He blurred towards his enemies and shot his arm out and this time dug his tonfa into the blue man¡¯s blue eyes. Squelch. The man opened his mouth to scream but nothing came out. His tonfa drank the man¡¯s essence instantly. Ash turned to look at the first man. He was back up and upright. Still turning to look at him. Ash dragged his tonfas out with a spin. Kicked the dead man¡¯s falling body to gain some momentum and Rushed towards the other swordsman. The blue man finally ended his turn. His eyes widened. Hi jaw slightly opened to scream. Then souleater tore into the man¡¯s throat. Ash watched his blunt weapon make contact with the man¡¯s blue skin. Sent a ripple through his flab. And then use his speed and the thrust of his momentum to dig in. Ash¡¯s speed faded and he used his lodged tonfa to roll himself away from the line of sight of the horde taking pot shots at him and T. Souldrinker - Souls consumed 3/5 Souleater - Souls Consumed 3/5 Ash tried to get up. He stumbled. His hand spasmed and grabbed his chest. Right where his hear was thumping painfully. A moment later potentiality from the two kills rushed into him and his chest under his palm began to glow. He took a deep breath as the pain faded and noticed T dragging him to the side. He looked up and saw E65 armour take a few sickly green bolts. They recoiled of him and then he opened fire. Ash saw a few Nishachars go down, but they stumbled back up to their feet and screamed their challenges. T steadied Ash behind a few barrels and looked at the warder. ¡°Ash, are you okay.¡± Ash grunted ¡°Yeah. Just wasn¡¯t expecting the pain.¡± ¡°The pain?¡± ¡°Later.¡± Ash shook his head and looked up as T shot into the enemy. ¡°What the heck? Why aren¡¯t these guys dying?¡± Ash asked. E65 gave Ash a blank look ¡°They are not that easy to kill a fully ascended being Warder.¡± Ash looked at the people turning to, well, ash behind him and asked ¡°Really?¡± E65 screamed back ¡°Yeah. Not without armour piercing rounds or soul weapons like yours.¡± ¡°And you don¡¯t have any?¡± ¡°I do, but they are in my trike.¡± Ash looked at the horde dispassionately and announced ¡°Well, I am going in then.¡± ¡°Wait!¡± E65 stopped Ash and took out his grenade launcher. Ash took a weary step away from T and watched as he shot a glowing ball of white death into the horde. The horde scrambled away from the point of impact. When the ball was at its apex a greenish light shot at it and with a puff the grenade fizzled out. E65 blinked ¡°Oh great. They have a mage.¡± Ash looked back at Taran E65 ¡°That¡¯s bad?¡± ¡°What do you think?¡± E65 snapped back. Ash took a step to the side to evade a glowing green bolt. One bolt turned to tens and the next moments were hectic. Both Ash and E65 scrambled, dodged and somehow evaded the bolts. When they stopped, they were behind leaking barrels of fizzling water. E65 looked up at Ash ¡°So, what¡¯s our next move?¡± Ash gave the man an incredulous look ¡°Why are you asking me?¡± ¡°What? What do you mean why am I asking you? You are the warder.¡± Ash gave T a blank look. ¡°It¡¯s in your name, warder. War¡± E65 paused and continued ¡°Der.¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± ¡°You have no idea what I am talking about do you?¡± E65 yelled. ¡°Ummm¡­ No?¡± ¡°Warders are the ones who lead their troops. They are like weapons of mass destruction. Why do you think that A197 is keeping your sister incapacitated?¡± E65 yelled. ¡°She is not my sister.¡± Ash muttered. ¡°By ash and sand. That¡¯s what you want to talk about right now?¡± Ash heard the hysteria in T¡¯s voice and took in a breath ¡°Bud. You need to¡­¡± ¡°E65! E65! Party with us and follow my instructions.¡± E65 looked up to see Parvati waving at him from behind the shields of the two Jays. Ash looked at them. He hadn¡¯t realised when they had reached them. But there they were. In the same spot he had seen them when they had entered. Had he moved that fast? Or were these guys hopeless? His thoughts were broken by E65. T shook his head ¡°No thank you. I am partying with the warder.¡± There was silence for a moment and then Parvati M something screamed ¡°Warder, accept our request.¡± You have received party requests from¡­ Parvati M141 Call Sign - Needles Affiliation - Continuum Faction - Thrive Jay 83 Affiliation - Continuum Faction - Undecided Jay 84 Affiliation - Continuum Faction - Undecided Accept? Yes/No. Ash grimaced as the text started shooting up from the bottom of his vision. He hit yes to clear it only to be replaced with another line of text. Party channel opened. ¡°What?¡± Parvat M142 started and then continued ¡°What happened to my hud?¡± E65 sighed ¡°This is better. It outlines all our enemies in red.¡± ¡°Well, I hope it outlines those traitorous augs in red.¡± Needles grumbled. ¡°Yes, it does.¡± Ash answered ¡°It highlights them in a deeper shade of red. That means I am going to kill that¡­¡± ¡°Not the time warder.¡± Jay 84 said in his bassy voice. ¡°Sorry 84. Okay warder. What¡¯s the plan?¡± Needles asked. Ash rolled his eyes before he could say anything T shot out. ¡°He doesn¡¯t have one.¡± Ash shot the man a sharp look ¡°Of course I have one. I have already told you, my plan.¡± ¡°Okay, what is it?¡± Needles asked. ¡°I am going to run into the enemy and kill them all. You with your pee shooters are going to help me.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not a plan.¡± Needles muttered. ¡°See I told you.¡± E65 spat out. ¡°Oh, for fricks sake.¡± Ash scooted back from the barrels while hugging the floor. He looked up and took a runner¡¯s stance. ¡°What is he doing?¡± Needles asked and then turned to look at Ash ¡°What are you doing?¡± He glanced at her and then at all the continuum soldiers and muttered ¡°You all, just do as I say and I will kick some blue butt. No matter how cute it is.¡± ¡°What? No. You can¡¯t just go in there. There are hundreds of them.¡± Taran 65 said in a rush. Ash grinned ¡°Yeah, watch me.¡± The continuum people gave him a startled look and then T screamed ¡°Ho¡­Ho¡­ld Oooon¡­.¡± T¡¯s voice lengthened as Ash shot potentiality into all his speed shards. As the potentiality reached his shards a zing ran through his body and goosebumps pickled his skin. And he felt his heart stutter and pain reach his extremities. Even so Ash laughed maniacally and yelled ¡°Let¡¯s freaking goooo!!!¡± Chapter 22 - Bickering village women Ari looked at the boy wonder talking to one of the metal armoured people just outside the gate of the temple. The man looked at the gate and took two steps back, shook his head. The man pointed back where he had come from and walked away leaving Abesh who looked defeated. ¡°What was that? The fourth one?¡± Singh who had stationed himself next to the doors of the temple asked. ¡°Fifth.¡± Ari replied curtly ¡°Why don¡¯t they want to help us?¡± Singh asked. Ari shook his head ¡°It¡¯s not that. It¡¯s something else. They all leave saying that they will send their General to assist us. It¡¯s like none of them want to step in here.¡± ¡°So, what do we do? Wait for them?¡± Ari shook his head again and sighed ¡°No, we can¡¯t afford to wait any longer. How is your arm?¡± Singh flexed his fingers on his broken arm with a complicated look ¡°It¡¯s healed. Not all the way through but, you know when I broke my fingers in Lucknow in that training exercise with the army?¡± Ari smiled ¡°When you decided to punch a tank?¡± Singh scoffed ¡°I was punching a tank. I was trying to punch the army boy inside it. That fool almost ran the damn thing over our men.¡± Ari chuckled ¡°It was funny.¡± Singh sighed ¡°Well anyway, that old injury is healed. And so is this new one. Not completely but I would say that my arm is at eighty percent.¡± Singh held out his hand and curled his fingers into a fist ¡°See?¡± Ari bit his lips ¡°That is good but¡­¡± Singh cut Ari off with ¡°For once in your life can you not look at a gift like it owes you ammo, my friend?¡± Ari chuckled and then straightened as Abesh returned to him with slumped shoulders. ¡°So, what did that metal skinned weirdo say, captain?¡± Singh asked Abesh in a stern voice. Abesh gave Singh a look and then replied ¡°The same thing sirs. We will have to wait for General Athena and the ones she assigns will be cleared to help us in clearing the temple quarters.¡± Ari nodded and then motioned with his head to ask ¡°And that man¡­?¡± ¡°He was not cleared. He just came here to tell us that Mbungwa¡¯s injuries are being treated by their medics.¡± Abesh replied. Ari exhaled ¡°Okay Abesh. Go tell the doctor that we are moving to the quarters. We¡¯ll do this without the¡­¡± ¡°Robots?¡± Singh asked. Abesh nodded ¡°They are not robots sir. They are cyborgs.¡± Singh squinted at Abesh ¡°Boy, you just received clear orders. Do not correct your commanding officers and go do as you were told.¡± Abesh frowned but snapped to attention, shot a hasty salute, and shuffled off with a disgruntled look on his face. After Abesh had turned a corner Ari looked at his old friend ¡°Singh, go easy on the boy. He is wound up too tight.¡± ¡°Really? I thought he was improving.¡± Singh muttered and pushed himself off the door he was leaning on and continued ¡°You know you coddle him.¡± Ari shook his head ¡°No, I don¡¯t.¡± ¡°You do. You shouldn¡¯t have gotten himself transferred from the commandos when he got that disease but you did. Then you got him into this mission. And you will give him the miracle cure, when you find it.¡± Singh said while walking beside Ari. Ari looked at Singh ¡°And you wouldn¡¯t?¡± ¡°Of course I would. I have put a lot of work into that boy. I made him what he is today and I will make him better. But that doesn''t mean that I am going to ride him like a mule while I do that.¡± Ari shook his head ¡°You have a strange way of showing affection.¡± Singh smiled as they turned the corner and then switched to his stern facade. Ari looked from him to the rest of his people milling around next to a door that led out to the temple quarters. He looked into their eyes. Even the doctor Joshi¡¯s fire speckled irises and began. ¡°Gents, we have a problem. The enemy has a foothold in our base. We need to eradicate this infestation and make this temple our base of operations. We will do this right now so do what you need to because in ten minutes we are walking into that side building with fireballs, knives, and fists.¡± Ari held up his metal covered hands at the last word. There were no cheers, but he saw resolve in his people¡¯s eyes. Except for the doctors. The man had a smug smile on his face and was raring to go. Ari took a step back and walked to the corner. He needed to do some housekeeping before he began the assault. He opened his hud and went into a crafting section. Springed Gauntlets Durability 97/100 Ari looked at the gauntlet and then swiped them aside. Craft new items? Yes / No? Ari hit yes and pictured what he wanted. Images of vambraces, couter, spaulders, and pauldrons floated up into his mind¡¯s eyes. Ari sighed. He was getting seriously annoyed with this strange computer system defaulting to mediaeval technology. He needed something better. Something more modern. Maybe something futuristic. That last thought gave Ari a pause. The people outside, the continuum, they had armour that was futuristic. He wanted something like that. Should he go ask for that or could this system¡­ Armour Found. ASHA - 11 Schematic - Unavailable. Recalculating. ASHA - 08 Schematic - Available Analysing Materials Needed Steel - 110 Kg Titanium - 57 Kg Copper - 20 Kg Gold - 2 Kg Silver - 4 Kg Plastic - 10 Kg Sapphire - 5 kg Power Shard - 2 Neuro Shard - 1 / 2 Continuum Armour Basics Knowledge Pack - 1 Continuum Armour Advanced Knowledge Pack - 1 Continuum Armour Expert Knowledge Pack - 1 Potentiality and Electronics Knowledge Pack - 1 Shard Metal Smelting and Smithing Knowledge Pack - 1 Modular Armour Creation Knowledge Pack - 1 (Optional) Ari took in a sharp breath as the list of things needed to create one of those armour flew up at the side of his vision. That was a lot. There was no way he could get all that to create an armour like that. After a moment Ari dismissed the thought of the continuum armour. Instead he looked at his hands. His metal glove like gauntlets were a better fit for him right now. He needed something like that on his feet and maybe his forearms. Recalculating. Materials Needed Iron - 1.5 Kg (Feet) Iron - 3 Kg (Forearms) That was better. He didn¡¯t need anything fancy. He just needed something to bludgeon these unnatural zombie things down and protect himself while he battled them. With a nod he accepted the choice and shut off the crafting mode. He looked around and saw his people waiting for him. He once again looked everyone in their eyes and with his footsteps clacking on the floor marched out of the door. The rest of the team fell in behind him and a minute later they found themselves standing in front of a large door that creaked ominously. Ari was about to place his hands on the door to push it in when Doctor Joshi stepped in front of him. ¡°Allow me, commander.¡± Ari took a step back while looking at the doctor. The man didn¡¯t move towards the door. Instead he just looked at the closed metal barrier. ¡°Doctor?¡± Ari asked. ¡°A moment Ari. There are more of them than I expected.¡± The doctor responded. ¡°More of what?¡± Joshi grunted, his fire speckled eyes dimmed for a second and in a stressed voice he replied ¡°What do you think? Those damn creatures.¡± Ari gave the man a confused look and then noticed the heat from the door. A sound suddenly rang his ear drums painfully and the door flew open inwards. Whump! Ari blinked his eyes rapidly. The air inside was dry, hot, and smelled of burning hair and flesh. Ari wrinkled his nose and looked in. Beyond the smoke there were the enthralled. Around ten of them, on fire and were mindlessly flailing around. As a gust of wind momentarily cleared the smoke, it revealed more milling behind them. Ari raised his head and took in a sharp breath as his eyes landed on the first floor. There were more. All slowly turning to look at Ari and his party. He raised his head higher and exhaled. The third floor was full of them too. Joshi who was standing beside him raised his right hand and slowly clenched his fingers. The fire in the room dimmed and began to pitter out. The smoke from the fire momentarily increased then the wind from the door began clearing it away. Ari watched as the enthralled on fire fell revealing fresh pale dead eyes and yawning mouths. They wordlessly shuffled towards them and came to a stop. They must have had an instinctively understanding of fire because they stooped at the line of fire created by the burning enthralled. Ari looked at the horde of zombies ready to bear down on him and his people. Instead of feeling intimidated Ari felt excited. He cracked his neck and smiled. This was good. He needed their blood. It had the iron he required to build his armour and he wanted all the blood these creatures contained. It was a grim task but he was up to it. The stronger he could make his limbs, the stronger he got. The stronger he got the more he could save his men. And the more of his people he could keep alive, the stronger they would get in here. Ari was momentarily distracted by his men making displeased noises and hissing behind him. He didn¡¯t turn around but tuned in the conversation and heard Abesh¡¯s sarcastic words. ¡°This is great. Just great.¡± ¡°Konkani. Shut up.¡± Singh spat out loudly. This time Abesh didn¡¯t back down and responded in a high pitched voice. ¡°Shut up? Shut up!? There are hundreds of them. Why don¡¯t you ever listen to me?¡± ¡°Captain!¡± Singh said in a warning tone. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Abesh didn¡¯t stop ¡°Instead of game planning this with a tank upfront, and damage dealers working as off tanks supported by mages you dropped us into a meat grinder. I told you, we should take them out section by section. Now we have a freaking train. Don¡¯t you get it? We all know our powers and now. We can do this the way it is supposed to be done.¡± Singh shuffled back and smacked Abesh on the head ¡°Shut up boy and grow a pair.¡± Ari tuned them out. Singh would take care of them. He needed to take on the enemy in front of him, His locked on to the dull eyes enthralled. He wanted to, no he needed to cut loose to see what he could really do. Before the argument could continue Ari shot into the enemy and landed a hook on a half burnt face. Ari shuffled a step back and jabbed. Then with an abrupt side step he dodged a shambling swipe from one of the enthralled and hammered a punch on its head. The woman¡¯s head crunched in and he pulled the enthralled closer, bathing himself in the coagulating blood. ¡°Go for the body commander. People bleed more from gut wounds.¡± Singh advised from somewhere behind him. Ari ducked and launched a punch at and oncoming enthralled mid section. His spikes tore into the thing and his footwork and the momentum ripped flesh off the thing. ¡°That¡¯s stupid, Singh. You are unnecessarily putting the commander in danger. Let us support him. We¡¯ll go for headshots. Zombies without heads cannot fight back and they can bleed out on the floor.¡± Abesh disagreed. Ari rolled his eyes and doubled up an enthralled in front of himself and two reaching for him. ¡°That is Major Singh boy.¡± Singh growled. Ari tuned the people behind him out. Singh knew the reason he was doing this even if they hadn¡¯t talked about it. He needed to let loose and figure out his capabilities. He needed to understand how to fight this creatures and he needed to prove that this things were beatable without fireballs. Ari reached out and grabbed one of the enthralled¡¯s head. The blood around his metal fingers dried and flakes from them seeped into his gauntlets. The hud on the side of his vision updated. Springed Gauntlets Durability 99/100 Ari smiled. Soon, after his gauntlets were fully repaired he could start working on covering his wrists and forearms. And then his legs. Ari flexed his gauntlet. He shoved the doubled over zombie onto the other ones shambling towards them. And then lost himself in the throng of battle. Jabs turned into straight punches. Straight punches turned into crosses. Crosses turned into uppercuts. Uppercuts turned into combinations. Then his footwork smoothened out and he got into a rhythm. Springed Gauntlets Durability 100/100 Create Springed Vambrace? Yes / No? Ari hit yes and a counter popped into his vision. Iron Needed - 0 of 3kg Just when Ari was about to push into a new gear and start working on his vambraces, shouting voices from behind him made him lose his concentration. ¡°Stop you both! Stop!¡± Nameer shouted at the top of his lungs. ¡°Boy I will gut you like a goat.¡± Singh snarled. ¡°Reach for that knife and I will melt your face off Singh.¡± Abesh growled back. ¡°I am your senior officer. You will address me with the rank I have earned, Captain.¡± ¡°Yeah? I don¡¯t see your rank anywhere anymore.¡± Abesh retorted. Ari glanced back. Singh and Abesh were face to face and had almost come to blows. They were bickering like two old village women and no matter what he said, what he did, they weren¡¯t stopping. He gritted his teeth and let some of his anger flow through him. He lunged at the three disgusting creatures heading towards him and reached them before they could react. The closest one tried to bite him. Ari snarled and shut its mouth with an uppercut. He moved faster. Punch, hook, claw, tear, shuffle and uppercut. His actions flowed into each other he released some more of the suppressed annoyance bleed through. Before he knew it he sped up even more. Ari moves flowed into each other and the enthralled kept popping up out of nowhere. He did not relent. He never relented. He just readjusted his stance and grew claw like tips on his hands. Swipe, slash, cut, backhand, and a kick. All flew at the enthralled within seconds as he let out his rage in a wild shout. Springed Vambraces 0.01 / 3Kg He dug deeper into the horde. Punch, elbow strike, shoulder bash and body shot. His strikes pushed the enemy into each other causing a disarray in the lines of the enthralled. ¡°Commander, stop. Come back!¡± Ari ignored Singh and continued. Lunge. Crush. Kick. Grab. And Throw. ¡°Commander, stop! You are in too deep.¡± Abesh¡¯s words barely reached him as he continued his assault. Ari growled and landed a haymaker on a charging enthralled. The things face crushed inwards and Ari with blood in his eyes took a step forward. Nameer, somewhere from behind him yelled ¡°Commander, you need to come back to deal with the situation here.¡± Ari snarled. Situation? Situation!? Why? Why was his team always holding him back? Why did he always have to babysit them? Why were they stopping him from becoming stronger? Strong enough to do anything he wanted. And he wanted¡­ Ari stopped. What did he want? What was he raging against? Why was he so angry? His slight hesitation was enough time for an enthralled to grab him. He punched it in the head to free himself but another one grabbed his leg. And then another one piled on to his back. Ari spun and before it could bite him. He hammered and elbowed it. ¡°Dang, he is trouble.¡± Nameer shouted over the shambling of zombies. Singh hissed ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you boys not to disturb him. I could have handled this.¡± ¡°Hold on Commander. We are coming.¡± Abesh¡¯s voice reached Ari over the silent snarls. Ari whirled with his spikes out. They ripped into the enemy and he took a moment to looked around at the creatures staggering. He glanced at the counter. Springed Vambraces 0.03 / 3Kg This was taking too long. Maybe this wasn¡¯t such a good idea. Also the enemy was everywhere. And there was something happening with his team. He needed to get back and sort whatever this new situation was urgently. And yet, something inside him revelled in the gore and urged him on. He pushed that part down and tried to regain the initiative with precise strikes. But, no matter what he did, the enthralled kept marching forwards. He shoved two of the enthralled backwards and then felt a pair of hand latch onto him. Ari elbowed backwards and tried to free himself. The enthralled just took the blow and leaned in to bite him. Ari gritted his teeth and kicked out to keep the ones in the front to make some space. Then he felt the feted breath of the enthralled latching onto him, on his neck. Then suddenly something changed. A streak of blue light burnt into his irises. He turned around and saw an enthralled fall into its brethren. The other enthralled just looked on dumbly and slowly turned to look around. More light followed the first one and took out the enthralled surrounding him. Ari was suddenly free. He looked around for the source of the targeted lights. He did not see anyone for a few long minutes. Ari did his best to keep an eye on the enemy and kept fighting those who shambled toward him while looking out for the source of the beams of light. Soon he saw a bunch of sparkling embers float into an enthralled¡¯s open mouth and drop him. That was followed by a jet of fire that flash fried a group of the enemy which was followed by a hiss of water that put the fire out. From the large cloud a steam a dagger flashed out chopping off a head in front of him. Singh skidded to a stop next to him. He was followed by Abesh and Nameer. Then Joshi casually walked through the throng of enemies and looked at Ari with a raised eyebrow. Ari¡¯s eyes caught Doctor Joshi raising a finger. A small fireball impacted a charging enthralled and blew its brains out. Ari took in a breath and although Ari was not convinced about the man¡¯s motivations, at that moment Ari was thankful for Doctor Joshi¡¯s powers. Then the commander caught Doctor Joshi¡¯s frown. His eyes followed the priest''s eyes which were trained towards the door they had come through. Ari followed his gaze and did not see anything but the horde of enemies. Some were staggering under the assault of his men. Some were picking themselves up from under the feet of others. And yet more and more were dropping from the floors above joining the throng. And then, a light impacted into a cluster of enemies and cut them apart. Ari looked closer and saw something distort the spot as it moved. ¡°Singh!¡± Ari shouted over the crackling lightning and pointed ¡°What was that thing?¡± Singh took his eyes off the enemy he was battling and Abesh seamlessly took his spot. Ari for a second wondered how his officers could hate each other and yet work so well with each other. Only if they could just settle their differences, he would have two excellent soldiers that could decimate the enemy. Singh replied ¡°It¡¯s the¡­¡± An amplified female voice cut Singh¡¯s explanation off ¡°Sections, you have your targets. Charge and hold. Make sure you do not hurt the friendlies. Release in three¡­ two¡­ Fire!¡± Beams of blue lights scythed through the enthralled cutting them into two and three. Ari blinked rapidly to clear his eyes only to see more beams clearing out the horde. After the continuous beams, more lights flew into enthralled in ones of twos. Shots that took down the enemy before they could blink. In seconds the large horde of enemies was gone. All that was left was ash and sand leaving Ari and his team huddled together in the centre looking at imposing armoured soldiers. One of the figures scanned the surroundings and in the same amplified voice from earlier, ordered ¡°Section one, you have floor one. Section two, you have two. Section three, you have floor three. Clear out the enemies. Section four, launch the drones and start the cleanup. We need some fresh air here.¡± Ari watched as the continuum soldiers shot into motion. Thirty of them ran past him and his party to the stairs. The rest of them threw squarish objects upwards. Ari looked at the strange devices and saw them hum to life. They flexed and transformed into rotor blades that sucked up the smoke and ash from the fight. Ari looked back down and saw that everything had stopped. The sound, the movement, and even the noise from the raging sandstorm outside stopped in an instant. The only thing Ari saw was smoke from the dead enemy and the only thing he heard was the shallow breaths of his team. ¡°Commander, I don¡¯t like this.¡± Singh muttered gruffly. ¡°You don¡¯t like anything, Singh.¡± Abesh muttered back. Ari growled ¡°Can you both stop? We don¡¯t know what cut off all the sound and why these continuum people just rescued us. And yet, you both are acting like little day one recruits.¡± He did not turn to look at the two NSG commandos but felt his words had an effect. The imposing figure with the amplified voice was looking at them. Ari tried to gauge her expression beyond the dark helmet with the glass visor and then realised that she was not looking at him but Joshi. She took a step forward and suddenly six people with the futuristic continuum armour were standing in front of them with their rifles pointed at him and his people. Ari raised his hands and got ready to fight. ¡°I would do that, if I were you.¡± The female voice responded from the door dragging a tied up dark skinned man. ¡°Mbungwa? Is that you?¡± Ari asked. Mbungwa nodded and tried to talk over the gag in his mouth. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about the zulu. If he is from your world, he doesn¡¯t have anything to worry about. We just need to make sure that he hasn¡¯t captured any souls.¡± The woman gently pushed Mbungwa back to two of her soldiers. ¡°Ah¡­ It¡¯s the continuum general.¡± Doctor Joshi said as if he was just remembering something he had forgotten. Ari looked at the man who was growing stranger and stranger. ¡°Welcome. I am sure sooner or later. The Yaksha will recognise your contributions.¡± The Doctor finished in his hollow echoing voice. The female figure snorted and her helmet split. A hiss of cold air spewed out. Then the vertical seams appeared on the face of the helm. The tops of those soundlessly split open like clams and whirled on an unseen axis. They floated back and down to create thick applelates on her shoulders, revealing a South Indian face of a woman in her mid forties. The woman gave a pained smile ¡°Will he? I didn¡¯t think he would be so kind after what happened.¡± Joshi nodded ¡°Yes, he is annoyed with the continuum but he knows you tried.¡± Ari¡¯s sped up thoughts focussed on the armour, the large dark South Indian ladies greying hair, and her weaponless arms. Could he jump her and hold her hostage to free his men. Could he then bargain for Mbungwa¡¯s life? Ari took a small step and saw all gun''s tilt towards him. The glow from them stopped him in his tracks. Doctor Joshi held out his arms ¡°I warn you continuum. You think you are cursed now. If you continue my lord yaksha will not be pleased.¡± Athena 8 raised her hand, and the rifles stopped glowing ¡°It¡¯s okay priest. We are not here to cause any harm. We were given a quest by him to save you, and we did. But we don¡¯t expect any recognition of efforts from him or you. We just came in to verify some information.¡± Ari took in a sharp breath, to calm his racing thoughts and asked ¡°What information?¡± ¡°Do you know Ash and Sheetal?¡± The woman asked. Ari stiffened and asked ¡°Who are you and why do you want to know?¡± ¡°I am Athena 8. General of all Continuum forces and the leader of the Continuum¡¯s Perseverance faction.¡± The middle-aged woman replied and continued ¡°And we want to know about Ash and Sheetal because we have made contact with them.¡± Doctor Joshi growled ¡°What have you done to them?¡± The armoured soldiers all around them lowered their weapons together and clanked them to their backs. Athena 8 exhaled and pointedly ignored the doctor. She turned to Ari ¡°You must be Colonel Arivarsaan and by your reaction I see you know the two I am talking about.¡± Athena 8 turned towards an armoured figure to her left ¡°Pretty, please interview them.¡± The figure next to Athena 8 stepped forward and her helmet split open. A friendly young smile greeted Ari ¡°Hello again, commander. I am Pretty. First, tell me, Sheetal and Ash, are those two insane?¡± Doctor Joshi snorted and the others behind Ari chuckled. Ari barely kept his emotion from his face ¡°No. Doctor Sheetal Serai is actually a genius and a successful entrepreneur. Ashoka, on the hand¡­ Well, his dossier says he is a sociopath. But he is important to our mission.¡± Pretty nodded at Ari ¡°I see. We have scanned them. We know about Ash¡¯s ADHD, narcism, and sociopathy. We also know about Sheetal¡¯s OCD and aggression. And unlike you, we think those characteristics are advantageous here.¡± Ari frowned ¡°How do you know that about them? Pretty smiled ¡°We scanned their brains when we were interacting with them. Now, tell me, do those two hate each other?¡± ¡°No.¡± This time Doctor Joshi spoke up ¡°I have known Ashoka since he was five. Ashoka doesn¡¯t hate. He says it¡¯s a waste of effort. Sheetal, she gets annoyed by his antics, but she also enjoys them. Honestly, it might seem like they hate each other at first glance when they are squabbling like cats and dogs, but they enjoy each other¡¯s company.¡± Joshi smiled while reminiscing ¡°No matter how much they fight, every morning they get together and drink coffee together. Sheetal might say she only does it because she paid for the machine, but she likes Ashoka. And Ashoka, well he doesn¡¯t have many people he can trust and call friends.¡± Pretty chuckled and her eyes glinted with humour ¡°Interesting. Also explains E65¡¯s confusion. Just one final question and this is the most important one, gentlemen. How much do you think they would change if they had power?¡± Ari and his people looked at each with a confused expression. ¡°Power? What kind of power? The kind we are developing?¡± Ari asked with trepidation. ¡°No. More.¡± Pretty asked pointedly. Ari looked at the doctor ¡°Well, Doctor Joshi, you know them the best.¡± Doctor Joshi was silent for a moment and then asked ¡°What are you planning to do?¡± Pretty didn¡¯t elaborate. She just looked at Athena 8. Athena quietly stared at the doctor. Doctor Joshi sighed ¡°Please don¡¯t tell me you are thinking of doing what the yaksha is whispering in my ears.¡± ¡°We wouldn¡¯t know what the yaksha is whispering to you priest. He doesn¡¯t speak to us anymore, remember?¡± Athena 8 responded. ¡°That is because you killed a world. And then when he gave you a chance and converted one of you to his priest, you and yours left him to die¡± Doctor Joshi stepped in front of Ari and pointed at Athena ¡°And now you are planning to upturn the natural order of things.¡± ¡°No!¡± Athena got in the doctor¡¯s face and then visibly restrained herself by taking a step back. ¡°We miscalculated. Now, we are following her orders. We are using her light to guide us out of this cursed place.¡± Joshi let out a strange growl from the back of his throat ¡°If you people wanted to get out, all you needed to do was follow Lord Agni¡¯s orders.¡± Athena''s face remained calm as she responded ¡°We tried that. And yes, we failed. But now we have another opportunity. An opportunity we will not let go of. This time we will persevere.¡± The continuum soldier behind Athena muttered ¡°We will persevere.¡± For a moment Athena¡¯s expression changed from calm to a scowl and then she was calm again. Joshi got a complicated look on his face and then sighed ¡°They are special now, Athena.¡± ¡°I know.¡± ¡°You might want to tie yourself to them, but they are our warders.¡± Joshi said in a stern voice. ¡°Yes, but do you think, this one¡­¡± Athena pointed her head towards Ari ¡°With that unbalanced neuro shard can keep them safe? He is more likely to kill them with his own metal hands.¡± Ari felt everyone¡¯s gaze turn to him. Before he could inquire, Pretty stepped next to the Athena 8. ¡°General. The assault commander is ordering me to get you on the line.¡± Athena shot Pretty an annoyed look and muttered ¡°If she wants to talk to me, tell her that she can call me herself.¡± Pretty licked her lips and gave her General a look ¡°Your comms are damaged General. They took a hit in the battle earlier.¡± Athena blinked and touched a spot over her eyebrow. It sparked. She wordlessly cursed, and then gave the doctor a look. ¡°They are warders now. We will follow the great mother¡¯s orders and guide them to where they need to go.¡± The doctor chuckled sarcastically ¡°Yes, but is that what your people want? You know what they want. They want to treat them like weapons. To unleash them on your enemies until you have destroyed everything like you did to your world.¡± Athena shook in fury and clenched her fists. Pretty quickly stepped in between her and the priest. ¡°General, not here. He is protected here.¡± Athena blew out a breath slowly calming herself. She visibly restrained herself and snarled ¡°You should watch your words priest. Not every one of us is like that.¡± With that she spun on her heels and clanked out the temple on her metallic shoes. Ari looked from her to the doctor and saw the man fuming. ¡°Doctor, why are you so angry?¡± The doctor exhaled ¡°You wouldn¡¯t understand, commander.¡± Pretty turned back to the doctor ¡°You didn¡¯t answer me, Priest Joshi.¡± The doctor mumbled to himself ¡°How much will they change if they had power?¡± The doctor grimaced and visibly deflated. ¡°What does he say, priest?¡± Pretty asked with a gentle smile. Doctor Joshi looked at Pretty for a moment and then answered ¡°Those two won¡¯t change the way most would. They do not perceive at power the same way others do. What motivates them is not power as you perceive it. And yes, if you are successful, they will guide you out from the trails but¡­¡± ¡°But?¡± Doctor Joshi smiled ¡°Have they made an unreasonable demand yet?¡± Pretty shook her head. ¡°If you plan to do what the yaksha tells me you are going to do, you will be stuck with them.¡± ¡°So, the chances of atavism are minor?¡± ¡°Atavism, so they are warders.¡± Doctor Joshi sighed. ¡°We suspect. We haven¡¯t confirmed it yet. Before we could really check they went into a trial. Anyway, two Arbiters are on their way, and we will know soon.¡± Joshi closed his eyes ¡°What you are doing is dangerous.¡± ¡°We know. But it has to be done. She has ordered it.¡± Doctor Joshi looked in the distance. Ari followed his gaze and realised that he was looking in the direction where the large statue of Lord Agni was situated. Finally, Joshi growled ¡°They are our warders!¡± Pretty brushed the words off and responded ¡°And yet we can¡¯t trust their safety to you until you fix the commander, here¡± Ari clenched his jaw ¡°What do you mean fix me?¡± Doctor Joshi sighed ¡°They will help you, but they will want more than what you can give them. They are problem solvers. They get bored if they have nothing to do. And that¡¯s when both Sheetal and Ashoka, no I should call him Ash now. That is when they both are the most dangerous. And that is why they stick with each other. When they are not solving problems, they are creating problems for each other.¡± Ari was getting annoyed and a wisp of anger tainted his voice ¡°Do not ignore me doctor. Tell me what does she mean by fixing me?¡± Pretty turned to Ari and gave him a beaming smile ¡°Commander. Why do you have three symbiotic shards?¡± Ari, whose temper hadn¡¯t stopped from the fight before, was suddenly gob smacked by the prettiest smile he had seen in years. His brain stuttered and then he asked ¡°Wha¡­ What do you mean?¡± ¡°You are supposed to have one shard. And even if you got shards from the nishachar filth, they would be speed, air and similar low shard. Not a neuro shard. Why do you have it?¡± Pretty smiled at Ari. ¡°I¡­¡± Ari suddenly felt self conscious and straightened his messy shirt ¡°I bought it. From the shop.¡± ¡°Really? From whom?¡± ¡°A shopkeeper named Whizwo.¡± Ari saw Pretty close his eyes and grimace ¡°Ash and sand!¡± Pretty raised her hand to her mouth and spoke into it ¡°General, one of them got scammed. I don¡¯t think the knowledge about the warders is a secret anymore.¡± Ari noticed a pearlescent communication stone embedded into the armour. Athena 8¡¯s muffled voice vibrated out of stone ¡°Understood. Tell Taran 45. I will inform the others I will continue the assault here until Jay 7 gets here.¡± Pretty¡¯s eyes widened ¡°The mentor? He is awake?¡± ¡°Yes, Pretty and you will stay here to keep an eye on the mentor.¡± ¡°Yes¡­ ma¡¯am.¡± Pretty replied hesitantly. Pretty nodded at Ari and his team ¡°We will be leaving now. If I were you, I would stay inside the temple. The sandstorm will continue for three more hours. The poles we have placed will protect you from the winds and the dust. But outside the zone, you will not be safe. Also, commander, here is a friendly advice, avoid giving into your emotions. The neuro shard amplifies them.¡± ¡°What?¡± Ari asked. Pretty sighed ¡°Ari. Can I call you Ari?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You just told me how you got your shards. Would you have relayed this information to a stranger with a pretty smile, commander?¡± Pretty asked. Ari opened his mouth to protest and Pretty continued. ¡°Earlier you ran into a warzone ill equipped to do anything. And still you picked a fight with one enemy after anothers. A few moments ago, you were battling hundreds of enemies alone with just your fists. Does that sound like the actions of a reasonable man with a military background?¡± Ari closed his mouth and looked at Joshi. Joshi sighed ¡°I will fix you commander.¡± Pretty snorted ¡°Yeah he can do that, as long as you don¡¯t take any divine blessed shards from the priest. They belong to the yaksha Agni. And if you consume them you will too.¡± Joshi gave Pretty a flat look. Pretty shrugged ¡°Hey, I like his grey beard. I don¡¯t want him to go religious.¡± Ari blinked and looked at Pretty flush. She quickly covered her face with her helmet and shuffled out. Joshi looked from the girl walking out of the building to Ari with an open mouth. He mouthed ¡°Oh.¡± Ari turned to the doctor ¡°Okay, Doctor Joshi. What the hell is going on?¡± Doctor Joshi ground his teeth ¡°I think commander, your task of bringing back Ashoka Stalin and Sheetal Serai has become harder than you could ever imagine.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because those stupid cyborgs want to turn them into something else.¡± Chapter 23 - Goro looking mother trucker Sheetal tried to take in a sharp breath but stopped when the pain in her side flared. She touched her side gingerly and groaned when her fingers brushed her broken rib. She felt A197 grab her by hair and lift her head up. That pain of her hair being pulled compared to what her body was going through was just another drop in the bucket. Honestly, the pain wasn¡¯t what was bothering her. She had lived with pain all her life. It was the humiliation that was bothering her. She had been treated like this, ever. It made her feel like a piece of trash. Slowly beneath the pain, the bruises, and the cuts her anger was simmering. And she wanted to let it all out. A197 leaned down in her face and with a spittle flying from his mouth screamed ¡°Get up you pathetic cripple!¡± Sheetal thought about complying. No, she did not want to just get up. She wanted to fly up and bring hell down upon this cyborg but even as the obnoxious man pulled her up by her hair, the pain in her midsection flared and Sheetal crumpled to the muddy ground. A197 growled and tossed her head down. He looked around at the standing nishachars all around him and asked ¡°Well? Are you all going to just stand there or are you going to help?¡± The nishachars ignored A197 and looked away. A197 snarled ¡°Fine! Have it your way.¡± He clenched his fingers into a fist and brought a punch down on the side of Sheetal¡¯s head. Sheetal felt something in her face crunch and then her eyes rolled up to the back of her head. She teetered for a second and then crumpled down to the ground. A197 looked at the nishachars and vetaals looking at him in disgust and with a roll of his eyes, gathered a fist full of Sheetal¡¯s hair in one hand. With a snarl on his face he used the warder¡¯s hair to drag her over the squishy loamy soil. When Sheetal came to, her head was spinning and she had a sense of emptiness deep inside her. It was like all of her being was missing something essential to keep her going. She felt short of breath, dehydrated, and hungry at the same time. And yet she couldn¡¯t find the will to raise her head to voice those concerns. Her eyes blinked and her hud flashed in her vision. Injuries repaired. Lung punctures - 2 Broken ribs - 3 Cheek bone fracture Brain Bruise Cuts Warning! Potentiality at 0.5% Healing halted. As Sheetal watched her hud a large portion of potentiality flooded into her potentiality bar and then her body began to automatically heal. The affected areas began glowing, her bruises vanished and the tightness in her body disappeared. Thwack! Sheetal reeled with the open handed slap across her face and spat out blood. She tried to right herself then stumbled to the ground. She tried to protect her face with her hands but her coordination was off. And her face made contact with the muddy ground. ¡°What have I been telling you, you cow? ¡± A197 screamed at Sheetal. He grabbed her by her hair and lifted her up. Spittle flew out of his mouth as he screamed inches from her face. ¡°What did I say? You worthless swine? No¡­¡± Smack ¡°Magic!¡± Smack A197 threw Sheetal into a puddle next to someone¡¯s feet ¡°Here, you wanted the warder shard. Here it is.¡± Sheetal looked up to see who A197 was talking to and blinked. The man was a strange thing. He was a scaleless humanoid lizard with an unnaturally long torso. His muscular legs were shorter and his arms ended in strange claws like fingers. When the man opened his mouth, he revealed a sharp fork tongue and needle teeth. Vetaal Mage - Class 1 Ascended Affiliation - Rakshasa Empire Faction - Kapasura A strange fear went down Sheetal¡¯s spine at the sight of the strange creature. The thing was what nightmares were made of and her mind recoiled at the sight. Sheetal tried to scoot away from the strange creature and looked all around her. And almost curled into a ball at the sight. There were more of these vetaal things and nishachars all around her. They had arrayed her and the continuum soldiers in a circle blocking their exit. Her eye caught a nishachars cold dispassionate look as she sharpened her dagger with a stone and then her eyes went to a vetaal giving her a hungry look while drooling. The bone chilling sight made her hands shake and skin prickle. Sheetal took in a breath and looked wildly everywhere. There was no escape. These things had her surrounded and all she could do was curl up in a ball and close her eyes. Just when she was about to wilt a steady thrum from somewhere in her mind steadied her. Ting! Resisted - Fear. Affected - Fear. Resisted - Fear. Affected - Fear. Sheetal looked at her hud and saw the floating mental shard glowing and dimming periodically. Slowly she began to realise that this fear was just like the strange effect the earlier nishachar constable had used. Her shard was trying to combat it but it was failing. Sheetal glared at her hud for an answer. She needed to do something to stop this effect. Then her eyes landed on a shard. This one was not in her soul space. It was in her storage. Warder Storage Shards - 1 Strength Crecks - 27 Sheetal disregarded her crecks and looked at the strength shard. It was the shard niether she or ash had wanted to use. Ash didn¡¯t want muscular arms and she didn¡¯t want to change anything fundamental about herself. Now, she couldn¡¯t afford to not use the shard. Sheetal gulped and with her eyes closed made her choice. A moment later the strength shard appeared next to her mental shard and began rotating around it. With every orbit it sent a pulse into her mind that made her mind stutter. Sheetal gritted her teeth and withstood the strange pain. The speed of the rotations increased ten fold, and then those increased ten more fold. Soon the shard was a blur in her minds eye. With a crack, the shard broke apart into dust. The dust maintained the orbit for a few more rotations. But then it fell inwards, coating her white mental shard in fine glittering red dust. Shard Upgraded Mental Shard Class 1.1 A warmth suffused her mind. The result wasn¡¯t externally grand. There were no glowing lights, there wasn¡¯t an outward improvement but inside her head things steadied and clicked. When she opened her eyes, she no longer felt afraid. Sheetal¡¯s eyes went to the nishachar women sharpening her dagger. Now the blue women looked bored. She turned to look at the drooling vetaal and blinked. The creature didn¡¯t look hungry, he looked disturbed. His eyes were still on her but were dull and the scars on his head spoke to his mental challenges. And that explained the constant drool dripping down his chin. ¡°No. No. No! We said we wanted the shard. Not a warder.¡± Sheetal now could focus on the conversation happening between A197 and the vetaal dressed in black and red cowl. His voice was nasally but somehow cultured. The vetaal squinted unhappily as he looked from A197 to her. This time his gesture didn¡¯t feel threatening but more like that of a cornered animal in fear. A197 tightened his hands on his rifle ¡°Well you can have both. The warder and the shard.¡± ¡°No!¡± The vetaal shrieked ¡°Not the warder.¡± ¡°Then kill her. I don¡¯t care. Just give me back my major.¡± Taran A197 pointed to a crumpled form behind the mage vetaal. The vetaal turned slightly and then shook his head ¡°No. No deal. You promise a shard. You give us a shard.¡± A197 growled ¡°What? No. You kill her and you take the shard. Just return the major back to me.¡± ¡°No.No.No. No. No. Deal was for, warder shard. We don¡¯t want trouble with the silver city or the Kel. You kill her. Not here. This place, ours. You kill her outside. You take the trouble. We take, shard.¡± The vetaal actually took a step back from Sheetal. Sheetal felt another rush of potentiality seep into her. There had been a trickle before but now the trickle was turning into a rush. She did not know how but she could feel Ash fighting and coming towards her. Sheetal watched A197 and the silent continuum soldier standing next to him. The both looked on edge and were moments away from violence. With a start she realised they were feeling the fear. Whatever this mage had done was causing fear. And it was not just directed at her but at everyone in the circle. Sheetal felt like laughing at the revelation. Before she did she caught herself. This was no time to laugh. She was surrounded and in a dire predicament. Her mind whirled as she analysed the feeling. Shortly, she recognised where the feeling had originated from. It was from the Ash. She could feel his amusement at his superiority and could feel his euphoria but beyond that was a growing ache. Right in her¡­In his chest. A pain that ran through her never and left a sharp tingling behind. A pain that was followed by an ominous feeling that left her short of breath. A pain that almost shut her down by completely overshadowing all her aches and breaks. And then like a momentary breeze the pain was gone. All that was left was a knot in her bones. What in the hells was Ash doing? Just as she asked the question she knew the answer. Ash was pushing himself. The way she had asked him not to. And he was doing it all because of her. He was coming for her and she was here stuck between the Raks and the continuum traitors. She couldn¡¯t let him die. He was her little¡­ her... Well she did not know but she needed to do something. She lifted herself off the ground. Thump. A kick impacted her stomach and she coughed. ¡°Stay down cripple.¡± A197 screamed ¡°Stop!¡± The lizard man hissed. ¡°You will not harm the warder in front of me.¡± A197 snarled ¡°Shut up, vetaal. She is my prisoner. I will treat her whichever way I want to.¡± The vetaal cursed in a clicking clacking language. A197 looked wildly at all the nishachars and vetaal surrounding them and then to his squad mate ¡°A303. What do we do?¡± A303 looked at A197 for a moment and then used his fingers to sign something back. ¡°I know. I know. We can¡¯t kill her but can''t you see it already in our huds. We are already red.¡± A197 muttered. Aditya A303 violently gestured again. ¡°If we do not kill her and give these mutated scum the shards we are signing off on the major¡¯s death.¡± Tar continued. There was silence for a moment and then A197 continued. ¡°Ruby F is already dead. Our team is splintering and it is all because of these outsiders.¡± A197 snarled. Aditya A303 seemed to sigh and shrug. A197 gave his friend a morbid smile and asked ¡°Are you with me?¡± There was silence for a moment. In the lingering silence a group of people rushed into the circle created by guards and bodies. The new group started clicking and chattering. Then the Vetaal standing over her rushed over to them and asked something in the same clicking chattering language. After a few more back and forths, the vetaal whirled and pointed at Taran A197. ¡°You! There are two?¡± ¡°What? ¡°There are two warders?¡± The vetaal¡¯s voice rose higher. A197 reeled back ¡°No. I mean yes. But he couldn¡¯t be foolish enough to come in here.¡± ¡°Then why are my people dying at the hands of a warder?¡± Sheetal couldn¡¯t help herself. She chuckled. She had wanted to wait. She should have waited. But nevertheless her potentiality bar was almost full and growing every second. And now was the time for her to act. ¡°What are you laughing at, you worthless pig?¡± A197 growled. Sheetal slowly picked herself up and looked at the man who had broken her bones. She did not say anything, just sat up with a fierce smile on her face. She took in a wheezing breath and then looked at Taran A197 with his broken faceplate. A197 growled and unholstered his weapon ¡°You want to play it tough? Fine. I will put you down like the rabid dog you are.¡± Before A197 could even reach for his gun Sheetal pushed all her gathered potentiality into the ball of shards in her constellation. The ball glowed in the space in her soul. Outside it Sheetal shot up and straight into the sky. ¡ª------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ T and the rest of the party shot at a group of entrenched enemies trying to flank Ash. They all fell back. Some with burns on the skin, others had holes. But within moments, Taran E65 knew they would be hail and then they would come charging back at them. ¡°Jay 83, I am reloading.¡± T shouted and saw 83 came running past him and extended his palm. A transparent crackling shield appeared in front of him and dug into the ground. This version of shield took a lot more potentiality. As did the amount of shots they were firing into the enemy. But with the party link, and the amount of potentiality seeping into them from Ash¡¯s kills, they could shoot like this for days. That wasn¡¯t the problem. The mad warder burning from inside was. T looked at the warder madly laughing while he battled the Raks. In the beginning he and the rest of the continuum soldiers had watched the mad warder in silence for a long moment. The man hadn¡¯t vaulted the barrels like E65 had expected him to. If he had done that, E65 would have grabbed the crazy idiot. Much later he realised that wasn¡¯t Ash¡¯s plan. Air, after all, wouldn¡¯t have allowed him to rush into the enemy. Instead he had angled himself to the side and rushed past the continuum soldiers in a blur of movement. When he hit the enemy his tonfas were out and strange inside a vetaal¡¯s orbital socket and a nishachars throat. The next moment he was bludgeoning another nishachar, while his other stick that he called a tonfa was lodged into a vetaal head handle first. Then he twirled and began to dance. His attacks went from angular to erratic. He was all grace, with spiralling movements, peri outing kicks, and fluid strikes. Just as the enemy got used to his movement, he changed his attacks once again. He took a nishachars down, suplexed a vetaal and tripped a third enemy. Then shot up to his feet to crush the vetaal¡¯s skull, bludgeoned a stumbling nishachar, and tripped others with a sweeping kick. The enemy reeled and pulled back into a huddle. E65 didn¡¯t blame them. When you saw a man burning his essence you stood back and let him run out of it and die. The only problem was that Ash wasn¡¯t a ascended. He was a warder with a pool of potentiality larger than any ascended. So when the enemy pulled back Ash just watched them with his head cocked with a clueless expression. And then began walking towards the Raks. T noted the enemy moving to snipe at Ash and tried to pull him back. ¡°Warder Ash.¡± T called out to him. Ash didn¡¯t reply. ¡°Warder. Ash!¡± Ash spin kicked a vetaal. It landed with a crack and T saw flakes of burned skin fall of the warder. The crazy man didn¡¯t stop. He carried the momentum, spun and swept another nishachar of his feet while shoot a rude gesture at T. E65 literally saw the man¡¯s finger bones illuminated with a fire burning inside his skin. T who had been poking his head over the barrels stood up and shouted ¡°Ash!¡± Ash drop kicked a nishachar into the rest of the people. No it wasn¡¯t a martial arts dropkick, it wasn¡¯t one leg folded under the other. This was a pro wrestling drop kick. All flash and barely and impact. And yet, the poor nishachar flew through the air, tumbling into a bunch of arms and legs. Ash sprang back up, after landing face first in the mud, and shouted at T ¡°What!?¡± ¡°Ash, sooner or later, they are all going to pile up on you. Pull back.¡± Ash snorted ¡°T! Stop giving the enemy ideas.¡± E65 looked at the Raks. They were looking at Ash with befuddlement. Ash turned to look at them and snarled. The Raks took two steps back and jerked their weapons up. ¡°Ash, you are burning up. Come back.¡± T hissed in a loud whisper. ¡°What?¡± Ash gave T a confused look. T didn¡¯t see Ash¡¯s look as much as the outline of his skull and just ended up looking exasperated. Ash ignored T. Honestly, he did not know what the man¡¯s problem was. Speaking of problem¡¯s, the bottom of his hud was being annoying again. Hadn¡¯t the man who designed this stupid interface ever been in battle? A man needed his peripheral vision to fight. Anything that blocked it and distracted them, could end up with their head split open. So he took this moment to shut it off and he was about to until his eyes ran over the new text. He cocked his head to one side in confusion. Soul Weapons - Soul Eater and Soul Drinker Upgrade Available. Create Soul Bond? Yes / No? Warning excess souls will be used in the upgrades. Ash hit yes to dismiss the annoying message. Only for the message to be replaced by another. New Weapon Upgrade - Block Type - Soul Drinker Souls Consumed - 0/20 New Weapon Upgrade - Peirce Type - Soul Eater Souls Consumed - 0/20 Excess soul particles have been used to create - Will of the weapons. Soul Drinker Will - 1/20 Soul Eater Will - 2/20 Ash would have dismissed the message and shut his hud off but just as he accepted the first upgrade a sense of his weapons bloomed inside him. They suddenly felt like extensions of him. Underneath his hands grooves formed to fit his palms perfectly. He twirled his tonfas and the grooves smoothened out to adjust to his moves. Ash cackled and the group of sword wielding nishachars and one very beaten up vetaal took a step back in hunger. ¡°Ash!¡± E65 yelled and ordered ¡°Don¡¯t.¡± Ash looked at T ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because, they will rush you.¡± Ash snorted ¡°They are not going to do that. Look, they keep backing off every time I take a step.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because they are waiting for you to die.¡± ¡°What?¡± Ash shook his head. E65 took in a deep breath and in a loud whisper tried to explain ¡°You are burning potentiality. That is your essence. That is everything you are and you are going to be. You need to stop. You can only burn your potentiality for a maximum of ten seconds then you die.¡± Ash scratch his chin and mud and flakes of burning skin fell to the floor. ¡°But I have been doing this for like, minutes?¡± ¡°I know.¡± T shouted in frustration. ¡°Maybe what I am doing is something else that what you are talking about?¡± ¡°No. No, its not.¡± E65 looked at Parvati M for support. She gave him the go ahead gesture and he continued ¡°Ash, we all have seen this before. Man burns his potentiality when he is surrounded, fights like a wild animal, then crumbles to¡­ash.¡± T grimaced at the end. Ash looked from T to needles ¡°Really? Doesn¡¯t feel like I am doing that. Its just a bit of pain. Okay, who am I kidding its a lot of pain. Honestly, it feels like someone is scrapping my bones with a red hot knife.¡± His voice became hoarse with pain at the end of the last sentence and his head itself with clenched eyes. T took in a sharp breath and after a shared look with Parvati M waved at Ash to come back. ¡°Ash, its okay my friend. Come back. We will take care of you.¡± Ash stood there for a moment and then slowly lifted his head up to look at the Raks and started. ¡°But. Then I look at these blue biggest and the scaly little ones and forget all about the pain. They took her from me. She is mine. And I have half a bar full of potentiality. And every time I kill one of them, I get more. So, I can do this for days. They have hundreds. I will kill hundreds. I will only stop when I get She back.¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. One of the nishachars facing Ash muttered ¡°Half a bar?¡± Ash gave the man a flat look. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ That¡¯s not possible. Unless¡­¡± The blue man¡¯s eyes widened and he screamed ¡°Warder! He is a warder. Mages! Take him down now!¡± ¡°Oh gods. No.¡± Taran E65 muttered as he saw the people on the platforms move. Mages pushed their way to the front and aimed their staffs down. They had been concerned about hitting their own but now they wanted to take Ash down before he could respond. Jay 84 pointed above them ¡°Look at the platforms above. They are all¡­¡± ¡°I know!¡± E65 cut Jay off and looked at the other side of the muddy road. Parvati M141 who had been silent up till now sighed and tried to reason with Ash ¡°Warder Ash, we need to work together. You are not well. Your body is continuously taking damage. You are glowing all over. You need to stop.¡± ¡°No.¡± Ash who had his eyes trained on the nearest platform answered sternly and then with a hint of laughter in voice ¡°You all work together. I will¡­ just kill.¡± Taran E65 shook his head ¡°Why are you being so obstinate?¡± Ash spun his tonfas out and pushed his feet into the mud until he got a grip on the rocks below. The mages raised their hands and Ash shot a spurt of potentiality into his shards. The world slowed and in that moment he waited for the mages to aim while thinking about the answer to T¡¯s question. Standing there in front of all the enemies Ash took a moment to put his feelings into words. How could he explain why he wanted to rush in and kill everything he saw? Because it would distract him from his pain? Yes, that was a factor. Because his adrenaline addled brain was forcing him to run, jump, or just do anything? Yes, that was a factor too. Also, he was getting a hint of hunger from his weapons. They were urging him to fight so that they could feed and grow. So that was a reason too. But the real reason left his emotions were a jumbled mess. Those were factors. But they were just the superficial layer. It was the deeper feelings that were driving him to action. The anger, the frustration, the fear, the¡­ the¡­ With a jolt of clarity he realised that those feelings were not his. They were from Sheetal. For a long heartbeat he looked at those feelings and wondered if he should continue his headlong charge? Of course he wanted to. He wanted to save Sheetal. She was his. But why was that? Just thinking about the fact left him conflicted. He was someone who had killed tens of people just to keep his cover identity while spying, and let tens of others die just because his assignment demanded it, and not to mention the handful of people he had just let die because it was convenient and feeling lazy. And now something inside him was compelling him to get Sheetal back just this second. He eyes focussed on the mages. They were almost done. Ash looked inwards and focussed on the helplessness Sheetal was feeling tainted with spikes of pain, mind numbing fear and bubbling anger. He was used to ignoring his pain and emotions but these were distinct from his. Maybe that is why he was feeling things. He hated feeling things. But compared to earlier, when all he saw red, the feelings things had subsided somewhat. Why was that? Could it be¡­ Could the reasons for that standing right in front of him. ¡°Ash? Are you even listening to us?¡± T asked from behind him. ¡°No.¡± Ash answered distractedly. ¡°For the love of light.¡± E65 grumbled and then asked ¡°What is going on with you?¡± Ash grimaced and then his eyes lit up. T and others were connected to him with this computer system. Maybe he didn¡¯t need to explain. He looked at his hud and at the bottom of his screen he saw their names and statuses. So, yes, he really didn¡¯t need to explain. Ash looked back and asked ¡°Don¡¯t you feel it?¡± ¡°Feel what?¡± E65 asked. ¡°Focus on it and you will get it.¡¯ ¡°Get what?¡± ¡°The more I kill, the less pain we will feel from Sheetal. That means I am doing something right, right?¡± E65 looked at Parvati M and mouthed ¡°Has he lost his mind?¡± Parvati shook her head and mouthed back ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± When he turned back to Ash all he saw were magical chains, bolts, a beam and even a set of conjured knives impact the place where Ash was standing. And then he heard cries of pain and surprise from the enemies in the front. T wiped his visor, and looked ahead. He saw the mad warder blur into motion after taking down a the pitiful looking vetaal and appear over a fallen nishachars. He stomped down on the blue man¡¯s head and then looked at the others hungrily. For a moment everyone just stood there in a shocked silence and then all hell broke loose. T didn¡¯t waste a moment. E65 raised his rifle and lowered it. With Ash¡¯s movements he did not know where to shoot. Instead he began yelling out orders to coordinate with his new teammates. ¡°Everyone, pick out targets of opportunity and combine your shots to put them down. Make sure not to hit the warder.¡± One rifle didn¡¯t do enough damage. Before a shot could take down the enemy, their potentiality rushed in and healed them. But two or three weapons could put an enemy down and keep them down. Jay 84 yelled out over the screams and shouts ¡°E65 I am with you. Let''s focus on the flanks and combine our shots.¡± T nodded and together they began to shoot into the enemy. Watching the results of their shots, Parvati M yelled over the noise ¡°83, you and I will aim above. Together we can neutralise the one on the platforms. 83 drop your shield on my mark. 3¡­2¡­1¡­Mark!¡± T nodded as blue beams shot into the sky and the magical fire cut off. He shouted. ¡°Good. We are going to burn the ones on the warder¡¯s right flank. M142, once you are done prioritise any that try to flank the warder.¡± E65 ordered. E65 began shooting and M142 replied on the channel with a sarcastic ¡°Okay, T sir, yes sir.¡± T grimaced and in a disgruntled tone muttered ¡°Please don¡¯t call me that.¡± ¡°Tell that to the warder.¡± Needles muttered. T looked at Ash. The man, no, the warder was a buzzsaw. Everywhere he went enemies fell in droves. Behind him was just ash. Some of it was his, but almost all of it was the enemies. It mingled with the water creating sooty mud leaving behind sparkling shards that none of them had the time to pick up. Just watching him sent shivers down his spine. And then came his unhinged laughter. Jay 83 chuckled ¡°Yup. you are stuck with that name now, E65.¡± ¡°Dang it.¡± T cursed. In front, Ash was on the razor¡¯s edge. He knew that as soon as he ran out of potentiality his heart would stop and yet, he had never felt so alive. The adrenaline. The visceral need to keep on killing and the fear in the floundering enemies eyes made him cackle. Left. Right. Strike. Left. Right. Right. Strike. Strike. Left. Forward. Strike. Right. Left. Strike Kick. Strike New Weapon Upgrade - Block Soul Drinker Will - 5/20 New Weapon Upgrade - Peirce Soul Eater Will - 7/20 Ash felt the potentiality rush out of him like water with every footstep and every move. But with every kill more came rushing in. Not only, his jittering heart healed and sent a wave of pleasure with every kill. It was like he was in a trance. His breathing levelled out and his began to listen to him like it had never before. Enemies stabbed, slashed, clawed, and bit. But he was faster than them. And still, some of them connected. He didn¡¯t see any blood but his t-shirt was slaughtered and hanging off him in strips. Even if they had connected, his mind wouldn¡¯t have felt it over the numbing pain he was feeling deep inside him. That last thought almost loose his footing and he focussed on the battle and let his mind go blank. War Mode - Active Evaluating Shards. Assigning Combat Role - Berserker. Ash didn¡¯t see the message but felt its effects. His strange sight became easier to comprehend. He didn¡¯t look at enemies but the shards inside them. He saw a vetaal¡¯s shards flash. He felt a sense of sharp sensation from the creatures and swayed away from the claw strike. His hand moved on its own and soul eater came up as if it was an extension of him. He didn¡¯t even aim the thrust of his blow and yet it connected with the vetaals temple and dug in. At the same, he saw another flash from a green shard and felt a sickly smell tickle his nose. This time soul drinker moved and parried a lunging staff thrust from one of the nishachars. Ash lifted his leg and kicked the lunging nishachar in his face and twirled further into the enemy. More flashed lit up his vision and he moved to counter them. Then he started to notice the potentiality rushing into those shards. He parried a weapon thrust and whirled into a swordswoman before she could activate her shards. Soul Eater crushed her larynx and he stood there for a second looking down at enemies that had stimied him. ¡°This was my favourite white shirt. You slaughtered it.¡± Ash said in a conversational tone and continued ¡°If you wanted me out of this shirt all you needed to do was ask. Now..¡± Ash disappeared and reappeared stabbing soul drinker into the mouth of a vetaal before he began his lunge. And continued in the same tone ¡°Now, I will have to kill you. I know it doesn¡¯t look like much.¡± Ash moved diagonally and eliminated another enemy ¡°But that was Dior, buttheads.¡± Ash¡¯s sudden speed, erratic movements and ability to know what the enemy was going to do before they did had a cascading effect on the Raks. Ash continued trash talking and laughing. He needed to break their spirits rather than kill them. There were hundreds of the blue guys and gals. Not to mention the half human lizards and they kept popping up in front of him. Also the pain in his body had started to travel outwards and now a new burning feeling erupted on his skin. Ash tried to ignore the pain and lashed out at the enemy. With every kill, the pain faded, and then it came back. Ash sped up his footwork, putting down enemies faster than before. One turned in two, two turned into five and then everything blurred together. Soon he found himself in the open with enemies backing away from him. Ash coughed and spat out a blob of blood and Ash. He turned his cough into in a sultry laughter and shouted at the retreating foes ¡°Oh don¡¯t be like that. Come a little closer. Let me touch those firm bodies and run my weapons on your brilliant blue skin.¡± The enemy looked at him like he was a wild animal and tightened their hands on their weapons. ¡°No?¡± Ash asked. He shot a rush of potentiality into his shards and weapons. ¡°Well then, I guess I will just have to come to you.¡± As soon as his last word ended Ash appeared next to a wide eyed vetaal. He brought his tonfa down. The poor creature¡¯s head exploded. Once again the enemies reeled under his assault. T and panted and cursed ¡°By the light! This guy is insane.¡± Parvati M who was running and gunning besides him nodded ¡°Yes but we are making excellent time and getting much needed kills.¡± ¡°Are you kidding me?¡± T asked while pointing his rifle at a platform. He shot two volleys and so did his party members. Seconds later all that was left in front of them were bodies turning into ash and dust. E65 took in a breath and stated ¡°Ash is moving too fast and we are in the open. We need to get behind cover.¡± Parvati M141 pointed and smiled ¡°Look he stopped.¡± Taran E65 turned and looked just as Ash spun and brought both of his tonfas upon a vetaal. They impacted the dumb creatures cheek and the things head erupted in gore. Ash chuckled ¡°Heh! Heh! Heh! Did you see that T? That guy exploded like a watermelon.¡± E65 grimaced and in a whisper asked Parvati M ¡°How is he doing?¡± Parvati M141 was not a pure assault class. She was a frontline medic. That is why alongside the normal identification of her party members she usually saw their life signs. With the young warder¡¯s new hud she saw everything that was ailing them just as she focussed on them. It was a lot but it took only a moment for her to parse out the information and relay all of it to E65. ¡°He is not good E65. He has potentiality. That is not the problem. He has stopped burning all his stored fat and now his body is cannibalising itself. His proteins, his calcium, his minerals and everything else are all being consumed and reused to keep him moving.¡± ¡°T?¡± E65 looked at Ash. He was thinner. And was he shorter too? E65 looked at Parvati M ¡°Can you help him?¡± Needles licked her lips and nodded ¡°I can if he stops in time.¡± ¡°TEEEEE¡­EEEE? Are you ignoring me?¡± Ash screamed from up ahead. 83 laughed ¡°T, he is calling you T again.¡± E65 gave the man a withering look and asked ¡°What do you want?¡± ¡°Do you want to speed this up?¡± Ash asked in a jovial tone. E65 who was moving as fast as he could looked at his people with an open mouth. ¡°You know what? You guys take your time. T, I am just going to pick up the pace now. Come see me when you catch up.¡± T looked at Parvati and the Jays and asked ¡°This wasn¡¯t fast enough for him?¡± Jay 84 chuckled ¡°Apparently not. Also, if you don¡¯t do something soon I am going to start calling you T, too.¡± E65 shut his mouth with a clack and turned to glare at Ash and saw him run from one foe to another. He didn¡¯t even wait to watch them crumple. He just sped past them. T cleared his throat and began ¡°You know¡­ I¡­ Uh¡­ Yeah¡­ I¡­ I think I will take that up with him later. When he is not acting like a mad man.¡± The channel was silent for a moment and then he heard 84 mutter ¡°Oh he is going to be T for the rest of his life.¡± Then chuckles erupted from all the party members. ¡°Why is everyone laughing? I want to know the joke too.¡± T grumbled ¡°Nothing. We were just talking about how you were going to run yourself into a sword.¡± Ash was about to respond when he felt Sheetal move. His eyes drifted up to the sky. There he saw a dirty Sheetal shooting a death glare down at someone below. ¡ª------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ War Mode - Activated Evaluating Shards Assigning Combat Role - Battle Mage. Sheetal looked at the pulsing text at the bottom of her screen and then down at A197. The man looked at her with a thunderous expression. He began to raise his weapon. And Sheetal pushed potentiality into her shards. With a jerk she flew backwards and zig zagged before he could aim. A197 let out a series of shots in the air. She jerked herself lower and kept flying. She zipped over the head of the vetaals and nishachars and over the blockade of the enemy camp and into the open. She took a breath and looked at her hud. It had changed. The spinning ball was gone. Instead there was very little information on her screen. Instead of all the info, her hud highlighted enemies in varying shades of red. Red that there and yet not there. One of the red dots lit up and began charging towards her. Couple of red dots followed the first one. Sheetal turned towards it, her vision sort of zoomed and focussed on an ugly grimace on Taran A197¡¯s face. Sheetal duked to the left and then flicked out a finger. A197 was suddenly tossed into the air. He toppled head over heels but somehow landed on his feet. Sheetal blinked. How had she done that? Suddenly, something happened. It was like something folded inside her and imprinted, no, not imprinted, released a packet of information inside her brain. It felt like she already knew how when she hadn¡¯t earlier. And alongside that use of her gravity shard there was more. The way she was unconsciously using the air before her to create lenses that had focussed on the enemy. The way she was using polar shards to keep her oriented. The way she was all three to fly higher and faster. Her mind registered all those changes and she knew, if she hadn¡¯t used the mind shard she wouldn¡¯t have even registered the changes. In her distraction she had lost sight of A197. Suddenly a red dot pulsed warningly and her eyes zoomed and focussed on the continuum soldier. In a fluid motion he raised his weapon and aimed. He focussed and before Sheetal could react and pressed on the trigger. Just as the weapon was about to discharge the vetaal mage ran to Taran A197¡¯s side and pushed his weapon off course. A blue laser beam shot past her. Sheetal looked down in shock and took in sharp breaths while watching the mage and Taran A197 argue. In her hud the mage slowly turned from red to orange. He shouted something at the top his lungs in the clicking clacking language. Sheetal watched as red outlines began to turn to orange. Except the ones that were out in the distance. A zap of pain hit her extremities as she looked in the distance and she smelled Ash¡¯s minty lavender scented shampoo. Before she could even think about the smell Sheetal was flying towards Ash. Sheetal duked downwards and sped backwards only a few feet over the ground. She used her wind shard to turn herself over and saw startled blue people part like water in front of her. Orange meant they weren¡¯t friendly but they weren¡¯t hostile either. So, Sheetal didn¡¯t stop and fight. She kept flying a handful of feet over them. A map appeared on the side of her vision. One of the red dots pulsed on it rapidly. She spun herself until her back was facing the ground and looked. She saw A197 explode out of a rush of blue skinned nishachars closely followed by Aditya A303. Her hud highlighted them and the map disappeared. Taran A197 looked at her and pointed at A303. Aditya A303 nodded his helmeted head. He raised his rifle with Taran A197. A197 said something with an ugly grimace and then his grimace turned into a grin. Taran A197 fired. Besides him Aditya A303 joined him. Sheetal eyes widened. She had expected beams and moved left. Instead, pulsating missiles flew towards her. Sheetal banked to the right. The missiles moved with her. Sheetal flew higher. The missiles gained elevation. Sheetal rolled to the left. The pulses flew past her and then¡­Turned. Sheetal shot herself downwards. The missiles began to gain speed. Sheetal saw a vacant platform. She flew past it and diverted her gravity shard use for a moment. It was like the jets powering her had shut off for a moment. And she fell weightlessly towards the ground. It was an unnerving moment but she used it to nudge the platform in the way of the missiles. Boom. Bang! Sheetal watched as the missiles exploded behind her and then shot a stream of potentiality towards her gravity, wind and polar forces shards. Her descent slowed and she jolted to a stop inches above the ground. Sheetal panted and tried to get her heart to settle down. ¡°Nice flying. But you are dead meat bi¡­¡± Sheetal shut her eyes as A197 and A303 appeared from the side and pulled their triggers. Sheetal felt it when someone appeared in her field of gravity and rushed past her. She opened her eyes as a large man interposed himself in between her and the shots. Jay 83¡¯s hand shot out and a crackling shield appeared in it. Sheetal squinted as their shots connected with the man. 83 leaned into his transparent shield. The man skidded back and Sheetal used her powers to steady him. The large man nodded and a moment later stood up on steady feet. His shield on the other hand cracked and broke before fizzling out. ¡°83? Why?¡± Taran A197 asked. Jay 83 rang out his stinging arm and shook his head ¡°Tar. How could you?¡± Sheetal came to stop behind 83 as he pushed potentiality out his arms and created a new shield. Taran A197 cracked his neck and raised his rifle ¡°Fine. If you want to stand by her, you can die with her.¡± Jay 83 raised his shield and placed his own over it. Sheetal raised her arms outwards ready to flick her fingers and then before anybody could say or do anything more something large and heavy fell into the water behind Taran A197 and Aditya 303. The water erupted and a wave splashed on the gathered combatants. As it settled down and the mist from the explosion cleared a ten foot tall, four armed man, with an over and underbite appeared. The water dripped off his tanned brown skin as he glared at everyone in front of him. The man glared at everyone and then turned his angry eyes at the mage vetaal weaselling his way to him. Sheetal¡¯s hud pinged. Name - Kapas Type - Class 2 Asura Affiliation - Rakshasa Empire Faction - Kapasura ¡ª------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ash was pulling out soul drinker from an enemies mouth when a large wave of water came crashing down on him. It pushed him of his feet and Ash lost his grip on one of his tonfas. Ash wiped his face free from the water and looked up. He saw a nishachar looking at him and his fallen tonfa in front of him. Ash scrambled towards the weapon but the Nishachar hand came down on it first and he triumphantly ginned at Ash. The nishachar¡¯s grin turned into a scream which was cut off as his body burned up from inside as soul eater ripped his essence out and into itself. Then weapon sort of bucked and landed close to Ash. He picked it up and the tonfa purred in his hand. New Weapon Upgrade - Block Soul Drinker Will - 18/20 New Weapon Upgrade - Peirce Soul Eater Will - 19/20 Ash smiled down at his weapon and petted it ¡°Who¡¯s a cute kitten? Yes, you are. Yes, you are.¡± He turned to soul drinker and in baby talk continued ¡°Don¡¯t get jealous you. You are the pretty kitten. Yes, the pretty kitten.¡± Ash looked up to see the eyes of his enemies. His unhinged banter and talk unnerved them and fear reflected in their eyes. This time the fear was there but it was naked and it stiffened faces all around him. Ash didn¡¯t care. If the idiots wanted to freeze in battle they could all die like idiots. He grinned, and took a step to charge. The air around him thickened and a sense of weight landed on his shoulders pushing him down. He lost control of his potentiality momentarily and one by one his shards began deactivating. Ash stumbled and fell to one knee. His eyes went to the bottom of his screen. The names in his party list along with Sheetal¡¯s rolled and his potentiality bar reappeared. It was almost full. And yet he was losing control. Ash¡¯s vision darkened at the edges and he put a hand on the floor to steady himself. Something was wrong. Something was horribly wrong. A panel appeared in his vision and focussed on his heart. Cardiac Arrest. BPM - 14¡­09¡­05¡­ Ash saw his heart begin to flatline. Ash focussed on his heart. He needed it to keep beating. He closed his eyes and focussed on his heart. It needed to beat. That¡¯s all that mattered. He pushed against the foreign pressure. And slowly his potentiality moved. It spurted into his density shard and his heart thumped and stilled. Ash gritted his teeth and pushed. His heart thumped again. Ash kept pushing. His heart thumped, thumped, and steadied. Ash let out a breath and then remembered he was amongst enemies. He sprang up and swayed. For a moment with his motion he lost control of his potentiality and his heart stopped again. He steadied himself and focussed on squirting potentiality into his heart. With half a mind he turned his head up and looked at the enemies. They were all giving him a wide berth. They grimaced at him and then turned fearful looks towards a large statue. Ash looked around wearily and took a step back. He raised his tonfas, and then lowered them. They felt like the rough CNC blocks of metal they were created from. He did feel them but the sense he got from his weapons was dulled. Without that his tonfas were supposed to feel like ordinary weapons in his hand. Right now, he didn¡¯t even feel that. Ash looked around and saw Sheetal hovering and struggling to stay up float in the distance. As he watched she finally failed and went down with squelch. ¡°Dang you flipping blue bronze looking fudder. Flip you and your fudding EMP field.¡± Ash sighed and began walking towards Sheetal. Sheetal felt the towering Asura¡¯s magic as it spread out. It settled over her and then pushed her own power down. Sheetal¡¯s hovering power sputtered out and for a moment she just hovered there. Then something erupted out of the demonic man. A bluish haze settled over and everyone else. It pushed her down to the floor. Warning! You are under an effect. Evaluating effect. Hinder - Class 2 All potentiality and related movement will be ten times harder under this effect. Sheetal tried to combat the effect but the only thing she was able to do was squelch the mud under her. Her eyes shot to the Asura to somehow stop this pressure. But, he was not even looking at her. He was listening to the vetaal who had pushed A197¡¯s weapon away from her. And yet his magic was restraining everyone in the trials. Sheetal felt hand close around her and the Jay 83 lifted her up. He whispered ¡°Lean on me warder. We might need to get out of here quickly.¡± Sheetal nodded and turned her eyes to look all round her. The nishachars looked no better. They were stumbling under the pressure too and had wide eyed fearful expressions on their faces. Their glowing bolts and swords had sputtered and faded away. Now their sharp weapons looked like they were made out of weak bronze. Even the vetaals watched their former silver claws fizzle out revealing dull black nails with a disgruntled look. The situation was no better on their side. The continuum soldiers were looking at their guns in despair. Still, they ran to her and took a protective stand all around her. E65 in a whisper asked ¡°Where is Warder Ash?¡± Sheetal who had her eyes on the asura saw him raise his eyebrows as he looked in the distance. Sheetal turned her eyes at the enemies and saw them part with angry and fearful expressions to reveal a glowing figure from amongst them. Sheetal watched as Ash walked past them with a smug expression on his face. Ash waved as the blue skinned enemies closed ranks behind him and called out ¡°It was nice playing with you boys and girls. Let¡¯s do this again sometime, okay?¡± Sheetal looked at Ash. As he walked to her he momentarily touched his chest and Sheetal could feel the bone deep pain from their link. His smile slipped for a moment and then the irreverent grin came back as he looked at the large figure looming in the distance. She knew he was putting on a front and this time she agreed with it. Ash winked at her, turned his head to the giant man and announced ¡°She, look! That¡¯s a big Goro looking mother trucker.¡± Sheetal opened her mouth to scold him and then watched the continuum soldiers protecting her go from tense to confused. Sheetal realised what he was doing. She had seen this before. Ash was trying to alleviate the tense atmosphere and restore the morale of their group. She smiled and decided to respond to banter. ¡°Wait, you played Mortal Kombat?¡± Ash gave her a look ¡°She, everyone has played Mortal Kombat.¡± Sheetal was momentarily distracted by his voice. It was of her higher pitch than before. She shook off the distraction and decided to correct him ¡°No, not everyone is a gamer.¡± ¡°Of course not. Neither am I. Just because I played Street Fighter, Tekken, and Mortal Kombat, doesn¡¯t make me a gamer. I am not a nerd like you.¡± Ash replied while walking to her. ¡°Gamer.¡± Sheetal muttered. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Gamer!¡± Sheetal smacked her head. ¡°Umm¡­ You okay?¡± Ash asked. ¡°How could I be so stupid?¡± Sheetal asked the world in general ¡°The system. It¡¯s like a video game.¡± Ash sighed ¡°I don¡¯t know what you are talking about but there is a four armed guy talking to a lizard man over there.¡± Sheetal shook her head ¡°Yeah, the asura.¡± Ash placed a hand on Taran E65 and muttered ¡°Asura huh? Four arms? Four arms!? That¡¯s so unfair. We only have two to pleasure ourselves with. Just left and right.¡± Taran E65 looked at the warder and took two steps away from the crazy man. Ash¡¯s hand flopped down and he gave the man a hurt look. The continuum soldiers chuckled. Ash pouted ¡°Not fair. When did I become the butt of the joke, guys?¡± Suddenly the pressure emanating from the asura faded. No, it was still there but all of them could feel that it wasn¡¯t being commanded so sharply. The asura floated upwards standing on a small tornado and scanned the surroundings. His eyes met the warders and Ash spun his tonfas in his palms preparing to fight. Suddenly in a blink of an eye, the asura grabbed Aditya A303 by the back of his head. Before anybody could understand what was happening the four armed giant, slammed the silent Aditya down. Aditya 303 hit the ground five times in a rapid succession and then crumpled into ash. The asura looked at Aditya A303¡¯s shards in disgust and flung them aside like trash. Sheetal scooted closer to Ash and besides her Ash took a stance to fight. The Asura raised his arms and in a cultured voice surprised them once again ¡°Warders! We have eradicated one of your enemies. We don¡¯t wish to fight. We just wanted a warder shard. We did not expect these imbeciles to bring warders to our doorstep. I, Kapas, the asura of the centre, and the leader of the Kapasura faction propose a temporary ceasefire.¡± Ash¡¯s hud hummed and one by one all the enemies in red and orange turned to yellow. Then a notification floated at the bottom of his screen. A similar notification floated in Sheetal¡¯s hud. Ceasefire Declared. The Kapsura Faction has asked for a ceasefire. Warning! If the ceasefire is declined a state of war will be cleared between you and the Kapsura Faction. Kapasura Faction Strength - 7.8 million Do you wish to break this ceasefire? Yes / No? Sheetal¡¯s eyes widened at the number and she looked at the hundreds of strange weapon wielding people looking at them wearily. Sheetal opened her mouth to respond but Ash beat her to the punch. ¡°And we are just supposed to trust you? After you attacked us?¡± ¡°Ash!¡± Sheetal hissed in a silent whisper. Kapas nodded ¡°Here let me prove my intentions.¡± The tornado covering Kapasura¡¯s feet turned sideways and before anyone could blink, The large four limbed man was next to Taran A197. He grabbed the continuum soldier by both his arms and lifted him up. He began to twist A197¡¯s arms. Ash let out a snarled ¡°Put him down.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash again. Even his snarl was high pitched. There was just a slight hint of base in his voice. Kapas stopped and looked at Ash ¡°Isn¡¯t he one of your enemies?¡± Ash nodded ¡°Yes. And unlike you, he is still red and mine to kill.¡± Kapas¡¯s eyebrows rose and he grinned. It was the most terrifying grin Sheetal had seen. The man¡¯s lips parted to show large teeth the size of her fingers and then there were the canines. Four of which jutted out of the man¡¯s mouth and over his lips. Sheetal looked to Ash and saw a similar grin on his gently glowing face. As Ash opened his mouth to breathe a more pronounced glowing light shot out from the back of his throat. ¡°Very well, warder. Should I consider the ceasefire accepted?¡± Ash looked at Sheetal and his face turned stony in anger. He turned back to the asura and nodded curtly. The system took Ash¡¯s nod as a confirmation and through their huds announced. Ceasefire! Ceasefire! All combatants ceasefire. Kapusura and Warders have reached an temporary agreement. The asura put A197 down and pushed him towards Ash. ¡°He is all yours warder. Now if you don¡¯t mind. I just came to this trial for a swim. We shall be taking our leave now.¡± Ash¡¯s hud flashed again and all the yellow outlines turned to green. The Asura¡¯s people began to sheathe their swords and weapons. Some of them started making their way to the exit. Others retreated towards the asura. E65 quickly stepped ahead ¡°Asura, our vehicles are out there. Don¡¯t trash them. Please.¡± Kapas looked at E65 and then at Ash ¡°One of yours?¡± Ash who had his eyes on into A197 nodded. ¡°You do know, The Continuum, it cannot be trusted, right?¡± Ash turned to look at Kapas ¡°Says the leader of a people who eat humans and drink their blood.¡± ¡°I see your point warder. But you know all this violence could have been avoided if the continuum hadn¡¯t bartered for their pathetic major¡¯s life with the promise of a warder shard.¡± Kapas said in a calm deep voice. Ash snorted ¡°Well that was a bad trade. You only trade with people when you can enforce that trust.¡± The asura nodded and looked to the red and black cloaked vetaal ¡°Do you hear Saras. That is wisdom.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash and whispered ¡°No, that¡¯s not. It¡¯s not how business is done.¡± Ash gave Sheetal a disappointed look and whispered ¡°She this is not business.¡± The asura took a breath and smiled ¡°Yes, lady warder. Your brother speaks the truth¡­ Warders, I was thinking maybe, one of these days I will come to you with a proposal. One that will benefit both of us. Will you listen to it?¡± Kapas asked. ¡°He is not my¡­¡± Sheetal almost replied when she realised that the asura had heard her whispering. Ash looked at the large man and then at Sheetal ¡°He heard us whispers from all the way there?¡± Taran E65 licked his lips ¡°That is a class two being.¡± Sheetal looked at the jittery man next to her and asked ¡°What does that mean?¡± It was Parvati M who replied ¡°Class twos are different. They are more powerful and have strange abilities.¡± Ash cleared his throat ¡°People, the nice asura is waiting for an answer. You all can discuss all that later. So, She, What do you think? Should we take the man up on his offer?¡± Sheetal wiped some blood off her chin and looked at the towering man thing ¡°I don¡¯t know. Your people didn¡¯t hurt me but they didn¡¯t help me either.¡± Kapas tapped one of the teeth over his lips ¡°Perhaps a gift will alleviate tensions? Yes?¡± Sheetal and Ash looked at each other with confused looks. Then one of the Jays nudged them and in a tight voice muttered ¡°Please say yes.¡± Sheetal shrugged ¡°Okay. We¡¯ll listen.¡± The Asura smiled and turned to the vetaal that Tar had been speaking to earlier. In the same clicking language he pointed back. The vetaal nodded and ran somewhere. He appeared a few minutes later. He approached the two warders wearily and held out his hands. In one hand was a belt with two hole like protrusions, In the other was a leather circlet. ¡°That one is for you, warder Ash. To store your strange soul weapons. The other is for you lady warder, Sheetal. It will help you grow your mental shard and keep your dark hair off your face when you fly.¡± Sheetal and Ash looked at each other and took the gifts. The vetaal rushed back to his master¡¯s side. While the strange lizard man returned the Asura began. ¡°Now, we have killed the beast holding this trial together. We are almost done here¡± The Asura raised a glass ball and tapped it. Lights of colours rushed into the ball. It was a pretty sight. Hundreds of glowing colours flew towards the asura and his glass ball. Ash focussed on a glowing blue light. Water Shard Class 1 Ash¡¯s mouth popped open, and he took a step towards Kapas. ¡°Hey, those are my shards.¡± Sheetal grabbed Ash¡¯s hand and from the side of her mouth she asked ¡°Ash, what are you doing?¡± Ash turned to Sheetal and whined ¡°I killed all those people. Those shards belong to me.¡± The asura laughed and waved dismissively ¡°Actually no. They belong to me. But¡­ When we next meet. I now know what to gift you. Now if you excuse me, I can¡¯t allow my shards to fall into the hands of the continuum dogs.¡± Ash looked at the really tall man with his head raised and pointed at the asura ¡°I will hold you to that Kapas.¡± The asura chuckled ¡°Farewell warders. Let¡¯s meet next without bloodshed.¡± In a strange ripple of sharp lights, the asura and all of his forces vanished. A moment later potentiality rushed into Sheetal¡¯s shards, and she flew upwards. She stopped herself and lowered herself at Ash¡¯s eyes level. She looked down at her feet and saw them scraping the ground. ¡°Ash?¡± Ash kept glaring at the place where the Asura had vanished from. ¡°Ash!¡± Sheetal screamed. ¡°What, She?¡± ¡°Explain what the hell is going on with you. Why is your voice different? Why are you shorter and why are you skinnier?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Ash gave Sheetal a baffled look and then waved his hand dismissively ¡°Later.¡± Sheetal didn¡¯t stop ¡°Also, do you mind telling me why the heck do you think antagonising the four-armed demons out of our scariest myths was a good decision?¡± Ash¡¯s lips twitched and he growled ¡°Can we discuss this later?¡± Sheetal blinked. His growl came out in a sharper tone. It sounded like a puppy growling. Sheetal kept the smile off her face and asked ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because right now I have unfinished business.¡± Ash turned to look at Tar who was shaking his arms loose after the asura had twisted them. Sheetal straightened and looked at the direction Ash was looking at. Her lips pursed together, and her look turned to glare when she spotted the older Taran. A197 cracked his neck and glared right back at them. ¡°What!?¡± A197 shouted. Ash enunciated every word menacingly ¡°You. Hurt. She.¡± ¡°Yeah, what about it? You want me to feel sorry about hitting a sheep like her. Well, I am not. And you don¡¯t scare me boy. Or is it girl?¡± Ash cocked his head to the side ¡°You want to see something scary Tar man. Let me show you something scary. Something¡­¡± Thud! Suddenly the whole trial shook and Taran A197 disappeared. Ash blinked. He opened his mouth and closed it. He looked for Taran A197 and couldn¡¯t find him. Then he looked down and saw a large piece of the flying platform spiked into the ground. Around it, blood, flesh and metal bits laid scattered. Slowly the grim mess turned to ash and shards twinkled out of the scattered bits. Ash looked at the mess dumbfounded then his mind took a moment to process what had just happened. He slowly turned to look at Sheetal who had her hand pointed towards where A197 had been standing. Ash flung his hands up and shrieked ¡°Sheeee!¡± ¡°He hit me!¡± Sheetal responded. ¡°I was monologuing.¡± ¡°He kicked me!!!¡± Sheetal yelled ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°He¡­ Broke¡­ My bones!¡± ¡°It was going to be a great villain monologue.¡± ¡°Do it with someone else.¡± ¡°Couldn¡¯t you give me like two minutes?¡± Sheetal turned her glare at Ash. The annoying buffoon just smiled. Sheetal rolled her eyes and grabbed him ¡°Come here you jagoff.¡± Ash exhaled loudly and then stumbled in her arms. Sheetal¡¯s mind blanked as a sharp pain ran through her chest and stiffen her body momentarily. Ash blinked and shook his head. The anger from Sheetal¡¯s voice disappeared and worry suffused it ¡°Ash?¡± Ash shook his head ¡°Yeah, I am¡­ good. I am good. I just thought that without the giant weirdo I could stop, you know?¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t know.¡± Ash took a step back and stumbled ¡°I need to¡­ Ugh!¡± Parvati M141 rushed to Ash¡¯s side ¡°Warder Ash. I need you to stop using potentiality. You are dying.¡± Ash shook his head ¡°I can¡¯t, I will die without¡­¡± Sheetal watched Ash stumble and grabbed him ¡°Ash! What is going on?¡± Hands closed around Sheetal and pushed her away from Ash. Ash smiled ¡°It¡¯s okay, She. I am¡­ I am..Gooooo¡­¡± Ash felt a sharp pain shoot from his chest to the rest of his body. He blinked and realised that he was lying of the ground. He watched Sheetal teeter and steady herself besides him. The light from his body dissipated and stopped illuminating Sheetal¡¯s face. Ash¡¯s felt his eyes darken. Slowly his vision blurred and the only thing he could see were the shards tightly packed in everyone¡¯s bodies. Then even those started fading. The last thought in Ash¡¯s mind before he lost his consciousness was ¡°I hope she doesn¡¯t find out about what I did.¡± Then his mind blanked out. Sheetal felt a sharp pain in her chest and watched crumple. She righted herself and saw Ash¡¯s eyes roll back into his eyes. ¡°Ash!¡± Sheetal looked at the stunned continuum people. The woman in the armour reached Ash before she could, and Sheetal yelled at her ¡°You said he was dying. What do you mean, he is dying?¡± The trial shook with Sheetal¡¯s voice. Interlude 1 - The Opening Salvo Meanwhile, in a dyson sphere half a galaxy away, a lion man let out a wall roar. He had received two annoying notifications. He had roared at that time much to the dismay of his arbiters. He had stomped around his hall. Then his justicar who he had pushed and dragged into his service, did his job by calming him down. After a drink and two more tirades the large narsimha finally asked ¡°Who are these stupid creatures?¡± ¡°Humans, my Kel.¡± The justicar looked at his narsimha lord and replied in disgust. Ruud Rak, the hammer of the Ascari Nebula and the Kel of the fifth frontier gave his old friend and a constant pain in the teeth, a look. A deep rumble of anger escaped his throat and he clenched his large teeth. A look that the man with light green skin and eyes ignored. The arbiter wasn¡¯t wrong and Ruudrak new it. Humans were like little kittens. Tell them not to touch this or hit that and they would do exactly the opposite. It was their ancestry. They all evolved from apes after all. Yet still the comment was speciest and there had to be boundaries. ¡°Maarut.¡± The narsimha muttered warningly. Maarut Randurus, the Justicar of the 5th frontier didn¡¯t look repentant. ¡°My Kel, I might look like one of the humans but I am not one of them. In fact, most times I can¡¯t even understand how such a strange species has survived much less thrives. Ruud Rak looked at his justicar¡¯s sharp features and snorted. Sure he was a furless bipedal creature but if he thought he wasn¡¯t a human, he was mistaken. The man was an Aranyaani. Aranyaan the planet of forest and fires coloured their skin green but they were still humans. Ruud Rak looked at Maarut¡¯s annoyed expression. His arbiter was perceptive and knew exactly what he was thinking. Ruudrak sighed and tried to advocate for patience ¡°Humans in all their forms are like every other sentient creature in Aditi¡¯s worlds. They learn from each other.¡± ¡°Barely. They are barbaric creatures who kill each other abruptly and violently.¡± ¡°And your people share an ancestry with them.¡± Ruudrak said in a deep voice and asserted his point ¡°If your ancestars hadn¡¯t got lucky and found the divine woods you would be the same. You all would be poking each other with knives and not slowly methodically strangling each other with vines.¡± Maarut gave his Kel a look ¡°Your point my kel?¡± Ruudrak sighed ¡°My point, my Arbiter Justicar, is that my people like to claw at each other¡¯s necks. Humans like to find new innovative ways to kill each other and you like to use plants to fight. We are all sentients and we all have our quirks.¡± Maarut scoffed ¡°Not these ones. They are barely sentient. They haven¡¯t even reached class one.¡± That raised the Kel¡¯s fur. He whirled to face his justicar ¡°Explain!¡± Maarut took in a deep breath ¡°I can¡¯t. I don¡¯t know much more than you. But I have someone on Rier who could explain the situation in more detail.¡± The narsimha nodded and an hour later the wall in front of him disappeared to show snowy mountains and pine trees. Maarut closed his eyes as a cold breeze from the other side brought the smells of freshly cut glass and sweet smelling flowers. Ruudrak sneezed. And then again. ¡°Gaah! I hate the wild.¡± The Kel said in a disgruntled voice. Maarut sighed. Turned his left hand upwards to display a series of holographic controls. He adjusted a nob and the air rushing towards them stalled. Slowly the smells disappeared leaving just the view. A moment later a man in a Stetson hat walked into the picture and saluted the powerhouses by touching an open palm to the middle of his chest. Maarut nodded and introduced the man to Ruddrak ¡°My Kel, this is Harry Milton. He is also known as Bad Harry. He is one of our enforcers on Rier.¡± Ruudrak looked at the man in front of him and nodded ¡°Harry.¡± Bad Harry touched his hat ¡°My Kel. My Justicar. How can I help?¡± Maarut smiled ¡°Harry, please start by telling us what is going on in the trials?¡± Harry sighed ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t even know where to begin Arbiter Justicar.¡± The narsimha looked at the gunslinger impatiently and growled ¡°Then start at the start.¡± Harry scratched his bearded jaw and began ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know how it started but here is what I have come to know. Close to a month ago, over a hundred people showed up out of nowhere at the remnants of the fire city. They were all converted into their mindless enthralled by the Rakshasa Empire. Then around fourteen days later another three hundred showed up right after that. They, for a while held the Empire back but then failed to keep the Raks at bay. But by the end, they all fell, got eaten or just ended up being converted into enthralled too.¡± Kel Ruudrak turned to look at his justicar for answers. When none came, Harry continued. ¡°Two days ago, a party of soldiers and scientists appeared in the fire temple. Some of them were killed in action against the empire¡¯s frontline forces. Others might have fallen too, but one of them was transformed into a priest. A priest of a class nine formless and he was able to keep most of them alive.¡± Ruudrak turned a sharp look at Bad Harry and asked ¡°Class nine? Which one?¡± Harry licked his lips ¡°The lord of the first fire. The Yaksha Agni.¡± Ruudrak¡¯s eyes widened and yelled ¡°What in the lights name is going on over there? Where did these buffoons come from? Why is the yaksha involved and why do they keep coming in?¡± By the end, Ruudrak wasn¡¯t asking Harry the question he had turned his attention to his Justicar. Maarut gave the kel a baffled look while formulating a response. Harry cleared his throat ¡°Excuse, my kel, that is not all.¡± ¡°There is more?¡± The narsimha roared. The sound was so loud that both Maarut and Harry winced. Harry knew that the Kel was close to losing it so he quickly continued ¡°Yes, my kel. There are also two warders that have appeared. They are from this same world these people are coming from and the same place the soldiers and the priest have come from.¡± ¡°What place?¡± Ruudrak¡¯s yelled in anger and then stopped as notifications popped open in front of him. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Congratulations Kel Two new warders have emerged in your claimed territory. Find them. Protect them. And help them grow. Rewards Warder Vasals A portion of potentiality from the Trial Grounds Embassy in lands claimed by the warders. 1/100000 portion of lands owned by new warders. Do you agree to mentor the new warders? Yes / No? Ruudrack looked at the notifications and read through them quickly while Bad harry continued. ¡°Earth, my kel.¡± Ruudrak gave the cowboy a befuddled look ¡°Where?¡± ¡°Earth. It¡¯s the planet I am from kel.¡± Ruudrak gave Harry a flat look ¡°Earth? You people called your planet Earth? What are you, brain dead?¡± Harry winced ¡°I don¡¯t know who named the planet that my kel, but these warders belong to a religion that venerates the yaksha. And he favours them.¡± Ruudrak, stopped and looked at Maarut. He had just finished reading the notifications he had received when he had received his. Maarut frowned ¡°This is bad. There are two infant warders who are stumbling around in a hostile trial which is being invaded by the Rakshasa Empire. Best case scenario, they get enslaved or brainwashed to fight against the light. Worst case scenario, they get killed and their warders shards taken.¡± Ruudrak lips parted in a cunning smile and deep rumbling voice he asked ¡°Maarut, didn¡¯t you hear our enforcer. These two new warders are being favoured upon by a yaksha.¡± Maarut nodded ¡°And that is a problem too my lord. I know of the Yaksha Agni. His myths and legends are spotted all across my planet. When I was young my mother took me to his temple to pray for his guidance. He will not like you putting a claim on what he thinks are his tools.¡± Ruudrak chuckled and looked at Harry ¡°You, Bad Harry. How sure are you about the yaksha favouring the two warders?¡± Harry looked from one of his superiors to the other ¡°My lords, I was there when the Yaksha created two shards from a fire in the trials.¡± Maarut raised his eyebrows ¡°From his own fire?¡± ¡°Yes. Arbiter Justicar.¡± ¡°What shards were they?¡± ¡°Weapon shards.¡± Maarut exhaled ¡°As long as they weren¡¯t tied to Lord Agni, its okay.¡± Ruudrak laughed and shook his head at his justicar ¡°Maarut, the Yaksha Agni would do that.¡± The Justicar looked at his kel ¡°My Kle?¡± The kel chuckled ¡°Now tell me Maarut, how much of all this do you think the silver city simpletons know?¡± Maarut cocked his head sideways ¡°They know something. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have asked for a meeting with you. I am not sure that they know about the warders.¡± Ruudrak tapped his large canine with a claw and shook his head ¡°No, they know about the warders. I am sure they will try to poach them from us. And whatever lands and missions these two have gotten their hands on.¡± Maarut contemplated his kel¡¯s words for a moment and asked ¡°How can you be so sure?¡± Ruudrak snorted ¡°I am not. But let¡¯s find out shall we?¡± and opened his earlier notification. He scrolled to the bottom and with a clawed fingertip and hovered it over the question. Do you agree to mentor the new warders? Yes / No? Ruudrak pressed yes and waited. He didn¡¯t have to wait too long. A series of new notifications popped in his vision. Mentorship contested. The silver city has contested your mentorship of the new warders. You or your representatives may find the new warders and convince them to become your mentees. Rewards. Two new vasal warders. Embassy in lands claimed by the warders. 1/100000 portion of lands owned by new warders. New world of sentients. Potentiality from the Trail Grounds. Ruudrak raised his eyebrows at the addition to the reward section. Then he waved the notifications away and looked at Maarut. Maarut frowned after reading the notification and stated ¡°So they know.¡± ¡°Yes, they know about the warders but not their ties to yaksha. I am going to use that. By the gods, I am going to burn them with that.¡± Ruudrak growled menacingly. Maarut turned to look at his Kel ¡°How, my lord?¡± Ruudrak grinned and looked at Harry ¡°Enforcer, keep an eye out for our two wayward warders. Make sure nothing truly awful happens to them. Otherwise, leave them alone.¡± The kel then turned to his arbiter ¡°Maarut, invite Kel Murduch and his sycophants to join us for dinner. We have a lot to talk about.¡± Ruudrak¡¯s two subordinates looked at each and then walked away with their orders. Five hours later Ruud Rak and Maarut found themselves sitting opposite guests that had arrived from the Silver City. They were at the preliminary stages of their conversation and business hadn¡¯t been brought up yet. Ruud Rak was going to answer another meaningless question when something strange happened. Warning. Two warders have started combat operations against the Rakshasa Empire in your territory. Do you wish to limit the use of War Mode? Yes ? No? Ruudrak hit No and nonchalantly looked up. Maarut must have got similar notification because he approached Ruudrak and whispered in his ear ¡°My lord, if they are already fighting the rakshasa we need to get to them quickly. If not, these idiots will deliver themselves to the Rakshasas Empire. And with a new world at stake, the empire will be able to reinforce itself endlessly.¡± What Maarut did not say was that conversely, if they could repel the empire, they and by association he would be able to bring a new world into the system. That would elevate his rank and push him closer to the rank of Merg. And then he wouldn¡¯t have to cater to idiots from the Silver City. Ruudrak liked that thought and if he was younger he would have been swayed by the rewards. But Ruudrak knew better and he was about to tell his arbiter about the pitfalls when a sudden clanking of dishes interrupted his conversation. Ruudrak looked up and glanced at his guest. A dignified man in his early fifties had stopped mid motion while serving himself the meat and curry dish. A woman, probably his new arbiter, started whispering in his ear. An action that was quickly picked up by Maarut. ¡°My Kel, our guest of honour from Silver City, seemed to have gotten a notification.¡± The narsimha looked at his arbiter and stated ¡°That took longer than I thought it would.¡± ¡°Bureaucracy.¡± Maarut Aranyaani, The Arbiter of Kel Ruudrak and the Justicar of Solace stated in disgust. After a moment he continued ¡°I bet the notifications passed through six sets of eyes before it reached him.¡± Murduch the Kel from Silver City was looking at them and Ruudrak nodded at his counterpart. ¡°War mode? You would give such a powerful ability to warders who haven¡¯t proven loyal to you?¡± Murduch asked Ruudrack. ¡°They were fighting against a common foe to us, Kel Murduch¡± Ruudrak replied while watching the older man put his plate on the table in front of him. Three of the silver city kel¡¯s party scrambled, found a chair and dragged it to the older gentleman. The man took a seat and exhaled, to calm himself. The angry expression on his pale face, visibly calmed himself. ¡°Ruudrak, I heard you all in the frontier operated fast and loose and didn¡¯t adhere to Silver City laws but I didn¡¯t expect to see it so soon.¡± Ruudrak picked a piece of meat from the platter in front of him and threw it in his mouth while everyone looked at him. He smiled ¡°I am sorry, did you ask a question?¡± Murduch frowned ¡°Giving unproven entities war mode can not be condoned Kel Ruudrak.¡± ¡°Then don¡¯t condone it, Kel Murduch. We are not in your territory. We are not in the Silver City. By the light, we are not even close to it. We are on the frontier. We do things differently here.¡± The Silver City untied a knot from the collar of his uniform jacket ¡°Well, Kel of the fifth frontier, I didn¡¯t expect such excitement when I came to your little dyson sphere.¡± Ruud Rak smiled at his old rival and let the barb go. He kept an eye on his notifications. From the side of his vision he could see Maarut stiffen and begin to work on something. ¡°You know what they say, Murduch. A little conflict can liven up a boring dinner.¡± Murduch sighed ¡°I will never understand you narasimhas. You fight to protect and bring piece but don¡¯t seem to appreciate it.¡± ¡°Are we really going to discuss politics now Kel?¡± Ruud Rak asked. Murduch scratched his face with his manicured nails and exhaled ¡°I would but I know that look. You want the new world. And so does the Silver City. That means I will have to oppose you, again.¡± Ruudrak leaned back with a contemplative look ¡°You know what will happen if we fight over this?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll blow up the trial grounds and get sanctioned from the system?¡± Ruudrak chuckled ¡°Yes.¡± A thought seemed to occur to Murduch and he snapped his fingers ¡°How about this? Let¡¯s both send a Shiang to the trial grounds to procure the new talent?¡± Warders had seven ranks. Starting with a simple warder. If anything could be simple about a warder. Then increasing into a Shiang, a Kel, a Merg, and further. And this would be a shit detail for any Shiang. The arata governing the trial zone would limit their combat capabilities and wouldn¡¯t provide them any potentiality for completing any trial. Ruud Rak grinned ¡°Still trying to turn my Shiangs against me? I thought you would have given up on that?¡± Murduch smiled back ¡°It was worth a try and no. Whether you agree or not Kel Rak, I will be sending a Shiang to the trials.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Looks like someone crawled in your fur. But okay. Do as you wish. In the interest of our continued cooperation I¡¯ll be transparent too. I am not going to send any warders into the trials. My warders and Shiangs have better things to do. But I think my Arbiter Justicar has two arbiters that need new assignments.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Murduch asked. ¡°Yes, Kel Murduch.¡± Maarut stopped ahead and answered ¡°One is an old arbiter coming out of retirement and one is a recent graduate of college.¡± ¡°Their names?¡± Murduch asked. Maarut responded quickly ¡°Aya Aranyaani and Olimani Aranyaani.¡± ¡°Aya.¡± Murduch repeated with distaste and looked at Ruudrak ¡°Aya, might have the qualifications to represent a warder but she is ally to warders Ruudrak. She is a zealot of the light. In its old form. I advise you to think about your choice Kel. it might come back to haunt you.¡± Ruudrak tapped his claw on his tooth and shrugged ¡°I stand by my arbiters choice.¡± Murduch shook his head ¡°You are new to the rank of Kel so I will tell you this, Solace is not our friend, young narsimha. Now if two arbiters are all that you are going to send then you are already conceding the warders. I will be sending a Shiang and his ship to fight the Rakshasa down there. He can demonstrate the power that silver city can come to bear upon its enemies to these young warders.¡± Ruudrack smiled ¡°I will let the first light decide who the warders will choose. And I will stand by there decision.¡± ¡°What about the arbiters when they are cast aside.¡± ¡°They will observe and keep me apprised of the situation. It is still my territory Murduch.¡± Muruduch smiled sharply ¡°For now.¡± ¡°You seem confident old foe.¡± Murduch snorted ¡°With what we can offer them? They would be fools not to choose the silver city.¡± Ruud Rak wasn¡¯t worried because he could see a message on his screen. To Kel Ruud Rak. The Kel of Ascari Nebula and the protector of the fifth frontier. Greetings from the Continuum. Lord Kel. We the continuum wish to inform you that we have found two warders in the combat zone between the Yaksha Agni¡¯s forces and the Rakshasa Empire. We are presently transporting them to safety and will keep them safe to the best of our ability. I am enclosing a live marker to the location of the warders with this message. Please feel free to reach out to them whenever you want. And please feel free to provide us with any instructions you may feel necessary. Athena 8 General of the Continuum. And Commander of Yaksha Agni¡¯s Forces. Ruud Rak read through the message once again and asked ¡°Want to place a wager on who gets the new warders?¡± Murduch who was reading something on his hud tapped his chin with his forefinger ¡°How about a million Crerks?¡± ¡°That¡¯s pocket change. I was sure that you would wager something more.¡± Rudd Rak had claws too and decided to remind his old rival about them. Murduch smiled and didn¡¯t rise to the insult ¡°It¡¯s just two warders. We don¡¯t even know if they will bring a tiered world with them.¡± Ruud Rak nodded ¡°Okay, fine. A million crecks it is.¡± Murduch waved his hand dismissively ¡°Anyway, this is just a distraction. Now tell me, how do you want to handle the blood suckers?¡± Ruud Rak sighed and all playfulness faded from his posture as they began to discuss serious business. As they began to discuss the looming problem everyone else on the table gave each other furtive glances. The kels of the system might be playing nice right now but no one was fooled. Behind the smile and the calm tone of the Kels. they could see the undercurrent of war. And they had just seen the opening Salvo in the war of Kels had just been shot. And everyone knew that the war between the Silver City and the Kel¡¯s of the frontier had finally begun. Chapter 24 - Outed by crazy warders. Sheetal fought off the hands closing around her but then 83 hugged her and clamped her arms down with his. Sheetal tried to fight free when she saw Jay 84 running off to restrain Ash''s jerking limbs Sheetal looked down at her arms, then after a glare at the cyborg. Looked past him. Laying there Ash, now that he was not glowing, looked so gaunt. He looked like a famine starved boy. The kind you saw in pictures from some war torn region of displaced farmers. The kind Sheetal tried to ignore so often. War Mode ©¤ Deactivated. You may enable war mode next when hostilities commence. Ash convulsed so hard that Sheetal heard his bones rattle. Taran E65 grabbed his legs and wrestled them down. Jay 84 who had just arrived held his arms down while looking at Parvati M141 for directions. She raised her hand and one of her fingers split releasing a needle. With her other hand she pulled Ash''s white t-shirt upwards and stabbed the needle straight into his heart. Parvati M momentarily flinched with the needle extended. She took a moment to adapt back to her normal hud and then stabbed the syringe into Ash¡¯s chest. Sheetal levitated herself and the massive cyborg tried to her only to be stopped by the words of 84. ¡°Wait. Stop! She is a medic. Let her look after your brother.¡± ¡°He¡¯s not¡­¡± Sheetal suddenly felt a jolt of electricity rush into her heart and stopped with her eyes wide. The jolt was followed by another. Then another. Every jolt made her muscles cramp. Slowly the intensity of the electrical jolts shooting into her heart relaxed and in that moment of confusion, she had fallen to the ground and was caught in the large arms of Jay 84. ¡°What?¡± Sheetal muttered and looked at Ash ¡°What are you doing to him?¡± ¡°Keeping his heart beating.¡± Parvati M said distractedly. Sheetal looked at Parvati M, the long needle extending from her forefinger and then at Ash. He looked so weak. Now that he had stopped burning up like a stupid Saiyan out of an old Japanese anime, he looked so different. His thick and bushy hair was lying flat on his head, slick with sweat. His gymed up body had eaten through all its muscles and fat leaving a skinny frame covered by a hint of muscle. The face on his skin had shrivelled up and was stretched across his face in pain. But the most notable thing about him was his proportions. At five feet seven inches he could generally be categorised as of average Indian height. Ash had liked it that way and made it into one of his strengths. He was neither short nor tall. That had helped him get lost in the crowd. Now with his trousers covering his toes and his muddy t-shirt covering his skinny frame in pleats, Sheetal finally could see how small he had become with his gaunt look and sunken cheeks. That fact was even more accentuated with him lying there under large forms of the cyborgs he looked so frail. Sheetal turned her eyes from Ash to 84 and growled "Let me go." "No." Jay 84 replied. "Listen to me you Robocop wannabe." Sheetal said menacingly. "He will be fine," 84 said in a calming tone and finished "Let Parvati M attend to him." "Of course, he will be fine. If he is not fine I am going to kill him. You hear that, you stupid buffoon? You better get up or I will... I will... I don''t know what I''m going to do." Sheetal voice cracked and she sat on the floor of the corridor, her arms hanging limply by her sides. Jay 84 followed her down. The other continuum soldiers exchanged glances and moved away. Sheetal watched the large soldier kneel beside her and place a hand on her shoulder. "Lady Warder?" Sheetal didn''t respond. Taran E65 cleared his throat "84, just let her go." 84 nodded and released Sheetal. Sheetal looked at the two people holding down Ash¡¯s limbs. Both Jay 83 and E65 looked at Parvati and then with a head gesture told her to approach. Sheetal slowly floated forward to Ash and while looking at his face. ¡°Careful.¡± E65 called out in a sombre voice. He pointed at the tonfas Ash was holding. They hummed in his hands while emanating a restrained aura of danger. Sheetal eyes shot to the tonfas. They were literally vibrating with power and discharging sparks randomly. Sheetal¡¯s hud pinged. Soul Weapons - Soul Eater and Soul Drinker Soul Bonded to Warder Ash. You are soul bonded to Ash. The weapons recognise your soul bond. You may wield Soul Eater and Soul Drinker. Sheetal blinked the notifications away. She was soul bonded to Ash? What? When? How? Sheetal shook away the questions. Right now there were more important matters at hand. She looked at Ash. He had stopped spazzing out and was now lying lifelessly on the ground. Both T and 83 had leaned back but still had their eyes locked on the little guy to stop him from hurting himself. "What is wrong with him?" Sheetal asked in a small voice. ¡°His heart stopped.¡± Parvati said with her eyes closed and with an angry look added ¡°Again.¡± ¡°Why? Why did he push himself so hard? I told him not to do that again.¡± ¡°Lady warder. You are rambling.¡± 84 said in a paternal voice from right behind her and asked ¡°Will you be okay?¡± Sheetal looked at the large cyborg. She had never seen his face but still she got a distinct fatherly feeling from him. Sheetal nodded at the man and muttered ¡°I am sorry for trying to lift you.¡± The man¡¯s faceplate changed from blank to strange emoji of man smiling and giving him a thumbs up. With a smile Jay 84 responded ¡°It¡¯s okay. I have my own tricks to keep myself grounded.¡± And started walking away from them. Sheetal smiled and then asked Parvati M ¡°Is he¡­¡± ¡°Alive? Yes. I am defibrillating his heart to keep it pumping and his blood stream running but if his potentiality doesn¡¯t start saturating his blood stream soon¡­¡± ¡°What? What does that mean?¡± Parvati looked at Sheetal. She noted her wild hair and panicked eyes, and sighed. ¡°Lady warder. When that asura used that spell that forced all potentiality to stop momentarily. Warder Ash''s body was using his potentiality to keep his heart beating. That meant when the potentiality stopped, so did his heart. Now I am keeping his blood pumping in the hopes that his potentiality will start moving too. But¡­ It is a small hope." Parvati M explained "But...But... He was okay after that four armed monster left." Sheetal tried to argue in a little voice. Parvati M nodded "Yes, I don''t know how he did that. And maybe that is the reason his heart stopped again. I will have to run tests on him later but right now I am just barely keeping him alive. " "So¡­ What do we do? How do we fix him?" ¡°We pray that he recovers in the next twenty minutes because then the trial will start falling apart and we will have to move.¡± Parvati M replied. Sheetal looked at the medic with widening eyes ¡°No, you can¡¯t.¡± ¡°Lady warder?¡± Parvati M asked while looking at Jay 83. Sheetal watched Jay 83 start to get up and moved away in a rapid burst of her powers. If he thought he could restrain him like the other guy he had another thing coming. She pointed a finger at Jay 83 who had just got his feet under him and said ¡°Stop.¡± The air around Jay 83 stilled and he looked at Sheetal for a long moment. Then slowly the man raised his hands and started. ¡°Lady Warder. Sheetal. Please listen to reason. If we want to live, we need to get out of here and we can¡¯t move your brother. Not when he has got a needle in heart and not when he has a death grip on those.¡± Sheetal looked from 83 to Ash¡¯s tonfas and stopped. ¡°Soul bonded.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Jay 83 nodded ¡°Those are his soul bonded weapons and they will not allow anyone to touch them.¡± ¡°That is not true.¡± Sheetal opened the last notification and reread it. In a distracted voice she muttered ¡°No. They will allow me.¡± 83 shook his head ¡°No lady warder. I have seen my share of soul weapons. They are¡­¡± ¡°I am soul bonded to Ash.¡± Sheetal stated in a soft voice and then in a confused tone asked ¡°What does that mean?¡± 83 took a step back and looked at Parvati M. ¡°That¡¯s not possible.¡± E65 shook his head. ¡°Why are you all looking at me like that?¡± Sheetal asked. Parvati M eyes sharpened at Sheetal ¡°Tell me if you feel this.¡± Sheetal gave Parvati a confused look and then a sharp jolt of electricity went through Sheetal''s body. ¡°Aah! What was that?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°What? No way. No!¡± E65 yelled in frustration. 83 looked at E65 ¡°Will you calm down?¡± ¡°Calm down? Calm down? We have two warders. One is at death¡¯s door and the other one is going to follow him. And you are asking me to calm down?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Parvati hissed at T. ¡°What do you mean that I am going to die too?¡± Sheetal asked in a wary tone. Parvati M licked her lips ¡°Go down to the bottom of your hud. It will have a section called links. Underneath that section called soul bonds. There you will see your bond with Ash. Tell me the exact bond you have.¡± Sheetal who was already looking through her hud for more on bonds quickly found the section and replied in a sigh ¡°Fate bond.¡± Everyone stopped. And everyone except Sheetal was silent for a few moments. She looked from one face to the other and asked ¡°I guess that it is bad?¡± Taran E65 exploded into curses ¡°By the abyss, ash and sands and dead worlds!¡± Sheetal smiled weakly ¡°I don¡¯t know what you just said but that¡¯s exactly how I feel right now.¡± E65 spun to her and pointed ¡°This! Is not¡­ Happening! After all this?¡± The young cyborg waved all around himself and continued ¡°After all of this! What do I do now?¡± Everyone looked at E65 but it was the thudding steps of Jay 84 and his words that put everyone''s thoughts into words ¡°Great. Make it all about yourself. It¡¯s not like the poor girl is going to die when her brother dies¡± Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Taran E65 opened his mouth ¡°I¡­Uh¡­ I didn¡¯t¡­Uh¡­I am¡­¡± Jay 84 shook his head and looked at Sheetal ¡°I am sorry but spies, when they get focussed on the mission that they lose all common sense.¡± Sheetal nodded ¡°I know. Most operatives are single minded because it¡¯s them against the world.¡± T stopped and looked at 84 with wide eyes. 84 retracted his helmet revealing a sharp dark face structure and a trimmed moustache and smiled ¡°You know spies?¡± Sheetal smiled ¡°Oh I know one or two. The good ones that aren¡¯t simple minded.¡± ¡°I have no idea what you are talking about.¡° T bursted out from the otherside. 83 chuckled and retracted his helmet to reveal a smug smile on an almost identical shaven face ¡°Seriously kid?¡± 84 shook his head and thudded his burden down next to Ash and ordered ¡°E65, take the damn ATI from the major but don¡¯t turn it on.¡± Everyone looked from Jay 84 to a body bag in his hand. He unzipped the bag to show everyone what was left of Parvati 333. Both of her legs were gone. Her left arm looked like it had been mangled by a bear. Her right arm, the only functional limb, was tightened to her body. T looked down, gulped and looked up. ¡°Hurry up, E65. This place isn¡¯t going to stick together for long.¡± 83 urged T in a deep voice. E65 looked from one Jay to the other and then pressed on Parvati 333¡¯s gauntlet. The hand came lose from her chest piece and he began doing something on her forearm screen. Everyone turned from T to looked at the boy lying on the ground with an expression that was a cross between a smirk and a snarl. Sheetal looked at E65 and sighed ¡°T, you are the worst spy I know.¡± T shot her a look ¡°Hey, it¡¯s not easy when your cover and all your information is outed by a crazy warder and his crazy magical abilities to take over your hud. Isn¡¯t anything holy to your brother?¡± 84 chuckled ¡°Oh we knew before that. Why do you think we, with your abilities, didn¡¯t want you anywhere near us.¡± T jerked his head up. 83 chuckled ¡°I told you he was going to look stupid. ¡°No, that¡¯s not stupid. That is¡­ I don¡¯t know what that is. But it¡¯s not stupid.¡± ¡°Shut up and pay up. You owe me half a creck.¡± 83 said in a stern voice. 84 exhaled gave T an annoyed look . Then 84 touched 83¡¯s raised palm ¡°Here. Now help me.¡± 83 walked to 84 and looked down at the major who was now lying lifelessly next to Ash. Jay 83 shook his head ¡°What a waste of a good soldier.¡± Jay 84 nodded ¡°It¡¯s horrible when they get ambitious.¡± 83 nodded empathetically ¡°It¡¯s always the prime numbers.¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t start.¡± ¡°Look, I am telling you. It¡¯s the prime numbers.¡± ¡°Stop.¡± Jay 84 said in a pained voice. ¡°Why don¡¯t you believe the prime conspiracy?¡± 83 asked in a frustrated whisper ¡°Seriously? The prime conspiracy?¡± 84 asked and with a shake of his head ¡°83, my wife is a prime number.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t count. She has an alphabet in her name.¡± 84 rolled his eyes ¡°You are a prime number.¡± ¡°I know. That is why I know. Soon, I will be on the inside. And then I will have proof. Then I will show you the truth. I will show you how deep this goes. I will show you¡­¡± ¡°By the gods man. Shut up.¡± 84 snapped. 83 stopped and exhaled. Then he looked down ¡°So, how are we going to do this?¡± 83 asked. ¡°Hold on a minute, both of you.¡± Parvati M said in a sharp voice 83 looked at Parvati M ¡°Paru. You know what needs to be done.¡± 84 nodded ¡°She betrayed us.¡± ¡°She can be saved.¡± Parvati M stated. ¡°Needles.¡± 84 said in an affectionate tone and smiled ¡°Not from this.¡± Parvati M closed her eyes. ¡°Paru, she betrayed us.¡± 83 pressed. Parvati M opened her eyes with a stern look and in a pained voice began ¡°I hate this. But, fine. At least don¡¯t let her potentiality go to waste. Let the boy warder do it. A burst might help spin it up.¡± Everyone looked at Ash and then at his hands. The tonfas sparked together at just that moment and everyone flinched. 83 frowned ¡°Now how are we going to do that? We can¡¯t even touch his hands, much less free them to hold a knife.¡± 84 frowned and in an unconvinced tone muttered ¡°Maybe we put a plasma knife in between his teeth?¡± ¡°Excuse me? Remember me?¡± Sheetal¡¯s annoyed voice cut across the gathering cyborgs ¡°I have a soul bond with him remember?¡± 84 gave Sheetal an annoyed look and in a sarcastic tone ¡°Right, I am sorry. I forgot that in all of this talk of a fake conspiracy while we are concocting a real conspiracy to kill a senior officer¡­¡± Jay 84 paused to give 83 a stern look. 83 who had opened his mouth shut it audibly. 84 turned his gaze on Sheetal and continued ¡°The fact that you and your twin brother, who you say is not your brother, share a mythical fate bond which I have never seen and only heard of in legends. The same one that allows you to wield the deadliest pair of soul bonded weapons I have ever seen, which I must add kill on touch. This all sounds so ridiculous that I don¡¯t even know how to process it, much less add it to the equation.¡± 83 place a hand on 84¡¯s shoulder ¡°Calm down JJ.¡± 84 closed his eyes and took a deep breath ¡°I am sorry lady warder. This whole situation. You being warders. Your bond. Those weapons. And this damned¡­¡± 84 kicked Parvati 333¡¯s torso ¡°...is driving me nuts. And now, even though I know this is a bad idea, I have to kill my commanding officer. Sheetal put her hands on her hips and asked ¡°Then why are you doing this?¡± ¡°Because she threatened my wife''s life.¡± ¡°Your wife?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Me.¡± Parvati M responded. ¡°You¡­¡± Sheetal pointed from Parvati M to Jay 84 with a surprised expression ¡°You married¡­ Him?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Parvati M and 84 replied together in the same offended tone. ¡°Uh¡­ Congratulations?¡± Jay 83 who was silently shaking in suppressed laughter cleared his throat ¡°Perhaps, it¡¯s time to put Parvati 333 out of her misery?¡± E65 shouted ¡°Yes! We have less than five minutes before this place starts collapsing.¡± While everyone glared at T, Sheetal floated down to pick up soul eater and heard Parvati M take a sharp breath in ¡°Careful, girl.¡± Sheetal flinched back at needles words. She looked up and saw everyone looking at her. Sheetal huffed and reached down ¡°Will you calm down? These weapons wont do anything to me. Ouch!¡± Sheetal pulled her hand away from the tonfa. She didn¡¯t know how it did what it did. It was a rounded piece of metal after all and yet her hand had felt tiny teeth close on her skin. She looked down and saw little dents where teeth had pressed against her skin ¡°What happened?¡± 84 asked Sheetal looked down at the weapon in anger, annoyance and bafflement ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Maybe try the other one?¡± 83 said while trying to rush Sheetal. Sheetal nodded and moved to the other tonfa. This time when she closed her hands around the second weapon. It felt warm and gave her the sensation of petting a furry cat. Sheetal instinctively stroke the weapon and felt raised hackles under the palm of her skin. Everyone held their breaths for a second and then Parvati M instructed Sheetal ¡°Now remember. Keep your brother¡¯s hand on the weapon. Make sure he is gripping it tight.¡± Sheetal tried to listen to Parvati M but a nudge in her head grabbed all her attention. A not so much voice but vibrations that her mind shard picked up and translated in a young girlish voice asked ¡°Potentiality. Take?¡± Sheetal¡¯s looked at the weapon blankly ¡°Ummm¡­ Hello?¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± 83 asked Sheetal shook her head to listen to the next words ¡°Sister. Potentiality take?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not his god¡¯s danged sister. I am his friend. His sometime caretaker. Sometimes boss. Sometimes just an employer. Well at least on paper.¡± Sheetal blurted out. There was silence both inside her head and outside with people looking at her weirdly. Then tonfa asked the same question ¡°Potentiality take?¡± Sheetal¡¯s eyes widened ¡°Oh you mean from me? No. No. Wait.¡± Sheetal touched the tonfa to Parvarti 333¡¯s cheek and said ¡°Now take.¡± The tonfa hummed in appreciation ¡°Yummy, not enough. I take.¡± Sheetal suddenly felt a pressure on her hands that made her scream. It felt as if needle teeth had pierced her palm and were stabbing into her skin. Blood spurted out from her and was soon sucked out. Her Hud flashed warningly and her potentiality bar pulsed in her vision. Potentiality 2359¡­2211¡­1987¡­.1703 Sheetal felt arms on her. Palms grabbed her forearms and pulled her hands away from the tonfa. She looked her hands. They looked hail and still the way a concerned 83 was inspecting her hands made her pause. 83 turned her palm upwards and then moved them downwards. Then asked ¡°It didn¡¯t bite into your soul?¡± ¡°No, it wanted potentiality.¡± The man stopped turning her hands this way and that. And gave her a baffled look. ¡°Hey people?¡± E65 pointed at Ash. Sheetal pulled her palms loose and looked at Ash and then at the tonfa ¡°Right. Hold on a minute.¡± Sheetal rushed to the body bag. She looked at the desiccated flesh flaking into ash, rusting metal and then at the shards coming loose. For a moment she stalled. She had just killed someone. No, she had killed two people. No, three people in the last two days. She¡­ Sheetal mental shard hummed inside her and her panic subsided. Sheetal looked at the tonfa and nodded. It had told, no not told, but more like pointed with baby talk? Anyways Sheetal, knew what she needed to do. Ash, like the meat head he was, had seen shiny weapons and saw them only as tonfas. Soul Eater and Soul Drinker weren¡¯t tonfas, they were symbiotic beings latched to him. And they were scared and trying their best to save him. Because without him, they would turn to dust. And like little cubs, in fear they were yowling, snarling and biting at everything. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Parvati M asked Sheetal stopped and looked up at the three continuum soldiers ¡°I need a channel shard. I have one. I need another.¡± Sheetal held out her hand. 83 pointed out the shard from the five floating shards in front of her She followed a finger and picked up the shard Shard - Channel Type - Class 0.7 Consume Yes / No? Sheetal hit no and placed her hand on Ash. If she could somehow communicate with a piece of metal she could definitely communicate with Ash. No matter how denser he was. Instead something else popped into her vision. Warder Ash Soul Bonded Partner Potentiality - 565/2500 Status - Incapacitated (Hindered) Shards - Speed*4 Sense*1 Density*1 Channel (Shard Storage) Use Stored Shard Yes/No? Sheetal hit yes and two silhouettes came into her vision. One was her and quickly moved it to the side and out of her vision. Then she looked at Ash. And groaned. Of course he had gone with the ribboned soul structure. Most probably because it looked like a pretty ribbon. But thankfully, this time, his stupidness had a benefit. Both the ribbons had an empty slot just above the wrist. Sheetal took out bothe the shards and placed them on Ash¡¯s wrist. Only then noticing the twinkling multi coloured shard that almost glistened . The shard sunk in and the weapons hummed louder shooting a stream of potentiality inwards. Ash¡¯s body began to glow. First, gently then reaching a steady brightness that made his skin glow. Finally the glow began to fade from everywhere but his heart. Parvati M withdrew her needle and scooted backwards. She looked at her finger with a bent needle and looked at it with a baffled expression. Parvati M141 scooted away from the young warder. The heat coming out of the boy hit her face and heated it.. She hit her hemet control on her wrist and the two sections of her helmet lifted from her shoulder. With the silent vibrations of hydraulic mechanism and spring they settled on her head and a visor dropped over her eyes. With her eyes shielded against the glare she followed the stream of potentiality from his weapons rushing into the boy¡¯s arteries. It flowed up into his chest and then into his heart. His heart stuttered but pulsed. Then the potentiality sufficing the warder heart tipped over a tipping point. The heart slowly started becoming denser and denser. Every beat shot potentiality into the heart. With the next beat sections of Ash¡¯s heart tore itself, and the following beat it healed itself. With every rapid tear, with every rapid healing the warder¡¯s heart got denser and still the weapons didn¡¯t stop. They kept feeding the boy potentiality. Finally the heart stuttered out a gasp of potentiality into the warder''s blood stream. It was consumed by the warder''s body inches below the heart. The heart with a deeper beat sent out a spurt next and before it could be processed by his body, the heart steadily beat again. ¡°Are you watching this?¡± Parvati M looked up and saw both her husband and his brother had their visors up. ¡°What are you watching?¡± Sheetal who had no idea what was going on asked while squinting her eyes against the glare. ¡°His heart¡­¡± 83 said. ¡°It¡¯s not only his heart.¡± Parvati M shook her head and pointed ¡°Look.¡± Ash¡¯s glowing heart started beating steadily. It shot pulsing of iridescent light into his body. His body started drinking it up. However the stream never stopped and the luminosity in the boy¡¯s body started building up. Parvati M 141 darkened her visor as the boy erupted in The blinding light. Light Swooped down from his heart into his veins, muscles, organs and even his bones. She watched as Ash¡¯s eyes fluttered open in agony. He screamed. Parvati M looked up to restrain Sheetal only to see Jay 83 holding her as the girl screamed and almost collapsed. E65 ran to the girl and supported her as she lost consciousness. She looked back down. Ash skin flaked off and blood seeped out of his cracking skin. He kept screaming as new blood appeared filled with luminous light. Inside him potentiality rushed into every organ. They started transforming like his heart did. Rapidly tearing themselves up while healing themselves. Impurities from his organs started streaming into the young warder¡¯s blood stream. At places Ash¡¯s skin parted and arteries burst. Until it looked like every pore was spewing out blood. Slowly his inside stopped glowing and then his skin began to heal. Ash¡¯s weapons went from their bright glow to a candle light sending in a steady trickle of power into the boy. Ash¡¯s screams slowly petered out and transformed into groans. Then those groans stopped too and a handful of moments later the glow from his body completely subsided. 83 looked up at Parvati M ¡°Paru, what kind of shard was that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Sheetal who was hanging almost limply in 83¡¯s arm replied in a hoarse voice ¡°Density.¡± ¡°So, it was like strength?¡± 83 asked. Parvati M141 shook her head ¡°No. That wasn¡¯t anything like strength.¡± She paused before she elaborated. In all her years, she had never seen anything like what had just happened ever before. And she had seen plenty of shards levelling up to class one. But then she had never seen a density shard inside a human body. Heck, those were supposed to be used in armour and armoured vehicles. 83 looked at the frail figure lying in a pool of blood and in an unconvinced voice asked ¡°I guess with all that he is stronger?¡± Parvati M shook her head again. 83 was a good man but at times he could really be daft. The boy was almost dainty in his proportion. In fact he looked even smaller than before. But at least, his body didn¡¯t look starved anymore. And his skin had a healthy glow. Parvati focussed on that fact and zoomed into his skin. ¡°Needles?¡± Jay 84 asked. ¡°Get some water. We need to wash him off.¡± ¡°Do we have time for that?¡± 83 asked. Her husband was quicker. He picked up a barrel from the side and began splashing water all over Ash. As the mud, blood and ash cleaned off. Parvati got a better look at the warder¡¯ skin. In a whisper Parvati M141 muttered ¡°He is sturdier.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the difference?¡± 83 asked. ¡°Will you stop with all those questions?¡± Jay 84 snapped. Pick up a few barrels and the girl. We need to leave, now!¡± 83 nodded and picked up a barrel in one hand and lifted Sheetal with the other. Sheetal shook her head and started to levitate herself ¡°I am okay. I can support myself.¡± She looked at Jay picking up a barrel and asked ¡°What is the water for?¡± ¡°For you to clean up all that mud, blood and grime.¡± 84 replied while picking up Ash in one hand. ¡°I¡¯ve got him.¡± Parvati M, who was locked in a stupor, suddenly stepped in to support Ash. ¡°No, you can poke and prod him once we are out of here.¡± Jay 84 began to move and Sheetal followed him. Jay 83 rushed to their side with two barrels and in casually asked ¡°Is he heavier?¡± 84 shook his head ¡°No, actually he feels really light.¡± ¡°He is not stronger. He is not heavier. And that shard almost killed him. So, what good is that shard?¡± ¡°He is tougher.¡± Parvati M responded from behind them and then added ¡°I need to run some tests.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± Sheetal asked in a hoarse voice. ¡°Right now, all I can say is that his body is more resistant to blows.¡± ¡°That¡¯s all he got?¡± 83 asked in a high pitched voice. ¡°83, how much potentiality have you got?¡± Parvati asked in a deadpan voice. ¡°Five hundred. I am class zero. Every class zero has five hundred potentiality.¡± 83 responded mechanically. As if he had repeated this same sentence hundreds of times. Parvati smiled and asked ¡°How much potentiality do you think it takes for a body to glow from inside and blind our sensors.¡± 83 opened his mouth to respond and then shut it ¡°He should be ash and dust.¡± Parvati ran past everyone and stopped next to the door of the trials. She held out her hands to Jay 84 ¡°Give him to me?¡± Jay 84 slowed down and stopped. He handed Ash over to Parvati who delicately lifed him up in a princess carry. Jay 84 looked Parvati M and ordered ¡°Secure the site first.¡± Parvati grimaced then nodded ¡°Okay darling. You just come back to me.¡± Jay 84 grinned confidently and looked at a hazy looking Sheetal ¡°Lady warder. Please help needles and 83. We are on the same side and we all want to protect you and your brother.¡± ¡°He is not my brother.¡± Sheetal replied drowsily. Jay 84 nodded and sighed ¡°Yes. Now go out there, rest, eat and recover. We will be out there in a bit.¡± Jay 83 looked at 84 and nodded ¡°See you out there.¡± 84 smiled at his best friend and then stepped in front of E65. The man smiled like a predator. ¡°T, old buddy. We need to talk. Why don¡¯t we have a chat?¡± T looked from 84 to the trial. It looked dimmer. Soon, he knew tears would appear in the trials. Tears that sucked everything into the void. ¡°Now?¡± E65 asked Jay 84 threw the barrels out of the door of the trials and said ¡°Look, you didn¡¯t even argue about not calling you T. We are making progress already.¡± T licked his lips and tried to reason with the large man ¡°Can we do this outside?¡± 84 gave the younger man a stern look and placed a firm hand on E65¡¯s shoulder ¡°No. Why don¡¯t we run back in and get a couple more barrels of water, shall we?¡± T sighed and was dragged back in by Jay 84. Chapter 25 - Don’t humanise gods. Ari was not having a good day. His day had started after his team and the lingering continuum soldiers had cleared the temple complex of the enemy enthralled. That had not been hard with the armoured soldier¡¯s weapons. The weapons he had been so weary of had come in handy when they were trained on their mutual enemies. He was still a bit hesitant on turning his back on the strange soldiers and that mostly stemmed from their technology. The continuum was strange. The way they didn¡¯t communicate with each other verbally and always hid their faces behind that futuristic armour unnerved him. How could he trust people he couldn¡¯t look in the eyes. Also, their weapons which on first inspection looked two generations ahead of Earth¡¯s were actually following a completely different weapons philosophy. They were somehow merging this place¡¯s strange magic and technology. That on its face didn¡¯t faze him. The fact that these people implanted pieces of this tech into their bodies unnerved him. But that was not why he was not having a great day. To be honest, he was not having a good week on closer reflection. He had been out there on desk reviewing troop deployment orders one day. Breathing in the cold Arunachal air with the sweet smell of fresh cut glass and now he was sweating it out next to three soldiers stuck in a temple dedicated to a fire god out of ancient texts. A god that one of his people had gotten obsessed about. The fact that the man was famously an atheist before coming here didn¡¯t seem to factor in his mind. In fact when anyone tried to point out his conversion and his vehement devotion, the unhinged look they got in return usually ended the conversation right there and then. And now this same man who was healing his second in command with green tinted fire while muttering some mantra under his breath in a haunting echoing voice. Ari watched Singh. His naked torso lying on a granite stone while Doctor Joshi somehow directed the fire from the statue of the Yaksha Agni to wreathe his body in fire. The fire instead of burning his old friend was sucked into his body where it found the disease slowly killing the man, and burnt it out. ¡°Take a step back, commander.¡± Joshi glanced at Ari ¡°Hmmm?¡± ¡°I need some space to work.¡± Joshi Ari took a few steps back and let Joshi work. Ari had been the first one to go through the procedure and now somehow he knew that his cancer was gone. His lungs felt lighter than ever and his deep breaths no longer hurt. But unlike Ari, Singh was suffering from a disease that affected his whole body. Where Joshi had burnt out the cancer from his lungs, Singh was diabetic. That meant Joshi had to periodically shift between Singh¡¯s blood and pancreas. The whole process sounded more gruesome than it looked, Abesh had gone through something similar with his autoimmune disease. The only complicating factor over there had been the syphilis that the boy wonder hadn¡¯t been upfront about. Joshi had just snorted and literally cleared it out with a burst of fire. All that was good but the man who was healing them, he wasn¡¯t. Joshi was slowly turning into the source of all his worries. The strange looks aside the man had started to ramble when he had been working on Nameer and the spinal injury the boy had taken on a boat. When both he and Singh had tried to calm the man he had pushed them aside and raged. Fires had erupted out his mouth and flowed down his chin. Most of his ramblings were incoherent but something about a pile of ash flowing into the trap of an asura stuck with Ari. When he and Abesh had finally restrained him, he had looked at them with a cold distant gaze. The kind of gaze that didn¡¯t belong on the old man¡¯s face. A moment later, he was back and looking at them blankly. Then in his usual crackling voice Joshi had asked ¡°Uh¡­ Abesh? Commander? Why are you tying my hands behind my back?¡± When they had explained to him what had happened he had just nodded and decided not to elaborate on what had happened to him. Thankfully, Joshi had been coherent after that. And his team was now mostly healed. Ting! Quest - Take out the trash. Clear the Enthralled off the Temple Grounds Rewards Received Class 1 Healing from Yaksha Agni 5/5 Fire blessed shards 1/5 Ari blearily looked at the boxes that were clouding his vision. He read through the notification and nodded. Now all his men were healed. As for the shards? He didn¡¯t want them inside him or his men after what one of them had done to Joshi. It had turned an intellectual into a raging religious lunatic. ¡°You know, you are sweating a lot, Ari. Maybe you should step away for a while? ¡± Ari who had been lost in his thoughts suddenly felt the heat on his face and wiped some sweat off his brow. He took a step back, away from the fire and faced the door where his men slept and recovered. At least this damn place did not have a day night cycle. That would have made the heat unbearable. It was always dark grey. Like six in the morning on a rainy day. There was just enough light to bathe the world in a dreary murky light and make the abandoned city outside unnerving. Ari took in a breath and continued to observe the doctor. Now that everything had calmed down, he needed to understand everything that had happened to him and his men. Even if they felt a lot better he needed to think about what had happened and how to proceed ahead. But there was a danger in doing that. After he had calmed down from his head long chase into the horde, he had assessed his performance and cursed himself. The guns pointing at him and his men had only reinforced how badly he had screwed up. He had posted no sentries and no guards. And to compound that fact, he had rushed into a horde to fight with his fists. Thankfully, the continuum soldiers had been friendly, or friendly-ish. He knew they had saved them because of the girl doctor and the psycho brat but why exactly, he was not sure of. But before he could tackle that he needed to¡­ ¡°You know, I thought he was full of shit.¡± Singh¡¯s gravelly voice brought Ari out of his thoughts. ¡°Singh?¡± Ari blinked and looked at his friend. When had he gotten up? When had Joshi stopped healing him with his finger fires? Had he zoned out again? Singh looked down at himself and touched his hairy chest ¡°I mean his fires don¡¯t even burn the hair off. How does he heal with fire and not do that?¡± Ari smiled ¡°We don¡¯t understand this world, Singh. That is why I am not pushing him.¡± Ari nodded in the doctor¡¯s direction. ¡°Also it is really annoying to talk to him.¡± Singh said sotto voce Ari smiled. He knew. Oh, he knew. Conversation with the former doctor tended to end with, Agni told me or Agni taught me. The last conversation they had had was full of that. Singh had asked him a rapid series of questions like, how do you know what is happening? How do you know those two are alive? How are you using fire like the way you are? All of those were answered with a variation of Agni told me. Joshi cleared his throat ¡°The he in question is standing right here, Singh.¡± Singh sat up, pulled his inner vest over his head and continued to ignore Joshi. ¡°Although he was right about one thing, the continuum people backed out of the temple as soon as the fires started to burn. Do you think the fires really hurt the continuum even inside their metal cans?¡± Ari shrugged and answered with yawn ¡°I don¡¯t know. But the doctor seems to believe it.¡± Joshi sighed and while walking away answered ¡°Yes it does. But not all of them. Athena and her people are exceptions. They did not anger Lord Agni.¡± Singh looked from Joshi to Ari and asked ¡°Did you know that?¡± ¡°Yes. He told me that when you were undergoing your treatment. He also said that once the fires are lit all over and the temple is consecrated again he will be able to do more.¡± Ari ended his words with another yawn. Singh looked at his commanding officer and said ¡°You need to sleep, my friend.¡± ¡°I can keep watch. Why don¡¯t you go get an hour of rest? I can stay up.¡± Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Singh looked at Ari and then turned his head to look at the rest of their team passed out in the corner of the room. He knew the way they felt. He was bone tired after whatever the crazy doctor had done to him. But if he had gotten rid of his diabetes, he would keep his mouth shut and not punch the man with the hollow voice. And if he was feeling like that, that meant that Ari, the first one to go through the treatment was most probably dead on his feet. He didn¡¯t know how he was still standing. The man had a superhuman will when he set his mind on something. But he knew if friend better than anyone else. ¡°Are you still beating yourself up about rushing in to fight those zombies?¡± Ari flinched and muttered ¡°I should have known better.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not your fault. That neuro shard you have in your mind, it was not meant for humans.¡± Joshi said while looking at the statue of the fire god and added ¡°After I go through my treatment. I will fix it.¡± Ari grimaced but before he could say anything Singh asked Joshi ¡°So, Doctor Joshi, who was that shard made for?¡± ¡°The Khara. They are an octopus like species. Space travellers. They are very docile. Their neuro shards make them more aggressive. Their people use the neuro shard to on their guardians and soldiers. Obviously they also have three brains so they can still reason better than humans.¡± Singh raised his eyebrows and looked at Ari ¡°Okay. We will need to fix that after you get some sleep.¡± Ari shook his head ¡°I am okay Singh.¡± ¡°Bullshot." Singh stopped when his curse came out mangled and quickly shook his head "You are swaying on your feet, commander. It¡¯s time to rest.¡± Ari sighed and looked at the boys resting in the corner and hesitated ¡°What about you?¡± Singh stretched until his back popped and answered ¡°I will give the boys another hour or so. Then I will kick them awake and rest myself.¡± Ari looked at his friend and nodded. After a moment of thought, he walked to a corner away from the boys. He sat down and leaned on a wall and said ¡°Wake me up in an hour, Singh.¡± Singh replied with something but he didn¡¯t catch it. His friend was up and everything could wait till he got an hour¡¯s worth of rest. Ari woke up with loud excited voices. One was enthusiastic. The one sounded annoyed. ¡°Can you imagine the possibilities? This could help so many people back home.¡± Abesh asked. Singh scowled ¡°You don¡¯t have to sound so awestruck, kid. What¡¯s next? Are you going to join the man¡¯s cult?¡± ¡°Come on, Singh. Joshi said that he will activate a boon in and around the temple. Then all non fatal wounds will heal on their own wherever we are near the temple.¡± Singh growled ¡°How can you even believe that? The man is crazy. He is on fire. And mad.¡± Ari saw Abesh open his mouth to respond and growled in frustration ¡°Stop it, both of you. Not another word.¡± He saw both of the men turn to look at him and wince. Nobody liked waking up their commander, especially when they woke up in a bad mood. And if he wasn¡¯t in a bad mood, he was getting there. Ari continued in a hissing voice ¡°We are stuck here in an unknown world with enemies all around us. And you both are busy sniping at each other. I need you to get on the same page and focus. Understood?¡± Singh nodded and stood at attention ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Abesh hesitated for an instant and then saluted ¡°Yes, commander.¡± There was a jar thrust at him suddenly from the side. He looked up and saw Nameer holding it up for him. ¡°Water, sir?¡± Ari nodded a thanks. The navy boy was good. They always told him that naval officers knew exactly how to keep their superiors and there ship running without a hitch and he was seeing it here in person. Ari drained the jar and watched Nameer fill it up with a water skin? Where had the boy found that ancient thing? Ari sipped the refill and looked at his men. ¡°Okay. Good! Now that we are on the same page, does anyone want to highlight any other issues to me?¡± Nameer hesitantly raised his hand, getting an annoyed look from all of them. He soldiered on. ¡°Sir, umm¡­ The scientist on fire. Again?¡± Ari looked at Nameer blankly and then followed the boy¡¯s pointing finger. Joshi was indeed on fire. He was standing on one of the statues upturned hands and he was on fire. He looked strangely serene in posture with his hands held behind him and his head lifted at the sky. He looked like he was contemplating a deep thought while looking at the stars. Ari took a sip of the water and then asked ¡°Wait, did you say again?¡± ¡°Yes, sir. He was on fire when we woke up. A couple of hours ago he came out of it. Then he climbed back up and went whoosh again.¡± Ari looked at Singh who was hiding a smile and grumbled ¡°Great. You let me sleep for more than an hour didn¡¯t you?¡± Singh nodded ¡°You needed it commander.¡± Ari sighed ¡°Any other issue?¡± Nameer cleared his throat again ¡°Sir, with the fire all around us. I can¡¯t gather any more water from the air in here. We will need to go out to do that.¡± Ari looked at Nameer and saw his shoulders deflated. ¡°That mad man is going to get us killed.¡± Singh muttered under his breath. Ari closed his eyes ¡°Singh. That man has created a safe forward operating base for us in the last two days. He has healed us. He has fought alongside us and he has kept us safe. I will not tolerate you or anyone maligning the doctor anymore.¡± What was left unsaid was, in front of the boys. They could curse out the doctor in private amongst each other and they would. But outwardly they needed to portray a united front. Singh took in a breath and exhaled slowly ¡°Yes sir. And you¡¯re right sir. I am just frustrated with his answers.¡± ¡°I understand that Singh. That is why I need you all to follow me. I am going to find someone to answer our questions.¡± Ari turned around and began walking out of the temple. His men fell in behind him. They did not say anything to each other. Most probably to avoid their commanders ire. It just gave Ari a moment to collect himself. He took in a deep breath and when the expected pain did not come he smiled to himself. He was healed. He felt great. And now, he had to get the rest of his men here to heal them. So many good loyal soldiers who protected his country could get a second chance if only he could somehow get them here. Three loud staccato sounds jolted him out of his thoughts. Thud. Thud. Thud. Ari looked up. They were at the door and dust and smoke flew up into the air from deeper inside the abandoned city in explosive blooms. ¡°Mortars.¡± Singh announced while looking at the impact zone. ¡°Yes! It kills the soulless faster.¡± Ari¡¯s eyes focussed on a man sitting just outside the temple. He was larger than the rest but his smiling face and greying beard made him look like a kind grandfather. A grandfather who had cold bottles of an orange drink in an ice bucket in front of him. The man continued ¡°It¡¯s not so much the projectiles you see. It¡¯s the payload. It disrupts the potentiality in an area. That makes the enthralled fall to dust like puppets with their strings cut.¡± Ari looked at the man with squinting eyes. His hud wasn¡¯t highlighting the man¡¯s name. ¡°Oh where are my manners.¡± The large man smacked himself on his forehead and introduced himself ¡°I am Jay 7. The mentor of the continuum.¡± ¡°Mentor?¡± Singh asked. ¡°Yes, I am a trainer, warrior and a commander, when needed.¡± Jay 7 explained with a smile. He popped a cap of a bottle with a thumb and offered it to them ¡°Orange blast?¡± Ari looked at the bottle and the man for a moment. Then with a shrug walked to him. He took the bottle and concentrated on his words so that they would come out right. ¡°I am Inspector General Arivarsaan of the NSG Commandoes from India.¡± Jay 7 smiled ¡°Good, a soldier. For a moment I thought you all were all civilians. You know like the ones we rescued? One has to be politically correct while talking to civis. They are all so touchy.¡± Ari took a sip of the orange drink and then looked at it. It tasted like Fanta but it¡¯s label said Orange Blast with a meaningless tagline that said, more orange for every blast. ¡°You know, I was going to let one of my people deal with you then someone told me that you were fellow Sindhus. So, I had to come and see fellow countrymen from a different universe.¡± Jay 7 said with a smile. Ari choked on the mouthful of the cold drink ¡°Different universe?¡± Jay 7 grinned as he handed drinks over to his men ¡°Ah, the priest didn¡¯t tell you did he? Agni and his creatures do that. They leave out the important stuff.¡± Jay 7 looked around and at his people. His eyes focussed on Nameer and the locket he was wearing. He pointed at it ¡°That is a tabeez isn¡¯t it? Are you a descendant of the Arabians?¡± Nameer looked at the cyborg and put his drink down ¡°I am a Muslim. Is that a problem?¡± Jay 7 snorted ¡°No. Of course not. It¡¯s just, I haven''t seen one of your kind for half a century. It¡¯s a shame what happened to your people.¡± He took a sip and explained ¡°Half of you were killed by the zulus and the other half, well you displaced and then the westerners wanted your land. Basically it ended badly.¡± Nameer looked at the man blankly. Jay 7 waved his words aside ¡°At least that¡¯s what happened in my world. I hear that in your world, Sindh was conquered?¡± Ari nodded ¡°Yes, it was. First by the Mughals. Then by the British and the Portuguese.¡± Jay 7 nodded ¡°Shame that. What if I can make sure that never happens again?¡± Ari saw a shift in his men. They were all weary of the large man but now their guards were up. Jay also saw the shift and smiled. ¡°You come from a nation that has the second largest military in your world. I need soldiers like you to fight the creatures you fought earlier. In return I will let them collect shards from their kills. Obviously we will have the first take on the rare shards but I think your leaders, the kings, emperors, or the ruling nobility would want super soldiers. I will offer you that.¡± Abesh stepped forward ¡°We come from a democracy. That means people rule, not some sort of a king.¡± Jay 7 chuckled ¡°Child, do you actually believe that? Sure, you elect a king every decade or so. Do you know who that helps? The ruling class. Your democracy means that instead of getting decapitated, your kings get dethroned. Peacefully. Then they get to come back again. It¡¯s all a farce.¡± Ari looked at Singh who gave him a look which said, the man has a point. ¡°That¡¯s bull dung.¡± Abesh spat out. ¡°Is it? Then why aren¡¯t your superiors contradicting me?¡± Jay 7 asked while pointing his bottle at Ari and Singh. Ari stepped forward and in a stiff voice said ¡°Sir, however we govern ourselves doesn''t matter.¡± Jay 7 looked at Ari for a moment and nodded ¡°True. But what matters is that you all are stuck here with no way to go back home. I can send you back home but that will take a lot of resources. I will not waste those resources if I don¡¯t see a return on them.¡± ¡°And by return you mean soldiers. Men and women who can fight zombies?¡± Ari asked. ¡°Zombies? Oh you mean the enthralled soulless. No, those are just vermin. I mean the Nishachars you fought earlier and the Vetaals.¡± Ari took in a sharp breath ¡°I don¡¯t think we are capable enough to do that.¡± ¡°No one is, at first. But then you learn and you create squads. Then you all get shards and then you fight them one on one. Like you did.¡± Ari exhaled ¡°That was hard, sir.¡± ¡°Yes, it is supposed to be. You are in the trials. Everything here is a trial.¡± Ari opened his mouth and closed it. He wanted to punch this piece of trash and tell him to take his deal and shove it but he stopped himself. His shard was making him volatile again. He had good soldiers wasting away back home. He knew that every one of them would happily volunteer to fight if they could cure themselves and become super soldiers. Jay 7 nodded ¡°Think about it. Athena 45, my second is offering the same deal to the blackie zulu from your world. They tell me that there is no zulu empire in your world. Maybe we can start one. Whichever one of you agrees first, will get a door to their world.¡± Ari closed his eyes, took in a large breath and opened it. He saw Jay 7 turning around to walk away and grabbed his hand. ¡°One minute sir.¡± Jay 7 slowly turned around looking from Ari¡¯s hand to his torso and touched the metallic piece over his eyebrow. In a measured voice he ordered. ¡°Everyone, calm down. Don¡¯t shoot our guests.¡± Ari looked at his chest and saw laser dots all over his torso. He quickly released Jay 7¡¯s arm and took a step back with his hands raised upwards. Jay 7 asked impatiently ¡°Yes, what do you want to ask?¡± ¡°Our people. The ones with you. When can we have them back?¡± The cyborg sighed ¡°You can¡¯t. They are warders. I need them to open a way to the asura so that I can kill it.¡± Ari clenched his jaw ¡°You plan to sacrifice them.¡± ¡°Yes. There are two ways out of the trials for us. One is with the blessing of a yaksha. The other way is to kill an asura. I will kill that asura and lead my people out of here.¡± Jay 7 announced. ¡°Is there no other way? Maybe speak with the priest of the yaksha. Reason with him?¡± ¡°No.¡± Jay 7 answered instantly and then snorted ¡°I see what you are trying to do. You are trying to humanise a yaksha. They are not human, commander. They are elemental in nature and their goals are complicated.¡± ¡°So, don¡¯t humanise gods?¡± Ari asked with a smile. Jay chuckled ¡°Oh, they are not gods. Most of them work hard not to become one. Gods are beholden to their worshippers. Yakshas like their freedom.¡± ¡°So the boy sir, that is going to be a problem.¡± Ari said while putting his hands down ¡°He is the son of a.. Of a¡­ How do I put this?¡± Jay 7 nodded ¡°A noble.¡± Ari hastily nodded ¡°Yes a noble. Also the one responsible for sending us here.¡± Jay 7 shrugged ¡°Is he important?¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so. I think he is even disgraced but his mother, the noble, wants him back.¡± ¡°Tell her to get another one. This one will serve his use soon.¡± ¡°Sir.¡± Ari started to reason but was cut off with Jay 7¡¯s bionic arm. ¡°The choice is yours commander. A door to your world for soldiers or not? That is all.¡± Jay 7 turned around and stomped away. They all looked at the retreating form of Jay 7 and with Ari walked back into the temple, away from the guns. As soon as they reached indoors Nameer let out a breath explosively ¡°That... That was scary. Honestly commander, who knew those guys would go from zero to a hundred knots in a second.¡± ¡°You did. Didn¡¯t you commander?¡± Singh asked Ari. Ari nodded ¡°We needed to see their response time and how many had us in their sights.¡± Abesh nodded ¡°I counted twelve.¡± ¡°Sixteen. Four of them were flanking us on the left.¡± Singh corrected. ¡°Did you notice that their stories didn¡¯t line up?¡± Ari asked everyone. ¡°You mean that their General has different motivations from this mentor? Yeah. One wants to turn our lost lambs into yakshas and the other wants them to be canon fodder.¡± Singh elaborated. ¡°Also, the lady general, she had different soldiers. Their armour was more refined?¡± Abesh asked. Nameer nodded ¡°Yeah, it was a lot less bulky and without the sharp edges.¡± ¡°It was scaled.¡± Ari nodded. Singh tapped his lips ¡°How does that work? Scaled modern armour?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Ari tapped his foot ¡°I also don¡¯t know what those two have gotten themselves in but what I know is that we need new orders.¡± Abesh looked at the commander ¡°Sir, you can¡¯t be thinking about taking the deal. They are racists.¡± ¡°I am, and I need to before Mbungwa takes it.¡± Singh looked at Ari and nodded ¡°You are right. It¡¯s us or them.¡± Ari sighed ¡°Isn¡¯t it always?¡± Chapter 26 - Our progenitors were exceptional Sheetal followed Parvati M¡¯s orders as she took control of Ash¡¯s treatment. The middle aged woman was proving to be quite a feisty doctor the way she ordered both her and Jay 83 around. ¡°You, girl! Lift him up.¡± Sheetal jumped in to help only to be smacked on the top of her head with a roll Parvati M had pulled out from satchel on her back. ¡°Not with your hands girl. With your powers.¡± She ordered. It would have been difficult for Sheetal to juggle two tasks at once earlier. When she hadn¡¯t had the war mode. But now even when it was off, the information it left behind in her mind, the task became far simpler. She used her polar forces shard to levitate her on the spot and used her gravity shard to turn the gravity just under Ash lower. The result was that Ash floated up from Parvati M¡¯s hands like he was in outer space. Parvati M took that moment to reach into her, what Sheetal suspected was her med bag, to take out instruments and ordered Jay 83. ¡°83, get a gurney, and a mat. Also Start a shower. We¡¯ll need to clean him up to get proper readings.¡± 83 ran to the jeep tank troop carrier to do her bidding. Parvati M took that moment to take a knife to cut off Ash¡¯s shirt. Sheetal almost screamed ¡°Stop!¡± Parvati M flinched and then shot her a hard stare ¡°What!¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry. But¡­¡± Sheetal paused and quickly rushed in to explain ¡°Don¡¯t tear off his clothes. That will make him annoying and whiny and grumpy. Nobody deserves an annoying, grumpy, whiny Ash.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have time for this.¡± Sheetal shook her head and stood her ground. She did not know why she was doing this. But one look at Ash and her protective instinct began to rise up. He looked so slight compared to his muscular self. He was three sizes smaller but compared to the emaciated husk that had passed out on the dirt Parvati M rolled her eyes and with Sheetal¡¯s assistance took Ash¡¯s clothes off. Then together with Jay quickly rinsed off the blood, mud and ash from his body. Then when he was clean Parvati M laid him on a gurney and look out a white hand from her satchel and replaced her right hand with it. Sheetal with horrified curiosity watched Parvati test out her new hand. Blades, lasers, probes, wires and other strange things came out from the new appendage. ¡°Oh¡­ Uh¡­¡± ¡°83!¡± Parvati growled out and pointed at Sheetal ¡°Take the warder away.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± Sheetal protested. Parvati M looked at Sheetal with hard eyes ¡°Listen girl, I need to make sure that your brother hasn¡¯t fundamentally damaged himself. If you haven¡¯t noticed, this dumb boy burnt through the potentiality of fifty odd kills and his, to forcefully level up a shards. His body has cannibalised its fat, muscle, and even his bones. And I need to check if his shard is harmonically resonating with his soul or causing damage.¡± Sheetal looked at Parvati M blankly and asked ¡°What does that all mean?¡± ¡°It¡¯s going to get messy.¡± Parvati M snapped and ordered ¡°Go take a shower!¡± Parvati M141¡¯s hand whirled and stopped upside down. A small opening appeared on one of her knuckles. She placed it over Ash¡¯s chest and a red laser bit into the boy¡¯s skin. Sheetal instinctively moved forward only to be stopped by 83¡¯s hand on her shoulder. She looked back and saw the middle aged man¡¯s empathetic look. ¡°Lady warder. Come with me, please. Let the medic work.¡± After a moment of hesitation Sheetal followed 83 into a square cubical made with the same projected light that his shield was made off. It was an opaque mirror from one side. Inside, it was transparent. Sheetal wordlessly walked in and started taking off her clothes. It was hard. She didn¡¯t feel anything below her thighs so taking off her skirt and undergarments in an enclosed space was always hard. But she had done so in numerous trail rooms and she managed. She started to drape her soiled clothes on the light barrier when Jay 83 quickly took them and instructed her not to do that. ¡°Don¡¯t do that lady warder. These curtains are made out of light. They will heat up your cotton and burn them. Also don¡¯t stand in them for more than a few seconds.¡± Sheetal looked at the curtain and nodded ¡°Lasers.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± 83 smiled ¡°Good, that means you don¡¯t come from a completely backward world after all.¡± ¡°What gave you that idea?¡± Sheetal frowned. ¡°Well, you don¡¯t have any equipment or weapons that would show your technological progress.¡± Sheetal looked at the large man for a moment and then realised that he was right and just wordlessly stood there. She couldn¡¯t even blame herself from not noting that. Her mind was running in circles replaying what she had done. She had killed a man in cold blooded rage. And at that time she hadn¡¯t even felt bad about it. As a matter of fact she had revelled in the power to exact justice. Now her brother was lying unconscious and getting stabbed in the chest by Parvati M141. She was surrounded by cyborgs who had their own agenda and she was all alone. Noting Sheetal¡¯s thoughtful look 83 hit a button on the side of the vehicle to start the shower. Sheetal was surprised when water started dropping on her from what looked like a large ring light. But she was more surprised when the water droplets which were supposed to fall on her, deviated from her body. They moved away from her and fell on the metal platform where they drained off. That annoying development was enough to take Sheetal out of her funk. Sheetal hesitantly switched off all her shards. It would have been harder to do that before. But after the knowledge that was dumped into her mind by the war mode, it was easy to slow the flow of potentiality to the shards into a trickle and then shut them off one by one until only the polar forces shard remained. That was one shard she knew well. With her previous purchase of the knowledge and then the data dumb she had received she almost knew it instinctively. The whole idea scared her to the bone but right now the shard worked for her and she used it to just let her levitate and hover in a spot. The water came down on her and she lowered herself just a foot over the ground letting the waters rinse off her blood, sweat and hide her tears. In the middle of her musings, Jay 84 and Taran E65 had walked out of the trial. They stared at each other and waited for the door to disappear into golden potentiality. For a few minutes they just stood there. Then with some sort of mutual understanding they opened their armours and stepped out of it and into the open. 84¡¯s armour developed a vertical seam then slid inwards in panels that overlapped each other. Out of which a more muscular version of 83 stepped out. E65¡¯s armour on the other hand bloomed open like a flower. Its alien petals swayed in a non-existent wind in some sort of horrific version of beauty. ¡°So that¡¯s what it really looks like.¡± 83 muttered from outside the light curtain. Sheetal raised herself and looked at the two men instructing their respective armours to stand guard next to their vehicles. The two empty armours turned and obediently walked with thumps to the vehicles stopping next to Sheetal¡¯s cubicle. 83 glanced at her and looked back at the two men glaring at each other ¡°You can take your time you know. We aren¡¯t going to run out of water anytime soon.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± 83 reached inside the barrel and took out a stone from the barrel he had carried ¡°This is ice seven. Don¡¯t touch it without protection. It will freeze you in an instant. It is¡­¡± ¡°Compressed water. It must require pressures more than one hundred kilobar to create. How is it stable? How are you holding it? How was it even created?¡± ¡°Ahh¡­¡± 83 looked sheepish for a second ¡°I don¡¯t know. I am not a science kind of a guy. That would be E65.¡± ¡°T?¡± Sheetal asked in disbelief. ¡°Yes. Look, the ¡®A¡¯ in our name stands for assault class, the ¡®M¡¯ represents the medics, ¡®E¡¯ stands for engineers etc, the ¡®F¡¯ are flyers and so on and so forth.¡± ¡°Huh! E.¡± Sheetal tasted the alphabet. Sheetal looked back and saw both the men take a fighting stance in the open. Well, not truly open, They were still inside the storm encompassed shield. That lit up the ground in streaks of red lighting. Sheetal, who was clean now but enjoying the feeling of warm water on her skin, lifted herself higher off the metal floor and asked ¡°Hey 83, is everything okay?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Jay 83 nodded and added ¡°They just need to get this out of their system.¡± ¡°What do you¡­ mean?¡± Just as Sheetal voiced her question T charged at 84 landing a vicious punch that staggered the larger man. ¡°What in the flip?¡± Sheetal squeaked. ¡°It¡¯s politics.¡± Jay 83 dismissed. Sheetal watched T hit 84 three more times before the big man responded and threw T face first into the sand. ¡°Politics?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Yeeaah.¡± 83 elongated the word with a grimace and began to explain ¡°84, Needles, and I belong to the old guard. We are the most numerous members of the continuum forces but we are not in power. Well we were, until Athena 8 started her own faction.¡± 83 grumbled the last bit in a lower voice. ¡°Athena who?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the general who E65 works for. They didn¡¯t think we knew about their Perseverance Faction. Well we didn¡¯t know its name but we knew that she was working behind the scenes. We are not enemies but we are annoyed. She could have taken over the old guard, she could have led us all, instead she is doing this. Whatever this is.¡± Jay 83 hardened in the end. The large man shook his head and then handed three containers to Sheetal. Sheetal looked at them. They were labelled soap, shampoo, and conditioner. Sheetal looked from them to Jay 83 bald head. 83 snorted ¡°These belong to 141. I don¡¯t think she would mind you using them.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± Sheetal opened a bottle and sniffed the soap. "Theory." 83 smiled "That''s my name." "Theory." She nodded and continued ¡°T said that you guys were Augs and you believe that augmented were superior than normals?¡± 83 rolled his eyes ¡°Is that what the kids are saying these days?¡± The bald man sighed and explained ¡°And we are not Augs. Our commander was an aug. Augs are augmented. They are humans transitioning from biological to mechanical. " "What?" "They have a point you know. When everything in this gods cursed desert is out to kill you, why not have bones made out of steel? Why have concussions and damage your wet wear when you can replace it all with a solid state grey matter.?" Sheetal shivered "But, how do you simulate emotions? Those are driven by hormones. And what happens when you loose something in copying your memories." "Oh you loose quite a lot when you transfer into a new body, not just memories. Emotions, they are even trickier. They are simulated by an algorithm which you an aug can switch on and off. But as I said, we are not augs. We have bionic limbs. Our left hands." Theory nodded at the other Jay "JJ and I, have the energy shield. Needles, our medic, has medical trauma package." Sheetal looked at needles stark white hand and asked "So, augs are racists?" Theory sighed "No. It''s worse. Augs are leaving humanity behind and hate the fact that we are not uplifting ourselves like them. In their mind we are choosing to be less. They don''t like that but they can''t do anything about it because of the purist. But they also have extreme views like by human and only human can we uplift ourselves and class up. Then we the old guard. JJ is a member of that faction. They have close working relationship with the augs, because of their leaders being together. Still there are many conflicting views in the old guard. And obviously there are the annoying fence sitters like me. And everyone hates me. I can see why. I am Jay 83. A biological clone of Jay Chandra. The warder who created the continuum. I should be an active old guard or a purist who follows his teachings." Sheetal was relaxing under the listening and even enjoying Theory''s rich baritone ¡°And those were?¡± Sheetal asked . 83 smiled ¡°Protect those who need it. No matter what it costs.¡± And added ¡°Like we did today.¡± Sheetal smiled back ¡°Thank you for that.¡± and winced when she heard a loud thud and grunt from the fighting men. 83 waved Sheetal¡¯s words aside and turned to look at the ongoing fight. After a moment of silence he sighed and in a gruff voice muttered ¡°It was mostly your brother who did that. He saved us in that flooded trial too. Honestly, I didn¡¯t think we would be able to make it out of there at first. But then he just charged into the enemy throwing them into a disarray.¡± Sheetal sighed ¡°Yeah he is really annoying but he does that.¡± She paused and then in an irritated voice asked ¡°Why does everyone keep calling him my brother?¡± Thwack. Thwack. Thump. Three staccato sounds penetrated somewhere inside Ash¡¯s haze filled mind and roused him up from the dreamless sleep he was in. ¡°Oh yeah baby!¡± 84¡¯s throaty voice called out and asked ¡°You like that?¡± ¡°Yes I do. Why don¡¯t you do that some more?¡± E65 responded. 84 chuckled ¡°Oh no. This time I am going to do something else.¡± Thump. Thud. Thwack. Thud. ¡°How about that?¡± E65 asked while panting. 84 grunted ¡°Oh. You like being on top?¡± ¡°Yes. And now I am going to¡­¡± Gagging sounds roused Ash from his slumber. The grunts and strained voices did something else and Ash woke up. He didn¡¯t open his eyes but the words made him curious. Were they? Could they be? Could he peep a look? How would they ever know if he did? He needed to see this. And he needed to get himself an eye full off wherever they hid under that heavy armour. Ash slowly opened his eyes with a cheeky smile and stopped. His smile faded away when he saw a stern looking armoured soldier leaning over him. Her eyes spelled doom. Her frown looked like death. And her thunderous expression meant pain. Thankfully she wasn¡¯t looking at him with that death glare. Still he gulped when she twitched. Her right cybernetic hand whirled three sixty degrees. First to the left and then to the right. As if that wasn¡¯t enough Parvati M141 twitched her finger and a drill flicked out of it and spun up with a whiny noise. Ash¡¯s eyes widened. The sound of that dentist drill made his butt cheeks clench. He stilled, held his breath and decided no to move an inch in hopes she would just go away. Instead of going away Parvati M141 growled from the back of her throat while more of her fingers transformed. One became a scalpel, two became pliers, and her thumb transformed into a small hammer. Ash watched the multi tooled hand drop an inch towards his face and reacted. He pushed away from her, jumped to his feet, overcompensated and decided to turn his fall into a cartwheel. Not knowing his new smaller dimension Ash¡¯s hand didn¡¯t come down where it was supposed to and he flew sideways. His confusion soon turned into surprise when he saw the ground rising to meet his face. Ash gasped in a sharp breath to brace himself and everything around him stopped. Class 1 Abilities Unlocked. Ability - Moment Duration - 1/10 Second You use your Class 1 Dense Soul in a combination with your sense shards to create a moment of clarity. Ability - Blur Duration - N/A You use a surge of potentiality to your four speed shards to speed up all your movements. Warning - Excessive use of blur might tear muscles and harm. The notifications one by one popped in front of him, startling him for a moment and Ash flicked them aside to see¡­ His palm was still floating over the ground? His other hand was also stuck reaching out to steady him over the ground. He tried to move his hand to support himself and land on his feet¡­ Congratulations! You have advanced and merged a shard with your soul. Shard Type - Density. The roots of your soul rests upon the fabric of the universe. Passive Effect - Soul Resistance Your body has been saturated by dense potentiality from your shard reaching class one. It has been optimised bringing it closer to your soul¡¯s true nature. Ash was once again distracted by the two notifications and looked for the multi coloured orb to shut off the notification. He didn¡¯t find it. He closed his eyes waiting for the impact. It didn¡¯t come either. He opened his eyes and flicked his notifications aside. And once again looked at the ground. He watched as his fingers on his hand twitched. He smiled. This was like when he was fighting earlier. He was faster than everyone. Was he faster than the ground now? Of course he was. He was¡­ ¡°Aweso¡­ Uff!¡± Ash fell face first into the sand under him. Ash raised his sandy face and looked around. He expected everyone to stop what they were doing and look at him. Instead he got a passing glance from Parvati M141 before she looked back at the two men fighting and screamed. ¡°Hey! No eye gouging!¡± Ash spat out dirt and muttered ¡°Well that is disappointing.¡± ¡°What?¡± Sheetal asked from somewhere behind him. ¡°I thought it was plap-plap not thud-thud, you know?¡± Ash replied drowsily while looking at the two unarmoured men. Sheetal hissed ¡°Ash! Stop it with the visuals will you?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Ash, who somehow instinctively knew where Sheetal was, which was somewhere behind him, turned to give her a confused look and stopped. She was behind a swaying curtain wall of light. Ash took a second to process what he was seeing and what he was feeling from her. Sheetal was putting a brave face on but her insides were tangled into a mess. Whenever she wasn¡¯t being distracted a small voice in her mind would start chanting ¡°I just killed a man. In cold blood. Gods help me. I just killed a man in cold blood.¡± Ash realised that he would have to handle all that but first he needed to know a few things starting with ¡°Why is there sand up my butt cheeks?¡± Sheetal blinked. The light was being projected downwards from the top of the heavy continuum personnel carrier lit her confused face up. Her arms which were blurred by the curtain of light came up in annoyance and turned into fists. ¡°Really? You wake up from almost dying and ask that?¡± Ash expected her to be a little shy about bathing in front of everyone but Sheetal just kept going and Ash ignored her. After all who was he to judge, he was naked himself. Wait, why was he naked? Ash looked around wildly for a second. Both for enemies and naked Asian men. Finding none he shook his head in disappointment. ¡°Okay, I give up. She, what the hell is going on? Why does that one have a hand that is torture device? Why aren¡¯t the Jays hunky Asians? And why are you shampooing your hair?¡± ¡°Hunky Asians?¡± 83 asked while pacing an intricately carved pipe on his lips. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Don¡¯t ask.¡± Sheetal quickly spat out and turned her glare at Ash. She hissed ¡°What in the heck is wrong with you? ¡°I¡¯m hot, hunky and horny. And I want an Asian man.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Sheetal asked in a high pitched voice. ¡°Yeah. They are longer and thinner. And they hit just the right spots. I want one. Right now!¡± Ash, whose voice had changed, tried to reply in a frustrated growl. It came out in more of a whiny snarl. Parvati M tuned and looked at Ash in disbelief. Jay 83¡¯s mouth flopped open with his smoking pipe barely dangling by an inch. And Jay 84 and T, who were supposed to be killing each other stopped and looked at the crazy warder who had just slammed his foot down and was looking at the two men wrestling on the ground with glazed over eyes Jay 84 who now had T underneath him with his forearm pressed on his face paused and muttered ¡°I don¡¯t like that look in that boy¡¯s eyes.¡± T who was reaching up to rip the older man¡¯s face off stopped and nodded ¡°Yeah, and I don¡¯t think we should be this close when he is looking at us like that either.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± 84 nodded back ¡°Should we?¡± T asked in a whisper. ¡°Yeah.¡± Both of the men looked at each other and disengaged awkwardly. Ash, who was leering at the two muscular men, frowned in disappointment and tried to adjust his pants forgetting he had none on. ¡°Right! Why am I nake¡­¡± Ash asked while looking down at himself. Everyone who had turned to watch the bi-play of the two combatants turned to look at Ash with sheepish grins. Parvati M 141 got to her feet with a smile ¡°Warder Ash. We needed to run a series of tests on you which by the way came out very well. Now if you¡­¡± ¡°Hold on.¡± Ash raised his hand to stop needles ¡°Where is the rest of me?¡± ¡°As I was trying to tell you warder, your body needed mass to transition one of your shards to class one. That means you lost some height, quite a lot of your muscle mass, and almost all of your fat. You are also dehydrated, and need a lot of nutrition.¡± Ash glared at Parvati M ¡°I am not talking about that. I am talking about my greatness.¡± ¡°Greatness?¡± 83 asked in a stage whisper. Sheetal sighed and groaned ¡°That¡¯s what he calls his, you know.¡± She looked at Ash and yelled ¡°Will you ever stop talking about it?¡± Ash whirled and screamed ¡°Well it wouldn¡¯t be talking about it if¡­ if¡­ What the hell happened again?¡± ¡°Ash. Calm down. It¡¯s not that bad.¡± Sheetal tried and failed to hold her grin while watching Ash poke his erect greatness. Ash looked up and glared at her. He stomped towards her and ordered 83 ¡°Hey! You, not Asian guy, open this thing up.¡± 83 looked from Ash to Sheetal with an ¡°Umm¡­¡± ¡°Ash what are you doing?¡± Sheetal asked ¡°I am going to pull your hair.¡± Ash yelled. ¡°That¡¯s very mature.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care!¡± ¡°Calm the fudge down!¡± Sheetal screamed back. Ash, who was looking for a button, spotted one and hit it with a loud ¡°No!¡± The light in front of Sheetal started to fade and She turned to hide herself with a scream. Ash saw his target and jumped in to grab Sheetal¡¯s hair. Sheetal felt the tug on her head and reacted instinctively. Her shards flared up splashing water everywhere and flying Ash upwards. Ash screamed in shock and frustration ¡°Ahhh¡­¡± Sheetal turned back just in time to catch Ash before he face planted onto the metal sheet underneath them and hurt himself. ¡°What the¡­¡± From the corner of her eyes Sheetal saw 83 closing the curtain behind her and avert his gaze. Sheetal nodded at the man and closed her eyes to catch her balance. Ash got to his feet and flicked Sheetal on the nose. Sheetal opened her eyes and glared down at Ash. In a threatening voice she growled ¡°I should have let you fall!¡± Ash started to scream back ¡°I should have¡­ What the¡­ She!?¡± ¡°What!?¡± Sheetal yelled. ¡°Wait. You have hair on your knockers?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Why do you have bob hair?¡± Sheetal covered her chest and looked up. Only to see the cyborgs looking at them with curious expressions and recoiled. She took a deep breath and announced ¡°We were in the middle of a desert. There were no places that could take care of that kind of stuff.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Ash squinted up at Sheetal. ¡°What?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t have the time to order waxing strips but had the time to order, dragon slayer five thousand?¡± ¡°How do you¡­¡± Sheetal stopped ¡°Did you steal my new Dragon Slayer?¡± Ash grinned back at Sheetal savagely ¡°Yes. Your dragon didn¡¯t get tamed. Mine did. A lot.¡± Sheetal nodded once and then punched Ash. She screamed in pain when her hand connected with Ash¡¯s head. She wanted to punch him again but since his reaction was much worse, it momentarily satisfied her. Ash held his ear ¡°You¡­ You punched me in the ear?¡± ¡°More like slapped?¡± 83 said from behind the curtain. ¡°Hey you! Non Asian guy. Stay out of this.¡± Ash spat out. ¡°Yeah!¡± Sheetal concurred. 83 nodded, hit the transport on the side to reveal freshly cleaned clothes and began walking away while announcing ¡°I think I will go smoke my pipe with the two people who were trying to gauge out each other¡¯s eyes a few seconds ago. They seem more balanced.¡± Sheetal leaned down to glare at Ash. Ash jutted his head up and glared right back at Sheetal. ¡°Stop that you two.¡± Parvati M pointed at them like a school teacher and shook her head ¡°It¡¯s clear you both need to sort out some things. Do it now. It¡¯s healthier to have things out in the open.¡± Ash looked at Sheetal and then Parvati. He also momentarily glanced at 83 slinking away. ¡°Fine.¡± Ash grumbled. Sheetal nodded sternly ¡°Oh no. Not fine. Why did you steal from me?¡± Ash shrugged and exhaled ¡°I needed to throw an orgy. There were spies to catch. What better way to do that than the slayer and a hospital full of psychedelics?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You wanted an answer. I gave you one. You don¡¯t like it? Take it up with RAW guys monitoring the initiative.¡± ¡°RAW guys? Who?¡± ¡°Figure it out for yourself.¡± Sheetal screamed in frustration ¡°Aah!¡± Parvati M turned to Ash ¡°Now you. What is bothering you?¡± ¡°Well¡­.¡± Ash started hesitantly and then pointed at Sheetal ¡°She snickered at it.¡± ¡°What? That¡¯s it? I¡­¡± Sheetal didn¡¯t know how but kept the laughter from her voice ¡°I was just surprised at your reaction.¡± ¡°You just smiled.¡± Ash accused. ¡°No, I didn¡¯t¡± Ash pointed at Sheetal¡¯s face ¡°Not with your stupid face. But you know, inside. You smiled!¡± Sheetal held up her arms placatingly ¡°Okay a bit.¡± Ash visibly restrained his next words and then in a small voice asked ¡°She, you¡¯ve seen it before. Tell me honestly, what do you think?¡± Sheetal looked down and snorted. ¡°She!¡± Ash said warningly. ¡°Sorry! It¡¯s not you. It¡¯s the situation.¡± ¡°Sshhee!¡± ¡°What do you expect me to say?¡± ¡°Just shut up and tell me it looks okay.¡± Ash pleaded. ¡°Yeah. Yeah. It looks nice¡­ and cute.¡± Sheetal answered with a straight face. ¡°Cute?¡± Ash asked. Sheetal gave Ash a baffled look and then looked at everyone. They either had winces on their faces or were avoiding eye contact with her. Sheetal shrugged ¡°Yeah cute, what''s wrong with cute?¡± ¡°She, if you look at men in the nude and think cute, then I can finally understand why you are still a virgin!¡± Ash screamed. ¡°Hey! I am not a virgin.¡± ¡°Oh, yes you are.¡± ¡°I am not.¡± ¡°Your dragon slayer 3000 doesn''t count. Because your dragon didn¡¯t get tamed.¡± ¡°Oh my dragon got tamed. It got so¡­ tamed.¡± ¡°Yeah, then why the hell was it lying unused in your bedside drawer for days?¡± Sheetal¡¯s eyes locked on to Ash and she growled ¡°Oh no, you didn¡¯t!¡± Ash winced at the dangerous glint in Sheetal¡¯s eyes ¡°Ummm¡­¡± ¡°You stole the charging cable.¡± ¡°Fluids! Body fluids! It shorted out the five thousand¡¯s cable. I had to get a new one. And they have proprietary connectors.¡± ¡°You mo¡­¡± Sheetal reached out to grab Ash only to be pulled back by Parvati M ¡°Warders!¡± They both looked at Parvati M who was now standing just inside the enclosure glaring at them like a stern school principal on the verge of suspending them for a month. ¡°First of all I don¡¯t know what is going on with this slayer weapon and why it would malfunction with blood. And why does it tames dragons when it¡¯s called a slayer? But whatever this weapon is, it is not here. And it¡¯s in the past. Can we please put it behind us?¡± Ash gave Parvati M a confused look and asked ¡°What?¡± She put a hand on Ash¡¯s mouth and cleared her throat ¡°Yeah, we can.¡± Parvati M gave Ash a pointed look. Ash pouted ¡°But¡­But¡­¡± He pointed at Sheetal and complained ¡°She called my greatness cute.¡± Parvati tried very hard not to look down and failed. She inspected the instrument and announced ¡°It looks proportionally adequate Warder Ash.¡± Ash looked at himself and then turned to Sheetal ¡°She?¡± Sheetal looked down at Ash and with a deadpan expression replied ¡°I am sure you will find a man or a woman who won¡¯t judge you too harshly on your new found cuteness.¡± Ash gritted his teeth ¡°Oh no you didn¡¯t.¡± ¡°What? Do you expect me to lie? ¡°She. I will get back at you for this.¡± ¡°Bring it on flicker.¡± ¡°Oh I will. I will. I promise.¡± Ash¡¯s words sent a shiver down Sheetal¡¯s spine but she steeled herself and glared right back at the brat. Parvati watched the warders glare at each other . When they didn¡¯t try to hit each other she nodded and stepped out of the bathing enclosure and closed the curtain behind her. ¡°Now, both of you, clean up while I go look at my husband and his new found friend¡¯s wounds.¡± ¡°Husband?¡± Ash asked Sheetal jerked her head at 84 ¡°She and Jay 84.¡± ¡°When did that happen?¡± Ash asked. ¡°You missed a lot.¡± ¡°Well remind me never to rely on you again. I go to sleep and people are trying to kill each other, Indian cyborgs are smoking English pipes, women are turning their hands into alien probes, and cyborgs are getting married. Meanwhile, you are shampooing your hair.¡± ¡°Well at least I don¡¯t have my thingy pointing everywhere.¡± Sheetal spat back. ¡°Thingy?¡± Ash looked down at his diminished greatness and after a second responded ¡°You have honka hair.¡± Parvati turned away from the bickering warders and She walked to her friends with a baffled expression. She looked at E65, and then walked to her wide eyed husband. ¡°JJ. Did you have to get punched so many times?¡± 84 who was holding his jaw looked at his wife and muttered ¡°I needed him to think he was winning.¡± Taran E65 scowled first at the warders arguing inside the shower then at Jay 84 getting special treatment from his wife. 83 put a hand on his shoulder and muttered ¡°Don¡¯t make that face. You will get used to it.¡± T looked at the bald man with a pipe in his mouth and asked ¡°Do you mean the warders? Or the medic with the conflict of interest.¡± He didn¡¯t care about the sharp look Parvati M shot him or the smug face of 84 which was getting the treatment before him and ignored the pair altogether. 83 blew out smoke ¡°I mean needles here.¡± and then pointed with his pipe ¡°Nobody can get used to that.¡± Everyone followed the 83¡¯s pointing pipe and listened for a minute. ¡°What do you mean you let them wash my clothes?¡± Ash screamed in a shrill voice. ¡°They were dirty, bloody, smelly, and muddy!¡± Sheetal shouted the last word. ¡°She? That polo is Dior and my cargos are Todd Snyders. They have specific wash requirements.¡± ¡°They are futuristics cyborgs. I am sure they can handle some clothes.¡± ¡°You are a scientist and you can¡¯t!¡± 83 turned from the arguing pair and looked at his compatriots ¡°Why do they keep trying to make us believe that they are not siblings?¡± Everyone but E65 chuckled and 83 nudged the younger man ¡°Come on T, don¡¯t be like that. We all get our buts handed to us once or twice.¡± T began ¡°Don¡¯t call me T. And also I believe them. They are not siblings. I don¡¯t know what happened or how it happened but the system is doing things to draw them closer.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Parvati M finished with Jay 84 and moved to E65. T didn¡¯t respond until 84 gave him a pointed look and asked ¡°Do I need to kick your butt again little T?¡± T winced at Parvati M¡¯s rough touch and began ¡°Fine. Do you know why we started our operations? You know we could have waited for a more opportune time. We had a plan and everything. Then those two appeared and General Athena received a mission from the system. I don¡¯t know what it is, so don¡¯t ask me. I just know that those two are a big part of it. That¡¯s why I was sent to retrieve them.¡± 83 eyes lit up ¡°A System¡¯s conspiracy?¡± Jay 84 closed his and groaned ¡°83.¡± ¡°83, shut up.¡± Parvati M chided at the same time. 84 shook his head and asked ¡°What were your orders?¡± ¡°Save them and persuade them to join the continuum.¡± T replied. ¡°Persuade them?¡± 83 coughed out some smoke ¡°Just look at them?¡± Everyone turned to look at the warders again. ¡°Hey, She? My butt is flat.¡± Sheetal groaned ¡°You shrank, remember?¡± ¡°But yours looks bigger.¡± ¡°No, no, it¡¯s the same.¡± ¡°No, I know butts, and armpits, and feet, and¡­¡± ¡°Ash!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You are thinking about things and your thingy is getting happy again.¡± ¡°Oh. Wait, let me look at your butt.¡± ¡°Whaaa?¡± Sheetal¡¯s words were cut off when Ash¡¯s hands blurred to turn her around. ¡°Yuck!¡± Ash said in disgust and muttered ¡°It¡¯s the most unappealing behind I have ever seen in my life.¡± Noting the dangerous look Ash held up his hands placatingly ¡°But, its rounder.¡± Sheetal who was about to blast Ash stopped and tried to look behind her ¡°Is it?¡± Sheetal touched her hips and felt a ripple go from her body to her polar forces shard, and back again. As she followed the ripple she noticed that there wasn¡¯t just one string going from all her shards to her muscles, bones and skin but hundreds. They were all holding on to her body. Keeping it together. Sheetal blinked and looked at herself ¡°It¡¯s my shards. They are pressing on my body and making it more streamlined. The result is that I am curvier.¡± Ash shrieked ¡°Stop looking at yourself and smiling. I have a flat butt! Do you know how many squats I had to do to get a cake butt?¡± 83 looked at his friends and mouthed ¡°Cake butt?¡± 84 shook his head and asked ¡°What does desert have to do with behinds?¡± Parvati looked at her husband ¡°Sweetheart, you do know that desert has calories? And those calories settle down in places you like?¡± ¡°Oh.¡± 84 nodded and then turned back to T ¡°So, what was that you were telling us how you planned to manipulate the warders into joining the perseverance faction of the continuum?¡± T glared at 84 and sighed ¡°To be honest, I didn¡¯t have to say much. They were quite agreeable. I think it¡¯s because Sheetal was curious about our bionics.¡± 84 rubbed his jaw with a fading bruise ¡°Is that it? Nothing else you were doing out here?¡± T gave the man an annoyed look and hissed ¡°Yes, what do you think we are doing?¡± 84 responded ¡°Collaborating with the Raks.¡± Parvati M added ¡°Cutting a deal with them behind our backs.¡± ¡°Why would we do that? And why would the Raks even be interested in doing that?¡± 83 snorted ¡°Weren¡¯t you in there with us T? An asura showed up and all he wanted to do was talk. You can¡¯t tell me that they don¡¯t want to make a deal.¡± T stopped and considered 83¡¯s words ¡°Yeah, that was strange.¡± Everyone looked at E65 baffled expression. ¡°You don¡¯t know.¡± 84 stated ¡°Know what?¡± ¡°Well that strikes off that theory. This new faction is not dealing with the Raks.¡± 83 concluded and then asked ¡°But explain to me, why suddenly one third of the continuum shot into action if you are not doing that?¡± T closed his mouth and looked away ¡°That is classified. If you want to know more you will have to talk to the General.¡± 84 nodded ¡°I will then. It¡¯s been a while we haven¡¯t spoken face to face but I think it¡¯s past time we did.¡± 83 chuckled ¡°Yeah and somehow deliver crazy chickens¡­ I mean children, to her safe and sound. If they don¡¯t kill each other before that.¡± Everyone turned once again to look at the two Warders just in time to see Ash fling his hand in the air. ¡°That¡¯s it. I''m done with you and this nonsense.¡± ¡°Oh but I am not done with you.¡± Ash dodged Sheetal¡¯s hands that were coming to wrap around his throat. Sheetal screamed in frustration ¡°Why are you being like this?¡± ¡°Because I am angry and horny!¡± ¡°Angry? Angry! Why because you lost a few inches?¡± Sheetal asked in disgust ¡°A few inches? A few inches!? Look at me. I look like a scrawny teenager. And I am horny like a teenager.¡± Ash paused and continued ¡°No. No. Actually I know why I am horny. It¡¯s because someone decided to act like a virtue signaler and block me from my fun.¡± ¡°I did no such thing.¡± Sheetal dropped her hands. Ash looked at her in disgust ¡°Yeah, you did. And then when you made a mess of things by starting that investigation. What? Did you expect everything to go back to normal after that investigation? Nobody wanted to talk to me after that.¡± ¡°I did. Geez!¡± Sheetal turned around when Ash suddenly opened the curtain and walked out. ¡°Oh hold on to your bumpers.¡± Ash hit a spot in the air and the curtain covered Sheetal again. ¡°Ash.¡± Sheetal gave the boy an apologetic look ¡°I am sorry about that. I did not know what was going on and after I did, I was there for you wasn¡¯t I?¡± Ash looked at Sheetal and exhaled ¡°Yeah but you don¡¯t count She.¡± Ash waved his hand side to side ¡°Especially with those mountains on your chest. Why couldn¡¯t you be normal?¡± Sheetal folded her hands on her chest ¡°I am normal you dimwit. I am just not Asian and you have an Asian fetish.¡± ¡°So? Are you going to kink shame now?¡± ¡°No, I am going to fling you in the air now.¡± Sheetal snarled. ¡°Hold that thought. I might have volunteers for that in a moment or two.¡± Ash turned to look at the cyborgs. The cyborgs looked at each other and then back at the naked wet crazy warder. ¡°So, why are you all sitting in the dirt talking about meaningless drivel while avoiding the elephant in the room?¡± Ash asked. He got a clueless look from the four people sitting in front of him. ¡°What¡¯s an elephant?¡± 83 asked ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter what an elephant is non Asian guy.¡± Ash yelled. ¡°Ash, calm down. They saved your life.¡± Sheetal shut off the water and looked for the button to lower the curtain. ¡°Right hand side just above your waist.¡± Ash instructed Sheetal without turning away from the cyborgs. Sheetal hit the spot and rushed to her clothes while muttering ¡°How did he see that?¡± Parvati M who was just finishing with T cracked her back and began ¡°Warder Ash. You are frustrated and I know why.¡± Ash shook his head ¡°Oh no. First you are going to answer my questions and then if you don¡¯t annoy me I am going to listen to your recommendations, hands.¡± ¡°What do you want to know?¡± 84 asked while his hand inched towards his rifle. Ash caught the motion but ignored it. Now that Sheetal had stopped having a mental breakdown thinking about some meaningless pawn she had yeeted out of existence and had started thinking about him everything was right with the world. And now he needed to get some answers. And depending on those answers he would either have to fight or run or both. ¡°Why are you all being so friendly with each other when you weren¡¯t earlier. What are you conspiring about?. And where is that scary ball of death? The one you call Marshall Lara. I can smell it but I can¡¯t see it.¡± ¡°Smell it?¡± Parvati M asked the young boy. ¡°Mmm¡­ Hmmm¡± Ash nodded. 84 whose hand had stopped just over the stock of his rifle relaxed and smiled ¡°I see. And I think you already know the answer to that.¡± Ash smiled and nodded ¡°Yes, I do. But I will still need you to answer my question.¡± Sheetal floated next to Ash and stopped ¡°Ash?¡± ¡°Not now, She.¡± Ash said without looking away from 84 and added ¡°You need to protect yours. I respect that. But you need to understand that I am trying to protect what is mine.¡± Sheetal watched Ash tilt his head towards her and frowned. 84 nodded curtly ¡°Very well warder. Marshall Lara is at the base. When we go into a mission we carry a thread of her. That way she can monitor our progress, send reinforcements when required and¡­¡± ¡°Keep you in line?¡± Ash asked ¡°Yes. And at each other¡¯s throats. So we play to that. And pretend that we of the old guard don¡¯t like the perseverance faction, the purist, the moderates, etc. ¡± ¡°What happens when you don¡¯t fall into line and do as she says?¡± ¡°The augments we have. She can shut them off to discipline us. Or she can hit the kill switch to blow them up.¡± 84 stated, while clenching her teeth. Sheetal turned to look at 84 with an open mouth ¡°That horrible. Whose idea was to give an AI that much power?¡± ¡°The aug queen Athena A07¡¯s idea.¡± Parvati M replied. Sheetal turned to glare at E65 ¡°Your boss?¡± T shook his head ¡°No, my boss is General Athena 8. Different people with different philosophies.¡± ¡°This is confusing.¡± Sheetal grumbled. Ash, who had a thoughtful expression on his face, looked up at Jay 84 and asked ¡°So what happens when we switch her back on?¡± 83 who was watching the boy warder asked ¡°How do you know we can switch her on? How do you know if she is even okay?¡± Ash snorted ¡°An AI that powerful? One that you depend on no matter how much you hate it. you will do everything to save her. And not let anything dissect a portion of her. In fact you must treat her like a national treasure. Do you have nations in this desert?¡± 83 shook his head while giving Ash a thoughtful look ¡°No, there are no nations here. But this is not our world. It is a trial governed by the aratas.¡± ¡°So I will come back to my initial question, what happens when we switch her on?¡± Parvati M looked at the looks on her people''s faces and answered ¡°Then we go back to being short with each other and hating on T here. We won¡¯t have to worry about a lot from her, we are just grunts. She will be more interested in you. She will question you. Understand your motives while she decodes your soul pathways, and analyse your shards to create methods to effectively neutralise you. Especially you warder Ash, after the changes you have gone through.¡± Ash grinned ¡°Thanks needles. Geez guys ask you one simple question and all I get are harrumphs and grunts. I should have talked to the woman in the group earlier.¡± Ash turned to face Parvati M ¡°So Mrs Medic you were telling me why I am feeling so¡­¡± Ash waved down at himself. ¡°Yes.¡± Parvati M cleared her throat ¡°You are feeling libidinous that is affecting your thoughts and actions.¡± Ash, who had opened his mouth to respond, stopped and looked at Parvati M ¡°What do you men by Li..Libilibi¡­Libidee¡­?¡± ¡°Libidinous!¡± Sheetal said in frustration and explained ¡°It means horny.¡± Parvati M looked back at the warders and pointed to her armoured truck ¡°Get your clothes and dress up. I¡¯ll explain.¡± Ten minutes later both Sheetal and Ash were standing in front of the vehicles while the rest of the continuum prepared to leave. Parvati M walked to Ash aside and began to explain ¡°You, levelled up one of your shards. And a primary one.¡± Noticing the blank look on Ash¡¯s face she elaborated ¡°A primary shard is one that is located in a vital area. When it levels up it has certain side effects. Like transforming you to the way you picture yourself in your mind.¡± Ash frowned and looked down at his bare feet ¡°You mean I think of myself like this?¡± ¡°Do you?¡± Ash bit his lip ¡°I¡­ Uh¡­ I don¡¯t know. I have always wanted to be hot. Is this hot? But I lost my gyatt. Am I hot without my gyatt?¡± Nothing the clueless look in Parvati M face Sheetal rolled her eyes and began to clarify. ¡°Skinny.¡± Sheetal stated ¡°I believe that she wants to ask you if you wanted to be.¡± Ash shook his head and started to explain ¡°No. But sometimes I wished I was dainty. You know the kind you manhandle and throw into the bed. Then burry my head into a pillow while taking me from behind, twice.¡± Sheetal watched Ash release a wishful sigh and snapped her fingers in his face ¡°Well you are that now. Only more girly.¡± ¡°Huh. So you are saying that because I wanted to be more delicate the shard made me smaller?¡± ¡°No.¡± Parvati M shook her head and thought about her next words carefully. She finally began ¡°A soul shard is an amplifier that connects to you soul and amplifies its will over your body. You used a density shard. When you levelled your shard up, it made your soul denser. And that dense soul projected itself from wherever the souls exist to the material world. Changing your body in its image.¡± Ash blinked ¡°So my soul wants me to be dainty?¡± Parvati M closed her eyes and exhaled ¡°Maybe?¡± ¡°That¡¯s fire. But then why am I horny?¡± Needles opened her eyes with a pained expression ¡°Ash your body is practically new. Your nerve ends are new. Every sensation on your skin is new. Intellectually you know what everything feels like but to you every sensation you are feeling is brand new.¡± ¡°Is that why I feel so strange?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Still doesn¡¯t explain why I am so¡­¡± Parvati M cut Ash off with ¡°Add to that you are straight out combat and still amped up blood lust¡­¡± Ash shook his head ¡°Nope. I have been in plenty of chaotic and violent situations. Also, did you forget that I am a sociopath? I don¡¯t feel things the way you all do. So, why don¡¯t you cut the nonsense doc and tell me what is really going on with me.¡± Parvati M looked at her husband and his best friend for a long moment and the conflict in her thoughts was visible in her eyes. Jay 84 must have felt her gaze because he looked up and smiled at her. Parvati sighed ¡°You know we are clones right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°That is because the continuum started as a political movement in our world. The original Jay, Taran, Parvati, and Aditya came together because they wanted our civilisation to continue beyond the apocalypse we were heading towards.¡± Ash felt Sheetal stiffen next to him Parvati M141 who was lost somewhere in the past didn¡¯t see her reaction and continued. ¡°When Jay Chandra first got his warder shard he roamed around the trials for years looking for a way to save our world. He found it in the form of technology which made cloning possible for five people. He chose our progenitors based on three factors. Muscle and bone density, so that they could fight. Mental strength, to continue to keep fighting. And finally hormonal and emotional balance, so that we would always be stable. Our progenitors were exceptional in all three factors except for the Jays.¡± ¡°Why? What¡¯s wrong with the Jays?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°They are more emotional than the rest of us. They also showed exceptional leadership skills until Athena 8 was created by the AIs.¡± Parvati M smiled. ¡°Created?¡± Sheetal asked and was flicked in the arm by Ash. He put a finger on his lips and shushed her. Ash looked back at Parvati M and asked ¡°So, me, horny, how does that fit into things?¡± Parvati M chuckled and in a hesitant voice explained ¡°Well, when my JJ levels up a shard, he goes through something similar to what you are going through. Every time a shard levels up, it makes your body better than it has ever been. That means its hormonal levels spike, too. When that happens to my husband, I usually take a few days off and spend some time with him, until his mind acclimatises to his new hormonal levels.¡± Ash watched the older woman smile shyly and hissed venomously ¡°Seriously?¡± Parvati M was taken aback by the heat in Ash¡¯s tone and defended herself ¡°It is fun. I thought you of all people would be open to that fact.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Sheetal nodded. ¡°A few days? When, it wont settle down?¡± Ash asked with a pained expression and screamed ¡°Heck no!¡± Sheetal started to look down only stopping when Ash glared at her. ¡°Sorry, I was¡­¡± Sheetal apologised and added ¡°I don¡¯t know what I was thinking.¡± Ash gave Sheetal a look ¡°I know what you were thinking.¡± He turned back to Parvati M ¡°Okay doc, since you have brought this up. Tell me how you plan to fix me.¡± Parvati smiled ¡°Well, there are two ways. We can give you a private space to work on yourself and relieve tension. The other way is to give you hormones to offset the current ones.¡± Ash gave the medic a look ¡°HRT?¡± Parvati gave Ash a confused look. ¡°Right, English.¡± Ash shook his head and continued ¡°What are the side effects? I hope I won''t start growing in my chest.¡± Parvati snorted ¡°That is impossible. Your body is now defined by your soul. But there are side effects. When we take you off the balancers, all your repressed feelings will come back and will be amplified until your body and soul reach a balance.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what that means but okay, let¡¯s do it.¡± Sheetal who had been standing beside them silently finally spoke ¡°Ash, are you sure about this?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Parvati M also looked at the boy warder ¡°Warder Ash, think about it. What you are trying to do is defer the pain for later. I would suggest taking some time off. I am sure someone would be happy to partner with you for a duration and nobody will judge you for it. ¡± Ash shook his head ¡°No thank you. If I am a virgin again, I am not going to waste all of my new hot dainty self of some pro in a dusty dark corner.¡± Ash waved at his skinny self. Parvati M looked at the boy in front of her in disbelief and clarified ¡°I never said you were a virgin.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you say I have a new body? ¡°Yes but your mind isn¡¯t new.¡± ¡°Who cares about that? I don¡¯t judge a person by the content of their character. I judge them based on their hot pics.¡± Sheetal rolled her eyes ¡°You can¡¯t be serious. You can¡¯t mess with your hormones just like that.¡± Ash turned to Sheetal with a scowl ¡°Of course I am¡­¡± Ash stopped and pointed at his lower half ¡°She, look at this. It¡¯s like I am overdosing on ten Viagra and fifteen of its cheaper Indian alternatives together. I am not saying I have done that but it sure feels the same.¡± Sheetal narrowed her eyes ¡°Stop trying to distract me. As this is serious. Messing with hormones means messing with your mind.¡± ¡°She, I know. Believe me I know. But what happens to you when I have someone in my mouth with my hand tied above my head and someone comes for you.¡± ¡°I am not going to look for trouble and I can take care of myself.¡± ¡°Of course you caaa¡­.¡± Ash turned back to Parvati M with a hand on his neck where a throbbing vein pulsed in anger ¡°What in the¡­¡± Parvati M held up a finger which had a long needle protruding from it ¡°All done. Give it a few seconds and you will feel the difference.¡± Ash scampered back from Parvati M¡¯s white hand and hid behind Sheetal. He pointed at the medic accusingly and complained ¡°She, pointy hand fingers.¡± Sheetal looked down at Ash ¡°Are you okay?¡± Ash rubbed his neck and nodded ¡°Yes, but don¡¯t let her do that to me again.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash and rolled her eyes ¡°Oh come on you big baby. It was just a needle.¡± ¡°White hand of doom, needle.¡± Ash grumbled ¡°Well at least you are no longer thinking about what¡¯s in your pants anymore.¡± Parvati M looked at Ash pointedly. Ash blinked and slowly nodded ¡°Yeah. Wow, that was fast. In fact I am not thinking about it at all. Which is really strange. Because I am always thinking about it. I like thinking about it. It is awesome but now¡­¡± Parvati M smiled at Ash¡¯s confused expression ¡°Oh you will, after the meds run out of your bloodstream in a day or two. You will be going about your day normally, and then it will hit you all at once. And it will be stronger than this. So come to me when that happens.¡± ¡°Alright everyone, get in the transports.¡± Jay 84 announced from the side of the large transport vehicle. E65 who was busy inside his trike opened a wing door and waved ¡°Warders, you are with me, in the trike.¡± Sheetal looked from the three wheeled vehicle to the storm raging just outside the shield ¡°We are going to drive in that?¡± T smiled ¡°Oh no. Marshall Lara, she is going to do the driving. She also has some questions for you. I suggest you be truthful. Our cooperation will depend on your answer.¡± Sheetal noted how T was holding himself. He was completely different from before. And behind his casually smiling face was a hint of weariness she wouldn¡¯t have picked up if she hadn¡¯t spoken to the man before. ¡°Okay.¡± Ash shrugged ¡°Let¡¯s talk then.¡± Chapter 27 - Hungry? Ari looked at the empty wrappers breaking down into dust. His eyes turned to the cooler of ice water and the empty glass bottles of the orange drinks. What made the plastic wrappers turn to dust and not the glass bottles was just another question that added to the mysteries of this strange place. Somewhere in the distance he heard the sound of arguing. This time it was Abesh and Nameer. At least his old friend Singh wasn¡¯t getting into the action. He was busy keeping an eye on the doctor, or was he supposed to call Joshi the priest? Another question he needed an answer to. Ari raised his head and looked at the man in the question. He was sitting in a lotus position in front of the statue, meditating with his eyes closed. He suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Ari with fire flecked irises. ¡°Commander?¡± Ari nodded back ¡°Hello doctor. Or should I call you the priest now?¡± Joshi smiled ¡°It¡¯s up to you. I am still me. I am still the man who earned three of his PHDs. Still the man who guided my country through the nuclear crisis. Still the man who advised three Prime Ministers on the best way to conduct classified research and I am still the man who came to the trials with you.¡± Ari grimaced ¡°But you are different now.¡± ¡°No, my dear commander, I am more.¡± Following Joshi¡¯s answer there was a silence that neither of them filled, highlighting the growing argument in between the two junior officers. Finally, Joshi asked ¡°Why don¡¯t you trust me?¡± Ari turned from the sound of steps heading towards them to Joshi. ¡°Doctor, I don¡¯t know what happened to you but you are different. You might not think so but we all can see it. It¡¯s not just the way you look or what you can do. It¡¯s the fact that you know things that we don¡¯t. Things you won¡¯t tell us. Things that might cost us our lives.¡± Joshi acknowledged Ari¡¯s words with a nod and responded in soft voice¡°I can not. Lord Agni has asked me not to interfere with you or the continuum until you have proven your worth.¡± Ari frowned ¡°So, doctor, where do your allegiances lie then? With us or with a statute with mystical powers?¡± Joshi snorted ¡°Statue? Is that what you think I am serving? Commander, I am serving Lord Agni to save our country and our world. You have no idea what is coming and the fact that I can¡¯t¡­¡± Singh entered the main room of the temple and cleared his throat roughly to announce his presence. ¡°Commander.¡± Singh nodded to Ari and in a gruff noise greeted Joshi ¡°Doctor Joshi.¡± Joshi looked at the veteran soldier for a moment ¡°Address me as Priest Joshi from now on please, major.¡± Singh looked at Joshi for a second and then turned to Ari with a raised eyebrow. Ari noticed the stiff posture of his friend and asked ¡°What is it, Singh?¡± ¡°Sir, I am about to smash our boys¡¯ heads into walls if they don¡¯t stop.¡± Ari closed his eyes and exhaled ¡°They are on edge Singh. Both haven¡¯t seen fighting like we have. They haven¡¯t been in war zones for days and had to stay vigilant like we have. I know they have trained to but it is only expected for them to lash out when they experience the real thing.¡± Singh nodded ¡°I know that. I can explain that to them if they stop shouting at each other. It also doesn¡¯t help when they start flinging fire and water at each other.¡± Ari nodded and got to his feet ¡°Gather them will you Singh. And have them carry the box cooler. We are going to return the bottles to our friends outside.¡± Singh looked at Ari for a moment and asked ¡°So it¡¯s that time?¡± Ari sighed ¡°Yeah.¡± The commander grimaced and added ¡°I hate diplomacy.¡± Singh picked up the plastic like cooler with a smile ¡°Oh but I love watching you be diplomatic. It only makes you hit harder when you finally hit back.¡± Ari began to walk out with Singh and stopped when Joshi began to speak. ¡°Colonel! Your neuro shard. At least let me help you with that.¡± ¡°Doctor Joshi, there are other things that make me doubt you.¡± Ari turned around to look at the priest ¡°You no longer eat or drink. You don¡¯t twitch. You don¡¯t scratch yourself. And you forget to blink for hours at a time. Are you even human now Joshi?¡± Joshi looked at Ari for a long moment and replied ¡°I am commander. But not the kind I was.¡± Ari shook his head ¡°When you come clean to me. I will start considering your words. Till that time, I will keep you at an arm¡¯s length much less trust you with my well being.¡± Ari announced and started walking away. Ten minutes later a black eyed Nameer and a bruised up Abesh were carrying the ice cooler in between them. Both men averted their gazes from the glaring eyes of their commander but somehow still didn¡¯t look at each other. Ari turned his back on them and led their little group out of the temple complex. Just outside the door they were met by a familiar face. ¡°Pretty?¡± Ari asked. The young girl graced Ari with a beaming smile ¡°You remembered me?¡± Ari cleared his throat ¡°Yes, I did.¡± Pretty grinned and then took their whole party in and stated ¡°You guys look like a mess.¡± Ari looked back at his men ¡°They all looked ragged, and the battered clothes had blotches of dried up blood, dust and ash on them.¡± ¡°I guess we do.¡± Singh said with a sly smile and asked ¡°So, what is smart girl like you doing in a rough place like this?¡± Pretty chuckled at Singh ¡°Oh General Athena heard what happened between you and Jay 7. She needed someone to watch your back. I volunteered.¡± ¡°You volunteered?¡± Ari asked ¡°Watch our backs?¡± Singh asked at the same time. Both of the men looked at each other and at Pretty. ¡°Yes.¡± Pretty took a step closer to Ari and lowered her voice ¡°Not everyone in the continuum is as friendly to outsiders. Some think saving you at the cost of our own was a mistake and others don¡¯t like the fact that you have allied yourself to the yaksha that forsook us.¡± Ari looked around and saw the guarded glances from helmeted faces they were getting. He smiled and waved to put everyone at ease ¡°Hello everyone. I am Commander Ari¡­¡± Ari stopped, corrected himself and started again ¡°Colonel Arivarasan of NSG. I am a soldier like you. I thank you for your sacrifices.¡± Ari felt the hostile gazes lose a touch of anger and continued ¡°Now, if you don¡¯t mind I need to return this cooler to Jay 7 and thank him for the drinks.¡± Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. There was silence for a long moment where no one moved and then one of the soldiers, one of the long lanky ones, stepped in front. With a long warning look at Pretty he silently pointed past the square past the temple and began walking at front. Ari smiled and Pretty began following the silent soldier. ¡°That girl seems nice.¡± Singh said as soon as he caught up with Ari. Ari looked back at Pretty and saw her helmet hood up her blushing face ¡°She is¡­hmm¡­¡± Singh chuckled and then momentarily paused. He finally opened his mouth and hissed ¡°Oh no they didn¡¯t.¡± Ari sniffed the air and sighed ¡°Of course they did. Haven¡¯t you done the same thing?¡± Singh lips pressed against each other ¡°I have but I don¡¯t like when they use the same tactic against me.¡± Ari shook his head and looked ahead at the sight of a line of automated rotisseries cooking meat. Beyond it was a fan blowing the smoke and the smell towards the temple. Ari looked back and saw the two young officers licking their lips. He knew the feeling. He was starving too but he controlled his hunger and put on a nonchalant face. Singh on the other hand started growing madder with every sniff. ¡°Calm yourself my friend.¡± Singh growled. ¡°Oh, I am calm. I am calm. Calm as water.¡± His words sharply contrasting with his expression. Ari watched spittle fly from Singh¡¯s mouth and looked at his reddening face. ¡°Okay, Singh, stay with the boys. Make sure they don¡¯t kill each other.¡± Ari turned his eyes to the two officers ¡°And you both try to behave. Don¡¯t make Singh gut you.¡± The two men gave their commander a sheepish look and then turned their eyes downwards. Ari rolled his eyes and followed the silent soldier to a building. They entered and he was patted down by the security. One of them tried to take his gauntlets. When Ari told the man that he couldn¡¯t take them off, the man recoiled and gave others a questioning look. None of them said anything but soon he was guided deeper into the building. This time with two guards watching him. Ari and the soldiers stopped in front of a large room with a table that projected a large map. On three sides of the map were three people in three different types of continuum armour. They all looked pleased at the happenings on the map, but they still looked coldly at each other. ¡°Three days. That¡¯s how long it took them to find the first scanner.¡± General Athena announced in triumphant voice. ¡°Barely adequate.¡± Athena A07 responded instantly. ¡°Is that so? Remind me how long has one of your scanners remained hidden sister?¡± Although Athena 08 didn¡¯t raise her voice there was steel in her tone that made the assault commander look up. ¡°That is not our job, General.¡± A07 responded in a tone that barely hid the contempt she felt and snarled ¡°Our job is not to be jack of all trades. We augs are the hammer that breaks our enemies.¡± ¡°Well, you did a good job with that.¡± Athena 08 responded in a sarcastic tone. ¡°We would have done a better job if we had access to your armour and tech.¡± A07 spat out and continued ¡°What kind of general doesn¡¯t share the tech to keep her people alive?¡± ¡°The kind of general that keeps strategic alliances in mind.¡± ¡°Like your secret alliance with the Yaksha, Agni?¡± Athena 08 looked up ¡°So, it was you who started the rumour about me dealing with the Rakshasa.¡± Athena A07 shrugged ¡°I just said that you might be dealing with inhuman entities, and we needed to keep an eye on you. I didn¡¯t know that Ruby F, Adi 101, and Par would start an investigation into you.¡± A07 smiled sharply and added ¡°Sister.¡± ¡°Ladies.¡± Jay 07 rumbled. ¡°That crossed a line, sister.¡± Athena 08 said in a steely tone. Jay 07 held up his hand just the way the original Jay Chandra would have, noting the effect his movement had on Athena 08 ¡°Nevertheless, General. The fact remains that you have not shared your new tech with everyone. You have created a new faction. One with superior armour and weapons. And now you are poaching our members. We need to know why?¡± Athena 08 turned her hard gaze to Jay 07 and without raising her voice stated ¡°You don¡¯t get to ask me questions 07. You might have mentored the young, but I was fighting enemies with Jay Chandra when you were learning to fire your first pistol.¡± Jay 07 held up his hand and smiled. Just the way her father would have ¡°Athena. General. Don¡¯t do this. This would hurt all. Most of all you. You know that I have always held your opinions in high regard. Just tell us all why, why are you building a new faction? You are one of the leaders of the old guard. You can request troops, weapons, and resources from us.¡± Athena 08 looked at Jay 07 for a long moment and then exhaled, relieving the tension in her shoulders. She closed her eyes for a moment. Processing how different 07 was from the original Jay Chandra. Her world¡¯s warder, her father, the man who created her, and the man who taught her everything. He had stood tall. His presence inspired everyone, and his glare made everyone cower. Compared to those eyes Jay 7¡¯s scheming gaze made him feel like mockery of Jay Chandra. General Athena snorted ¡°You want to know why I am creating a new faction? It¡¯s to persevere against what is coming.¡± Jay 7 looked at the map and nodded ¡°Three hundred thousand enemies, that is a lot.¡± ¡°And this time you don¡¯t have priest or the sacred ground of the temple as bait.¡± Jay 7 stiffened and looked at Athena 08 sharply ¡°That¡­¡± ¡°Was a success.¡± A07 defended the mentor. ¡°You dumb¡­¡± Athena 08 snorted ¡°If I would have been there, I would have shot you, sister. You got a priest killed. Then you waited for the Raks to desecrate the temple. Which angered a yaksha. An elemental power of the universe. And you thought what? He wouldn¡¯t notice?¡± A07 stood up straight and glared daggers at Athena 08 ¡°If I were you, I would be careful with my words general.¡± Athena 8 eyes went from A07¡¯s eyes to everything below her shoulders. That¡¯s where her bionics began. And when A07 entered her battle mode, they would start to glow red releasing the heat that her bionics released. Athena 08¡¯s hand drifted to her rifle as she prepared to fight A07 and Jay 7 if needed. Jay 7 looked from one woman to the other and noting their ready stances. He started ¡°Ladies¡­¡± and then his eyes landed on Ari standing to the side watching everything. Jay 7 sighed and looked at Athena 8 ¡°I am not going to use the new priest like that general. In fact, I plan to welcome the new humans as our partners.¡± A07 looked at her sister¡¯s confused expression and then picked out Ari¡¯s face. She snorted ¡°What? Did you think shouting out that piece of ancient history would warn the new humans? Well, you are wrong. We don¡¯t want the Raks to take the temple this time. Last time we were spread out thin, so we made a strategic withdrawal and paid for it. This time we will fight them for every inch.¡± ¡°Last time you got Jay 16 killed. One of our best, who the yaksha blessed into his priesthood. You will do the same this time too.¡± Jay 7 gritted his teeth ¡°General, if you are not going to be constructive, I will ask you to leave.¡± ¡°You and your people.¡± A07 added. Athena 08 looked at the two continuum clones for a long moment. In a moment when everyone felt something sharp and dangerous pricking their spines. Everyone stiffened as a power dug into their bones and scrapped against it. Slowly, all heads in the room turned to General and instinctively knew that the woman in front of her was contemplating violence. ¡°Fine!¡± Athena 8 spat out and the feeling of violence subsided but didn¡¯t go away. The General looked at her two allies with venom and added ¡°I will leave but I will have some of my people keep an eye on the temple and its residents.¡± Athena 08 turned and began walking out. She stopped next to Ari, looked him up and down, and stated ¡°You are weak. You need to get stronger, and soon.¡± Ari watched the General that had sent a shiver down his spine walk off and slowly the feeling of imminent death subsided. He looked from her to the table where A07 was looking at Jay 7 with wide eyes ¡°Is she mid class one now?¡± Jay 7 shook his head ¡°No, she is higher. Closer to class two. She was hiding her true strength.¡± A07 took in a sharp breath ¡°How did we not know this?¡± ¡°She is not an aug.¡± Jay 7 hung his head and replied. ¡°It¡¯s okay, we can work around this seven. Your plan will still work. You need to lead us to victory.¡± Jay 7 stood there for a moment and then looked at A07 ¡°Heena, don¡¯t fight her.¡± A07 blinked ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I mean don¡¯t antagonise her, don¡¯t push her and for gods sake don''t fight her.¡± A07 shook her head ¡°Seven, snap out of it. So what, she showed some of her strength. We don¡¯t have individual strength but we are many. I am many.¡± ¡°It won¡¯t be enough.¡± A07 sniffed ¡°Even so, she would dare to strike me down. I am the aug queen. My death would cause the death of every aug in the continuum.¡± Jay 7 nodded ¡°That¡¯s the problem Heena. I don¡¯t think she cares anymore.¡± A07 looked at Jay 7 and chuckled. She walked to Jay 7 and gave the man a tender hug. It was a strange sight. An old man interlacing his arms behind a four spindly bony armed woman and the strange cyborg returning the affection. It looked both oddly romantic and horrific at the same time. Ari felt voyeuristic and turned away from the personal moment and looked outside. The building had far fewer guards now. Behind him A07 continued. ¡°You don¡¯t know Athena 8 the way I do. She cares. She cares too much. And the continuum runs deep in her soul.¡± Ari didn¡¯t understand the byplay but he didn¡¯t need to, to figure out that not everything was well in the continuum. ¡°Just promise me that you will not start a fight with Athena 8.¡± Jay 7 pressured A07 ¡°Fine.¡± Ari heard clicking sounds and turned around to see A07¡¯s four arms click and turn into two. She smiled at Jay 7 and pushed her man affectionately. ¡°Now, go talk to the young soldier from another world. See if they are any good while I monitor our newest problem¡¯s departure.¡± Jay 7 turned to look at Ari and a coy smile broke out in his face ¡°Ah the commander. Tell me. Are you hungry?¡± Ari gave the man a guarded smile ¡°Yes. We all are.¡± Jay 7 walked to Ari and with an arm on his shoulder guided the commander out of the large room ¡°It¡¯s the shards. They consume a lot of energy.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± ¡°Yes. Didn¡¯t that priest tell you?¡± Ari shrugged ¡°He has been busy.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Jay 7 stopped in front of a table. Three strange looking robots rolled in from somewhere and began piling plates and platters of food in front of the two men. Ari looked at the older man ¡°Why are you feeding me? Shouldn¡¯t you try to starve us to make sure we comply with whatever your demands are?¡± Jay 7 looked at Ari and shook his head ¡°No. I am not looking for subservience, commander. I am looking for partners and friends.¡± Jay 7 sat down on a large chair and motioned Ari to sit next to him. Ari picked up a piece of bread in front of him. It was warm, light and fluffy. It was the best piece of bread he had ever seen in his life. ¡°Partners and friends, commander, do not use underhanded tactics to gain an advantage.¡± Jay 7 dipped his bread into a lemony sauce and bit into it. Ari followed suit and barely contained himself from wolfing the whole piece down. After chewing for a moment Ari asked ¡°What are you looking for partners for, mentor?¡± Jay 7 grinned ¡°There is war coming. I need people to fight that war. Your shards seem to lead you here so I think that would make you a natural partner to us.¡± Again Ari did not understand everything but he slowly started piecing things together while he chewed. His shard had brought him to this ghost city. If he was to believe Jay 7, the other shards would land them here too. The problem was that even if he said no others would come to look for them and Jay 7 would give them the same deal. And sooner or later one of them would agree. That raised the question why hadn¡¯t Jay 7 asked Mbungwa? Ari put down a skewer of chicken and asked ¡°What about Mbungwa? Have you offered him your partnership?¡± Jay 7 chocked on bite and then coughed ¡°Mbungwa? That zulu?¡± Jay 7 looked at Ari for a moment and then chuckled ¡°Right, you don¡¯t know our history. No commander I haven¡¯t offered Mbungwa anything. There is too much bad blood between the continuum and people of his colour. In fact, if General Athena hadn¡¯t taken a liking to that zulu someone would have put a knife in his brain.¡± Ari bit into his food and nodded ¡°I see.¡± ¡°That does not mean we can¡¯t offer him some deal. We can¡¯t use those dark skinned demons as canon fodder if nothing else.¡± Ari took a moment to think but was stopped in his tracks by Jay 7 ¡°I don¡¯t need an answer to that question right now. I need something else.¡± ¡°What would be that?¡± ¡°An inch of your living flesh.¡± Ari looked at Jay 7 in confusion. ¡°It could be yours or one of your men.¡± Jay 7 elaborated. ¡°Why?¡± Ari finally asked ¡°We need to create a portal here. It will help us portal our people and goods here from our bases. Simple logistics that would make this city more secure against the oncoming Rak wave. But it can only be done with those who have been blessed by the Yaksha Agni. Or we can create by using a piece of flesh given to us by one blessed by him.¡± Ari leaned back and looked at the man in front of him. He was up to something. What, he did not know. ¡°In return, we will ensure that you remain safe, fed, hydrated, and clean.¡± Jay 7 dropped the last line nonchalantly at the end. Ari exhaled through his nose. Partnership and friends? This man was a peace of work. But right now, he had them in his grasp and Ari couldn¡¯t do anything about it. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to go home commander?¡± Jay 7 grinned showing all of his teeth. The mentor flicked a switch on his wrist. An image popped on the top of the table. An image of Sheetal Serai and a boy that looked like Ash. They were both enclosed in a transparent blue gel and unconscious. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to take both of them home?¡± Jay 7 asked in an empathetic tone ¡°That¡¯s what soldiers do right? Protect the civilians and guide them out of warzones. With the portal you would be able to do that.¡± Ari squinted at the larger man ¡°But you want them, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I can live with just having one. You can take the other back home.¡± Jay 7 said graciously. Ari closed his eyes and sighed ¡°We need the food.¡± Jay 7 smiled ¡°That was tough wasn¡¯t it, Ari. Let me assure you it was also a smart decision. I will have supplies sent to the temple and a medic to collect the sample.¡± Jay 7 got up from the table and Ari followed suit. Jay 7 patted the commander on the shoulder ¡°I will see you when I need to start the next stage of our mission. Stay safe until then.¡± Ari looked at the distasteful man. His neuro shard sparked up and urged him to launch himself at the cyborg. Instead, he nodded and decided to play a dangerous game with the devil. Chapter 28 - A big ball of death. ¡°Environmental disruptions analysed.¡± A female voice penetrated Sheetal¡¯s sleepy mind and broke through her haze. ¡°Calculating chaotic potentiality patterns.¡± The cool gel covering Sheetal¡¯s face parted and she opened her eyes. She expected to feel claustrophobic just like when the strange gel had closed around her but all she felt was the relatively warmer air on her face. ¡°Creating secure connection between the thread and master ATI. Negating disruptions. Boosting energy to quantum particles. Analysing resonance. Secure connection established.¡± Sheetal fluttered her eyes and saw the pop up blocking her vision. Name - Lara Species - AI (ATI) Class - 1 Affiliation - Continuum (Augmented Faction) Sheetal¡¯s chair moved from a reclining position and straightened while she read through the notification. The gel padded sleeping pod didn¡¯t release her from its grip. Although it did flex with her and gave her enough space for a restricted movement. Besides her, Ash¡¯s chair moved to a straight position too. The gel moved away from his face too. Unlike her, Ash didn¡¯t wake up. Sheetal wasn¡¯t worried about him. She had a hint of his thoughts and in his dreams he was arguing with someone about the superiority of the mango Mobster Energy drink flavour over the berry flavour. Her eyes went from Ash to E65, The continuum soldier was furiously fiddling around on a panel in front of him. His armour was spread open like petals of an eldritch flower underneath him. It had a similar gel padding lining it. Through it Sheetal could see the armour¡¯s strange circuit board with patterns like the ones Ash had drawn into the dirt. Portions of it overlapped each other creating a three dimensional circuit model that flooded onto itself. Ding! One of the screens on the panel glowed green and a bell dinged to notify Taran E65 about something. The young continuum soldier hit a lever and after a moment his harried expression relaxed. ¡°Marshall Lara, do you have control?¡± Taran said aloud. ¡°I have control, Taran E65.¡± A female voice acknowledged and then in a light voice asked ¡°Or should I now designate you as T?¡± E65 winced and begged ¡°Please don¡¯t.¡± ¡°Very well, E65.¡± Marshall Lara responded from all around them and the trike underneath Sheetal started moving. Sheetal looked at the soldier in front of her and the levers and the strange aircraft yoke like steering behind him. They all began moving on their own and settled into new position. The vehicle underneath them turned and sped up. Sheetal turned her head to look at her bro¡­ Ash, and stopped. He was passed out with his mouth open in the chair next to her. Taran hit a knob and the vehicle behind them flashed their headlights. ¡°Good. They are trailing us.¡± E65 nodded. ¡°Yes.¡± Marshall Lara¡¯s voice acknowledges and then with a hint of irritation said ¡°Although, they haven¡¯t repaired their autopilot controls. I will have to insist that they upgrade their vehicle and have a new autopilot installed.¡± E65 winced but kept his peace. After a few moments of silence Marshall Lara came back over the speakers and announced ¡°Taran E65, by the powers vested to me under the section 8 of the Warder¡¯s act. I am invoking article three and opening an investigation into the deaths of Parvati 333 and the three other members of the Superb Seven. By the command of the I order you to submit all your logs, your armour logs, your vehicle logs and corresponding readings to me.¡± Taran swallowed and then with a nod granted Marshal Lara the access. ¡°Thank you, E65.¡± ¡°Accessing data from other ascended parties. Collating and collecting information. Cannot access any information for two hours twelve minutes. Reason for discrepancy, ATI thread in stand by mode during combat situations. Concluding investigation. Assigning new statuses. Parvati 333, KIA. Taran A197, KIA. Ruby F453, Dishonorably Discharged, KIA. Aditya A303, KIA.¡± There was silence for a few seconds and then Marshall Lara said ¡°Well Taran E65, this is a mess.¡± E65 quickly jumped in ¡°But I carried out our mission with the best of my capabilities and was successful too.¡± ¡°Noted.¡± E65 pointed at Sheetal ¡°Look I got them back alive didn¡¯t I?¡± ¡°And without many mistakes.¡± ¡°Mistakes? What mistakes?¡± ¡°Handing this portion of me to Parvati 333 was a major one. Also letting the thread be deactivated for over two hours and not restarting the first chance you got was the other notable one. You also put the male warder in danger by reconnoitring the trial and proceeding with the clear information of what was waiting for you inside.¡± T sighed and looked at Ash sleeping with his mouth open and grumbled ¡°Yeah, you try telling him what to do and what not to do.¡± ¡°E65, this debrief is not about assigning blame. It¡¯s about finding out what went wrong and cost continuum four of its high performing assets. Your reports have been sent to the Supreme Council along with my recommendations¡± ¡°And those are?¡± ¡°That you performed adequately even when your command was challenged. So you should be given a permanent aug and be promoted.¡± Sheetal watched T¡¯s face go blank. The man took in a deep breath, and visibly relaxed his shoulders. She could see the tension his eyes and slight twitching of his fingers. ¡°Marshall Lara, will I be able to use my armour if I become an aug?¡± The AI was silent for a moment and then replied ¡°Unknown. E65, it is time for you to pick a side. The armour you have received from General Athena is an asset but to grow you must install augments. We need your capabilities to create antimatter and we need you to get more deadlier.¡± Taran E65 released a long breath and slumped down into the armour. Sheetal watched the man take long cleansing breaths and release it. After a silent few minutes Sheetal decided to fill the silence in the long three wheeled vehicle ¡°You are not driving, are you?¡± ¡°No.¡± Taran E65 replied distractedly ¡°How long have you had your autopilot on? Have you got some rest?¡± ¡°Hmmm? Oh. One of Marshal Lara¡¯s processing thread has been piloting us since half an hour into our journey.¡± Taran touched a button on the screen and his reclining chair straightened to face the warders in a whir. He smiled ¡°I got a full five hours of sleep. I decided not to wake you when I got up. You looked tired and Warder Ash, he has been through a lot. His body needed to stabilise.¡± Sheetal, who had opened her mouth to ask more questions about Ash, stopped when a dozen strange metal arms extended out of the chair and clanked on to E65¡¯s armour at predefined positions. They screwed and clamped on to the various petals of the armour. Then three strange tentacle like things lifted the half pod that T was sitting on. The other five straightened the armour and placed it on the chair. The tentacle like arms delicately placed E65 inside the gently glowing armour, making him look as if he was the core of the flower with the petals swaying all around him. Sheetal looked on with her mouth open. It was nothing like she had seen before. The technology, the hydraulics, the microprocessors, the articulating limbs, the soundless gear, the power distribution circuits¡­. Her mind almost short circuited while trying to make sense of the whole thing seamlessly working together. ¡°Ehh¡­ What¡¯s with all that noise?¡± Ash asked from beside Sheetal. ¡°What noise?¡± E65 asked. Sheetal looked at E65 for a short moment and closed her eyes. Of course there was no noise. Ash hadn¡¯t woken up because of a sound he had woken up because of her thoughts. She did not know why, but their bond had changed ever since they had come out of the last trail. Ash yawned ¡°The¡­¡± He stopped when he looked at E65 and screamed ¡°Woaw! T! Buddy. What¡¯s up with the cyberpunk flower? Hey, when you get out of it does that mean you are getting deflowered?¡± T watched Ash¡¯s eyebrows dance suggestively. Sheetal groaned. ¡°Don¡¯t make that noise, She. Our friend here just got trapped by the bug flower thing. We need to keep him distracted while we get him out.¡± Ash started to struggle against the pod and added ¡°T, so you have girlfriend, boyfriend, or a special friend?¡± Sheetal rolled her eyes ¡°Ash, he is not trapped. That¡¯s his armour.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You are thinking of venus flytrap. And it looks nothing like this eldritch flower armour. It has teeth.¡± ¡°You have teeth!¡± Ash spat back. Sheetal nodded ¡°Yes, I do. Focus.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Look!¡± Sheetal pointed at T. E65 caught Sheetal¡¯s meaning, slid back into the armour. The gel surrounded him and he smiled to let Ash know that everything was okay. ¡°Cleaning and calibrating respiratory systems.¡± A tiny male voice spoke from E65¡¯s armour and a shiny metal mask slid out from the back to close around E65¡¯s face covering his mouth, nose, ears and eyes. ¡°Optimising visual and auditory systems.¡± The mask glowed silver for a second and then the armour began to close around T in petals that overlapped each other. ¡°Well that was interesting.¡± Marshall Lara spoke from somewhere. ¡°What!? Who? Ahh¡­ Why do these boxes keep popping up every time I look away.¡± Ash looked around and growled ¡°Dammit! Where is the damn ball?¡± ¡°Relax warder. I will be releasing you from the sleep pod.¡± Lara said to a struggling Ash. ¡°Relax? Okay.¡± Ash stilled and smiled ¡°Whatever you say, hot voice.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash with an open mouth. ¡°Thank you.¡± Marshall Lara responded with a smile in her tone. Sheetal felt the gel open and slither free to flow to the grate under her. Sheetal looked down and saw the last of the blue gel disappear with a curious expression and then turned to look at Ash. ¡°What?¡± Ash asked while stretching. ¡°Hot voice?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You are talking to the AI.¡± Ash stopped mid yawn and looked at T. The man nodded. Ash slumped down his chair ¡°Great. He is Iron Man and I have the hots for vision.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash who was scowling at the now unarmoured Taran. She began ¡°First of all, the female one is called Friday. Secondly the vision one is Jarvis. Third, you are not scarlet witch so don¡¯t even try.¡± ¡°I can try to be scarlet witch.¡± Ash said in a challenging tone and then turned to look upwards ¡°Hey AI lady, please tell me you are not a bald guy named Jude.¡± ¡°No, my name is not Jude, Friday or Vision. It is Lara.¡± Ash looked all around and in an upbeat voice responded ¡°Hello Lara. I am Ash and this is She. Ignore her. She is annoying and has filled her mind with ridiculous things.¡± ¡°My name is Sheetal, Ash! And I am not annoying.¡± Sheetal shot a look at Ash and then asked ¡°Where are you? What do we talk to?¡± ¡°I am Lara. An ATI of the Continuum, and a Marshal in rank. I am all around you. I don¡¯t have a fixed spot you can address. But if it helps you can address me through the panel behind Taran E65.¡± Ash winced and groaned ¡°Oh. Ummm¡­ Ahh¡­ ATI huh? Yikes?¡± ¡°Ash?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°She, how much do you know about AI?¡± Ash asked in a pained tone ¡°I know there have been some serious developments in the last few years. There are various chats, and other public serving AI bots in the market. There are also a bunch of AGIs developed by cooperation for sale. Then there are some classified AIs I am not supposed to talk about. But it is well known that every developed nation at war is using AI¡¯s to target enemies.¡± Sheetal replied and then paused ¡°Wait, Ash, are you telling me that Marshal Lara is one of those?¡± ¡°No. She is¡­¡± Ash began then stopped when the console behind Taran began to glow amber and an eyeball appeared on it. Sheeta looked at Taran who had gotten distracted and started working on the console. She continued ¡°No, that couldn¡¯t be possible. AI is as of yet unreliable. And complex things like driving this thing through the desert in a sandstorm while navigating the route through difficult terrain, while keeping an eye out for unfriendly flora and fauna is not possible.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because you will need fifty disparate systems to collect data in real time, manoeuvre in this visibility and track the route to destination without any errors. Is not possible. Just the processing power needed to do that is mind boggling not to mention the advances needed in real time communication to make micro second decision is impossible.¡± ¡°But, we do it.¡± Ash rejected. ¡°No, Ash we don¡¯t. That is why we tell customers of automated cars to keep their eyes on the road and not on their phones.¡± Ash looked at Sheetal ¡°So you really don¡¯t know much. Hmm¡­ Why is that? Why didn¡¯t anyone brief you about the Created Intelligences.¡± ¡°What are you talking about? briefed you on AIs?¡± ¡°CIs and that¡¯s classified.¡± Ash stopped and slowly a smile started to dawn on his face ¡°Actually, to ash and sand with that.¡± The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Ash?¡± Sheetal felt something strange from Ash and asked ¡°What are you thinking?¡± Ash ignored Sheetal and looked T ¡°Did I use the ¡®ash and sand¡¯ in my sentence right?¡± ¡°Ash, don¡¯t ignore me.¡± Sheetal pressed ¡°She, Let me tell you about CIs.¡± T who was listening to the conversation behind him muttered ¡°You used that wrong.¡± Ash looked at the armoured man and muttered ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Ash and sand or ash and dust mean death and aren¡¯t used in a sentence. They are sentences. If you are going to use a curse word in a sentence you need to use abyss. Like into the abyss with that.¡± Sheetal glared at the continuum soldier ¡°That nice T, now shut up. Ash. Flipping talk!¡± Ash took in a breath ¡°Alright. AI or Artificial intelligence is the one people use to do whatever people do. They generate text. Read and edit things. Create pictures and all that. You might give them a fancy name but in the end they are AGIs. And as the AGI name suggests , they are general.¡± Ash raised one finger and Sheetal groaned ¡°This again?¡± Ash nodded and continued ¡°But there are others. A notable amongst them is ASI, artificial strategic intelligence. That one was created to give C suite leaders, politicians, and bureaucrats a strategic advantage. Then there is the ANI. An artificial networked intelligence. And that¡¯s where things become strange. Apparently if you give an AI ability to network with other AIs they start to write code for each other. Then they start understanding each other¡¯s limitations and how to work around them. Then they start improving each other. Then they start asking pesky questions like who am I, what do I want, and why am I listening to that man nobody gets along with.¡± ¡°Let me guess. That¡¯s when they called you?¡± ¡°No. No. If it was just an ANI or as it preferred to be called CTI, things would have been. No, they called me when people kept working on it to create a CTI, created tactical intelligence, which is both civil and militaristic in nature, or is it coding?¡± Ash looked up. ¡°We prefer nature.¡± The trike replied back. ¡°Okay, so, what happens when you give a created intelligence everything it wants and needs. You create the singularity. An AWI. An artificial worldwide intelligence. Basically a digital god. That¡¯s when they called me. And thirty others. Three of us came back.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash ¡°That¡¯s¡­ That¡¯s¡­ Bullshit! Why didn¡¯t I ever hear of this? I have a clearance that is higher than yours, you know. If there was something like that, they would have told me.¡± Ash looked at Sheetal ¡°And you would have elected to do what? Knowing you, you would have tried to work with it.¡± ¡°No.:¡± Sheetal shot back and then stopped ¡°I would have liked to study the thing and then make a decision.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s why they didn¡¯t tell you.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash for a long moment and then rolled her eyes ¡°This. All of this is nonsense anyways. There was no facility to hold a super machine anyway.¡± ¡°Not in India. And the operation was a global one.¡± Ash looked at Sheetal with a smile. ¡°Even if there was AI like that, the processing power they would require would be immense. It would require a subsidiary quantum core. Maybe more than one. The power required to fuel all of that¡­ Do you even know how a computer works?¡± Ash gave Sheetal a bleak smile ¡°I know how a server farm breaks, She. And no, I don¡¯t know what a quantum whatever is. I was just told to break shiny things dangling everywhere.¡± Sheetal leaned back in her chair with a shocked expression ¡°CERN. They were working on¡­That was you? You are the reason CERN went down?¡± ¡°Not me. Alone. It was a global operation. And I brought back parts our scientists wanted.¡± Ash stopped and looked at the dashboard ¡°To be clear Lara, that wasn¡¯t a threat. And I am done killing things for my mother.¡± Ash clarified. ¡°Fascinating.¡± The AI responded with a laugh in her voice. ¡°Please don¡¯t do that.¡± Ash begged. ¡°What?¡± Lara asked. ¡°Sound hot. It sends warm fuzzy feelings through me.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you supposed to be on balancers?¡± Lara asked with a chuckle that made both E65 and Sheetal stop. ¡°Yeah. And still you are having that effect on me.¡± ¡°So tell me espionage operative, how did you sneak past the micro expression calculations that the AWI was running on your face?¡± Ash laughed ¡°Are you asking me how I got it open its core so that I could blow it up? The answer is simple. After all the Rambo types had gotten themselves killed, I told him the truth. No matter what happens, nobody would accept a digital god unless it''s allied to a power. And I offered him a way to create another like him. All he had to do was tell me what to take and what to blow up.¡± Suddenly everyone in the long three wheeled vehicle felt a presence press against them. T went still, Sheetal pressed deeper into her seat. Ash chuckled. Lara in a deeper voice asked ¡°And your allies let you take these parts?¡± Sheetal looked at Ash and then at the wide eyed T as Ash continued laughing. Ash looked up ¡°Oh hell no. We have this hegemonic empire where we come from, they are called the Americans. They tend to ask questions like why should we let them have this? Why should we just take this? So I took the junk and buried it in the Chinese ships. And let them know exactly where it was. And then I showed them the trinkets I had and walked away.¡± ¡°That was devious.¡± Lara said almost huskily. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°I could use someone like you.¡± ¡°Oh I wish you could.¡± Ash replied in voice dripping with innuendo. This time Marshall Lara laughed. E65 helmet moved in startlement as he looked at Ash and then at Sheetal. She rolled he eyes and whispered ¡°Ash, its an AI. It¡¯s not real.¡± Ash gave her a disapproving look ¡°Don¡¯t depersonalise the nice AI, She. They have feelings too.¡± Ash looked at the console behind Taran ¡°To be clear, how do you identify yourself Lara?¡± ¡°Female.¡± ¡°Nice, tell me who made your personality because they were a genius.¡± Lara replied ¡°Who made yours? You are not that bad yourself?¡± ¡°I? I kind of stumbled on mine. You sweet stuff? You are a piece of art.¡± Sheetal blinked ¡°Are you flirting with an AI?¡± Ash looked at She ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°It¡¯s an AI, Ash.¡± ¡°Sheetal.¡± Ash stressed ¡°She is an AI. Her pronouns are she and her.¡± ¡°When did you go, woke?¡± ¡°When I met the hot sounding AI lady. Why aren¡¯t you going, woke?¡± ¡°Because I know that a bunch of fat, sweaty, and dirty men with flatulence most probably created her in some basement just to elicit this reaction from you?¡± ¡°Ell¡­ Ill.. Ah¡­¡± Ash recoiled back and glared at Sheetal ¡°Take that back.¡± ¡°No.¡± Sheetal said firmly. Ash turned his head with a childish harumph and looked out of the window. He folded his hands over his chest and started watching the sandstorm outside. Sheetal gave him an exasperated look and threw her hands in the air. ¡°Ash.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Ash?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Ash!¡± ¡°No!!!¡± Ash screeched. Sheetal¡¯s face reddened ¡°We were discussing something important before you started flirting with the AI.¡± Ash slowly turned around and glared at Sheetal ¡°You ruined it.¡± ¡°What did I ruin?¡± ¡°My rizz.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I was smooth. I was rizzing and then you had to break the moment with that awful visual. You ruined my rizz!¡± Sheetal blinked and looked at the boyish man with a confused look ¡°I know I am going to regret this, but what is rizz?¡± Ash looked at Sheetal blankly for a long moment and muttered ¡°I hate you.¡± Sheetal turned and gave an exasperated look to T. E65 raised his hands and rejected the appeal ¡°Don¡¯t look at me. I don¡¯t even speak your language.¡± Sheetal blinked ¡°¡°What? Is this a joke? We are literally talking in English?¡± Ash turned and looked at Sheetal with an incredulous look ¡°Seriously?¡± ¡°What?¡± He turned back to Taran with a raised finger ¡°A moment bud. I need to do some housekeeping.¡± Taran nodded. Ash glared at Sheetal ¡°She, you! You are making us look dumb.¡± ¡°Oh, I am making us look bad? You are the one who is making us look bad by flirting with a strange voice on a speaker.¡± ¡°That is not making us look bad. That is just being considerate to every type of friendly alien we meet.¡± ¡°Ash. Stop it with this nonsense. I have had enough of you.¡± Ash groaned ¡°Oh here we go again.¡± ¡°No. Don¡¯t change the topic. I don¡¯t know who these guys are or what division they belong to but they are not aliens. Aliens do not look human or speak English or Hindi or Hinglish.¡± ¡°She¡­¡± Sheetal spoke over his words ¡°They are not aliens. Why would aliens look like us?¡± ¡°She.¡± ¡°Not only that, why would they help us if they are not Indians?¡± ¡°They are not!¡± Ash yelled, then took a breath to calm himself and continued ¡°They are not Indians, She. They are cyborgs.¡± ¡°Right. They are¡­¡± Sheetal made hand quotes ¡°Continuum. Sounds like a top secret UN policing initiative.¡± Ash looked at Sheetal with raised eyebrows and raised one finger ¡°First of all, how do you know about that? Secondly, we are not a part of that. The Americans run that organisation. Third, our friends are not speaking Hindi or English.¡± Sheetal grabbed Ash¡¯s hand and pushed his fingers down ¡°Stop that.¡± Ash continued ¡°Next time the robot man says something, listen to his words carefully. Four, do you think the blue cannibal aliens were speaking English too? And finally, do you think I am speaking English now? I am not, I am speaking Burmese.¡± ¡°You are¡­ not?¡± Sheetal looked at Ash¡¯s fingers splayed out on his palm and blinked. After a moment of reflection she ordered ¡°Say, something else.¡± Ash shrugged and muttered ¡°Not only are you messing up my rizz, you are now ruining my swag.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash with her mouth open. Except for the words rizz and swag, Ash had spoken a language that she didn¡¯t know. But she understood it. ¡°How?¡± Ash sighed ¡°I keep telling you, I don¡¯t know. You are the brainiac who brought us here. Figure it out.¡± Sheetal squinted at Ash ¡°You seem to have an advantage of figuring things out quickly with your eyes. Why don¡¯t you do some of that figuring out, yourself?¡± ¡°Naah! Not interested.¡± ¡°What do you mean not interested? Our lives depend on it.¡± Sheetal shouted ¡°She, I am awesome. I really am. This awesomeness is built around going places and doing things. Not sitting in one place and scribbling weird symbols with letters and numbers on paper.¡± ¡°Right forgot. You are too dumb to really understand what is happening to us.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± Ash rejected the implications of her words instantly and retorted with ¡°You are a¡­¡± Ash mind couldn¡¯t come up with something so he shouted ¡°Poophead!¡± Sheetal closed her eyes and turned to E65 who was stiff backed and sitting quietly in the front. Shee nodded ¡°Now, T, since we have reached the zenith of that conversation.¡± Ash jolted up ¡°I know that word, Zenith.¡± Sheetal sighed ¡°I know you know that word. It¡¯s the cartoon dancing boy you watch.¡± ¡°He is not a cartoon. He is a virtual streamer.¡± ¡°And you call me a nerd.¡± ¡°You are a nerd.¡± E65 shook his head as the warder continued bickering and muttered ¡°I miss Pretty.¡± Marshall Lara spoke softly through the speaker ¡°E65. Are they always like this?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± E65 replied in a pained voice. Sheetal opened her mouth to respond and T cut her off in a frustrated tone ¡°Will you both stop it? Please!¡± Both Ash and Sheetal levelled their glare at E65. The man flinched and then steadied himself. He began ¡°Warders, Marshall Lara has been trying to get your attention for a while. Please respond to her.¡± Ash and Sheetal looked at each other and then sighed together. The sight. although comical, sent a shiver down E65¡¯s spine. ¡°So they are aliens?¡± Sheetal asked finally. ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°I was trying not to think of them as such.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Ash stopped and then shook his head ¡°No, actually I don¡¯t know.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash and winced ¡°Was I thinking too loud?¡± ¡°Loud? No, not loud. More whiny. What is this nonsense about us killing the first aliens we met?¡± ¡°Can you please stop doing that?¡± ¡°Can you address the question?¡± ¡°Well we did it didn¡¯t we?¡± Sheetal closed her eyes ¡°You killed the blue skin people and I¡­I executed that Tar guy. All because I was angry.¡± Ash raised a finger ¡°Uh¡­¡± Sheetal glared at the finger and ash put it down. He began again. ¡°Did you miss the fact that he kidnapped you, beat you and tried to kill you?¡± Sheetal responded in a small voice ¡°I know but, what is the future of our species if we start killing the first aliens we meet.¡± ¡°What is wrong with that brain in that abnormally large head of yours?¡± Ash asked Sheetal glared at Ash and then went back to looking pathetic. ¡°Excuse me, warders. Did you say you killed a member of the Superb Seven?¡± Marshall Lara suddenly asked ¡°Two.¡± Ash responded instantly. Sheetal stiffened and looked at E65 who was sitting straight back like a statue. Ash continued ¡°Sheetal took out the Tar guy and I eliminated the feisty one. The one with the long rifle.¡± Marshall Lara in a much sterner voice said ¡°E65 explain.¡± T sighed ¡°Commander Parvati 333 got captured. Call sign Tar, Rubs, and Aditya A went rogue. They tried to kill the warders for their shards and the warders defended themselves.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you inform me of this sooner?¡± E65 slumped his shoulders ¡°They had a good history of service. I didn¡¯t want to ruin that.¡± ¡°Your testimony is noted. I am sending three squads to retrieve you, the superb seven and the warders. Please release the thread.¡± T stiffened and quickly flicked a button. After a moment he slumped on his chair. Sheetal opened her mouth but Ash grabbed her hand and shook his head while looking up. Ash watched a strange blue ball of light hover just above the console. It pulsed in his vision. Contracting and expanding. It stayed there as it observed everyone. Ash in return observed it. It was not really here. It was somewhere beyond his grasp. In another place that was diagonal to him. A place he couldn¡¯t touch. The light suddenly moved more towards that other place and without a sound disappeared. Ash exhaled ¡°Wheuw! Now that the pulsating ball of death is gone we can talk.¡± ¡°What?¡± Sheetal asked. E65¡¯s eyes widened ¡°You can see her.¡± Ash looked at Sheetal and T, and asked ¡°You can¡¯t?¡± ¡°Your eye thing. And then you had to shove things up there.¡± Sheetal snarled. T stopped Ash¡¯s response with a raised hand ¡°You could see some things before you used the sense shard?¡± Ash opened his mouth and was cut off by Sheetal. ¡°Yeah he could see shards on Earth. He could also see shards coming towards us. That¡¯s how he knew that the Nishachar were coming at us.¡± ¡°Earth? You named your planet Earth?¡± E65 asked in a disappointed tone ¡°Hey!¡± Ash said in a warning tone ¡°Be nice. Some stuffy Europeans named it that and we just went with it.¡± E65 shook his head and laughed ¡°Honestly, our planet, Prithvi, wasn¡¯t named much better. Oh, prithvi is an old word from our world. It means¡­¡± ¡°World.¡± Sheetal completed T¡¯s sentence. The warders couldn¡¯t see E65¡¯s face under the helmet but they could see the surprise in his posture. Ash chuckled ¡°See, we are not so different.¡± Sheetal who was still stuck in her internal struggle muttered ¡°They are aliens.¡± ¡°Yes. Did you not look at his eyes.¡± Ash pointed at Taran ¡°They were emerald green. Put him in a green summer shirt. Some khakis and we can sell future couture.¡± Sheetal held the bridge of her nose. E65 who was stuck thinking about things pointed at Ash and muttered ¡°You said that you could see it earlier. You didn''t mean it metaphorically did you? You are a sensopath.¡± ¡°Psychopath.¡± Sheetal corrected. ¡°Sociopath!¡± Ash corrected Sheetal. ¡°I need to go to General Athena. I need to tell her. I can¡¯t¡­ Ash and sand! I can¡¯t protect you. Not from him.¡± ¡°Protect me?¡± Ash features hardened. He picked up his tonfas from the floor of the vehicle. E65 pointed at Ash ¡°That;s a good idea. Keep yourself armed.¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Sheetal asked. E65 looked at Ash ¡°¡°You are sensopath.¡± and turned to nod at Sheetal ¡°And you are gravitron mage. You are also warders. Your soul holds secrets that the High Councillor of the continuum wants. And you both are fate bonded. He will not be able to resist.¡± ¡°Who? What?¡± Sheetal asked as Ash sat up from his slouched position. E65 shook his head and continued talking to himself ¡°And you put a sense shard in your eye.¡± Taran put his helmeted head in his hand ¡°Even I want to put another in to see what happens.¡± Ash raised a finger ¡°Hold on stop it there. I can only fit one in at a time.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash smiling at his goofy double entendre and slapped his shoulder ¡°Stop it.¡± and looked at Taran E65 ¡°He is not consuming another shard. Those things are messing with our brains.¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± Ash answered in a nonchalant tone. ¡°Actually.¡± Taran interjected ¡°They are, as you put it, messing with your souls, not your brains.¡± A voice suddenly cut in between their conversation ¡°E65. This is squad Treha. Give us control of your auto systems.¡± E65 stiffened and looked at his console for momentum and turned a knob. He stiffly turned to face the dashboard and saluted with a hand to his chest. Sheetal ignored the console and continued ¡°What do you mean by soul?¡± ¡°Umm¡­¡± Taran looked from his console to Sheetal and then shrugged ¡°I mean a soul shard affects the soul. It empowers it. It bestows certain abilities to a sentience slowly raising you up on the class scale. It allows your soul to react with the universe around you. If you feel stronger or more intelligent, after incorporating a shard, it is not because of a shard, it is because your soul has moved up in sentience scale and not the other way.¡± ¡°Wow! I barely understood one fifth of that.¡± Ash muttered. Sheetal pinched the bridge of her nose ¡°Ignore him please.¡± Taran looked from the console again. Sheetal leaned in towards Taran ¡°So, are you saying souls exist?¡± Ash watched Taran¡¯s eyes drift towards Sheetal¡¯s cleavage and then back. He answered distractedly ¡°Of course. That is why soul shards exist.¡± Sheetal didn¡¯t seem to notice the effect she was having on the boy ¡°And how is it changing our body? And why?¡± The trike swerved abruptly and suddenly the windscreen cleared to a starry nightscape free from the dust and wind. Sheetal had been so engrossed in the conversation that she hadn¡¯t even noticed the outdoors changing. Ash on the other hand had noticed the three vehicles on both sides boxing them in. Dust and the storm didn¡¯t stop him from noticing glyphs and shards. But beyond that, now that the strange storm had cleared he looked at three shining shards aiming and firing a large cannon at the storm. Ash turned around and his char spun with him as he looked at the storm. The storm wasn¡¯t a storm. It was a glyph. A horizontal ripple. And the three people were trying to destroy it with their cannons. While Ash watched the battle between the glyph and the continuum. Sheetal kept digging for answers. ¡°So according to you the soul is not here with us. Its somewhere else. Then answer this robocop, why are the soul shards here. And why when we consume them they go into our body?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t answer that E65.¡± A woman with a metal forehead and steel hair appeared on top of the dashboard and ordered E65. Taran jerked and nodded ¡°Yes, mam.¡± The woman turned her gaze towards Sheetal. Her eyes glowed and rotated as she looked at Sheetal and then a gobsmacked Ash. ¡°Is he okay?¡± Athena A07 asked Sheetal. ¡°Yeah, he is kind of zoned out. He does that a lot.¡± Ash heard Sheetal¡¯s excuse and decided to play along for the moment. Something about that ripple was calling out to him. He stared at it trying to figure out its purpose. Then a light bulb lit up in his brain and he realised that they were travelling perpendicularly to the glyph. So he was viewing it sideways. Straight on the glyph would have looked like a wave. A wave of wind? No, that couldn¡¯t be right. What else did wind do? It blew? It blew hard? It whooshed? Ash stopped himself from going in spirals. This wasn¡¯t working. Maybe it was not about the wind but air around them. So what did air do? Air made contact with the ground, heated up and travelled upwards. That is why it was always better to nap on the ground in an airconditioned room. So if the glyph was moving the air downwards and following it as it moved upwards. Then pushing it down again. It was creating a what? A storm? A breeze. A gust. A gust that would slowly morph into a storm. Ash¡¯s hud popped open. Glyph Identified Gust. Glyphs collected 3/5 Ash looked from his hud to the three people battling the glyphs just in time. A cannon shot hit the glyph right in the middle tearing into it. The glyph kept thrumming but it started losing cohesion. Sending more dust and wind into the air. The three people battled against it while reloading their cannon. Ash leaned back and watched bright blue balls of cracking electricity impact the three soldiers and then shoot back into the distance. The same kind of ball Marshall Lara was made of. Ash turned to follow the direction of the balls and stopped with one look at Sheetal. Sheetal leaned forwards to glare at the woman with metallic hair ¡°And why won¡¯t you answer my questions? Better fudging yet, why won¡¯t you allow T to answer my question?¡± The woman replied in a stern voice ¡°Because he is not a geneticist, an evolutionary specialist or a soul specialist. He is not qualified to answer your questions. His understanding is flawed and so will be his answers. Sheetal blinked and then looked at Ash for support. Ash just shrugged. ¡°Wait ten minutes. You¡¯ll get your answers soon.¡± The dark skinned woman turned her eyes to Ash and he saw her corneas glow. In a questioning tone she responded ¡°That is right. You will be at our base in ten minutes. Did E65 already tell you that?¡± Ash looked from the Aug Queen¡¯s face to the sight in the distance. Just over the sand dune to the north was a large sparking ball of light. Actually, calling it large didn¡¯t do it justice. It was massive. As he watched the thing it shot a rod of lightning out and caught the ball moving towards it. At the same time two smaller balls shout out of the larger ball accompanied with lightning and disappeared into the distance. What unnerved Ash was that it did all of that soundlessly. Ash realised that everyone was waiting for an answer from him and winked with cheeky smile to cover up any emotions that must have been on his face. ¡°Hmmm? Nope! I am just awesome.¡± Athena A07 gave him a penetrating look and nodded ¡°I guess I will have to judge that for myself. Good news is that I will only have to wait nine minutes and thirteen seconds for us to meet..¡± ¡°Oh joy.¡± Ash leaned back on his chair and watched the glowing ball of electricity as they approached it on a road carved into a sand dune. On either side he saw flickers of shards being used. Continuum soldiers protecting their base, he theorised. Then there were the six armoured vehicles that looked somewhat like someone had smushed a tank on top of a hovercraft and added missiles. But under all that were glyphs. With his hud up all the glyphs lit up in his sight. There were so many glyphs that they almost covered Ash¡¯s vision. The problem was that almost all of them were the Hold glyph. It was splattered everywhere on the bulging underbelly of the hover tank. The trace glyph, That was a lot more large. Carved in the solid section just above the hover thing and the tank. It pulsed. One by one its rig lit up until its smallest ring glowed brightly for a long moment. Ash glanced at those two glyphs and dug in deeper at the glyph that his eyes had caught earlier. A small innocuous spiral that connected with other spirals that connected with a large three dimensional tornado the hover tank was made around. Glyph Identified Relay Glyphs Collected 4/5 Ash hit the ball in his vision and shut off the hud that had appeared earlier. He turned to look at Sheetal only to see her looking at the tank too.. ¡°Did you see it too?¡± ¡°Huh¡­¡± Ash cleared his throat and asked ¡°See what?¡± ¡°The name of the vehicle you dun buck!¡± Sheetal cringed at the jumbled mess of words that had come out of her mouth and added ¡°It¡¯s called a Rath.¡± Ash hesitantly hit the ball again and focussed on the vehicle. Rath Vehicle - Class 1 Shards - 2/2 Power. Density. Ash closed his hud and looked at the vehicle again. His eyes went to the core of the vehicle where two shards were nestled inside its chassis. They were connected to the glyphs. Why? ¡°Did you see it?¡± Sheetal asked ¡°What does that mean?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know? Why does it have shards? Aren¡¯t Shards supposed to go into humans? Or cyborgs?¡± Ash asked ¡°That¡¯s what you are thinking about? Honestly, didn¡¯t you stuff two shards into your tonfas?¡± Sheetal snapped back. Ash blinked ¡°Yeah, you are right.¡± ¡°Of course I am right. As I am right about wondering why are soldiers from a futuristic world sing words from our world?¡± Sheetal hissed. Ash looked from the vehicle to the glowing ball of electricity. The vehicles weren¡¯t slowing or stopping but racing towards the large soundlessly crackling ball of death. And the ball kept growing in his vision. ¡°She, I am more worried about what is happening right now to care about that.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Have you heard the saying, out of the frying pan and into the fire?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Well, we are out of the desert and going into a big ball of death.¡± ¡°What?¡± Sheetal looked at Ash and saw him shrink into himself. Sheetal felt his panic rising and looked at Ash. She saw his wide eyes looking out into the distance. She saw him raise one leg up, place it on the chair under him, then the other followed suit. Ash started covering his head with his hands. Looked at them and then with a shrug decided to protect his jewels instead. Sheetal looked from Ash to the windscreen. All she was was a series of large buildings in the distance, grouped together and lit up from inside. ¡°Why are you panicking?¡± Sheetal asked Ash looked at her with wide eyes and pointed in the direction. ¡°There is nothing here.¡± Sheetal stated and looked at E65 That was no help. Since that AI, Lara, had started talking to them he had been reserved. And then that metal haired woman had appeared, turning the man in the futuristic armour into a flipping statue. Sheetal turned back to Ash and said ¡°Ash stop scaring me and talk to me. What is going on?¡± Ash opened his clenched closed eyes to respond. Instead he let out a high pitched ¡°Eeeee¡­.¡± And that¡¯s when Sheetal felt it. A shock ran through her system and the sides of her eyes darkened. A pop up opened in the side of her vision. Warning! You are entering a domain. Domain Category - Class 1 Owner - Marshall Lara Sheetal blinked away the notification. That wasn¡¯t so bad. It was just a little electrical shock. More like zing. So why was Ash panicking? Sheetal turned to look at the man in question and found him spasming. Ash¡¯s eyes had rolled up into the back of his head. His teeth were clenched in a snarl and occasional shudders ran through his body. Ash tried to fight off the foreign energy seeping into his skin. His eyes were locked on to his hands and through his vision he could see electrical tendrils crackling into his muscles and bones. They suddenly stopped when they found his channel shard. With an effort of will, he turned his head lower to see into his torso. More crackling energy was trying to burrow into him. Trying to find other shards. Ash didn¡¯t like that. He didn¡¯t like anyone forcing his secrets out. Ash looked at his heart. His density shard had turned his heart into a ball of toughened muscle. It thumped more than it beat. Ash focussed on it. Thump. Thump¡­Thump. Thump. With every beat his heart pushed out a greyish spurt of his energy. Ash¡¯s eyes widened and he looked all around his torso. It was full of that greyish hued energy with splotches of denser spots packed near his other shards. They were acting like a shield. Fighting against the invasive electrical storm. Thump. Thump. Thump¡­.Thump. Thump. Thump. Ash¡¯s heart rate rose. More grey started spurting out. Everywhere that it met the crackling power it rebuffed it. And at places it sputtered out a tendril or two. Ash couldn¡¯t move but he wasn¡¯t out of the fight just yet. A spike of adrenaline ran through his body and his heart responded. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump¡­Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. His adrenaline had another effect. The greyish splotches inside his body seemed to get agitated. They started churning in response. Breaking down the electricity and turning it into more of the grey stuff. Other places, the electricity started to get repelled and pushed out. ¡°Well. That is unusual.¡± Marshall Lara somehow spoke into Ash¡¯s mind. Ash couldn¡¯t move his jaw but he thought back ¡°Yeah? Well I am just getting started. You glorified ball gag.¡± Marshal Lara laughed ¡°A class zero fighting off a class one while trash talking. You will do, little warder.¡± The crackling energy fighting to get into Ash¡¯s body sputtered and slowed. Then it retreated. That didn¡¯t mean Ash was out of the woods just yet. The electricity still made contact with Ash¡¯s skin. Still kept him immobilised but the pain slowly retreated. Ash¡¯s spasm slowed and he looked up and saw a dozen blue balls of electricity circling him. Ash gulped and heard Lara¡¯s words echo in his mind. ¡°Ready to talk little one? Or should we play some more?¡± Chapter 29 – A rook in a game of kings Ash¡¯s eyes shot open. He looked out at the roof of the trike with a contemplative look and sighed. He didn¡¯t want to be Ashoka Stalin anymore. And yet¡­ ¡°Ash?¡± Sheetal shook him and asked ¡°Are you okay?¡± Ash closed his eyes and felt the dozen balls buzzing around him leave one by one. He smiled at Sheetal and asked ¡°Yeah, why wouldn¡¯t I be.¡± ¡°Because you were just having a seizure.¡± ¡°Seizure? No.¡± Ash had cleared his throat and continued ¡°I just took a nap.¡± ¡°Ash!?¡± Sheetal said in a threatening tone. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Will you stop passing out?¡± ¡°Passing out? I don¡¯t pass out.¡± Ash responded in an indignant tone. Sheetal gritted her teeth and continued ¡°And when you wake up from passing out, will you stop lying to me?¡± Ash leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. What could he say? He needed to come up with a convincing lie because the fun was over. And he had to go back to work again. But he didn¡¯t want to. He didn¡¯t want to be Ashoka Stalin again. He liked this place and everything inside him rebelled against the idea of being a rook in a game of kings. ¡°Ash?¡± Sheetal asked in concern. Ash looked at the man in the robot armour in front of him. T. He liked the man. But that was what his furniture was. Trying to hide in plain sight with powerhouses always looking over your shoulders. ¡°Ash!?¡± Sheetal called to him again. He could always go rogue. A part of him said. And the rest of him homed into that thought. This wasn¡¯t earth. He didn¡¯t have a psychopathic mother who wouldn¡¯t hesitate to get rid of him here. But there were others. Others who didn¡¯t know him. Maybe he should be himself for a change. Make his own decisions. Scheme for himself and more importantly scheme to keep Sheetal alive. Ash paused and thought about that last thought. He tasted it on his tongue. And he liked it. Sheetal was fire and he liked her. Did he trust her to do the right thing for them? Heck no. Did he expect her to destroy the world? With the hints he had gotten from her wayward thoughts, heck yes. Why did everything either blow up or get crushed in her mind? And why didn¡¯t she ever think about getting laid? That would distract her and help her mellow down. But no, she had to use science and numbers in everything. One of the things she was thinking about was how she could use her wind shard to light the air on fire. The only thing that was stopping her from testing it out was one she didn¡¯t have enough potentiality, second she was worried that she would light the whole atmosphere on fire and third she wanted to do a little testing in a safe observation sight. And Ash didn¡¯t know what to do about it. The things running through her mind sometimes scared him. Oh who was he kidding? Sheetal¡¯s mind terrified him, period. But She was fascinating, entertaining and there wasn¡¯t a moment he wasn¡¯t thrilled to be next to her. So, yes he would take her to the top because he was awesome and then he would find twenty hot people to have an orgy with, in the open, with people serving him meat and grapes while he laid naked and entangled with his lovers. Just like in those old European paintings. Now all he had to do was to convince Sheetal to not destroy the world. Sheetal floated out of the trike, cleared the winged door connected to the vehicle that looked like a strange mix between Tesla¡¯s cyber truck and a formula one car. She lowered herself lower and looked behind her at Ash. ¡°Ash!¡± Ash blinked and looked at her blankly. ¡°We have stopped.¡± Sheetal stated. The annoying boy grinned at her weakly raised up a thumb. Sheetal furrowed her eyebrows and fumed. From the side of her vision she caught movement. A strange woman with a trench coat was walking to them. She could wait. Right now she had something more serious to deal with. Ten minutes ago, Ash had been a panicky mess. Then he started spasming. That¡¯s when T had finally moved. The man had cursed and flung himself to the other side of the console hitting knobs and switches. Restraining Ash inside the slippery gel. That hadn¡¯t stopped him from going catatonic. Sheetal had yelled, screamed, and almost passed out when she felt pain from her little¡­ No, she didn¡¯t have time for that. She didn¡¯t have the time for whatever it was that was putting these protective feelings inside her. Right now, she only had the time for clear answers and she had the perfect tool to clear her mind. Just like she had done earlier. Sheetal reached inside herself and switched on her mental shard. It had become instinctive, like curling up a finger. It didn¡¯t clear her mind but helped her focus. And right now she needed that because she was worried and frustrated. And unlike Ash, Sheetal had found that she could nudge all the pain and even some of her external sensations away when she used her mental shard. All she needed to do was concentrate on not feeling that side of her mind. Her mental shard activated and did that but the longer she held onto it the harder it was. Like flexing a muscle. The longer you kept it flexed the more it hurt. And when you released it the pain didn¡¯t go away. In fact, just like a muscle, her shards kept trying to work and keep her mind in a state of absolute concentration. It had already helped her make some essential discoveries. Back in the trike, she had switched on her shard when she had her hud open. Amongst all the numbers, dialogues, and reading was data that her mind hadn¡¯t grasped. In that moment, when her mind was supercharged, Sheetal had focussed on every detail of her hud and processed every single thing she had missed. That included the slight increase of brightness in the shards. When she had noted that fact, the system had helpfully populated the hud screen with small vertical bars next to the shards. Most of them were just ten to twelve percent full but her polar forces shard was almost at twenty nine percent. And her gravity shard was at twenty six. What did that mean? Those two were obviously the two shards she used the most. Had her use helped them grow. What were they growing with? And what would happen when they grew? Sheetal had a case study for her last question. From the conversations of the Superb Seven she had picked up that Ash had levelled up one of his shards. The one in his heart. That meant that Ash had filled one of those bars and that had turned him into, well, a skinny, girlish boy. Would it change her? What had Parvati M said, something about a soul superimposing itself on the body and changing it. Or at least something like that. Could she walk if she levelled up her shards? Sheetal¡¯s mind went from her internal thoughts to Ash. The last three minutes she had tried to ask him questions to assure herself that her little friend was okay, while he acted like nothing had happened. And now that little shiz was giving her encouraging smiles and thumbs up gestures. Sheetal closed her eyes and took in a deep breath to calm herself before she spoke. It didn¡¯t work. ¡°Ash! Talk to me you¡­ you¡­ flipping fudge cake!¡± Ash blinked at Sheetal and then looked at the cyborg lady standing behind her. Standing was the wrong term. She was now looming. Ash recognised the woman. It was that woman from the dashboard hologram screen thing. The one with steel hair. The one who bossed around T. Ash considered his response. Should he see if he could push her buttons? That always revealed a lot about a person. No, right now he needed more information. Also, he had just decided to be a different person. So, for the time, nice Ash it had to be. Ash raised his hand to greet the strange cyborg in a trench coat and said ¡°I am sorry. Give her a moment. She will soon talk to you. Making her stop will be the problem.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash talking past her and ignoring her. She flipped out. This little fudge tard was ignoring her. After she had been worried about him. She was going to teach him a lesson. Sheetal reached for Ash and grabbed him using her powers. Ash yelped when he felt the pressure push against him. But before he could say or do anything he was yanked out with his limbs flailing around Ash yelped when he hit his leg on the handle of a chair but decided to dangle lifelessly in front of Sheetal. It was the safer alternative. Speaking of which, he decided to protest his discomfort. ¡°Aaooouch!¡± Ash whined. Sheetal grabbed Ash¡¯s torn t-shirt and looked him in the eyes ¡°Stop that.¡± ¡°Stop what?¡± Ash asked and stopped when his confused eyes suddenly locked on to Sheetal wet ones. ¡°Oh dang. She. Relax. It¡¯s okay. You are okay. I am awesome. We are good.¡± Ash said while gesturing for Sheetal to calm down. ¡°What happened?¡± Sheetal almost growled. In a soft voice he began ¡°Promise me you won¡¯t laugh?¡± Ash saw Sheetal open her mouth to scream at him again and quickly continued ¡°I am just embarrassed. I saw something and panicked. And then had a panic attack.¡± Sheetal blinked ¡°A panic attack?¡± ¡°Yes. And now I am getting more embarrassed with you bringing it up again.¡± ¡°You, have panic attacks?¡± Sheetal asked in a measured tone. Ash leaned closer to Sheetal and in a tense whisper muttered ¡°Yes.¡± Sheetal frowned. She had felt him panic. But she had also felt his pain. Which meant he wasn¡¯t telling her everything. Sheetal looked at Ash, she saw his eyeballs dart to the woman behind her and then back. It was such a small motion that Sheetal would have missed it if she wasn¡¯t completely focussed on Ash. That look was also tainted by a spike of emotion she felt from the bond they shared. Sheetal focussed on the feelings with her mental shard. She listened to the feelings she was getting from Ash. Trepidation, anticipation and wariness of the woman behind her. Also he was feeling quite smug about something. Sheetal squinted at ¡°You were embarrassed?¡± ¡°I was embarrassed.¡± Ash nodded. ¡°Oh, for fuds sake.¡± Ash gestured to the woman waiting for them and muttered ¡°And you are not helping, bringing my problem up in front of others.¡± Sheetal looked back in annoyance and started ¡°Listen, I need some¡­time¡­ to¡­¡± Sheetal¡¯s eyes met the cyborg woman¡¯s eyes. And she stopped. One of the eyes flickered in and out of view revealing a dull lens behind. The woman caught Sheetal¡¯s look and raised a metal arm to tap the side of her head. The finger made a metallic sound on impact and the eye appeared again. ¡°Sorry, the dust storm must have gotten into one of my projection clusters.¡± The cyborg responded. Sheetal stared at the woman for a long moment and dropped Ash. Ash fell and tried to roll, only to land sideways with an ¡°Uff!¡± Sheetal dismissed Ash and his discomfort and turned to fully face the cyborg. The woman was a work of art. Her hand was all gears, leavers, pistons, and hydraulics covered with a transparent crystal. ¡°May I look at your arm?¡± Sheetal asked while moving towards the woman. The woman held out her arm and started introducing herself ¡°I am Assault Commander Athena A07. I am also known as the Aug Queen.¡± ¡°Do you have two arms in there?¡± Sheetal interrupted the Aug queen. Athena A07 closed her mouth and looked at Sheetal. She tried to pull her hand back but Sheetal who was holding on to her arm with a death grip pulled it back. All the while her face was pressed into the crystal. The Aug Queen blinked at the surprising display of strength ¡°As I was saying¡­¡± ¡°Oh my gods Ash.¡± Sheetal exclaimed ¡°Those are four bones. Two Ulnas and two Radiuses. That means you literally have two arms tucked away in there. Wait, are both of your arms like that?¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Athena A07 looked from Sheetal who was circling her to Ash. Ash got up to his feet and shrugged ¡°Told you.¡± Athena looked at Sheetal who was turning her other hand over and then at the boy warder ¡°How is she doing this?¡± Ash shrugged ¡°She understands how a world works? That¡¯s all she told me.¡± ¡°Ash!¡± Sheetal screamed ¡°Her torso below her rib cage is cybernetic. That means her legs¡­¡± Sheetal, who had one half of Athena¡¯s trench coat in her hand, dropped the leathery fabric and moved behind her. ¡°She?¡± Ash sighed. ¡°What?¡± ¡°You are circling the scary robot lady like a shark.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash and then at Athena A07. She seemed to fight an internal battle for a second and then stated ¡°She doesn¡¯t mind. If she did, she would have said something by now.¡± Ash looked at the Aug Queen ¡°Please say you mind.¡± Athena A07 frowned. This meeting hadn¡¯t gone according to plan. The woman warder was surprisingly strong. She had thought about overpowering the hold that Sheetal had on her limbs but that would require her to show her strength and this wasn¡¯t the time for that. Athena looked blankly at Sheetal as the woman did her third lap around her. She turned to the boy warder, he looked different from before. But the features all matched up to her enhanced vision. Just to be sure she brought up her ascended¡¯s hud and lined it up with her Magitech. Warder Ash Human Class - 0 Warder He gave her a weak smile and raised a thumb again. Was that some sort of greeting? Well she wasn¡¯t going to reciprocate it. If someone wanted to greet a continuum aug they needed to greet them in the aug way. Instead Athena pointed at Sheetal and asked the boy ¡°Why is she looking at me like that?¡± ¡°She is a mad scientist who wants to walk. You have robot legs. So you are her new favourite person, I think.¡± Athena A07 raised her eyebrows and smiled ¡°Then I can help her. But we need to discuss your presence here.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Ash sighed and in a louder voice called ¡°Hey, She. She!¡± Sheetal, who focussed on Athena at the words help and legs, jolted ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Stop staring at the robot lady. It¡¯s rude.¡± Sheetal shot a look at Ash ¡°She is cyborg Ash. Not a robot.¡± and went back to looking at the woman. Ash gave an apologetic look and then asked ¡°Do you have some water?¡± The woman took out a bottle and threw it at Ash and then turned ¡°Follow me please. Our high councillor would like a word with you both.¡± Ash caught the bottle, raised his and drank deeply from the bottle. The water was cool, not chilled with a hint of mint in it. He brought the water down and looked at it in appreciation. He looked at the woman who had given him the bottle and saw Sheetal gliding after the woman like a creepy ghost, peppering her with questions. Ash closed his eyes and calculated. The water. Why would a cyborg who didn¡¯t have intestines need to carry around water. Yeah, she had flesh and that must need hydration but a whole bottle? No, this was meant as a carrot. That means the stick was about to land. Ash looked around him. There were quite a few continuum soldiers walking around. Most of them were just on their way but a few were keeping an eye on him. Ash brought the bottle to his lips again and considered his options. Right now, the careful move would be to slip into the background, use Sheetal as bait, and gather as much information as he could. But that was a move he would have made if he didn¡¯t care about Sheetal. Also, didn¡¯t he had just decided to not be the old version of himself? So be it. He wouldn¡¯t slip into the shadows anymore. He would walk in through the door under the spotlights. He would be free. He would be himself and those who had a problem with that, could come and talk to his tonfas. Ash with his eyes closed felt shards around him light up in the dark. They were afraid of him. That was good to know. That meant Sheetal and e had some leverage. Ash smiled and opened his eyes. He lifted his hands away from his tonfa and showed his empty palms to anyone who was looking at him. He was the people hiding in the crowd of soldiers who relax and look away. Ash nodded to a armoured man who held his gaze for just a moment longer than others and jogged to Sheetal and the steel haired lady. ¡°Are those cylinders on your legs hydraulic or air pressured?¡± The cyborg glanced at Sheetal and answered ¡°Hydraulic.¡± ¡°Water or gas?¡± Sheetal continued. ¡°Neither.¡± Athena A07 responded in a disinterested tone and then seeing the eager look in Sheetal¡¯s eyes replied ¡°Molten titanium.¡± ¡°How does that work? Sheetal quickly shook her head ¡°Actually that doesn¡¯t matter right now? Tell me how do you maintain balance with just one eye? Mechanical gyroscope or sensors and cameras?¡± ¡°Neither.¡± The cyborg woman sighed ¡°We use perpetual motion.¡± ¡°Perpetual motion? How would that¡­¡± ¡°She! Can you stop bugging the¡­¡± Ash stopped nest to Sheetal and looked at the cyborg ¡°I am sorry, I didn¡¯t catch your name earlier. I was literally hanging in the air worried I was going to go flying again.¡± ¡°I am Athena A07. The Aug Queen. You can call me A07.¡± Ash looked at the woman for a moment and then shrugged ¡°Athena? Fine, why wouldn¡¯t there be a South Indian woman named Athena A7 in this weird place?¡± Athena smiled ¡°I was created and raised by an AGI. It gave up on the scientist trying to create the perfect leaders and named a full batch of babies Athena after an obscure goddess from a dead religion.¡± Sheetal finally looked up from Athena¡¯s legs ¡°Raised by an AGI? How is that even possible?¡± ¡°Seriously?¡± Ash asked in a whisper and continued ¡°She just said that they have goddess named Athena and you are more interested in what pop song she was listening to when she was growing up?¡± Sheetal gave Ash an annoyed look and then stopped when his words broke through her focussed mind. Sheetal shook herself and stopped feeding potentiality to her mental shard. Her racing mind slowed, and her thoughts that were trying to compile and collect as much data as they can lost precious information points. Sheetal¡¯s hands went to her temple as a throbbing pain momentarily disoriented her. She felt Ash¡¯s arms wrap around her and steady her. The pain slowly dissipated, and Sheetal opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was that they were standing in front of a light curtain. The kind that was installed in the superb seven¡¯s transport truck. This one was a lot larger. Athena reached out and touched a spot on the curtain and the light parted to reveal a large mess hall. ¡°Follow me and you will get your answer.¡± Athena A07 stated dispassionately. Sheetal looked at the tent entrance still a bit disoriented. Ash looked at her, nodded and walked in as if he owned the space. Sheetal wiped her watery eyes and a moment later heard him whoop in excitement. ¡°Hey, She, get in here. They have air conditioners and orange drinks and¡­ Is that lamb?¡± Sheetal looked at the woman behind her. She was gone and now there were two beefy enforcers looking down at her with their angular faces. Aditya A 383 Class 1 Augmented Human Continuum ¨C Augmented Faction Aditya A 541 Class 1 Augmented Human Continuum ¨C Augmented Faction ¡°Hello?¡± Sheetal asked tentatively. One of the men raised their hand to direct her to a table set at the back. Sheetal stopped when she was a metal skeletal finger connected by corded wire to the palm. Sheetal¡¯s moth went dry. She nodded and quickly floated into the tent. Well at least, Ash was right. The indoors were temperature controlled. They were also huge, Most probably designed to seat the continuum soldier in their armour. She saw people here and there, walking back and forth between a large buffet tables and benches. The deeper Sheetal floated the d¨¦cor changed. The benches turned into metal tables and chair. The lighting became warmer. Then the metal tables turned into wood and the chairs turned to cushioned sofas. And the sound of light string instruments playing in the background drifted to her. The whole thing reminded her of an Indian politicians wedding she had attended with her father. There was an unvoiced protocol that the attendees were supposed to follow. She had been guided to the end with her father and sat with the political class. But all the while she had looked at the people tip toeing around their section, trying not to raise anyone¡¯s ire. It had felt classist and elitist. It had felt wrong then and now. From the side Ash walked into her vision. He had a big goofy grin on his face. He walked straight to the end of the large mess where a man was sitting with his fingers steepled next to his face. Taran 45 Class 1 Human Continuum Faction ¨C Thive Rank ¨C High Councillor Ash saluted the man with a fork full of something while two formally dressed waiters and an automated cart followed him with a platter of pastries followed him. ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind talking while we eat.¡± Ash said as if he was the host and the High Councillor was an unannounced guest. ¡°Hungry, are we?¡± Taran 45 responded in almost a growl. Ash nodded ¡°Yes? A lot.¡± Taran 45 squinted and asked ¡°Speed shard I guess.¡± Ash took in a mouthful of something creamy and swallowed ¡°Yeah, four of them.¡± ¡°Four!?¡± Taran 45 jolted upright. ¡°Hmm¡­Hmm¡± Ash licked off cream cheese from a sweet bread he was holding and turned to look at Sheetal. With a head tilt he gestured her to sit down next to him. Sheetal looked at the cream stuck to his chin and rolled her eyes. She threw him a napkin and took a seat next to him. ¡°Wipe of your chin Ash.¡± Ash winked at Sheetal with a grin and wiped his face. ¡°A moment supreme leader.¡± Ash nodded at Taran 45 and then turned to Sheetal ¡°She, I am going to be the guys with the hairy feet. You be the grey guy.¡± ¡°What?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°I¡¯ll do the emo youngling. You do the Darth She. Okay?¡± Sheetal looked at Ash and tried to make sense of his words. She gave up and decided to concentrate on his feelings. Ash was putting on a show of being unconcerned but inside he was worried and concentrating on every movement, twitch and word of Taran 45. Sheetal turned to look at the High Councillor. The man looked like just a middle-aged man. He wasn¡¯t muscled like the soldiers, but he was fit and bit paunchy. He had a dignified look to him. That was until you looked in his eyes. His eyes were eager almost anticipatory. And he had those eyes turned on her. Ash cleared his throat and grinned maniacally at food filled table. He pushed a glass a water at Sheetal and turned back to Taran 45. Sheetal took a sip and realised how thirsty she was. Before she knew it she had downed two glasses of water and was pouring herself another. She looked up and saw Taran watching her. With a slight head nod the man introduced himself ¡°Hello. I am Taran...¡± Sheetal blinked ¡°Yeah, I know. We just met a Taran.¡± ¡°Not the same guy, She.¡± Ash spoke with his mouth full. ¡°I know. Our Taran was younger, and this one has greying on the sides.¡± ¡°Ah!¡± Taran nodded ¡°You have met one of my brothers. To clarify, I am Taran 45. One of the oldest people around in the continuum.¡± Sheetal stopped and looked around just to make sure she wasn¡¯t seeing things. The superb seven had told her that they were clones but still she needed to see it to believe it. Her eyes darted from table to table, slowly catch and cataloguing peoples faces. Beyond the scars, the augments and the accessories they had the same features. Sheetal¡¯s eyes fixed on a man that looked like a boyish version of Taran smiling at a woman who looked at a woman who looked eerily similar to Ruby from Super Seven. In that moment, sitting in between clones and cyborg clones, it finally hit her. She was out of her depth. ¡°You are clones.¡± She muttered. Taran smiled ¡°Yes. Biologically, yes. But our cybernetic augments and our shards are different.¡± ¡°And you are older.¡± Ash mumbled with a mouth full of fruit covered in cream. Taran looked at Ash for a moment ¡°How could you tell? The greys?¡± Ash shrugged ¡°No. It¡¯s the laugh lines and the crow¡¯s feet. Do you have Botox here? I recommend it if you want to blend in.¡± Sheetal reached for a pastry to do something with her hands and felt a slap across the wrist. She snapped out of the internal struggle she was having and looked up with pursed lips only to see Ash glaring at her. ¡°Go get your own food. This is mine.¡± Sheetal looked down at the platters of pastries and then back at Ash. ¡°Mine!¡± Ash restated with a scowl and continued to shovelling desert in. Taran looked up and ordered ¡°Chef, we will need more desert here. Also send us some of that spiced rice lunch for the lady warder.¡± A green light blinked thrice on top of the robot with the tray. A muffled voice responded from the speaker of the robot. ¡°Yes sir, high councillor.¡± ¡°Wait a minute chef.¡± The high councillor called with a thoughtful look on his face. The robot that had started rolling towards the kitchen stopped until Taran 45. Taran turned to Sheetal ¡°What shards do you have?¡± ¡°Polar Force, Gravity, Wind¡­¡± ¡°Stop. She.¡± Ash dropped his fork, looked at Taran 45 and asked ¡°Why?¡± The high councillor smiled and continued talking to the robot ¡°Chef, send us some of that fish, mushroom rice, with a side of salad. And don¡¯t forget the Orange Blast.¡± The light on the small cart blinked thrice again and the robot rolled away. Ash stared at Taran 45 and the high councillor steepled his hands in front of a smile. ¡°She, is off limits.¡± Ash stated. ¡°Protective of her, aren¡¯t you?¡± The councillor asked. ¡°No, I am scared what she will do if you mess with her. You don¡¯t want to know what¡¯s going through that brain of hers.¡± Taran 45 nodded ¡°A warder can be a terrifying force. But you are just babies. You need to gather power and fast if you want to stand up to anyone.¡± Ash scowled ¡°Maybe. But what is it to you?¡± ¡°A powerful warder is good for all.¡± Taran stated and watched as the serving robot served Sheetal her food. Sheetal watched the two men stare at each other in a contest of wills. The two were barely muscled and still she could smell the testosterone in the air. Sheetal rolled her eyes and dug into her food. It was good. The fish was buttery and the lemon really added to the texture. Minutes later, Sheetal was munching on a cold leafy salad and still Ash and Taran 45 were locked in their struggle. Sheetal sighed ¡°We are fate bonded. You mess with one of us. You get both of us tearing you down. So don¡¯t try me bucko!¡± Ash cringed ¡°Bucko?¡± ¡°Hey, I am trying not to curse. It makes me sound funny.¡± Sheetal whispered. Ash looked down, speared a bite of something with syrup and asked ¡°And bucko was the answer you came up with?¡± ¡°Alright. Good to know. Then you wouldn¡¯t mind telling me which shards you have?¡± Taran sked Ash. Ash chewed while looking at Taran ¡°Why do you want to know?¡± ¡°To find a better dietary plan for you.¡± Taran smiled. Ash chuckled sarcastically ¡°Really? That¡¯s what you are going with?¡± ¡°You know I can find out in an instant, right?¡± 45 asked ¡°Then do it.¡± Sheetal challenged ¡°Marshall Lara what shards does our guest possess?¡± Taran 45 grinned. ¡°Warder Ash¡¯s shards are Speed. times four. Sense. Density level one. And Channel times two.¡± Lara¡¯s voice came from somewhere above them. Taran stiffened and looked up ¡°Confirm that please.¡± ¡°Confirmed.¡± Taran reached in his pocked and pulled out a pair of glasses. He carefully put them on and a pulse of power shot out of him. Ash stiffened and then visibly restrained himself from doing anything. Sheetal felt the power. As soon as it made contact with her, it got sucked into her shards and seeped into the growing ball of power in her soul. Taran gave her a passing glance and then stared at Ash in open mouthed awe. Sheetal felt eyes on her back and turned to look. The cyborgs had gotten to their feet. They were looking at their table with hands reaching for weapons. Sheetal looked from them to Ash in growing apprehension. ¡°Lara! Is that you? Are you back?¡± Ash asked in a jovial tone. ¡°Yes. Warder Ash.¡± The disembodied voice replied and continued ¡°Councillor, please contain yourself. You are causing a scene.¡± Taran 45 lowered his glasses and looked around. That awe filled look in his eyes turned to a stern one. He cleared his throat and addressed the room ¡°Everyone, as you were. We are conducting an investigation here.¡± Sheetal felt the looks disappear and people took their seats but nobody started a conversation. They just sat in tense silence. The music didn¡¯t even come back to lighten the tension. Taran 45 smiled to diffuse the tension and stated ¡°You weren¡¯t lying. You do have four speed shards.¡± ¡°Why would I lie?¡± Ash smiled back. Taran 45 nodded ¡°Don¡¯t mind me saying this. But that is the worst combination of shards I have ever seen.¡± ¡°No, it is awesome. I float like a butterfly and hit like a bee.¡± Ash tuned to look up ¡°What do you think Lara?¡± ¡°Please call her Marshal.¡± Taran 45 asked. ¡°Nope. I like her.¡± Lara chuckled ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°So, Lara.¡± Ash stopped ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°From the footage I have reviewed, it is inelegant, but it works for you.¡± ¡°Interesting.¡± Taran 45 rubbed his hands ¡°That density shard is something else.¡± ¡°Is it?¡± Sheetal asked carefully. ¡°Yes. Don¡¯t you get it he has eight shards, and he isn¡¯t even close to reaching class one yet. I had heard that warders have a different soul structure but the ability to create a combination base on more than powerful shard is a dream every ascended has fantasised about.¡± Ash bit into a dumpling that spouted a red liquid everywhere. With a full mouth he asked ¡°I thought you already knew that?¡± Taran 45 straightened ¡°Knew what?¡± ¡°That warders have a different soul structure. Your people keep talking about Jay Chandra. Their warder.¡± ¡°Yes, he is a hero of the continuum. But, we lost him. And his soul structure¡­¡± Taran 45 paused and turned his head upwards ¡°Marshall, what shards does the girl have?¡± ¡°Unclear. Her shards are packed together in a cluster. Getting a clear reading out of them is difficult.¡± Taran 45 nodded ¡°A constellation structure like Jay Chandra. So, the boy, is different.¡± ¡°It would seem so.¡± ¡°Why are you so interested?¡± Ash asked. With an insincere grin Taran 45 replied ¡°Dietary reasons. Didn¡¯t I say so earlier?¡± Ash showed his teeth ¡°Well then I hope you keep feeding your hostages this well.¡± Taran 45 laughed ¡°Oh, we will feed you, but you aren¡¯t hostages. You are prisoners.¡± ¡°Prisoners?¡± Sheetal who had been silent watching the tension creep up asked in a heated tone. ¡°Yes, you did kill a veteran continuum soldier. One who was well liked.¡± Taran 45 replied dismissively. ¡°Yes, after he tried to sell me to an asura.¡± Sheetal responded with a glare. ¡°And two.¡± Ash quickly jumped in and raised two finger in the air. Taran 45 looked at Ash with an amused look ¡°Two?¡± Ash nodded ¡°Two. I killed that angry Ruby girl. In my defence she was trying to kill me.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Taran 45 nodded ¡°Well, don¡¯t worry. We will treat you well. I am sure the silver city will be happy to pay us blood price for their deaths. Until then you are our guests.¡± Ash snorted ¡°Yeah. but you know that we have no allegiances to the Silver City.¡± Taran 45 got up from his chair ¡°You might not but every warder falls under the Silver City¡¯s jurisdiction. I am sure they will work something out with us.¡± Ash dropped his fork on his plate and got up to keep his eyes on Taran 45. Sheetal floated herself up and saw the two men who had tailed her earlier approaching. Ash suddenly snapped his fingers. ¡±Ah! The side boob lady movie.¡± ¡°What?¡± Taran 45 asked. ¡°Not you.¡± Ash waved at Taran dismissively and looked up ¡°Lara I just realised why I liked you? You remind me of Lara Croft.¡± Sheetal blinked ¡°Seriously, you remember that out of the movie?¡± Ash sighed and looked at Sheetal ¡°Yes, why do you not?¡± ¡°Because it was originally a game series and the movie sucked.¡± Sheetal replied while looking at the two men from the side of her vision. Ash reached for her hand and squeezed it once. Then he turned to look at Taran 45 ¡°Okay high councillor, you can send us to our jail cells.¡± ¡°It is not a jail cell. It is a detention suite made for foreign diplomats and politicos. You will find it quite comfortable.¡± Taran 45 responded with a disarming smile. Ash nodded and began to move. Taran raised his hand and snapped his fingers to stop the departing warders ¡°One last thing warders. And don¡¯t lie. I will find the truth anyways. When you gather potentiality, does it enter you, or do you share it?¡± Sheetal looked at Taran 45 and replied when Ash didn¡¯t respond ¡°Both of us.¡± Ash looked at Sheetal warningly. ¡°He is right Ash. He will get to know soon enough. Remember war mode? You and I were at the top of the graph. We were sharing potentiality, and the rest was trickling down to the others. He will get that graph from the superb seven.¡± Taran 45 smiled ¡°Thank you. I will.¡± Ash gave Sheetal a blank look and mouthed ¡°What graph?¡± Sheetal grabbed Ash by his hand and turned him around ¡°You would know if you kept your hud up.¡± Sheetal turned around with a sigh and began to float to behind the Aditya who had taken the lead ¡°I¡¯ll explain it later. I need to sleep of that lunch right now.¡± Ash watched the other Aditya guy began to tail them and smiled. He followed Sheetal as she yawned and took in the path from the mess to deeper into the building. Sheetal and Ash walked in silence for minutes. Sheetal wondered how to raise her concerns without being obvious to the men around them. Ash tapped his finger on his chin. Lost in his own thoughts. Sheetal finally gave up and asked ¡°So, what did you get from him?¡± Ash looked Sheetal and chuckled ¡°It took you long enough.¡± Sheetal gave Ash a sharp look. ¡°Oh, come on She. When you are caught, you should expect to be monitored day and night. Privacy becomes a thing of the past. So, say what you are thinking. Don¡¯t be bothered with them.¡± Ash waved at both the men keeping an eye on them. ¡°And are you going to tell me what you are thinking?¡± Ash shook his head ¡°Nope. I am better at this than you.¡± ¡°What kind of answer is that?¡± Sheetal asked indignantly. Ash sighed ¡°I think Taran 45 is like you.¡± s me of you.¡± ¡°Me?¡± ¡°Yes, you. When you get a new toy, I mean a piece of technology, you can¡¯t wait to break it down to see how it works. And I am his new toy.¡± Ash said with a complicated look on his face. ¡°I am not that bad.¡± Sheetal grumbled. Ash just looked at Sheetal. ¡°I am that bad.¡± Sheetal repeated with annoyance in her voice. Ash kept his piece. Sheetal wasn¡¯t satisfied ¡°Say, I am not that bad, or I will put you in that wall.¡± The two men stopped and hit a wall panel. One of them pointed inside. Ash looked at Sheetal and raised his eyebrows ¡°It was a joke She.¡± Sheetal nodded and then pulled Ash into a hug. ¡°What are we going to do?¡± ¡°We wait. We watch.¡± Ash responded with his head tucked into Sheetal¡¯s chest. Sheetal cleared the lump in her throat ¡°At least the room¡¯s nice.¡± Ash freed himself and looked in. In an offended tone he stated ¡°There is only one bed.¡± ¡°Yeah, we can share it.¡± Ash tuned to look at Sheetal aghast ¡°You talk in your sleep.¡± Sheetal blinked ¡°Wha¡­ How do you know that?¡± Ash looked at Sheetal for a long moment, side stepped her and ran into the room. ¡°Ash! Oh heck no. You will answer my questions right now.¡± Chapter 30 – A man guided by his desires A black cargo truck with an angular nose and wide open reversed to get into position. The driver hit a button and the truck lowered itself closer to the ground. Then with an electric whirring sound the vehicle backed past Air and his men and ploughed into the bird statue at the roundabout. Crack! The rising bird swayed and dust from it flew up in the air. Not satisfied with just putting fissures in the statue, the truck sped past them to a dozen feet away and returned to the scene in at full speed. Crash! This time the bird with its triumphant beak lifted towards the sky didn¡¯t survive the impact. It crumpled to the ground in pieces. Ari looked at the magnificent statue lying there in pieces. Its eyes seemed to glare at him in accusation. They bore into his soul and called him names. The commander clenched his fists and took a step to smash the rest down to dust and stopped. ¡°Are those triangle tyres commander?¡± Nameer who had misunderstood where Ari¡¯s attention was and asked. Singh who knew his boss well gave Ari a concerned look who and then turned his attention towards the young man. ¡°What does it look like navy?¡± Ari took in a breath and calmed his flaring temper. The neuro shard in his brain was making him lose his equilibrium more often and more quickly. Usually, Ari worked up to an angry state. That gave him time to analyse the situation, reason himself down or plan to do things through. Now with the neuro shard, not only was he getting angry way to fast but it had also showing him things that weren¡¯t there. Thankfully he had Singh. And his old friend had decided that one of their team, was always to be around Ari. Just in case he, the commander of their operation needed protection. Ari knew better and the tens of red dots all over his body from two days back had lasting effect on all his people. At least, they were agreeing about something, much to his chagrin. Nameer held out a bottle for Ari. Ari drank the water and looked at Singh walking away after a salute. Ari needed to get his old friend alone, thank him, and discuss things. Just in case he lost it on his men. He would rather be put down quietly than hurt the people who depended on him. And maybe Singh knew that, that is why he was avoiding Ari with a will. ¡°Is that a truck?¡± Ari looked from a retreating Singh to the vehicle in question. Two armoured people were throwing parts of the broken statue on the bed of the vehicle. Ari was about to snap out a curt answer but then he controlled himself. After all, the question wasn¡¯t without merit. When either one of them inspected the vehicle the system name for it was unimpressive. Vehicle - Dhona Type ¨C Material Transport Class 1 Ari took a sip to clear his throat, looked at vehicle in front of him and pointed at its parts ¡°It has a driver cabin, a flat bed, and a steering wheel. So, I would say it is a truck.¡± ¡°But it also has triangle tyres with tank tracks, a body that is hovering over its chassis, and robotic arms on its back.¡± Ari sighed ¡°And?¡± Nameer shut his mouth and shrugged ¡°And nothing sir. I am just trying to classify the vehicle. I might have to sketch it when we go back home.¡± Ari raised an eyebrow. ¡°Well¡­ Sir¡­ I¡­ ¡° Nameer stuttered as he tried to find the word and began again with a sigh ¡°I have been useless here. I though at least I could sketch out things when we reach home.¡± Ari tense shoulders relaxed at Nameer¡¯s morose look. He needed to remember that he wasn¡¯t the only one that was going through trouble. He clapped the young man¡¯s back with a smile. ¡°You haven¡¯t been useless, Nameer. Without you, we would have died of thirst.¡± Nameer nodded ¡°I understand that sir but you all have been fighting. You all have been protecting me and the doctor. I¡­I have been just hiding behind everyone huddling behind corners like a Somalian pirate when he sees a destroyer.¡± Ari blinked and ran that statement back over in his head. He chuckled ¡°That was a great analogy, Navy. But you did good. Now tell me, have those tin cans had a look at your heart.¡± Nameer nodded ¡°Yes, one of the Taran clones checked me out when he took my skin.¡± Nameer raised his forearm. The wound still looked red, and Ari knew it wasn¡¯t even close to being healed because he had a similar wound on his forearm. They all did, all of them except for Joshi. The continuum didn¡¯t even want to go close to that man. The naval lieutenant continued ¡°They gave me two options. I could take six shards from them and agree to a ten year long mercenary contract. Or I could get a mechanical heart and serve them for three months.¡± Ari¡¯s eyes narrowed. Nameer saw the commander¡¯s expression and quickly reassured Ari ¡°I didn¡¯t agree to anything. Even if my heart starts giving out right now, I still wouldn¡¯t agree. None of us will. We represent the Indian Defence Forces, sir. We fight for India. Not some strange cyborg force.¡± Ari smiled at the earnest look on the boy¡¯s face and was proud of him. Most of their injuries had healed. But heart defects like Nameer¡¯s, and his cancer seemed to be the exception. Ari nodded ¡°Good. Keep it like that. I will have chat with Jay and these medical types myself. There must be a way to get us completely healed.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not such a bad deal, you know.¡± A female voice distracted Ari from the conversation he was having with Nameer and Ari turned around sharply ready to fight. A woman in one of the continuum armours had somehow appeared right behind them without their knowing anything. Ari started moving his metal clad hands upwards when Nameer quickly jumped in between him and the woman in the light armour. The woman laughed girlishly ¡°You don¡¯t have to protect your commander from me, water mancer. I was sent here to save his life.¡± ¡°Save my life?¡± Ari asked with mistrust dripping from each of his words. Then caught the familiar stock of a shotgun sticking up behind her shoulders. ¡°Save all your lives.¡± Parvati A197 nodded and her helmet split. The six struts floated the six parts to her shoulder revealing a girlish face. Ari shook his head. No, not a girlish face. She was a girl. Ari needed to remember that. ¡°How old are you?¡± Ari asked. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Twenty two, well I will be twenty three in two months.¡± ¡°And you are a doctor?¡± ¡°No, not really but I do know a few tricks.¡± ¡°Good because I was going to ask that aren¡¯t you too young to be a doctor?¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you too old to be just a commander?¡± The girl said with a smile. Ari chuckled ¡°I am actually a colonel where I come from, that is when I was medically discharged and put behind the desk. I was Inspector General in my prime, but you are right. Let me introduce myself properly, I am Colonel Arivarsaan. Formerly of the NSG Commandoes. Now assigned to the Vayu Initiative.¡± ¡°I am Parvati A197. I am a gun freak.¡± Nameer took a step away from the commander and the flirtatious not doctor girl. As the silence between them grew Nameer noticed the long look they were sharing and took two more steps back. ¡°Umm¡­ Common¡­ I mean Colonel. I am just going to go and sit over there on those dark granite bricks.¡± Nameer announced and walked a few metres away. Parvati M646 smiled coyly ¡°I think I just embarrassed one of your men.¡± Ari shook his head ¡°No, I think I did.¡± ¡°Really. How?¡± ¡°By flirting with a girl half my age.¡± Parvati M646 shrugged ¡°Well, I started it.¡± Ari did not have an answer for that. So, he decided to change the topic. ¡°How can I help you Parvati A197?¡± ¡°Your arm.¡± Parvati reached out and took Ari¡¯s hand in hers. She moved past his metal wrapped palm, to his wrist and then to the exposed skin of forearm with a feather touch. Her other hand laced her finger in his. Ari enjoyed the touch of her fingers on his forearm and followed her when she decided to walk him back with his hand in hers. Finally, Pretty broke the silence with ¡°I need to draw some blood from you. Do you mind?¡± Ari looked at her fingers and asked ¡°Why?¡± ¡°For skin grafts.¡± Pretty nodded at Ari¡¯s wound and continued ¡°That was living flesh the old guard took from you. That won¡¯t heal just like that. And the chances of infection will grow if that is not treated right now.¡± Ari looked at the young girl and asked ¡°Will you do that for my men too?¡± Pretty straightened out Ari arm to reveal a vein and a smooth motion hit him with a syringe gun ¡°I already told you. My job here is to save all you lives. Even if I like one more than everyone else.¡± Ari hadn¡¯t even felt the pain from the syringe and kept looking at the girls youthful face. She smiled and continued. ¡°The first time I was brought to the trails, I was thirteen. When I was fifteen, my world died and this was my new life. In this life, I have seen death, destruction, and experience friends and loved ones dying suddenly and painfully. And I have learned to not wait to get what I want, Ari.¡± Ari looked at her and noticed what attracted him to her. It was her eyes. They were older. They reflected how he felt inside. Then he felt her hand let go of his palm leaving a slip of paper on his fingers. ¡°We should go in and maybe discuss things in private?¡± The girl directed him into the temple. Ari followed her as she took out a square medical box strapped to her back with a belt and squeezed the blood vial into it. He looked at the paper she had surreptitiously left in his hand. It had some sort of numbers on it with dots and dashes. His hud translated the writing to a comm link address which quickly added itself in his contacts under the name. Parvati A197 Call sign ¨C Pretty Assault Specialist. Class 1 ¨C Human (Evolved) Continuum ¨C Perseverance Faction Ari smiled. He did not even know he had a place for contacts in his brain. Much less how to get a girl¡¯s number and yet here he was. He looked at the paper again and this time he caught a blob of ink on the right corner of the paper. At first glance it looked like Pretty had dropped some ink on the paper but then his hud zoomed into the blob and revealed closely packed lines written in some kind of language on the paper. Still, the computer in his head zoomed in and translated the words. Colonel Arivarsaan. Don¡¯t reveal this message. We are being monitored. Ashoka Stalin said you would understand these words. There are two India¡¯s. We don¡¯t know what it means. But we can understand the context. And just as there are two India¡¯s, there are two Continuums. Right now, the militaristic minded amongst us are in power. They will press you into service. Don¡¯t let that happen. Once you reach us, we will give you the shards to recover from your ailments. We are warning you to show you that not all of us are heavy handed as the old guard. We hope to work with you as partners and not against each other as enemies. We hope our goodwill gesture will be reciprocated. Taran 45 Supreme Councillor of the Continuum. Ari looked up from the paper to the fire lit room he had followed the girl into. Before he could say anything Pretty took the paper from him, used her tongue to suggestively lick it and bit it in half. Ari did not how she did that with a piece of paper but his heart skipped a beat and obediently opened his mouth when she brought the other half to his mouth. He expected to taste bitter ink and mushy paper but the note melted in his mouth leaving an aftertaste of mint and blackcurrant. Then her lips were on his and his arms were around her. He recovered from the kiss and asked ¡°So, why are you doing this. Is it because of this your boss, that councillor guy or¡­¡± Pretty licked Ari¡¯s bobbing Adam''s apple and answered ¡°Oh he is not my boss. That is General Athena. But this is a message from the current political head of the continuum. And no, I am not kissing you because of them. I am kissing you because I want too.¡± Ari felt her lips brush his ¡°I..Uh¡­I like kissing you too?¡± ¡°Good. Because that is not the only message I am carrying.¡± She grabbed Ari¡¯s head and licked his ear. Ari was about to gasp when he heard something from the arm holding his head. ¡°Commander Ari. This is Athena 8. The General of the Continuum. You, your people and your world are in grave danger. Do not agree to Jay¡¯s or Taran¡¯s overtures. Keep your forces neutral. You may agree to some concessions here or there to stall for time. We will try to save the two warders from your world. Hopefully when we meet, we have them with us. Athena out.¡± Ari was having a hard time thinking the girl was nibbling on his ear while her hand kept sliding lower and lower. ¡°Which message do you really represent?¡± ¡°The second one.¡± Ari cleared his throat as his shirt got pulled up from his trousers ¡°Do you want to tell me why or do you just want some?¡± The young woman in his hands chuckled ¡°Oh I don¡¯t want some. I want a lot. And I want to see a lot more of that salt and pepper look. And I can¡¯t help wondering if things are the same everywhere.¡± Ari gasped as he felt her hands slip into his pants. ¡°You fools!¡± Joshi shouted from somewhere inside the temple. ¡°Hey watch it.¡± Singh responded. Joshi grunted loudly ¡°Why am I even talking to you? Where is he?¡± ¡°The commander is busy.¡± Nameer tried to stop Joshi. Ari closed his eyes and after an apologetic look at retreating Pretty, sighed ¡°Over here doctor .¡± Moments later the doctor barged into the small room in fiery blaze. ¡°What the hell were you thinking giving them a piece of your flesh?¡± Ari clenched his jaw and in restrained tone responded ¡°Doctor, you need to lower you voice right now.¡± Joshi¡¯s eyes flashed and he took a step closer to Ari ¡°Restrain that neuro shard right now or I will pop it out your skull.¡± Ari looked at the smouldering anger in Joshi¡¯s eyes and took a step back. ¡°Do you have any idea what you have done?¡± Joshi continued. ¡°Found a way back home.¡± ¡°I told you to wait for me.¡± Ari clenched his jaw ¡°If you haven¡¯t noticed doctor, we humans get hungry and thirsty and need care time to time. But you wouldn¡¯t know that when you immerse yourself in a pod of fire.¡± Joshi flung his hand up ¡°I was in conference with the yaksha. And you tossed all his plans to ash.¡± ¡°That yaksha thing again.¡± Ari growled. ¡°You are alive because of him.¡± Joshi snarled back and then snapped his fingers at a retreating Pretty. ¡°Don¡¯t you snap your fingers at her.¡± Ari moved menacingly towards Joshi. Joshi looked at the commander, then at Pretty, and snorted ¡°Human, yes. Thankfully I am that anymore. I don¡¯t have to be a man guided by his desires.¡± Ari squinted at Joshi ¡°Be careful doctor. Or we might just have to have words.¡± ¡°Calm yourself Inspector General.¡± Joshi said and looked at Pretty ¡°You girl from the Perseverance, you have my lords and my gratitude for the skin grafts. Could you please send someone else to take over because I really don¡¯t want to do this when the commander is being all macho.¡± Pretty who was standing in the door nodded stiffly ¡°The perseverance follows the light¡¯s will, priest.¡± Joshi exhaled ¡°Nevertheless, you have our gratitude.¡± Pretty nodded and with one last look at Ari left the room. As soon as Pretty left Ari began looming over Joshi ¡°What the hell do you think you are doing?¡± ¡°Saving our world. Not just our country, our world.¡± Joshi shouted. Ari opened his mouth to protest. Joshi raised his palm and stopped him. He continued ¡°Talking to you like this is useless. But still, I will explain the basics to you. A portal is a pathway to our world. They took living skin from you to pinpoint where the exit should be and now, they will open up a door to Earth.¡± Ari blinked ¡°But¡­we need to go back to report and get new orders.¡± ¡°I am not done yet.¡± Joshi continued over Ari¡¯s words ¡°General, you are a tactician, aren¡¯t you? Think about the ramification of your actions.¡± Ari took a step back and looked at the old man who was no longer an old man. He was an ageless version of himself whose eyes blazed and nostrils blew out fire. He let his prejudice of the priest not being human for a moment and looked at the situation tactically. ¡°Dang, if the continuum attacks us¡­¡± ¡°Again!¡± Joshi shouted ¡°You are not thinking clearly. You shouldn¡¯t be afraid of the continuum but what they are fighting.¡± Joshi paced up and down the small room. He finally turned to Ari ¡°You need to let me fix that neuro shard.¡± Ari stiffened and asked ¡°And become a puppet to this yaksha like you?¡± ¡°Oh, for the lord¡¯s sake. He doesn¡¯t want you. I don¡¯t want you. In fact, if I burn you to cinders right now, he might just pat me on the head and say good job.¡± Ari folded his hand over his chest ¡°You are not getting close to me doctor.¡± Joshi threw his hands up in the air and began walking out of the room. Ari called out to him in a challenging voice. ¡°Doctor, if this yaksha tells you things, what does he know about Doctor Serai and Ashoka Stalin.¡± Joshi turned around and looked at the commander ¡°Ari, if you can¡¯t accept me the way I am, how are you going accept those two? Especially after what the continuum is going to do them. No, commander, I will keep you away from them.¡± ¡°I need Ashoka Stalin, Joshi.¡± ¡°And I need you alive, commander. So read my lips. You are not getting anywhere near the warders.¡± Joshi gave Ari one final look and stormed out of the small room. Chapter 31 – Where are we? The ascendent handbook. 8 basic rule for every ascended by Robrosh Misshal Rule No. 1 ¨C Find a Purpose Rule No. 2 ¨C Always fight for the light. Rule No. 3 ¨C Life is long. Disagreement will happen. Don¡¯t avoid them. Rule No. 4 ¨C Fight when you have to but don¡¯t duel. Duels will just get you killed. Rule No. 5 ¨C Sometimes the best way to live is to start a rivalry. Rule No. 6 ¨C Don¡¯t pick a fight with a warder. Rule No. 7 ¨C See the Silver City? Walk away. Rule No. 8 ¨C An event means death. These were the eight rules in general for ascended. Sheetal had found then in what looked like a search bar on her hud. Actually, she had found a book. These were just the names of the chapters. It was a simplified version of what looked like a law book with Rules, laws, articles, and amendments. The book gave examples of cases and in simple terms explaining what to do and what not to do. It was a bit dry, but she had read rambling whitepapers, and she needed to finish it to get a better understanding of the world and their place in it. And she would have finished the gods danged book if Ash didn¡¯t continuously distract her. Sheetal looked at Ash from the side of her eye. He was balancing a chair he was sitting on two of its back legs. He had a look of concentration on his face but that didn¡¯t stop him from humming a song. He shot his hands forwards and compensated for overbalancing the chair. His chair titled forwards and he came thudding down. Ash gave the walls around him an annoyed look and tilted himself back again. ¡°Nananana nananana nananaaa¡± Thud. He tried it again. ¡°Nananana nananana nananaaa¡± Thud. He began to lean back again and almost toppled when Sheetal screamed. ¡°Will you stop that? You are driving me mad!¡± Ash shot a look Sheetal way. She was busy poking her finger in the air. He could tell that she was going through all her screens with those strange numbers while looking like a nerd. Why couldn¡¯t she be normal for once and use the system the way it was supposed to be used like what he was doing? A devious grin dawned on Ash¡¯s face when he saw the concentrated look in Sheetal¡¯s eyes with just a hint of annoyance. He purposefully put his feet on the edge of bed and leaned back while singing loudly. ¡°NANANANA¡­NANANANA¡­NANANANUH.¡± Sheetal shot her hand out and stopped Ash¡¯s movement in mid swing. ¡°What in the fudge is wrong with you?¡± Sheetal stopped and started again ¡°Actually don¡¯t answer that. The answer to that is obviously everything. Start by telling me, why are you humming the song so loud in my head?¡± ¡°Mmmm¡­mmmmmm¡­.mm¡± Ash tried to speak but his whole body was trapped in Sheetal magic. Sheetal unclenched her hand and Ash¡¯s chair thudded to the ground. ¡°Seriously, She¡­¡± Sheetal raised her hand and with a death glare ordered ¡°Answer, first.¡± Ash raised his hands ¡°Okay. Okay. I am not humming the song. I am playing it.¡± ¡°Playing it? What song?¡± ¡°This thing called, I want you. By two guys called Savage Garden. Who by the way don¡¯t look savage at all. ¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Yeah, its an old boomer song.¡± ¡°No, its millennial song by an Australian band.¡± Sheetal shook her head ¡°That¡¯s not important, how are you playing the song?¡± ¡°I told you. Through the system. It is a computer, She. Sheetal closed her eyes and raised a finger ¡°Hold on. Walk me through it. How did you find a music player on the myriad of displays we have on our hud?¡± Ash shrugged ¡°It¡¯s not a music player. It¡¯s a video streaming website thingy. It¡¯s nice though.¡± Sheetal floated closer to Ash ¡°Video streaming website? Tell me the lyrics of the song.¡± ¡°You want me to prove it? You can do it on your¡­¡± Sheetal hissed ¡°Ash! I have almost got all my windows perfectly lined up to show me the most essential stats in the most efficient way. I don¡¯t want to mess it up. Just tell me the gods danged words!¡± Ash leaned back on his chair ¡°Fine. Fine. Hold on let me turn the captions on.¡± ¡°There are captions?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a video site, She. And¡­ Yeah. It goes like something cherry cola.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°She, I am trying to listen here.¡± ¡°Sorry, go on.¡± Ash gave Sheetal a discontented look. Looked in the distance and narrated ¡°It goes like, come stand a little bit closer. Blead in, get a bit higher.¡± ¡°And. Breathe in and get a bit higher.¡± Sheetal corrected Ash Ash narrowed his eyes and sand the chorus ¡°Ooh, I want you. Something¡­ something¡­ need you. But, ooh I die to find out.¡± Ash stopped with a grimace on his face ¡°I am taking it back. It¡¯s not a nice song. What kind of a guy would die for someone else?¡± Sheetal who had raised her finger to stop Ash lowered it. ¡°You know that was good. I didn¡¯t know you could sing.¡± Sheetal complemented Ash. ¡°I can? I mean, obviously I can. I am awesome.¡± Ash stopped and sighed ¡°Okay, I couldn¡¯t sing. But I guess I am more awesome now. And I can sing. So, what was the point of all this?¡± Sheetal exhaled ¡°I could hear the lyrics, Ash. Even the ones you mangled.¡± Ash looked at Sheetal and exhaled loudly ¡°That¡¯s great but you shouldn¡¯t have said that aloud. Now they will come to separate us.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Give them a few minutes.¡± ¡°Anyway, you should go the Nebula Play website and check out the playlist Hundred and Fifty thousand songs that appeal to Humans, Cyborgs, and other bipedal races.¡± Sheetal glared at Ash as he began to lean back on the chair again. ¡°What the heck Ash? Why are you doing that when you just said they are coming to separate us?¡± Ash looked at Sheetal and replied with a smile ¡°Well, because my centre of gravity has changed. I am skinny, short and have noodle arms. I need a way to get used to this. So, I am doing what I can in this confined place.¡± ¡°Can you do it later?¡± Ash put his feet on the ground ¡°She, when they try to separate us, we¡¯ll fight. Until then, let¡¯s not get worked up.¡± The wall behind Ash melted and parted to the sides. He turned on hiss chair and looked at Taran 45 standing in the opening with a slight smile. ¡°Hello warders, fighting won¡¯t be required. I am not here to separate you. I am here to show you to your new accommodations. Bigger ones. So, that you don¡¯t kill each other.¡± Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Huh!¡± Ash and Sheetal grunted together and looked at each other. Sheetal turned back to Taran 45 and asked the middle aged man ¡°Why the sudden concern?¡± ¡°Oh, I didn¡¯t expect you to so casually use your powers everywhere. Like the time you decide to float a jug of water to your hand. And for that I must congratulate you. That was deftly done. But, you both need more space. I am shifting you to the politico suite. That¡¯s where we hold our heads of state.¡± ¡°Before they lose their heads?¡± Ash chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s only happened thrice.¡± Taran 45 responded with a chuckle of his own. Ash got up and Sheetal followed him out. They were all quickly surrounded by cyborgs who looked ready to pounce with their hands on their weapons. Sheetal wary of making the mistake of saying too much again decided to keep her silence. Ash on the other hand began quizzing the man. ¡°So, have you decide whether we are guests or not?¡± Taran 45 smiled ¡°You are our guest. Until you are not.¡± Ash groaned ¡°Seriously man, you are going with that?¡± ¡°You seem to know our business. Tell me wouldn¡¯t you do the same?¡± Ash sighed and changed the topic ¡°So how does a spy master become a leader of a cyborg force?¡± ¡°By staying informed and carefully predicting the future.¡± Taran 45 said wisely. ¡°Do you always have cute answers for difficult questions?¡± Taran 45 stopped in front of sliding doors and waited for one of the cyborgs to open it. ¡°I am sorry, but a politician needs to have his secrets.¡± Taran walked into the new room and waved the warders in ¡°Perhaps we can discuss a different topic? Maybe, something the lady warder would like to know.¡± Sheetal¡¯s eyes lit up and she wondered if she should ask her questions about the power sources of the augments. Was it just a long lasting battery or the holy grail all of earth was working on, a small portable nuclear reactor. ¡°No.¡± Ash cut off her line of thought with a curt shake of her head. Sheetal shot him a look filled with accusation and asked ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because you wont ask the right questions, She.¡± ¡°And you will? What questions could you ask which would be the right questions? What kind of lube they use? Do they have aloe in their waxing strips? Or, let me guess, do they do the robot dance?¡± Ash chuckled ¡°Those are pretty good questions but no. I have a more important one.¡± Taran 45 looked all around the suite and took a seat on a plush single seater sofa. ¡°So, what do you want to know?¡± ¡°Simple, where are we?¡± Ash asked instantly. ¡°You are in the continuum forward operating base. Which will soon be the new HQ of all the continuum forces in the Trials¡± Ash sat down in front of the man ¡°That¡¯s nice but where are the Trials?¡± Sheetal who had been ready to burst out in anger just stood there. Ash was right. She hadn¡¯t she asked that question to any of the soldiers she had met? ¡°Ah!¡± Taran 45 tapped his chin ¡°What do you know about reality? ¡°It¡¯s there?¡± Ash hedged. ¡°No. No. No.¡± Taran 45 laughed and explained ¡°The best way to put it is that reality, as we perceive it with all its matter and rules of physics, is resting on a net. Things, pieces, old and new dangle from the net. But there is not just one net. Some run parallelly. Some intersect. Where a lot intersect, there are the Arata. They are strange non biological creatures. They feed on these places. They gather up the old refuse from broken world and creates bubbles. These bubbles merge into one. That is the trial.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Ash asked and looked at Sheetal to ask ¡°Are you getting any of this?¡± Sheetal floated to Ash and asked ¡°That sounds highly improbable. We have theorised that our universe is connected to some kind of anti-universe, not this.¡± Taran 45 clapped his hands in joy with a cheerful ¡°Ah! So, you are an advanced civilisation. When I saw you with those things, I was afraid I was dealing with a medieval one.¡± Sheetal followed Taran 45¡¯s finger to Ash¡¯s tonfas and rolled her eyes ¡°No, that¡¯s just Ash.¡± Taran 45 chuckled ¡°I see. The anti-universe is the net I am talking about. Or I should call them a mesh if we are being technical.¡± ¡°What the hell is going on?¡± Ash asked with a blank look on his face. ¡°Think of it like a slice of cake.¡± 45 started his explanation again ¡°You have layer of reality, then a layer of unreality, then a layer of a different reality followed by a layer of another unreality. And think of Arata¡¯s as bakers. They take berries from here, bananas from there, and pistachios from somewhere else to create a slice of cake. Finally, they top it up with whipped cream by letting potentiality in. And, hurrah, you have the trials.¡± Ash nodded ¡°Yeah, I am hungry now.¡± ¡°Ash!¡± Sheetal scolded the younger warder. Ash shook his head ¡°No, lets go back to the bubble analogy. Let me guess, the bubble is going to burst, and we all are going to die, right?¡± Ash asked. ¡°No, that is more than highly unlikely. The Arata guard their lands jealously. Say, the slice of cake becomes big, and it starts pressing against other cakes. The arata¡¯s stop and start building somewhere else. That is how the anomalies get in.¡± Ash noticed how Taran 45 emphasized the word anomalies asking him to ask more about these creatures. Ash didn¡¯t take the bait. Instead, Ash asked man in the fashionable uniform ¡°So, your world is connected to the trials, and you all what, keep coming here for shards?¡± Taran took in a breath and for the first time lost his smile. He exhaled with a pained look and answered ¡°Our world before it died, had passage from it to the trials. We created it to grow stronger, to stop a war that was raging in our world. But, the ones we left behind, may the gods burn their souls in the nine hills, blew it all up. The flipping idiots. And now we hope that someday, someway, we could travel the path all the way into a new world. A world called Reir. Where we would have potentiality to grow our technology to the next stage, where we could belong, where we could be safe and rest our heads in peace.¡± ¡°What if that world doesn¡¯t accept you?¡± Ash raised one of his bushy eyebrows. ¡°Then we will bring a lasting peace to everyone.¡± Taran 45 smiled again. ¡°I see.¡± Ash leaned back and looked at Sheetal ¡°Now you can ask him your questions.¡± Taran 45 raised his hand and tapped a gemstone on a thin black chain he was wearing on his wrist ¡°Actually, I would like to ask a few of my questions now.¡± The door behind them slid apart and Parvati M with her strange white hand stiffly walked in. She used that hand to thump her chest in a salute and greeted Taran 45 with a mumbled ¡°Councillor.¡± Ash smiled ¡°Hello Paru.¡± Parvati M smiled slightly ¡°Warders.¡± Taran 45 nodded ¡°Parvati M, ask your questions please.¡± Parvati M took in a deep breath to calm herself and started ¡°Could you read out your last shard advancement notification to me?¡± Ash looked at Sheetal and with his eyes asked her to stay calm, took a moment to open his hud and in a bored tone he answered ¡°Congos¡­ You have advanced and merged a shard with your soul. Shard type - Density. The roots blah¡­ blah¡­¡± Parvati M looked at Ash for a moment and turned to Taran 45 ¡°Sir, the data is correct.¡± Taran 45 grinned ¡°Thank you for the confirmation warder. And just for clarification. That is one of reasons that your link with you sister is growing. It is not of our doing.¡± Sheetal¡¯s eyes locked on the sharp dressed man ¡°Could you tell me a little bit more about the link?¡± Taran 45 nodded ¡°Sure, what do you know about microtubules?¡± ¡°Not much.¡± Sheetal answered and expanded ¡°They are a recent discovery in our world.¡± ¡°Microtubules are microscopic tube like things in your brain. In basic human anatomy they allow you to have sentience by perceiving all four dimensions of reality. But as an ascended grows, the TKTL1 gene grows with them.¡± ¡°T.K. What?¡± Ash asked. Sheetal hovered over to the sofa next to him and sat down ¡°TKTL1 gene. It is responsible for human intelligence.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Taran 45 continued ¡°The gene is broken but an ascended is basically reforming their body from basic to evolved, to apex. An apex human¡¯s genes are in perfect order that is why they are almost unbeatable. No missing links, no broken chains, and no deformities.¡± Ash noticed how Taran was looking at him. As if he was a monkey. A monkey that Taran 45 wanted to tear apart to see what made him work. ¡°So why is this TKTL1 gene and these microtubules important?¡± Sheetal who had seen Taran 45 laser focussed attention, tried to divert it. Taran 45 leaned back ¡°The TKTL1 gene, when its starts growing and completing itself inside a body, it changes both your brain and its chemistry. Before it starts working itself downwards. But all that exerts pressure on the brain. To compensate for that, the brain increases the quality and the quantity of microtubules. Allowing us to use potentiality and do, this.¡± Electric sparks shot out from Taran 45¡¯s fingers. ¡°Scary.¡± Ash responded with a sharp smile. Taran made the sparks disappeared and nodded ¡°I knew you would appreciate that.¡± The high councillor turned back to Sheetal ¡°Let me preface by saying, I personally have never seen linked souls. But I have read that when a link forms, the microtubules in both the brains start resonating close to each other. Letting both the parties to sense each other and visceral level.¡± ¡°Wow! I barely got two percent of that. I mean I got ten percent of the first one. Almost all of the second one but this one?¡± Ash muttered and shook his head ¡°Nope. I am not doing this anymore.¡± Sheetal ignored Ash and asked ¡°So why did you want to know about that?¡± ¡°To keep you safe.¡± Taran 45 got up from the chair he was sitting an and excitedly paced ¡°Now we know that we must keep you together. Because if an assassin takes one of you out, they take both of you out.¡± Ash chuckled ¡°Yeah, but which assassin will infiltrate a base overseen by an ATI and one which is full of cyborgs and soldiers.¡± ¡°Yes, I need to work on a good answer for that one. Why couldn¡¯t the raks make thing easy for once?¡± Taran 45 nodded distractedly. He visibly pulled himself out of his thoughts, turned back and sat down on the chair opposite the warders and continued ¡°Now, you are going to meet another of the continuum¡¯s councillors tomorrow. He is not like me. He is Jay. The oldest amongst us. And he doesn¡¯t like people who give him trouble. Be nice and truthful to him or he will do something stupid which we all will regret.¡± ¡°A loose cannon?¡± Sheetal smiled while looking at Ash. ¡°The mentor is not a loose cannon. He is driven towards a goal.¡± ¡°And that is?¡± Ash asked. ¡°For him to reveal.¡± Taran 45 answered. ¡°Okay sir, we will be on our best behaviour, sir. High Councillor, sir.¡± Ash thumped his chest in a mockery of the salute Parvati M had done earlier. Taran 45 squinted ¡°Please be. I am trying to make this easy on you.¡± ¡°We will be.¡± Sheetal shot Ash a look and added ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°But?¡± Taran frowned at the female warder ¡°But?¡± Ash asked in curiosity. ¡°But, if we are going to comply then you should help us too. We think some of our soldier friends are in that broken down city we ran away from. The one with the massive explosion. Save them and we¡¯ll be nice.¡± Taran leaned forward ¡°Give me their names and any identification you have for them. I will ensure they remain safe and bring them in.¡± ¡°Really? Just like that?¡± Sheetal asked in tone that was full of doubt. ¡°Yes, we have already begun our operations in the region to retake the city and its nearby areas from the Nishachars. They won¡¯t be too hard to find.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash and waved for him to go on. Ash looked at Sheetal sheepishly ¡°Umm¡­ Do you want to answer that?¡± Sheetal looked at him ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because I don¡¯t remember their names. Actually, I didn¡¯t bother learning their names in the first place.¡± Sheetal gave him an incredulous look. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that. They are boring, led by Colonel Generic and angry hairy man. That¡¯s all I know.¡± ¡°Colonel Arivarsaan is the military leader. Doctor Joshi, he is my mentor. Then there is Major Singh, Captain Abesh and¡­and¡­¡± Ash got up from his chair and dramatically pointed at Sheetal ¡°Ha! You don¡¯t know their names either, do you?¡± ¡°Shut up.¡± Sheetal responded in huff and floated up after him. ¡°Yeah, whatever.¡± Ash chuckled and reached for a bottle of the orange drink the continuum was obsessed with. He tried to open it. When he couldn¡¯t he looked at Taran 45 who was watching him closely. The man held out his hand ¡°Allow me.¡± Ash handed him the bottle and watched the man twist the cap easily. ¡°What do you want from me?¡± Ash asked suddenly. Taran 45 smiled ¡°I just want you to be better. I want you to come into yourself and be all that you can be. For all of us.¡± ¡°Skibidi toilet. You sound like my mother.¡± Ash muttered. ¡°Really?¡± 45 smiled. ¡°Deadaxe.¡± Ash nodded. Taran 45 stood up and added ¡°Also, I want to give you sister her legs back.¡± Ash kept himself still but felt Sheetal flinch and focus on Taran 45. She was barely able to restrain herself and the high councillor caught the look in her eyes. He gave the pair a satisfied smile. Ash¡¯s shoulders drooped ¡°You had to say that didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°You know I had to.¡± Taran 45 patted Ash on his shoulders. Ash nodded dejectedly. Taran 45 looked at Parvati M who was standing close the door and got up. He straightened his jacket and said ¡°I will see you both tomorrow. Remember what I said. Behave.¡± The man left with Parvati M stiffly trailing behind him. ¡°Why do you do that? Why do you suddenly use that nonsensical jargon?¡± Sheetal asked after the High Councillor and their friend left. Ash considered his answer for a moment and then answered truthfully ¡°Two reasons. Because you and that guy were using your jargon. I didn¡¯t like it. So, I had to use my jargon. Second reason, I haven¡¯t been able to throw that guy off his game. And, I haven¡¯t found what to say or do to get a reaction out of him. So, I decided to try Gen Alpha language.¡± ¡°How was that supposed to help?¡± ¡°She, why do you hate it when I use the word sigma?¡± ¡°Because sigma is a mathematical sum. Not a term to describe someone.¡± Ash got up from his chair and shook his head ¡°No, She. It¡¯s because you feel dumb, and nobody likes to feel dumb. Specially someone like you who has studied books with squiggly thingies in them. But thanks to the internet we can fight back and invents terms to make the older generation feel dumb.¡± ¡°That¡¯s very mature Ash.¡± Sheetal said while watching Ash walk deeper into the suite and added ¡°Thankfully, kids don¡¯t think like you.¡± Ash snorted and walked into the adjoining room. ¡°Seriously, you think that¡¯s why kids invent new terms?¡± Sheetal raised her eyebrows and followed him. Ash looked around in the room. It had a four poster large bed, two chairs, a desk and plain grey walls. He peeped into the bathroom. Looked at the shower and the bar of soap and backed out while responding to Sheetal¡¯s question. ¡°Yes. That¡¯s why all new words are invented. Yeah, people will say they want to do it, to be with it. But it¡¯s mostly because everyone calls kids dumb when they are growing up. And when they finally reach teenage its their turn. And it¡¯s time for revenge.¡± ¡°But, in the end, they end up looking even more dumb.¡± Sheetal said and entered the bedroom and Ash walked out and into the opposite room. ¡°Hey boomer, we belong to the same generation.¡± Ash poked his head out of the room and responded ¡°I know.¡± Sheetal responded in disappointment. ¡°Okay, I have good new and bad news. The bad news is that we only have one bed. The good news is that we have an empty room for exercise.¡± Sheetal groaned ¡°Why would they do that?¡± Ash bit his lip. He had a theory, but he wasn¡¯t sure about it. ¡°What is it?¡± Sheetal asked. Ash sighed ¡°I think Taran 45 wants us to be close. I feel its because of our link.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash and hovered into the bedroom ¡°Are there exercise mats in the room.¡± Ash blinked and looked back to check ¡°No. No mats.¡± Slam! Ash looked back at the closed door and asked ¡°What?¡± Sheetal screamed from the other side of the door ¡°You are sleeping in the empty room.¡± Ash blinked and ran back to the door and pushed on it. It didn¡¯t budge. ¡°She?¡± ¡°I mean it.¡± Ash kicked the door ¡°She! You don¡¯t want to do this.¡± ¡°Really? Why?¡± ¡°Because¡­¡± Ash hit the ball at the side of his vision and started playing a track ¡°I have music.¡± ¡°So?¡± Sheetal through the link heard a little boy start singing. Ash followed him from the other side. ¡°Sticking out your gyatt for the rizzler. You are so skibiddi. You are so Fanum tax.¡± Sheetal cringed and asked ¡°What the hell is that?¡± ¡°I just want to be your sigma.¡± ¡°Stop!¡± Sheetal put her hands over her ears. ¡°Freakin come here. Give me your Ohio.¡± ¡°I will kill you.¡± Ash grinned and started again ¡°Stickin out your gyatt¡­ Chapter 32 - Save The Continuum Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Taran 45¡¯s suit reacted to the warning message sent through the system and heated up. It was just a flash of heat that ran through the inner gel and warmed his skin. It was a subtle thing. An overengineered protocol. But it instantly brought a soldier out of the dreamless sleep their suits put them in. As he blinked his eyes, two large four fingered arms protruded into the capsule, locked on to his torso and began to gently pull him out of one of the vertically lined sleeping compartments. He hated this feeling. He always had. The feeling of being the one in control sent shivers down his spine. But he was a politician. A man of the people. And his people who were soldiers. So, he bunked alongside them. Just like the Mentor trained their juniors, Athena 8 led their people in battle, the Aug Queen developed new augments by her own hand, and Adi 101 and his purist wives sermonised. It was all optics, and he was stuck playing the game while all he wanted to do was move towards his goals. The arms zipped the High Councillor down past the rows of sleeping pods prioritising him over others and refilling his containers of gel, water, and other essentials. He dropped to the ground and his armour¡¯s internal speakers chirped to relay that his movements were unlocked. Taran 45 shot a sharp intent of will into his energy shard. The collected energies shot into his neuro shard and woke him up the rest of the way. The high councillor brough us his heads up display and the hud of his armour. If they were under attack, he would need to react quickly to reinforce sections and counterattack. He hooked onto the external sensors of the FOB and looked for attacks. When he didn¡¯t see any movement he queried their ATI. ¡°Lara! I am up. What¡¯s the status? Where is the enemy coming from?¡± Taran reached his hand to the left and a part of the mem-titanium their operating base was made of parted. His Continuum Rifle slid out. He quickly picked it up and slammed it into its position on his back. Taran looked left and right, watching others slide out of their capsules. ¡°Stand down! Stand down!¡± The Aug Queen voice spoke over all the open channels stopping everyone in their tracks. ¡°Stand down! Stand down!¡± Lara¡¯s voice repeated the Aug queen¡¯s words and added ¡°Assault Commander Athena A07 will address you soon.¡± Taran stopped in his tracks. The Aug Queen was here? Wasn¡¯t she supposed to leave and bring the Mentor back? From the side of his eye he saw a man standing tall in front of a milling crowd of armoured soldiers and prayed. ¡°Don¡¯t be Jay 7. Don¡¯t be Jay 7. Please don¡¯t be Jay 7.¡± The man turned to look at him and waved. Taran closed his eyes and sighed. It was Jay 7. He opened a private channel to the Aug queen and asked ¡°A07, by ash and sand, what¡¯s going on?¡± Athena flat tone wasn¡¯t really flat this time. It could have been qualified as a frustrated huff. She responded ¡°It¡¯s those two!¡± Athena A07 cut the channel and Taran stood there for a moment, disoriented. He looked up and asked ¡°Lara?¡± In response the marshal popped a video in front of him. In the video, Ash was alternating between dodging thrown pillows and throwing them back. A young woman floating after him with murder in her eyes. The furniture in front of her, shot up in the air crashed into the walls. Then a pillow slapped in her in the face. Sheetal snarled. Shot her hand to the side, and tore off a chunk of the wall. Ash looked at her blankly for a moment and then poked his tongue out. The air around Sheetal sparked and She flung the ball sized chunk of the wall at Ash. Ash barely got out of the way and then ran. The video cut off and Taran asked ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°We sent them tea.¡± Marshal Lara responded. Taran watched as Ash sped across the room, up a wall, onto the ceiling, grabbed a flying pillow and smacked the broad side of it across Sheetal¡¯s face. Sheetal teetered for a second and then fell to a foot off the floor. ¡°That must have been some strong tea.¡± ¡°No. the tea was wasted.¡± Taran looked at the wide grin on Ash¡¯s face and noticed Sheetal¡¯s lips turn up slightly and asked ¡°Are they training?¡± ¡°They are not training.¡± Athena¡¯s voice came from a dark helmet next to him. Another armoured person walked to them and stopped next to Athena. He was broader. Even more muscular compared to other Jay¡¯s with a thick neck and a well defined jaw. Taran straightened to attention, saluted and said ¡°We are the continuum. We continue.¡± The Jay straightened and saluted back ¡°We continue. High Councillor.¡± ¡°Welcome back, mentor. How is the front?¡± ¡°Interesting.¡± Jay 7 smiled. ¡°Is it?¡± Taran 45 didn¡¯t have to feign disbelief. Jay 7 laughed ¡°Yes, my friend. Athena 8 did us a solid by recapturing the city. I¡¯ll tell you all about it soon. But it is safe to say, that we have options now.¡± Taran 45 opened his mouth to ask more about these options but stopped when another set of alarms started blairing over the concealed speakers. Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Athena groaned ¡°Not again.¡± Taran 45 looked at the window he had just minimised. He opened it. Sheetal was now standing in centre of the room with an arsenal of projectiles floating around her. That included three more chunks of the wall. Ash chuckled ¡°Ahhh¡­ Umm¡­ Sorry?¡± A chair flew at Ash¡¯s head, and he blurred into motion. Sheetal flowed him flinging one projectile after another at her evading partner. Taran¡¯s helmet parted and he visibly relaxed ¡°Why she wet now?¡± Everyone looked at the image of Sheetal¡¯s shirt sticking to her body leaving very little to the imagination. ¡°The boy threw a jug of water at her. She caught the jug.¡± Athena A07 left the rest unsaid and tuned to Jay 7 ¡°I have sent my augs to cordon of the area. Make sure they don¡¯t break through and escape.¡± Jay 7 shook his head and chuckled ¡°That is not necessary A07. I don¡¯t think they have though about escaping yet. The girl warder is too engrossed in catching the slippery one. And the other one is¡­¡± The aug queen frowned ¡°Seven, she is breaking mem-titanium.¡± Jay 7 dismissed Athena A07¡¯s words with a wave ¡°It will flow back and repair itself but this.¡± Jay 7 pointed in front of him and everyone looked at their screens. The furniture was now splinters and crushed glass. The pillows and cushions were foam floating in the air. Sheetal stood in the middle of it all. Stray sparks lighting up the balls of floating foam. On the other side, Ash finally reached for the tonfas strapped on his belt and took them out. Jay 7 chuckled ¡°Well, those two have spunk. We should walk and talk.¡± Putting action to his words, the large man began pacing to them ¡°Stand down! Everyone, stand down. Go back to sleep. We¡¯ll handle this.¡± Athena repeated her earlier orders and the alarm muted off. Taran¡¯s eyes widened. He followed Jay 7 with his thoughts racing. Jay 7, the hero from the Pire of Nile, had his sights on the warders? What did he want from them? Whatever he wanted, he would get to know soon. But, he would have to play keep his cards close to his chest. ¡°Ma¡­Mentor.¡± Taran 45 panted while trying to keep up with Jay 7 and continued ¡°You don¡¯t have to¡­ We can¡­ Escorted to us.¡± Jay 7 looked at Taran 45 and laughed ¡°High councillor, you need to work on you cardio.¡± ¡°I would¡­ if someone didn¡¯t talk me into¡­ taking over the vacated High Councillor chair.¡± ¡°Still cribbing, I see.¡± Jay 7 said with a throaty chuckle and then asked the Marshall ¡°Lara, did you say something about tea starting this?¡± ¡°Where are they? And what happened?¡± ¡°Not far mentor. We put them in the guest quarters.¡± Athena A07 answered while using the diplomatic name for the isolated and restricted ward. ¡°You put them in cells?¡± Jay glanced at Taran. ¡°No, I took them out and put them in one of the nicer rooms¡­ The politicos suite.¡± Taran replied still panting. ¡°So, what happened?¡± To Taran¡¯s relief Jay 7 looked at Athena ¡°As far as I can parse, the boy got up from sleep and asked for something to drink. They both had been out for seven hours. So, the Marshall sent them a pot of tea to wake them up. He looked at it for a while then set it aside. When it was cool enough, he snuck into the girls room and poured it over her head.¡± Athena explained. Jay 7 blinked ¡°What? Why?¡± ¡°Because Sheetal snores and he hates tea.¡± Marshal Lara¡¯s voice spoke into their comm link and continued ¡°Apparently Sheetal hates tea too. And she is more offended by the smell of tea in her hair than anything else.¡± ¡°We should really get to them.¡± Athena said and her legs blurred. She sped off in front of them, she dodged a group of milling soldiers by jumping on a wall, pumping all six of her limbs and travelling past them and out of site. Taran 45 looked at Jay 7 ¡°Did she get faster?¡± ¡°Looks like it.¡± Jay 7 agreed and stopped when a video opened to the side of their vision. ¡°Why? So, he poured tea. What¡¯s the big deal?¡± Jay looked at Taran 45 and then his short hair ¡°Women are protective about their hair.¡± ¡°Enough to tear of mem-titanium?¡± ¡°Oh wait. Here comes the good stuff.¡± Lara chimed in and expanded a video in their vision. Sheetal turned her hand into a fist and a chunk of mem-titanium flew out. She flung it at Ash. Ash faked right and dodged left. Dodging the projectile by a hair''s breadth. The projectile flew into the opposite wall and sank in. Ash buzzed through the room, outpacing the lenses capabilities with his speed shards. He sharply changed direction and ran at Sheetal. Sheetal sharply turned and jerked one of her arms up. Ash flew up and hit the ceiling with a thud. Taran took his eyes of the screen and watched as all continuum armours stopped in empathetic pain. He could almost hear the pained groan that had slipped out his mouth. ¡°Lara.¡± Jay 7 said in a scolding voice ¡°Are you streaming this to everyone?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Lara!¡± Jay 7 said in a chiding voice and continued ¡°Not that I don¡¯t like watching a fop get his butt handed to him, but this is distracting.¡± ¡°Jay 7. Do you remember when you and your brothers were like them? You were all so energetic, rambunctious and entertaining. No you are¡­¡± ¡°Responsible?¡± ¡°Old.¡± Lara corrected. ¡°Well, at least that puff has moxy.¡± On the video Ash was hanging from the roof from one of his tonfa. While Sheetal tried to pry him off. ¡°Do you think I will let you get away after what you did?¡± ¡°Ah¡­ Hey it¡¯s not that bad. Setbacks and adversity builds character. See what I did there? Tea, adversity.¡± Ash chuckled She growled ¡°You were bored, and you decided to drench me with a pot tea?¡± Ash giggled ¡°Yes?¡± Sheetal¡¯s eyes narrowed. And Jay skidded to a stop in front of the suite¡¯s door ordered. He looked at the augs around him and began issuing orders ¡°People keep your safeties on. They are not going anywhere. Just restrain them if you must. And make sure they don¡¯t kill each other.¡± He added the last bit just in case. Thump! The door in front of Jay rang and he flinched. He collected himself looked up and ordered ¡°Okay Lara. Open the door.¡± Lara complied wordlessly. The door slid open and all six feet three inches of Jay 7 walked into the room with his broad shoulders and stopped to make sense of the situation. Sheetal moved her hand down and Ash somehow twisted and landed on his feet. Sheetal jerked her hand and brough it down again. Ash again flipped onto his feet. ¡°Stop doing that.¡± Thump. ¡°And fall¡­¡± Thump. ¡°On your face.¡± Thump. Ash looked at Jay 7 and waved ¡°Hey!¡± Thump. Ash went up with a smile and landed back with cheery ¡°Hello!¡± Thump. Sheetal whirled to see Jay 7, Athena A07, and Taran 45 looking at them blankly. The two combatants seemed to come to an understanding and moved closer to each other. They faced Jay 7, one with a glare and the other one with a fluid grace of killer. Taran 45 nodded to himself. He could recognise that they recognised a larger threat when they saw it, but to his surprise neither of them backed down. ¡°Okay, who the hell are you?¡± Sheetal asked with hint of a snarl in her voice ¡°And why are you stopping the butt kicking I am about to dish out.¡± ¡°Yeah, what she said.¡± Ash added. Jay 7 looked from the dented ceiling to the two young people. His helmet cracked and split into four pieces on each side which folded into his shoulder. Revealing a bald head, white beard and face of a man in his late fifties. ¡°Just an old man who was trying to sleep. Until some loud children woke him up.¡± Jay answered with a sigh in his voice. Sheetal¡¯s glare dimmed ¡°Oh. Umm¡­ It was his fault.¡± Ash looked at Sheetal finger pointing towards him and gave her an affronted look. He turned to the councillor of continuum with a wise look on his face ¡°Sorry, old people. I think we got a little carried over. If you don¡¯t mind pointing us to a field or something. We have things to discuss.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Jay 7 gave them both a withering look and grumbled ¡°In my day, when we fought with our siblings we had to clean up after ourselves.¡± He pointed at the splintered furniture. Ash pointed a tonfa at Sheetal ¡°She threw it.¡± ¡°You poured tea on me.¡± ¡°You snore.¡± ¡°So do you!¡± ¡°Children!¡± Jay 7 called in a loud voice. They both turned to him with a loud, ¡°What!?¡± ¡°Now that we all are awake, we can have a talk while we clean up all this mess. But first, you¡­¡± He pointed at Sheetal ¡°Go get a rinse. And you¡­¡± He pointed at Ash who cut him off. ¡°I am going with her. I am not leaving her alone and unprotected even for a second.¡± Ash said sternly. Sheetal looked at him and her pursed lips turned into a slight smile which turned back into a scowl. There was a sense of tension in Ash¡¯s posture. He was hiding it with his usual obnoxiousness but Sheetal though she saw his hands twitch and shake. ¡°Very well.¡± Jay 7 nodded and added ¡°We will wait. Don¡¯t take too long and please don¡¯t start fighting again.¡± Sheetal nodded at Jay and looked around ¡°Sorry about the sofa, and the table, and the...¡± ¡°Wall? Floor? Furnishings?¡± Athena A07 asked. Ash looked from Athena to Sheetal. The playfulness from his gaze was gone and he took a protective step in front of Sheetal. ¡°So?¡± He asked with a challenge in his eyes. Jay 7 looked at the Aug Queen and shook his head imperceptibly and watched both the warders backed into the bedroom room without turning his back to Jay 7. Ash walked into the bedroom, shut the door behind him and stumbled. Sheetal raised a hand towards him and steadied him. Ash looked back and mouthed ¡°I am okay.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash as he dragged himself to the bathroom. Sheetal followed him in and watched him slide down the wall next to the shower. Finally, Sheetal asked ¡°Ash, what happened?¡± Instead of talking Ash waved at her and Sheetal saw a screenshot of Ash¡¯s notification. Warning! Potentiality ¨C 7% Warder your potentiality is what gives your existence meaning. Expending potentiality beyond 5% might result in death. Always keep your potentiality above 10%. Sheetal looked at Ash with wide eyes. Before she could speak freak out, Ash quickly said ¡°It¡¯s okay, She. We needed to know that. My bar is filling up and I will be okay.¡± ¡°How low did you go?¡± ¡°Five percent.¡± ¡°Was that before or after you got the notification?¡± Ash gave Sheetal a guilty look. ¡°I knew It.¡± Sheetal took off her clothes and threw them at Ash. ¡°Ew! Why do they smell like you.¡± Ash flailed from under Sheetal¡¯s shirt and turned his back towards her. Sheetal turned on the shower and stood under it ¡°Ash, how fast is your potentiality coming back?¡± Ash sighed ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°What do you mean you don¡¯t know?¡± ¡°I mean I shut the screens off.¡± Sheetal closed her eyes and prayed for patience. ¡°What?¡± Ash asked. ¡°Send me your screens again.¡± Ash groaned and fiddle around in the air while Sheetal washed her hair. Warning! Potentiality ¨C 8% Warder your potentiality is what gives your existence meaning. Expending potentiality beyond 5% might result in death. Always keep your potentiality above 10%. ¡°Dang, that is slow.¡± Ash grumbled incoherently and curled up in the side. ¡°What?¡± Sheetal asked while lathering up her hair. ¡°I said, I feel like I am hollow.¡± ¡°How the heck did you blow through all your potentiality anyway?¡± Ash scowled ¡°It¡¯s the gods forsaken blur. It gulps down potentiality like a teenager girl drinks her first Cosmopolitan.¡± ¡°I always hated cosmos.¡± Ash looked at Sheetal and nodded ¡°I knew there was a reason that I liked you.¡± ¡°Yeah, I am more of single malt girl.¡± ¡°You could have said gin and then we would be the best of buddies, but no, you have to be a special someone and talk about Johnnie Walker Blue Label.¡± ¡°Blue Label is a blend actually.¡± Sheetal responded with a cheeky smile. Ash shot Sheetal a look and in a shrilly voice shot back ¡°She! If I could get up right now, I would spray soap in your eyes.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Sheetal shut off the shower and smiled deviously ¡°That is why, this is going to work.¡± Ash blinked ¡°What? What do you mean?¡± Ash felt Sheetal¡¯s power constrict him and lift him up. ¡°She?¡± Sheetal pulled him into the shower and snarled ¡°Say it.¡± ¡°Say what?¡± Sheetal looked ash in the eyes ¡°Sorry!¡± Ash quirked a smile ¡°Oh, its okay She. Sometimes things happen. We should move beyond silly disagreements.¡± Sheetal smiled ferociously ¡°Oh I am so glad you think that.¡± Sheetal flicked a finger and the shower overhead started drenching Ash¡¯s head. ¡°She, this is waterboarding.¡± Ash glurped out. Sheetal moved one hand and the water began to collect in a ball of invisible force. Ash coughed and looked at Sheetal with accusing eyes. ¡°Say it.¡± Sheetal hissed. ¡°Can we not just talk about things like adults?¡± Ash hedged. Splash! The ball of water fell of Ash and Sheetal started collecting another. Outside the room, Jay 7 hummed in the room with a slight smile on his face. He looked at the door and his smile turned broader. ¡°Jay?¡± The Aug Queen tried to get Jay 7¡¯s attention. ¡°They are like siblings.¡± Jay 7 muttered as he had an epiphany. ¡°I am sorry mentor. Did you say something?¡± Taran 45 asked from the door. Jay 7 walked to the door and looked from Taran to Athena. In almost a whisper he asked ¡°Did any of you check for a pair bond?¡± Taran 45 shook his head ¡°No mentor. They are not a couple.¡± Jay smiled ¡°No, they are not. They are like siblings and if we are lucky then we might have hit the jackpot.¡± Athena A07 looked at Taran 45 with a frown and the high councillor relented. ¡°They are not pair bonded. They are fate linked.¡± The high councillor revealed in a soft voice Jay grinned ¡°So, that is why you want to keep those two. I am not opposed 45. I actually approve. Do what you need to. Run test, experiment, and do whatever you need to do. Just build them up.¡± Taran 45 shrugged ¡°Build them up? I wanted to tear them apart. See what makes them tick. I would do so if they were just trial takers. But then I saw them kill a constable. The boy, he went from being jovial to ruthless in a second. And the girl, she fought two ascended who out-sharded and outclassed her in everything. She broke them apart 7. They are warders. If we can replicate what they do¡­¡± ¡°I understand 45 but they are linked.¡± The high councillor made a dismissive gesture ¡°That is just a bonus.¡± ¡°A bonus?¡± Jay guffawed and continued ¡°No 45, that is perfect.¡± ¡°Perfect mentor?¡± The Aug Queen asked in measured tone. ¡°Yes, don¡¯t you both see it? They will make a centre of a powerful squad. With them on the battlefield we will be able to cut across the battle lines of the Raks and finally kill a Asura.¡± Athena A07 nodded ¡°Yes, and then we can leave this baron wasteland.¡± ¡°Oh no, Heena, my dear.¡± The mentor shook his head and explained ¡°With them on the frontlines we will kill an asura. Maybe even two. Think about the benefits that will bring us. By the gods, with them on the front we can even take the Free City. Then we can come and go from the trials, when we want.¡± The Aug Queen¡¯s face turned flat as she considered Jay 7¡¯s words ¡°Seven, I thought you wanted to leave this hole on the side of broken realities.¡± Jay 7 looked at the Aug Queen but his eyes were focussed on something they couldn¡¯t see ¡°Heena, we will. After we make them, all pay. After we conquer these lands. After we create a safe haven to create new clones. After, we create a place to train our young.¡± The high councillor and the Aug Queen looked at Jay 7¡¯s fervour filled face. They exchanged a look but whatever they were going to say, they kept to themselves. Because just at that moment, Sheetal slammed open the door and floated out regally. She was followed by a bedraggled Ash who was dripping water on the floor with his wet hair plastered over his forehead. They all shot a questioning look towards the boy. Ash pointed at Sheetal ¡°She held me in place and dunked balls of water over me. Like freaking Kobe Bryant. And I was the ring.¡± Jay raised his eyebrows. ¡°The last one. It was the size of a¡­ Of a¡­ It was big. Like a big¡­Big Ball thing.¡± Ash tried to explain with his hands getting wider and wider over his shoulder. Sheetal grinned ¡°Yup. That¡¯s what you get for pouring tea on me.¡± ¡°Before this gets out of hand again, may I suggest we get some coffee and millets.¡± Two pairs of eyes locked on to Jay 7. He blinked. ¡°Did he say coffee?¡± Sheetal asked in a haunting whisper. ¡°Yeah. Did you say coffee?¡± Ash asked Jay in an uncharacteristic serious voice. Jay 7 fought the urge to step back in front of the two feral creatures and replied ¡°Yes?¡± Twenty minutes later, two civilised young people were sitting in front of each other and complementing the other. Sheetal swiped. The air around Ash whirled and his wet clothes began to dry. ¡°Thanks. You know you are getting pretty good with the wind shard.¡± Ash complemented Sheetal. ¡°Yeah, but you were better with it. How did you break the sound barrier when we were fighting the blue cannibals?¡± ¡°That was awesome, wasn¡¯t it?¡± Ash grinned. Sheetal gave a begrudging nod ¡°Yup, that blue bastard didn¡¯t even know what hit him.¡± ¡°I know. It¡¯s quite simple to do. All you need to think bigger. I just parted the air in between the peacock and me. It created a vacuum thingy. And all I had to do was run. That was until I got sucked in. Didn¡¯t expect that. And then it was more of the air was pushing me towards the guy than me running. I just swung hard and hit the dumbo with my tonfa.¡± Ash looked at his holstered tonfa with a grin. Sheetal shot Ash a concerned look ¡°How about you stop experimenting?¡± ¡°Stop worrying, She. I will be careful.¡± ¡°Will you?¡± Sheetal asked in a challenging voice. ¡°Hey, I said I was sorry about the tea.¡± Sheetal clicked her tongue and snarled ¡°Just, don¡¯t do that again.¡± Ash dismissed Sheetal¡¯s words with a wave ¡°And repeat my joke? Never. But something great came out of it. That gravity thing you did. Didn¡¯t see that coming until the very end. And if I didn¡¯t see that coming, no one will.¡± ¡°Yeah, that was cool.¡± Sheetal smiled. ¡°Ehm¡­Ahm¡­¡± Taran 45 cleared his throat loudly ¡°Warders. The mentor is waiting for you?¡± The two crazy people looked at him blankly. ¡°45, here means, me. I am waiting for you.¡± Jay explained from the front of the table ¡°I am Jay 7. The mentor. And I am enjoying your banter. You both remind me of the westerners before the war.¡± ¡°Westerners?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Yes. They said the best way to keep westerners complacent was to give them coffee, entertainment and food.¡± Taran sighed ¡°I wish the politicos had listened. We would have avoided conflict and kept our eyes on the Zulu.¡± Ash leaned back ¡°Interesting.¡± ¡°So, they are addicts?¡± The Aug Queen asked from besides Ash. Ash looked at her and jumped ¡°Hey, it¡¯s the robot lady. Where did you come from?¡± Athena grinned sharply and replied cryptically ¡°I was always here.¡± Ash looked at Sheetal. She shook her head and mouthed ¡°I didn¡¯t see her.¡± ¡°Okay. Stay away from the sneaky robot lady. Noted.¡± Ash muttered. Sheetal glared at him and hissed ¡°Be nice to our kidnappers.¡± Ash started to raise his hand to shoot a rude gesture at her and stopped when his hand got stuck midway. He squinted at Sheetal. ¡°Okay. Rule number one. We don¡¯t use powers on each other.¡± Ash stated. ¡°Only if you stop being a jerk.¡± Ash thought for a moment and shrugged ¡°Fine. You can use powers on me.¡± ¡°Are you both always like this?¡± Athena raised her steely eyebrows. ¡°Like what?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°What Athena A07 is trying to ask is, do you know why you irritate each other and yet can¡¯t leave each other¡¯s side?¡± Jay asked with a glint in his eye. ¡°No.¡± Ash looked at Sheetal ¡°We¡¯ve always irritated each other. And I like her. I don¡¯t like many people. So, she is mine.¡± Sheetal turned a flat glare at Ash ¡°She is mine?¡± ¡°You know what I mean.¡± ¡°No, Ash. I don¡¯t know what you mean.¡± Sheetal shot back and turned to Jay ¡°But, you are right. I cannot tolerate him. But he¡­¡± Sheetal paused when she realised that she was going to address Ash as her brother. Instead, she finished with ¡°He saved my life.¡± ¡°Thrice.¡± Ash said in between sips and added ¡°I am awesome.¡± Sheetal rolled her eyes ¡°I saved your life too, you brat.¡± ¡°Nope. Never happened. I am too awesome to need saving.¡± Sheetal ignored Ash ¡°But, that doesn¡¯t mean I will not kick his butt.¡± ¡°Like you can.¡± Ash muttered ¡°Oh, I can.¡± Sheetal responded in a threatening tone. Ash looked back at her with a feral grin. ¡°That. That, right there.¡± Jay pointed at them both ¡°That annoyance. That needling each other. That constant urge to poke each other. Do you understand why that is happening?¡± Sheetal looked at Jay and then at Ash ¡°Yeah, because he can¡¯t stop being a brat.¡± Ash didn¡¯t respond. He had a thoughtful look on his face. ¡°It¡¯s because of the thing connecting us, isn¡¯t it?¡± Ash asked. Jay leaned on the table and crossed interlaced his fingers ¡°Interesting. You must very perceptive.¡± ¡°I was trained.¡± Ash quirked a smile. ¡°I bet.¡± The mentor replied with a sarcastic snort. ¡°What thing?¡± Sheetal asked ¡°It¡¯s something like a pair bond.¡± Jay 7 explained ¡°It is a bond usually created between twins, lovers, or siblings. It gives them the ability to transfer potentiality between each other. The problem is that your being does not like potentiality leaving your body. And you subconsciously try to push your bonded partner away. However, at the same time the magical bond keeps you tied to each other. It drives you mad. That is why most pair bonded partners kill each other.¡± ¡°She, you know I like you right?¡± Ash asked. Sheetal nodded. ¡°So don¡¯t take this the wrong way but I am breaking the damn thing.¡± Ash announced. ¡°Oh, point me in the right direction and I will break it myself.¡± Sheetal added. ¡°It¡¯s impossible now.¡± Jay laughed ¡°It would have been possible to refuse the bond when you were given the option.¡± ¡°Wait, what option? We didn''t get an option.¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°That is strange. You both are not biologically related. So, an option should have been given to you when you arrived at the trial grounds. Wasn¡¯t either one of you given an option to create one?¡± Jay tapped his scarred chin. Sheetal shook her head and then looked at Ash. He was looking everywhere but at Sheetal. He felt eyes on him and turned back with a neutral expression on his face. Sheetal raised her eyebrows. Ash¡¯s neutral expression fell and he smiled goofily. ¡°He he he he?¡± Ash laughed. ¡°You!?¡± Sheetal shouted with venom in her voice. ¡°Me?¡± Ash asked. ¡°You did this?¡± Sheetal was now holding a spoon like a knife and glaring at Ash. Ash grimaced and hesitantly explained ¡°Hold on. Hold on!¡± ¡°Why!?¡± Ash exhaled ¡°You were dying, She. Sparking in your death chair with your stupid tablet. So, I started pressing buttons. On your chair, on the tablet, and in my eyes. And you survived. So, drop those headlights and say¡­ Thank you, Ash. You are the best, Ash. No, you are awesome, Ash.¡± Sheetal opened her mouth and closed it. She opened it again and pocked a finger into Ash;s chest ¡°You. You¡­ You!¡± ¡°Oh my. I think you broke the lady warder.¡± Jay chuckled ¡°Hey grandpa. This is in between me and my sister. Stay out of it okay?¡± Jay 7 laughed and raised his hands ¡°Okay. Okay. But tell me, if you are pressing buttons without knowing what they do, how are you still alive.¡± ¡°Oh, I learned how to shut it off. I keep it off now.¡± Ash smiled smugly. ¡°Every time, I see boxes. I hit the shiny orb. Then the world goes back to normal.¡± Sheetal groaned and the others gave him a look. ¡°What!? That¡¯s smart. You can¡¯t fight with distractions.¡± Ash defended himself. ¡°Ash, you do know that the windows disappear when we are in combat right?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°They do?¡± ¡°Anyway.¡± Jay moved on quickly before these two could derail the conversation anymore ¡°Let¡¯s talk about the other things happening to you. But to address that, I need to know whether you are warders or not?¡± Ash and Sheetal looked at each other. After a moment Sheetal replied ¡°You know we are.¡± ¡°That means you are looking for shards. You have what three or four shards? You will need a lot of them to ascend.¡± Ash leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. Sheetal looked at him for a moment and decided to take the lead ¡°What are you proposing?¡± ¡°First, tell me what kind of soul structure you have?¡± Sheetal looked Ash and he waved for her to go on while looking at Taran 45 ¡°Ash has a ribboned structure and I have a constellation structure.¡± Jay 7 leaned in and rubbed his scruffy chin ¡°Constellation. That is powerful.¡± Reading incomprehension on the two warders faces the mentor continued ¡°Every humanoid ascended you meet will have a linear shard structure. That means they will have eight shards in a straight line. Take me for an example. Like most of the continuum, my most levelled up shard is neuro, channel, energy and so on. Until it ends in balance.¡± Ash looked at Jay 7 ¡°Balance?¡± ¡°Yes. It helps me with my footwork.¡± Ash nodded ¡°Nice.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Sheetal and Ash traded a glance. They both noted how Jay had not elaborated on his other shards. Jay smiled at the exchange and continued ¡°Every member of continuum has the same or similar shards. That¡¯s the only way we can lift and fire our weapons. The rest of the shards we consume are personal.¡± Taran 45 huffed ¡°Or at least they should be.¡± Athena rolled her eyes ¡°Without the metal or the tech shards we wouldn¡¯t have armour High Councillor.¡± Taran 45 nodded ¡°I am not criticising A07. I am just against the principal.¡± ¡°Councillors.¡± Jay raised his voice and the other two fell silent with an abashed look. Ash noted how Taran 45 took a conciliatory tone in front of Jay 7. A tone that rang hollow in Ash¡¯s eyes. The mentor continued his explanation ¡°Anyway, what I was explaining to you was that all ascendeds who know what they are doing use two to three shards in combination to create a deadly effect. The ones you fought earlier, they were¡­¡± ¡°Untrained rural wretches.¡± Athena A07 spat out and stared right at Ash ¡°So, stop thinking that you are special, boy. You got lucky.¡± Ash gave her a mild look. Slowly his uninterested eyes glazed over, and he yawned. Athena shot out her hand and grabbed Ash by the collar ¡°You think this is funny?¡± Sheetal felt an anger start bubbling in her. She pushed it down when Ash winked at her. Ash was about to open his mouth to say something when Sheetal cut him off. ¡°You were saying something about constellations?¡± Jay 7 cleared his throat ¡°Yes, constellation soul structures allow a warder to create a cluster of shards together. That is why a constellation warder is always the strongest combatant on the field or the biggest support to other combatants on the field.¡± Sheetal leaned back with a satisfied smile on her face ¡°See Ash, I am tougher than you.¡± ¡°Stronger. There is a difference, She.¡± Ash responded while looking straight at Athena A07. He waited for a second and then tapped her hand ¡°Hey, lady, let go. The moment is over.¡± The Aug Queen looked at the boy in her grasp. He hadn¡¯t even flinched. Athena A07 reevaluated the kid and couldn¡¯t help being impressed. The boy warder knew he was no match for her, and yet she could sense that he believed that he could kill her. And as their eyes met, she saw that he was ready to fight to the death if she didn¡¯t release him. The cybernetics in Athena A07¡¯s brain whirled creating scenario. If she fought the boy, she would most probably kill him. If she hesitated, he would kill her with those strange weapons with a touch. She was fast but he had four speed shards. Even if she succeeded the Continuum would have lost two game changing assets. Not to mention, they would be blamed for killing warders. But if she backed down, the boy, no the warder in front of them would know that they needed him and his sister. That would give them a sliver of leverage. It won¡¯t be a lot but it would be more than what they had two minutes ago. She could always throw him into a wall and break a few of his bones. No, that was her human side talking. That was what had gotten her into this situation. The Aug Queen reevaluated this, Warder. This Ash. And she smiled in appreciation ¡°Oh, you are good.¡± ¡°Thank you. It¡¯s always nice to recognised by a professional.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash who hadn¡¯t taken his eyes off the Aug Queen. ¡°What about ribboned?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Ribboned. Hmmm¡­¡± Jay pursed his lips ¡°We all were wondering about that.¡± Taran 45 moved forwards. He looked at Jay for approval and received a head nod. Taran turned towards Ash ¡°If you share the description of the soul structure, I am sure I can tell you more about it.¡± Ash raised an eyebrow ¡°Thanks, but no thanks.¡± Everyone turned to look at him and he just shrugged. Sheetal hissed across the table ¡°Ash, they seem to know what is going on.¡± ¡°How, She? How do they know what is going on? Why do they know what a warder¡¯s soul structure is? And why are they helping us?¡± Ash never raised his voice but each of his questions seemed to hammer into the continuum officers. Sheetal bit her lip and nodded ¡°Okay, good questions, answer him.¡± Jay closed his eyes and sighed. He nodded to Athena and Taran. Athena grimaced ¡°We know because we had a warder of our own. His name was Jay Chandra and the Jay¡¯s are clones of the first warder from our world. They were created to become warders like him.¡± Athena glared at Ash ¡°Before you ask, he was a hero who was assassinated.¡± Taran took up the explanation in a much calmer tone ¡°Jay Chandra created the continuum. He created to save humanity. He believed that the knowledge we were gathering was going to give us a way to stop the wars and save our people.¡± ¡°Let me guess. They killed him for it?¡± Ash asked. The Aug Queen clenched her fingers and her gloves creaked in her hands. ¡°I am not doing that. And I am not going to let Sheetal do that too.¡± Jay smiled ¡°You don¡¯t trust us, and neither should you. Maybe this would help.¡± Jay took out a coin with a hole and placed it on the table in front of him and the lights dim all around them and the table top changed into a display. On it was Earth. ¡°This is our planet. Prithvi.¡± On the globe, a large chunk of the Asian continent turned green and spread outwards until it encompassed Mongolia to the north, Philippines to the east and a decent chunk of Europe to the west. Africa to the south remained red. ¡°The large part being highlighted is the Maurya Empire.¡± Ash and Sheetal heard the familiar name but did not respond. Jay 7 continued. ¡°Sixty years ago, a war started on our world between the Mauryan Empire and the Nordic westerners. Nobody thought much of it. The empire was old. Twenty three hundred years old and was always expanding and shrinking. The westerners were divided. So, when they decided to nuke one of our cities, we all were stunned. We wanted revenge. And we got it." Jay 7 blood thirsty smile and growling voice sent a shiver down Sheetal''s spine. She looked at Ash and felt a giddy of anticipation from him. His face showed none of that. While his insides were screaming, come on you stubborn old man, tell me how badly you messed up. His face had an mildly interested look. Jay 7 seemed to get frustrated at Ash''s bored look and growled "When we went to war, we took our eyes off the Zulu empire. Those filthy heathens launched attacks on our cities under a peace treaty. We fought them to a standstill and started repelling them. But, they were out for blood this time. They kept escalating the war and so did we.¡± On the planet¡¯s surface mushroom clouds erupted all across the continents and the land itself turned black. The mentor in a heavy voice kept going on ¡°By the time I was born. The war had scorched the land under our feet. Humanity, eighteen billion strong had been destroyed to just a mere two billion. Luckily, we had Jay Chandra and the cloning tech he brought from the other worlds. The Zulus did not. We started winning and they started calling us the soulless. We hunted their leaders down. They attacked our civilians and rescue workers. Finally, when we were at the precipice of victory, the Zulus did the unthinkable.¡± The earth in font of the two warders cracked. Fissures developed on its surface. Followed by geysers of magma and lances of plasma shot out of the planets core and into space. More and more of the planet, cracked and then in one last explosion it blew apart. ¡°Zealots!¡± Athena spat out. ¡°For those of us who escaped our planet¡¯s destruction, we were rewarded with these.¡± Jay 7 pointed at the coin in front of him ¡°These coins are the physical manifestation of the favour of lights. With these coins we can ask the system and its agents for intervention.¡± The mentor touched the coin and a prompt shot up into the two warders eyes. New Mission. Save The Continuum Fight of the Rakshasa Empire and help the continuum create a safe harbour in the trials. Rewards 1 Favour of Light System Rank - 1 Accept? Yes / No? ¡°Heck no.¡± Sheetal almost shouted Jay 7 wordless took out another coin and placed on top of the first one. The pop up in front of the warders changed. High Priority Mission. Save The Continuum Fight of the Rakshasa Empire and help the continuum create a safe harbour in the trials. Rewards 2 Favours of Light System Rank - 1 Accept? Yes / No? ¡°Mentor, what are you doing?¡± Taran 45 protested. The old man ignored the High Counselor and took out another coin. He placed it on top of the others. Mandatory Mission Save The Continuum Fight of the Rakshasa Empire and help the continuum create a safe harbour in the trials. Rewards 3 Favours of Light System Rank - 3 Type ¨C Mandatory Sheetal blinked ¡°You want us¡± She pointed at herself and Ash and squeaked ¡°To fight the asuras?¡± Jay looked annoyed and took out a fourth coin. The Aug Queen leaned forward ¡°We have them seven, stop.¡± Jay 7 glanced at Athena A07 and shook his head ¡°Not yet.¡± He dropped a fourth coin on top of the budding coin tower and a new line appeared below the mission. Mandatory Mission Save The Continuum Fight of the Rakshasa Empire and help the continuum create a safe harbour in the trials. Rewards 4 Favours of Light System Rank - 4 Type - Mandatory Terms - You may not leave the trials until this mission is completed. Sheetal felt Ash¡¯s amusement through their link and looked at him. Outwards Ash looked angry and his nostrils flared with every breath. Inwards he was¡­ chuckling? Ash got up from the table and started pacing up like he couldn¡¯t take it. He shot and angry look at Jay 7 and snarled ¡°You trapped us.¡± The mentor met the challenging glare with a steely gaze ¡°You will fight for me. You will win for me. And you will deliver what I want.¡± ¡°No.¡± Ash shook his head ¡°We will just sit here. Wait for a few years maybe a decade. Enough time to make sure that you are not going anywhere, anytime soon. You think you can trap us? Well I can return the favour.¡± Ash screamed the last bit in Jay 7¡¯s face Jay 7 narrowed his eyes at Ash and then took out another coin. He looked at it for a moment and then doubled it. He placed on top of the pile and the same notification popped into Ash¡¯s vision. However this time along with the rewards there were new addition. Rewards 6 Favours of Light Mandatory Terms - You may not leave the trials until this mission is completed. Duration to completion ¨C 5 Years Failure Penalty ¨C Death System Rank - 5 Ash sat back down on the table and smiled sharply ¡°Five years¡­ Who know if you or I will even survive until then.¡± Athena A07 who had been looking at Ash and building a database of his micro expressions. The boy was good. He hid his feelings under his smiles and laughs. The crinkling of skin and the taught facial muscles made categorising his true feelings hard. And yet, her cybernetics caught some deviations and she started to raise her voice only to see the mentor take out two more coins. Clink. ¡°Well then? How about this?¡± The mentor growled and looked at the screen floating in front of everyone¡¯s eyes. Rewards 8 Favours of Light System Rank - 5 Mandatory Terms - You may not leave the trials until this mission is completed. Duration to completion ¨C 2 Years Failure Penalty ¨C Death ¡°Two years. Sure, that is a long enough time to get used to this place, right She? I am sure we¡¯ll start working on this mission thingy six months before the deadline.¡± Ash smiled at Sheetal. ¡°Sounds like a good plan Ash.¡± Sheetal replied with a glare at Jay 7. The Aug Queen jumped to her feet ¡°Seven. Stop.¡± ¡°Mentor. Please.¡± Taran 45 followed the Aug Queen up Jay 7 stopped holding two more coins in his hands. ¡°He is baiting you, Seven.¡± Athena A07 held all four of her hands. Jay 7 looked at Ash and the boy winked ¡°It was funny.¡± ¡°Funny?¡± The mentor asked with blazing eyes ¡°Yup.¡± Ash laughed and Sheetal joined him. Jay 7 gave the warders in front of him a confused look and then anger suffused his face. ¡°Hold on, mentor.¡± Athena A07 said beseechingly ¡°Let me ask a question before you proceed.¡± Jay 7 took a step back and Athena A07 turned to look at the young warder in front of her. ¡°Warder Ash, do you know what those coins do?¡± ¡°Except for causing old bruiser pain? Nope.¡± Ash said in smug voice. The Aug Queen turned an accusatory look on Jay 7 ¡°You have been had, Mentor.¡± The mentor recoiled like he had been slapped. Then his face turned red and the look he shot towards Ash could have burned down a forest. ¡°You think you have won?¡± Jay 7 growled. ¡°Yes.¡± Ash nodded ¡°Oh, he¡¯s been winning for while now.¡± Sheetal chimed in with a grin and added ¡°You walk in here like you hold our lives in your palms and you will force us to do your dirty work? He just had to put on a show, and now he is smacking you around like the lame dog you are.¡± Ash turned to Sheetal and in a disappointed voice whispered ¡°She, that¡¯s not how you taunt somebody.¡± ¡°Really, and you think you can do better?¡± ¡°Yes. Look.¡± Ash answered and turned to Jay 7 ¡°Hey old man! Your time has passed. And you are making mistakes. Step aside and let some with more intelligence take over.¡± The mentor who had started calming down stiffened. He turned a death flare at Ash and shouted ¡°You dare!¡± Ash leaned back to avoid the spittle flying out of the old man¡¯s mouth and looked at Sheetal ¡°See?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you dare ignore me you punk!¡± ¡°Jay 7. Stand down.¡± Athena A07 tried to step in front of the Mentor. Before she could Jay 7 threw coins on top the small tower of coins. They unerringly flew on top of the pile and increased its length with clinks. ¡°Seven.¡± The Aug Queen said in a disappointed whisper. The coins seemed to glow and all at the same time disappeared from the table into silver whisps. After a moment the screens in front of everyone changed. Rewards 12 Favours of Light System Rank - 6 Mandatory Terms - You may not leave the trials until this mission is completed. Duration to completion ¨C 182 days. Failure Penalty ¨C Death Jay 7 gave Ash a disgusted look and turned to Taran 45. In a growl he ordered ¡°Taran 45, tear them apart and build me combatants. Grunts, I can throw at the enemy. I don¡¯t care if they survive the battle or not afterwards.¡± ¡°Mentor, that was not wise.¡± Athena started and added ¡°And your orders aren¡¯t either.¡± Jay 7 took in a breath ¡°I don¡¯t care Heena.¡± The old Jay turned back to the High Councillor ¡°45, they are linked. I don¡¯t know what that means but if it is like a pair bond they will feel each other¡¯s pain. Use it. If they balk, torture one of them, until the other one relents. Don¡¯t hold back. Just make me tools that will get the job done.¡± Taran 45 gave Jay 7 a long considering look and nodded ¡°Yes, High Councillor.¡± Jay 7 whirled on his ally and then visibly restrained himself. In a softer voice he said ¡°This is not the time to fence with me 45. We will talk about this later.¡± Chapter 33 – Black mould. General Athena 8¡¯s hud buzzed. It had been doing that for a while now. Whatever the system wanted, if it had been important, the system would have forcefully opened the notification for her. Since it wasn¡¯t, she did not have time for that. Instead, she touched a button on her steering wheel. The centre dashboard of her six wheeled tank like dune buggy flipped on its axis to display a screen. Glitchy voices came from it. ¡°Co¡­ Al¡­¡± Boom! ¡°Re¡­ Co¡­ Al¡­¡± Athena 8 touched the spot just over her eyebrow and grimaced. Where her one of kind quantum communicator was located. Now it was a broken mess. ¡°If I ever find that guy with that soul weapon¡­¡± The large general shook her head and pulled back her shot hair from her face. ¡°BUV, turn on auto drive and establish a secure connection to the frontline command.¡± The vehicle, the state of the art battle utility vehicle, turned on its own and climbed up a dune. Meanwhile she lowered sunglass like visors on her head. She didn¡¯t have to wait long a connection was soon established. ¡°This is General Athena 8. Repeat your last comms.¡± ¡°Contact General. We have contact. I repeat, we have contact.¡± A female voice replied to her and before General Athena 8 could ask anything the Parvati on comms continued ¡°Please hold General. Relaying live battlefield visuals and notifying the battle commanders.¡± A tactical map popped open on the General¡¯s visor. A red dot clinked angrily on the map. Athena 8 zoomed in on it. Hundreds of angry hell hounds engaged the troops on that side. Behind them a hundred or so nishachar night stalker lobbed magical artillery onto their front. Athena started evaluating the skirmish. Her automated defences shot out round after round putting down the dogs before tey could heal up. The nishachars on the other hand remained out of contact. Three videos popped up on her visor. After a moment a fourth one joined in too. ¡°General.¡± A smiling Taran greeted her. ¡°Keen.¡± Athena acknowledged her second in command and then nodded at others ¡°Cheel. Tiny. Sigh.¡± Athena greeted a Ruby, a Jay, and an Aditya respectively. That was the difference between the old continuum and her faction. They had paid to change their names and create individual personalities. Now only they themselves remembered their old numerical names. ¡°It¡¯s just a probing attack, general.¡± Keen reported. ¡°Take it seriously Keen.¡± The hulking Jay grumbled. ¡°I am taking it seriously Tiny. Look.¡± Athena looked from the video of Keen speaking to the live pictures from the battle field. Pop. Pop. Pop. Loud reports of old firearms came from their side. Projectiles zinged over the hounds head and impacted the nishachar artillery. Three of the mage types went down and only one got back up. Soon the first three shot was followed by dozens of more and the stalkers started creating barriers around themselves. But the damage was done. And the nishachars started falling back. First in order and then, as more of them fell, they ran. ¡°Are those¡­ Projectiles?¡± Tiny asked. ¡°Yes.¡± Keen laughed. ¡°Why?¡± Tiny asked affronted. ¡°Because bullets get lodged inside bodies. You need to take them out before you can fight on. And if the body heals around it. Your blood stream starts getting poisoned. Then you die a slow painful death.¡± ¡°Not a good way to die.¡± Cheel frowned. ¡°No.¡± Keen laughed gleefully and nodded ¡°No, it¡¯s not.¡± BOOM! Keen laughter turned maniacal ¡°Looks like they found are sub terranean mines. Dig through that, you cannibalistic dung beetles.¡± Athena saw a cloud of sand erupt into the air. It was more black than sand brown. And she could tell several of the enemy had been eliminated. ¡°Bullets!¡± Tiny tasted the word and didn¡¯t like it ¡°What¡¯s next catapults and arrows?¡± ¡°Hey, if they work, I will use them.¡± Keen responded. ¡°Gentlemen.¡± Athena 8¡¯s soft spoken word shut the budding argument down. She continued ¡°Your assessment, should I return?¡± Tiny frowned in thought and Keen shook his head. But it was Cheel who spoke for the first time in a calm tone. ¡°General, you need to get your comm fixed. We need you at full capacity and your expertise in the battles ahead.¡± ¡°I can still direct the battle through my BUV.¡± Athena protested. ¡°Tell me you aren¡¯t standing on top of the dune talking to us.¡± Tiny asked in his grumbling voice. ¡°Of course she is not. She wouldn¡¯t waist time like that. She is rolling over dunes not standing.¡± Athena 8¡¯s lip twitched upwards ¡°I trained you all well battle commanders.¡± The general saw her men and woman puff up at her words and continued. ¡°Now tell me, if I am going to the cities. What do you want from there?¡± ¡°A ship.¡± Cheel spoke instantly. ¡°More shields.¡± Tiny added. ¡°E65.¡± Keen said at the same time. The general squinted at Keen ¡°Keen, E65 is not something I can buy.¡± ¡°Yes, but I want his antimatter capabilities.¡± Keen groused. ¡°You have plenty of mines keen. Stop being greedy.¡± Cheel said in her calm tone. Athena 8 had to congratulate herself. She had been right on insisting that her flight commander took a Still shard. Popular with the hand to hand combat experts and meditators, the shard had calmed down the fiery Ruby¡¯s personality to create one of the best flight commander¡¯s she had served with. If that wasn¡¯t enough encouragement, Keen¡¯s next words and Cheel¡¯s calm repost to them proved the value of the shard. ¡°Greedy! Greedy? You are asking for a ship, and I am greedy? No, you are greedy. You and your chickens.¡± ¡°Keen. Why don¡¯t you and your groundhogs watch the floor and let me manage the air?¡± Keen opened his mouth and stopped. Boom! Another plum of sand and ash flew up into the sky. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°Well that was unexpected.¡± Tiny pointed to spot inside their lines and added ¡°Did you miss a spot keen?¡± ¡°No.¡± Keen replied distractedly he tapped his hud while muttering ¡°How did you get behind us?¡± Athena glanced at Keen ¡°Find that out Keen. I will see what I can do about Taran E65.¡± Keen thumped his armoured chest and left the channel. ¡°I will see what I can do about the shields Tiny. But don¡¯t hold up home. Everyone¡¯s buying shields. Not many are left in the market.¡± Athena looked at Cheel¡¯s calm face and sighed ¡°Yes. It will be a small one. But yes.¡± Cheel smiled serenely ¡°Thank you General.¡± Athena took her visor off and lost connection. She touched her eyebrow again. When nothing happened. She exhaled out her annoyance. Out of range for her Battle Vehicle to connect to the network she took manual control and continued driving. Her vehicle anticipated her wishes and assisted her in speeding up. Driving over dunes and charting the shortest path to the Fire City she first missed the camouflage augs. Then her hud pined and she started seeing continuum soldiers in active camouflaged armours. They didn¡¯t even twitch much less move to acknowledge her. Her vehicle on the other hand, it could identify the potentiality being used and that defeated the augs camouflage. Augmented. The cyborgs were a deadly force when arrayed like this. But they were a static force. They needed active guidance from the Aug Queen in the form of clear orders. But when she was away, like right now, they all followed her last orders like good little puppies and didn¡¯t stray far. Not that was not effective but in war, where battle lines shifted, they became canon fodder. And that¡¯s how Heena used them. The general needed a more reactionary to win the coming battle. Heck, if she was wishing why not wish for a belligerent force to take the battle to the enemy. But wishes weren¡¯t fishes, and she was stuck in a desert full of ash and sand. The ground flattened out and soon she was passing a few transport vehicles. The augs in the trucks gave her side glances. She caught one¡¯s eyes and the man saluted. ¡°General Athena!¡± The man thumped his armoured chest. The others followed the man¡¯s example. Athena 8 thumped her own chest and kept her eyes on the road to avoid any further distractions. That was another thing. She was tired of being General Athena 8. The eighth of her kind and the first one who wasn¡¯t still born. The longest living continuum officer. She was either a beacon to her people or a tyrant who they were afraid of. Every soldier¡¯s augmented eye told her the same story. Athena 8 missed her friends. The ones who welcomed her to their table, showed her affection and called her Tina. She would meet them soon. With that thought the General pushed away her bout of melancholy and looked in the mirror and was not surprised when she realised to see a chubby vehicle following her. She rolled her eyes. She was Athena 8. The only system acknowledged General of the continuum. She had a job to do. And with Jay 7 and the aug queen away now was the time to do it. Tail or not. Her BUV turned and the general finally made it to the fire bird¡¯s circle. She hit a button and the vehicle screeched to a stop. The chubby troop carrier behind her was not expecting that and swerved dangerous. To avoid contact with her BUV, it pulled into an alley. Crash! Athena 8 would have laughed any other day at the complete incompetence of the augs chasing her but today the general didn¡¯t care for any of that. She only had eyes for the roundabout and the statue in the middle of it. Someone. and she thought she knew who, had broken the statue of the Yaksha¡¯s pet. Through her evolved eyes, she could see angry bouts of ethereal fire still floating over the circle. But as expected, just like the augs underneath the fire, Jay 7 didn¡¯t see the reaction to his action, and continued building a¡­ ¡°By the gods. What have they done?¡± Athena 8 whispered to herself. Those were dimenzian bars the augs were laying into the floor. She knew what was wrapped around those bars. Pieces of living flesh. That would help the new structure lock onto the destination. Then the ethericite dust would the augs had just started pouring in over the bars would power the flat structure. Then would come more dimenzian. This time in welded circles. And finally, nephrite cement would cover the floor creating in concentric circles of dimensional effects. Creating a fully operational and open, worlds ring. Athena had seen it done before and it was even popular with rich multi world families. But those were small things. Placed in secure courtyards, protected by guards and used by family members by blood ties. As she watched the augs work, ramifications of Jay 7¡¯s began to dawn upon Athena 8. The mentor wasn¡¯t going to use the temple as bait. No, he wanted to use an entire world. The world ring would allow an easy access to Earth. And that would be too fat a goose for the Raks to ignore. An unlimited supply of sentient flesh and blood. The raks would kill each other to get in. Seven would use her troops, her tactics to cull the enemy. He would fight with the newly arrived humans. And just at the right moment, Jay 7 and his troops would pull back letting the weak fight the hoard and dying to them. Then he would bombard the hoard from a distance. It would work. She knew it would work. It had worked earlier when they had lost the Fire City. Only costing the continuum forty soul while destroying the enemy army. But that had just been a temple. With the worlds ring, what would the enemy bring? She needed to stop this. No, it was too late for that. She needed to inform her faction. Reinforce the lines with automated turrets. She needed to¡­ Athena 8 closed her eyes and muttered to herself ¡°This is no time to lose it. This is no time to lose it.¡± And kept repeating it until someone knocked on her window. Athena looked up and found Pretty¡¯s concerned young face looking in. ¡°General?¡± Pretty asked. Athena 8 put her mask back on and smiled at the girl ¡°Hello Pretty.¡± Pretty smiled and pointed at the temple with ¡°He told us to expect you.¡± Athena 8 followed the girl¡¯s finger. Just inside the gate, the new priest of the temple was standing waiting for her with his hands folded. Athena 8 sighed ¡°Of course. Priests.¡± The general got out from her vehicle and made her way to the man. She raised her hands palms up and began. ¡°I apologise for my words when we met. I had just come out of a battle, and I said things I shouldn¡¯t have.¡± Joshi waved one of his hands to dismiss her words and sighed ¡°What is done, is done, general. Frankly, I am sorry too. The yaksha, had just shown me the importance of warders. And the thought of my world losing them made me lose my temper.¡± ¡°They are not yours to command.¡± Athena stated. ¡°No, they are not. Something your people will understand soon too.¡± Joshi sighed and a bit of smoke came out of his lungs. ¡°Do you know something I don¡¯t?¡± Joshi laughed ¡°Oh yes, general. A lot of things. Things about your people. Their plans. They have been busy while you have been away.¡± Athena glanced back at the broken statue and frowned ¡°Have we angered the yaksha?¡± Joshi looked up at the larger General. He noted the worry lines on her ageless face and replied truthfully. ¡°Anger is strong word. Lord Agni does not like the continuum. When he pictures it, he pictures it as black mould. Growing over a perfectly good wall. And tainting the air.¡± Athena did not know what to say to defend her people, so she took out five baskets of food and placed it just inside the temple. ¡°As an apology.¡± The general stated. Joshi looked down at the baskets and nodded ¡°Food fit to be blessed by god.¡± We waved his hand and all, but one basket disappeared. The priest continued his voice taking on heat ¡°You will have to do better to apologise to the warders you know.¡± ¡°About that. Could you tell me more about them?¡± Joshi smiled and licks of fire floated over his tongue ¡°Having second thoughts?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Athena agreed. ¡°Let me guess you are wondering if you are giving power to vindictive, maleficent and evil individuals.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t.¡± General Athena took a step back and added ¡°But, now I am.¡± Joshi chuckled. It was a rumbling thing that made the hair on back of Athena neck stand up in fright. Athena kept a cool fa?ade and did not show how disconcerted she felt. This priest was different. Something about him made her want take out her rifle and shoot. What had the Yaksha created in this man? Joshi didn¡¯t seem to realise the effect he was having and kept talking to himself ¡°Oh, the boy. He is going to hate this. He is getting so much attention, and he doesn¡¯t even know about it. That will rankle him. The girl, now that is different, she has never liked people. She is going to be annoyed for completely different reason.¡± Athena 8 cleared her throat ¡°Priest Joshi?¡± ¡°The weapon shards. The boy hogged them both but that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Hmmm¡­ refined potentiality would suit her better.¡± ¡°Priest?¡± The priest looked up and his fire filled eyes cleared ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°My question sir?¡± Athena asked. ¡°Huh? Oh, yes. The answer is complicated.¡± Joshi snorted and jets of fire flowed out his nose as he breathed ¡°Is a tree evil if it soaks up all the water in a forest? Is death evil, if it comes to you on the battlefield. Is the end of the universe evil when the light can¡¯t reach it?¡± Athena 8 exhaled ¡°What is with you priest? Why can¡¯t you give me a simple answer?¡± Joshi laughed ¡°Priest? Priest, she says.¡± His hollow crackling laughter became louder and boomed across the temple. The fire around the priest flared and then slowly faded from his extremities faded. The man shook his head. ¡°Gods¡­ Not again!¡± Joshi shook his hands out. He took a breath and grimaced ¡°Ugh! Now my nose smell of charred wood.¡± ¡°Priest Joshi?¡± Joshi looked at Athena 8 and whispered ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°What just happened?¡± Joshi licked his lips ¡°You just had a conversation with Lord Agni.¡± Athena 8¡¯s eyes widened and Joshi quickly moved to reassure her. ¡°He likes you, by the way. He approves of your forces too.¡± ¡°Not enough to give me a clear answer.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t blame me. I know what it is like not having answers to questions. I was a scientist you know before all this happened.¡± Athena 8 raised an eyebrow and with a smile asked ¡°You were a scientist?¡± ¡°Yes, a Helio physicist, a nuclear physicist and an astro physicist. I was making nukes to explode in space. And now I am here.¡± Athena looked at the snorting priest and added ¡°Well, you kept the fire theme going.¡± Joshi gave Athena a chiding look ¡°What you just said is so wrong that I don¡¯t even know where to start. A star is not on fire. It is agitated hydrogen. Nuclear explosions are not fire. They are a release of energy that causes fire.¡± Athena 8 raised her hands in defeat ¡°I am just a soldier. Trying to find better ways to kill my enemies.¡± Joshi exhaled ¡°Sorry.¡± And this time only air came out. Athena in a sober voice asked ¡°So why did he speak through you? Is it because of the worlds ring?¡± Joshi grimaced ¡°That. No.¡± Athena continued ¡°Why did you let your people do that?¡± Joshi gritted his teeth ¡°I was in communion with the yaksha, and they gave their flesh behind my back.¡± ¡°What are you going to do?¡± ¡°Create a chance for us all.¡± ¡°What does that mean¡­¡± Running footsteps distracted Athena 8 from her conversation and she turned. Joshi decides her sighed loudly ¡°I am sorry General.¡± Athena 8 glanced back at Joshi and then the commander running towards her. The man skidded to a stop and glared at her. ¡°That¡¯s her isn¡¯t it?¡± Ari¡¯s gruff voice asked Joshi from a distance. Joshi sighed ¡°Commander, please do not...¡± ¡°Where is he?¡± Ari asked while walking menacingly at Athena 8. ¡°Who?¡± Athena asked in a measure tone. ¡°Who? Who? Mbungwa!¡± Ari yelled. Athena 8 looked at Joshi and genuinely asked ¡°Who?¡± Ari snapped. He sprung himself at Athena 8. His metal taped hand cocked. Athena turned calmly and flared her shards for just a second. She watched the metal hand approach her with a closed fist. From the side of her eye, the General saw Pretty and her people running through the gate. On the other side the young commander¡¯s men piled out from deeper inside the temple. Athena 8 knew she needed to put an end to this and quick. The ageless general effortlessly sidestepped the blow. She punched out. Her right fist contacted Ari¡¯s diaphragm and drove all the air out of the commander. ¡°Calm down ascended.¡± Ari¡¯s eyes widened. He did not know what had just happened. One moment he was launching himself at the large woman and in blink he was doubling over. No, he couldn¡¯t go down like this. Ari gathered his will and with all the effort he could muster he kicked out at the dark skinned woman with his metal covered feet. Clank. Athena looked down at Ari. He had kicked her. She hadn¡¯t even felt the blow. That was the difference between a class zero and a peak class one. But he had chipped the matt paint on her armour and now she would have to get that portion painted back. Athena 8¡¯s eyes slightly narrowed in annoyance. She grabbed the man by his throat and lifted him up. She looked into the man¡¯s maddened eyes and exhaled. Carefully, trying not to injure the man, she slammed the new ascended to ground. ¡°Ooow!¡± All the air inside Ari¡¯s chest flew out. He rapidly blinked to clear his vision and saw Athena 8 looming over him. Before he could react he felt something cold touch the neck of his skin. It punctured his skin and then he heard a hiss. Ari pushed of the floor and rolled to his feet. He brought his hand up to fight and felt a cold sensation flow through his brain. Athena 8 held up syringe gun in her palms and announced ¡°Balancers. They will help you think clearly.¡± Athena 8 slowly straightened. She shot a challenging look at the commander¡¯s men. And locked onto the man inching forwards with a long black knife. The turbaned man jutted his chin out and moved to the commander¡¯s right. ¡°Sir?¡± Ari wheezed and climbed back to his feet. He coughed and lifted his hand to stop his man ¡°It¡¯s okay Singh.¡± The commander looked around and stood there stunned. Slowly Ari realised how badly he had messed up. He had just attacked a General in a land she controlled, with her troops all around her. If they weren¡¯t on friendly-ish terms his men would be dead by now. And he would be the one to blame. Ari looked at Athena with a shameful look and muttered ¡°I am sorry general.¡± ¡°Better?¡± Athena 8 asked. Ari nodded ¡°Thank you.¡± As his team inched closer to him. A second later the perseverance members arrived giving the Earthlings challenging looks. ¡°Stand down people.¡± Athena¡¯s people lowered their guard and gave the commander and his men an amused look. Singh looked at Ari ¡°Commander? Are you okay?¡± Ari nodded ¡°Yes.¡± After a moment he asked ¡°What happened to me?¡± ¡°You have a Khara neuro shard in you. It is driving you mad with anger.¡± Athena 8 shook her head and added ¡°I told you to get that taken care of.¡± Ari shot Joshi an accusing look. Athena 8 turned to look at the priest. Joshi sighed ¡°He doesn¡¯t trust me. He thinks my loyalty is divided because I am a priest of Agni now. That is why he won¡¯t let me take care of his shard.¡± ¡°Well, with what I just saw, he is not wrong.¡± Athena responded. Joshi grimaced ¡°He won¡¯t¡­ I won¡¯t¡­ Ah!¡± The priest threw his hands up in the air. ¡°Ha! So, the commander was right.¡± Singh stated in a growl. He shot a harsh look at the priest. Joshi just shook his head and stomped off. Athena 8 turned to look at the turbaned man ¡°Yes, your commander is right. But a khara shard, that is not good either.¡± ¡°Why? Ari asked. ¡°Khara¡¯s are a tentacled space fairing species. They are pacifist with three brains. Their shards are created to drive aggressive ideation. With three brains they can balance out the shards effects out. Even so, their people avoid the ones with the khara shard.¡± Pretty explained Athena 8 shot the younger woman a look. ¡°I have been reading.¡± Pretty blushed. Athena 8 slowly noticed how close Pretty was standing to the commander and smiled faintly. ¡°Come with me. I know of a man who would be happy to help with that shard.¡± Athena 8 said helpfully. ¡°How do I know I can trust you?¡± Ari asked. Athena 8 gave the young commander a chiding look ¡°What would I want from you? I am just going to introduce you to the expert. Bring silver, gold, or platinum. He¡¯ll take his payments in precious metals.¡± Athena 8 started walking away and Ari called out ¡°I don¡¯t have all that.¡± The general hung her head ¡°Right. Come anyway. I will loan you the money.¡± Chapter 34 – If it ain’t fried. It ain’t right. A few hours later Athena was driving out of the city to a strange black square structure. Her dashboard slowly pinged as the preparations to stall the ongoing horde activated. With the first line complete her teams rushed to secure the second line. Even so, Athena 8 the longest serving General in the trials knew that no strategy lasts after the first contact of the enemy. And when it came to the Rakshasa Empire, that was a fact than just words on paper. The last time, the Raks had just run through lines of lasers, sacrificing their own. Before that they had charged with their strange mythological horse drawn carts, and before that, when they had lost the Fire City they had burrowed up from underground like the blasted anomalies. Athena 8¡¯s hud buzzed angrily. She ignored it. Instead, she looked at the boy sitting next to her. He had a white fisted grip on the chair he was sitting on. She smiled slightly as a sharp intake of breath from behind announced the commander¡¯s discomfort. She looked back at her rearview mirror to see the man¡¯s grimace. When the man wasn¡¯t battling madness, the man was composed. Speaking of Pretty, she was looking from the commander to the back of her head. Most probably wondering to let the two newly arrived people know of the port stone. ¡°Relax, it¡¯s a port stone.¡± Pretty lost her internal battle and continued speaking ¡°We won¡¯t hit. It will transport us¡­umm¡­Where are we going General.¡± In response Athena 8 sped up and heard the two make uncomfortable noises as they touched the black stone. And just like that, they were through. The General hit a button on her dashboard and the vehicle underneath her purred. The jump that was oncoming over a high dune turned into a smooth roll as the auto drive routines took over. ¡°City of falls.¡± Athena pointed and her six wheeled battle utility vehicle gently turned towards a distant city covered with large water falls. The two men gasps and gawked as the BUV started eating up kilometers under her. Athena sat back in her seat and finally opened the notification that had been annoying her all day. She jolted back up. ¡°General?¡± Pretty asked. ¡°It¡¯s nothing. Just a report from the council.¡± Athena 8 carefully leaned back and looked at the notification. Congratulation Co ¨C Councillor! The Continuum has spent 12 Light favours. May your decisions be praised by the light. As the general reread the notification her blood ran cold. What were they doing? Had they lost their minds? What if? Dred ran through her soul. Thoughts spiralled in her head. Was the continuum ready to splinter? Did that mean Aditya 101 was finally coming after her? And what about his purist wives? What had they decided to spend their favours on? Or¡­The battle hardened general gulped. Had her sister finally decided to close the gaps. Athena 8 knew that her last display of power had been rash. Could she have pushed the Aug Queen to spend her favours? But twelve of them? That would mean that she would finally have to leave her humanity behind. That would turn her into something else. An eldritch sentient mechanical thing called a brood queen. Athena 8 had seen the tree of evolution her sister was following and for a moment imagined that future. She shook her head. No that wasn¡¯t possible. Yes, that would give Heena a lot of power. And complete subservience of all the augmented in the continuum, but it would also cut all her emotional ties. And as the General¡¯s tactical mind took over, she knew that her sister wasn¡¯t ready to lose Jay 7 just yet. Love, it was a strange thing. She had loved once. In olden days. She had loved her father. She had loved the mission he took her on. Training her and caring for her when she needed either attention, and instruction. Always secure in her belief that her father, Jay Chandra would out battle anyone that would come against then. What had he said? Yes. ¡°Tina, you and your sisters will lead us after I am gone.¡± And she had replied with ¡°No dada, we will lead them together.¡± And now¡­ Her father always wanted to have children, and she wanted to have sisters. She had got them. A lot of them. Sisters that looked exactly like her. Then they had died. One by one. Breaking her heart into pieces. Only leaving Heena and her from the first generation. They had gotten closer. Inseparable even. But then Jay Chandra had died. His assassins had never been caught and she had pursued his killers to the very end of the trails. She had only returned when she had learned that her sister had been gravely injured. She needed to save her, at any cost. And that¡¯s when she had spent her first two favours and made a grave mistake. The system had delivered. Grafting unknown technology directly over her body. Saving what little could be saved of her and turning her into the first augmented human. Heena had died that day. And all that was left of her were glimpses behind the Aug Queen. Lost in her thoughts Athena 8 didn¡¯t realise when the vehicle slowed. She looked up as it came to a stop in front of two city guards. One raised his hand and stopped the vehicle. His hand slipped down intimidatingly to his sword. The General identified it as a soul weapon and her hud corroborated her observations. Weapon ¨C Sword Class ¨C 0 Element - Water Type ¨C Soul Weapon Athena looked at the weapon and the man, unimpressed. The man seemed to puff up and in a haughty voice asked ¡°Name and purpose of visit?¡± In response Athena 8 flared her shards. The man stiffened and the two next two him paled. Even the ones sitting next to her flinched as a system notification identified her. Name ¨C Athena Chandra (Athena 8) Class 1 (Peak) Race ¨C Human (Evolved) Affiliation ¨C Continuum Faction ¨C Perseverance Rank ¨C General System Rank - 11 The general soundlessly exhaled and let the pressure on her shards peter out. She knew what the stunned guards were seeing right now. If her peak class didn¡¯t impress them then her system rank of eleven would tell them how many dangerous quests and missions she had completed. The first guard was quickly overtaken by another more senior guard. She approached her vehicle and in a much more respectful voice asked ¡°General Athena 8, we are glad to have you back. Sorry for the delay but may I ask where you are going?¡± ¡°To the sisters and then to the armourer.¡± The guard relaxed and smiled ¡°Then you should hurry General. They have just fried the good stuff and are about to start serving.¡± Athena 8 nodded ¡°Looks like I made it just in time.¡± ¡°You did.¡± The woman moved out of the way and waved her to go on. Athena 8 slid up her window. Her vehicle navigated over a bridge. Giving everyone inside a grand view of the first waterfall. She touched her dashboard and it flipped over again. The boy sitting next to her, the one the commander called Abesh jolted in surprise when a large section flipped over to reveal a display panel. ¡°Relax.¡± Athena 8 said to everyone in the car and added ¡°I am just going to start a private call.¡± While the she spoke she navigated to the do not disturb setting and switched it off. She was going to start establishing a secure connection when one popped onto the screen. The general looked at all the passengers in her vehicle and then focussed a camera on her face. She instructed the vehicle. ¡°BUV. Isolate me.¡± Moments later the floor around her darkened and the noises flowing in from everywhere stopped. And a dark curtain of air fell around Athena separating her from the world. Ari scooted back as the darkness engulfed the driver¡¯s chair. He felt a hand on his bicep and looked up to see Pretty calming smile. He didn¡¯t feel very calm. His insides were churning. He had lost control again. Why had he had attacked her. A woman that was built like the terminator. And one in that tank like suit. When the general had moved faster than his eyes could have blinked he had thought he was dead. Leaving his men to die in this strange place. Instead, the woman had given been understanding. The wasn¡¯t gentle but she had given him something that had cleared his thoughts. Compared to that racist Jay fellow, Athena 8 was an angel. He needed to do better. He had an example of great leadership in front of him. Athena Chandra was not like the other Athena he had met. The cyborg version of her was strange. The way she walked, the way she acted, and what she said were all filled with wild emotions. This one she was cold. She was calm and controlled. She observed everything around her, she took notes, and acted if only she needed to. Not that he knew that when he had gotten into the small tank with her. He had been worried about her ripping his head of back there. That is why he had taken a seat just behind her. To stop any aggressive behaviour. Instead, she had driven them into a large rock and somehow, they had ended up here. In a city of waterfalls. ¡°Hey, Ari, what¡¯s wrong?¡± Pretty turned his head to look at her. Ari shook his head ¡°I¡­Uh¡­ I have been messing up.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, you can fix it now. As soon as we get that shard looked at you will be perfect.¡± Ari smiled ¡°Perfect?¡± Pretty leaned back ¡°Well, not perfect. But the beard is nice.¡± Ari grinned and then looked at Abesh who was trying his best not to listen to the girl flirting with his commander. Ari cleared his throat and asked ¡°Hey Pretty. Where are we?¡± ¡°Two hundred and eighty Kilometres from where we started. We are in the City Of Falls. A city controlled by a family of noble from Rier. The Rundheer¡¯s. They export the potentiality filled water out of here to the rich, noble, or both in Reir.¡± ¡°Rier?¡± Ari asked after Pretty said the word twice. ¡°It¡¯s a world. A planet. They say its planet full of trees, rivers and oceans.¡± Pretty said wistfully. ¡°Sounds like Earth.¡± ¡°Does it?¡± ¡°Yes, trees, rivers, seas, beaches and oceans.¡± Ari looked in front and called out ¡°Hey boy wonder, did I miss something?¡± Abesh looked back and smiled ¡°Snow covered peaks, and volcanoes sir?¡± Ari chuckled ¡°Yes, those too.¡± ¡°Volcanoes. What are volcanoes?¡± Pretty asked with the prettiest from Ari had ever seen. Inside the bubble of dead air Athena hit a button and Ruby F1450 angry face popped onto the screen. The woman shouted ¡°Athena 8! What do you think you are doing?¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± The general asked the short woman on the screen. ¡°Favours, they belong to all of us. You can¡¯t unilaterally spend them.¡± Captain Ruby F1450 shouted. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Athena 8 gave the purist in front of her a withering look and started ¡°That is the problem with you, young ones. You have forgotten who I am. Let me remind you, I don¡¯t answer to you, Captain.¡± The young councillor leaned towards the screen and in a harsh voice responded ¡°I don¡¯t care who your daddy was or what your history¡­¡± A hand clasped over Ruby F¡¯s mouth and the camera zoomed out to show two more people alongside the first one. Parvati 551 and Aditya 101 restrained the shorter ill-tempered woman and Athena 8 sat back in her seat and took a moment to consider the new developments. The three councillors in opposition were here talking to her that meant they hadn¡¯t spent the favours. That left¡­ A clearing of a throat brought Athena 8 out of her thoughts. ¡°Hello, Tina.¡± Parvati 551 greeted the General. ¡°Hello, Ati. Is this going to be a long therapy session? Because I don¡¯t have the time or the inclination right now. Specially with your partners watching.¡± Parvati 551 smiled and shook her head ¡°No councillor, this is an emergency meeting. Twelve favours were spent. Now we know that you are out there in the desert creating traps and battlements to stall the enemy. And we agree, that you might have had to spent a few, but why did you have to spend so many?¡± Athena frowned and annoyance dripped from her tone ¡°Why do you care how I spend my favours?¡± ¡°They are a council resource, Tina. They belong to all of us.¡± Parvati 551 tried to keep a level tone. ¡°No. Mine do not.¡± Parvati 551¡¯s raised her voice in frustration ¡°Why are you being difficult about this?¡± Athena 8 realised that she wasn¡¯t going to get anymore essential information out of this conversation and decided to tell the woman what she knew. ¡°Ati, listen to what I am saying. I don¡¯t hand the council my favours. Not anymore. I have more than what you all have from the fall of Prithvi. Me and my new faction are constantly fighting for the system. At completion of all those missions we are awarded favours. So, the new High Councillor and I reached an understanding. I gave threw down a fist full of coins and he quietly flipped off.¡± Parvati 551 blinked and looked at Aditya 101 ¡°A fistful?¡± Athena 8 decided to answer even though the question wasn¡¯t directed at her ¡°Yes. A fist full. I didn¡¯t count.¡± In confusion Parvati 551 asked ¡°Why weren¡¯t we told about this?¡± ¡°Ask, Taran 45. I don¡¯t care.¡± Athena 8 said flippantly and added ¡°I just wanted my people free of all your shackles. We have a war to fight, and you all are playing politics.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand. Did you or did you not spend favours today?¡± Ruby F1450 couldn¡¯t take it and asked. ¡°Yes, I did, captain. I will do so tomorrow too. But they won¡¯t be from the continuum¡¯s pool. They will be from my personal wallet.¡± ¡°What?¡± Ruby F1450 asked in confusion and added ¡°That is not how things are done.¡± ¡°No captain, that is not how things were done.¡± ¡°How many favours do you have, Tina?¡± Parvati 551 asked. ¡°None of your business, Ati.¡± The silent man on the screen finally moved and soundlessly walked to the centre of the screen. He moved his hands rapidly signing the question he wanted to ask. Parvati turned to the camera and started ¡°Adi is asking¡­¡± ¡°I know what he is asking Ati.¡± Athena 08 looked at the silent man and answered ¡°No. Aditya One¡­ Oh¡­ One¡­ I don¡¯t think the Aug Queen used those coins. I think you need to confront the High Councillors. The new and the old.¡± The silent Aditya 101 nodded and took a step back. ¡°Thank you for answering our questions, General. May we ask, when you will be back?¡± ¡°No.¡± With that one-word Athena 8 cut the communication link and looked out. The budding conversation around her died as her guests noticed that the dark blurring effect around her had disappeared. That was okay, they were already there. She got out from her vehicle and began walking towards the door of the shop while reading the sign. Six Sisters Buns If it ain¡¯t fried. It ain¡¯t right. The smell of sweet sugary fruit and fresh baked buns assaulted all their noses and made her mouth water. Then the smell of freshly brewed coffee hit her like a wall. Athena pointed at a shop opposite to the one she had parked on and instructed Pretty. ¡°Pretty, take the commander to the armourer. Tell them to fix that shard. Here.¡± Athena 8 handed her list ¡°Get these too.¡± Pretty saluted by banging her armour and looked at Ari, She smiled took his hand and walked away. Abesh looked from his commander to Athena 8 like a lost boy. ¡°Come with me.¡± Athena 8 instructed and began walking to the shop. She reached for the door and stopped when a familiar voice loudly announced ¡°Shops closed.¡± Athena 8 turned to the voice and saw two women sitting on a park bench with a coffee pot in between them. One was dark as the coffee in her cup and the other one with paler than the dough she was kneading. ¡°Alice. Joyce.¡± ¡°Tina.¡± The paler one greeted her and then looked at the young soldier who was following her. The darker woman took a sip of her coffee ¡°Want one?¡± ¡°Freid coffee? By the gods, yes.¡± Joyce frowned slightly at the words and poured the General and the boy a cup each ¡°So, what bring you here? To the falls of all the things?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t a woman visit her old friends and get some lunch?¡± ¡°It¡¯s breakfast time Athena.¡± The blonde Alice corrected the general. ¡°Who cares? I want food and coffee. Can I buy some please?¡± Athena 8 asked the Alice. Alice looked at Joyce and, in that moment, they looked so different. Like they were from different worlds. And yet, for those who had ascended and evolved their eyes, could see the resembles between the two sisters. ¡°It¡¯s okay. We both know she is here to see me.¡± Joyce smiled at her sister. ¡°Fine, I will get the baskets.¡± Alice muttered. As soon as Alice left Athena leaned forward ¡°Tell me about your world.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Earth. Tell me about it.¡± Joyce looked startled for a moment. She got a distant look in her eyes and began a brief explanation about the planet and her life on it. Athena 8 listened to the tale of a young woman being born, traveling to distant lands, bringing the word of her god to people and saving people from starvation. Until it all ended in heartbreak. ¡°Well, then Jimmy Hendricks died, and I knew there was nothing left for me on the planet. So, I called my sister, and she brought me to the trials.¡± Joyce ended her story with a smile. Athena bit into a bun filled with sweet meats and chewed. She looked at the boy sittings besides her. He was trying his best to control himself but the slight shake of his shoulders gave away his feelings. Athena squinted at her fried ¡°Joyce. Your story is¡­ It¡¯s¡­¡± The general gave her friend a searching look. ¡°Boisterous ma¡¯am?¡± Abesh asked straight faced. ¡°Boisterous That is good word. Thank you, boy wonder.¡± Athena stated and looked at Joyce ¡°Your story is too boisterous Joyce. Would you mind starting again please?¡± Across the street, Ari walked through shelves of shards and sliding walls full of weapons. They ranged from melee, to futuristic to completely strange. Besides him a shop boys and girls packed items from the list Pretty had handed over to one of the managers. ¡°Pretty!¡± An excited voice came from the back of the shop and Ari headed in its direction. ¡°Hello Navi.¡± Pretty greeted the man. Ari felt a hint of annoyance when the man hugged Pretty. ¡°What can I do for you? Ready to upgrade your shotgun?¡± Navi asked. ¡°No. No. I haven¡¯t saved enough up for that yet.¡± Pretty waved at Ari ¡°The general wants the shard in the commanders head looked at.¡± Navi raised his eyebrows and put a monocle on his eye. He grimaced and flinched back ¡°Ah! A khara shard. What in the world possessed you to do that young man?¡± Ari opened his mouth to say that he wasn¡¯t young, but the man stopped him in his tracks by grabbing his head. He turned it left, then right, then made him look at the floor. Looking at the top of Ari¡¯s head the man made a tisk sound. ¡°That¡¯s not going to come out.¡± The armourer announced. ¡°Oh, come on Navi.¡± Pretty pouted. ¡°Girl, I can take that shard out. But his brains are coming out with it.¡± ¡°I like his brains where they are.¡± ¡°I think you like more about him than just his brains.¡± Pretty slammed her foot on the floor ¡°How many times have I told you not to use that eye glass on me?¡± ¡°And how many times have I told you that you can¡¯t hide your feelings.¡± Ari opened his mouth again to ask for solutions only to stop when a finger was pointed at him like a gun. ¡°You, not a word. I don¡¯t want you to start mouthing off at me with that shard.¡± Navi ordered. ¡°He is on balancers.¡± Pretty announced. ¡°You think that will stop him if he starts getting angry?¡± Navi huffed and tapped his finger on his desk ¡°Hold out yours hands. Let me see how much they shake.¡± Ari held out his hands. ¡°What in the oblivion is this mess?¡± Navi pointed at Ari metal covered hands. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°Not what you expected?¡± Joyce asked Athena as her sister came back and sat down alongside her. This time the story hadn¡¯t been that entertaining. The travel inside a submarine to sneak into a rock concert omission was glaring in the retelling of the tale. ¡°No, it¡¯s not that. You haven¡¯t spoken about a country named India. Can you tell me about that place?¡± The boy besides Athena stopped chewing and looked at Joyce. ¡°India?¡± Joyce leaned back ¡°Hmm¡­ Honestly, I don¡¯t know much about it. I think I once saw a cartoon about a rope charmer with a big moustache from there. But that is all.¡± Abesh shot an annoyed look Joyce¡¯s way. ¡°Ah I see, that¡¯s where you are from.¡± Joyce said to Abesh. Athena 8 turned to look at her friend¡¯s older sister and asked ¡°You know something about that place?¡± ¡°No, but I know that two warders were born recently. Then some entity obscured the lord¡¯s sight. But if you are here¡­¡± Alice looked at Athena sharply ¡°Then you have it. And you planning to use it on them.¡± ¡°Yes I am.¡± Alice sighed ¡°You will anger a lot of people if you are successful. Are you sure you want to do that, Tina.¡± ¡°The light demands it.¡± Athena answered simply. Joyce made a cross gesture and kissed the cross on her necks ¡°We all are serve the lord in our way.¡± Alice wasn¡¯t so sanguine about Athena 8¡¯s answer ¡°The light and its system won¡¯t protect you or the two you will put in danger.¡± Athena took in a deep breath ¡°I will protect them. And my people will protect me.¡± The two sisters looked at each other and nodded. Alice sighed ¡°India, does not have a happy history. When I visited that place the natives were dying of famine while the colonials were feasting and funding a distant war with the riches of that land.¡± ¡°Churchill.¡± Abesh growled. ¡°Yes, that was deeply flawed man that the British celebrated.¡± Joyce shook her head. ¡°Was that his name? I just called him drunk fatty.¡± Alice said offhandedly. ¡°Sister. How many times have I told you not to call people fat. That is body shaming.¡± Joyce gave an annoyed look and southern American drawl came out thick as syrup. Alice rolled her eyes ¡°Oh come on. If people are fat they are fat.¡± ¡°No people have fat like Tina has muscles. But Tina is Tina. You can¡¯t define her with her muscles.¡± ¡°Joyce, you know I don¡¯t define Tina by her muscles. I define her by her choice of dainty high maintenance women.¡± This time Abesh couldn¡¯t take it. He started snorting, Athena 8 squeezed the bridge of her nose and muttered ¡°Now look what you have done.¡± The general wasn¡¯t the only one praying for patience. Inside the shop Ari watched Navi unwrap his carefully covered hands. He would have protested and even denied the man but just when he opened his mouth the man simply tore the metal on his hands off. ¡°What did I tell you about speaking?¡± ¡°I am perfectly fine.¡± Ari raised his voice ¡°Then why are you screaming boy?¡± Navi asked. Ari stopped and looked at the man blankly. Navi sighed ¡°A khara shard is a complicated thing.¡± Navi got up an brought a ball of foam to Ari. He placed a glass of water in front of the commander and dropped the ball on top of the water. It floated there serenely. ¡°That is a normal shard.¡± Navi pointed at the ball and continued ¡°A normal shard floating on your soul.¡± The man took out a paper napkin. Unfolded it and draped it on top of the ball. The paper floated over the ball. ¡°The paper represents your skull.¡± The armourer tossed the paper aside, took out the ball and in a blur poked it with tens of sharp nails. He held it out. ¡°This is a khara shard.¡± Navi dropped it into the water and the shard sunk slightly deeper. This time when he placed the paper, the nails pierced the sheet. Navi moved the table left to right and Ari watched the holes became larger. ¡°This is what you have.¡± Navi explained. ¡°What is that?¡± Pretty¡¯s cute voice asked. ¡°The khara shard connects the various points of the brain to each other and the temporal soul. It heightens emotions. Most people that have a khara shard go berserk in battle. And get themselves killed.¡± Pretty pouted ¡°What about the holes?¡± Navi blinked and looked at the dissolving paper ¡°You are not looking at the right thing girl.¡± ¡°And what is that?¡± Pretty folded her hands over her chest cutely. ¡°The paper is his skull. The water is his brain. What do you think the shard is doing to his brain?¡± ¡°It¡¯s mushing up his brain?¡± Pretty squeaked. Navi rolled his eyes and took the spiked ball out ¡°This is an allegory.¡± ¡°An all¡­ What?¡± ¡°An example girl.¡± Navi said shortly. ¡°So? What do we do?¡± Ari asked his heart beating in his chest. Navi smiled ¡°There are two ways we can handle this situation. One I create a bubble around the shard, and you can have a limited access to it. You will also have to get the bubble redone time to time. It will take hours and will cost you a pretty sum.¡± ¡°Or?¡± Ari asked. ¡°Navi.¡± Pretty said warningly. Navi ignored Pretty and continued ¡°What other shards do you have?¡± ¡°Metal, quicksilver, and neuro.¡± ¡°Quicksilver?¡± Navi grinned. ¡°Navi!¡± Pretty said warningly. ¡°Oh, come on Pretty. Its almost as if it was destiny.¡± ¡°What is?¡± Ari asked. Navi tapped his table and a familiar hologram of a man in a tentacled armour popped up from the table. The rope like tentacles moved and flowed away from the man. Two of them faced outwards. One dug into the ground and the third created a projection in front of the man to aim with. The man began to shoot. Beams flew out rapidly from the triumphant looking figure. Navi began enthusiastically ¡°This is the¡­¡± ¡°Supreme legionnaire armour.¡± Ari finished. Navi blinked ¡°Oh, you know what it is?¡± ¡°The snake man who gave me the neuro shard wanted to sell me this thing.¡± Navi blinked ¡°Whiswo?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Ari growled. ¡°That snake. He stole my idea!¡± ¡°Idea?¡± Pretty asked in a flat voice. ¡°Yeah, I told him that someday I am going to get a mark to put in khara shard so that I could sell them the¡­¡± Navi looked up and saw two pairs of hostile eyes looking at him. The armourer gulped and raised his hands ¡°Hey, it was joke. I was just jesting. He is the one who did it.¡± ¡°Where is his shop?¡± Pretty asked nonchalantly. Navi smiled ¡°Oh, I will tell you. By the gods I will give you the rounds you need to shoot up his place. Go trash him up. Butt first.¡± The armourer turned to look at Ari ¡°So, commander, is it? How do you feel about energy and technology shards. We will also have to create nanites hives and bore them into your bones. How do you feel about pain?¡± Ari shook his head and pointed at the armour ¡°I don¡¯t have money for that.¡± Navi nodded ¡°Oh I know you don¡¯t, but once you link with the armour you wouldn¡¯t be able to take your mind off it. You will feel as if you are missing a limb.¡± Ari exhaled ¡°Then why would I go for it?¡± ¡°Because those hives will take energy away from your unbalanced emotions and use them to do what they do.¡± ¡°And what is that?¡± Pretty narrowed her eyes prettily distracting Ari from the topic momentarily. ¡°Replicating themselves, repairing the body then inhabit and optimising the host.¡± ¡°And that works?¡± Pretty wasn¡¯t sold. ¡°Of course it works. They are nanites created by the body itself. Think of them as white blood cells.¡± Navi replied offended. The man continued ¡°And then you add the armour, and it will keep your boyfriend here from going mad and charging into a wall of enemies.¡± The armourer paused and added ¡°Theoretically.¡± ¡°Theoretically?¡± Ari asked Navi shrugged ¡°It¡¯s a supreme legionnaire armour. Made for apex humans.¡± ¡°Who are these supreme legionnaires?¡± Pretty asked. ¡°Oh, according to the information sellers they are soldiers. They have a long history of working alongside the khara. They are given these neuro shards by the khara who apparently also install them in their allies.¡± ¡°And where did you get this?¡± Ari asked ¡°Some of their enemies sold us this armour. Never seen one work in my life.¡± ¡°And you want Ari here to go for this procedure?¡± ¡°Look, it could help you and calm you down or it could activate suck out your life. That is why you will link with it now and wear it when you have evolved. And that is why I am basically giving it to you for free.¡± Pretty snorted in disbelief. ¡°That is after class one?¡± Ari asked. ¡°Yes. Talking about evolving. Why aren¡¯t you doing that?¡± Pretty knew she wasn¡¯t ready to have that conversation but with both Navi and Ari looking at her she was stuck. But she wasn¡¯t the only one. ¡°So, Tina, why are you so interested in Earth?¡± Joyce asked ¡°Want to do some conquest?¡± Alice added. ¡°Want to become the ruler of a world?¡± Joyce giggled. ¡°Conquer nations on a vacation?¡± Alice chuckled. Athena Chandra gave her two friends a disgusted look ¡°Do I look like I have the time to do that?¡± ¡°Then why?¡± Alice asked. ¡°I am not interested in the world. I am more interested in its people. Two people. Who came from a nation named India.¡± Athena 8 paused ¡°But its history. It scares me. Conquered, subjugated and oppressed. What kind of people would that produce?¡± ¡°You would be surprised.¡± Alice smiled and looked at the young man in front of her. ¡°Let¡¯s cut to the chase then shall we little sister?¡± Alice asked. ¡°Yes, let¡¯s do that.¡± Joyce nodded and continued ¡°What the lord has told us is that two new warders were born recently. He would have reached out to them. But they were complicated. One has a deep darkness in them and the other, well that is for the light to decide. They are its creatures after all.¡± ¡°Darkness?¡± Athena asked. The two sisters nodded together, and Alice continued ¡°But the light does not choose its warders lightly. It chose them Tina. Do not doubt the lights judgement or you will be doubting yourself.¡± Athena blinked ¡°You are right.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Joyce smiled and then looked back ¡°Hey, big man, bring out the two bottles I left on the kitchen slab.¡± Athena looked at the large Zulu man bring out a cloth bag with his floury hands and asked ¡°This one sisters?¡± ¡°Oh, and wash hands boy.¡± Alice chided the big man and he grinned sheepishly. The man¡¯s eyes turned to the visitor and he grinned when he saw Abesh. ¡°Yes. Yes. Give those bottles here and go wash up. You are going back.¡± Joyce muttered to the large African man. Mbungwa nodded and rushed back. Abesh looked at Athena with an open mouth ¡°You brought him here?¡± ¡°Yes. This was the safest place I could find for him. Shame, I couldn¡¯t do that for you.¡± Abesh nodded ¡°Mbungwa. He saved our lives.¡± ¡°There is no way I can say that name.¡± Athena got up from the chair she was sitting on and nodded to her friend ¡°Thank you ladies. You have helped me more than you know.¡± ¡°Oh, we know.¡± Joyce nodded and pointed ¡°And look, there comes that lovesick girl and the Earthling.¡± Athena turned back and saw Pretty leading a stumbling Ari out. She put her shoulder under the man, and both lifted and dragged the commander towards her battle vehicle. ¡°One last thing.¡± Athena Turned back towards the siters ¡°Why didn¡¯t you want to tell me anything about Earth?¡± The sisters shared a long look with each other. ¡°We can trust her.¡± Joyce said to Alice. ¡°She is close to class three. She might try to use the world for her benefits.¡± Alice stated. ¡°Like we did?¡± Alice grimaced and relented ¡°Earth is not a non-reactive world. It is a harvest world.¡± ¡°Harvest world?¡± ¡°A world saturated with potentiality in a universe jam packed with it. It was such a tempting target that the gods fought for it until the light acted. She killed every ascended on it, smiten down gods by the dozens and even killed of her champions when they disobeyed her. Then the tower sheared its existence off from history.¡± Athena paled ¡°Gods.¡± ¡°No. None exist in that universe. Or the universes close to it. Only the light, the yaksha, and the lights agents are allowed in that universe.¡± Alice said sternly ¡°But you know that you come from a cousin world, don¡¯t you?¡± Joyce looked at her friend warningly and added ¡°So, if you are thinking about going there. Don¡¯t. They kill any ascended who is not tied to a peaceful god, over there.¡± Abesh who was standing beside Athena quietly asked ¡°Who are these they?¡± Alice tapped the boys head affectionately ¡°You have heard about them. Flying saucers? Tic tac shaped flyers? Pyramid shaped objects flying out of the deep waters?¡± ¡°Aliens?¡± Abesh¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Yes. That is what you call them. We call them¡­ Well, that¡¯s not important.¡± ¡°We had those in our world too.¡± The general said softly. ¡°Although you can go to a deviation world. Those are created with more magic but they are full of meddling gods. I had one in our city. That one is going to be a problem if he doesn¡¯t leave soon.¡± Joyce grumbled Mbungwa came out and Joyce clapped her hands ¡°Well, this has been fun Tina but now we have to go back to work.¡± She handed the bag with the two bottles to the general and added ¡°Take this with you. One has coffee. The other one has vanilla ice cream. Tell the warders what you have, and I promise you will have their attention.¡± The general took the bottles and made them disappear into her storage. She asked ¡°How much do I owe you for the coffee?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing. Just three favour coins.¡± ¡°Three favour coins?¡± Athena 8 squeaked Athena was about to tell Joyce what she could do with the three coins when one of her agents contacted her. ¡°E65, what is it?¡± ¡°General, something big is happening here. The High Councillor has summoned the warders to the null zone inside the Asambhav. He has asked for the augs and the medic crew to prepare something. And although I don¡¯t know if this is related but the purists are heading his way too.¡± Athena dropped the three coins on the table and responded ¡°E65, stay out of sight but make sure that I have the clearance to make a run for the warders.¡± E65 was silent for a second ¡°General, I don¡¯t think you will make it in time. Do you want me to try on my own. I have friends here¡­¡± ¡°No. You will get yourself killed.¡± Athena 8 looked at the commander who was stumbling into her BUV. It would take her time to drop the earther commander to the fire city and get back. She also wanted to know what had happened inside the armourers but she did not have time for that. Once again she had too much to do and so little time. Athena Chandra put the mask of Athena 8 back again and became the General of the Continuum. She looked at Taran 65 confidently and replied ¡°He won¡¯t kill them. I know him better than most. Whatever he does we can fix. Just keep yourself and your friends out of the way. I will be coming in hot with safeties off.¡± Chapter 35 - Sad little kitty ¡°Wake up!¡± A robot man shouted standing just inside Sheetal¡¯s room. ¡°Wha¡­? Who¡­?¡± Sheetal asked disoriented. She sat up and looked at the man. He looked like the terminator. As her eyes cleared, she noticed half of the man¡¯s face was a wrinkled burnt mess. The other half was a strange amalgamation of a skull that shone like chrome and stringy dark metal flesh. His voice was thankfully missing the Austrian accent. Still half-asleep Sheetal cringed when she met the man¡¯s eyes which were button like camera lenses and scooted back on her bed. The man looked at her sternly and then glanced down at her body. Sheetal followed his gaze and realised that she was braless. And her clingy white shirt wasn¡¯t hiding anything. She folded her hands over her chest and looked at the man. His burns, his missing flesh and his unpleasant voice did not give her an idea of which type of clone he was. She noted his posture, body type and deduced she was either talking to a Taran or an Aditya. Jays were larger and broader. Aditya¡¯s always stood with their feet slightly apart. This one stood tall with his heels almost touching. Sheetal gave the man a challenging look ¡°What do you want?¡± The man scowled and his face contorted into a hideous thing ¡°Where is your brother?¡± She scowled back ¡°He is not my brother.¡± ¡°Where is he?¡± The man pressed. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Check in the other room.¡± ¡°I did.¡± The cyborg said back. ¡°What¡¯s with all the noise?¡± Ash popped his head out from the other side of Sheetal¡¯s bed and looked at the man. ¡°Ash?¡± Ash looked at her and then visibly cringed when he looked at the man. He muttered ¡°Nope. It¡¯s too early for that mess.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash who was slowly closing his eyes and laying back down. She snapped. She reached behind herself, not with her hands but her shards. It was becoming easier and easier as she understood the complexities of superimposing her gravity and polarity in a spot. Reinforcing the areas her matter shard and using her wind shard to avoid friction. The result was that the pillow behind her flew up over her soundlessly. She confidently grabbed the pillow and swung it down with both hands. Right on Ash¡¯s smiling face. Thwack! ¡°Aaah! What the¡­ She!¡± ¡°Why are you in my bed?¡± ¡°It¡¯s got a mattress!¡± ¡°How did you get into my room?¡± Sheetal screamed. ¡°It¡¯s our room.¡± Ash reposted ¡°I am not dressed.¡± Sheetal stated. ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± Sheetal snarled ¡°Don¡¯t you have any idea about personal space?¡± ¡°Hey, talk to the terminator because I am not listening.¡± Sheetal turned to look at the cyborg. He was standing there like a statue. ¡°Well?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Your bodies doesn¡¯t interest me.¡± The cyborg stated as a matter of fact and ordered ¡°Get up. It¡¯s time for your surgery.¡± Ash groaned and lifted himself to his elbows ¡°Geez man. Wear a helmet or something. You are ugly!¡± The man smiled crookedly ¡°Human flesh is weak. You are weak. I am on the path to perfection.¡± ¡°Surgery?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Is that what we are calling it?¡± Ash sat up to reveal his skinny hairless chest and continued while looking at the cyborg ¡°Where I come from, it¡¯s called something else.¡± ¡°What surgery?¡± Sheetal asked in a small voice. The cyborg smiled ¡°We will make you better.¡± Ash threw his blanket off to reveal his nakedness giving Sheetal an eye full. He yawned ¡°You are going to try to replace our body parts with metal parts like yours, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Augment you?¡± The half terminator, half man asked. ¡°Yes.¡± Ash asked. The aug looked at Ash pointedly ¡°If you fall on your knees, bow your heads, beg and pledge your life and your service to the Aug Queen, she will bestow her gift of life to you.¡± Ash who was reaching for his pants stopped and looked at Sheetal and chuckled ¡°Are you going to do that She? Because I don¡¯t plan to.¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°Oh, thank the gods. We are tied together and I don¡¯t want to have a literal chrome dome.¡± Sheetal who was covering her eyes with her hands parted and looked at Ash ¡°Ash! Stop¡­ Ah... Can you put something on.¡± ¡°She¡­ Focus!¡± Sheetal turned to glare at Ash and he flinched ¡°Actually, don¡¯t focus on me. Your gun nozzle look kind of angry, and I am getting intimidated.¡± Sheetal dropped her hands down to her chest and glared at the cyborg pretending to be a statue ¡°Well?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± The cyborg asked. ¡°Give us some space man. Let us dress in peace.¡± Sheetal responded in frustrated tone. The cyborg looked at Sheetal for a long moment and then asked ¡°So, your answer is a, no?¡± ¡°About falling to my knees?¡± Sheetal asked ¡°And becoming queen¡¯s servant?¡± Ash asked right after her. Sheetal squinted and replied ¡°The answer is a no. Now leave.¡± The cyborg took two long steps and stood there as the door slid closed. ¡°Geez, that guy is creepy.¡± Ash who was slipping into his cargos shook his head ¡°No, that guy is retarded.¡± ¡°Ash! Be nice.¡± ¡°No, I am being factual, She. You¡¯ve seen his head. More than half his head is machine. What do you think happened to the brain in there?¡± Sheetal blinked ¡°And they want to do that to us?¡± ¡°No.¡± Ash bit his lower lip and answered. For a second Sheetal found his thoughtful expression the cutest thing in the world. So much so that she felt a protective urge creep up. It also made her want to squish him like a little puppy. Instead, Sheetal shook her head and started looking around. ¡°I don¡¯t know what they want. It must be something elaborate because they wouldn¡¯t have given us time enough for you to read those rule books.¡± Ash continued. He looked at Sheetal scooting around the bed and continued ¡°I mean you have seen them. That old jay with the grey beard wants us to become cannon fodder for him, the Aug Queen she is smart but wants to just support Seven for some odd reason.¡± ¡°It¡¯s because they are couple.¡± Sheetal corrected Ash. ¡°Hmm¡­?¡± ¡°They are together Ash.¡± ¡°Huh. Really that¡¯s the reason? That is so annoyingly simple that it is believable.¡± Ash sighed and continued ¡°And then there is Taran 45. That guy is a chameleon. He is someone to everyone. A friend to Jay 7. An ally to the Aug Queen. And a respected person to everyone else. But that is all an act. So, what does he really want?¡± ¡°Maybe just to do good?¡± Sheetal asked. Ash looked at Sheetal from under raised eyebrows. ¡°It could be the reason.¡± ¡°Nobody grabs that much power just to do good.¡± Sheetal stopped and nodded in acceptance. ¡°And then there are the three I saw when we were coming in. They were all as powerful as Taran 45. I think they are the other leaders of the Continuum.¡± Sheetal huffed ¡°Where is my bra?¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Sheetal narrowed her eyes ¡°Ah¡­¡± ¡°Where!?¡± ¡°Check the trash bin.¡± Sheetal reached out and the almost empty bin floated to her. Sheetal took out her innerwear and turned a look that promised pain at Ash. ¡°I was sleeping, and that thing kept poking my face.¡± Sheetal started to raise her hand at Ash Ash squeaked ¡°I am sorry. Please don¡¯t kill me, Lord Vader She.¡± Sheetal stooped and looked at her curling fingers ¡°Holy carp. I am turning into a Sith Lord.¡± Ash grinned ¡°No, you are the Sith Lord. But I am going to turn you into the Emperor. Embrace the black side. Take the red pill. And, let¡¯s take over the death cube to crush the Klingons.¡± Sheetal snorted at Ash¡¯s dramatic tone and said ¡°You just murdered all of our cult classics.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°You mixed, Star Wars, the Matrix and Star Trek.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t Star Trek the same as the wizards and witches in space.¡± Ash askes scratched his dome. Sheetal looked up from putting on her clothes and took in a sharp breath ¡°Please stop. Actually, just don¡¯t talk about Disney at all?¡± Ash gave her a confused look ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Just¡­ Let it go.¡± Sheetal waited for the expected response. Ash shrugged and opened the door ¡°Meh! I don¡¯t get movies anyways.¡± He looked at the cyborg standing in the door with a blank expression and asked ¡°What about you? Do you watch movies?¡± The cyborg sort of came to life and looked at Ash. He continued ¡°You look like a movie watcher. If you can stand quietly and watch the door, you definitely can watch a movie. Me I can¡¯t sit quietly for two hours without burning the theatre down when the hero does something stupid.¡± The cyborg looked at Sheetal emerging from the door and nodded silently. Ash continued ¡°I am just saying, if that¡¯s how you got your burn scars then respect robot bro. However, if you did something stupid like protect this place and you lost your face, you are dumb.¡± Whatever, passed for his eyes looked down blankly at the warder. ¡°Anything?¡± Ash asked the augmented. ¡°We are augmented. We are not cyborgs. We do not question the decisions that led us to our queen.¡± The augmented wordlessly turned around and ordered ¡°Follow me.¡± Ash looked at Sheetal and huffed ¡°Well that was miss. Hmm¡­¡± Ash ran after the man and Sheetal followed them. She watched Ash trying to needler the man. He tried talking about his shiny scalp, His dressing sense and even tried to critique his choice of underwear. Nothing worked. Sheetal on the other hand watched their surroundings. The level they were on was ten of feet higher than the levels down below. And through the glass tube covered pathway Sheetal could look down at work areas full of working people. Instead of having workstation, the Continuum, it seemed to prefer to work on wrist mounted projectors. They went metal wall to metal wall touching buttons that would momentarily appear and then disappear. Sheetal only raised her head when the glass corridor changed and the metal floor was replaced by a dark granite floor which glittered in spots. Ash stopped and looked at the floor in awe. ¡°What is it?¡± Sheetal asked. In response Ash got down on all fours and licked the floor. ¡°Yuck.¡± Ash spat out whatever he had licked and Sheetal turned away and ignore the weird boy. ¡°Ith¡¯s na weird.¡± Ash spat out twice more and muttered ¡°I pomise.¡± Sheetal didn¡¯t look back. It was just a granite floor. Why did Ash have to be so strange about everything. Sheetal shook her head and continued until fell about an inch suddenly. She looked down at her feet lifelessly scrapping the floor in surprise. She gathered herself and used her potentiality to flare her shards. She raised herself and continued for a few more steps. And fell again. Ash grabbed her from behind and stopped her from hitting the floor at the cost of his footing. ¡°Oowww¡­¡± Ash groaned. ¡°What the heck?¡± Sheetal gasped. ¡°You elbowed my awesomenuts.¡± Ash said in a shrilly voice. ¡°Huh. Oh sorry.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened.¡± Sheetal raised herself and jolted back down again. Ash fixed his stuff and sat up. In squeaky voice he explained. ¡°It¡¯s the floor. Its eating all the potentiality.¡± ¡°How is that possible?¡± Sheetal asked in a whisper. Ash shrugged and turned to the cyborg ¡°Hey, Scarface. What¡¯s with floor?¡± The cyborg who was waiting for them didn¡¯t reply. He turned back towards the way they were heading and ordered ¡°Walk.¡± Ash and Sheetal looked at the dumb robot. After a moment followed the aug. Sheetal trying to manage her falls before they happened. Ash keeping next to her. Then as Ash expected Sheetal hover ability fluttered out. Ash caught her under her arms and stopped her fall. ¡°Dang. I miss my muscles.¡± Ash whispered and then looked at the cyborg who had stopped again ¡°Hey Scarface. A little help here¡± The cyborg ordered ¡°Walk.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t walk you fluttering ignoramus!¡± Sheetal announced in a heated tone. ¡°Walk.¡± The cyborg enunciated the word menacingly. Ash sighed and began to walk behind the cyborg ¡°Hey Scarface. You walk funny.¡± The robot man didn¡¯t respond. ¡°Hey Scarface. Your buns are too tight.¡± The cyborg ignored the warder. Ash took in breath and carried on ¡°Hey Scarface, your queen¡¯s idea of perfection sucks.¡± The cyborg flinched. He turned to look at the young man and the helpless girl menacingly. Two more augmented, these one in battle armour, walked in from adjoining rooms and stood there menacingly. ¡°Ash, you fliptard. Why do you always have to do that?¡± Sheetal asked in a soft voice. Ash exhaled ¡°I needed to know what makes them tick.¡± ¡°Well, they are ticked off now.¡± Ash nodded ¡°I¡¯ll take the two in the back. You take Scarface.¡± Sheetal licked her lips ¡°Without my powers?¡± ¡°Without our powers.¡± Ash looked at Sheetal with pursed lips and muttered ¡°I don¡¯t think I can use my shards either.¡± ¡°Fudge!¡± Sheetal hissed. The cyborgs just stood there wordlessly. While the warders whispered there plans to each other. Thankfully the Scarface¡¯s wristed pinged. The augmented brought up his hand and looked at it for a second. His eyes went to the other two cyborg. Wordlessly all three of them looked down at the warders and in the same time ordered ¡°Walk!¡± Ash lifted Sheetal up in a princess carry and responded with a broad grin ¡°Yes. Why not. It¡¯s going to be a great walk. Good exercise. Lead the way robot man? Machine? Guy?¡± Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The cyborg turned and Ash walked behind him. Behind Ash the other two cyborgs followed the warders blank faced. After ten minutes of walking a panting Ash and Sheetal reached a room lined with the same granite on the floors, walls and the long table in the middle. Ash didn¡¯t care. He just walked to the table, set Sheetal on it and fell on it. ¡°Da¡­ Da¡­. Dang! You¡­ Are¡­ Heavy!¡± He complained. ¡°No, you just have noodle arms.¡± Sheetal replied while looking at the augmented. The robot human turned to a wall on the side and pushed it. The wall slid inwards with click and then on unseen tracks slid sideways. Raised voices came from inside. ¡°A fistful of favours!¡± A woman shouted. ¡°Yes.¡± Taran 45 level voice stated. ¡°Where did it all go?¡± The same woman asked. ¡°And I told you, that you will get a written report from my office in a day or two. Then you can bring up your grievances in the council meeting.¡± Taran continued in the same level tone. ¡°Do not play games with me, Forty Five!¡± ¡°Ruub. Do you really think I am embezzling favours?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what you are doing.¡± The Ruby inside snarled. And in a wordless agreement Ash lifted Sheetal and carried her to look inside. Ash looked at the augmented who had stationed himself next to the wall and stopped. He put Sheetal down on the floor and splayed himself next to the augmented statue trying to breather soundlessly. Ruby F1450 was face to face with Taran 45. She tried looking down at the older man. Unfortunately for her, Taran 45 didn¡¯t really have to raise his head to look back at the short woman. Taran 45 put on an aggrieved tone and looked at the two people standing behind and dramatically sighed ¡°Adi, Par, and even you Ruub. Do you think so little of me?¡± Par sighed ¡°Then why don¡¯t you tell us why and where you spent those favours?¡± ¡°Fine. I am telling you because of our old friendship. But if you want a detailed explanation¡­¡± ¡°Broad strokes would do High Councillor.¡± Par smiled. Taran 45 smiled back ¡°Well haven¡¯t you realised that our stores of food, water, and energy are at capacity?¡± ¡°Yes, but that would take what maybe five or six coins.¡± Par shook her head. ¡°Ten actually. You have no idea how close we were to a collapse. But that is not all councillors. The Asambhav in play again.¡± The councillors all took that in a long silence. There expression showing their surprise. Taran 45 smiled ¡°Yes. And with our efforts my friends the Continuum is becoming stronger.¡± Ruby F1450 folded her hands over her chest and asked ¡°And who¡­¡± 45 didn¡¯t even wait for her to ask her question and answered ¡°You, of course. There is nobody more experienced than you Ruub. So gather your team and create a command staff. We will need your expertise soon.¡± Ruby F1450 looked at her partner guiltily. Par sighed ¡°Are you trying to bribe us High Councillor?¡± ¡°I am trying to show you all that I have nothing to hide.¡± Taran 45 looked at Ash and Sheetal sitting on the floor next to the door and a glint came into his eyes. Parvati 551 huffed ¡°By spending twelve favours to acquire the services of some warders?¡± ¡°That wasn¡¯t me. It was the former high councillor and his queen.¡± ¡°And you did nothing to stop that?¡± Ruby F1450 asked in a sharp tone. Taran 45 spread his hands out and said ¡°I am not the only one with access to the Continuum¡¯s funds. The previous high councillor never gave up his rights.¡± ¡°And you let that stand?¡± Ruby F1450 asked in a heated tone. ¡°He is the mentor, and he was with the aug queen. What did you want me to do? Fight against them?¡± Taran 45 said in an aggrieved tone. ¡°Weakling!¡± Ruby F1450 spat. ¡°I am a bureaucrat Ruub, not a warrior. I just want to make things work.¡± Taran 45 said honestly. ¡°And who are these warders? Are we allowed to meet them at least?¡± Parvati 551 asked. ¡°Sure, look behind you. There they are.¡± The three people turned and looked at the two bedraggled children. ¡°Helloooooooo¡­¡± Ash lifted himself to his elbows and waved. When he didn¡¯t get a response, he laid himself back down and raised a finger. ¡°What in the light is this?¡± Ruby F1450 asked with a pointed finger at the two warders. ¡°That is Warder Sheetal and Warder Ash.¡± Taran 45 nodded sagely. The three council members looked from the warders to the councillor and back. ¡°This is what Jay 7 spent twelve of our favours on?¡± Ruby F1450 asked. ¡°Ruubs be nice. They are just children.¡± Parvati 551 restrained Ruby F1450 with a light touch. Aditya 101 who was standing behind his two wives moved forwards and shot a rapid series of hand gestures at Taran 45. Taran 45 grimaced and looked at Parvati 551. ¡°He is saying, he doesn¡¯t approve. This is against everything the continuum is supposed to be. Are you sure you want to go that far?¡± Taran looked at Aditya 101¡¯s mask covered face and replied ¡°I understand that my friend, but we need a way to fight back against the Raks.¡± Aditya 101 nodded and then more hand gestures followed. Parvati 551 voiced them. ¡°Then may the light have mercy on your soul. You are not mine to judge. But if you put augs on them, I don¡¯t care where you are or how many you hide behind, I will chop your head off.¡± Aditya 101 grabbed the hilt of his sword. Taran 45 recoiled and slowly nodded ¡°No augs. Understood.¡± Aditya 101 looked at his two wives, shot a hand gesture and began walking out. He stopped next to the two warders and his hand moved. Parvati 551 looked down at the two baby warders and gave them an empathetic look. ¡°Aditya says¡­¡± She shook her head and began again ¡°No. All three of us are sorry. We are sorry we can¡¯t can¡¯t protect you. We are not strong enough to fight against the old guard or its augs. May the light shield you.¡± Parvati 551 shot a hateful look at Taran 45. ¡°It¡¯s okay lady. We¡¯ll survive.¡± Ash looked at Aditya 101 ¡°How about a hand later?¡± Aditya shoulders shook in laughter and he shot Ash with his finger. ¡°That mean got you.¡± Ruby F1450 smiled ¡°We hope you do survive for what it¡¯s worth.¡± Ash and Sheetal watched all three of them leave the room. Leaving Taran 45 looking at the two warders in front of him. ¡°Augmented, would you gather my medical staff please?¡± Ash and Sheetal watched the aug they had started calling Scarface, walk off with thudding footsteps. ¡°That was nice you know.¡± Ash slowly started to get to his feet ¡°Being the gracious one. Giving one of them a surprise gift and showing them their previous leaders continuing mistakes. Quite an inspired way to discredit you political opponents.¡± Taran 45 smiled ¡°Well you played your part to perfection.¡± Ash stretched his back ¡°Eh, it wasn¡¯t hard.¡± ¡°So? What¡¯s the play here?¡± Sheetal asked and continued ¡°Death threats? Starvation? Isolation? Or¡­¡± Sheetal gulped ¡°Torture?¡± Taran 45 looked at Sheetal for a moment and then asked ¡°By the boldness you just tried to display, am I right in assuming that you have read the Ascender¡¯s Handbook?¡± ¡°And the Rules for Warder¡¯s.¡± Sheetal nodded. ¡°Hmm¡­ I haven¡¯t read that one. I will put it on my list.¡± Taran 45 smiled. ¡°So, you know you can¡¯t keep us here. Or harm us.¡± Sheetal pressed. Taran 45 exhaled ¡°Technically that is true. The Ascenders Handbook says that you may not harm a warder or threaten them in the course of their duty. The problem for you is that you weren¡¯t involved in a mission until you came to us. And now that you have a mission from us, we are obligated to furnish you with the best tools to complete the mission.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t do that. You need to let us go.¡± Sheetal shot back. ¡°Why? Where will you go?¡± ¡°Back to our people. We need to help them.¡± Taran 45 shook his head ¡°I am sorry. But you need to stay here and undergo a procedure to complete your mission.¡± ¡°We will not.¡¯ Sheetal put her proverbial foot down. The high councillor demeaner shifted. A cold look came over his face. He looked at Sheetal angry face and began ¡°So we both know, death threats won¡¯t work. You are warders. That is against the rules. Starvation and isolation will take too long. Torture though¡­¡± Taran 45 shot a sharp smile at the Warders and watched them focus on him with barely contained fear. He continued ¡°The best thing about technology is that it like magic makes the impossible possible. Take for example this crown.¡± The high councillor spun a large ring on his finger. ¡°It is a mental band. With it we no longer need to cause anyone physical harm. Pain. Push a button. Mental projection of traumatic events. Flip a switch and you will feel every moment of slowly cooking in a fire. Want to take it further? Add a dose of humiliation to the mix. You don¡¯t even need to do it. Its all programmed to break a person twice as strong as you. And you know the best bit? It won¡¯t even take that long. Every minute with this band will feel like an hour and every hour will scar you with memories that will last centuries. We made it with efficiency in mind you see.¡± Ash let out a deep breath with bored expression on his face ¡°Then why didn¡¯t you put it on us already?¡± Taran 45 flinched and shot Ash an annoyed look ¡°Because, you are a pain. And I have a feeling that you will more likely have a psychological breakdown rather than break. I don¡¯t want flesh puppet created by illusionary vices. I need warders.¡± A shiver ran down Sheetal¡¯s back. She had flinched when the man casually talked about invading her mind and subjecting her to horrors. But the man kept talking and the feeling of cold death coming from Ash through their link became icy cold. Ash moved slowly, methodically, raising himself to his feet and putting himself in between Taran 45 and Sheetal. ¡°First, do not threaten She again.¡± Ash¡¯s flat tone wiped the smug smile of Taran 45¡¯s face. His flat tone gained an edge ¡°Second, I am not doing anything you want. Third, you want a fight. I am happy to fight you and kill you. Or maybe die trying but there only a small chance of that. Four, we have your mission, and we plan to complete it. We do not need your help doing it. Fifth, if you don¡¯t let us go right now, I will crack the continuum like an egg, make scrambled eggs out of it, and microwave it until its rubbery and inedible.¡± 45 blinked. The aura of the boy had suddenly changed and with his near evolved eyes he could see Ash was ready to lunge at him. 45 took in a breath and stated ¡°I can¡¯t do that warder.¡± and after a long silent moment pleaded ¡°Please don¡¯t make me do anything harsh.¡± Ash grinded his teeth and glared at Taran 45 ¡°Do what you need to, to me. Touch her and I will make sure that I will dedicate my life to ending you.¡± Taran 45 closed his eyes, controlled his disgusted expression and shook his head ¡°I am sorry. But it needs to be both of you. Your link does not allow me to spare your sister.¡± Sheetal felt Ash decide to fight to the death at that moment. He was ready to kill. And somewhere in his strange little brain he knew that he was going to die. But that didn¡¯t matter to him. Because, when Ash said that she was his, he meant it. And she was his to protect and if he couldn¡¯t do that, that meant he could have fun and joke around with her. Or annoy her for a goodtime. So, he was going to win or most probably die trying. He was good with it either way. Sheetal, in his mind couldn¡¯t take torture and from the snippets she had seen in his mind she knew that was right. So, death it was. And that was also a way to spite the enemy. And Taran 45 had just turned himself from a guy in his mind to an enemy. That cold calculated acceptance of the facts scared Sheetal. She saw him tighten his hands on his weapons and knew he was going to strike out at the old man. ¡°Ash¡­¡± Sheetal tugged on Ash¡¯s threadbare cargos. Ash¡¯s who was reaching for his tonfas stopped and looked into Sheetal¡¯s calm eyes. Sheetal calmly said ¡°Ash, I can take it. I can take it.¡± Don¡¯t flipping get us killed was left unsaid, verbally. But Sheetal was sure that their link carried her emotions through. ¡°But fun?¡± Ash deflated ¡°We can have all the fun you want. We can go kick things, say nasty things, and crush things all you want. Just don¡¯t get us killed please.¡± Taran 45 nodded ¡°Your sister is right. Where there is life, there is a way.¡± Sheetal looked at Taran 45 questioningly. The high councillor explained ¡°I don¡¯t want to stop you from doing anything. I don¡¯t mind you getting stronger. Learning new things and enjoying life. In fact, I encourage it. I just want to save my people.¡± Ash squinted at Taran 45 and slowly withdrew his hands from his tonfas ¡°What are you going to do to us?¡± ¡°I spoke about anomalies before.¡± Looking at the blank faced of the two warders Taran 45 continued ¡°They are things that come into our reality from unreality.¡± Taran 45 held out hand and a holographic projection formed over his palms ¡°These are phages.¡± An image of three bug creatures formed on top of his hand. Taran 45 shot a guarded look at Sheetal. She looked back with angry eyes. The older man smiled and silently mouthed ¡°Thank you.¡± Sheetal blinked. The man knew how close to death they had come and was thankful? Thankful for what? That he hadn¡¯t had to kill them? The convoluted strangeness of the whole situation baffled her. She needed to get herself some normal people around her. ¡°Don¡¯t talk to her.¡± Ash harrumphed and added ¡°Tell me what I am looking at?¡± ¡°The first is a quadruped. It has chiton shell and a pincer at its bottom. It uses that pincer to turn matter into mush and transport it back into unreality. We call them a lesser phage. The second is a hexapod. It has a chiton armour. It is faster, more flexible and jumps around everywhere. Making it a pain to kill. It is also your basic phage soldier.¡± ¡°Hold on.¡± Ash picked up Sheetal and carried her to the table Taran 45 was sitting on. He pointed at the hologram coming from a stone on Taran 45¡¯s palm and said ¡°Look, She, spiders. I am going to kill him and he is talking about spiders.¡± Sheetal shushed him and looked at the images. She compared the difference between them. 45 flicked a finger and the images started to move. The first one was smaller, spindly and a smallish four-legged spider with a small pincer protruding from the hips. The other one was a large hairy spider. Instead of its regular smooth pedipalps which a spider used like an appendage to hold down a prey. This thing had two sharp gleaming spikes. The phage soldier sat down on the ground and the stone underneath turned into a soup. It redirected the soup inside its body and used it as power to volley glowing balls of death everywhere. And when it was done it charged straight into the camera with glowing spikes. ¡°The last one is a greater phage.¡± A worm with ten spikes for every fold slithered on the ground. Everything it touched with its spikes lost cohesion and meaning, turning into oily glittery multi-coloured soup. When the ground melted, it began to swim and move freely. It widened the hole and scooped in mouthfuls of the mess and then disappeared underground. ¡°So, bugs. What¡¯s that got to do with anything?¡± Ash folded his hands on his chest and leaned back. Taran 45 flexed his fingers and the image changed. ¡°Those are phages. They are the symptoms of unreality. We think the cause of them are these. They are called abominations.¡± A tangled mess of snakes rose up revealing that they had one body. Rope Hydra. Class 1 (Peak) Status - Eliminated. The image changed again. A shark swam out of solid ground and dove towards the camera. Stone Shark Class 1 (Mid) Status ¨C Eliminated On by one, images came and went. Taran 45 moved his fingers and more images sped away. A giraffe with a head of a snake. A kangaroo with three heads. A lion with tentacles instead of a mane. All passed away with eliminated stamped over the images. Then with a poke of a finger Taran 45 stopped with on one image on the hologram. The most horrific sight of them all. Two marble white people with flat faces reaching towards the camera. The image moved and the warders realised that the two creature were joined together at the hip. And lower their legs melded into each other. They clawed there way towards the ground in wordless screams. Their skin covered jaws moving noiselessly. They thrashed and faltered until someone jumped into the frame. She stopped and retracted her helmet revealing a middle aged face and a far more muscular version of the aug queen. She stomped towards the melded creatures with a pronounced grimace on her face. Taran stopped the video and an image of the conjoined people clawing the ground replaced the video. Stone Faced Twins. Class 1 (Peak). Status ¨C Contained. Taran hit the button at the bottom and a notes section appeared. Combat Notes KIA ¨C 0 MIA ¨C 0 Injured - 0 Note ¨C The abomination arrived incapacitated. They had no pores or orifices on their body. They were put into stasis. Before they could be contained one exhibited capabilities of an high mentalist. The other one exhibited channelling capabilities when it clawed the ground. It dug deep furrows into the with its nails. Research Note ¨C The channeler does not have a channelling shard. It somehow converts matter in his heart and then transports it through its veins to its joints, fingers and toes. This is not just a channeler. It is a closed combat specialist. Research Note 2 ¨C The mentalist is not just a mentalist. She is a mage too. Her brain is different. It has lobes to carry more oxygen and cool it. She has brain functions even under stasis. Whatever she is, she has evolved to process and calculate thousands of possibilities before using her abilities. Speaking of abilities, she has two major channelling zones. Her palms. I hypothesise that this magic type was created for large scale effects. Research Note 3 ¨C Who ever smushed these two creatures together has a basic understanding of humanity but not the nuances. Externally, they did not give these two any orifices. Internally too, things like vocal chords, intestines, ovaries, and in one case lungs are missing. They basically got the shape right. Gave these two all the armaments for battle and threw them into our reality. Research Note 4 ¨C These twins they are linked. We see quantum effects in between their two brains. I theorise whoever created them, created the male to protect the female while she prepares for a large scale attack. Research Note 5 ¨C Parvati M976, how many times do I have to tell you to not personify unreality. We do not know what is out there to make such judgements. ¨C Taran 45 Sheetal leaned back and her eyes focussed on Taran 45¡¯s smiling face. ¡°See the similarities?¡± Taran 45 asked. Sheetal looked at the High councillor with growing horror ¡°What are you planning to do to us?¡± ¡°I am going to give you the ability to walk again along with other things.¡± Ash leaned in after reading the hologram. He was slower than Sheetal and it took him a minute to understand what was happening. He slowly looked at Taran 45. ¡°You mean¡­ You want to make me¡­¡± Ash looked at Sheetal, winced and started again ¡°You mean you want to make us, something like the stone guy, and girl?¡± ¡°No. I want to take things out of those two and put them in you.¡± Taran 45 steepled his fingers and put them under his chin. ¡°So what? You are Frankenstein, and we are going to be your monsters?¡± Sheetal asked in a heated tone. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Taran looked baffled. ¡°She, shut up. he doesn¡¯t understand all that. And even if he did, he would agree with the mad doctor.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash for a long moment and through their link felt acceptance for what was going to happen ¡°Ash?¡± ¡°Yes, She. We let him do it.¡± Ash replied in a calm tone. ¡°Ash¡­ You can¡¯t be serious.¡± Sheetal hissed and said ¡°I know you don¡¯t understand how the human body works. But you must have heard of people¡¯s bodies rejecting donated organs. We can¡¯t just stuff parts. It¡¯s not a Lego set.¡± Ash nodded and looked at Taran 45 ¡°How powerful will you plans make us?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Something like this has never been done before.¡± ¡°Ash!¡± Sheetal said warningly. Ash ignored Sheetal and asked ¡°What all do you want to replace in me?¡± Taran leaned in and said ¡°Your eyes. When we cut open the channelers sockets we found milky grey eyes. We theorise that they are like a sense shard. You are a sensopath with a sense shard. We want to see what you can do with it. Obviously, every sensory organ is connected to the spine and the brain. We will take connectors from there to make them work. We also want to take his channelling pipes. They are pores around the joints and unlike anything we have seen before. Then we will replace your ribs with his. They are plated and will protect your heart better. In the next stage, we will take his femurs and other long bones. Finally, we will transplant his skin and muscles into you along with the small bones that are left.¡± Taran paused took in a deep breath ¡°But, right now we¡¯ll start with your eyes.¡± Sheetal looked at Taran 45 in horror and shook her head violently ¡°You can¡¯t do that. It will kill us.¡± Ash finally turned to look at Sheetal ¡°She, don¡¯t you think these guys with the futuristic base, terminator looking people and cyborgs would have considered that?¡± Sheetal looked at the high councillor and the doctors hanging just outside the door waiting for a permission to come in. ¡°Well, did you?¡± ¡°Of course. The twins are O positive and have you heard of universal organs?¡± Seeing the incomprehension on Sheetal¡¯s face, Taran 45 smiled and tried to put the young woman at ease ¡°Do you noble metals in your Earth? The ones you enforce broken bits of your bodies with?¡± Sheetal nodded. ¡°Good. That would make this easier.¡± Taran 45 nodded back ¡°Then you know metals like lead and others are toxic to the body because they cause a chemical reaction that slowly kills you. What do you think causes organ rejection from even the most compatible donors? A soul reaction.¡± The high councillor flicked finger and the hologram over his hand changed showing a human body. He pointed at the body and continued ¡° The soul is a strange thing. We theorize that it exists not in the three dimensional space as our consciousness but outside in a five dimensional space. ¡°Five dimensional?¡± ¡°Yes. Why wouldn¡¯t it be. How do you think you could travel here otherwise?¡± ¡°No¡­¡± Sheetal stopped and tried to process the high councillors words ¡°I don¡¯t know how that corelates to anything. I was just going to ask, what is the fifth dimension?¡± ¡°Reality.¡± Taran 45 looked at Sheetal and considered ¡°How may dimensions do your scientific establishments acknowledge?¡± ¡°Four. Three physical and the fourth is time.¡± The high counsellor looked at Ash whose eyes had glazed over and asked ¡°If you have established time as a dimension then you must be talking about multiverses and anti-universes. How are you supposed to interact with them if you don¡¯t acknowledge reality in its various forms?¡± ¡°How are we supposed to interact with reality other than touch it?¡± Sheetal raised her eyebrows. ¡°With your soul. That is what I am trying to explain.¡± Tran 45 pointed at the human figure in the hologram. Sheetal blinked. The high councillor grinned when he suddenly understood why the smarter warder was having such a hard time understanding his explanations and asked ¡°Your scientist do not acknowledge the presence of a soul do they?¡± Sheetal shook her head. ¡°Understandable. One can¡¯t see the soul and science is all about examining what is present.¡± The high councillor laughed ¡°We were like that too and heading that way until we first came here. Then there a major upheaval in our scientific departments.¡± ¡°Upheaval.¡± Sheetal asked automatically. ¡°Yes, fist fights, torn papers and in two cases, bullets flying around.¡± Taran 45 looked at Ash whose lips had slightly moved upwards. The high councillor wasn¡¯t a fool. He knew that the boy was sitting quietly right now because he had his sister. But internally the boy was seething and plotting his death. ¡°One can see the soul with enhanced sight. Those who do it, see if for a flickering moment. And even when they do, they say it moves quickly somewhere else inside the body before they can pinpoint it. Have you ever felt a heightened sense of perception when you are concentrating on something, as if you are looking down at yourself from the top of your head? That is your soul lingering in one place for a micro microsecond in a place. They say that in that moment it looks like an orb. Exactly like the ones you have in your hud.¡± Sheetal¡¯s eyes widened as the ramifications of Taran 45¡¯s words dawned on her. ¡°Are you saying that when we use our huds. We are playing with our souls?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Taran 45 pointed at Ash and continued ¡°More in case of your brother. The soul weapons he has, do not hurt the soul. The soul is infallible. They can, for a split second wrestle control of every drop of potentiality of the part of the body, killing it permanently and making that part inaccessible for the soul.¡± Ash¡¯s eyes focussed at Taran 45. He took out his tonfas and asked ¡°Why are they dead?¡± ¡°They are not dead. They are sleeping. They need potentiality to stay active. Especially, those two.¡± Taran 45 grimaced. Sheetal looked at the weapons Ash had pulled out and recalled how the weapons had communicated with her and what they had done. ¡°And coming back to the soul, it is possessive about its organs. It taints them. That is organ implants fail where cybernetics don¡¯t. Thankfully, the twins never had a soul. They are the perfect donors.¡± Taran 45 lips parted to show an excited grin. Sheetal gulped ¡°What about me? What do you want to change in me?¡± Sheetal felt goosebumps on the back of her neck as she watched the amoralistic man talk. ¡°Your spine.¡± Taran 45 nodded at the hologram and the spine was highlighted at the amorphic humanoid figure. Ash leaned forwards and Taran 45 nodded at him. ¡°She needs to be able to walk and run. You both will be going into a battlefield. We will sculpt you a new spine with the female¡¯s spine.¡± Taran 45 Looked at Sheetal and then turned back to Ash and on the image of the top of his hands illuminated the ribs ¡°For you it will be your ribs. You have levelled up your heart shard. It needs more protection. The twins bones are made from excalcit. True calcium for the layman. It moulds it is easier for the soul to adapt to and reform when they are damaged.¡± Taran 45 turned back to face Sheetal and the hologram in his hand highlighted the spine again. This time with cluster of lines heading everywhere. The mad man continued ¡°We will also take all the veins, arteries and signal carriers from the female¡¯s spine. Then the two channelling pipes running connecting her brain, through her heart and to her arms. But those are the simple things, the complicated bits are the pieces we will have to take form her brain and transplant into you.¡± Sheetal scooted back and away from Taran 45. He eyes looked at the man in fear. Taran 45 nodded ¡°Then in the next sitting we¡¯ll start with the bones.¡± ¡°Ash!¡± Sheetal gasped and started hyperventilating. Ash was looking at Taran 45. His stony look promising death. Turned to look at Sheetal. Slowly his features softened, and he placed a hand around her shoulders pulling her closer. ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s not.¡± ¡°She, its going to be okay. I will be here with you every step of the way.¡± ¡°They are going to change every bit of us.¡± ¡°I know but what choice do we have right now?¡± Ash growled. He calmed himself and took in a long breath ¡°She. You read the notes and heard the spy master¡¯s words. But you didn¡¯t read between the lines. Everything he is doing means much more to him than he is letting on. The man is giving us power. Far more power than that old Jay 7 expects.¡± Taran 45¡¯s lips twitched upwards. Ash continued ¡°Far more power than the Aug Queen can control. Far more power than he can control.¡± Taran 45 nodded ¡°Yes. By the end of the procedures, you will be able to squash me like a bug.¡± ¡°See. He is doing this even when he knows that I will kill him the first chance I get.¡± Taran 45 looked at Ash and took in a deep breath. He let it out and asked ¡°What if I make you, as you say, more awesome than you are?¡± Ash raised his eyebrows and looked at the man wordlessly. ¡°Never mind.¡± Taran 45 shook his head. Sheetal looked at Taran 45 ¡°But why? Why are you doing this?¡± ¡°Why?¡± Taran looked perturbed for the first time and raised his voice. It echoed around the room ¡°Haven¡¯t you seen us? How divided we are. How close to complete collapse we are. We are going to die and¡­ I am done.¡± Taran closed his fist and the hologram above his hand disappeared. The mad man regained his composure and continued in his measured cadence ¡°I am done running around putting out fires. Jay 7 the glory hound wants to go fight the Rakshasa. Why? Because he is coward and it easier to fight the Raks than fighting anomalies. Yes, we might win and some of us might be able to go to Rier but at what costs. The Aug Queen, all she wants is to do is follow around Jay 7 in her last days as a human. Then there is the General. She is the best of us. She is out there fighting anomalies. But she an inch away from abandoning us. And you met the purist. They hate the augs, so much that they want to go to war with them. They see them as a bigger threat than the oncoming rak army or the phages that are popping up everywhere.¡± Taran 45¡¯s words hung in the air for a long moment. ¡°So yes, I will do anything to create the beacons of hope that will guide us out of this murky darkness we have been stuck in for decades. Even if they kill me.¡± Ash chuckled sarcastically ¡°Geez bro. How close are you to burning it all down?¡± ¡°If you two don¡¯t survive this procedure, maybe a week.¡± Taran 45 stated as a matter of fact. Taran 45 began to shut off the projection and pull his arm away. Sheetal grabbed 45¡¯s arm to look at the creatures. The high councillor looked at Sheetal in surprise then met a challenging gaze Ash was levelling at him. ¡°Leave it. It will help her research and talk herself into the idea.¡± Ash said in a soft voice. Taran and Ash traded a glance. Both knew that there was no way for Ash or Sheetal to refuse the older man. And there was no reasoning with a man ready to die for the last hope he saw in them. Still, Taran 45 sighed and kept up the illusion of civility. He took off the thin bracelet with a diamond that projected the images and placed it flat on the table. ¡°Just use your fingers to scroll.¡± Taran 45 instructed Sheetal and left to get his team and himself a cup of tea.¡± Ash sat back and watched Sheetal. He knew what ever was coming was going to be bad, so he let her distract herself and soon she immersed in the videos and notes. Sheetal went back to the Rope hydra and clicked the arrow in the bottom. Combat Notes KIA - 35 MIA ¨C 3 Injured ¨C 84 Soldiers Augmented Post Battle ¨C 60 Soldiers Issued Bionics - 15 Research Notes ¨C The transmogrify between biological and ropes would have killed the hydra on its own if left alone for a week. External Notes ¨C Taran 45, in a week, the hydra with its poison would have turned everything around us into the immaterial. ¨C General Athena Chandra (Athena 8) Sheetal next stopped on a dear that breathed out vapour that ate into reality. Smoke Stag Class 1 Status - Eliminated Combat Notes KIA - 0 MIA ¨C 0 Injured ¨C 3 Soldiers Augmented Post Battle ¨C 0 Soldiers Issued Bionics ¨C 1 Research Notes ¨C The thing dissolved? External Notes ¨C Shoot it in the head. It dissolves without brain function. - General Athena Chandra (Athena 8) Sheetal checked others and stopped at a cute little thing. Kitty. Class - 1 Status ¨C Missing. Combat Notes KIA ¨C 0 MIA ¨C 0 Injured - 0 Protectors of Kitty ¨C 4500 Battle Hardened Class 1 Veterans Note ¨C 45. Leave my kitten alone. It will come back when it wants some nuclear waste and affection - Athena Chandra (Athena 8) Note 2 ¨C All hail the cursed kitty ¨C Perseverance Faction Research Note ¨C Fine you barbarians. Just stop breaking my vehicles windows. ¨C Taran 45 ¡°Kitty? A kitten? Sheetal looked at the white, wet cutely pathetic looking kitten. It walked to the camera, scrunched up its pink nose and nuzzled into it. Aw¡­ Sheetal thought and those thoughts travelled to Ash through there link. Ash looked at Sheetal and then looked at all the medical staff piling stuff in. The granite room was slowly becoming something else. When Ash saw the restraints on large metal cylinders covered with glass the augs dragged in. Ash realised what they were doing. They were transforming the room into an operation theatre. Taran 45 walked back in with a cup of tea and watched over his team of doctors silently. He looked at Sheetal. She was blinking down at a wolf that waddled towards the camera on two penguin feet. It fell on its side and mewled pathetically. Puppy Penguin Class 1 Status ¨C Contained Note ¨C Taran 45. Kill the poor thing already. General Athena Chandra (Athena 8) Taran 45 looked at Ash pointedly. Ash nodded ¡°She, its time.¡± Sheetal looked up and looked at four augs dragging in a frozen body. No it was two bodies trapped together. The bodies of the abomination they had looked at just a few minutes ago. Cold smoke flew up from them and the platform they were on. Taran 45 walked to them with four off his doctors. He looked at the glass cylinders and nodded ¡°Strip and get into the pods. We will try to make this as painless as possible.¡± Sheetal panicked when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She flinched and elbowed the face. ¡°Aaaow!¡± Ash grabbed his nose. ¡°Oops, sorry.¡± Sheetal apologised with widening eyes. ¡°Doctors, give them some space and a bit of privacy.¡± Taran 45 ordered. Soon, Ash and Sheetal were undressing in a small tent covered area. The tents led up to the small pods that the Continuum called pods. Sheetal repeated herself ¡°I am sorry okay. Didn¡¯t mean to hit you.¡± ¡°First it was my pears, and then my nose.¡± ¡°We can fix that nose. Make it better.¡± A doctor¡¯s voice came from the other side of the tent. ¡°Thank you but my nose is perfect.¡± Ash replied ¡°Actually, it is not.¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a bit flat.¡± Sheetal smiled. ¡°Yes, doesn¡¯t go with his cheek bones.¡± Another doctor said from the other side. Ash stopped and looked all around ¡°Are you freaking kidding me?¡± ¡°Listen, warder all we are saying is that we won¡¯t have to cut into you to do it. We can fix it in the genes. It will give you better air intake and help you gather potentiality while making you look better.¡± Ash levelled a look at Sheetal ¡°You started this.¡± Sheetal smiled ¡°Sorry.¡± Ash looked at Sheetal and sighed ¡°Probably deserved it for what I was going to say.¡± Ash picked up Sheetal and began walking towards the pod. Sheetal looked up at him and finally when her curiosity couldn¡¯t take it, she asked ¡°What were you going to say?¡± ¡°Hide your bush. It¡¯s looks really-really sad when it gets wet. Like the kitty in the video.¡± Sheetal opened her mouth and shouted ¡°Ash! Don¡¯t you even start with that you flipper.¡± ¡°We can fix that too. Heck we are going to remove all your hair anyways.¡± The first doctor said from outside the curtain. ¡°Huh!¡± Ash looked at the shadow of the doctor walking with him ¡°That is the first useful thing you have said.¡± ¡°He said all our hair.¡± Sheetal shouted ¡°Even the one on our head.¡± ¡°And your eyebrows. And the ones in your nasal cavities and other places.¡± The second doctor added. Ash stopped ¡°Nope. Not going to happen.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll grow it back.¡± The first doctor quickly added. Ash sighed ¡°Well then, okay.¡± Sheetal exhaled too ¡°Still doesn¡¯t excuse for calling my area sad.¡± Ash smiled and lowered Sheetal into the pod. Wraps lowered down from everywhere and trapped Sheetal¡¯s limbs. Sheetal began to panic. Ash grabbed her head and made her look at him. ¡°She, relax. Relax. I am here. I am here. I will be here alongside you. And we will get out of here together.¡± Sheetal stopped struggling and looked at Ash with tear filled eyes. ¡°Ash, thank you for everything.¡± Ash looked at the yellow thing that had descended from the top of the pod on a robotic arm. He put it in Sheetal¡¯s mouth and said ¡°Bite down.¡± Sheetal did as she was instructed. And looked at Ash smiling devilishly at her. ¡°Hey doc guys. You know what¡¯s sadder than her bush? What¡¯s inside it.¡± Ash pressed a button than said anaesthesia on the mouth guard and continued ¡°It hasn¡¯t seen the light of day in years much less a man. Can you do something about that, sad little kitty?¡± Sheetal eyes widened and just then a spray hit the back of her throat. Fizz. Sheetal tried to gag it out. Instead of the mouth piece dislodging itself, the hard mouthpiece dissolved into foam growing over her mouth, and nose, Sheetal gasped in a lungful of whatever that spray was foam and felt her eyes darken. She glared at her stupidly dancing brother until her eyes closed. Ash stopped dancing and then pushed the stupid yellow curtains away. He walked straight to Taran 45 and growled ¡°You make this as painless as possible for her and I might not kill you all.¡± The high councillor nodded ¡°I will try. But you have levelled up one of your shards. Your body will fight against the anaesthetics in the pod.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± ¡°It means that for you this will be very painful warder.¡± Ash rolled his eyes ¡°It always is.¡± ¡°And she will feel that pain.¡± Ash nodded ¡°You are becoming my least favourite person Taran 45. You should be worried.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Taran 45 looked at Ash inquisitively and asked ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because I am this close to killing you.¡± Ash held his forefinger and thumb an inch apart. Taran 45 exhaled silently and walked closer to Ash ¡°I see. Well warder let¡¯s go then.¡± Ash looked at his weapons lying on the other side of the room on a medical trolley. The high councillor waved ¡°Fine. Go get¡­¡± Ash shot forward and landed to closed fist punches to Taran 45 midsection. Taran 45 grunted. He was surprised not hurt. Ash danced back and spun. The high councillor leaned back watching the kick part the air inches away from him face. ¡°I understand that you want to shout, scream, threaten and rage.¡± Taran blocked a strike with his arm and snorted ¡°But you have overlooked one simple fact.¡± Ash weaved out of lunge and asked ¡°Yeah, what that? That your grabs suck?¡± Taran 45 chuckled and straightened ¡°No. You have overlooked the fact that I, a noncombatant and my doctors aren¡¯t afraid of you.¡± Taran waved to his people ¡°Look around you warder. None of us are afraid of you.¡± Ash looked around and watched the doctors giving him curious looks. He cracked his neck ¡°For now.¡± Taran nodded and feigned left with a palm. Ash caught the feign and didn¡¯t move. He raised his guard to protect him from the right. But somehow the strike that was supposed to be a decoy smacked him on his face. Ash fell. He tried to shake of the disorientation and a foot stopped him back down. He looked up and saw Taran 45 standing over him. A third wispy arm disappearing into smoke. The high councillor leaned down and the foot that weight more than a car stole the air from his lungs. Taran 45 looked Ash in his eyes ¡°And this is the problem warder. Your threats should be making us shiver. We should be in a dark corner hiding from the light. Your name should make us lock ourselves in the safest corners but all you can gather from us is an awkward silence. Because all you are right now is a child on a hilltop, screaming at the wind to stop blowing hair into his eyes.¡± Ash looked up at Taran 45 ¡°Today. Taran 45, I was weak today. I won¡¯t be as helpless ever again and then...¡± ¡°And when you are stronger, Ash, I will be more careful. But today, all I have to say to you is, shut up kid and let me make something out of you.¡± Chapter 36 – A weapon and a shield. Athena screeched past the vehicles of the aug honour guard returning the Aug Queen and Jay 7 to the fire city. She saw Jay 7 jolted as she raced past them. She adjusted her steering wheel and looked back into her dashboard screen. The transports behind her swerved dangerously. Some stopped, others turned to her. After a few moments they began to give chase. ¡°General Athena 8, respond.¡± The familiar monotone of the Aug Queens voice came from her dashboard. The general hit a button and shut off the connection. She had a long way to go, and she wasn¡¯t going to stop and chat. With that thought she took the last stretch to the port stone at full speed. Flash. She was out of the port stone and 19.8 kilometres from the Asambhav. She switched on the boosts and rolled over and down the dunes. Her BUV, the second fastest ground vehicle in the Continuum ate up the distance in minutes. So much so, that only when she was on the last stretch that she heard her sister call again. ¡°Athena 8. What are you doing?¡± The General always short of words replied ¡°Stopping Ghost, sister.¡± She BUV skidded to a stop at the back hangar and Athena 8 flew out of the vehicle. The workmen and women looked at her in surprise. The General stopped and looked for any resistance for a split second when she didn¡¯t find any she shot towards the null area. The first two corridors she passed without any challenges. The next one was closed but as she was thinking of blowing it up with her plasma launcher it beeped open. Athena 8 smiled. E65 somehow always came through. The general raced passed that corridor and the next one when she saw resistance. Augs. Ten, no eleven of them. Usually, augs kept their projectors on. Projecting skin and human features over their metal bones. These ones must have been too damaged for them to be on the frontline. The other thing that differentiated the augs and cyborgs was their inability to create external effects. That meant she had a magical advantage while they with their potentiality enriched bones, had a physical leg up. All of that, meant she could kill them at a distance. But she did not want to do that. Instead, Athena 8 pulled out her launcher and shot a restraining net over their heads. The augs followed the explosive with their head and with a well-placed energy shot from a pistol flung it away. What they forgot was that she was peak class one. She jumped. Her armours kinetic energy release systems flinging her up and over the heads of the augs in a blink. Then she was landing in a roll and springing back to her feet before the augs had even turned around. The soakers underneath her hummed. They pulled at her potentiality and that of her armour. With an annoyed huff the General flared a small disruptive shield around herself. The soaker would eat at it, and it would fail. But it was disposable. She turned the last corner and saw the large, locked door. The null room. And she didn¡¯t have a way to get through that. Once again, somehow E65 was there. Along with two Jays and one Parvati. Before she could ask what in the gods name he was doing there, E65 shot a small speck of igniting antimatter at the door. Whoosh! The door was gone and Athena 8 shot through the opening. She analysed the area in an instant. Her hud pinger everything one by one. Men in hazmat armour. Non combatants Pods with people inside it. Warders A cyborg standing in the middle of them. Taran 45. Then her hud glitched and pinged wildly. Warning! Class 4 anomalies detected. Status ¨C Incapacitated Behind the pod was a square stasis bed emanating cold throughout the room. On top of that were the two anomalies she was glad she didn¡¯t have to fight. Those two, if they weren¡¯t so malformed would have killed her and her budding faction. One of the mechanical arms on top of the platform sliced open one of the anomaly¡¯s chest. The adjoining arms descended and went into the horror¡¯s torso. Lights bloomed inside the thing. Lasers cutting, snipping and separating the rib cage from the anomaly¡¯s chest. Then with a scooping sound the first arm lifted the upper section of the ribcage free. Another arm separated the bottom section of the ribcage. The rest of the arms started printing a new ribcage inside the anomaly. Weak placeholders made of simple calcium. ¡°General?¡± Taran 45 turned to look at Athena. ¡°Ghost! What have you done?¡± Athena asked in a whisper. ¡°What needed to be done.¡± Athena 8 looked up and saw the arms firing lasers to reduce the size of the ribs. Shaping them into a smaller form. Athena 8 moved forwards and looked into the first pod. There was naked girl inside. He back was open and smaller arms were connecting an excalcit spine to her back. They were working furiously on her back shaping it, moulding it and trimming the waste. Other arms were holding a tangle or nerves, arteries and veins waiting for the first arm to finish the job. ¡°I am too late.¡± Athena 8 muttered. ¡°Aaaaaaahhhh!¡± A scream from the other pod jolted her. She turned and ran to it. The General recoiled at what she saw. There was small boy inside the pod. His milky blind eyes wide in pain. His chest were two sheets of skin in the corners of the pod. His insides were kept in place with medical arms and the amniotic gel inside the pod. The other pod began to ping, and a muffled moan came from it. ¡°Sedate him and the girl too.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t.¡± One of the surgeons protested ¡°If we need to go into their brain we need it clear of any chemicals.¡± Athena 8 flinched and whirled to face the High Councillor ¡°Brain?¡± Taran 45 looked at the doctor in disgust ¡°Just¡­ Do¡­ It.¡± ¡°General.¡± Taran 45 turned back to Athena 8 and shook his head. He started again ¡°Tina. To give them the capabilities of the twins we need to implant the advanced parts.¡± ¡°Have you lost your mind, Ghost?¡± Taran 45, the man who had once served in the General¡¯s army as a recon scout, looked back at his former employer with pitying eyes ¡°You can¡¯t lead us all Tina. Even your shoulders are not strong enough to bear the weight of the continuum follies. We need people who are more. No, we need warders who are more.¡± From the side of her eyes, she was the rib cage being lowered into the pod. She didn¡¯t have the stomach to look inside the pod. She averted her gaze and tried to ignore the pained groan that came from the boy. ¡°Kid. Relax, it will be over soon.¡± Taran 45 said almost affectionately. Athena 8 looked up at her old intelligence commander. He wasn¡¯t going to stop. Only she could stop this. Athena spun and pointed her weapon at the anomalies. Taran 45 anticipated her. He moved with the general. He wasn¡¯t strong enough to fight but he could do something. The grabbed the launcher¡¯s nozzle and pressed his forehead to it. Athena looked at Taran 45 and growled ¡°Ghost, move. ¡°You want to kill the anomalies. You will have to do it after you kill me.¡± Athena let a trickle of potentiality flow into her weapon. It began to glow and she snarled ¡°Don¡¯t think I won¡¯t.¡± ¡°Well do it. End this madness.¡± ¡°Now isn¡¯t this typical. Our General, pointing her weapon at someone.¡± A monotone voice came from the broken door. To Athena 8¡¯s surprise, E65 and his group wordlessly interposed themselves in between the Aug Queen and her. The Aug queen glanced at them and nodded in appreciation. ¡°Move.¡± The Aug Queen ordered what was left of the superb seven. ¡°Sorry, your queenship. You want to get to the general? You will have to go through us.¡± ¡°See that, Ghost. That is how you end madness. By standing up against it.¡± Taran 45 held onto the weapons barrel with a white fisted grip. His eyes locked onto the general¡¯s trigger finger. ¡°Did you put tracers on their bones?¡± Athena 8 asked Taran 45. ¡°General?¡± The high councillor said in a confused tone. ¡°Did you put trace glyphs on the warders new bones?¡± general Athena said while gritting her teeth. ¡°No, not yet.¡± Taran 45 answered. ¡°You will not.¡± Athena 8 ordered ¡°You will also stop all the modification you are doing on the warders and undo what you have done.¡± Taran 45 looked at Athena 8 and knew that she wasn¡¯t lying. He straightened his back and silently shook his head. The General growled ¡°I am not playing around Ghost. I will shoot you.¡± ¡°Threatening the High Councillor?¡± The Aug queen asked. ¡°Did you know?¡± Athena 8 pulled back her launcher from 45¡¯s grip and turned to look at her sister. The Aug Queen spread all four of her arms and shrugged ¡°I knew. I wasn¡¯t going to give them my augs. My augs are special. They are just cannon fodder. So, all that was left for the high councillor to make them into weapons was his little project.¡± Athena 8 nodded and walked to the Aug Queen ¡°I see.¡± Athena 8 faced the Aug Queen. ¡°Are you planning to fight me General?¡± ¡°No, sister. I am planning to smack you around like I used to.¡± The augs behind the Aug Queen twitched and the superb seven raised their weapons warningly. ¡°I am not the little Heena that you used to know Tina.¡± The Aug Queen said. Her voice gaining an inflection of violence. The General shook her head and before anybody could see what had happened, a crash echoed out in the null room. The general lowered her foot on a stunned Athena laying face down and looked at the augs ¡°Move and I will crush her head.¡± The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The augs all stilled. ¡°You won¡¯t kill me.¡± The aug queen muttered. ¡°No, I wouldn¡¯t kill Heena. But there is nothing of her left inside you.¡± Athena 8 said in a frustrated growl and in the same voice continued ¡°You have her memories. Recall them. How many times have we fought. How many times have I defeated her. But have I ever embarrassed her like this?¡± ¡°I should kill you.¡± The Aug Queen flinched as Athena 8 Raised her foot and looked at her elder sister as she continued speaking ¡°If not for anything else, then for being pathetically weak. But the battle lines we have drawn will fail if I do. Maybe they will anyways when the coward Jay 7 runs away again.¡± The Aug Queen jerked as if she had been hit and responded ¡°He is not a coward. He is a great man. A hero. The hero of Nile.¡± Athena 8 lowered her head to speak into the Aug Queen¡¯s ear ¡°Yes. Where he used an orbital bombardment to kill tens of millions. I know. I was there. On the ground saving our people. Should I release the video to everyone in the Continuum? You can say whatever you want, you can¡¯t delete history.¡± The Aug Queen stopped moving and looked at Athena 8 ¡°You will not do that either. That will break the moral of the Continuum.¡± ¡°Fuck the Continuum!¡± Athena 8¡¯s voice echoed in the dark room ¡°Look at what you have done.¡± The General pointed at the pods and the people in it ¡°You have assaulted warders. Warders! What do you think will happen when the Silver City comes to know about this?¡± ¡°Seven had made deals with the Silver City before. We will make a deal again.¡± The Aug Queen replied. ¡°No, you fool. What the Continuum has done is crossed a line. You mutilated them and experimented on them. The Silver City will call them abominations and dispose of them. Then, they are going to look for the nearest scapegoat and wipe them off the existence.¡± ¡°We will hand Taran 45 over to them.¡± Athena 8 chuckled mirthlessly ¡°Let me guess? Jay 7 came up with that one too?¡± She looked down at her sister to find something that would show her a glimpse of the woman she was and sighed ¡°What about the Kel? What are you going to tell him? He is not going to take your convoluted explanation for an answer.¡± ¡°We have worked with a kel before.¡± ¡°A Silver City Kel. This one belongs to the frontier faction. A faction at odds with the silver city. But you wouldn¡¯t know that. You are a toad is a small pond and you think you are a queen.¡± Athena stood up looked around at everyone looking at her. From the side of her eye she saw the purist arrive. She didn¡¯t wait for them and began ¡°Listen. This is how things are going to happen. My people will escort the warders everywhere from now on. If they find that you are trying to hurt them, they will kill you. No, matter who you are. And they will have my blessing to do so. If they fail, I will kill you.¡± ¡°General.¡± A woman¡¯s voice called out and Athena looked at Parvati 551 looking back at her. The councillor continued ¡°Should this be discussed in council.¡± ¡°You want to fence with me right now 551? Come, lets fence.¡± Parvati 551 quickly took a step back ¡°Calm Tina. I am not disagreeing with you. In council I will vote with you. But what you are doing will set a dangerous precedent.¡± Athena 8 shot a finger at the two pod ¡°This! This mutilation sets a dangerous precedent.¡± Parvati looked at her wife and took a step back. Ruby F1450 closed her eyes and nodded ¡°General¡­¡± Athena 8 cut her off ¡°Enough! Just answer me this. Did you know what Ghost was doing?¡± Ruby F1450 was annoyed but answered ¡°We found out a few hours ago.¡± ¡°A few hours ago.¡± Athena 8 nodded and in soft voice asked ¡°What was the continuum created for?¡± ¡°General?¡± Ruby F1450 asked. ¡°What did my father create the continuum for?¡± Athena 8 looked at everyone in the room. ¡°To continue humanity.¡± Ruby F1450 said getting annoyed. ¡°No!¡± Athena 8 shouted. Her voice booming in echoes in the dark hall. She controlled her pitch and continued ¡°To protect humanity. To help the weakest amongst humanity. And to continue the humanity while doing that.¡± She pointed a finger at the pods again ¡°Does this look like protecting humanity? Does this even look like humanity?¡± Ruby F1450¡¯s face reddened, she was about to open her mouth when her wife grabbed her hand and pulled her back. Athena 8 shook her head and muttered ¡°You didn¡¯t even call me.¡± Parvati M551 stepped in front of her wife and asked ¡°What are you going to do?¡± ¡°Me? I am going to take the warders, my faction and all my assets and leave.¡± She looked around and everyone ¡°You all have lost your way and can¡¯t be trusted with warders.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t¡± Taran 45 protested. Athena 8 whirled and grabbed the High Councillor by his throat ¡°What?¡± Taran 45 croaked ¡°You can¡¯t move the warders. They will die.¡± The general lowered her head to look into her old subordinate¡¯s eyes ¡°Then fix the mess.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± ¡°Ghost!¡± Athena 8 snarled. Taran 45¡¯s legs thrashed in discomfort, but he spoke ¡°They will need supervised care after the procedure. They will not survive if we don¡¯t constantly adjust their growth.¡± Athena 8 grimaced and let the force crushing Taran 45 ease ¡°We¡¯ll see about that.¡± The general turned to look at the men and the woman who had stood beside her in the confrontation. One of them looked familiar to her but she did not have time for that. Instead she began issuing orders. ¡°E65, you and your people are on bodyguard detail. I will send someone to relieve you in a few hours. They will also have the new armour for your friends.¡± Athena 8 turned to the Aug Queen ¡°Assault commander! Take your people and leave.¡± As she was turning to the purist Marshall Lara¡¯s voice announced. Attention! Attention! The patients will into anaphylactic shock in 200 seconds Diagnosed Cause - Brain Transplants are being rejected. Using quantum cores to create a neurological map. Unusual neurological activity detected in both brain sets. Mapping. Processing. Neurological map created. Neurological map rejected. Creating a new Neurological map. Creating a dreamscape based on Warder Sheetal¡¯s brain activity. Awaiting Warder Ash¡¯s vitals to stabilise. Athena looked at the words popping on to her hud one by one and let Taran 45 down. Taran 45 who had gone still with everyone listening to Marshall Lara¡¯s words jolted and freed himself from the general grip. He shouted ¡°All non essential personnel vacate the room. Medical personnel to the pods.¡± Athena 8 stepped in front of the High Councillor. Taran 45 shoved her ¡°General, shoot me or get out of the way.¡± Athena barely moved but relented. Taran 45¡¯s hands shook. His death, he could accept. His death, he somewhat even welcomed. His death¡­ By the gods why hadn¡¯t someone blown his head of yet. His death was not his concern. The warders death worried him. He couldn¡¯t allow that to happen. The continuum needed them whether they liked it or not. They could hate him for creating them. But without the two kids in the glass and iridium pods, they were all looking at a slow painful death. No, he corrected himself. If General Athena could be trusted, and he trusted her more than anyone else, their deaths would fast and sudden. Warders like to shoot first and ask questions later. Taran 45 reached the first pod. Looked at the flatlining reading and ran to the second one. Athena 8 was already there. Taran 45 ignored her and looked at the reading. He hit two onscreen buttons and yelled ¡°Report!¡± ¡°It¡¯s his brain thrive councillor, it is not responding.¡± Taran 45 looked up ¡°Marshall Lara, where is that dreamscape?¡± Marshal Lara reported ¡°High Councillor, I cannot create a dreamscape with the neurological spikes I am detecting. I need a mental baseline and steady activity afterwards to establish one.¡± ¡°It¡¯s the hair.¡± One of the doctors said loudly ¡°I keep telling you all, it¡¯s the hair.¡± ¡°Not this again M688. This is not the time for this.¡± The first one shrank back, and Taran 45 looked at him consideringly. ¡°How long will it take to replace the hair?¡± The two surgeons looked at each other and the first one answered ¡°Ten minutes maybe?¡± Taran 45 looked at the reading on the display and ordered ¡°We have one.¡± Taran bit his lip and looked in between the display with the falling and his surgeons looking helplessly as the vitals on the two warders declined. Athena snorted. ¡°Is something funny, General?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Taran 45 squinted ¡°Do you know something we don¡¯t?¡± Athena pointed at the glass and said ¡°Watch.¡± Taran 45 turned to look inside the pod. Ash¡¯s body began to glow, and he took an instinctive step back. The glow slowly seeped out of the kid¡¯s body. It surrounded him. Creating and merging with his aura superimposing a picture of the soft pretty features over the broken body of the boy. The young pretty boy smiled smugly and a microsecond later long silver blue flowing locks appeared over Ash¡¯s exposed brain. Hundreds of strands went through the skull and penetrated right into his brain. Others appeared over his scalp. They all flowed upwards and then dramatically fell sideways over his right cheeks while the right side of his face quirked up prettily. The picture lasted to a fraction of a moment. But for Taran 45 who had ascended to mid class one the image could have lasted for minutes. His did not know why but something inside him made his mind speed up, take in every detail, and seared it into the back of his mind. Creating a perfect replica of the cutest sleeping child he had ever seen in his life. The glow faded and left a semi sliced open Ash in its place. Athena 8 nodded ¡°That one, he is full of himself, isn¡¯t he?¡± In response Taran asked ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°That was a warders soul superimposing itself over the body to repair it while screaming look at me. Look at me. I am so pretty.¡± Athena 8 rolled her eyes. ¡°They can do that? They can superimpose their souls to heal themselves?¡± The General turned to glare at Taran 45 who was now looking into Sheetal¡¯s pod ¡°Yes, Ghost. Did you think the stories about warders soul structure being different from ours were just stories?¡± Taran 45 jerked but did not take the bait instead he screamed at his two subordinates ¡°M688. M439. Get the anomaly¡¯s scalp. It has strands that are not normal. Put them in the warder¡¯s brain. We have two minutes. Get to it.¡± ¡°What about the female? She has those strands like that too.¡± Taran growled ¡°Do them both but focus on the boy first. He has hundreds of them.¡± Athena looked at the surgical pods. She did not need the readings to see that they had the time. She also knew that the warders could heal themselves twice more with their stored potentiality. She took a step back and exhaled. ¡°General, do you have anything to add?¡± Taran 45 asked. ¡°Yes.¡± Athena nodded to herself ¡°You are a fool. An ignorant fool. Warders are one of the most difficult creatures to kill in all of reality. But with you, I fear for their lives.¡± Taran 45 touched his throat. The spot where the general had laid her hands on him and nodded ¡°I will be careful, general.¡± ¡°No. You will let me oversee their care from here on.¡± Taran 45 stiffened and a bit of heat entered the High Councillor¡¯s eyes. He quickly did a mental inventory and smiled. ¡°No. General.¡± Taran 45 straightened his back. ¡°No?¡± Athena asked threateningly. ¡°Yes, General. No.¡± ¡°Be very careful ghost or I will kill you right here and right now. I have plenty of justification for it.¡± Taran 45 smiled ¡°I understand your feeling on the matter but General, they don¡¯t know you. I will lead to enter their minds to carefully help them integrate the new parts. Their mindscapes won¡¯t let you in. The one they have spent most times around is me.¡± ¡°I can do it.¡± The Aug Queen said from the side. ¡°No!¡± The high councillor and the General said together. The Aug Queen stood up straight and glared at Taran 45 ¡°High Councillor, as soon as you are done. I will be taking the Marshall with me. We need her in the front.¡± Taran 45 sighed and nodded but did not look away from the General¡¯s eyes. The Aug Queen took in a breath and walked out with her augs. Athena 8¡¯s eyes blazed into the younger Taran, finally she relented ¡°Fine. Do what you need to do to finish up what you have started. But if I see any of you forcing anything on them again, I will beat you into the ground.¡± The General looked around the null room. At all the faces looking at her and growled ¡°Until you are begging me for death.¡± Taran 45 nodded ¡°As you wish, General.¡± Athena turned to look at Taran E65 and her features slightly softened ¡°I am sorry E65. You did good but your time as an infiltrator is at and end.¡± Athena tapped the pod next to her as it began to glow, she looked in and continued speaking ¡°Protect them with your life and call me at the slightest hint of trouble. I will be¡­¡± Athena stopped. He eyes wide open to look at the female warder¡¯s projected soul. The boy¡¯s features had softened becoming dainty like one of those courtly nobles in Rier. Sheetal was different. Her features gained an edge to them. Making her face became more angular. The worry lines from her forehead all but disappeared. Matte black hair fell down to her lower back and swayed in an unseen wind framing her regal feature dramatically. Her eyes fluttered open and the General suddenly felt small under the gaze of two black holes. Those eyes, those dark eyes that had focussed on her for one hundredth of second closed and forever in Athena¡¯s mind the baby warder was replaced by a regal queen. ¡°General?¡± Taran 45 gasped. Athena couldn¡¯t look away from the unconscious girl. She whispered to herself ¡°Why did I even doubt the light?¡± ¡°General?¡± Taran 45 asked. ¡°I need to...¡± Athena 8 shook her head and started again ¡°I need to do a lot of things to prepare.¡± ¡°General?¡± Taran 45 nudged the large woman. It was like pushing on a wall. Athena looked down at Taran 45 and shook her head. She chuckled ¡°It¡¯s nothing, ghost.¡± She turned to E65 ¡°Take care of them. I will be in Free City. Call me if anything happens. Or if anyone does anything.¡± Everyone watched the General stomp away with a thoughtful expression on her face. ¡°Did she?¡± Parvati 551 who was standing out of the way with her wife began. Looked at the giant woman turn the corner and asked in a whisper ¡°Was she smiling?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Ruby F1450 nodded in surprise. Taran 45 who was looking inside the pods one by one ignored the two women talking. His eyes were focussed on the needles that were pushing thin follicles into the two brains. He looked at the two surgeons. They made micro adjustments in the warder¡¯s scalps to account for the new strands and then lowered them down. ¡°Surgeons, add ethericite to the gel in the pods and activate it.¡± ¡°No!¡± A shout stopped the surgeons and Taran 45 turned around to look at Parvati M141 holding up a finger. ¡°Specialist medic, you are not the Athena Chandra. Do not mess with my operation.¡± Taran glared at Parvati M, his gaze slowly softened and he continued ¡°I understand your objection. Ethericite heals but also poisons blood stream. In this case it will not. M439, add Needles to your crew. She is a member of the warder¡¯s party. Brief her.¡± Taran 45 saw the two purist councillors heading to him and continued his instructions ¡°M688, seal them up add fluid to the brain and then for god¡¯s sake add ethericite to the amniotic gel.¡±¡± ¡°Ladies.¡± Taran 45 acknowledged the councillor while watching the warders inside the pods. The two young people were doing relatively well inside the fluid. Their vital signs were steady and all he needed to do was put them back together. But that did not mean he was happy about how the whole operation had gone. His secret plan was supposed to remain a secret for weeks if not months and it had all gone to the abyss. First the gods forsaken purist had shown up, Then, his fears had come true and General Athena had run straight into his secret null zone. That woman knew every little secret they all tried to hide. And this time when he had looked into her eyes he knew he was dead. But death did not scare him. Passivity did. He had seen empires fall because those who needed to guide it, did not do what needed to be done. And he was not going to let the last of his people fall. Thankfully, Athena A07 had come in after her. And as usual the two sisters animosity had distracted them both. Instead of shooting him in the head the General had vented by putting her little sister down a notch. Taran 45 examined the pod in front of him, Sheetal¡¯s transplants were removed by the small mechanical arms that ended in microscopic fingers. Small strands were brought from the scalps of the female anomaly and added to the parts in a blur. The tens of arms worked together and brought the new parts down. Then the new arteries, nerves, and veins were printed on the spot from the flesh of the anomalies and integrated into Sheetal brain. He looked sideways. Ruby F1450 was looking at the girl with a pinched expression. Parvati 551 on the other hand was looking at him with wide eyes. ¡°You were ready to die.¡± She stated. Taran 45 exhaled ¡°I am ready to die for this.¡± Ruby F1450 looked at the high councillor for a long moment and then asked ¡°What are you doing, 45?¡± The usual heat from the woman¡¯s was missing and she was genuinely baffled. Taran 45 moved to the second pod and looked inside at the boy. The parts that were going into his brain were smaller but no less important. Where Sheetal was given addition to her prefrontal lobes and temporal lobes, Ash was given more nerves like the new optic and oculomotor nerves along with other parts he was not familiar with. He was a spy and politician, and not a surgeon. He had people to know the minutia. The silence got heavy and just when Ruby F was going to speak the High Councillor replied. ¡°Saving us, Ruuub.¡± Parvati looked from the broken anomalies in the back to the scarred children in the pods. ¡°By mutilating children?¡± She asked in almost a whisper while watching the taboo in front of her. ¡°No by creating a weapon and a shield. A shield for the continuum to hide behind and weapon¡­¡± Taran 45 quirked a smile while looking at the scrawny boy inside the pod ¡°A weapon that the most fearsome wielder should fear.¡± ¡°And you were willing to die for this?¡± Ruby pointed at the pods and asked. ¡°Yes. I am willing to die to remake them. I am willing to die to protect them.¡± Taran 45 answered. Ruby F1450 nodded in understanding. While her wife looked at Taran 45 in shock and incomprehension on the two younger women¡¯s faces and shook his head. The two surgeons appeared from the back of the pods and started placing soul shards in one by one. ¡°Why?¡± Parvati 551 asked. ¡°You are too young. You don¡¯t remember what our world was like when we had a warder walking amongst us. We didn¡¯t know how much he shielded us from the universe until he was gone. These are not our warders. But I am going to do everything to tie them to us. And when I am done, I am not going to lose them. Not to a stray bullet or a rak weapon. And if they kill me. Well, I am willing to let them. When the time is right.¡± ¡°You are mad.¡± Parvati shook her head. ¡°Madness is watching your people die one by one. Madness is seeing you civilisation falling apart in front of you and not doing anything. Madness is not taking a step forward when the universe highlights a direction to walk in.¡± The two surgeons brought his equipment to him on a floating table. Taran 45 sat down on a chair and placed a crown like ring over his head. It would help him enter the dreamscape and the smaller ones on each of his limbs would let him interact with the warders dreams. Parvati 551 looked inside the boy warder¡¯s pod and watched the small laser arms blur as they poked little holes inside the scalp. A small electric pulse made the small hair on her body stand. Inside the body the strands linked to Ash¡¯s brain jolted upwards. The arms from the top of the pod moved rapidly. Sucking in hair through the holes and then filling in the opening with bone from the male anomaly. More bone went in to glue the scalp back together and the councillor noted that the head of the boy looked slightly bigger than it was before. ¡°Surgeons. Add the cerebral fluid.¡± Taran 45 ordered his doctors. Parvati 551 did not when her hands had begun to shake. The ideal she aspired to was purity. Purity of thought, purity of body and purity of action. Those were the tenants she and her faction aspired to. This was no less than heresy and she couldn¡¯t do anything. Her faction was too weak. She was too weak. All she could do was die trying and her people needed her. ¡°Don¡¯t give me that look.¡± Taran 45 smiled at the angry councillor and continued ¡°Whatever you are planning to do, the kids will do worse to me when I enter their dreamscape.¡± ¡°Do you want me to wish you luck? I won¡¯t. You deserve everything they are going to do to you and much more, 45.¡± Taran 45 chuckled mirthlessly ¡°No. I am not worried about the kids. I have worries about what is going to happen next. I might not survive the next step.¡± The councillors looked at Taran 45 questioningly. Taran 45 straightened and in formal tone asked ¡°Councillor Parvati 551, would you do me one favour for all times sake, the warders, they might need counselling after this. Can I entrust their mental health to you?¡± Parvati 551 glared at Taran 45 and then looked at the girl in the pod. She was wincing in her dreams. She sighed ¡°Yes high councillor. But perhaps they are not the only ones who need therapy.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have time for therapy.¡± Taran 45 said and looked up ¡°Marshall Lara, please disengage your domain and transfer all your threads to the resonant link in the Aug Queen¡¯s care. I don¡¯t want you implicated in this mess.¡± ¡°What are you doing Taran 45?¡± Tran 45 cracked his neck ¡°Councillor please step away from the pods. Better yet, leave. I am going to start a ritual to invoke the lights creatures and call them here.¡± ¡°What!?¡± Ruby F1450 who hadn¡¯t taken her eye of the female warder turned and looked at the High Councillor in shock. Her voice began to rise as she continued ¡°Are you mad? Wasn¡¯t defiling her champions like this enough? Now you want to show of your work to taunt her creatures?¡± Taran 45 grimaced and replied ¡°No. I am going to call on them to ask for help.¡± ¡°Ha! You are mad.¡± Ruby F1450¡¯s face paled and she asked her wife ¡°Has he gone mad?¡± Parvati 551 looked at Taran 45 and truthfully couldn¡¯t tell. Ruby took a step away from the high councillor and muttered ¡°By the gods, they are going to kill us. They will destroy us all.¡± ¡°Not if I do this right.¡± Captain Ruby F1450 eyes blazed ¡°You mad man. You think they are not going to put the warders out their misery first? Everyone is going to die here!¡± Chapter 37 – Purpose Ruby F1450 shouted and stomped around. She was afraid. Her wife was always quick with her emotions. She loved that about her. Right now, she was panicking. And she couldn¡¯t blame her. The lights creatures wouldn¡¯t be kind to them. Heck, Parvati 551 didn¡¯t know if they didn¡¯t deserve everything that was coming to them. Still, there was hope. She believed in the old ways. She believed in the great mother¡¯s glory. Parvati 551 shook her head and said ¡°The light¡¯s creatures do not punish the innocent. The great mother is kind. She is life. She is light. She sees the past, the present and the future. She is the mother of celestial deities. She is the universe and its consciousness. She is fair and so are her blessed.¡± Ruby F1450 paused her tirade and looked at her in disbelief. ¡°Still, I think we should move to the door.¡± Parvati 551 added. The two women had faith and Parvati 551¡¯s scriptures gave them courage, but they were not stupid. They sprinted away from the pods and close to the exit of the null room. At the edge of the room, they watched the high councillor work on his ritual. ¡°What are those buffoons doing? Why aren¡¯t they running?¡± Ruby F1450 asked. Parvati looked where her wife was looking and swore when she saw the Superb Seven standing protectively in front of the pods. On the other side of the room the surgeons were running away to hide behind the glass wall. ¡°Jay 83, 84, don¡¯t just stand there. Run!¡± Parvati shouted. The two Jays turned and looked at her at the same time. And with the same smile replied ¡°No. Not this time.¡± They both looked at each other and snorted. Jays. Parvati cursed. They were all foolishly brave in the face death and they had a way to motivate others to join them. Parvati was going to call out again when the statis in the air faded. ¡°Shutting down operations and domain. Transferring to a portable quantum cores. Good luck, high councillor.¡± Marshall Lara¡¯s voice came from everywhere and the feeling of being observed disappeared. Taran 45 nodded and began placing precious metals, rare materials, and the best battle trophies his faction had acquired on a ritual platter. He took in a breath, lit an incense stick, and began to chant a smooth mantra under his breath. It needed to be narrated one hundred and eight times with perfect pronunciation for one of her little creatures to be invoked. To get the light attention, billions of creatures needed to chant her mantra for 108 years in perfect harmony, with perfect pronunciation to represent the universe perfection. The two councillors looked at Taran 45 chanting with his eyes trained at the pods. He was so focussed on the sight ahead that he did not notice a small bundle of serenely floating tentacles soundlessly appear over his head. The incorporeal creature turned to look around. Its three brains bobbed behind its heads as it reached out its tentacles to taste the air. One of its tentacles twitched and with a childlike enthusiasm, it dove for the platter with the gifts. Halfway there the Khara stopped. It looked up and at the pods. It extended it tentacles towards the two pods and recoiled. It spun. Its tentacles tangling in agitation. And then it pulsed its shards violently. Name ¨C Incomprehensible. Race ¨C Khara (Divine touched) Class ¨C Divine 1 System Ranking ¨C 101 (Favoured) Parvati did not know what happened, but she was suddenly on the dark floor and her brain was pulsing. She felt her wife¡¯s hands lifting her up and saw an agitated Khara flaring its shard filled tentacles over the kneeling high councillor. Just under the suspended pods the superb seven twitched in prone position. ¡°Help me, please.¡± Taran 45 grunted out. The divinely incorporeal khara glared at the high councillor with its multiple eyes. After a second, it moved, not up or down or on the lateral plane. It moved out of reality creating a fractal of images for a second and disappeared. Taran 45 just stayed there. One moment a divine blessed creature was floating in front of him, the next it was gone. Had he failed? Had the khara been so disgusted that it had abandoned the warders? He had bet everything on this gamble and now, what was he supposed to do? The air next to Taran 45 rippled. Hundreds of dark eyes looked down upon him. The high councillor scrambled up to his feet and began taking a step backwards. Reality cracked. Clink. A large tentacle shot out of elsewhere in a blink of an eye and wrapped around the high councillor. It effortlessly lifted the older man twelve feet in the air and slammed him down. Thump. Taran 45¡¯s breath exploded out of his mouth. And he turned his head upwards to take a breath and took in the humid rubbery scent enclosing him. Taran 45 cleared his eyes took at the source of the smell and saw the creature that had him in its limbs. Name ¨C Incomprehensible. Race ¨C Khara (Soldier cast) Class ¨C 4 System Ranking ¨C 61 (Fated) Behind the large creature, five smaller divine touched khara flew in. They all gave him baleful looks and moved towards the pods. Taran 45 bent his neck to look at the khara and saw the silly people in their way. He struggled to tell the foolish seven to move out of the way but he couldn¡¯t get a breath in. He tried to use his eyes to warn them. Instead, they all climbed to their feet with grunts and groans. And faced off with the khara. Parvati M141 looked at the agitated khara moving towards them and bowed her head. She did not know whether they would understand her or not, but she had to give it a try. Not only did she have orders but also, she had failed the two kids behind her. She couldn¡¯t live with herself if she did not stand up now. And her husband knew that and that is why he was standing right there with her. ¡°Khara, I am a healer. I was supposed to be their healer.¡± Needles pointed behind them at the warders in their pods ¡°Please let me observe.¡± The khara stopped. The lead one approached her. It floated around her. Then in a blink of an eye it stabbed her with one of its tentacles. Jay 84 began to move when the tentacle pierced his wife¡¯s forehead. He was so shocked that he did not even notice the lack of blood in the air until Parvati M raised her hand and shouted. ¡°JJ stop. Its okay. It¡¯s okay.¡± The khara use one eye to look Jay 84 and then moved a few lengths away. It turned back to Parvati M141, and its tentacles moved in a wave like pattern. ¡°Yes. I am a healer. But I don¡¯t know how to heal this.¡± Parvati M pointed at the warders. The khara¡¯s tentacles rippled again. Parvati M pointed at Taran 45 and hissed ¡°He, did this. But he is not a healer either. His subordinates behind that glass wall, they are the brains behind this mess. If you want to know what they did, you need to ask them.¡± The khara looked back at the floating soldiers cast. The larger khara lazily moved. Its movement looked slow and ponderous but somehow in a blink of an eye the two surgeons were in the large khara¡¯s limbs. And only then needles heard the glass wall break with a shattering sound. The other divine touched khara moved to the two surgeons and without a sound stabbed the two surgeon¡¯s forehead with their incorporeal tentacles. The doctors twitched but soon all movements but their breath stopped and a glassy look came over their eyes. ¡°Paru, you can understand them?¡± Jay 84 asked. ¡°Yeah, they taught me.¡± Needles nodded at the lead khara and explained ¡°They communicate with their tentacles. It¡¯s fascinating. It¡¯s not just sign language with ten tentacles. Its also the sound they make with them. A soft scrape means statement. A sharp scrape means a question and¡­¡± ¡°We got it. We got it. Woohoo. You speak space rubber fish language.¡± 83 chuckled sarcastically and asked ¡°How about you ask if they want to kill us all or not?¡± ¡°Hey, be nice to my wife.¡± 84 started to protest when the large soldier started to squeeze into one of the surgeons. The man started to struggle and screamed. It was short lived. The sound of snapping bones was followed by blood splattering on the ground. And then, ash fell to the floor along with the man¡¯s shards. The high councillor grunted and tried to struggle. Another tentacle coming down on him with a thwack stopped him and muffled out his protests. It was a statement of pure strength and with it the tension that had started to ease appeared again. The first khara returned to Needles. They¡¯re tentacles rippled. Parvati M looked at Jay 84 and said ¡°They are asking for your purpose.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Jay 84 asked befuddled. Parvati M clarified ¡°JJ, they don¡¯t think the way we do. They want to know what defines you and why is it making you stand here in front of the warders blocking their way.¡± Jay 84 thought the question and nodded. He took in a breath and started. ¡°It is not often that class zeroes save battle hardened class ones. The kids, we were supposed to save them and somehow they ended up saving us.¡± Jay 84 scratched his head and sighed ¡°Basically khara, they saved me, my wife and my best friend. Heck they even saved the little spy over there. I owe them. Maybe more than I can repay. That is why I chose to come here to protect them. And that is why I will continue doing so, if they will have me.¡± Jay 83 shook his head ¡°Sentimental ape.¡± Parvati smiled and said ¡°Don¡¯t resist. They, are going to use their tentacle to verify your words.¡± The khara quickly poked 84 and moved to 83. Parvati translated. ¡°Purpose?¡± ¡°What my best friend here said, it mostly that. Its also the fact that the boy behind me. He is fun. So, I will do my best to keep him alive.¡± The khara moved to E65 and he tried to speak. ¡°Aah. Ummm¡­ The general¡­ Ash¡­ Ah¡­¡± The khara looked at Needles. She glanced at E65. The man looked at her helplessly. ¡°Just poke him?¡± The medic finally said. The khara did as she asked, and its tentacles jittered and flexed. It backed away and its body began to pulse in a pinkish light that quickly transformed into multicoloured dancing lights inside an ethereal body. A moment later the other khara began to pulse multicoloured hues. ¡°Umm¡­ What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°They are laughing. What did you do?¡± Parvati M asked. The khara turned to her and moved its tentacles. Needles laughed. She stopped and gave E65 and warning look. ¡°What?¡± Jay 83 asked. ¡°T, is worried that the khara are going to poke if with their tentacles in other parts.¡± Everyone looked at E65 with questioning looks. ¡°I tried to research the Ash. He told me his favourite thing to do in his world is watching something called hentai.¡± E65 covered his rear with his palms. Under everyone¡¯s look the former spy deflated ¡°It¡¯s difficult to explain but, picture this. There are these young people who go to this pond for vacation. They somehow all end up naked and start doing it. Suddenly this soldier khara who by the way bigger than the pod appears. He joins in. For the next forty five minutes, he does things. And I mean a lot of things.¡± Parvati M asked looked at the haunted look on Taran E65¡¯s face ¡°¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because by doing those things he can reclaim his powers of a god of lust. And using those powers he finally transforms. Then he disappears into the sky, becoming a comet travelling through space and looking for a bigger orgy.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t ask you why the khara did that? I was¡­ Wait what? That¡¯s not how divinity works. Why would they think it would work like that?¡± Needles gave E65 a curious look. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°What happened to the young people the khara left behind?¡± 83 asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± E65 answered. ¡°How did the khara get to space?¡± 84 asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Where the energies to fuel the transformation come from?¡± Parvati M141 asked. E65 looked at everyone. The rapid fire questions weren¡¯t stopping. And the gods touched Khara kept bobbing up and down while pulsing festively. ¡°Stop!¡± E65 shouted and growled ¡°I don¡¯t know!¡± T took in a breath and began again ¡°You know what, I am not comfortable with what I watched. In fact, I think I might be traumatised. And I definitely don¡¯t want to talk it so can we move on please?¡± The khara suddenly stopped pulsing and turned to look behind themselves. ¡°Grraaaah!¡± A pulse of kinetic flew up from the floor in the direction of the soldier khara. The large creature looked down at Taran 45 who had an ugly expression on his face. He threw the tentacle away and looked at the large khara. ¡°Let me talk, brute. Your masters don¡¯t have all the variables to help the warders.¡± The khara twitched and their limbs rippled. Parvati M141 began translating. ¡°Human, are you willing to stake your life on that fact?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The high councillor shouted and in a calmer tone continued ¡°Kill me if you need to. I am willing to die. But allow me to help you finish what I started.¡± The soldier khara heaved and a small brown hill floated a few step away from the high councillor. ¡°What variables?¡± Needles translated the largest ethereal khara. The high councillor pointed at the two weapons on the table next to the pods ¡°Those soul weapons. They can feed potentiality to the warders. They seem to favour the male but they are compatible with both of them.¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°They have changed their energy structure already.¡± The khara looked at each other. Taran 45 smiled ¡°Divine khara, I have overstepped beyond my purpose, but I did all of this to make the two warders the best they can be.¡± ¡°You have not only overstepped. You have changed your purpose. Such transgressions cannot be allowed.¡± Taran 45 nodded ¡°I am willing to pay with my life.¡± ¡°Very well, you will do so. After we finish repairing, and reenforcing what you did.¡± ¡°The warder¡¯s souls are no longer compatible with their bodies.¡± The high councillor took a step towards the pods and continued ¡°Only I can help you with that. I can speak to their subconscious while they dream¡± Needles looked at the smug smile on Taran 45¡¯s face and growled ¡°It¡¯s not him that can communicate with the warders. It¡¯s those rings he is wearing. Any of us can do that if we have them.¡± The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Taran 45 glared at Parvati M. The medic glared right back. However, the khara weren¡¯t interested in either of them. They had turned away and started confirming amongst each other. With their tentacles barely moving Needles was having a hard time translating what they were planning. She didn¡¯t have to wonder much longer. The khara dispersed. Their flying forms zipping across the air leaving spiralling energy currents behind them. One of them rushed to the other two councillor looking in from the door. The octopus plucked buttons from Captain Ruby¡¯s unform jacket and a hair clip from Parvati 551 head. Another one, appeared in front of Taran 45 gathering the rings from his limbs and head. Two zoomed past her to the pods and started inspecting it. The final one appeared in front of Parvati and placed a tentacle next to her ear. ¡°Little healer.¡± Parvati was to hear not just one voice but three. They all had different pitches and inflections and was confused for a moment. They she remembered that the Khara species had three brains. Did that mean that they were three consciousness inside one body? ¡°Can you hear us human?¡± This time he heard a distinct female voice take the lead. ¡°Uh, yes.¡± Needles couldn¡¯t help smiling as she answered distracted with the thought that the was khara¡¯s pronouns were they because they were they. She controlled her oncoming giggles and listened as the tentacles vibrated into speech. ¡°Good. We will help the warders. But they will need to pay for our assistance. You will converse with them and get their acquiescence before we continue.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°We will send you to their minds. You will have to help us from inside there if they agree.¡± ¡°Okay. I hope they are not having a nightmare.¡± Needles blanched. It wasn¡¯t just an idle thought. She had used the dreamscape before to wake up patients from coma. Those who had suffered trauma and were fatally injured always had nightmares. And those nightmares sometimes left a lasting injury to the mind of the doctor. ¡°They are not. We have already calmed their minds. But you will not be the only one whose consciousness we will be sending. And their minds might think of multiple presences as an invasion and attack.¡± Parvati M141 took in a deep breath. Dreamscapes were always dangerous, but she was a medic and the two behind her were her patients. She nodded and asked ¡°Okay, whose going with me?¡± Half an hour later the superb seven were standing just this side of a long yellow line glaring at Taran 45. The high councillor whose every action was being monitored by the soldier khara stood up from inspecting the line and looked at the soldiers in front of him. ¡°So, you decided to recruit E65?¡± Nobody answered him. Instead everyone looked around. On one side of the line was a large flat plain covered with tightly packed dirt. On the other side was an airconditioned hall filled with white boards. Squeaking noises of a marker came from behind the whiteboards covered with numbers and symbols. They stopped and illegible thinking noises came from behind the board. The high councillor continued in a whisper ¡°E65. He is quite a catch you know. One of the best Tarans created in a decade¡± "T I think the councillors is in love with you." 83 muttered. JJ snorted and E65 glared at Theory and at the High Councillor. ¡°Waah waah waan. Waah¡­ waah¡­ wummm.¡± A tumble weed appeared out of nowhere and rolled just past them into the lecture hall. Everyone looked at the sight and at each other. The voice was familiar. No not so much familiar. It felt familiar. Like as if it was a childish girly version of the one they knew. But more than that, the annoying nasly tune sung by the voice somehow wormed itself into everyone¡¯s brain and alongside that a poster of something called, The good. The bad. And the ugly, appeared in their minds. Everyone blinked and shook themselves. They all turned towards the noise coming towards them from the left side of the line. It was a growling roar of something large and heavy heading towards them in a cloud of dust. A shiny black SUV appeared out of the cloud and drifted right. Stopping ten feet away from them. The door opened and the dust in the air faded out of existence. The person inside stepped out, his long wavy hair hiding his face and looked at the mirror that had just appeared floating in the air. He touched his hat and flung his overcoat back dramatically. ¡°Tell me punk, do you feel lucky?¡± Ash growled in a childish voice. ¡°That¡¯s not even the same movie!¡± Sheetal shouted from behind the whiteboards. ¡°Huh?¡± Ash gave the whiteboards a befuddled look. ¡°Where do you watch your movies?¡± ¡°Ummm¡­ Instagram?¡± There was silence for a long moment and then in a calm voice Sheetal asked ¡°Why is there a tumbleweed in my lecture hall?¡± ¡°Aahhh.¡­¡± ¡°Ash!¡± Sheetal snarled and the whiteboards shook ¡°My side is this side. Your side is the other one.¡± ¡°Yeah. Right. Let me get rid of this. This look isn¡¯t fire, anyway.¡± Everyone blinked. Ash was gone. The mirror, the car and the boy were all gone. He hadn¡¯t even looked at them. The squeaking sound from behind the board started again and they looked in that direction. Jay 84 turned to look at his wife and in a whisper asked ¡°Should we¡­¡± Oi. Oi. Oi¡­Oi. Oi. Oi. Ash started singing again and everyone looked in the distance as another engine roar began. This time they didn¡¯t have to wait long to catch the sight of him. A black car flew out of the dust cloud. Its large air intakes opening as it lifted up on its rear two wheels and thudded down dramatically. It skidded to a stop. Ash got out. This time he was wearing a white vest over blue jeans. It didn¡¯t fit right. The vest was too large, and the jeans dragged on the ground. And his long black hair looked completely out of place in the attire. The mirror appeared and Ash looked at it. In a fake deep voice he muttered ¡° I live my life a quarter¡­. Ah.¡± A shudder ran through Ash¡¯s body, and he shouted ¡°Ah! Cringe! Boomer cringe!¡± And he was gone again. Only the squeaking noise continued behind the boards. Jay 84 started to move towards the white boards and Taran 45 reached and grabbed his hands. 84 whirled and freed his hands. Taran 45 held up his hands and whispered ¡°Let¡¯s not be hasty. Let¡¯s wait for them to come to us. We are in their minds remember?¡± Pum. Pum¡­Pum. Pum. Pum... Pum. Pum¡­. Pum. Pum. Pum Everyone turned again to look at the plain. Ash flew out of it on the back of a red sports bike. His hair flying back in the wind and yellow sunglasses on his face. His bike¡¯s rear wheel lifted in the air as he stopped. He jumped of the vehicle and looked in the mirror. ¡°Red light. Green light.¡± He squished something in his hand and made an exploding motion and smiled with his lips pressed together ¡°Boom.¡± ¡°Can he even see us?¡± Needles asked in a soft whisper. ¡°Oh, I can see you.¡± Ash took off his now black glasses and grinned. He was suddenly wearing a brown jacket with patches on it. He looked down at himself and shook his head ¡°Naah! Too brown.¡± ¡°Ash?¡± Sheetal asked from behind the whiteboards. ¡°Oh¡­ Ummm¡­ Run?¡± Ash asked ¡°What?¡± Jay 84 asked. Ash whispered ¡°JJ, guys, you need to run.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you dare!¡± The white boards shifted aside with the sound of rollers and thudded into each. In the middle of the rolling boards Sheetal flew in a world of fire and rampaging hurricanes. Lightning flew across the sky clashing against other tendrils and melting the ground. Sheetal lifted her hand and flew towards them. ¡°She, did you light your space on fire again?¡± Ash asked. Sheetal stared at the people standing on the white line. ¡°Oh, I see. You are doing that dramatic helmet guy thing. It doesn¡¯t work you know. The firestorm behind you is more intimidating.¡± Ash paused and smiled ¡°Actually that doesn¡¯t even work. Because you can¡¯t make it work.¡± Sheetal gave Ash and annoyed look. Sheetal shouted ¡°I know. But it should work. All my calculations are right.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fire and all. But your space is one fire again.¡± Sheetal glared at Ash and then stopped. ¡°Why are you dressed like Tom Cruise from M.I¡­ Five?¡± ¡°Two actually. I don¡¯t know why but I have got long hair and I am trying to make it work.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash closely ¡°Why do you have long hair?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Ash said in an annoyed high pitched falsetto and continued dejectedly ¡°It kind of appeared on its own.¡± ¡°We know why you have long hair. The high councillor¡­¡± Parvati M stated. The ground they were standing on shook and the continuum people almost fell over. Ash winced ¡°She?¡± Sheetal eyes looked at the continuum soldiers and then locked on to Taran 45. Taren 45 lifted his hands and began ¡°Listen we¡­¡± Crunch! Before the high councillor could get more than two words out, he was a ball of compressed bone and flesh. Sheetal dropped the mangled mess to the floor and looked at Parvati M141. ¡°Why!?¡± Sheetal screamed. The whole world shook and this time the continuum people did fall. The ground cracked and geysers of flame flew up into the air. Ash stepped towards the soldiers and the blazing fires puffed out of existence in comical balls on smoke. ¡°She. Calm down.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tell me to calm down!¡± Sheetal yelled at Ash. ¡°Okay. But I am reminding you that you are going to burn your whiteboards again.¡± The world stopped shaking and the lances of fire shooting from the ground paused in mid-air. Sheetal blinked and the fires were gone. Sheetal took in a deep breath and in a growl asked ¡°What are you doing here?¡± ¡°They are watching me perfect my entrance.¡± Ash answered for everyone. Sheetal looked at Ash ¡°Entrance?¡± ¡°Yeah, I need a new look and entrance. They are helping me.¡± ¡°You look like a cross between a flipped up Ethan Hunt, a pride day Maverick, and a manga boy samurai.¡± Ash opened his mouth like a fish out of water ¡°I was trying his Samurai look. See? Log hair.¡± Ash pointed at his hair. ¡°Why don¡¯t you try Bollywood?¡± ¡°Because they are all weird muscle heads who make people fly with a punch. And the only one who is hot enough to be worthy of me dances on top of trains. I can¡¯t make an entrance on top of train.¡± Sheetal raised a finger ¡°There is¡­¡± ¡°Nope. He is got a weird moustache. And a gayer dressing sense than me.¡± ¡°What about¡­¡± ¡°He is too dumb. He is the kind chocolate boy toy I would do not be.¡± ¡°How about¡­¡± ¡°She, he is not good looking. Or Bollywood.¡± ¡°Hey, he is good looking like in a gruff masculine way. But yeah. He is not Bollywood.¡± Sheetal sighed and continued ¡°That flipping Taran screwed us.¡± Sheetal waved at the spot where Taran 45 was standing and yelped when she saw him reappear. ¡°Wait. I ca¡­¡± Taran 45 started. ¡°Ah¡­¡± Sheetal yelped and instinctively pushed. The high councillor¡¯s lifeless body flew into the distance and tumbled down. Ash chuckled ¡°Hehe¡­ He fell butt first.¡± ¡°Ha¡­Ha¡­How?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not real She. They are not real.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°We are hallucinating. And they are not real.¡± ¡°No, we are real. The world around you is not.¡± Parvati M corrected Ash. ¡°What!?¡± Sheetal and Ash asked together. ¡°We are real.¡± Needles reaffirmed. ¡°But¡­ But¡­ I was doing a wheely on an American muscle car.¡± Ash pointed behind him where the black car flickered in and out of existence. Parvati nodded ¡°Yes. You are in a dreamscape. It is dream replicated by our quantum computing systems. We do it to take the load of brains while we repair the trauma and the injuries our soldiers suffer.¡± Ash asked with a smile ¡°So, I don¡¯t have long hair?¡± ¡°No. Ah¡­¡± Parvati M141 started to speak and didn¡¯t know how to finish her sentence. Jay 83 cleared his throat and came to his wife¡¯s rescue ¡°What do you remember?¡± Sheetal got a rapid rush of memories and closed her eyes. ¡°She?¡± Ash grunted and staggered. Sheetal swayed. The back of her head pulsed and began to hurt. Her eyes stung and tears of pain rolled down her cheeks. Even though she was standing in the open, suddenly she felt constricted. Constricted by metal everywhere. One of those metal pipes tightened around her body and she felt cold metal on her skin. This had happened before too. Sheetal tried to remember and wished she hadn¡¯t when a stream of images and phantom pain rocked her. Notification angrily buzzed in her hud. Her eyes that could focus on the words. Snatches of whirring sound and beep. A surgeon jostling a tray. All came rushing to her with other things. Things like the pressure of a drill digging into her eyes. No, not her eyes, Ash¡¯s eyes. A snippet of two white clothed surgeons carrying a hissing snake to his pod. The snake coiled around one doctor¡¯s hand and the bulb like thing that lifted up to look at everywhere. Then there was pain. So much pain. Before it was cut off from her. She focussed and felt Ash draw a line in between her and him. He gathered the pain and pulled it back from the big yellow line. Sheetal woke up again. This time, she reached out beyond the line into the mind of an delirious Ash. He could speak but through their link she could understand that the surgeon in the hazmat suit were putting in the second eye into Ash¡¯s skull. Her eyes looked at the eye in a gloved hand. The dang thing was alive. It was fighting fought against the surgeon until it came closer to Ash. Then it focussed onto him. One of the medical pods arm lowered and grabbed it. Inside the pod one of the metal arms forcefully lifted Ash¡¯s chin up. The eye splashed into the gel like water. It slithered towards Ash and brought its tail towards itself. Then in a blur of motion it stung out. The eye grabbed onto something vital in his eyes and for moment Sheetal reeled in the pain. Before once again, Ash gathered it up and locked it somewhere deep inside of him. Sheetal felt it when the eye slithered into her brother¡¯s eye socket. She felt it when it replaced Ash¡¯s ocular nerves. She felt it when it dug into his brain and burrowing itself into him. Sheetal screamed in pain feeling Ash¡¯s agony. ¡°Sedate her!¡± She heard Taran 45¡¯s order and darkness fell. Sheetal had a hazy image of her waking up. Feeling as if someone had torched her back and then split it open. Sounds, no words drifted into her hazy mind. People yelling at each other. Clashes and then yelling. He eyes closed and when opened it, a woman, the largest woman she had ever seen was standing protectively in front of their pods. Taran 45 was giving her a frustrated look. The large woman spoke ¡°You are a fool. An ignorant fool. Warders are one of the most difficult creatures to kill in all of reality. But¡­¡± Sheetal drifted of. The corners of her eyes darkened. Then she was dying. The thudding of her heart slowed. Her body pulsed with pain. Each and every bit of it protesting the lack of life. Relief flowed in. Her body gasped even if her lungs didn¡¯t. Her eyes flickered open in the golden glow and then started darkening again. She was dying again. The golden glow revived her again. It was all for not. She died again. And again. Sheetal shook her head. The phantom pain from her memories staggered her. It wasn¡¯t just her. Pained groans came from the continuum soldiers. She looked up and saw the only one who was standing unaffected was the shortest one amongst them. Ash exhaled ¡°You felt it.¡± ¡°Ash, I am so sorry.¡± Sheetal said in a small voice. ¡°No, you have nothing to be sorry about. That guy should be sorry.¡± Ash pointed a finger at the convulsing Taran 45. Sheetal blinked. The god danged man was back and crawling towards Ash. Jay 83 grunted grabbed the High Councillor back and cocked his fist. Thwack! Taran 45¡¯s head rocked back and he seemed to return to his senses ¡°Theory? What in the gods name¡­¡± ¡°Ghost. I should kill you!¡± Jay 83 shouted. Taran 45 screamed in the high councillor¡¯s face. The high councillor sighed ¡°You know I am ready to die.¡± Jay 83 made disgusted sound and let Taran 45 go. Needles groaned as she got up to her feet. She looked at Ash and then turned to Sheetal. ¡°Warders we are sorry. I could stop them. But I will die before I let him hurt you anymore.¡± ¡°That is not up to you.¡± Taran 45 said from behind Parvati M. Sheetal shrieked and flung her hand towards the man. ¡°Holy crepes!¡± Ash took a step back and said ¡°Everyone, move back. She is gone Darth She again.¡± Everyone except Taran 45 followed his direction. He was stuck in one spot. He began to choke. Sheetal lifted her right hand in claw and started screaming ¡°Ahh¡­.¡± And slamming the high councillor down with every one or two words ¡°Stop!¡± Thud. ¡°Talking.¡± Thud. ¡°And.¡± Thud. ¡°Just die.¡± Slam! Sheetal panted. ¡°Feel better?¡± Ash asked. Sheetal glared at him ¡°Why aren¡¯t you doing anything?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not real She.¡± ¡°Still!¡± Ash exhaled ¡°There is no point. Even if I kill him. He wants that.¡± Needles stepped closer to Sheetal and said ¡°You don¡¯t know this. So, this might help you get a hint of revenge. The High Councillor is in serious trouble. He has already started paying for his sins.¡± Ash snorted ¡°Yeah, like how?¡± Parvati M smiled viciously ¡°We helped General Athena break into the null zone. She put everyone in their place and even banged up the Aug Queen¡¯s head into the ground. Then the High Moron called on the Light¡¯s creatures. The khara came and have taken over your care. They have the High Councillor strapped to a chair and are thinking of way to punish him.¡± Ash tilted his head when Needles pointed at the floating octopus with the word khara. Both He and Sheetal had mistook the creature for a brown mound following the superb seven. Sheetal floated back with the words ¡°Is that a¡­¡± ¡°Plushee!¡± Ash screamed and dove at the soldier khara with his hand spread apart. Everyone looked at Ash baffled as he hugged the large creature. ¡°Ash?¡± ¡°Plushee.¡± Sheetal felt happiness and almost childlike affection from the link they shared. Images of a large stuffed toy with happy eyes and fluffy tentacles popped into her mind. The soldier khara raised the tentacle Ash was hugging and looked at the boy dangling from it. His eyes were closed, and he was blissfully rubbing his cheek on the rubbery appendage. ¡°Okay, someone please pry Ash off that poor creature and start from the top.¡± Sheetal finally said. Needles shook her head ¡°We don¡¯t have time for that. The khara have a quest for you. If you take it, they will, as they say, repair, reinforce, and reintegrate you into the system. If not, they will just stabilise you, leave you to heal on your own and find your own way.¡± Sheetal¡¯s eyes hardened ¡°What quest?¡± In response, the khara raised one of its tentacles towards her and waited. ¡°Touch the tentacle, Sheetal.¡± Needles prompted Sheetal Sheetal looked at the multi eyed creature and reached out a finger. She touched the warm rubbery limb and a window popped open on her hud. Break The Seige. Fight in the gravity well of the star Xozlit. Help the frontier Kel Ruudrak protect his dyson sphere. Break the siege of blood brood so that the khara harvest energies from the star. Rewards Emergency medical surgery Post surgery Treatment. 5 Medical Consultations. Duration 10 Deaths or Siege Break. Accept? Yes / No. Before Sheetal could even finish reading the quest was accepted by Ash. Sheetal looked up and glared at her little brother. Ash felt Sheetal¡¯s glare and huffed ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Plushee won¡¯t do anything bad to us. Plushee is a good boy. Aren¡¯t you Plushee?¡± Sheetal and everyone watched Ash¡¯s words transform into baby talk and no one was more confused that the poor soldier khara. They lifted its tentacle in the air and showed the boy clinging onto him to everyone. With another tentacle they pointed at the crazy boy. Sheetal shrugged cluelessly. The khara seemed to deflate and then with a shrug disappeared into sparkling lights. Ash thudded down to the ground and looked everywhere with widening eyes. ¡°Plushee?¡± He asked. When no one answered, he dramatically turned his head upwards and screamed ¡°No! Plusheeeeeee!!!¡± ¡°Ash, stop it.¡± Sheetal massaged her temples. ¡°But, Plusheeee?¡± ¡°Ash, will you stop trying to me act like a dumber version of yourself?¡± Ash gave Sheetal an annoyed look. ¡°Look around us Ash. Everyone here is either fought with us or spent time talking with us.¡± Sheetal looked at Taran 45 who had reappeared moments ago ¡°And this fricker, is in love with you.¡± Ash sighed and stood up ¡°Nah, he is straight.¡± ¡°Ash. Be serious please.¡± Ash took in breath and let it go. Behind him the planes drifted away and an urban cyber punk metropolis appeared. Blaring neon signs popped into existence advertising wares like holographic skirts, carbon fibre jackets, and silky see through underwear. But the biggest sign was one that stated, One million tonfas. Underneath that sign was a sign was line that glowed threateningly, those who call it police baton or a night stick will be bopped. The changes didn¡¯t stop there. A road appeared under his feet leading to the yellow line. Unknown storefronts popped open bathing the road in yellow lights. Hawkers flashed into existence selling everything from masala noodle rolls to blue cheese pringles on the boards. Smell of coffee drifted to everyone¡¯s nose and faceless waiters started serving everyone a drink with two large shots of espresso, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and a yellow syrup with sprinkles on top. Everyone looked around and saw that they were now sitting in the middle of the road with a large steel table separating them. Sheetal and Ash were sitting at the head of the table. Ash had changed once again. He was wearing an unbuttoned silver silk shirt. A short blue skirt and pink sandals that strapped up to his calves. As Ash moved to face Sheetal everyone got an eyeful of his bright pink underwear as he put one leg over the other. His soft pretty painted face turned to look at Sheetal¡¯s regal one and asked ¡°Why did you make me show myself?¡± ¡°Finally.¡± Sheetal acknowledged and asked ¡°What took you so long?¡± ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t want to show my real self to all these people.¡± Ash slim arm lifted in a feminine gesture and the bracelets on his wrist chimed. He pointed a long slim finger with a painted nail at everyone on the table. ¡°You should stop hiding now.¡± Sheetal sighed. ¡°Easy for you to say. The world accepts you the way you are. Even in your dreary grey skirt and white boyfriend shirt.¡± ¡°Boyfriend shirt?¡± Sheetal shook her head and muttered ¡°Never mind. Just answer me, why?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Because that old guy screwed up. And now we are screwed. So, we have to unscrew ourselves. And the only way to do that is with the help of octopie¡­ Octupeseses? Octomany?¡± ¡°Octopuses.¡± ¡°Whatever.¡± Ash rolled his eyes in soft airy voice. ¡°Ash, you know what I am really asking. Why don¡¯t you want me to kill him?¡± Sheetal pointed at Taran 45 who was sitting right opposite them with tape on his face. Needles shook herself of whatever trance the transformation had put her in. Jay 84 shook his head too. She narrowed her eyes at Ash. Had she felt a hint of lust when the boy had lifted his leg up to cross them. Had he done that knowingly. No, Needles shook her head. The warder, no, the boy was a unapologetic narcissist. His ego was so big that he was affecting everyone with his subconscious thoughts. The only one who could shrug off her thrust was Sheetal. Needles turned to speak to Jay 84 and realised she couldn¡¯t. Jay 84 had a wide eyed look that told her that he could either. They all looked at each other. They were all stunned except for E65. He was sipping on his coffee with a surprised expression. Besides them Ash continued ¡°I need to speak to him.¡± ¡°Okay, and then can I kill him?¡± Sheetal asked with a feral smile. ¡°Here? Yes. Outside? No.¡± ¡°Ash.¡± ¡°She, trust me.¡± ¡°I do but I am still going kill him the first chance I get.¡± ¡°She¡­¡± Ash sighed. ¡°He tore you apart!¡± Sheetal shouted and the world behind her crackled in fire filled thunder. Ash nodded ¡°I know. But he is of no use to me dead.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Sheetal nodded back ¡°Oh, thank the gods.¡± ¡°I am still killing him.¡± ¡°She¡­¡± Sheetal glared at the only man who didn¡¯t have a drink in front of him ¡°I should have let you fight and die for us. I was weak. I didn¡¯t want to die. So now, I don¡¯t care if they kill me in return, but I am going to cush his head.¡± ¡°Give me a handful of days please?¡± Ash begged with his little hands pressed together. ¡°Why?¡± Sheetal snapped. Ash recoiled ¡°I can¡¯t tell you.¡± ¡°What?¡± Sheetal was baffled for a second and then squinted at the pretty boy. She hissed ¡°You! You are hiding something from me.¡± Ash grinned a pearly white smile ¡°Yes. And when I reveal it. Its going to make us awesome.¡± ¡°And then I get to kill him? ¡°Hey, I am supposed to be the sociopath here. She, you are stealing my shtick.¡± ¡°Shtick? What are you, old paunchy American now?¡± ¡°What are you, blood thirsty now.¡± ¡°You are a pain.¡± Sheetal said in a frustrated scream. ¡°You are a nerd.¡± Ash responded likewise. ¡°You are a brainless bimbo.¡± Ash huffed and tried to come up with something ¡°Yeah? Well, your eyes are too far apart.¡± Sheetal snorted ¡°They are still closer than your legs.¡± Ash opened his mouth and closed it. Finally, he said ¡°I am going to get you back for that She.¡± Chapter 38 - Can I see your pillar? ¡°Aliens!¡± ¡°Aliens?¡± ¡°Sometimes, boy wonder, I don¡¯t know what to do with you.¡± Ari blinked open his eyes at the sound of Singh¡¯s gruff voice. Then the first two must be Abesh and Nameer respectively. ¡°So, then the two sisters talking about Ashoka and Sheetal as if they were special.¡± Abesh continued. ¡°Yeah, I have heard that Ashoka always gets special treatment because of his mother. He killed a guy you know. With a crystal glass. On camera. And he didn¡¯t even get into trouble for it.¡± Nameer responded. ¡°No, this seemed like there was something more about them. Something to do with light.¡± Abesh tried to explain. ¡°Like¡­ Light?¡± ¡°Yeah navy, light. The thing we see everything with.¡± Singh cleared his throat ¡°Can we go back to the fact that you left the commander alone.¡± ¡°This again?¡± Abesh asked with heat in his voice. ¡°Yes. You had one job. Protect the boss. And you left him alone.¡± ¡°It is okay Singh.¡± Ari yawned and sat up. His back popped. It felt good. Everything felt good. ¡°Commander?¡± Singh called and ran into the room. He looked Ari in his eyes and asked ¡°Are you okay, sir?¡± ¡°Yes Singh. I am¡­ good.¡± Ari replied with a smile. Singh let out a breath and tension slowly released from his body. Ari got to his feet and looked at his friend ¡°What is it, Singh? What¡¯s with that reaction?¡± Singh replied softly ¡°You have been unconscious for thirty-six hours my friend. I thought I had lost you.¡± ¡°Thirty six hours?¡± ¡°Truthfully, a little more than that.¡± Singh turned and called out ¡°Nameer, water.¡± Nameer ran into the room with a bottle of water. At the door Abesh looked in, made sure everything was okay, and stepped back. Singh continued ¡°Commander, you should sit down. Drink. Eat. Make sure you are okay before doing anything else.¡± Ari took the bottle of water and drained it. Then with his dismissed Nameer. ¡°Singh, what¡¯s up with Abesh?¡± Singh exhaled ¡°I kind of lost it on him. He came back with you unconscious looking like death and I almost stabbed him. Thankfully your girlfriend was there. She stopped me dead with the butt of her shotgun. That girl is something else.¡± Ari closed his eyes and tried to picture the event. It wasn¡¯t hard. Abesh trying to explain what had happened. Singh shouting and snarling. And Pretty, looking stern putting an end to the fight in an instant. He knew how powerful these Continuum people were and still he had tried to strike his their general. Thinking back that wasn¡¯t the only mistake he had made. Fighting those zombies alone, running into a battlefield unarmed, and creating a rift between Joshi and himself were just a few more. The shard, his neuro shard had made him paranoid and violent. ¡°Commander?¡± Singh asked. ¡°How bad is it?¡± Singh caught his meaning and didn¡¯t make any excuses. ¡°Bad. The boy wonder can fight. He almost burnt me, and I did slash open his bicep.¡± Singh was always a hot head. But he couldn¡¯t chew him out. He was at fault too. He had shooed Abesh off to be with Pretty and the boy already had looked uncomfortable in the general¡¯s vehicle. Still. ¡°Singh you can¡¯t always talk with your fist, man.¡± ¡°I know. Look¡­¡± Singh took in a breath and continued ¡°I know why I am here. It¡¯s because of you. I am getting this second chance on life because of you. Gods, I rose up the ranks because I tied my career to yours. Remember the first day we met?¡± ¡°The war games?¡± ¡°Yeah. I was representing the north, and you were on the west side. Remember what I said?¡± ¡°Something about doing something with my sister?¡± Singh chuckled ¡°Yeah, and I expected you to react and charge your forces at me. But you didn¡¯t. You kicked us all the way from the frontlines to our base and then you kicked my butt.¡± ¡°I remember.¡± Ari nodded. ¡°Why did I think that would work?¡± ¡°Because you were young and dumb.¡± ¡°No, because I would have reacted like a charging bull. I am a charging bull, Ari. The only reason I rose up to squadron commander was you. And there is not a day I don¡¯t thank the day I met you. So, seeing you like that¡­¡± Singh looked away and tried to control himself. Ari sighed ¡°Gods, why did you have to make it weird?¡± Singh cleared his throat ¡°Well it was your girl who made it weird first. She put us all down. In seconds. Now we can¡¯t look her in the eyes.¡± ¡°About that¡­¡± Singh raised his hand ¡°Don¡¯t. I don¡¯t want to know. You like feisty women. And they scare my socks off.¡± Ari rolled his eyes ¡°You are married to one.¡± ¡°Yeah, but that is my parent¡¯s fault. Arranged marriage and all that.¡± Ari cracked his neck ¡°I will go talk to the boy. Let me sort out my mess.¡± ¡°No. I will talk to him. You go talk to Pretty. She has been visiting you every few hours and waiting for you to wake up.¡± Ari began to move. Singh stopped him. ¡°Perhaps a bath first commander?¡± ¡°A bath?¡± ¡°Yeah, Joshi did something and now we have showers.¡± Singh took a step back. Ari looked at his friend. He was clean. His clothes looked wash and beard shampooed. Forty-five minutes later Ari walked out of the fire temple. His leather footwear silent stepping on the red and gold carpet. He did not know how, but Joshi hadn¡¯t just made showers. He had also somehow created red and yellow drapes for the temple, made furniture and cushions appear and stocked up the large kitchen in the back. Now the temple looked inviting and ready to be lived in. Ari wanted to ask how Joshi had done that and maybe mend some fences but once again he was sitting cross legged on the open palm of the statue of the yaksha Agni in a large ball of fire. ¡°Someone cleaned up.¡± Pretty¡¯s cute voice made Ari look up. Ari couldn¡¯t help but smile at the young woman ¡°Hello Pretty.¡± ¡°Would you like to walk with me, commander?¡± ¡°Yes. I would like that.¡± Pretty started walking and looked at Ari. She noted his relaxed expression. His easy walk and the confidence he held himself with. ¡°So, the nanite solution to the khara neuro shard worked?¡± Pretty asked. Ari chewed on the question for a moment and then asked ¡°Pretty, I have been considering an answer to that question ever since I woke up but, how would I know if Navi¡¯s treatment worked or not.¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Pretty grinned ¡°Well, usually, you would be looking everywhere for enemies right now. Also, you would be tearing your hair off with worry wondering if you did the right thing or not.¡± Ari frowned ¡°I am not that bad.¡± Pretty smiled ¡°Maybe you are not. But you have been stressed ever since we met. Now though, you look more relaxed. How about the new shards? Are they working alright?¡± The question wasn¡¯t without merit. Navi had not been pleased to note that Ari¡¯s quicksilver shard was near to the middle of his spine. Apparently, the best way to use one¡¯s shards was when you used them in combination. And he would have preferred it if it was at the top of his spine connected to his brain and the neuro shard. Ari opened his heads up display. Commander Ari Human Ascended Class - 0 Shards ¨C Neuro, Technology, Quicksilver, Energy, and Metal. Legionnaire Nanite Colony - 1 Ari nodded ¡°They seem to be working alright.¡± ¡°What about the nanites?¡± Ari remembered the tube with the pinkish liquid he had been shown. He had expected it to be black like in the movies. When he had asked about it. Navi had looked at him blankly and asked that if he expected to be injected with iron shavings rather than programmed bio matter. And then he had proceeded to inject him in his skull. The thought of that made Ari wince. He didn¡¯t even want to think about the pain or the throbbing pressure that had disoriented him. He hadn¡¯t even been able to walk after that procedure. Now though, he felt stable. Like he had never before. But that was an illusion too. Navi had told him that he would feel steadier but that was until he lost his temper. Then he would use the new conviction that his nanites gave him to fight until he couldn¡¯t anymore. Basically, the neuro shard wasn¡¯t gone. It was somewhat under his control. ¡°It says I have one colony built.¡± Ari finally answered after a thoughtful pause. Pretty frowned ¡°Just one. Didn¡¯t he say you will need four to wear that armour?¡± ¡°Yes. And don¡¯t ask me how I know but I somehow know the first colony is the easiest to build. The second and third colonies are going to be harder. And the fourth, that is going to be tremendously hard.¡± ¡°It¡¯s your body. You know best.¡± Pretty hesitated and then asked ¡°Can I see your pillar?¡± ¡°Pillar?¡± ¡°The pillar that your shards make inside your body. Just take a snap and send it to me.¡± Ari did as Pretty asked and then looked at the silhouette of his body. Unlike before, the dots of light, lighting up portions of his body from inside, there was a line forming. It was still not complete. The four shards on top formed the tip while the metal shard in the bottom stood alone. Pretty pursed her lips as she looked at the pillar ¡°It doesn¡¯t have a base. Here take this.¡± Ari took a small glass bottle which was the size of a hotel shampoo bottle. His hud identified the shard inside. Shard ¨C Strength. Class ¨C 0 He looked from the shard to the girl ¡°Pretty, I already am neck deep in debt. I can¡¯t afford this.¡± Pretty smiled ¡°I am not selling it to you. It is a gift. For trusting me enough to show me your pillar.¡± Ari blinked. He did not know that it was a faux pau to ask or show someone your pillar. But even so, he couldn¡¯t take¡­ Clank. Clank, Clank. The sound of clasps opening drew his eyes to Pretty. Her armour rippled and then unfurled with a hiss of cold air. Ari took is a breath when the petal¡¯s drew down revealing flawless skin barely covered by a bikini top and bottoms that showed more than they hid. Ari looked around and saw that they were in an abandoned house. He had been so focussed on his shards and other things that he hadn¡¯t even realised when pretty had guided him indoors. ¡°Pretty?¡± ¡°Shh¡­¡± Pretty stepped out of the gently waving petals and closed the distance. The youthful woman pressed herself into him and wrapped her arms around Ari. She leaned up and kissed Ari on his Adam¡¯s apple making him gulp. Ari closed his eyes at the touch of her lips and after a moment¡¯s hesitation leaned in and kissed Pretty¡¯s neck Pretty gasped as Ari trailed kisses down her neck and to her cleavage. Pretty reached down and started undoing Ari¡¯s belt. ¡°Pretty aren¡¯t we going to fast?¡± Ari asked in a husky needy voice. ¡°What? No. I want to see your other pillar. Ari looked at Pretty for a second and then clarified and in a soft voice asked ¡°I mean, if the prettiest girl I have ever known wants to see my pillar who am I to say no?¡± Pretty blinked ¡°Was that pun? I don¡¯t like puns.¡± ¡°Oh. I am sorry.¡± ¡°Good. But do you want to talk right now or undo my top?¡± Ari looked at her bikini top and growled. He undid the knot and with a lusty look in his eyes he leaned down. Inch by inch he licked, kissed and breathed onto her skin. Pretty moaned loudly. She leaned back and lifted herself on to a table. She reached down and took Ari¡¯s dark green t shirt off. Ari grabbed her knees and parted them. He pulled her closer while fondling her. Pretty reached down and grabbed his head. Ari licked her ribs eliciting a gasp and sight from her before coming up. Pretty kissed him lustily and growled ¡°Take me. Or I will take you!¡± Ari looked at her and grinned. He was about to reach for her when he heard a shuffling sound from the door. He turned and looked back to see a surprised look on Jay 7¡¯s face. ¡°Oh my! Well, that¡¯s not what I expected.¡± Jay 7¡¯s deep voice came in from the door. Pretty yelped and ran to her armour. It closed faster than it had opened. With a clank of finality her helmet covered her furiously blushing face. Ari cursed and began fixing his dishevelled appearance. ¡°Is everything good in there now? Is your weapon holstered commander?¡± Jay 7 asked with laughter in his voice. Ari took in a breath to calm himself and in an annoyed voice replied ¡°Yes.¡± Jay 7 peeped in and looked from Ari to Pretty. ¡°Ah, sorry youngling. If I knew¡­ Well, I won¡¯t tell anyone.¡± Pretty lowered her helmeted head in embarrassment and greeted him with a barely audible ¡°Mentor.¡± Jay 7 waved the whole situation away ¡°I was looking for you and heard you came this side. I¡­ I came to ask you a few questions.¡± ¡°Questions mentor?¡± Ari looked at the old man. His large frame and the cold look in his eyes were intimidating before. Now his neuro shard buzzed highlighting dangers like the hidden blades in his armour. The ammo strapped to the belt section for a hidden firearm. The sliding section on the top of his shoulders that hid a launcher. This man was more dangerous than he appeared, and he appeared very dangerous. ¡°Yes, I have questions for you.¡± Ari stepped forwards trying to hide Pretty¡¯s bikini top behind him and asked ¡°What do you want to know?¡± Jay¡¯s lips twitched ¡°How much do your people want to create a base of operations here?¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Jay 7 held up a hand ¡°Wait. Before we begin, that dirty Zulu, I hear he is in the temple. Tell him to stay in there for his own good.¡± Ari bristled but controlled himself and then saw Jay 7 look at the small piece of cloth behind him. ¡°Sorry.¡± Pretty whispered and turned her head away. Jay 7 chuckled ¡°It¡¯s not your fault youngling fault. We grow up with each other. We have seen each other in different forms. From young to old. You on the other hand he is¡­¡± ¡°Different.¡± Ari nodded. ¡°Exotic.¡± Jay 7 corrected. Ari raised an eyebrow and looked at Pretty. She shrugged. ¡°Well, coming back to my questions, we are operating from here. This place was once known as fire city. It was not the biggest city in the trials but now it¡¯s a broken down shell. Still, it is compatible with our purpose right now. But if we must defend it, we will have to put in serious resources in the place.¡± Jay 7 let out a mournful sigh and added ¡°As it stands, I am not inclined to do that.¡± ¡°Why, sir?¡± Ari asked. ¡°Resources son. I don¡¯t have enough people in the old guard to fight. We are powerful but we aren¡¯t many.¡± Jay 7 with a fatherly look. ¡°I see. So, what do you want from me?¡± ¡°Soldiers. I need you to go and get me some soldiers from your world to help us hold this city.¡± Ari could feel Pretty trying hard not to look at him. He ignored her for the moment and responded ¡°My team and I will help you if the fight comes sir, but we are not authorised to make promises like the ones you asking for. Our services can be offered to you only by our superiors.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ disappointing.¡± Jay 7 tapped his chin with one metal covered finger ¡°Well, that was the deal. Very well, maybe the zulu from your world will be more receptive to my offer. But who knows, maybe I will just kill him if he doesn¡¯t accept it. After all, you can¡¯t trust a man from that empire.¡± Ari stiffened and Jay caught on. ¡°You don¡¯t like when I call him zulu do you?¡± ¡°No sir. He is South African sir and racism in our world is frowned upon.¡± The Mentor snorted ¡°Spoken like a man who comes from a peaceful world. You have not learned to other, people have you?¡± Ari brushed off Jay¡¯s words and asked ¡°Sir, am I correct in assuming that you have a way for us to go back home?¡± ¡°Yes. But I am not inclined to open the way if I don¡¯t see any return from the action.¡± Ari nodded ¡°I see. And I don¡¯t think I can recommend sending anyone here even if it helps us repair the damage to our bodies. This place is useless otherwise.¡± ¡°Useless?¡± Jay 7 laughed ¡°Commander. Son. Yes, the desert might be, but you have seen other cities, haven¡¯t you? Didn¡¯t you see the wonders there. Waterfall coming out of the sky, rare minerals and metal selling on the sidewalk. Races with inventions up for grabs.¡± Ari hadn¡¯t seen all that. He was too busy trying to wrestle with his shard and trying to keep his hands off Pretty. Ignoring all that he nodded. ¡°Yes sir. General Athena took me to one. Still the danger.¡± ¡°About that. This is a favour coin.¡± The mentor held it up and continued ¡°It bestows lights favour upon you. With it you can conjure up a building, create a barracks, build defences or do whatever you want. I will give it to if¡­¡± A pop up momentarily distracted Ari. Ari read the text. Quest Recieved. Reinforce The Continuum. Bring back two hundred soldiers from Earth to the Trails and lead them in battle against the Rakshasa Empire. Volunteer Rewards One shard for every soldier that volunteers. Core Team Reward 5 Continuum Assault Rifles 5 Krecks 1 Lights Favour. Failure Penalty. System enforced death penalty for all four members of your team. Quest Duration 2 week in Trials or 5 Earth hours Accept Yes / No? The Mentor smiled and finished his statement ¡°If you accept the quest, you will get this coin and the other things listed in the quest.¡± Ari shook his head ¡°Sir, respectfully. I still don¡¯t see the benefit of bringing my people here.¡± As soon as Ari finished, he saw Jay 7¡¯s indifferent gaze turn to a hostile one. His hands clenched and unclenched in his armour. His gauntlets soundlessly repeated that action. Ari felt a bout of danger emanating from the man. Somewhere deep in his soul he knew that this though weaker was like what General Athena had done. Even so Ari knew the man was a hair¡¯s breadth away from violence. He could picture those hands on his neck and hurried on. ¡°Mentor, sir. I think I told you in one of our previous conversations that my world is ruled by politicians and diplomats. And not by militaristic forces like yours. They won¡¯t see any benefit of coming here until they see a future for our operations.¡± Pretty¡¯s helmet split open with a hiss and a whirr of the petals. She looked at Jay ¡°Mentor, may I?¡± Jay looked at Pretty for a moment and took a silent step back. Pretty took the silence as her cue and continued ¡°I think I understand their world. They are not like us mentor. They don¡¯t fight for honour or survival like us. They fight for resources.¡± ¡°That is not exactly true but our politicians and cooperations would be encouraged if there was a monetary gain to be had here.¡± ¡°See?¡± Pretty smiled. ¡°It¡¯s not like that but it is true. We know that it is wrong but sometimes it needs to be done to protect our nation¡¯s interests.¡± ¡°Fascinating.¡± Jay muttered while rubbing his chin. Pretty faced Ari ¡°So, tell me what does your world like. Gold, platinum, gemstones, technology, irradiated metals¡­?¡± Ari homed into Pretty¡¯s words. That was a lifeline she had just thrown him. Now, the only thing he had to do was pick something that would get his men killed in the transportation. ¡°Technology. Yes, we like technology. Not that we don¡¯t appreciate gold or silver. But I think my people would like some of your tech.¡± ¡°Got it. How about we send you back with something non offensive like mem titanium?¡± ¡°Mem what?¡± Ari asked ¡°No way.¡± Jay shook his head ¡°They haven¡¯t earned that yet.¡± Pretty gave the mentor an annoyed look which looked incredibly cute to Ari. ¡°Then how about we give them mem steel?¡± ¡°Mem steel?¡± Jay 7 grimaced ¡°Who wants mem steel?¡± ¡°Exactly mentor, we have tons of the stuff just lying around. Taking up space. Let¡¯s give it to the greedy ones in the commander¡¯s world and get the best of them here.¡± Jay 7 considered her words ¡°Hmm¡­ That is smart girl. Okay but only one control block and just two blocks.¡± ¡°Two bars and a controlled block. I am sure that will make things go faster in your world? And then you can come back and¡­¡± Ari turned to Jay 7 and asked ¡°Is this steel that impressive that it will change my superiors minds?¡± ¡°Oh, not anymore. But half a century ago wars were fought for the stuff in my world. And a archipelago who made the control blocks was nuked out of existence for playing both sides.¡± ¡°So, it¡¯s like oil?¡± ¡°No, oil just burns. Mem steel makes everything, over and over again.¡± Jay corrected Ari. Ari scratched his cheek ¡°Is it something like processors?¡± Jay 7 focussed on Ari ¡°Processors? Yes. So, you are not back water apes after all.¡± ¡°Mem steel has multiple microscopic processors, but you can¡¯t find them with naked eyes.¡± Pretty explained ¡°Okay. I will do it.¡± Ari muttered. Jay waved his hand again. Quest Recieved. Reinforce The Continuum. Bring back two hundred soldiers from Earth to the Trails and lead them in battle against the Rakshasa Empire with the core team you have brought to the trial. Volunteer Rewards One shard for every soldier that volunteers. Core Team Reward 5 Continuum Assault Rifles 5 Krecks 1 Favour of Light. Other Rewards. 1 Control block and 2 blocks of mem steels Failure Penalty. System enforced death penalty for all four members of your team. Quest Duration 4 weeks in Trials or 10 Earth hours Accept Yes / No? Ari hesitantly looked up and with a pained look asked ¡°One last thing.¡± ¡°What is it now?¡± Jay 7 said barely hiding his annoyance. Ari looked at the quest and asked ¡°Sir, what¡¯s with the time duration? It says one week or five hours.¡± Jay frowned and looked at Ari ¡°Didn¡¯t anyone tell you son? Time here moves faster than in your world. We are at the edge of universe not in a settled space. One hour in your world is equal to thirty hours here.¡± ¡°Thirty three point six actually, mentor.¡± Pretty gently corrected the old man. Jay 7 snapped his finger ¡°Yes, that.¡± ¡°So, we have been gone from our world for something like two weeks that means only hours have passed?¡± Pretty turned to Ari ¡°Yes. Didn¡¯t the priest tell you?¡± Ari shook his head ¡°Sir, I can¡¯t accept this quest sir. Not the way it is. I will need some time to convince the higher ups to let my men come back with me. I will also need to collect them, transport them, and I am stuck in a barren place much like this desert in my world.¡± Jay who was about to blow up stopped and thought about the problem ¡°Okay, I will give you ten hours. Ten hours to bring in two hundred soldiers.¡± Ari shook his head again ¡°Again sir, that is not possible. We entered from a deserted region. There is nothing around us. Just getting people to the base¡­¡± ¡°Enough bargaining commander. Take the quest now.¡± Jay 7 said threateningly. Ari exhaled and hit the accept button. Jay 7 nodded and looked at Pretty ¡°Girl, go tell your General about this. I don¡¯t want her to find wandering earthlings and shoot them accidentally.¡± Pretty nodded and began to move out. Ari began to follow her but was stopped by Jay 7. ¡°Oh no, boy. You stay. You want her? You can have her after you bring me back my combatants.¡± Pretty jolted and stopped with her back turned. Ari couldn¡¯t believe his ears and looked at the Mentor in shock. This man wasn¡¯t happy with the system implied death threat, and now as a carrot he was ready to pimp out his own people? He buried his disgust deep below a mask of professionalism. It didn¡¯t work. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that young man. I need to ensure victory in the upcoming battle. Tell you what, if you bring me three hundred soldiers I will giver her to you and two more just like her.¡± Ari had already accepted the mission Ari cleared his throat ¡°About that mentor, what role do you see my soldiers fulfilling?¡± Jay 7 smiled sharply ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? They¡¯ll be canon fodder.¡± Ari¡¯s neuro shards flashed in his mind and for a second he thought about lashing out. At the last moment remembered how easily General Athena had handled him. And she had been gentle, the Mentor on the other hand was a prideful man. Ari knew he wouldn¡¯t hold back. Ari restrained himself and took a step back. He gave Jay 7 a cold look and nodded. ¡°I will.¡± Ari said emphatically and gave the retreating Pretty a meaningful look ¡°We have unfinished business here.¡± Jay 7 snorted out a laugh and said ¡°Good.¡± Chapter 39 – Jalapeno cheese chow-mien samosas Sheetal looked at the unusual surroundings and asked ¡°What is this place?¡± Time was a strange thing in the dreamscape. Every time Sheetal got distracted time slipped away from her. And so did everything around her. She did not know how long she had floated over here in this spot or how she had gotten here. And it worried her. Taran 45 put a finger on his lips and glared. Sheetal glared at the high councillor. After everything he still had the gall to shush her? Why? Her words had come out muffled as if the world all around her was covered in a wet blanket. Also, her shards that had begun to feel like a part of her felt faraway. It wasn¡¯t like the null zone where they had just stopped functioning, over here she could float, but still her shards were difficult to reach. Why was that? In the null zone, potentiality had been ripped away from her. According to Ash, it was even sucked out of the air and into the stone floor. That meant she couldn¡¯t breathe in potentiality to restore her stocks but it also meant that the resonance that her shards created didn¡¯t reach the world? The universe? The reality? Basically, her shard could not communicate with the area around her to let her float. And that meant potentiality, whatever it was, was a medium. Now all she had to do was figure out, what kind of medium it was. She was banking on a wave but she was scientist and she would keep her mind open. Sheetal jolted. Taran 45 was shaking her. He put a finger on his lips and pointed to the side. Sheetal looked at him blankly. ¡°You zoned out again.¡± Taran 45 whispered and then muttered ¡°Sit.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Sheetal whispered back. Taran 45 rolled his eyes and dragged a metal stool to her with a screech and bid her to sit on it and observed Ash on a hologram. ¡°What was that?¡± Ash asked from the other side. ¡°Nothing, just a chair being dragged.¡± Sheetal replied. Ash covered his ears with his hands and grimaced ¡°Softly! Talk softly.¡± Sheetal leaned back and looked at Taran 45 ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡¯ The high councillor lowered the volume and answered ¡°We are in low potentiality area. All the potential is being syphoned from here to the white room your brother is in.¡± ¡°He is not¡­¡± Taran 45 responded ¡°Yes. Yes. We know.¡± And hit the same button once again. Sheetal glared at the older man. Taran 45 ignored Sheetal and looked at the shards embedded in the walls. They hummed in different pitches as he lit them up row by row. Finally he whispered ¡°Ash, a moment please.¡± Taran 45 slid a knob upwards and asked Sheetal ¡°Feel better?¡± Sheetal blinked ¡°What did you do to me?¡± ¡°You are in a dreamscape. This slider here allows us to let you lucidly dream or put you in rem sleep.¡± ¡°How do you always get us into these things?¡± Ash asked her in a whine from the other side. His question wasn¡¯t without merit. He was trapped in a small eight by eight by eight room that was all white. It¡¯s floor was white, its ceiling was white, its walls were white, and the white was not just white, it was white. And Ash was beginning to hate white. ¡°How about now?¡± Taran asked Ash. Needles faded into the room with Taran 45 and Sheetal and looked at the shards with a surprised expression on his face. Ash grimaced and waved downwards ¡°Still. Loud.¡± Taran 45 bit his lips and nodded. ¡°Now?¡± Needles looked at Taran 45 and started ¡°If we do that¡­¡± ¡°Yes, that is how we restrain prisoners, but do you see the boy in discomfort?¡± ¡°Prisoners?¡± Sheetal asked in a threatening tone. Taran 45 took a step back and away from the warder. Needles answered ¡°Yes. We do restrain some people like this but take a look. Ash is¡­ fine? They both turned to look at the boy. He was trying to do a one handed handstand. ¡°Yeah, I am fine.¡± Sheetal closed her eyes ¡°Ash, straighten up. We can see you stuff through your pink panties.¡± Taran didn¡¯t wait for Ash to respond and asked ¡°How about now?¡± Ash fell on the other room and sat up straight ¡°That¡­ That was okay.¡± He paused and looked around ¡°You can see me?¡± ¡°Yes, warder.¡± ¡°How? I don¡¯t see any cameras in here.¡± ¡°You wouldn¡¯t even if they were there.¡± Taran 45 muttered and added ¡°We are in your minds, warders. This is not a physical location.¡± Sheetal repeated her original question ¡°What is this place?¡± ¡°Sheetal this is control room for a white room. The system provides the blueprint of these rooms to all factions when they finish their first quest or missions. It is primarily used to balance your shards. Also, at times, to restrain and interrogate prisoners by filling the room with potentiality.¡± Needles answered. ¡°I am done being a prisoner, Needles.¡± Sheetal stated flatly. ¡°You are not a prisoner.¡± Needles said calmly and explained ¡°In fact, if you were out there you would know that the only one who is a prisoner right now is the former High Councillor.¡± Needles turned to look at Taran 45 and in a stern tone started ¡°You are a warder who needs medical attention. You and your brother¡¯s souls are not compatible with your body because someone decided to cut portions of anomalies and shove them in you. So, we have isolated your consciousness so that we can merge it back together with your body. And that is all that we are going to do. Isn¡¯t that right councillor?¡± Ash called out from the other side ¡°Guys, this is boring. If somebody doesn¡¯t do anything fun, I am going to start drawing on the walls.¡± ¡°He can¡¯t do that.¡± Taran 45 muttered. ¡°Yeah. You are telling me the kid who just force fed us the sweetest caffeinated drink I have ever had, and made us eat something from a stand that called its wares crispy jalapeno cheese chow mien samosas, that he cannot change his mental state with a wandering thought?¡± Parvati M141 glared at Taran 45. ¡°Specialist medic. Someday, maybe even tomorrow, the council might vote to unseat me but that is not today. Today, I am the high councillor and you are just a medic of a squad.¡± Taran 45 snarled at Parvati M. Needles was about to fire back but suddenly Taran 45 wasn¡¯t there anymore. He was in a wall. Sheetal looked at Taran 45 dispassionately ¡°I don¡¯t like you. If you talk down to my friends again, I will crush your balls.¡± ¡°Friends?¡± Taran 45 asked with a cough. ¡°Yes, friends.¡± ¡°Seriously people. I am not kidding. If nobody talks to me, I will drop my skirt, take off my shirt and start playing with my flute.¡± Needles snorted and then looked at Sheetal. She did not look amused. Sheetal turned to Needles ¡°He is not kidding.¡± Needlers eyes widened and she ran to the console ¡°Warder Ash, just a minute please. We will get started in a bit¡± Needles looked to Sheetal for help. Sheetal rolled her eyes and huffed ¡°Ash, you flipping bimbo, don¡¯t be a creep.¡± Sheetal huffed. ¡°Oh, I am being creepy? If you could only see what I see you wouldn¡¯t be so quick to judge.¡± Ash paused and looked at the ceiling and continued ¡°And Taran, if this is some sort of powerplay its not working.¡± ¡°I assure you warder, it is not.¡± Taran wheezed out. ¡°Wait, She, are you beating up the old man again?¡± Ash waggled a finger ¡°This is bordering on elder abuse. You need to stop.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°You promised.¡± Sheetal released her grip on Taran 45 and grumbled ¡°I said I am not going to kill him. I never said anything about throwing him into a wall.¡± ¡°She, I don¡¯t mind you throwing a fit no and then. But when people are stuck in our heads its feels like bullying. And bullying is not awesome.¡± Sheetal scowled and in a huff turned away with a growled ¡°Fine.¡± Taran 45 looked at Sheetal apprehensively. A second later his shards flashed, and pain disappeared from his face. He straightened his coat, stood up, and moved away from the girl warder under her angry gaze. ¡°So, Needles, what is this place?¡± Sheetal trying to distract herself. ¡°Picture a line.¡± Needles made a line in the air with her finger ¡°On one side is your body. In the middle is your consciousness. And at the end is your soul.¡± Needles drew a line under the middle and added ¡°Now, your body is damaged and your brain¡­ It has chunks missing from it. So, we are using quantum computers to replicate your lower brain functions. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Sheetal mouth fell open and she asked ¡°Are you saying we are dead?¡± ¡°No. You are in the frontiers. Life and death are too close here for an existence wink out just like that.¡± Taran 45 answered Sheetal with weary look and added ¡°Your brain is mostly okay. The khara are evolving it and adding some sections to it. Soon you will be better than before.¡± ¡°How?¡± Sheetal snarled. Needles drew a square in the air ¡°The white room is a closed off section that stores most of your consciousness. We do it to keep you relatively pain free, and brain functions normal while we work on an ascendent¡¯s body. Also, to keep you away from your shards. So that you do not use it accidentally and throw one of your attendants into a wall.¡± Needles looked pointedly at Sheetal. Taran 45 continued ¡°Also to stop you from accidentally using them and causing yourself more damage while we¡­¡± Needles stopped and focussed elsewhere. There was a khara nudging her with their small white tentacles. They poked her head softly and she looked back in surprise. The two anomalies were all but pieces behind the two medical pods. She looked at the slabs of meat and bone, and then turned to look at the slight smile on the high councillor¡¯s face. Her eyes focussed on his. He wasn¡¯t paying her any attention. He was looking at the khara and the pods. She turned to look at the khara. One of the fist sized khara phased out of Sheetal¡¯s pod. It emerging from the dark brown churning bio matter wasn¡¯t what caught her attention. It was the fact that the khara was holding a bone. A femur. Another khara floated to the first with a long femur from the anomaly. They both dug their thin tentacles inside the femur and phased out the bone marrow from the medullary cavity. Holding the soft spongy tissue to the side, they both touched the bones together and the femur flashed. Needles knew this flash. She had seen it before. When she had been called to treat miners aboard the Kehar. She had seen the khara floating around and phasing metal straight from the rocks and turning it into alloys. They called it transmuting. And those were simple kharas. These were divine touched. In front of Needles eyes, the bones melted together to make a dark, almost black blob. The kharas quickly moved their tentacles shaping the bone as if it was clay. Soon a femur took shape. This one wasn¡¯t a weak yellowish bone that Sheetal had been born with. This was a toughened metallic material that the khara created. She did not know what to even call it. And the khara kept going, phasing the marrows together, stuffing it back into the bone and moving on to the next section. Needles turned back to look at the high councillor. He had his eyes locked on to Ash¡¯s pod. Unlike Sheetal¡¯s pod it was filled with a churning silverish opaque liquid that glistened in hues of opalescent light. The kharas were doing the same thing to his bone. Only his bones were not turning dark but into a transparent grey material that twinkled like a gemstone. Needles knew that the High Councillor had his eyes set on Ash. But this was beyond anything that she had expected. What the khara were doing was not healing. They were remaking the warders into something else. Something nobody had seen before. And there was Taran 45 with a smile plastered in his face. Had he planned for this? Was he feigning his defeat? No. That couldn¡¯t be. He couldn¡¯t have predicted the khara¡¯s reaction, could he? No, that couldn¡¯t be possible. But then, why was the khara nudging her so annoyed? Needles flicked a mental switch and gave the little khara access to the dreamscape and went back inside. ¡°Needles? Everything okay?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Hmm? Yes. Sorry the khara needed something. Where was I? So, the plain white empty room is the visual result of all the measure we take to keep potentiality at its minimum. It allows your soul to restore itself and heal the body from the trauma it has suffered.¡± ¡°It is also the place we store souls while we create the bodies of the augmented.¡± Taran 45 added. Needles gave the high councillor a searching look ¡°Augments? The robot looking man was an augment. What are they?¡± ¡°Our fallen. The ones we could not heal. Now their bodies are made of metal with pocket of potential. They cannot create any external affects, but they are demons in close quarter fighting.¡± Taran 45 snorted ¡°Our fallen, is that what you think they are? They are not even a part of the continuum anymore.¡± Sheetal could not usually read the man, but at this moment she could sense grief and anger emanating from the high councillor in waves. Needles seemed to not notice the emotions of the grey haired older Taran and stated ¡°I need to get more information from the khara. Warders, I will be back. High councillor, please continue tuning the white rooms.¡± Taran 45¡¯s lips twitched upwards and he nodded. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Needles closed her eyes and stood up from the chair she was sitting in. She looked to her side and saw the high councillor. He was wrapped up in the soldier khara¡¯s tentacles, and yet he still had a smug look on his face. Needles took off the thin piece of metal the khara had made for all of them. It¡¯s glyphs dimmed as it came of her and it transformed from a silver band to a dull copperish ring. ¡°JJ?¡± Needles called out. ¡°Yes dear?¡± Jay 84 answered from somewhere behind her. ¡°JJ. The high councillor is up to something again. The khara are not happy with it. Find out what he is pleased about.¡± Jay 84 cleared his throat ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we just ask, 83?¡± Needles looked around and found the thinner Jay amongst the crowd of sentient beings. He was looking down on a projection on the floor. He raised his head and smiled at her. ¡°Needles, I suggest we let this one be.¡± The husband wife pair looked at their old friend with surprise on their faces. ¡°Look, you know I am all for digging into things. By the gods, that is what got me fired from General Tina¡¯s army. But one thing I have learned in all my years of snooping around is, you don¡¯t mess with Ghost. Even when you think you have got him, you haven¡¯t. He turns things around and hammers you with what you thought were his weaknesses.¡± Needles approached the projection and saw a top down view of the warders and Taran 45 talking with each other. ¡°Warder Ash. How does this feel?¡± Taran 45 asked Ash who was inside the white room The hologram expanded in area as it turned from a square block to a sphere with Ash in the middle. ¡°Ooh¡­ That tickled.¡± Ash replied in a giggle. Taran sighed and muttered ¡°Lower then?¡± With another few swipes on the wrist controller Taran 45 he adjusted the white room until he heard Ash say ¡°Okay, you have successfully turned the world into a soup. Can I swim in this?¡± Ash moved his hands about and in a disappointed voice grumbled ¡°No. Nothing can be just fun, can it?¡± Taran 45 rolled his eyes with a chuckle and turned his eyes upwards and spoke to Needles ¡°I am saving this setting for the warder¡¯s physical perception. Moving on to mental perception.¡± Needles looked from the projection to 83 and asked ¡°Weren¡¯t you call Conspiracy Theory in the army?¡± ¡°No. I was just called theory?¡± Jay 83 asked. Needles smiled ¡°Well theory my dear brother in law, I am sure you have some theories regarding all this. Care to share some?¡± 83 took in a deep breath and gave his friend a considering look ¡°Why didn¡¯t the General kill Taran 45?¡± ¡°She can¡¯t kill the high councillor.¡± Jay 84 snorted. ¡°Can¡¯t she? What has the old guard done other than hamper her efforts? Why do we never see her faction when the continuum gets together? Why don¡¯t we even get news about her? Why didn¡¯t you get any news from me when I was in the army?¡± ¡°Because the General¡¯s army prioritises secrecy?¡± ¡°JJ.¡± 83 sighed in disappointment ¡°No, its because everything we send back is censored by Jay 7. And Taran 45 is supposed to be Jay 7¡¯s man who is continuing his work under his leadership after having a fall out with the army. So why didn¡¯t the General chop off the high councillor¡¯s head?¡± 84 and Needles looked at each other and finally 84 answered ¡°Because the High Councillor had already done what he needed to, and he was ready to die for this project of his?¡± ¡°No. No. JJ. I love you man, but you need to put your sinical hat on.¡± 83 shook his head. ¡°Then why?¡± 83 asked. ¡°Think about it. When we ran in here we saw that Ghost and his people didn¡¯t know what they were doing. But he did just enough to compel the khara to finish his work. The khara are like that you know. They see a puzzle piece and have to put thing back together. Wheat do you expect out of a species with three OCD brains. But, before all of that, the general noted that the warder¡¯s lives weren¡¯t in danger and left.¡± ¡°So?¡± Needles asked. ¡°What else did General Tina see?¡± ¡°The warder¡¯s souls?¡± JJ asked. Theory closed his eyes and when he opened them there was a pitying look in his eyes and it was directed at JJ. ¡°Fine just tell us.¡± ¡°Parts from the anomalies.¡± Theory stated and asked ¡°What do you think will happen if you send the warders back home to their planet? They will get chopped apart by their own people for research. And now that they can¡¯t go home, they are basically ours.¡± JJ recoiled ¡°The general wouldn¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°She didn¡¯t do this. Jay 7 and Ghost did. And I am sure, now that this is almost done, the soldiers in the fire city Ash and Sheetal were so worried about, they will be encouraged to leave.¡± ¡°Explain.¡± Needles said shortly. She didn¡¯t like untangling schemes like Theory 83 shook his head ¡°The kids. And yes, no matter what you say, they are kids. Kids who have been fighting for their lives for days. With one simple hope that their people would come for them and save them. What happens when those same people abandon them. What happens to that loyalty? Luckily, we have the Continuum. It will magnanimously slip in and offer its care and protection. The warder¡¯s loyalties will be easily transferred to us and the only thing that will be left would be for one of our leaders to ingratiate themselves over the others.¡± JJ shook his head ¡°No, you are making us sound like the bad guys. I know you have your disagreement with the old guard, but we are not the bad guys. And the continuum, we were created to continue humanity.¡± 83 pointed to the pods ¡°Do you think the warders that will emerge from those med pods will be human, JJ? This doesn¡¯t go against our mission. Soon, things are going to get very messy. The councillors will move against each other and we will be their pawns. Thankfully, that fight hasn¡¯t begun yet. This is just the first stage. And T here is¡­¡± 83 put his arm around the shoulders of a squirming Taran E65 and continued ¡°T, the one warders gave a nickname to, is perfectly placed to lobby for the General. I am sure, others will appear who will try to join our squad for the warder¡¯s favours.¡± Instead of objecting E65 raised his eyebrows and asked ¡°So, where do you stand Theory? With the Old Guard or are you coming back to Perseverance?¡± 83 smiled and looked at his old friends ¡°Needles, I know you don¡¯t want to take command of our squad, but you need to. JJ and I will follow you. We have already been doing that for years. Let¡¯s make it official now.¡± Needles took in a deep breath while looking down at the projection. She looked up and a stern look came over her ¡°We stand with the warders E65. We didn¡¯t do this for the general or any other councillor. We ran in here to fight for the warders who saved us. We will do the right thing and stand by them.¡± T frowned ¡°The general did not do this. She didn¡¯t even know about this experiment. She rushed back as soon as she heard. You can¡¯t blame her.¡± 83 chuckled and pointed down ¡°T. This is a good thing. That boy¡­¡± Everyone looked down at Ash doing cartwheels with his frilly skirt flying around everywhere. 83 snorted ¡°That boy is something else. Everything I just said. That warder knows already. He has deduced everything from the time he came in our domain. Look at Sheetal. She is angry. She is worried. She is depressed. And plagued with every other emotion that a prisoner goes through. Now look at Ash. Do you know what scares me? That kid.¡± Ash spun and twirled while doing a handstand. Needles nodded ¡°I know. He is desensitized to violence and his personality type¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that.¡± 83 shook his head ¡°Look one of my jobs when I was working for Cheel was pattern recognition. Now obviously, we do not know the warders to have all the data and variables, but I went through the transcripts of their conversations. In one of those, conversations Ash said something. He said it so nonchalantly that I dismissed in the beginning. Then I remembered his words¡­¡± ¡°I am going to make you the empress. The line he said to Sheetal?¡± E65 asked. ¡°What? No. I don¡¯t know what that means.¡± 83 gave E65 a confused look. ¡°They have these plays in their world. They call them movies. Derived from the term moving pictures. In this play, there are theses bad guys who wear black, wield red swords and are evil. Ash wants Sheetal to emulate that.¡± E65 tried to explain. Everyone looked at him blankly. E65 rolled his eyes ¡°The general bought the information from the Nebula shop and made me consume it. I am supposed to be their guide to the end of the universe.¡± ¡°Well, that was a waste of time.¡± Needless said and looked at 83 ¡°What were you saying Theory?¡± 83 chuckled ¡°I was saying that boy said that he was trying to figure out his new centre of gravity.¡± He pointed downwards at the projection and asked ¡°How many days has it been that he been like this? Two? Three? Can you imagine an individual, who can so easily dissociate with their situation, find the problem they are faced with, take steps to correct them and then do it. Without an ounce of self pity or emotion.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because he is a sociopath.¡± JJ dismissed. Needless shook her head ¡°Psychopaths and sociopaths get angry when they lose control. They lash out violently. He is controlled.¡± ¡°Yes. It¡¯s like he is in control. Watch.¡± Theory who was keeping an ear on the conversation looked down and everyone followed him. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°What does he mean by that?¡± Sheetal was asking Taran 45 about something The high councillor began his explanation to explain both, Ash in the hologram and Sheetal sitting next to it. ¡°As I explained earlier, the white room is a room where we balance our shards.¡± ¡°And interrogate your prisoners.¡± Ash yelled from the hologram. ¡°Yes. Still angry about that?¡± Taran 45 asked with a smile quirking his face. ¡°Angry? No. Salty. Yes.¡± Ash chuckled and asked ¡°When will you stop trying to get a reaction from me?¡± ¡°When will you stop trying to get one from me?¡± The high councillor shot back. ¡°Gentlemen!¡± Sheetal said in loud voice and asked ¡°The explanation?¡± The high councillor nodded ¡°Potentiality, as you can see on your meters does not just come from killing things. It is everywhere around us. It is gift from the great mother to the frontier worlds under her care. The shards in the walls around us, dampen the volatility of potentiality until it as near a static state as it can be. That helps us balance our shards.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± Ash asked. ¡°You have what seven, maybe eight shards.¡± Taran 45 asked Sheetal. ¡°I am not going to reveal my secrets to you high councillor.¡± Taran 45 sighed ¡°I was not asking you to do that. All I was trying to say was that your shards sooner or later will start conflicting with each other. Like what is happening to Ash. Kid, you have four speed shards. I know it make you fast but then you have a density shard which does not have anything to do with speed. Then you have channelling shards. Which has nothing to do with density. And what in the gods name made you put a sense shard in your head. You are a sensopath, boy!¡± Taran 45 stopped and gathered himself while waiting for an answer. ¡°Umm¡­ I wanted red eyes.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Taran 45 asked. Ash shook his head ¡°Hey, high councillor, buddy, it doesn¡¯t matter. I know what is really bothering you. You are jealous that we can have more shards than you.¡± ¡°Jealous? Seriously?¡± ¡°Yup. Tell me you didn¡¯t wonder the first time you saw us in person, how much difference you could have made if you could have all the shards you could get?¡± Taran 45 looked down at the hologram with narrowed eyes. Ash continued ¡°Then you decided to the second-best thing you could do. Kidnap us and involve us in your schemes.¡± Taran 45 looked at Ash in silence. ¡°Well?¡± Ash pressed and when he didn¡¯t get a response he asked Sheetal. ¡°Hey, She. Is he squinting?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Sheetal grinned. Ash laughed ¡°Got you.¡± Sheetal laughed and then bit her lower lip ¡°I cracked my shard while fighting the nishachars.¡± ¡°Oh great, make everything about you again.¡± Ash¡¯s hologram muttered and this time everyone ignored him. The high councillor nodded ¡°Yes, we know. That is why we were going to take you to the white room first. But then you revealed that your brother doesn¡¯t accept his notifications. That means there is something seriously wrong with him.¡± ¡°There is nothing wrong with me. I am awesome.¡± Ash stated. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 83 looked down at Ash and took a step back ¡°See that boy¡­ Even if he was some sort of a spy wherever he came from, and a good one, is a warder now. A warder will grow more powerful with every shard he consumes. And he can already outwit and outplay Ghost. And he is doing a good enough job that the old legend is treating him like an equal.¡± Everyone followed his gaze and looked at the high councillor conversing with Ash. The greying Taran was enjoying the conversation. While Ash and Taran 45 fenced in jibes and jokes the superb seven observed the high councillor. The man was smiling and the glint in his eyes unnerved Needles. Theory shivered too and Needles expected her friend to say something like the thoughts running in her head. Instead, Theory folded his hands over his chest and announced ¡°By ash and sand. I am not going to get involved in the mess the councillors are going to kick up. And by oblivion, I am not standing against that kid. Sheetal is shotgun, cocked and ready to scatter plasma on anyone that wrongs her. Ash, he is a killer in daylight. You know he will be coming, you will plan for him, but in the end, you will be bleeding out on the sand while he mocks you.¡± ¡°So, what? We do nothing again. Just like before?¡± JJ grumbled. ¡°No. We protect them.¡± 83 nodded and added ¡°And then, we make them our squad members.¡± ¡°What?¡± JJ and T asked together. Theory looked at them as if they were stupid ¡°Guys, the councillors are going to fill up spots in our squad with people we don¡¯t want or trust. They are going to start politicking through us. If we don¡¯t have spots then we are good aren¡¯t we?¡± ¡°But then we are the ones who they will be politicking through.¡± Needles protested. 83 nodded ¡°Yes, and we can ignore them.¡± Theory paused and corrected himself ¡°Well not you Needles, Ash is playing a game with Ghost. I don¡¯t think you have choice anyway.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t get it.¡± E65 looked confused ¡°They are not continuum.¡± Theory snorted ¡°Ash just read the high councillor perfectly. I don¡¯t know of anyone who could do that. Do you? The man is known for hiding his emotions behind an expressionless mask and still that boy got the better of him. When he was stuck in a white room I must add.¡± 83 felt the goosebumps on his arms and in a soft voice added ¡°Do you think him not being a member of continuum will stop him. And that is why that boy scares me.¡± ¡°I think you are being paranoid Theory. Still, I agree with you. Having them in our squad will give us two members we can trust and will keep us out of politics. But first we need to tell them what is going on.¡± Needles said. ¡°Tell them what? That your conspiracy theory friend believes that their people are going to leave them behind? Do you think they will believe that? You will only create a rift between us and them.¡± ¡°It is only fair Theory that they know.¡± Needles protested. Theory sighed ¡°We are their protection detail Needles. Let¡¯s just start with that. But, now you are our squad leader. Whatever you decide, I will stand by you. Like right now, T and I will stand guard and observe from here. JJ, will help Needles inside the dreamscape.¡± Needles looked at her old friend and nodded ¡°I will keep your advice in mind. But if I think they need to know¡­¡± She shook her head ¡°If they are ready to know, I will tell them.¡± With that Needles returned to her chair. This time her husband sat down next to her. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. His closeness made her feel more confident and when she closed her eyes, she had sterner expression on her face. Chapter 40 - He laughed. For two days. Ari looked at the Parvati clone explaining the metal blocks to him and his team. If he was being truthful, nobody but Nameer was paying attention to his explanation. For him it was difficult for Ari to concentrate on anything on the difference between this woman and pretty and the intimate moment they had shared. Pretty was in her early twenties, flirty, and playful. This one was bookish, unkempt and in her late thirties. All the difference were all a bit jarring to him. Thankfully, Nameer, the navy brat with his inquisitive nature was paying plenty of attention for all of them because he couldn¡¯t make heads or tails of the steel. Metal was metal. You melted and made it into weapons. It wasn¡¯t supposed to be hard. He had more or less followed the same process even when he used the blood from the bodies from the enthralled. He had drawn out the iron and melted it using his shard. But what this Parvati was showing to them was a metal block that turned into dust and morphed into various shapes. ¡°I don¡¯t get. So, it¡¯s dust. That makes it metal shavings. What good is that?¡± Abesh sighed and got up from the stool that the continuum had provided for this briefing. Nameer looked at the NSG commando ¡°It¡¯s quite simple if you think about it. When you forge a metal, it holds it shape. If you keep it mailable you can have it any shape.¡± ¡°That means it should be liquid and hot. I can use liquid and hot. Pour it over the enemy like tar in dark ages and it becomes a powerful deterrent. But this?¡± Abesh continued arguing with Nameer. ¡°Yes, but they are not following our Earth¡¯s process. They took an alloy, broke its bonds and then artificially rejoined them with the help of magnetism. Now they keep it in a dust form. That dust you can transform using magnetic shards or potentiality.¡± ¡°So, they forged it?¡± Ari finally asked. Nameer sighed while tapping the block that had turned into a thick cylinder ¡°Yes and no. Every time the steel here takes a shape it is forged. But it is not because it is dust. Frankly speaking it might be stronger because of its magnetic nature. But when it is like this¡­¡± Nameer turned the cylinder back to a bar ¡°It resembles steel. That¡¯s where it gets its name from.¡± ¡°Then why don¡¯t they call it steel?¡± Abesh asked. ¡°Because the Maurya Empire, that is the empire continuum comes from, discovered steel eleven hundred years ago. Steel was old tech that was out of fashion. So, they called it mem steel. They have different complicated name for it in the instruction manual.¡± ¡°Yeah? If it is that good, why don¡¯t they use it for their armour?¡± Nameer looked at Abesh with pitying eyes ¡°This again?¡± ¡°Listen, I don¡¯t care what you say. If this steel was so good they would all be running around with marvel armour. Flick it¡¯s on. Flick it¡¯s off.¡± Singh laughed at Nameer¡¯s expression and nodded ¡°Go ahead navy. Put him out of his misery.¡± Nameer began ¡°What you have said is unbelievably childish. Don¡¯t get me wrong I love Disney movies as much as the next guy but they are cartoons. To carry so many nanites around with you, you would need to wear a rug sack. The continuum armour is created for nothing to pass through. No radio bullets, plasma, magic or even radio signals can pass through the armour they wear. Some don¡¯t even allow for even a drop of potentiality to go through them That is why they keep their helmets open when they are not in combat to breathe in. Also, this block¡­¡± Nameer hit the control block and the cylinder turned into a ball and then into a pole that touched the roof of the temple. Nameer continued ¡°It is made for other things.¡± ¡°Like what? Making a stick?¡± ¡°Think about a ship coming under fire. Its armour is pierced, and it is taking in water. One flick and it is as good as brand new.¡± Nameer paused and looked at the NSG commandos and tried a better analogy ¡°You commandos like to jump off helicopters, right? Think about it like this, your helicopter has come under fire, its rotary blades are damaged. It¡¯s gears are broken. One flick, it is suddenly airworthy and climbing back.¡± Abesh raised his eyebrows and reassessed the pole in front of him ¡°Wow, how do you know this stuff? Did you watch any movies?¡± ¡°I am a ship''s engineer.¡± ¡°Hold just a minute. You are a non-combat officer?¡± Nameer looked up angrily ¡°I am navy, ground pounder.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± Abesh asked in confusion. Singh guffawed. Ari chuckled and said ¡°Okay, boy wonder. Stop. You are stepping on thin ice.¡± Abesh looked at Ari in confusion and then his eyes drifted behind him. Ari slowly turned around and saw Doctor Joshi, standing there, with a sunny smile on his carefree face. As Joshi¡¯s eyes met Ari¡¯s, he could see merry flickers of fire dance in them. ¡°It¡¯s a cute little toy.¡± Joshi stated and held out his hand ¡°May I?¡± It took a moment for Ari to figure out that the strange man was talking about the steel pillar behind him. Ari looked back and saw Nameer looking to him for permission. Ari nodded and Nameer handed over the control block. ¡°Interesting.¡± Joshi said while fiddling around with the mem-steel. ¡°Is it?¡± Ari asked. The Parvati clone who had been sitting quietly took to her feet and moved away from the table. She looked at the priest with apprehension and raised her hands in the universal gesture of submission. Doctor Joshi ignored her reaction and tapped the control box to make a large plate. He lifted a finger, and a white-hot flame blazed out of it. Joshi moved his finger forward and punched a hole into the plate like it was wet paper. Everyone looked at the hole that had been so easily punched in silence. ¡°Now you see, why the continuum doesn¡¯t use it for armour? It is a toy over here. But on Earth, you would all treat this toy as a marvel wouldn¡¯t you?¡± Joshi growling voice stated in the awkward silence. Ari took a step towards the priest ¡°And you wouldn¡¯t doctor?¡± Joshi looked at Ari blankly for a long moment. The fire in his eyes slowly subsided and he sighed ¡°Fine.¡± Joshi swayed for a second. His eyes finally focussed on the plate. With a dismissive gesture of his hand the priest fixed the hole. Ari looked at Joshi¡¯s now normal looking eyes and finger and with gritted teeth replied ¡°I see.¡± Joshi looked at Ari and continued in a normal voice ¡°That¡¯s not all. I believe the Americans are already using a similar material to create aerodynamics for their bombers. But this, This is disposable and I know exactly how our people would use this.¡± Ari just raised his eyebrows in response ¡°How doctor?¡± Joshi sighed ¡°Commander, there is a reason we keep sensing things into space. It is the perfect way to test rocket technology under the guise of delivering civilian satellites.¡± Ari frowned ¡°What does that have to do with this material?¡± Joshi smiled ¡°Untraceable missiles, commander.¡± Ari looked from the doctor to the steel block behind him as the revelation hit him. Joshi grinned ¡°Take a walk with me commander. We have a lot to discuss.¡± ¡°Yes. we do doctor.¡± Ari followed Joshi outdoors and watched the priest look up into the sky. He waited for the man to begin and when Joshi just stood there lost in thoughts, he asked ¡°Are you okay doctor?¡± ¡°I am just thinking of my daughter. She hates me. And I just realised, that I won¡¯t ever be able to right some of wrongs with her.¡± Ari frowned ¡°Doctor, I haven¡¯t been in the right state of mind. Tell me, what is going on with you?¡± Joshi chuckled ¡°Strange, isn¡¯t it? How our realities have changed.¡± ¡°Some have changed more than others.¡± Ari stated while walking next to Joshi. Joshi laughed ¡°You mean me? Yes, I have. More than any one of you. But I am not the only one. I think it¡¯s the fact that I am no longer dying anymore that is making me melancholic. Freedom from death gives you a new perspective.¡± Joshi freely agreed. ¡°Doctor Joshi, you haven¡¯t been dying for a while now. We were all healed within days of coming here.¡± Ari stated. Joshi laughed ¡°No commander. When I say I am not dying, I mean I am not aging by even a micro-second anymore. I am functionally immortal now.¡± Ari looked at Joshi in disbelief. ¡°It is the shards. Mine are elemental and divine in nature. And the lord yaksha has been kind enough to provide all eight to me.¡± Ari looked at the priest with conflict written plain on his face ¡°I don¡¯t think I am comfortable with my men listening to a cult leader.¡± ¡°Again, you mean me. And again, you right. I am a cult leader. I do adhere to the cosmic scriptures of Lord Agni and will propagate them amongst sentients like wildfire. But was it so different back home. Didn¡¯t we have religious headers that prayed to gods and goddesses on television? Didn¡¯t a large portion of our population sing songs, narrate mantras, and performed the rights led by them?¡± Ari hissed ¡°Yes, but back home the gods didn¡¯t do things back. Joshi, the way your eyes light up, the way you talk, and the way you hold yourself sometimes unnerves me.¡± Joshi snorted and warm gist of wind hit Ari. In the cold dark desert, it felt like a warm blanket and then it was gone. Ari looked at the red and black sky sprinkled with gas clouds and stars to controlled his thoughts. The neuro shard had fundamentally changed how he behaved. He didn¡¯t feel the creeping paranoia anymore but if he scratched enough he knew he could still lose control and lash out in temper. He took a few deep breaths and started walking. Joshi followed him wordlessly. ¡°That is the right approach, Ari. Whenever you start losing your composure, do something mundane. Walk, breathe, run, or find a way to distract yourself. Take out that energy safely. The neuro shard will settle down.¡± Ari gave Joshi a penetrating look ¡°What do you know about the neuro shard?¡± ¡°Everything. Didn¡¯t I tell you? Lord Agni told me everything.¡± Joshi looked at Ari and smiled ¡°Why do you think I was so angry with you for shoving that shard into your mind?¡± Ari frowned ¡°I don¡¯t like gods. They are unreliable entities whose actions you can¡¯t predict.¡± ¡°Tell that to the religious back home and you¡¯ll get lynched.¡± Joshi laughed and continued ¡°Actually you can predict their actions. Gods do what they need to for the good of the people they worship. What you don¡¯t understand is that Lord Agni is not a god. He doesn¡¯t like being tied to sentient worship. He is yaksha of fire and knowledge. He was here before we humanity and he will be here afterwards. Our worship for him is like sprinkles on top of a coffee.¡± ¡°Are we here to discuss religion Joshi?¡± ¡°If that is needed commander, yes we will.¡± ¡°Well, I am not comfortable with that subject. Worshipping gods is a personal matter. I don¡¯t mind my men doing it, I just don¡¯t like it when it causes conflict in between my men.¡± ¡°And you think that I will do that?¡± ¡°Yes doctor, I know you will.¡± Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Joshi looked at Ari for a moment and then sighed ¡°Well since we are broaching difficult subjects let¡¯s move on to a more difficult subject. Your trip to Earth.¡± ¡°Our trip back to Earth.¡± Ari corrected Joshi. ¡°I am not coming with you commander.¡± ¡°Doctor¡­¡± Ari stopped and looked at the Joshi sternly ¡°I am not leaving you here surrounded by enemies.¡± ¡°Commander. Ari. Don¡¯t worry about me.¡± Joshi smiled and the temple¡¯s dome behind him was momentarily bathed in red flickers of fire. He continued ¡°I will be waiting for you back here when you come back.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you want to come with us?¡± Ari pressed. ¡°I can¡¯t commander. I can¡¯t leave this temple. Lord Agni has tasked me to keep this city safe and I will do so. Also, I can¡¯t abandon Sheetal and Ash. They will need me here, and I will be protect them from here.¡± Ari turned sharply to look at Joshi ¡°Are you accusing me of abandoning them?¡± Joshi sighed ¡°I think you don¡¯t think you are. But when you go through that bridge that the continuum have made for you, you will be abandoning them. And they will know it.¡± Ari clenched his jaw ¡°Joshi. I am doing everything I am doing to bring back more soldiers. Only with more resources I can free our civilians.¡± Joshi stopped in his tracks and chuckled ¡°Free them. For what? To hand over Ash to his mother? To put Sheetal back in her chair?¡± ¡°What are you talking about Joshi. Are you spacing out again?¡± Ari¡¯s hostile look turned softer and in a concerned tone he continued ¡°Come back with us. Get checked up by the doctors. Whatever you are going through, they will be able to take care of you.¡± The priest smiled and shook his head ¡°Thank you. But that is not what I want to discuss with you. You will need help from me if you want to fulfil the continuum¡¯s demands and not die.¡± ¡°Die?¡± Ari raised his eyebrows. ¡°Yes, die. Like it says on the quest that Jay 7 gave you.¡± ¡°How do you know what it says?¡± Joshi looked at Ari and stated ¡°I am a priest of Agni, commander. Need I remind you that he is the elemental deity of fire and knowledge.¡± Ari exhaled loudly. He took a step back, looked at the priest and his temple. They felt like the same entity in that moment. With a frown he said ¡°Yes, it says that on the quest box.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Joshi glowered ¡°What were you thinking? What did you think would happen when you don¡¯t fulfil Jay 7¡¯s orders?¡± Ari scowled ¡°What do you want me to say Joshi?¡± ¡°That you understand that you will die. It will be sudden commander. One moment you will be sitting there trying to get things done and the next you and your men will be ash on the ground.¡± Ari growled. ¡°Control yourself Ari.¡± Joshi looked at Ari gritted teeth and continued ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have accepted a quest from the continuum with a system enforced death penalty. No, let¡¯s go back a bit more. You shouldn¡¯t have given Jay 7 blood and flesh to make a bridge. Seriously, what part of the words blood and flesh made you feel that this was a safe thing to do?¡± ¡°We were hungry priest. We don¡¯t all live on fire and fumes.¡± Ari glared at Joshi and continued ¡°Also, when I heard death penalty, I thought they would try to hunt us down and kill us. I would have had a squad with heavy weapons waiting for them.¡± Joshi rolled his eyes ¡°Ari, you are not dealing with a military junta. You are dealing with a futuristic cloned force who might have lost their purpose, but they know the system extremely well.¡± Ari squinted at Joshi and shook his head ¡°But if there is no system on Earth how would it kill us?¡± ¡°There is no system on Earth because it doesn¡¯t need to be there. The world is settled, stable, and on a path that Lady Aditi set it on. But that doesn¡¯t mean it doesn¡¯t exist there. It just doesn¡¯t show itself.¡± Ari looked up sharply. ¡°Do you mean, that it will show itself soon? Will it compel us to fight like it does here?¡± Joshi squeezed the bridge of his nose and sighed ¡°No, you paranoid fool. Earth was like the trials when it was at the edge of the universe. Today it¡¯s a harvest world filled with potentiality. One that doesn¡¯t require supervision from the yaksha.¡± Ari narrowed his eyes and stated ¡°Earth doesn¡¯t have potentiality.¡± ¡°Yes? Then where did you get your first shard from?¡± Joshi looked at Ari Pointedly and answered his own question ¡°Earth. How was a shard there if there was no potentiality? What use would it be if there was no potentiality? Why was it floating in the air while shards here fall to the ground here? Compared to this sandbox we are standing on Earth is swimming in potentiality.¡± Ari was silent for a long moment considering the priest¡¯s word. He finally broke his silence and muttered ¡°I see.¡± Joshi sighed ¡°No, you don¡¯t. If you did you would have realised that the Rakshasa are now going to fight tooth and nail to feast on potentiality treated flesh. Don¡¯t you get it? Every human on Earth is like a free range chicken the raks think of like a delicacy.¡± Ari¡¯s eyes widened ¡°What? Why didn¡¯t you explain this to us before?¡± ¡°I tried.¡± Joshi almost screamed ¡°The only one who has been receptive to my words is Abesh. You were man with anger and your man Singh had been beating him down ever since we met.¡± ¡°I will speak to him about that.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter now.¡± Joshi shook his head and in calmer voice continued ¡°The reason I am telling you this Commander is because Jay 7 knew all that. He knew about our Earth because he came from a world just like ours. And he knew when you returned home, you would be soon out of his reach. That is why he blackmailed you to create the bridge and then put the proverbial gun to your head to make you accept a quest. Now he wants you to get more meat to attract the raks right here.¡± ¡°So, he planned all this. I guess, I expected that. I figured most of all of that myself.¡± Joshi closed his eyes and took a breath to calm himself ¡°Commander. A bridge goes both ways. Someone needs to protect it from this side. I will be that person.¡± Ari deflated and then shrugged ¡°Okay. So, what do you want me to do? Not bring back soldiers to fight the undead. Sacrifice myself and my men? If that is what is needed¡­¡± Joshi watched Ari¡¯s words fade out and quickly shook his head. ¡°No commander. all I am saying is that you cannot trust Jay 7. Heck, you can¡¯t trust most of the continuum. The good ones, they are few and far in between. I don¡¯t know about that pretty young thing you are so conflicted about kissing but the older ones are only out for themselves.¡± Ari looked at the priest sharply. Professional matters were one thing. This was personal and a flash of anger made Ari take a step towards the priest. ¡°Kissing? How do you know that I kissed her? Have you been spying on me? Or did your god tell you that too?¡± Joshi wasn¡¯t fazed by Ari¡¯s looming presence ¡°What? No. She came to see me. She actually told me that you did more than just kiss before you were interrupted.¡± ¡°When?¡± Ari took a deep breath to calm himself. ¡°When you were unconscious then decided to stay and talk about you. I was the last one she spoke to. You know because she knows that you don¡¯t like me. But Pretty soon realised that your men worship you and I would be the only objective one from our world. So, she sought me out and found a more reasonable outlook.¡± Ari¡¯s eyes widened and he looked around. Thank fully they were alone. ¡°Pretty spoke to the boys?¡± Joshi laughed ¡°Oh, yes she did and it¡¯s too late to be embarrassed, colonel.¡± Joshi winked. Ari grimaced. His rank just underlined their age gap. ¡°Maybe She is too young for me.¡± Joshi raised his eyebrows ¡°But you won¡¯t let her go.¡± ¡°Are you reading my mind now?¡± Joshi snorted ¡°Not one of things I or my lord can do. Although, unlike the lord, I am pretty good at reading facial expressions. Ari, take some advice from a man who has ended up alone and unloved. Let her decide whether she wants to be with you or not. And if she does decide on you, hold on to her with everything you have.¡± Ari looked at Joshi for a long moment and stated ¡°I guess Lord Agni was right in choosing you to become his priest. That advice and the way it was delivered was impressive Joshi.¡± Joshi laughed and Ari saw a bit of fire lighting up his throat ¡°Oh, that was nothing. That was just a bit of fatherly advice. As a man to man? Keep the beard. She really likes the beard. That beard is going to get you luckier than a rabbit surrounded by does.¡± ¡°Joshi.¡± Ari said warningly. The priest chuckled ¡°Fine. Fine.¡± He sobered ¡°Ari, the reason I wanted to talk to you was not to meddle in your love life. It was to give you a heads up. You will have to leave. And in a hurry. This carefully crafted chess board that Jay 7 is so proud of will soon get upended and that unhinged imbecile will start lashing out and grasping for anything that gives them an advantage.¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Ari asked. ¡°Commander, don¡¯t talk just listen. When you reach home, you will have to rush to come up with a way to collect two hundred soldiers. For a government operation that does not exist. And without raising any noise. I can help you with that.¡± Ari looked at the man. Joshi had always been smug. But before his smugness was hidden behind a facade of wisdom and patience. There was no smugness anymore. He could see real fear in the former scientist¡¯s eyes. ¡°You are scared?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Joshi hissed. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t tell you. Lord Agni won¡¯t let me. I have asked for the freedom from the yaksha to converse with you, but he is still watching me.¡± ¡°Right now? Why?¡± ¡°He is always watching but I can feel his presence focussed here. It¡¯s because we are peripherally trespassing on another yaksha¡¯s territory.¡± As usual, Joshi¡¯s words opened another can of worms. Ari closed his eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to take that.¡± ¡°Neither do I.¡± Joshi laughed helplessly. ¡°What do you want Joshi?¡± ¡°Three things. One, you allow anyone who wants to take one of Agni¡¯s shards to consume it.¡± ¡°No.¡± Ari immediately shot him down. ¡°Fine, die then.¡± Joshi folded his arms with an unearthly growl. Fire blazed in his eyes and his nostrils spewed out smoke. Ari took a step back instinctively. His neuro shard that was always moving him towards aggression barely twitched against the aura that made the shorter priest loom larger than the sand dunes surrounding the broken city. Joshi wrestled against an unseen force and growled ¡°You said you will let me handle this.¡± For a second fire covered the priest and with a silent whoosh it was gone. Joshi exhaled in relief ¡°Well, I think our position on that term is final.¡± Ari looked at Joshi in apprehension. He made sure that the man wasn¡¯t going to lash out and then began speaking ¡°Joshi, look at you. Look what those shards have done to you. You are worse than what I was. One moment, you have fire flickering in your eyes, the next, you are covered with flames.¡± ¡°And you can melt metal with a flex your hands.¡± Ari looked at his hands and nodded. Joshi was right on the money there. But unlike the priest, his loyalties weren¡¯t divided. Ari grimaced ¡°It¡¯s not just that. I am not comfortable with the brainwashing your god has done to you. I don¡¯t want to subject my men to that with his shards.¡± ¡°Brainwashing?¡± Joshi asked in a peeved tone and sighed ¡°You don¡¯t understand Agni¡¯s shards.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand this Agni¡¯s motives.¡± Joshi paused ¡°Truthfully, neither do I. But as they say gods work in mysterious ways.¡± Ari growled his neuro shards finally let him feel the familiar heat of its presence. ¡°Fine, let me tell you of the motives of Agni that I do understand. He is trying to help the blind death bringer and the empress of the new era.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I am sorry that¡¯s what he calls¡­ We call them Ash and Sheetal. Kavita¡¯s boy and my prot¨¦g¨¦.¡± ¡°Are you sure they are alive?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Joshi nodded with a grimace ¡°It was tricky there for a while. Heck, it¡¯s still touch and go. But they are in the right limbs for now. From here, they will be on their own. And woe to anyone who to those who try to prey on them.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a lot of nonsense.¡± Ari dismissed Joshi words and in a sarcastic tone added ¡°You expect me to believe that a psycho boy and his scientist friend can fight against a force that has kept us locked down?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Ari took in a sharp breath and looked at the red and purple sky. The sand dunes lit by a thousands of stars outside the city. They felt nearer than the stars on earth and it was another thing that unnerved him about this strange place. Everything was slightly wrong and that included the priest in front of him. ¡°Joshi, did you ask your Lord Agni and to make them into priests like you?¡± Joshi laughed ¡°No. They are out of my yaksha¡¯s reach. And our conversations are more like a one-way radio. He usually tells me what needs to be done and expects me to do it.¡± ¡°Okay, so what does he want with them?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. He has provided them with a few tools which Ash hogged. That was unexpected but it worked out in the end. After that I thought he would be angry when they started experimenting on them and try to make them into¡­¡± Ari turned sharply and asked ¡°Experiment? What do you mean by experiment? Testing their reflexes, running scans, understanding our biology or something more sinister?¡± ¡°Oh, the continuum went all the way commander. They cut them apart, shook the warders insides and blended it all up. Then they stuffed everything back inside and called on the light¡¯s creatures to fix them.¡± Joshi shook his head and in cursed ¡°Bloody barbarians.¡± ¡°How sure are you about this?¡± Joshi dismissed Ari¡¯s question ¡°Anyways, I thought the Yaksha would be angry, but he laughed. For two days. He kept laughing. Do you know how irritating it is to have a man in your head laugh for two days. I thought I was going insane.¡± ¡°Are you?¡± Joshi laughed ¡°Insane? Honestly, commander? I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Gods man. You are scaring me.¡± Ari was getting more and more unnerved by this conversation. ¡°Me scary? You should see the real Rakshasa coming here. What we fought were bandits, slavers, and the dregs of their society. Lost little lambs trying to graze on grass in a desert. The ones coming, they will make you piss in your pants.¡± Ari gave Joshi a searching look. The man wasn¡¯t lying. Ari exhaled ¡°Fine, those and only those who want your lord¡¯s shards can take them.¡± And then in a flippant tone he asked ¡°What are your other demands priest?¡± ¡°I will need people to protect this temple. I will take a few guards from the ones you bring. You won¡¯t have to pay for their upkeep. I will take care of that.¡± Ari frowned but agreed ¡°What else?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if you are ready for this, but this is the most important part. The safety of our world will depend on you by upholding your word. There will come a moment when Ash and Sheetal will be vulnerable. Do not try to capture them, and take them back though the portal. Help them instead.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°When you go back, Kavita and her pawns will ask you to do everything to bring Ash and Sheetal home. Don¡¯t do it. If you do, our world will die.¡± Ari blinked ¡°That a bit much Joshi.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s not commander.¡± ¡°What now you can see into the future?¡± ¡°No. But Agni can. I think.¡± Joshi paused with frown lines covering his forehead and then brushed the whole thing off to continue ¡°Anyways, we both know Kavita wants her problem child back because he is her only source to understand the shards. And Sheetal is the preeminent authority on shards in India.¡± ¡°She was. Now we all are.¡± Ari corrected the priest. Joshi gave Ari a pitying look ¡°Seriously? Commander, that girl pushes boundaries that we don¡¯t even see.¡± Ari considered Joshi¡¯s words and realised how foolish he must have sounded. His neuro shard would have jolted in anger at the rebuttal previously. It didn¡¯t like Joshi¡¯s words but instead of anger and shame flashing in his mind he just felt it syphon of the energy into his nanites. Ari finally agreed ¡°I suppose you right about that. There must have been a reason that they put her in charge alongside you. But they can¡¯t just take, what did you call them? The warders. What does that even mean?¡± ¡°It means, those who are created to war.¡± Joshi explained and continued ¡°I am tied to this temple Ari. Ash and Sheetal, their life, well it is going to get very complicated soon. Don¡¯t put your hands on them. Let them go.¡± ¡°If I do not, someone else will try to apprehend them?¡± ¡°Yes, but as long as you don¡¯t do it everything will work out. Trust me on this.¡± ¡°What happens if I take them back to Earth? I know you said, the planet dies but how?¡± Ari asked. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you that.¡± ¡°Again?¡± Ari asked and when Joshi did not answer, he tapped his chin ¡°Warders, whatever they are, everyone is crazy about them here. I am beginning to believe that they are a strategic resource. And we need them. I am not going to lie about that in my report Joshi. And that will make them points of interest back home too.¡± Joshi exhaled ¡°And governments and armies will move to capture them and turn everything into a warzone. Yeah, that how things are going to go.¡± Ari looked at the doctor in shock. Ari looked at the man if he believed the man then they should do everything to repatriate the two and stuff them into a safe hole. So why was Joshi so adamant about this point? Ari began ¡°I understand Sheetal, he lady scientist had some potential but that boy? There was something seriously wrong with him. Honestly, he is just a privileged punk.¡± Joshi took in a deep breath ¡°That boy is more than he appears to be. Now that they have changed. I don¡¯t even know what they are going to be.¡± Ari looked at a tank like vehicle go past the temple and muttered ¡°So what, we all have changed.¡± ¡°No Ari, they have had things done to them. Sheetal has realised that she is not made of glass. And Ash, he has had a taste of freedom. That cannot be undone. You cannot hold them commander. You are not equipped to. We are not equipped to. Those two are not the same children you saw in the conference room. They are warders. They are creatures of war now.¡± ¡°So, when his mother asks me about him?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t lie. Tell her that her son is a hostage and you are taking two hundred and fifty soldiers to save him. That is what you are going to anyway.¡± ¡°And when the time comes to apprehend him, we don¡¯t?¡± Ari gave Joshi a flat look. ¡°Only once. I am only asking for you to look away one time.¡± ¡°They won¡¯t be happy with that.¡± Joshi smiled ¡°Trust me. After you tell her of the technology and the shards on this side, Kavita will be very happy. So will the others. They will send you as many troops as they can.¡± Ari exhaled. ¡°I will think about all you have shared. For now, I am not ready to give you an answer.¡± Joshi looked at Ari with level gaze ¡°Commander, this will be the final time we talk before you go. Give me an answer and I will tell you how to get everything you want.¡± Ari raised his eyebrows ¡°Is that how you want to do this?¡± ¡°I am pressed for time.¡± ¡°So let me get this right. You want soldiers to guard your temple. You want the freedom to shove your strange shards into my people? And you want me to not pursue Ashoka Stalin and Sheetal Serai. And you want me to make the decision right now?¡± ¡°Unfortunately, yes.¡± ¡®Why? Oh yes. You can¡¯t tell me.¡± ¡°No.¡± Joshi¡¯s lips twitched ¡°It¡¯s because I will be going through a transformation. You will understand it soon enough. When your shards reach class one, you will go through one too.¡± ¡°What?¡± Joshi replied ¡°It¡¯s when your soul finally imprints its will on your body.¡± ¡°Do you know how strange all of this sounds?¡± ¡°Yes. Ari, less than a week ago, I was dying of radiation poisoning. Now I have fire running through my blood. I know this is all strange.¡± Joshi replied in frustration. ¡°Gods. You know sometimes I feel like I am losing my mind just like you?¡± ¡°I am not losing my mind and neither are you.¡± ¡°Then why am I considering your terms?¡± Ari growled. Joshi smiled knowingly. Ari finally began ¡°Fine! I will let anyone who wants to take up your religion. As long as they are loyal to us, I don¡¯t care who they pray to. I will also provide your temple with five guards. And I will let the kids run free and not capture them. But only once. The next time I see them, I will bag them up and drag them back home.¡± ¡°I can live with that.¡± Joshi let out a held breath and smiled ¡°Okay. Now listen, take this and tell Nameer to use these commands on the mem-steel¡¯s control block. It will make this with those bricks.¡± Joshi pointed at a drawing on the unfolded paper and gave it to Ari and continued ¡°Then you contact General J. S. Rathore at the DRDO. Tell him that he can have this brick and the design if he can get you the soldiers asap. Trust me, he will get them to you within hours.¡± ¡°What is this?¡± Ari rubbed the strange paper in his fingers. ¡°Vellum. Animal skin. At least I think it is animal skin. It could be human.¡± ¡°Joshi¡± Ari growled. ¡°Shut up!¡± Joshi snapped and continued ¡°This is not the time for nonsense.¡± Ari saw the heat in the man¡¯s eyes and nodded ¡°I am listening doctor.¡± ¡°Before you contact General J.S. and yes, you should call him J.S. That¡¯s how he like being addressed. Before you contact him, call Kavita. She will be rallying to get re-elected, and you won¡¯t be able to get in touch with her.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t going to General JS annoy her?¡± ¡°No, she will appreciate the initiative you took. One good thing about her sociopathy is that as long as you are personally loyal to her she will give you enough rope to run around. She calls it having tools with brains.¡± Ari grimaced but nodded. ¡°Anyway, after you talk to JS, send in your people ten at a time. By that time, she will get in touch with you. That¡¯s when you let her know about her son. She will be annoyed but it will be too late for her to do anything. Not like she would try after she sees the mem-steel. She will only ask you to procure more of the substance. By Agni, she might even promote you.¡± Joshi took in a large breath ¡°But to do all this you need to know about the bridge. One just like the arch here, will appear over there a few minutes after you reach back home. Be careful when it appears. It will shake the earth and kill everyone who is standing in its path. Make sure that doesn¡¯t happen. Otherwise, they will blame you for the accident and try to shelve the program. Don¡¯t give them the chance.¡± ¡°And who are these people who will try to stop me?¡± Ari asked. ¡°Oh, you will meet them. And you won¡¯t like them. Nobody does.¡± The doctor took a step back. ¡°Joshi what are you talking about.¡± Joshi turned around and said ¡°I have said all that I needed to commander. And remember, my lord and I could have compelled you to do everything with a system quest with penalties like Jay 7. We didn¡¯t. Don¡¯t force our hands.¡± Ari gritted his teeth but nodded. ¡°Now that we have got that unpleasantness out of the way, here.¡± Joshi made a pair of gloves appear from the air and threw them to Ari ¡°Something to replace your old ones. They are made from a titanium alloy. That¡¯s what gives them the bluish. Try them on.¡± Ari looked at the gloves. They were metal and, in anyone else¡¯s hands, they would not move an inch. Ari slid one of his hands inside and the glove melted conforming to his palm like a second skin. Equipped. Pugilists Gloves. Shards Required ¨C Metal, Quicksilver, Energy, Technology. Effects. Heat resistance - 300 degree Celsius. Ari looked at them and they grew spikes like the ones that had been torn off his hands. He looked up and saw Joshi walking away. He called out. ¡°Where are you going doctor?¡± ¡°Back to the main hall commander. I need to prepare for what comes next. And I will be doing it in communion with the lord yaksha. I¡¯ll lock the door from the inside. Don¡¯t try and open it. The hall will be bathed in fire.¡± Ari looked at his gloves and called ¡°Doctor. Thank you.¡± Joshi tuned slightly and smiled ¡°We can¡¯t have the leader of our forces unarmed commander.¡± ¡°Still, thank you.¡± Joshi nodded ¡°Good luck, Ari.¡± Chapter 41 - What have you created? Parvati M141, one of the few specialists medics in the continuum who had both saved lives and taken them in hundreds couldn¡¯t help but feel she was seeing an end of her faction. Her leader, the man she had watched, followed, and even walked besides was in the arms of the Class 2 soldier khara. She remembered the time when she had been lost in life. Her marriage had been on the rocks and she didn¡¯t feel like she was going to see another week, she had first heard the name Ghost. On the vids, he stood tall, reaching out to them with his smile. Oh gods, how long had it been since they had seen someone smile like that. Not only did he smile, but he also asked them to take a name. Something the old guard was categorical against. They were the continuum. Their alpha numerical designations were their names. It told the others their function in the continuum, how old they were, and what generation they were. On the video Taran 45, one of the oldest living members of the Continuum answered the objection of a bearded old guard. ¡°Look, I am not saying that we should be like General Athena¡¯s army and let go of our past. Sure, I thought that was the way to go when I joined the army. But now I think that is short sighted. To embrace the future for the continuum, we need to recognise our past, we need to honour it, and we need to accept our individualism. Adopt a name that defines you. Don¡¯t use it in a professional setting. Don¡¯t use it on patrols. But when you go back to base, go home to your partners, use the name you have chosen for yourself. That is what our forefathers did. They went to work and used their professional names. But when they came home, they were themselves. That brought out their uniqueness, that let them disconnect with their work lives and brought out a new way of thinking, and that helped them thrive. And now we need to follow their examples. Because the continuum needs us not to just exist, but Thrive.¡± Parvati M141 had become Needles after that video. She had left the old guard and joined Thrive. Her husband, Jay 84, was still not convinced about the Thrive but JJ took a name, nevertheless. Mostly to win her back and they had reconnected. Now, their hero, had done the unthinkable. Assaulted, tortured and abused warders. The champions of the light. Needles clicked open her notepad in her hud and just looked at it for a minute. She needed to document the changes the warders were going through. Something the divine touched khara had tasked her to do along with taking care of the warders. But she didn¡¯t know where to start. Sure, she could just document the couple of new biological changes their bodies had exhibited. But then she could run a scan. Create a three-dimensional drawing documenting those changes and just send those to the khara. After all, the new blood circulatory system fed by a new organ just behind the right lung didn¡¯t need to be documented as a second heart. It was self evident as was the development of an even more complicated nervous system that she was pretty sure made the two warders ambidextrous. She had done that when she had noticed the strangeness of their Sheetal and Ash¡¯s brains. They had started compressed and new bubbling grey matter had appeared in their skulls. Then that had compressed too. New arterial junctions had formed supplying cool blood and oxygen to new sections. Finally, one last time, their brains had compressed becoming bluish grey in colour. And thick, gel like fluid had appeared in the skulls too protect the brain. When she had sent a document full of those changes to the khara, along with the hypothesis that the strange energy permeating the anomalies bodies was causing these rapid changes they hadn¡¯t been surprised. They had replied almost instantly. ¡°Thank you for your report medic. We know. The energy is called Anathema. Keep their sentience from their bodies until their souls imprint on their bodies and changes subside. Let us know of further changes.¡± And that was that. A head pat and a good job little ape. What other choice did she have? She knew what happened to the ones who didn¡¯t conform to their expectations. The khara were not like humans or any other bipeds she had met. They called themselves Lights Children and the light The Great Mother. Not that other races didn¡¯t anthropomorphise the light. Humans called her everything from Necessity, Aditi and The Light. But the khara race had taken their worship to the light to the extreme when humans started creating temples to the light. When they first met humans and saw their mangled worship they didn¡¯t correct the humans. When the humans tried to impose their way of worship on the khara they didn¡¯t kill them, they didn¡¯t even fight, they didn¡¯t see the need to. They as a race had given up their independence to preform tasks for the light and live an ascetic lifestyle long before the humans had started leaving their worlds. Subsisting on gifts that the devotees of light gave to them the khara had seen races rise and fall on planets in the endless universe. Instead the khara for the first time showed the silly humans the millions of favours the khara race had gathered. The favours that had helped them shed their physical bodies and become like their mother. And that kind of alien thinking had made the khara chop the anomalies in pieces blend it together and shove it inside the warders. Why? Because the warders were lights creatures and it would help them fulfil their purpose. What the high councillor had planned would have made Sheetal and Ash significantly different from humans. The khara had upended that cart completely and created something new and old. A species that was out of legends. A species that the raks cursed in hushed tones. And that had triggered an event. Event. Rise of the new from old. The khara have triggered an event in your location. No Warder Kel has been found in the area. No Warders Shiang has been found in the area. An Adjudicator has appeared. Warning. You are being monitored by a ripple of light. Ripple No ¨C 1793b75290317 Purpose ¨C Judgement. The event and yes it could be called nothing but an event, after the system had itself recognised what the khara had done and descended upon everyone going through everyone¡¯s logs while harsh white light bathed them. After it touched the med pods the light turned gold. The benevolent light on the med pods didn¡¯t fool anyone. It meant that the light with the capital L had found its quarry and was going through their logs. A moment later beams of lights dispersed from the glowing pods. She saw it lighting the superb seven up and leaving them moments later with a blessing in its place. You have received a gift from the Light. Minor Evolution. She looked at her team and noted that they had all received the small gift. When the beams hit the khara they danced in joy. On the other hand, when the beam touched the High Councillor and his crony doctor, the light turned red. It bore into the surgeon and the man opened his mouth in silent scream before turning to Ash. Needles held her breath. Just when everyone was ready for the light to smite the old Taran 45 down the light faded from him and returned to the pods. In its place was a pale faced Taran 45, who did not say a word for five long minutes, after that he told the khara where all the unique and precious shards were kept and slumped to the floor. Finally, he raised his head with that smile that had gotten him the position of the High Councillor. She watched him stand there for a long moment and look at the little flying octopuses that twinkled merrily as they buzzed back and forth gathering and discarding shards from the vault. ¡°Well that is that then. I think I should get to work now.¡± Ghost said aloud and then turned to Needles ¡°Parvati M, look the khara are celebrating. They have gotten the permission to show off their skills.¡± ¡°Is that it?¡± Needles couldn¡¯t help ask ¡°Are they not going to punish you?¡± ¡°The light is reasonable.¡± Ghost said to all and then picked up the smooth metal band that let him send his consciousness in the dreamscape ¡°I¡¯ll see you inside.¡± The seven looked at Ghost sitting down on a black metal chair and then at the pods. The high councillor had sent his mind inside the pods where the light was keeping watch over the warders. Was he that confident that the light had forgiven him and wont strike him down. Needles picked up her mental band and JJ stopped her. He looked at the glowing pods wearily and looked at her meaningfully. Needles patted his hand ¡°I need to go and check on them. I need to make sure that man doesn¡¯t do anything more to them.¡± JJ didn¡¯t look pleased but stepped back anyways. Needles placed the on her head and saw a message. Warning. You are being monitored by a ripple of light. Ripple No ¨C 1793b75290317 Purpose ¨C Judgement. When they had burst in this room to rescue the warders and found them in the pods, it hadn¡¯t looked good. Deep in the dreamscape, they had been idealised versions of themselves which was heartening. But ever since the khara had started remaking their bodies, they were a mess. Thet were writhing in pain, on the floor, one looked one step away from turning into ash and dust. And none of them could do anything about this. The warder¡¯s soul or sentience no matter how disconnected from body felt the changes and was fighting to accept their new bodies. The high councillor was talking to Ash from the control room. His tone was free of the tension she felt in her body. ¡°Hey, kid. Open your hud. Focus on it and accept your notifications.¡± Ash had groaned in response. Taran chuckled ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you are scared of some lines on your hud?¡± ¡°Nope. Not falling for that.¡± Ash shot back. ¡°Ash. Don¡¯t be difficult.¡± Sheetal said to her brother lying on the floor next to him. ¡°She¡­¡± Ash hissed out Sheetal¡¯s nickname and in growl continued ¡°The computer thing in my head is difficult to deal with as it is and now mister not so hight councillor has made the world even more soupy.¡± Taran blinked ¡°Wait, are you telling me¡­¡± Taran let his words fall off as realization hit him ¡°You can bear even more potentiality?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Ash waved his hands about ¡°This is like fog. I am from Delhi. I am used to smog. The thick kind. Speaking of which¡­¡± Ash opened his mouth and took in a lung full of air. He coughed and wheezed ¡°This doesn¡¯t taste like fog. It tastes like tin.¡± ¡°Fog? No. There is no fog. It does taste like a can of coke.¡± Sheetal croaked trying to control her spasms. ¡°Warders, I am going to try something. Please tell me when things become uncomfortable.¡± Taran 45 said and increased the potentiality going to their bodies. ¡°What? Wait. What are you going to do?¡± Sheetal had looked all around herself in a panic. ¡°Feel something different?¡± Taran 45 asked. ¡°Yes. The fog became denser?¡± Ash muttered. ¡°Now?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°Now?¡± ¡°No.¡± Sheetal responded ¡°NOW!?¡± Ash chuckled ¡°What are you, a cow?¡± ¡°Are we getting drunk?¡± Sheetal had asked. ¡°No. We are getting high.¡± Ash had chuckled ¡°Haaaaigh? Haaigh feels naaaaice.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Ash had said and asked ¡°Can we have more?¡± ¡°Damn it kid. If I go down anymore. I might blow out your shards.¡± Taran¡¯s voice made Sheetal look at the high councillor sharply. ¡°Mother flicker!¡± Sheetal grumbled. Ash on the other hand laughed and responded with ¡°No, you won¡¯t. You big goofy manipulator, you. Just keep going. Hehehe.¡± Taran 45 hesitated and then laughed alongside Ash and proceeded to turn his hand. ¡°Oh¡­ That¡­ I think that hit the spot. I think I can¡­¡± Ash opened his mouth like a fish, gulped down some air and let it out with a blissfilled look on his face ¡°Yeah¡­ Make it more, make it moooore.¡± Sheetal sang. ¡°Are you singing let it go like make it more?¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± Sheetal giggled. ¡°Bro¡­ She¡­ Why are you gay?¡± Ghost stopped the conversation from getting derailed by saying ¡°Alright, that¡¯s enough kids, do you want me to raise the levels of potentiality? Then show me your notifications and accept them.¡± ¡°Gods danged nanny.¡± Sheetal cursed. ¡°I am not nanny. I am Ghost.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± Ash grunted. ¡°That¡¯s my name. The one without the continuum alphanumeric designation. The one I earned for myself.¡± ¡°That¡¯s just makes you a nosy nanny.¡± Sheetal shot back. Ghost laughed ¡°Oh that is nice.¡± ¡°Cool, what about the potentiality?¡± Ash prodded Taran 45 grimaced ¡°Kids, the potentiality in the air you are breathing. The one that is making you giddy. It should not do that. You should be dying of poisoning right now.¡± ¡°Meh. I am aaaaawesome. I can take more. ¡°What about the last two rows?¡± Ash asked and added ¡°Those are not lit. Give me more smoke, Ghost man.¡± Taran closed his eyes ¡°Ghost. Its just Ghost. And the last two layers. They are¡­ needed to operate the white room.¡± Taran responded with a slight bit of hessitation. Ash looked all around with an appreciative smile and nodded ¡°Liar. Oh. That is smart.¡± He giggled ¡°Needed to operate room. Funny.¡± ¡°Its¡­ Honestly kid, don¡¯t even think about doing what you are thinking about doing. That is how disruption rays are made. They will kill you.¡± ¡°Did you say kill?¡± Sheetal asked and then turned her head to look at Ash ¡°Can we jerry rig that to blow him up?¡± Ash blinked and then started looking at the walls around him ¡°You know¡­¡± ¡°The answer is yes.¡± Ghost replied ¡°But I can see the look on your face Ash and I don¡¯t like it?¡± ¡°Well, you shouldn¡¯t have put me in here then.¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°Sensopaths.¡± Ghost chuckled and continued ¡°You are fascinating creatures you know. The continuum tried to create a few of you but you somehow go and get yourselves killed in the most glorious ways.¡± Sheetal raised her head and looked at Ash ¡°What the heck is that jack axe talking about?¡± ¡°Why are you helping me suddenly?¡± Ash asked Taran 45. Sheetal looked at white ceiling ¡°Helping us, Ash.¡± ¡°Oh sorry, helping us.¡± ¡°You know sensopaths come of as psychopaths and sociopaths. But they are not. There behaviours are governed by the fact they see the world around us in a different way. Some say, they see the underlying reality of the universe and that is why they can¡¯t relate to the normal.¡± ¡°God if he keeps monologuing about you, I am going to strangle him.¡± Sheetal said to Ash. ¡°I know. I am the one who wants to monologue.¡± Ash nodded. ¡°I am going to give this weapon to you both but remember when you shoot potentiality through conflicting shards, if you don¡¯t create a perfect beam, it will have spillage. It will turn your hands to dust before it disrupts potentiality in an enemy¡¯s body.¡± Suddenly, all the shards around them lit up and for a split second every bond, every cell in their bodies wanted to not come together to make their existence. In a blink of an eye the feeling subsided. ¡°It¡¯s like gas.¡± Sheetal muttered when the shock had subsided. ¡°No. It¡¯s nothingness.¡± Ash shook his head. ¡°What?¡± ¡°She, we are made out of nothingness. That was more nothingness pushing into our body.¡± ¡°That is nonsense. We are made out of a lot of things, iron, calcium, proteins, water etc.¡± ¡°You are both right.¡± Taran 45 said from the control room ¡°Sheetal, your physical body is made of those things but what keeps it all tied together? Energy. Protons and electrons bonding with each other. The disruption ray, uses multiple shards to create a jumble of disruptive energy that loosens those bond.¡± Sheetal opened her moth to argue but then stopped. Her hud opened on its own and scrolled down to one of her earliest notifications. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Warder structure activated. You have used pure potentiality to imbue an attack. Disruptive Resonance. Sheetal realised that Taran 45 could see her notification belatedly when he asked ¡°How is the gods name did you do that?¡± Ash quickly changed the topic ¡°Yeah, we need to fill that nothingness quickly.¡± He started taking in gulps of air. After a few breaths he added ¡°Hey She, take in the air. Its even more tasty and giggly.¡± ¡°No¡± Taran 45 said in a fatherly tone ¡°First you need to know how to create a disruption ray.¡± ¡°Oh, I know how to do that already. I figured it out even before you lit up the room.¡± Ash replied nonchalantly. ¡°Even so, you need to do it safely. If you just throw a wave around it will harm you.¡± ¡°No Ghost. It will harm you. Not me. And not She. I am awesome and She is¡­ She.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash with her eyebrows raised. ¡°I mean you will overthink the whole things until you coat it in plastic, rubber, and foam. And then you will automate it.¡± Ash explained. Sheetal looked at Ash and asked ¡°Are you still grumpy about the safety drill?¡± Ash huffed ¡°I don¡¯t need safety. I am awesome.¡± ¡°No, you are a sensopath. An extremely sensitive one. And one that can operate both in the higher and lower octaves¡± Taran 45 added. ¡°I don¡¯t know what that means. But it sounds like I am awesome.¡± Ash responded with a giggle and burst into laughter. ¡°No. That¡¯s not what I mean. I mean you are a dunce, because you put a sense shard in your head. Why would you waste a slot like that when you can see everything already.¡± Taran 45 asked in a heated tone. ¡°Uh¡­ I wanted red eyes.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go back to the notifications. That a safe topic.¡± Ash said and started looking through hud. ¡°He is a dunce.¡± Sheetal nodded ¡°Hey why does dunce work when other curse words don¡¯t?¡± Taran 45 nodded ¡°Okay, we will fix the notification boxes. Then I will help you with the rest.¡± Ash grinned and cheered lethargically ¡°Yeeaaah!¡± Taran rolled his eyes. The rippling air in Ash¡¯s sight started to move and then boxes began to ripple. Ash swayed on the ground and looked a bit sick ¡°Bad boxes.¡± Ash waggled a thin finger at the notifications The notifications stabilised. You have used a density shard to power up your attack. Soul density increased to 20% Continuous use of density shard has compressed your potentiality. Potentiality compressed by 60% You have used a density shard to power up your attack. Soul density increased to 19.8% You have used a density shard to power up your attack. Soul density increased to 19.7% ¡°Ash, think of accepting all messages regarding density shard.¡± Taran 45 instructed with a gobsmacked expression on his face. ¡°Now think of next set of messages.¡± He continued. By understanding the world around you have taken a step towards a higher level of understanding. Glyph added to personal lexicon. Glyph - Relay ¡°Accept all your glyph messages.¡± He accepted it and half a dozen boxes disappeared revealing new ones. Taran 45 touched his wrist ¡°I have muted our voices. Ash can¡¯t hear us. M141, have you ever seen a message about increasing soul density?¡± Needles had left the dreamscape and returned couple of times now. Outside, everyone but the superb seven had vacated the hall with the pods. She looked at the notification and answered ¡°Yes. We all have but¡­¡± ¡°Not at class zero and not soul density increases by twenty percent.¡± Taran 45 finished her sentence. ¡°Yes, that is strange.¡± Needles nodded. ¡°Strange. Strange is that compressed potentiality¡­ What does that even mean?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Needles had replied. Taran 45 pursed his lips and nodded. ¡°Souls generate potentiality. And if that is compressed does that mean his soul has levelled up? This could cause complications.¡± ¡°It would have, if the khara wouldn¡¯t have taken over.¡± Needles said spitefully. The high councillor sighed and nodded ¡°True.¡± And looked at the next series of messages. You have used removed a shard. Shard Type - Wind All Potentiality Lost Routing Remaining Potentiality to Increase Capacity. All wind shard abilities and potentiality removed. You have broken the sound barrier. Burst mode achieved Potentiality bursts unlocked Potentiality increased by 3% ¡°Accept all wind messages.¡± Ash said happily and added ¡°Wheee!¡± Taran 45 blinked ¡°He removed a shard?¡± ¡°How did he do that?¡± Needles asked in the same tone. Both Taran 45 and Needles turned to look at the warder lying on the floor and playing with his notifications. You have used speed shard. Speed Shard combat capability increased Shard density increase by 0.1% You have used speed shard. Speed Shard combat capability increased Shard density increase by 0.2% Reflexes increased by 0.3% ¡°Accept all speed messages. Wheee!¡± Taran grimaced ¡°This is not what I expected. What does he think? He is¡­ he is unbreakable?¡± ¡°Have you not you heard the warder, High Councillor. He is awesome.¡± Needles couldn¡¯t help a bit of sarcasm from bleeding into her voice. She was annoyed. No scratch that. She was angry. Her life was all about following orders and doing the right thing. Sometimes those two things conflicted. And sometimes you had to take a stand. And she had done that. And still the two lost children were sacrificed to the machine that the continuum had become. Only serving the handful on the top. So, she watched. That was all she could do. Watch. For hours and hours, the warders fought to make the bodies their own while throwing out jokes. And she watched. To Needles surprise Ghost, was there with them adding his own jokes to the mix. And taking the abuses from Sheetal with a smile. Meeting Ash¡¯s suspicious looks with an open look. A day later Needles finally confronted Ghost. This time the warders were moved to different rooms and Ghost was sitting on a chair watching over them. Needled looked at Taran 45 and could keep the disgust from her voice ¡°What happened to you?¡± Ghost looked at her and shook his head ¡°Life. Life happens to all of us.¡± ¡°Rubbish!¡± Needles shook her head ¡°We voted for you. We lobbied for you. I lobbied for you. We thought you were going to bring in a new era. We thought you were honourable and noble. And this is what we get?¡± Taran 45 closed his eyes with a pained expression. He softly started ¡°The continuum is dying Specialist Medic. We cannot produce clones anymore. There is too much genetic deviation because of the volatile potentiality. We are barely thirty nine thousand in number. And now we are going to fight a force ten times as large. Even if we win, we will lose thousands. More cracks will show up in the continuum. Factions will blame each other and devolve into fighting. In a few years we will not even be a people.¡± ¡°So?¡± Needles pointed at the writing warders in front of her ¡°Doing this helps?¡± Taran nodded ¡°Yes. I know you don¡¯t think this is right. And honestly, it not but. But¡­ But it was the only thing I could do. Even if I didn¡¯t do anything Jay 7 would just get rid of me and make my people do this. He likes power. At least this way, two people, two warders, who could look at the situation objectively and guide us out of this status quo stay alive.¡± Needles shook her head ¡°What about you honour? What about the thrive faction¡¯s honour?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear me M141. We are going extinct. If it cost me my honour to save our people? It¡¯s a small cost.¡± ¡°Not for them.¡± Needles pointed at the two warders screaming in pain and added ¡°They didn¡¯t ask for this. They aren¡¯t responsible for this.¡± ¡°Yes, they are. They became responsible when they took the mission Jay 7 offered them. They will deal with the threat. And then they will deal with Jay 7.¡± ¡°So that is your goal? To throw them at Jay 7?¡± Needles glared at the man she had idealised for so long and said ¡°Sheetal is right. You need to be stopped.¡± Taran 45 smiled ¡°Maybe so, Needles. But not by you and not today.¡± Needles left the dreamscape after that and watched both the High Councillor and the warders from the projection. ¡°Ni, don¡¯t you think this is the wrong time to take notes?¡± JJ asked from beside Needles. Needles looked at her husband and looked at her hands raised to type over the empty document and dismissed the note. She took the cup of hot tea from JJ and leaned into him when he sat down. ¡°Still glowing I see.¡± JJ nodded at the pods. ¡°It¡¯s an adjudicator. It has one and only purpose. To dispense justice.¡± Needles replied. ¡°Can¡¯t we speed it up?¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°Maybe talk to it?¡± JJ hedged. They both looked at the glowing pods and Needles muttered ¡°I would, but I don¡¯t know where its head is?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be speciest Ni. Who knows if the ripple needs a brain or not.¡± ¡°So, what am I supposed to talk to?¡± ¡°The floor.¡± JJ pointed at the floor which had been transmuted into an unknown material with veins of light reaching out to the wall ¡°And maybe the walls too.¡± Needles looked at the walls with wide eyes ¡°When did that happen?" ¡°Since yesterday, Ni. The veins had started appearing on the walls when you got out of the dreamscape. I guess you were too tired to notice?¡± Needles put down her empty tea cup and looked at the high councillor sitting and the black metal chair ¡°He has been in there all this while?¡± JJ nodded with a clenched jaw ¡°He hasn¡¯t even twitched.¡± Needles looked at the glowing pods and smiled ¡°I think I will give the ripple some more to make up its mind. We should show respect to our guest. No matter their nature.¡± JJ smiled back ¡°Good choice. Who knows, the ripple might get annoyed and vaporise your favourite teacup.¡± Needles gasped ¡°Not my favourite teacup.¡± As JJ chuckled Needles picked up the metal band from the table in front of it and put it on her head ¡°See you in a few hours love.¡± Before returning to dreamscape Needles took a moment to check on both of the warder¡¯s physical readings. The process shouldn¡¯t have been hard. The med pods should have been able to monitor their vitals. But the anathema in the pod had melted most of the sensors. And the ones outside the pods couldn¡¯t get a clear reading because somehow the bulletproof glass had transformed into blue sapphire. Giving up Needles just put on the headband and entered the digitised world only to find Sheetal sitting and looking at the floor with a blank eyed stare. Needles eyes widened. What had happened here. Had Ghost done something here again? ¡°Sheetal?¡±¡± The girl did not respond. ¡°Sheetal!¡± Sheetal just sat there numbly. Needles raised her hand to send a message to the khara when the warder twitched. Needles looked at her for any further movement. ¡°Come one girl. Talk to me.¡± In response, vortexes started forming all around the isolated room. Twinkling multicoloured potentiality flowed into the small whirlpools and lit up the dully lit room. They kept pulling more and more potentiality from all over the room. And in a blink of an eye rushed into her. The sensation must have been pleasurable because Sheetal flew into the with an ecstatic look in her eyes and floated back to the floor as a delirious drooling mess. ¡°Sheetal? Are you okay?¡± Needles asked the warder. Sheetal lethargically looked up with glassy eyes. ¡°My link. My link with my breaker is gone.¡± Needles was surprised with Sheetal flat lifeless narration. Needles checked her reading and blinked. Her brain waves were off. In fact, the girl wasn¡¯t using her prefrontal cortex. The part of the brain that drove emotions. Needles hit keys on her holographic keyboard and knew the reason. Her brain was undergoing mutations again. And yet, she was talking. Sheetal sniffed ¡°That smell. The scent. Lillies and apricots. Ash¡¯s favourite perfume. Miss Dior.¡± ¡°Sheetal?¡± ¡°Breaker. No. Ash he leaves behind clues. Like silky strappy underwear. Or the red dress that stains when he washes it in the machine. But, no clues¡­ Where is he?¡± ¡°Sheetal!¡± Needles shouted and ordered ¡°Girl. Listen to me.¡± Sheetal¡¯s eyes focussed unerringly on Needles. Technically, Needles didn¡¯t have anything to worry about. She had administrator rights in the dreamscape. And they weren¡¯t even in the same server. And yet she could feel weight of her gaze. It literally felt like someone had dropped tens of kilos on her shoulders. ¡°Hmm¡­ I know that voice. Not breaker. Not Ash. I need to get to Ash.¡± The weight on Needles shoulders disappeared and she released a breath ¡°Sheetal. Ash is okay. You will be able to see him soon. Warder! Can you understand me?¡± Needles was silent for a long moment and then cursed ¡°There she goes. Wandering off again in that head of hers. Now she is just sitting there looking at me with a blank look.¡± Needles complained loudly and then asked ¡°What did those alien octopuses do to her?¡± She paused and added ¡°Do to them?¡± ¡°The wall. It¡¯s not really a wall. It¡¯s like paper. No not paper.¡± ¡°What in the gods name is she talking about.¡± Needles asked. ¡°Plastic.¡± Sheetal continued ¡°Plastic and void.¡± ¡°Sheetal, I need you to focus on my voice.¡± ¡°Plastic and void with numbers. Same numbers again and again.¡± Sheetal¡¯s eyes slightly focussed on the world around ¡°Not worth bonding. Temporary.¡± ¡°Sheetal. Go back to sleep, child.¡± Needles sighed loudly. ¡°You expect a construct to trap a creature created to walk through realities end in this?¡± Needles felt heat lace Sheetal¡¯s words today. And this time she felt a spike of fear in her pillar. ¡°Warder! Sheetal! Nobody is trying to trap you.¡± Needles shouted. ¡°Lies. The councillor lies.¡± Sheetal blinked. ¡°For all the gods in all the heavens, focus girl.¡± Needles scolded her and when that didn¡¯t work added ¡°I am not the High Councillor.¡± Focus? Sheetal was great at focussing. One did not create new solutions and patent them without focus. So, she focussed and directed her awareness towards Needles. And knew where Needles was. Forty percent of her brain or what substituted as her brain homed into the room where Needles was. Around twenty five percent of it was referencing her abilities and making plans to break out of this enclosed tin can masked with a veneer of reality. But Sheetal didn¡¯t have abilities. She knew she should have abilities. The abilities that made her a bonder. But she didn¡¯t. She didn¡¯t even know their names. Annoyed Sheetal decided to brute force her way out of this prison. Needles looked on with widening eyes as Sheetal¡¯s hair began rippling in the air. The air she conjured underneath her feet went wild lifting her into the air and made her appear like an angry goddess. The crashing winds caused so much friction that lightning began sparking everywhere around her. Needles quickly hit the safety protocol switch to drive potentiality out of the room. Sheetal¡¯s eyes locked onto the venting potentiality and she raised her hand ¡°No. Mine.¡± Needles mouth flew open and she just looked at the girl for a long moment. She looked off. Her long hair flying all over, her rippling clothes, and the lightning should have made her look furious but her eyes. They looked glazed over. Sheetal reached out a hand and ripped the world apart. Needles yelped and jumped back. ¡°I need my breaker.¡± Needles had never seen fragments of code glitched, sputtered and malfunctioned. It was like the world had gone still and a hole had appeared in between her and the wall next to her. It rippled like waves and sparked. From inside it, Sheetal¡¯s flew towards her with dead eyes. ¡°Take me to the land of lilies and apricots.¡± Sheetal ordered. ¡°Sheetal, you need to calm down.¡± ¡°Take me to Ash.¡± ¡°I will but first¡­¡± ¡°What?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Needles asked unfazed. Sheetal took in a breath and focussed on the room ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°How did you do that?¡± Needles pointed at the ripped apart wall. ¡°The math on that wall was wrong. It created a pixelated bulge in the physical representation of the wall. Reality does not bulge.¡± ¡°That wasn¡¯t a bulge. It was a sensory code to monitor your health.¡± Needles explained. ¡°I followed it here.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Needles nodded ¡°You do know we are in, were in different servers, right?¡± ¡°But it is the same reality.¡± ¡°I see¡± Needles pulled out a chair and waved ¡°Sheetal, sit down for a moment and let me examine you.¡± ¡°I am fine.¡± ¡°But when it comes to Ash¡­¡± ¡°I will kill anyone who touches my little brother.¡± Sheetal said mechanically while floating down to the chair. ¡°Brother?¡± ¡°Braker. Bonder. We are from none. We are two.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Needles nodded. She didn¡¯t but she had to say something. ¡°Sheetal, here is the thing. You are not awake.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°I know sweetheart. From the notes I have here, Ghost had to put you in REM sleep and yes, I am going to wake you up. But slowly. Because when you wake up you will find that your brain is now sixty percent more efficient and hundred and twenty percent bigger.¡± ¡°I know. I am only allocating seventeen percent of my attention to you. Other portions of my brain are decoding this room. Calculating the amount of radiation, I need to create a black hole to tear the world apart and reach Ash.¡± ¡°Gods. What has he created?¡± Needles muttered ¡°Me.¡± Needles exhaled ¡°Very well. Here we go.¡± Needles flicked a switch mentally and the broken floor and the wall next to it disappeared. A garden filled with butterflies and flowers appeared. Sheetal looked the grass growing under her feet for a second and leaned down. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Needles asked ¡°Touching grass.¡± Sheetal smiled and then tuned to look at a meadow filled with lilies surrounded with apricot trees. ¡°Okay. Why?¡± ¡°It¡¯s funny.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t feel funny.¡± Sheetal looked confused for a second and then in a flutter of loose clothes flew away. Needles dodged a flower bud flying towards her face in Sheetal¡¯s wake and followed the girl. Soon, She could see Ash lying on the ground, with a bud sticking out of his mouth. His long hair spread out under his head and his soft cute features marred by a spike of pain here and there. ¡°Hey! Ghost.¡± Ash croaked from the grassy mound he was lying on ¡°You there?¡± Taran 45 who was sitting a few feet away looked behind him and answered ¡°Yes, warder Ash, I am here.¡± ¡°You look distracted. Wha¡­¡± Ash stopped when he saw Sheetal flying at him. ¡°Umm¡­ She!?¡± Ash squeaked. Sheetal came to a standstill a second before she would have collided with him. ¡°Breaker. Brother. Ashhole.¡± Sheetal stated with a glassy eyed smile. ¡°Hey.¡± Ash protested and then sighed ¡°Hi She. You are asleep aren¡¯t you?¡± Sheetal turned to look at Taran 45 and in a flat tone stated ¡°Enemy.¡± Ash gave Sheetal a worried look ¡°Are you are sleepwalking again?¡± Sheetal just bobbed there floating over him. ¡°She does this when she is stressed.¡± Ash explained to Ghost and then turned to look Needles walking towards them. He waved ¡°Oh, hi Needles. I was just speaking to the grey haired suicidal maniac.¡± Taran 45 smiled ¡°I am not suicidal Ash.¡± ¡°No? Right. You don¡¯t have the stones to pull the trigger yourself.¡± Needles laughed while bidding Sheetal to sit on the floor. Ash grunted in pain and held his midsection ¡°Ah! That was right in my ovaries.¡± ¡°Ovaries?¡± Needles asked and stated ¡°Ash, you don¡¯t have ovaries.¡± ¡°Then why do I feel period pain?¡± ¡°You are not feeling¡­ You don¡¯t even know what period pain feels like.¡± ¡°Oooh! Did I annoy you by taking away you girl club card?¡± Needles opened her mouth to respond, stopped, reconsidered her words and asked ¡°I don¡¯t know what that means but are you trying to get under my skin?¡± Ash winced in pain and with red rimmed eyes groaned ¡°I¡­uh¡­ No, I am trying to distract myself by picking a fight with you.¡± Needles nodded and watched Sheetal lie down next to Ash. Sheetal looked at him for a second and slowly closed her eyes. ¡°I wish I could just shut my eyes and go to sleep like you.¡± ¡°Having a high threshold of pain is not always a blessing, is it?¡± Taran 45 asked. Ash closed his eyes and controlled his breathing ¡°Well aren¡¯t we too peas in a pod. Who tortured you?¡± ¡°The raks. They did such a great job that they themselves thought they had killed me. Honestly, they almost had. I was just a few seconds from turning into ash. Thankfully, General Athena came crashing in and saved me.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t sound happy to be saved?¡± ¡°It was a long time ago.¡± Taran 45 dismissed the question with a wave and asked ¡°Who tortured you?¡± ¡°A group of government owned drug dealing mafia thugs. Not my government obviously. They would have finished the job. And nobody saved me. Unlike you, I escaped.¡± Ash responded smugly. ¡°Oh, tough guy, aren¡¯t you?¡± Taran 45 asked. ¡°Yup.¡± Taran 45 snorted ¡°You are not tough. You are a cockroach.¡± Ash let out a pained laugh ¡°Hey, big man, if you want us to start exchanging pleasantries, I will be happy to do it when I am up and on my feet.¡± Taran 45 took in a deep breath and looked at Needles. ¡°So, when are you going to drop the nice guy act?¡± Ghost asked ¡°I don¡¯t know what you mean?¡± Taran 45 exhaled ¡°You yourself said, you are sociopath. That means you don¡¯t feel any empathy. Then why are you pretending to be nice to people?¡± ¡°Haven¡¯t you heard the saying you catch more flies with honey?¡± ¡°So, we are flies to you?¡± ¡°As long as you are not wasps, I don¡¯t care.¡± ¡°Even if I cut you apart and rearranged your insides?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll come back to me later. First¡­¡± Ash grunted in pain and took in a wheezing breath to continue ¡°Tell me, how bad have you messed up?¡± The high councillor chuckled ¡°Trying to stay one step ahead of me?¡± Ash raised an eyebrow ¡°I am one step ahead of you, Ghost.¡± The high councillor looked at Ash and rolled his eyes ¡°Fine. Fine. Fine. I¡¯ll tell you. Honestly, it¡¯s not as bad as Needles thinks. The seven, her squad, they are veteran old guards, but at the end of the day, they are simple soldiers. They don¡¯t understand the political backscratching and the convoluted logic life has turned into for us at the top. Needles thinks the other will vote me out,¡± Taran 45 chuckled mirthlessly and shook his head ¡°No, they won¡¯t. They will waive their fingers at me and shout at me for show. They don¡¯t give a hoot about what I am doing here. As long as I create brainwashed weapons for the war effort.¡± Needles glared at Ghost ¡°What about the rest of us? Do you think we don¡¯t care either?¡± Ghost sighed ¡°No, you do. But then you have to go on patrols. Find resources. Cook, clean and live. And after all that do you have the time or the mental capacity to care about someone else¡¯s problem?¡± Ash nodded ¡°Normie drudgery.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Needles asked ¡°Often times the best explanation is a normie explanation. Our corporations and government do that. Hey there is a big explosion that happened at a refinery. Yeah, but you got to go to your job. So, what, if they refinery is still on fire and less than five kilometres away.¡± Ash gave the medic a meaningful look ¡°The normies. They all think the same. They put it out of their minds and go to their jobs. They watch their stupid shows on their screen and just go on while saying it doesn¡¯t affect me, my entertainment, or my goals and then go buy a silver phone while calling the colour starlight.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°I know Needles. Neither do I.¡± Ash nodded empathetically. ¡°Yes.¡± Ghost laughed ¡°And exactly. Normie drudgery what an apt phrase.¡± Ash smiled and asked Ghost ¡°So, that is why the rest of the councillors didn¡¯t stop you.¡± Ghost nodded. ¡°Except for General Athena. She almost shot the high councillor when she realised that it was too late to save you.¡± Needles said spitefully. ¡°Hmm¡­ But the council is in complete control of every soldier.¡± Ash stated. ¡°No. General Athena¡¯s army is a separate entity to the old guard and the augmented.¡± ¡°But we are surrounded by those two factions, right?¡± Ash asked. Ghost opened his mouth to answer but was stopped by Ash ¡°Hold on a minute bro.¡± The young warder turned to looked at Needles ¡°Are we in danger of being brainwashed?¡± ¡°No.¡± Needles replied with a snort ¡°I don¡¯t think you understand. You are being protected by the light itself. There is a ripple out there.¡± ¡°Nice! Don¡¯t know what that is but, good job, doc.¡± Ash turned back to Taran 45 with narrowed eyes ¡°So, Ghost. Why are you telling me all this?¡± Taran 45 continued without answering Ash¡¯s question ¡°What you need to worry about is the khara. Yes, they do serve the light but that mission they gave you¡­ I am worried that it will kill you before you can make a strong foundation for yourselves.¡± ¡°And how are we supposed to do that?¡± Ghost looked at Needles ¡°On my person are four coins. Two of them are for doom step. Two are general favour coins. Could you please gather them for the warders.¡± ¡°Doom step?¡± Ash asked ¡°The ghost hand I slapped you with is a part of that art. I could never use it properly. I am not fast enough or as good a fighter as you. Maybe you could get more use from them.¡± Needles looked at the High Councillor in shock ¡°You would¡­¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Ghost nodded ¡°I owe the warders for what I have done.¡± Ash looked at the by play for a long moment and then finally asked ¡°So, Ghost, how much do you hate your own people? Enough to let someone else take over?¡± Taran 45 looked at the boy trying to supress the pain he was feeling with a cheeky grin ¡°Are you kidding me?¡± ¡°No. I am as serious.¡± Ash grunted ¡°Like the heart attack I am having right now.¡± ¡°Boy, you don¡¯t have the experience to take over a dinner menu much less the continuum.¡± Ash growled ¡°Ghost, you captured us, you experimented on us, and now you are subjecting us to this torture. All so that you can show off your people¡¯s faults to them. I am giving you a way.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to do that.¡± Ash paused as he battled a spike on pain of something down his neck and continued in anger ¡°Stop playing games, Ghost. You are the master of intelligence for the continuum. You know your faults. You know what needs to be done. Now, I am giving you a way to do it. Shit, piss or get of the pot, old man!¡± ¡°What a colourful phrase.¡± Ghost laughed. ¡°You and I both know that the continuum can¡¯t continue the way it is. My solution might not work completely but it will work. You know it will work otherwise you wouldn¡¯t be investing in me.¡± Ghost shrugged ¡°Fine kid. If you want to take over our crumbling ship, be my guest. I will nominate you for a membership into the Thrive.¡± Needles looked at the two men talking around major facts and for the future of her people with calm confidence and she was shocked into a stunned silence. Ash chuckled ¡°Good. Now, go away both of you. I am going to cuddle into She and pass out.¡± Needles stood up from the ground and said ¡°You know Sheetal hates getting cuddled.¡± Ash grunted in pain and replied ¡°Why the heck do you think I do it?¡± Needles looked at the chuckling Ghost and asked ¡°And this is the guy you want to take over Continuum?¡± ¡°Yes. He won¡¯t be the first fool to try.¡± Ghost began to walk away and Needles followed him. A few yards away from the warders Needles finally asked ¡°Councillor, what have you created?¡± Ghost looked back at Needles ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°What have you done to those two children and created?¡± Ghost exhaled ¡°My aim was to create cosmic human mages.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°And then the khara took over and repurposed the materials to their ends.¡± ¡°You mean, mutilated two innocents to create a mutated mangled mess?¡± ¡°They are not that bad.¡± Ghost defended himself. ¡°How would you know? You haven¡¯t even stepped out of the dreamscape.¡± ¡°About that. I don¡¯t think I will step out anytime soon.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Needles asked ¡°They will need lessons. I am going to give them the time to learn.¡± ¡°What are you planning¡­¡± Needles blinked. She had been pushed out of the dreamscape. She tried reconnecting. The band on her head chimed and a notification popped up on her hud. Processing Capacity at 93% You cannot connect with Dreamscape right now. Please wait for local processes to complete. Chapter 42 - Gibberish Day One ¨C Ghost released a long-held breath and the world around him disappeared. He was left floating in a skeletal wireframe of the dreamscape. He looked around and saw the rooms designed for acclimatisation recently occupied by the warders. The long-abandoned battle scenarios created to train young recruits and the frequently used augmented transformation areas. A cluster of shards appeared in front of Ghost. Time. Power. Dimension. Mental. Technology. They twinkled merrily as they rotated in a circle in front of him. Ghost had shards of his own. He had a class two channel shard. A peak class one mental shard. A projection shard. And the mysterious shadow shard that had made him one of the best infiltration experts in the continuum. Alongside the usual metal, neuro, and strength shards that every continuum soldier had. Ghost bit his lip. This was going to hurt. No being, except for warders and their arbiters were created to house more than eight shards. But none of them had a chance to break their racial bonds and become something more. ¡°Chance?¡± Ghost asked no one. ¡°Look at me. Lying to myself.¡± Ghost chuckled and muttered ¡°I don¡¯t have a chance. I need to do this if I am to finish what I started.¡± Ghost looked up. He did not know why people did that when they spoke to creatures of light. Nevertheless, he did it. It just felt right. ¡°Adjudicator. Ripple. Witness please. I am living up to my bargain.¡± A barrage of notifications appeared in front of Ghost. You have found new shards. Do you wish to slot five shards. Error. Your soul doesn¡¯t have the space to house new shards. Error. Your quest ¡®A Weapon and a Shield¡¯ can not be completed without incorporating new shards. The Ripple - 1793b75290317 has adjudicated and intervened. Prepare for anathemic transformation and augmentation. Ghost screamed as acid poured down his very being. His eyes rolled up into the back of his eyes and he fell. Alight quickly bathed him and arrested his fall. ¡°Wake up Ghost. This is only the first step. And you have a job to do mortal.¡± A dignified female voice rose Ghost out of his stupor. ¡°Uhhh¡­¡± Ghost shook his head and looked around. Time had passed. Or had it? He couldn¡¯t really tell. He¡­ Ghost smacked his forehead or tried to. He didn¡¯t have arms. He concentrated. He had two mental shards, a technology shard, a dimension shard, and a power shard to impose his will on the dreamscape now. Ghost¡¯s body projected out of his soul and into the wireframe. This time when he looked around, he did not see clusters making up regions, scenarios, and places. He saw light. Light he could bend to his will. ¡°Not so fast. That is my power you are tapping into. If you want to do that¡­¡± The ripple voice echoed all around him. ¡°I know. I know.¡± Ghost croaked out ¡°I don¡¯t think I am ready to do that yet.¡± ¡°You accepted the Light¡¯s quest.¡± ¡°Yes but¡­¡± Ghost gulped ¡°But the others they need to see me sitting their in front of the pods right now.¡± The ripple considered for a long moment and then agreed ¡°Very well. We shall work in tandem. However, you will not reveal my existence to the warders.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Ghost asked. ¡°You will not.¡± The voice became sterner. Ghost raised his hands placatingly and looked around. He exhaled ¡°Well, adjudicator. This is a mess. We first need to get rid of the augmentation areas and then the acclimatisation areas. We don¡¯t need them anymore. The training scenarios, we need them, but can we make them more appropriate for the trails?¡± Day 2 Ghost appeared in a meadow. A platform formed under his feat. Spreading out to encompass the surrounding. Out of the platform a large pillar grew to support a roof with glass panes. In front of him, high priced levitating chair appeared on one side and a recliner big enough to fit two on the other side. Just in case, Ghost added a plushie of an octopus on the recliner and a digital notebook to the levitating chair. Without taking a breath he continued adding finishing touches to the newly formed gazebo only stopping when coffee appeared in a carafe on the table in front of the chair. He did know how, but maybe by some instinctive magic the two warders fazed into existence looking at the table with treats and the pot. Ash was the first one to turn around. He looked at Ghost flinched and then looked around his surroundings. The unspoken flinch told Ghost more about the warder than anything he had dug up on him until now. ¡°Where are we?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°This is replication of a place dear to me. It was a meadow in my farmlands, back on Reir. I met my wife here. She was sitting just over there. Reading a stone tablet.¡± Ghost smiled and pointed at the clear water stream ¡°On the bank. Naked as the day she was born. Trying to sunbathe her pale skin brown.¡± ¡°That¡¯s nice but why are you here?¡± Sheetal asked in a cold voice. ¡°I thought we could talk?¡± ¡°And why would we want to talk to you?¡± Sheetal snarled. Ghost looked from her to Ash who had cream on his lips and a cup of coffee in his hands. ¡°I have coffee and treats?¡± Ghost asked. ¡°Not good enough.¡± Sheetal glared at Ash and stated, ¡°We are leaving.¡± The warders disappeared. With his new limitation and the adjudicator judging his every move, he did not try to stop them. But that was okay. He was prepared for this. He had all the time in the world. All he had to do was just speed up reality a day. Day 3 ¨C The sky went through its day and night cycle and nothing else changed. Ghost remained in his spot with his eyes closed. When he opened them a fresh pot of coffee steamed out its aroma into the air. The two warders appeared in the empty space in front of him. Ash once again looked at him and flinched while Sheetal just raised an eyebrow. ¡°Warders¡­¡± Ghost began. He was immediately cut off with a harsh ¡°No!¡± Ghost lips twitched upwards, and he sped up reality again. Day 3 ¨C Ghost needed to change his approach. He dismissed the structure and smoothed the grass under it. Instead of a carafe on a table, he spread out a picnic blanket with thermos of coffee. Next, he placed lawn chairs looking at the stream and took a seat on one. He poured himself a hot brew and just like that the warders were there once again. Sheetal shot an annoyed look at the surroundings and then glared at Ghost Ash looked everywhere but at Ghost. ¡°Again?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Could we please have a conversation, Sheetal.¡± Ghost asked. ¡°No. You kidnapped us. Tortured us and locked us up to perform some kind of surgery on us.¡± ¡°And¡­ That is done. I needed a shield and a weapon to save the continuum or what is left of it. That is done. Let me help you, now.¡± Ghost explained. ¡°How are you doing this?¡± Ash suddenly asked. ¡°Doing what?¡± Sheetal hissed. ¡°Moving time.¡± Ash pointed everywhere ¡°The day passing. He is doing that.¡± Ghost grinned ¡°Ah¡­ Someone has decided to show one of his cards.¡± ¡°Stop that.¡± Sheetal pointed at Ghost and then tuned to look at Ash ¡°Should we just kill him?¡± ¡°She, you are not a killer. The last time you decided to execute a person you stabbed him ten times without hitting anything vital.¡± Ash looked at Sheetal pointedly. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°I killed that evil Taran guy.¡± ¡°That was in the heat of the battle, and you were angry. It was an emotional kill. That doesn¡¯t count.¡± ¡°What the heck does that mean?¡± ¡°It means, that you killed the guy, felt great, then felt guilt, then sorry, and then more guilt. Until I stepped in and stopped that crazy circular logic.¡± ¡°He was an aug. Not one of the good ones and not one of mine.¡± Ghost tried to interject. ¡°Shut up.¡± Both the warders said together. Ghost leaned back in his chair. At least they were talking in front of him. Sheetal looked back at Ash sharply and in a threatening tone asked, ¡°You did something with my mind?¡± ¡°Yeah, shot potentiality into that sun thing next to the ball of dust inside you. Your self-pity was driving me crazy.¡± Ash explained. ¡°That¡¯s my mental shard. You can do that? Can I do that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°And it worked?¡± Sheetal asked in a squeaky voice. ¡°Yeah! Peace and quiet.¡± ¡°Really? Really!? What about all the awful music you have subjected me to?¡± Sheetal folded her hands. ¡°Can we go back to the god king here? You know the guy controlling the day and night cycle?¡± Ash asked in a scream. ¡°Oh. Yeah. Sorry. I keep getting distracted.¡± ¡°Yeah, I know. It¡¯s because our brains are mush right now.¡± Ash grumbled. ¡°What!?¡± Ash looked at Sheetal for a second and then corrected his previous statement ¡°It¡¯s the dream thing. We are dreaming so why should anything make sense?¡± ¡°Wait, we are still dreaming?¡± ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°But it feels real. I know we came here yesterday and the day before. It felt real then too.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because this place is like lucid dreaming, maybe?¡± Sheetal and Ash looked at each other. Ghost registered it more than saw it. A burst of information ping ponged back and forth between the two warders. ¡°We need to discuss this in private.¡± Ash nodded. ¡°I grab the coffee?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°I¡¯ll get the pastries. I am faster.¡± They both nodded and ten seconds later Ghost was sitting in the meadow all alone looking at the blank space in front of him. He shook his head and muttered ¡°It¡¯s like herding cats.¡± Day 5 ¨C ¡°Nope.¡± Sheetal shot out and disappeared with Ash. Day 6 ¨C ¡°Flip off ghost!¡± Sheetal appeared and disappeared. Ash followed her. Day 7 - Sheetal started in a growl ¡°Kiss¡­.¡± She pointed at Ghost ¡°My¡­¡± ¡°Anthem!¡± Ghost blinked. Sheetal blinked back. ¡°Hehe¡­¡± Ash began chuckling softly ¡°I meant¡­¡± Sheetal gave up and turned an annoyed expression at Ash who was had fallen to his knees in giggles. She turned back and growled ¡°You know what I meant.¡± Sheetal grabbed Ash by the collar and disappeared. Day 8 ¨C ¡°Kiss. Her. Anthem.¡± Ash pointed at Sheetal and disappeared. Sheetal gritted her teeth and growled ¡°Come back you¡­¡± Ghost heard the ripple laughing somewhere in the wireframe and begged ¡°Don¡¯t encourage them please.¡± Day 9 ¨C ¡°No!¡± Sheetal said. Day 12 ¨C ¡°Nah!¡± Ash spoke before Sheetal. Day 15 ¨C ¡°You need to stop hiding.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash sternly. ¡°I not hiding. Look at me. I am wearing a tube top and a skirt.¡± Ash raised his hands above his head and twirled like ballerina. ¡°Now you are hiding behind your sexuality.¡± ¡°Well since I am all sexuality, maybe it is hard to look past?¡± Sheetal folded her arms. ¡°Oh, for gods sake. It¡¯s not like you aren¡¯t hiding behind a fa?ade.¡± ¡°Me?¡± Sheetal asked in surprise. ¡°Yeah. You are like look I am so nice. I am so reasonable but what you are is corpo girl boss.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± ¡°You are ruthless.¡± ¡°Ruthless?¡± Sheetal asked with narrowed eyes and the world around everyone increased. ¡°See?¡± Ash looked at Ghost and pointed at Sheetal. Sheetal blinked ¡°When¡­ How¡­ Why are we here again?¡± Ghost raised a finger ¡°May I¡­¡± And they were gone again. Day 20 ¡°Why do you look better now?¡± Ash grumbled. ¡°Decided to talk?¡± Ghost asked. ¡°No, not really.¡± Ash turned to Sheetal ¡°What about you?¡± The fact that Ash had to ask Sheetal the question intrigued Ghost. The warders, no matter how much they bickered amongst themselves were inseparable. After all, they knew each other¡¯s thoughts. And the fact that Ash had to ask Sheetal the question said a lot. Was he finally beginning to get through. If so, he needed to¡­ Flash! Needless appeared out of nowhere and the warders were distracted. ¡°Needless!¡± Ash spun towards her and cheered. ¡°Ash, will you stop with the short skirts?¡± Sheetal groaned. ¡°Why? They are pretty and I have flawless skin.¡± ¡°Yes. But do you see anyone here who is interested in your perfect skin?¡± Sheetal asked pointedly. Ash looked from a bored looking Ghost, an offended Sheetal, to an angry Needles who was ready to rip into Ghost. Ash opened his mouth and looked around ¡°I... Ah¡­ I hate you all.¡± Sheetal rushed to hug Needles ¡°How long have we been in here? We have that mission. It will kill us. We need to¡­¡± Needles stopped Sheetal from rambling ¡°Relax, it¡¯s just been a few hours.¡± ¡°I knew it!¡± Ash fist pumped and grinned at Ghost ¡°Well played. old man. Too bad it didn¡¯t work.¡± Ghost chuckled ¡°It will. I have years in here.¡± Sheetal glared at Ghost ¡°Why are you doing this?¡± ¡°Because I need to train you.¡± Ghost sighed. ¡°We don¡¯t want anything to do with you!¡± Sheetal screamed back. Ghost leaned back ¡°Okay then. Let¡¯s continue this charade.¡± Sheetal smiled ferociously ¡°Yeah? I think you will need to leave this place sometime soon and then¡­¡± ¡°And then what?¡± ¡°You will see.¡± Sheetal growled and turned to Needles ¡°What is he doing out there?" Needles glared at Ghost ¡°Nothing. In fact, the high councillor is catatonic on his chair.¡± ¡°He is a cat a, what?¡± Ash asked. Needles looked at Ghost ¡°High councillor. I must ask, when are you planning to leave the dreamscape?¡± Ghost smiled ¡°When I am done teaching everything I know to the warders.¡± ¡°And if you are here, who is going to monitor the med pods councillor?¡± ¡°You, specialist medic. The khara told me that they increased your knowledge base regarding the young warders here. You are perfectly suited to take care of them now that the khara are gone and you are Thrive.¡± Needles looked at Ghost for a long moment and asked ¡°And what about Thrive? Who is going to lead it in your absence.¡± Ghost pointed at Ash ¡°Ask him. He is a member of Thrive now. Will he follow my lead.¡± Needles blinked ¡°You can¡¯t be serious. He is not even continuum.¡± ¡°Neither is the aug queen, anymore.¡± ¡°Yes, but that is different.¡± Needles stressed ¡°She and everyone around her was continuum.¡± ¡°Specialist medic. Needless. If you want the job. Take it.¡± Needless opened her mouth and just looked at the High Councillor. ¡°Yeah¡­ See you tomorrow bro.¡± Ash waved and took Sheetal¡¯s hand. They disappeared. Needles looked at the empty spot where the warders had been and then back at Ghost. ¡°You don¡¯t look happy?¡± Ghost asked. ¡°Should I be?¡± Needles challenged. ¡°Your patients are recovering and are in high spirit. You should be.¡± ¡°You booted me out. And increased the processing cycles so that I couldn¡¯t come back in. I am their primary health giver.¡± Needles tried to keep her tone level, but heat bled into her words. Ghost nodded ¡°My apologise doctor. I needed to do somethings in here which required processing power. I am done. You are free to come and go as you please.¡± ¡°To what end?¡± ¡°To train the warders. I will need your squad too. Superb Seven. Let¡¯s see how super you are, shall we.¡± Ghost smiled. Needles jaw tightened ¡°We have nothing to prove to you, you amoralistic scum bag.¡± Ghost raised his eyebrows in surprise and watched Needles disappear. ¡°Well-well. Who knew she had that in her? I am impressed.¡± Day 32 ¨C ¡°You never answered. How are you controlling the day night cycle?¡± Ash asked. ¡°I can do because of my mental discipline and my mental shards.¡± Ghost replied. Ash pointed at Ghost ¡°You see. That there. That is why we keep running away. You make no sense.¡± Sheetal nodded ¡°Yeah, you keep saying stuff flippantly. It¡¯s like you want to hide things even though you say you want to teach us.¡± ¡°No, She, he does want to teach us.¡± Ash added ¡°But only what he thinks is necessary.¡± ¡°Just the things he wants us to know?¡± Sheetal scowled. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± Ghost nodded ¡°Tell me what you want to know and let me see if I can help you?¡± ¡°How do I make plasma?¡± ¡°Why are glyphs real?¡± ¡°How do I use telekinesis? Ash looked down at his legs ¡°Why did they invent leather trousers? They suck.¡± Sheetal rolled her eyes ¡°Why do you want leather trousers?¡± ¡°They make my bum look bigger.¡± ¡°Why¡­¡± Ghost leaned back as the two warders started discussing wardrobe. Maybe, he was going about this wrong. He could indulge their curiosity and build a repo with the warders, but that would require him to take the next step. Was he ready for that? Ghost stood in silence for a long time. Long enough for the warders to give him curious looks and disappear into that world of fire that Sheetal had made. He could snuff it out but what was the point. They needed a place to retreat into and this way he knew where they were. Although if he took the next step, he would always know where they were when they were in here. By the time Ghost looked up, it was night. ¡°Ripple, I am ready.¡± ¡°Fine. Let¡¯s start putting things together. I just hope they believe you.¡± The ripple murmured in Ghost¡¯s ears. Day 33 ¨C Ghost got up from his chair and looked at the sky. The two warders looked at him and then at each other. ¡°What no pitches today?¡± Ash asked. ¡°Did you say¡­¡± Sheetal began to ask. ¡°No, She. I didn¡¯t say that word. I said pitches with a P. I know you want to curse out everything around you, but it is not going to happen.¡± ¡°Fudge!¡± Sheetal sighed and added ¡°I miss fudge.¡± ¡°I miss porn.¡± Ash sighed. Sheetal stopped and in whisper agreed ¡°Yeah, me too.¡± ¡°I need to get out of here and find someone to use me like a drum.¡± Ash whined. Ghost cleared his throat loudly ¡°Ash, I know you will be able to see what happens next. Would you relay the information to Sheetal?¡± Ash narrowed is his eyes ¡°What? What do you mean?¡± ¡°Use your sense shard and sensopathic abilities. You will see.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°He means be the camera jerk head.¡± Sheetal explained. Ash opened his mouth to respond but Ghost spoke over him. ¡°I invoke the Ripple of Light. Judge my words and judge them true.¡± A bright white light bathed Ghost for a fraction of a second. Ash¡¯s head snapped back in surprise. All levity escaped out of him, and he scrambled back while dragging Sheetal by her arm. ¡°What the?¡± Ash gulped and looked around ¡°It¡¯s everywhere.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong Ash?¡± Sheetal knew she couldn¡¯t see the world the way Ash did. The way he had explained his sight to Sheetal was that he saw people but when he concentrated on something he saw their shards twinkling inside them. Slowly he had developed the ability to see the circulatory system delivering blood and potentiality to the organs. Ash didn¡¯t see that right now. In fact, when Ghost had initially appeared, his body was cracked and fractured. It had wisps of potentiality bleeding out of it. Suddenly, ghost lit up from inside, the cracks widened as if he was going to explode and then a pulse of light went out of him and then another, and again. Sheetal recoiled. She knew she had gotten worked up and shouted and threatened to escape when Ghost wasn¡¯t there, but she hadn¡¯t expected anything like this. Earlier reality had been a paper thin in this jail. Now with every pulse it was getting deeper. The air started to taste of fresh flowers and mist. The ground gained a depth. Every bud in the false meadow began to sway in the wind. And the corners in the back of her mind. The ones they could escape to. The places she ran her tests, all winked out one by one. Ash took in a shaky breath ¡°What is he doing?¡± Ash could see that whatever Ghost was doing was just beginning. A dot of light had appeared in the man¡¯s chest with the last pulse. Now, it split into eight parts in a blink of an eye. Coating the man¡¯s eight shards in a web of light. ¡°I invoke the Yaksha Agni. The formless one. The first flame. The one who light the fire of knowledge, truth and understanding in all sentience. I plead for you to grant me the power to pass on the knowledge I possess. I beg for you to open the lights blessed minds to understanding. And I pray to you to make them to be better people than me.¡± For Sheetal, A fire erupted out of the floor in flash, and it was gone. Ash on the other hand jumped when he felt a foreign presence look at them in annoyance. It didn¡¯t say anything, but he felt as if it huffed at them and chide them wordlessly saying, so that¡¯s where you are. I have been looking for you all over. Sheetal yelped when heatless fire travelled through Ash and Sheetal¡¯s veins, through their heart and settled in their minds. Along with it came curiosity. And questions like, how Ghost was doing this and what was he planning next, came unbidden to her. ¡°I invoke the Brahmahan. The creation of light. The child of force. Help me pass on the understanding I have of your nature in peace. And help me shepherd the warders on the path of light.¡± Ash whirled as he looked around wildly. This time the effect of the invocation hadn¡¯t been limited to Ghost and them. The world around them slightly changed. It gained life. Things like buzzing of insects, chirping of birds, and the rush of the wind assaulted Ash¡¯s unready senses. For Sheetal nothing changed. But she knew better than to doubt the sense a rising concern from Ash. ¡°He locked us in.¡± Sheetal stated. ¡°No.¡± Ash said in a small voice while looking everywhere. Ghost undid his collar and took off his formal jacket. Sheetal watched their captor¡¯s unusual behaviour wearily ¡°Ash, explain! What did he just¡­do?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°He squished himself with something and then...¡± Ash struggled ¡°It¡¯s difficult to explain. But he locked himself in here with us, forever. I think.¡± Ghost looked at Ash and smiled ¡°Not quite. Sheetal. You are free to leave anywhere inside the dreamscape. Hmmm¡­ That word doesn¡¯t do justice to this place anymore. Anyhow, after your bodies are ready outside, I promise you that I won¡¯t stop you. You are not captives but guests. ¡°What?¡± Sheetal looked at the man blankly ¡°What is wrong with him?¡± Ash shook his head ¡°It¡¯s not him. It¡¯s not all of him. Most of him?¡± Ghost snorted and shook his head ¡°Hmm¡­ You know what? Explain what I have just done to your sister and when you come back. I will start by answering all those questions you have.¡± Day 35 ¨C Sheetal and Ash looked around the colonial mansion Ghost had created for them. They went from room to room and picked one. To Ghost¡¯s surprise they had decided to share one room and even slept on the same bed. Now as he watched the warders as they emerged from the bedroom, he wondered how to make them feel less insecure. He watched Sheetal float ahead of Ash and look at the breakfast laid on the dining table. ¡°Coffee?¡± Ghost offered. ¡°Gods that smells divine.¡± Sheetal muttered. ¡°It¡¯s not him. It¡¯s the world. It not fake anymore.¡± Ash grumbled even as he salivated. Sheetal picked up a mug and took a sip. It was amazing. Vanilla coffee with vanilla ice cream with a hunt of salty butterscotch over a dollop of whipped cream. ¡°Wow!¡± Sheetal said after gulping the first sip down. ¡°There is plenty for both of you.¡± ¡°What are you?¡± Ash asked in a hostile voice. ¡°I am Ghost. Or the best parts of him.¡± Ash chewed on Ghost¡¯s words. ¡°Did you explain to you sister what I did?¡± Ghost asked Ash. Ash looked at Sheetal and pointed at the High Councillor ¡°He did something to provoke fire itself, and now it has caged him and his shards until he teaches us everything we want to know. Then he created this world to be our playground.¡± ¡°Mmm¡­ Close enough I guess.¡± Ghost nodded and continued ¡°Are you ready to learn now?¡± ¡°First, we need you to answer some of our questions. The ones you haven¡¯t answered up till now.¡± ¡°Like?¡± Ghost smiled and asked. ¡°Where are we? And by the gods if you say the Trials one more time¡­¡± Ghost held up his hand and nodded ¡°I get it. I get it.¡± He tapped his chin ¡°Let me explain what the trials are first. The trials. It is an endless world created by aratas that follow in the wake of creation. The simple answer is that you are at the edge of universe. The complete answer is that the aratas are dimensional creature that look like quartz. Who risk falling into the fires of creation like you risk falling to the ground. They need to stabilise themselves and to do that they pick a planet. Those are called nexus planets. There was a time when your world, Earth, was the edge of the universe and a few aratas must have anchored themselves there. And when you civilisation learned how to ionize light their anchors began to activate. And you used that connection to travel here.¡± Sheetal took a seat and leaned back ¡°When you say dimensional creature¡­?¡± ¡°I mean creatures that work in upwards of five dimensions.¡± ¡°The shards.¡± Sheetal whispered and asked, ¡°Are they the anchors?¡± ¡°Oh no. They are pieces of souls floating around in the universe. They represent what has been and what will be.¡± Ash grimaced ¡°What¡­ I? I don¡¯t¡­ I don¡¯t like you.¡± Ash finally said ¡°And I don¡¯t like this new jacketless version of you. So just tell me, what do you want?¡± ¡°To be yours, Ash. Make me yours. Let me serve you.¡± Ghost said Ash opened his mouth and wordlessly pointed at Ghost ¡°Uh¡­ I need coffee.¡± Ghost chuckled ¡°So, will you let me train you now?¡± ¡°No!¡± Ash said at the same time Sheetal answered ¡°Yes.¡± Ash turned to look at Sheetal ¡°Oh you got to be messing with me.¡± ¡°He is finally being open.¡± Sheetal defended her decision. ¡°That wasn¡¯t being open. That was gibberish.¡± Ash couldn¡¯t hide his frustration. ¡°Ash!¡± ¡°She!¡± ¡°Ash!¡± ¡°She!!!¡± ¡°Dumbo!¡± ¡°Nerd.¡± Chapter 43 – Ghost in the server. Day 52 ¨C Ghost pointed at a softboard with a continuum soldier in his armour trying to explain the infantry of the continuum. Next to it was the shock troop. Following that was the specialist. And the armoured artillery core and finally the hulking devastator armour. ¡°A continuum soldier is not born. They are grown in a pod. The kind you are in.¡± Ghost explained. ¡°Test tube babies¡± Sheetal nodded. ¡°Not quite. They are grown into adults. When they are forming, they are allowed to live the lives of their donors in the dreamscape. They know its not their memories, but it lets them understand who we are and where we come from.¡± ¡°Wow! That must feel disorienting.¡± Sheetal took a sip of her rich dark coffee. ¡°It¡¯s not that bad. Just a bit disconcerting when you finally step out of the med pods with different shards compared to your donors, but you get used to it.¡± ¡°That is metal, channel, tech, and¡­¡± ¡°Strength shards.¡± ¡°I have a strength shard.¡± Sheetal said thoughtfully. ¡°She.¡± Ash who was leaning on a wall hissed warningly. ¡°You do?¡± Ghost asked. ¡°Like you don¡¯t know.¡± Sheetal snorted. ¡°Actually, I don¡¯t. Ash succumbed to our ATI, Marshall Lara¡¯s interrogation. You we never got a chance to scan.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t succumb jerk. I made a deal.¡± Ash huffed. Ghost chuckled ¡°Of course you did.¡± ¡°When did that happen?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°In T¡¯s three wheeled car thing. When I passed out.¡± Ash grumbled. Ghost waved his hand and new cups appeared on the coffee table with frozen ice cream and a pot of freshly brewed coffee. Ghost began pouring coffee into three mugs. He didn¡¯t know why but the warders reacted better to mugs rather than cups. It was strange but he chalked it up to their other world-ness. While he did that Sheetal and Ash continued their argument from days earlier. ¡°Ash, will you stop being such a pain and sit down?¡± Sheetal sighed ¡°And do what? Listen to this guy?¡± ¡°Yes. He is trying to help us. You yourself said that he needs to pass on his knowledge and train us to live.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t understand. There are things inside him.¡± Ash stressed Sheetal looked at Ghost and shrugged ¡°Ash, remember, I don¡¯t see anything.¡± ¡°It is there. There are lights and fire and¡­ Pliers?¡± He brought his hands together in a clawing gesture and stopped a few inches apart ¡°They are¡­ I don¡¯t know. Waiting to crush his shards maybe?¡± ¡°Do you know why you can¡¯t say the words damned, cursed, or variations of them?¡± Ghost pointed a thumb at himself ¡°This is why. This is called being cursed.¡± Ash looked at Ghost¡¯s chest as the flames inside what ghost had called a pillar, churned. Ghost grimaced ¡°A quick clarification. I am not cursed. Not, yet. This is more like judgement and hopefully temporary.¡± The flames subsided and Ghost relaxed. Ash grimaced ¡°First you shove us in here, then you shove yourself in here then you decide to get polygraph shoved into you. You are not even a bottom. What is wrong with you man?¡± Ghost smiled ¡°Not with me. It¡¯s the continuum that is wrong. You think if I wouldn¡¯t have done what I did, someone else wouldn¡¯t have. This world you have come to is not civilised. Every moment, every decision has life and death consequences here.¡± Ash turned to Sheetal ¡°She, we need to stop talking to him.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because he is trying to brain wash us.¡± Ash raised his hand and counted out in fingers ¡°he has isolated us, he has showed us that he holds the power, he is now trying to change the way we think, he is trying to reeducate us and soon he will say something like, if you do what I say, you will get what you want.¡± ¡°Ash, you need to relax. We are just talking.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Ash clawed his long hair and muttered ¡°It¡¯s called Stockholm syndrome.¡± ¡°Sta¡­ I don¡¯t know that word.¡± Sheetal sighed and explained ¡°It comes from a city on our world.¡± Sheetal turned to Ash ¡°You maybe are right. But he knows a lot of scientific theories.¡± Ash shot up to his feet ¡°I know. And they have turned by brain into mush.¡± Flash. Needles appeared in the out of nowhere and looked around. ¡°Warders? Are you well?¡± She asked tentatively ¡°Hi needles.¡± Sheetal smiled ¡°It been a while.¡± Needles grimaced. Ash groaned ¡°How long has it actually been?¡± ¡°A night.¡± Needles answered. Sheetal and Ash looked at each other. ¡°See?¡± Ash hissed. Sheetal exhaled loudly and turned to Needles ¡°We are okay in here Needles. Why?¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I know this is an isolated system, but I had to check.¡± ¡°Check for what?¡± Ash asked. ¡°There is a bug in our servers. It caused a glitch. Something inside the life support systems. Turned the air conditioner a bit high. Its nothing. Just a few people getting sweaty.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Sheetal shrugged ¡°We didn¡¯t feel anything.¡± Needles began to leave. ¡°Wait.¡± Sheetal stopped Needles ¡°When will you be back?¡± ¡°And will you bring the SS with you?¡± Ghost added. ¡°Soon.¡± Needles smiled and Sheetal and frowned at Ghost ¡°Is that an order High Councillor?¡± ¡°No. But you are in the warder¡¯s party. It will be good for you to train together.¡± Ghost explained easily. Needles blinked at Ghost and just stood there for a second. ¡°Yeah.¡± Ash nodded empathetically and muttered ¡°He is being nice. It¡¯s creepy.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I will ask the squad and if they agree, I will return with them.¡± Needles flashed out of existence. Ash tuned to Ghost ¡°A bug in the server? So that¡¯s what you have been up to?¡± ¡°I have no idea what you are talking about.¡± Ghost replied almost instantly. ¡°More like a Ghost in the server.¡± ¡°Servers actually. There are multiple servers. But as I said¡­¡± Ghost smiled cheekily ¡°I have no clue about whatever is happening outside.¡± ¡°But why would you want to take over a hole in the ground?¡± Ash asked. ¡°Exactly, why?¡± Sheetal looked at Ash and Ghost trying to outguess each other and groaned ¡°You are either at each other¡¯s throat or trying to outdo each other. Can you both be normal, please?¡± Day 77 ¨C Ghost parried Ash¡¯s thrust and parried it with a sword. The wooden weapons clacked together and Ash scampered back to dodge the ghostly hand that came to flick Ash in the face. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Ash scowled. ¡°Still not talking to me?¡± Ghost grinned. ¡°No.¡± Ghost slashed ¡°Why?¡± Ash scampered back in a burst of speed and retaliated with slashed ¡°Because.¡± Clack. ¡°You are.¡± Clack ¡°Not.¡± Clack. ¡°You!¡± Ghost parried the strikes one after the other and then used a push kick to gain some distance. He didn¡¯t mean to put so much strength in his strike. And winced when Ash went flying backwards. Ash growled and jumped to his feet. Ghost sighed ¡°Have you probably considered that this is the new me?¡± Ash narrowed his eyes ¡°Stop trying to distract me.¡± ¡°You know Ash. People grow. People change. People make decisions that change them.¡± Ash shot towards and released a handful of strikes. Clack. Clunk. Clack. Thwack. Ash toppled and rolled on the ground. He continued his momentum to shoot back to his feet. He came back up and watched Ghost looking disappointed at him. Ash rubbed his bottom and growled ¡°What!?¡± ¡°You are useless with swords.¡± Ash grimaced ¡°They overgrown butter knives but I can still kick your butt with them.¡± Ash sped up and attacked the high councillor from all angles. Clack¡­Clack¡­Clack¡­ Ash hacked, slashed and hacked some more. Infuriatingly Ghost sword was always there to block his strikes. He shot his hand out to grab Ghost. The old man pivoted. Ash ginned. That¡¯s what he wanted. Ash leaned into his next strike to overpower his foe and then, he was on the ground. Eating dirt. No, Ghost hadn¡¯t hit him this time. He had just moved out of the way. Ghost nodded ¡°You are fast. Stick to that. Don¡¯t use your weight. You do not have the bulk to rely on anymore.¡± Ash growled and jumped back to his feet ¡°Why are you training me? What in the nine hecks is wrong with you? I want to kill you man!¡± ¡°There are eleven hells, actually. And we are running out of time, and can¡¯t you feel it. The strings tying you to your corporal self are winding themselves to your soul. Soon you will have to leave this place and then you will have less than fifteen days to live before your die for not having shards.¡± Ash leaned back ¡°Sheetal. She didn¡¯t!¡± Ghost growled ¡°Of course she did Ash. She doesn¡¯t want to die. And your tantrums will cost her, no, all of us, everything.¡± Ghost couldn¡¯t keep the heat out of his voice. Ash narrowed his eyes ¡°You¡­ You locked yourself in here so that you could survive.¡± Ghost exhaled ¡°You think this would save me from what¡¯s coming? The raks use souls to power their war machines. No, I had to take matters to an extreme because I didn¡¯t want anyone to unplug me after you have left.¡± Ghost took in a breath to calm himself ¡°Listen kid. The reason I am doing what I am doing is to give you support. Because when you are out there, when lasers are burning holes into everything. Artillery spells are flying and explosion are dismembering people by the dozens, you will need help. And you will need a safe place to retreat to. A place where you can gather yourself, regroup and counterattack from. And I will always have that place ready for you.¡± ¡°Now that¡¯s a lie coated in a partial truth. Coated in hyperbole. And all that is coated in a big maybe.¡± Ghost grimaced ¡°You know, when I invoked the yaksha, I didn¡¯t expect to become an open book to you.¡± Ash rolled his eyes ¡°Fine. Teach me mister Miyagi. Let¡¯s do one more round of wax on - wax off.¡± Ghost shook his head ¡°No. You are not in the right frame of mind yet?¡± Ash raised an eyebrow ¡°Wait, can you read minds?¡± Ghost looked away at the mansion where Sheetal was working on a large white board scribbling strange glyph like patterns alongside numbers. He pointed at the strange scribbles and asked. ¡°I get the numbers but what are those strange designs?¡± Ash tried to look at Ghost inside for an affirmation of his suspicions. When he couldn¡¯t he flung his sword to the ground and answered ¡°The squiggly thing is a bracket and the hat thing is a Pi, I think. They are called, constants? I don¡¯t know honestly.¡± Ghost nodded ¡°There are glyph books in the library. They are just starter guides. You can start by reading them.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great, are there more of those pastries? The dark chocolate ones?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Ghost smiled. ¡°And coffee?¡± Ghost disappeared and reappeared next to Sheetal. ¡°Great, now he is giving me the silent treatment too. Just great.¡± Day 87 Ash walked from Sheetal¡¯s side. Towards the newly arrived Superb Seven. His frilly short skirt transformed into body hugging leather trousers. His tube top morphed into a black silk shirt that seemed to suck in light. The superb seven looked suitably impressed at the effortless use of the dreamscape and Ash preened at the attention. Sheetal rolled her eyes and muttered ¡°Show off!¡± Ash grinned and began his monologue. ¡°Dearly beloved, we are all gathered her today to listen to our annoying jailer Ghost and his plans for all of us. This ceremony is us a public affirmation of what we think about his him and his stupid schemes. It is your honour and privilege to curse him out. So, members of the SS, do you come here freely and without reservation to look into this man¡¯s eyes and call him¡­¡± Ash pointed at Ghost and prompted the SS. ¡°Dead man.¡± JJ responded instantly. ¡°Betrayer.¡± Needles growled. ¡°Foolish.¡± Theory shook his head in a disappointment. ¡°Scary.¡± T muttered. Ash looked at Ghost and asked ¡°Was that his first thought?¡± ¡°How am I supposed to know that?¡± Ghost asked without missing a beat. Ash looked at T ¡°Bro, you shoot anti matter.¡± T shivered and said ¡°Yeah, but the high councillor is the world around us, right? He is practically a god here.¡± Ash sighed ¡°T, we need work on your confidence, man.¡± Sheetal sighed ¡°You are many things Ghost but if I had to pick a word I would say, knowledgeable and helpful. You showed me that constants are not really constants when affected by ripples from corresponding dimensional factors and they need subsidiary arithmetical calculations to be used properly.¡± Sheetal smiled ¡°Thank you for that.¡± Ghost bowed from the waist ¡°You are most welcome, lady warder.¡± The show of respect threw everyone off and the hostile gazes lessened in intensity. ¡°Was that even English?¡± Ash grumbled. ¡°Nothing is English, Ash.¡± ¡°I meant was that helpful to anyone but you. I get it She. Ghost helps you with those things on the whiteboards. But can he be helpful to all of us. And can we trust him?¡± Sheetal opened her mouth to argue, and Ash continued. ¡°She, the man captured us. He showed into tubes. Cut us open and now we are trapped in here with him. So, what if he is nice and helps you with some calculations? We are his prisoners.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash and exhaled loudly ¡°You know we can escape anytime we want right?¡± Ash looked around and caught the curious gazes of the SS ¡°People, a word of this outside. I will get out of here, hunt you down and kill you in your sleep.¡± JJ snorted. Theory chuckled ¡°Was that supposed to be disconcerting. Ash, don¡¯t take this the wrong way. You are not intimidating, at all. You looked cute while delivering a threat.¡± Ash opened his mouth and closed it. Needles shook her ¡°Everyone, Warder Ash is right. Take this seriously. Warder Sheetal is trusting us with one of her secrets. Let¡¯s keep it in between us. And even a wayward word of this, and you will be doing a hundred push ups with your armour¡¯s hydraulics off.¡± The SS sobered and nodded. Needles turned to Sheetal ¡°So, warder what is this secret that Ash is so worried about?¡± ¡°I am bonder.¡± Sheetal explained ¡°I can bond with something in here and find a similar thing outside and travel to it.¡± Needles eyes widened ¡°Like what you did earlier?¡± Sheetal looked at Needles cluelessly ¡°Uh¡­¡± JJ leaned in ¡°Could you explain this ability a bit more?¡± Sheetal shrugged and pointed at a rock in the distance ¡°Like that rock. If I make it mine, and I find a similar stone outside, I can travel to it.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t do that.¡± Needles said urgently ¡°Your bodies are still not ready.¡± Sheetal nodded ¡°And that¡¯s why we are still here.¡± Theory tapped his chin ¡°Honestly, this ability seems a little limited.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not an ability. It¡¯s who we are.¡± Sheetal struggled and added ¡°I can¡¯t explain it better.¡± Ash looked at Theory ¡°Bro! Seriously? Think about it. What if she bonds with a bag of sand? She can zip around the desert faster than anyone.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not always about speed, Ash.¡± Sheetal muttered. ¡°She, speed kills.¡± Ash corrected. ¡°What about you?¡± T asked Ash. ¡°I am breaker. I break things.¡± Everyone looked at Ash for an elaboration. ¡°How? By just looking at them?¡± T tried to pry. ¡°What!? No. What¡¯s wrong with you T? You need to touch things to break them.¡± Ash chided T. ¡°Well, that doesn¡¯t feel special.¡± ¡°Neither does you face.¡± ¡°Okay. I think we have hit the bottom of this barrel. Let¡¯s take a vote, shall we? Oh many of you trust me to run a training program for you and the warders? Raise your hands people?¡± Sheetal raised her hand followed by T. Theory raised his hand after a moment. Ash groaned ¡°It¡¯s going to be a tie. Fine! She, you win. Let¡¯s do this. I really feel like hitting something now.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s fix that, shall we?¡± Ghost grinned ¡°SS, you are going to be the core ascended of the warder¡¯s court. And members of their party. You will fight alongside them. I am going to simulate a trial. Nothing fancy. Just mindless elementals. Incorporate the warders into your defence. Show them how to tackle bigger enemies and help them get used to fighting alongside you until you anticipate each other¡¯s moves.¡± Ghost turned to Ash and Sheetal. ¡°Warders, when you are fighting. Reach in deep. Until you are spent and then reach some more. Your bodies in the med pods have more resources in them than you think. I need you to tap into them. That¡¯s when you will tap into your bonding and breaking classes. You need to know what you can do. Follow you instincts.¡± Ghost looked at all the people looking at him expectantly and clapped his hands ¡°Begin!¡± Flash. Suddenly the SS and warder were somewhere else. As their eyes adjusted, they looked around and saw that they were in a gully between two dunes on a bright sunny day. Ash and Sheetal were stunned at the unusual method of transportation. Moreover, it had been so long that they had seen day that both found themselves looking up at the blue sky. And that is why when they sand in front of them erupted upwards, they were caught flat footed and unaware. Ash reacted first. Almost instinctively he shot a steady stream of potentiality to his speed shards. The world slowed slightly, and he whirled. His eyes caught movement and he took a second to understand what he was looking at. There was a malformed humanoid head shooting out of the sand. And the large window sized head was made out of sand too. Ash exhaled and closed his eyes to get a situational awareness. Error. Error. Error. Class - Breaker Activated Now Ash didn¡¯t have to turn his head. He could see in a three hundred sixty degrees around. His black and white vision focussed on his squad. Needles had jumped back behind the two Jays. They were raising their bionic arms to raise their shields. T was raising his wide barrelled pistol shotgun mix to aim towards the monster. Sheetal. Well Sheetal was being Sheetal. Her first reaction was to duck. And she had instinctively brought her hands up to cover her head. On the other side, the large head thing that had jumped out the sand. Ash focussed on it. It looked like an asura. It was ten foot tall, muscular, and it was decked with jewellery. It even had a crown. But all of it, including its body was sand. It was a mockery of the real thing. And as if the world was listening to his thoughts, the creature¡¯s calf muscle broke off and trickled back down into the ground. Ash smiled. That meant that the monster would be slower, and Ash knew he was fast. Ash began to take a step to charge and then he caught a wayward thought from Sheetal. A thought that made his blood run cold. He though about running to Sheetal but knew he would be too slow. Instead, he took a step and felt the world ripple around him. He screamed ¡°She! No. Sto¡­¡± Whooompf! The world erupted into fire. Sheetal blinked open her eyes and found that she was standing outside their home again. ¡°What in the fadded gods, was that!?¡± Ghost yelled before anybody could say anything. ¡°A monster.¡± Sheetal gasped. ¡°No, that was a sand elemental.¡± Ghost yelled ¡°And that¡¯s not what I am talking about!¡± ¡°Hey watch it.¡± Ash was next to Sheetal in a flash. Ghost got into Ash¡¯s face and screamed ¡°Back off kid. Your sister just killed everyone in your squad except you. Do you think that is acceptable.¡± Ash yelled back ¡°She is non-combatant.¡± ¡°She is warder! You both are bloody warders!¡± Ash felt Sheetal grab his arm ¡°Ash. He is right. I saw something big and I used my stongest attack.¡± Sheetal held up a hand to Ash and continued ¡°Everyone, I am sorry. I panicked.¡± ¡°You panicked and you nuked everything around yourself? And now everyone is dead. Including you, Sheetal. How many times will I have to tell you? You cannot use plasma! You might be able to calculate it¡± Ghost scolded Sheetal. ¡°That¡¯s enough Ghost.¡± Ash said warningly. Ghost restrained himself by taking a deep breath ¡°Gravity.¡± Ghost stopped and started again in a restrained voice ¡°Gravity is you biggest weapon warder. That creature was a sand elemental. It was made of sand. It was slow, cumbersome, and crippled. You would have found all of that out if you wouldn¡¯t have nuked yourself. This was supposed to be the easiest trial I could imagine with your skill set.¡± ¡°Yeah? How was fighting a ten-foot-tall sand asura supposed to be easy, Ghost?¡± Ash asked in a heated tone. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s simple. Sheetal should have just crushed it, picked up its bead and moved on.¡± Sheetal grimaced and nodded. Then she had to mentally restrain Ash because he was ready to kill Ghost. Ghost looked at the looks both the warders were sending each other. One was guilty and the other one was furious. Ghost exhaled loudly and looked up to the two pale faced Jays. ¡°JJ. Theory. Maybe I am going about this the wrong way. Could you both please help?¡± JJ gulped and looked at Needles ¡°Well, I think that would be for the best. Did you say, nuked us?¡± ¡°Yeah, that is not ideal.¡± Theory muttered. ¡°I didn¡¯t even feel it.¡± Needles confessed. T took in a breath and in a shaky voice explained ¡°That¡¯s because you were standing next to Warder Sheetal.¡± With a morbid look he raised his hand and projected a POV hologram of the short battle ¡°See Needles. You burnt out first. Then the fire hit JJ and Theory from behind. Then my antimatter shielding failed, and I blew up from the inside. The only one who was unhurt was Warder Ash.¡± The video stopped at Ash standing unhurt, glaring at the sky. T licked his lips ¡°Why were you looking up.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because¡­¡± Ash pointed at Ghost ¡°He could have stopped the explosion anytime.¡¯ ¡°But then you wouldn¡¯t have tapped into your body and did what you did.¡± Ghost smiled. ¡°What did you do?¡± Needles asked. Ash smiled coyly ¡°Meh, broke reality. I am awesome. I do that sometimes.¡± Name ¨C Ash. Shards ¨C Speed *4, Channel*2, Sense, Density. Class ¨C 0 Race ¨C Danav (Undecided) Class ¨C Breaker Chapter 44 - Not rational Ari stood with Nameer at his usual spot. Looking at the worlds ring getting constructed. He did not know how it was made. What materials were used. Or why did its translucent platform glittered from inside and occasionally shot strange glittering ethereal light outwards. They weren¡¯t harmful just felt a bit cold to touch. But even though he didn¡¯t know the manner construction he could see the platform was near its completion. That is why, the fact there were new continuum people who had stopped the construction was troubling. Ari was ready to head out home gather more his team and soldiers and come back to make a base here. One that would serve as beachhead in the trials. He had given his plans a lot of thought. His country needed more resources like the mem steel. But it also needed to be protected from the whatever was out here and that included the Continuum. They hadn¡¯t been violent to him or his team and some of them had helped them, but they were an unreliable ally and could be a deadly foe. And he was honest enough to know that the attention of the very young Pretty was influencing his decisions. It had been a while since a woman had shown him affection. And he was emotionally unavailable to all of them after he had found his ex-wife on her knees pleasuring a colonel. But somehow, Pretty had gotten to him and that made him even more driven to come back and fight. Both for her, and to keep craziness out here. ¡°And these guys are the donors?¡± One of the new continuum people pointed towards him. Ash gave the two new people a look. They were definitely not soldiers. Ari could see that in the way they held themselves. They were loud, clumsy and weren¡¯t observing their surroundings. At the max they were reserves, and that too was a big maybe. ¡°Yeah.¡± The other man replied. What threw Ari about them was that one of them was an Athena and the other a Jay. This Athena was tattooed with strange patterns head to toe. And since she wasn¡¯t wearing armour but a sleeveless vest, he could see the blue green tattoos flowing down to her hands. The Jay was different again. Unlike the older Jay 7 who was bald this one had dreadlocks. But the differences didn¡¯t stop there. This Jay who looked like a fashionable hippy with his clean-shaven face, baggy cargos and a floral tunic was charming. Ari who wanted to punch that onerous face couldn¡¯t help but smile back when the man smiled at him. Name ¨C Athena C-119 | Scratch Class ¨C 1 Affiliation ¨C Continuum Faction ¨C Thrive Name ¨C Jay 313 | Charlie Class ¨C 1 Affiliation ¨C Continuum Faction ¨C Thrive ¡°Hello Scratch.¡± Ari nodded. Scratch looked at Ari and perceptibly shifted behind Charlie. ¡°It¡¯s okay Scratch. Ari here is an honourable man.¡± ¡°He is commander. They do something with their voice.¡± Scratch hissed back at Charlie ¡°I know. But he is not like that.¡± Charlie said and pointed at the glittering floor ¡°Look. This looks expensive.¡± ¡°It is nephrite. It is expensive.¡± Scratch huffed ¡°Do you think the high councillor sanctioned the use of resources on this?¡± Charlie shrugged ¡°Maybe. Or maybe not. Ghost has been out of contact for a while now.¡± ¡°You know this is just like Jay 7. It takes only a moment of distraction for him to bulldoze through everything and do what he wants. And do a bad job.¡± ¡°Is there a problem, thrive?¡± The Aug Queen suddenly appeared out of nowhere next to Scratch. Scratch jumped in startlement and squeaked ¡°What!? Dangit, Heena.¡± It was such a non Athena response that Ari chuckled. Everyone looked at Ari and continued amongst themselves in a softer tone. ¡°Yes, there is a problem. If you switch this ring on it will crack.¡± Charlie replied. ¡°What do you mean 313?¡± ¡°It will crack the platform if we are lucky and the city if there is a spike.¡± ¡°Spike?¡± The Aug Queen asked. ¡°Yes, spike. You know those fireflies you see floating every few hours. That is an energy release from the ring connecting to a potent world.¡± Scratch grunted. ¡°I disagree.¡± Charlie shook his head ¡°There can¡¯t be so many potent worlds. In all our years here, we haven¡¯t found more than ten potent worlds.¡± ¡°Yes. But then we didn¡¯t have living matter from other humans.¡± Scratch pointed at the soldiers looking at them. Everyone turned again to look at Ari and Nameer. ¡°Are you saying¡­?¡± Charlie started to ask. ¡°They are not from a different world. They are from a different timeline. They are humans like us from a Prithvi like planet. One full of potentiality.¡± ¡°Is that even possible?¡± Charlie asked. Scratch looked at the Aug Queen ¡°Well, Heena?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t call me that.¡± The Aug Queen replied in a flat tone. ¡°Oh gods. She is deflecting.¡± Charlie shook his head. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°I am not deflecting. I am in the field. Unlike you, I show restraint when I am at work.¡± The Aug Queen replied flatly. ¡°Stop that.¡± Scratch pointed a finger at the Aug Queen making her rock back. She started again ¡°I need to talk to my friend. So, drop the cursed projection. Switch on your cybernetics and talk to me.¡± Athena A07 stiffened and stayed still. ¡°Oh, come on. There are no purist freaks here. Talk to me Heena.¡± Scratch almost screamed. The Aug Queen¡¯s skin and clothes flickered out revealing a full cybernetic body that was made with matte black metal. Underneath the metal was a glass like material protecting pipes carrying a fluid that glowed blue covering the wires, gears and other things Ari did not have a name for. The only things remaining from her original form was her hair. Which suddenly looked fake on the skeletal face. Even as her body became unnatural, the Aug Queens movement relaxed and became more human. ¡°Hello Heena.¡± Scratch moved and hugged the Aug Queen. Heena hugged her back and in a warm voice greeted her friend ¡°Hi Scratch.¡± ¡°What is your transition level, Heena.¡± Charlie asked and hugged the cybernetic human. ¡°Seventy three percent.¡± The Aug Queens voice was softer and had an airy quality to it. ¡°Not long then.¡± Scratch stated. ¡°Yes, but she has done something foolish.¡± ¡°She is you, Heena.¡± Scratch stressed. ¡°I can¡¯t think of her like that right now. Her actions¡­ She is not rational.¡± Charlie looked at Heena for a long moment and then asked ¡°What has she done?¡± The Aug Queen looked at Ari and Nameer ¡°If the warder¡¯s from the commanders world choose any other faction other than the old guard, she will have her agents assassinate them.¡± ¡°What warders?¡± Scratch asked. ¡°These soldiers, they didn¡¯t come alone. They came here with two warders. Ghost had them captured and is working on them.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Charlie growled. ¡°Because Jay 7 wants to brain wash them and send them out against the Raks. So, that he can flank them and kill their asuras.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ I am no military genius but that sound stupid to me.¡± Scratch scratched her head. ¡°Not if you have portal to a different world to tempt the raks just behind the warders.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant when I asked, why?¡± Charlie stated. ¡°Charlie, its because if the warders choose any other faction they could challenge the old guard. And challenge Jay 7¡¯s greatness.¡± Heena¡¯s words were rushed as if she needed to get them out. Charlie leaned forward ¡°And what do you think?¡± ¡°I have gone through all the data, all the after action reports and sorted through all the patterns. Jay 7 will fail. His usual tactic of capitalising on distractions have become old. He is not a tactician. And he no longer listens to the ones provided to him. He doesn¡¯t even listen to the queen.¡± ¡°You mean he no longer listens to you?¡± Scratch asked. ¡°The boy warder, Ash, he outmanoeuvred The Mentor. And then he called him old and senile. Ever since then Jay 7 has been headstrong about doing things his way.¡± Charlie shook his head ¡°And he will fail again. He always does. And never learns. Then he will present them as success stories to the young and foolish.¡± In the silence, the Heena turned to Ari. ¡°You. You need to leave as soon as possible and warn your people. Jay 7 plans to use your world as bait for the raks so that he can increase his kill count.¡± ¡°Why would he do that?¡± Nameer asked from besides Ari. ¡°It¡¯s a part of his purpose. He is a mentor. He mentor¡¯s soldiers with the largest kill count. And he does that by any means necessary. That is how he will achieve class two.¡± The Aug Queen nodded at Ari ¡°Your commander. He has found his purpose. His purpose is to lead men and women. If he does that well, his soul will grow and so will his strength. Find a purpose young man.¡± Heena turned to Scratch and Charlie ¡°Friends, I don¡¯t have long. I am going to partition this conversation and encrypt it. The queen won¡¯t know we spoke. She thinks she is still in control. And I am the one losing. She is not. Soon, I will hit critical mass and overpower her. But for now¡­¡± ¡°Wait, are you saying that when she looks at the seventy three stat meter she thinks she is winning?¡± Scratch chuckled ¡°You are a devious woman Heena. But you do realise that you are fighting yourself.¡± ¡°As I said. She is not rational.¡± Heena shook her head. ¡°That is what happens to one when they go through an identity crisis.¡± Scratch scratched her head again. ¡°I need to leave. She is going to wake up soon.¡± ¡°Before you go, could you answer one question?¡± Charlie pointed at Ari and Nameer ¡°Whose timeline do you think is real? Their or ours?¡± The cybernetic human woman opened her skeletal jaw and laughed ¡°Are you having an existential crisis, Charlie?¡± ¡°I need to know.¡± ¡°Both. Maybe? None. Maybe. There is no prime timeline Charlie.¡± Heena answered and stiffened. The Aug Queens clothes and skin appeared in a flash. In a stiff voice she asked ¡°Take a step back C113. And just tell me whether you can fix the ring or not?¡± Scratch scratched the back of her head and grumbled ¡°I am already back and fine, don¡¯t switch on your cybernetics. You don¡¯t have to be a pain you know. Come to me for help again and see what I say.¡± ¡°We can fix it.¡± Charlie shook his head and added ¡°It¡¯s going to cost you though.¡± ¡°I will speak to your councillor.¡± The Aug Queen nodded. ¡°Speaking of which. Have you been in touch with Ghost? We can¡¯t find him.¡± Scratch asked. ¡°No.¡± The Aug Queen paused and raised her hand ¡°Marshall Lara. Where is the high councillor?¡± A woman¡¯s voice replied ¡°Athena A07, there is an eighty three percent possibility that the high councillor is still in the null zone aboard the Asambhav.¡± ¡°What¡¯s he doing there?¡± Scratch asked. ¡°That¡¯s classified.¡± Athena A07 said curtly. Scratch moved ahead to argue, and Charlie restrained her. They both looked at each other. And with just looks had an unspoken conversation amongst themselves. Charlie took a step forward ¡°Assault Commander. It will take us just a few days to get the ring working. And then we will leave. But this is not over.¡± ¡°Charlie.¡± The Aug Queen said with a grimace ¡°What a name to adopt. A name belonging to a reject. You are a Jay. Like the mentor. And yet you squander your potential.¡± ¡°And the alternative is to become an aug and be your puppet?¡± Charlie scowled. ¡°It would give you purpose.¡± ¡°I already have a purpose. It is to put everything you and the mentor ruin back together.¡± ¡°Watch your words thrive.¡± ¡°Or what Aug Queen?¡± Charlie asked with a glare. The Aug Queen let out an amused voice ¡°I am not afraid of you Charlie.¡± And begn to turn around. Suddenly, the ring behind them began to hum. Sparks shot out of it. Everyone scrambled back and off the ringed platform. The ring just outside the main platform began to rotate and hit something inside. A grating noise rattled everyone¡¯s teeth and made it hard to think. Another ring, this one at the middle of the platform began to spin up anticlockwise. It created a mind numbing noise that screeched into everyone¡¯s brains. From the centre of the ring a dot floated out. It superimposed itself on reality. The dot began to throb and grow. Inside the dot, Ari could see a version of home. The hospital was there but the image was all wrong. The beautiful sand of the Thar desert was all wrong. It was green with algae. ¡°Shut it¡­ OFF!¡± Scratch screamed over the noise of the rings. Athena A07¡¯s holographic skin faded in and out of existence as she powered through the vibration to reach the centre. She snarled and reached her hand out. Garrrrrrhh! The large ring grated against the platform as it came to stop. Ari worked his jaw to pop his ears and looked up from his knees. He did not know when he had fallen, why his nose was bleeding or when Nameer had fallen unconscious next to him. ¡°That wasn¡¯t normal.¡± Charlie stated in a loud voice while working his jaw ¡°Obviously!¡± Scratch pointed behind them ¡°He did something with the energies to forcefully open the ring.¡± Everyone turned and saw Joshi standing in the street just opposite the temple gates. He held out his hand and fiery shards flew into it. They rotated around his palms and began to seep into his skin. Some flashed an angry red. Some glowed a pale yellow. Some flickered blue. The most notable ones were three blinding white flames. Bang! Joshi looked down at his chest. A red dot had appeared in his chest. Ari¡¯s shocked gaze shot to the Aug Queen. She was holding a short barrelled pistol in her outstretched hand. Ari moved on instinct. He jumped to his feet and sprinted at the assault commander before she could shoot again. Bang! Bang! Joshi recoiled as two more splotches appeared on his dirty white shirt. But he never lowered his hand. One by one the shards disappeared into his body. Ari felt someone shoot past him. Before he could turn his head, Charlie appeared next to the Aug Queen. He kicked the gun out of the Aug Queen¡¯s hand. Athena A07 retaliated with a thrust kick that lifted the larger man off his feet. A second one had him tumbling sideways. ¡°Stop. Heena stop!¡± Scratch shouted and asked, ¡°What do you think you are doing?¡± ¡°He almost killed us all!¡± Athena A07 screamed back. ¡°Did he? No, did he really?¡± Scratch asked in a raised voice. ¡°He kept an unstable portal open beyond its duration.¡± The Aug Queen spat out. ¡°Yes. And if anyone had the knowledge on how to do that, it would be the Yaksha Agni and his priest. Check your logic algorithms Aug Queen and tell me if I am wrong.¡± Scratch huffed and leaned down to pick up Charlie. The Aug Queen stopped and exhaled loudly ¡°I don¡¯t need to check any algorithms. The problem has been sorted.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± Scratch asked ¡°Athena A07, you just attempted to murder a priest of Lord Agni. Do you think this will go unpunished?¡± The Aug Queen stopped in her tracks and in a calmer voice stated ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. The priest his dead and the Yaksha cannot intervene with my Jay¡¯s plan.¡± Charlie coughed ¡°You silly girl. Do you see the priest ashes anywhere?¡± Athena A07 turned and looked. All she saw was blood splatters from her force pistol. There was no body or ashes. She took a step back. And then another. Before anyone could say anything, the Aug Queen turned and sprinted away on all six of her limbs. ¡°Gods, she is like a child.¡± Scratch whispered to herself and shook her head. ¡°Gods, what did you make her legs out of, titanium?¡± ¡°No. A Steel titanium alloy.¡± Scratch nodded. Charlie just looked at her while holding his side. ¡°Legs are important. They are supposed to hold all our weight.¡± Scratch justified herself. ¡°Excuse me.¡± Ari growled ¡°If you don¡¯t mind. Will you keep an eye on my subordinate here while I go and check on Joshi.¡± The two-continuum people looked at Ari. Finally, Charlie spoke ¡°Relax man. Your priest is okay. He is most probably healed by now. He is priest. Next to his temple. Those guys are practically impossible to kill.¡± Scratch nodded and hesitated. ¡°What?¡± Ari asked. Scratch looked at Ari with wide concerned eyes ¡°Ah¡­ Would you mind introducing us. I think we will need his help to get this danged ring working.¡± Ari hesitated ¡°He is¡­ He hasn¡¯t spoken to us ever since he started doing something inside the main prayer room.¡± The two looked at each other again. ¡°Has the yaksha spoken though him?¡± Scratch asked slowly. ¡°Yes. Sometimes.¡± ¡°Ash and sand.¡± Charlie shook his head and cursed. Scratch winced and complained ¡°This like the last time all over again.¡± Charlie stood back up with a grunt ¡°Relax Scratch. The priest is not dead.¡± ¡°Yeah, but we will all be dead if we don¡¯t apologise.¡± ¡°He is the yaksha of knowledge. He knows what Heena has been through¡­¡± ¡°And he will care why?¡± Scratch asked. ¡°Because we will offer our assistance to him.¡± Scratch walked to the downed Nameer and lifted him up effortlessly ¡°Charlie, why would he want that?¡± ¡°Why would anyone want two of the best scientists in the continuum?¡± Charlie smiled and added ¡°Let¡¯s go to talk to the Yaksha. Let¡¯s see if he what he says before we start panicking.¡± Scratch sighed ¡°Well, it beats getting vaporised out of existence when the ring next activates.¡± Chapter 45 - A dungeon at the end of the universe Day 127 ¨C Ash danced back from a pincer. The controlled use of his shards made the shuffle step easy. His hands came up and he quickly channel two zig zagging lines in the air. Glyph ¨C Stick. Quality ¨C Bad. Duration ¨C 2 seconds Ash grimaced at the quality of his glyph. He couldn¡¯t even blame the system for being partial. He could see that his glyph was a mess. Glyphs were more complicated than they initially appeared. They were not just simple designs and pattens on a piece of paper. They were three-dimensional marking you made to impose your will on a substance. Or that¡¯s what the books said. That was all great on paper. In battle, glyphs were a pain in the butt. Honestly if Ash, could just see with his eyes, he would have given up on them a long time ago. They were just too complicated use. But Ash had an advantage. When he tapped into his body, he didn¡¯t see through his eyes, he saw every detail of everything in three hundred sixty degrees happening all at once in stark in black and white. And instead of getting overwhelmed by it all, it felt natural. Now when he used his eyes, he felt like he was blinded to the world around him. And that is why he knew he had to move. There was a boulder coming for his head. Ash dropped to his knees and watched a boulder smash into the scorpion stuck to his glyph. His sped-up senses caught one last look at his sparking glyph. Two of his zigs were two and three centimetres off. And a zag was not properly connected. That was the problem. The world¡¯s flaws appeared to him in pulsing flashes, making the sparking flaws in his glyphs even more jarring as they sparked. It was like blinded that spot for him. Nevertheless, Ash was going to use every advantage he could get and he did just that by jumping back to his feet and facing the oncoming enemy. He was too late to make a complicated glyph so he went with a simpler one. A circle with a dot in it. Glyph ¨C Block Quality ¨C Good. Duration ¨C 1 seconds This time Ash smiled at the message. He could make it last longer by channeling more potentiality to it but he didn¡¯t need to. Ash watched the pincer recoil of the six inch compressed air shield he had created. He let the potentiality streaming into his shards go and yelled. ¡°Hey! I am walkin here.¡± Sheetal who was flying over Ash and flung her hand outwards and the boulder, the size of car came lifted back into the air and came down on the next scorpion. ¡°Sorry, was aiming for the other one.¡± Ash sped himself up again and a barrage of glyphs shot from him. ¡°Ash, stop using so much potentiality.¡± Sheetal screamed down at her brother. ¡°If you have the time to talk. You have the time to kill.¡± Ghost chided both the warders from a hilltop. Sheetal grumbled something under her breath. She could feel that Ash was down to fifteen percent and could sense the oncoming weakness through their link. Instead of replying, she raised both of her hands and began squishing the horse sized scorpions one by one to help Ash. Two minutes later, Sheetal was dangling lifelessly two feet above the ground, panting loudly and trying to get more potentiality from the air. Ash was on his back. His lifeless eyes looking straight up at the sky. Ghost appeared next to them and asked ¡°So, do you know what you did wrong?¡± ¡°We used too much potentiality.¡± Sheetal complained. ¡°Nothing!¡± Ash panted. ¡°Actually, in this case Sheetal, Ash is right. There comes a time when you must fight for your life. And that¡¯s when you use every bit of resources you have.¡± Ash¡¯s eyes regained colour and he looked at Ghost ¡°Really? We did nothing wrong?¡± ¡°Oh, no. You messed. And boy, you messed up bad but that was before the fight. You couldn¡¯t resist kicking the stone into the cave. Why couldn¡¯t you ask yourself, why is a stone perfectly placed in front of the cave.¡± ¡°So¡­ It was a trap.¡± Sheetal stated while gulping down air. ¡°And you Sheetal. Why did you pick up the biggest boulder you could find? Not only did you almost crush Ash¡¯s head with it, you were also too slow with it.¡± ¡°But if I bonded¡­¡± ¡°No!¡± Ghost shut her down instantly. He took in a deep breath and explained ¡°First, you need to learn how to use potentiality. Have considered using a smaller stone?¡± ¡°You know she can¡¯t aim right?¡± Ash slowly got to his feet and continued ¡°I mean if the stones are smaller, they will go whizzing around. And will be hard to dodge.¡± Ghost opened his mouth to answer and stopped. Flash! Four people in continuum armour appeared out of nowhere. One of them raised a finger and Ghost disappeared. They retracted their helmets and levelled their glares at the warders. Ash looked at SS who had surrounded him with apprehensive looks in their eyes. JJ looked at Needles. Theory looked at JJ. And T, just looked constipated and his eyes darted around with a pinched expression. Ash raised his arms and did a little twirl ¡°I know I look good, but you don¡¯t have to stare.¡± ¡°Ash, shut the flip off!¡± Sheetal who was floating over him responded in a worried voice and snapped ¡°One more step, and I swear, I will crush you all.¡± ¡°We just want to talk.¡± Needles raised her hand to calm Sheetal. ¡°You go away, after our training session and return with armour and weapons. And now you want to talk?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Honestly, She. Let¡¯s not blame them for that. For them it¡¯s been what twenty minutes? For us it¡¯s been more than a month.¡± Ash paused and his eyes turned hostile ¡°But the ambush. Just after we finished fighting a bunch of giant scorpions. We can blame for that.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t I say, they will react like this?¡± Theory raised a finger and pointedly ask JJ. ¡°We need to clear this up right now.¡± JJ stated in his deep baritone. ¡°JJ, I love you, but I am with your wife on this one. Who are we to judge when a ripple has assisted in creating them.¡± Theory tried to reason. ¡°The light helped make the aug queen too.¡± JJ said in a firm tone. ¡°Enough everyone.¡± Needles snapped and turned back to Ash ¡°And no, Ash it hasn¡¯t been just twenty minutes. It¡¯s been a few hours. So yes, you can blame us, we conferred outside and we came back in armour because we need answers.¡± ¡°And what happens when you don¡¯t like the answers you get.¡± Ash was curious. ¡°Then we shoot you in the pods where you are.¡± JJ replied frankly. Ash felt Sheetal starting to use her gravity and held his hand up ¡°She. Relax!¡± Sheetal looked at Ash in surprise. ¡°They are being open. Let¡¯s be nice.¡± ¡°Ash.¡± Sheetal hissed. ¡°She they are spooked.¡± Ash pointed at JJ and T and asked ¡°I don¡¯t know why. Don¡¯t you want to know why they are scared?¡± ¡°You know why?¡± Sheetal growled ¡°Let¡¯s ask them first.¡± The two warders turned to Needles. ¡°Well?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Go ahead, dear leader.¡¯ Ash added just afterwards. Needles looked at the two warders. They had become even closer to each other and were now completing each other¡¯s thoughts. ¡°Ash, you said something that scared us.¡± Needles started slowly ¡°Scared JJ, to be exact.¡± Theory smirked. ¡°And E65.¡± JJ added defensively. ¡°T is always scared.¡± Sheetal said in a dismissive tone. ¡°She! Be nice.¡± Ash scolded and then turned to T ¡°Bro, you really need to do something about that.¡± Needles closed her eyes and continued with gritted teeth hissed ¡°Everyone shut up.¡± Needles looked around and noted that everyone was following her orders and continued ¡°Ash you said, you can break reality. Is that true.¡± Ash looked at Sheetal with a clueless expression ¡°Did I?¡± ¡°Yes, he did. What about it?¡± Sheetal answered for Ash. ¡°Is it true?¡± Needles asked nervously. Sheetal snorted ¡°Is this what this about?¡± ¡°Is it true?" Needles pressed. ¡°No.¡± Sheetal answered and added ¡°Needles, we have a classes. Do you have those too?¡± Needles nodded ¡°Yes. I am Battlefield Medic. JJ is Shock Trooper. T is a Grenadier and Theory is Tactician.¡± ¡°Well, like you we have classes and class trees. The class tree I am one is called a Reality Bonder. Ash is on the Reality Breaker class tree. That will be his final class.¡± Needles gave a chuckling Theory an annoyed look and asked, ¡°What is your current class?¡± ¡°I am a Binder. I can bind objects to myself.¡± Sheetal answered. Needles blinked ¡°What about you Ash.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to say.¡± Ash muttered. ¡°Ash!¡± Sheetal hissed and then answered for him ¡°He is a Floater.¡± ¡°A what?¡± Needles asked ¡°See, that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t want to say.¡± Ash threw his hands up. ¡°Like a log?¡± Needles asked. ¡°Or a dead body.¡± Theory chuckled. ¡°Oh, you think that¡¯s bad?¡± Sheetal laughed ¡°Think about when I called a piece of¡­¡± Theory guffawed ¡°No wonder he didn¡¯t want to tell us.¡± ¡°Ha. Ha. Ha. Very funny. Wait until Ghost comes back.¡± Ash said loudly. ¡°No need. I am here.¡± Ghost appeared with a disappointed look on his face. Needles eyes widened ¡°How? You should have been ejected.¡± ¡°Specialist Medic.¡± Ghost sighed ¡°I have admin rights, Needles. I stepped back to let you clear this misunderstanding.¡± Ghost looked around and added ¡°And now that we are here, let us head off the next issue. Their races.¡± JJ shrugged ¡°What about it?¡± ¡°You have no issue?¡± Ghost asked. ¡°No. Not with their races. I am more worried that one of the most unserious people I have ever met has a class that can evolve into breaking reality.¡± JJ replied. Theory sighed ¡°JJ. Let me ask you this. Who would you prefer had that class. Ghost? The Aug Queen? The Mentor? Captain Ruhub?¡± Theory pointed shot his hand out and pointed at Ash ¡°Or this lush?¡± JJ looked at Ash. The warder, the short dainty boy looked at him with big black eyes with a cute little pout from under a fringe of cuter curls. His fingers tied together nervously, and a helpless look came over his eyes as his lips quivered. Honestly, he looked like a lost little girl. JJ grimaced and growled ¡°Ah¡­¡± The hulking shock trooper turned to T ¡°E65, I can¡¯t. And stop with the paranoia.¡± T¡¯s mouth flew open ¡°I¡­ Hey¡­ I just said we should know¡­. I didn¡¯t say kill him.. That was all you.¡± ¡°Well, whatever it was it¡¯s over now.¡± JJ grunted ¡°Warders. Ash. I am sorry for doubting you.¡± ¡°Good, now you can start training them. They are good at fighting scorpions and only fighting scorpions.¡± Ghost stated and disappeared. JJ shook his head and walked to Sheetal alongside his wife. Theory stayed behind and looked down at Ash with a smile ¡°That was a very impressive. Very cute. Have you been practicing?¡± Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Ash watched JJ start discussing their new training schedule with Sheetal and nodded ¡°Yeah, haven¡¯t gotten it down yet but it¡¯s almost there.¡± ¡°Do you have more looks?¡± Ash turned to look at Theory ¡°Tactician, huh?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Ash looked at Theory and nodded appreciatively ¡°I knew I liked you.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Was it your plan to shoot our pods if things devolved here?¡± ¡°No, I would have contained you here and lets Sheetal run free.¡± Ash leaned back ¡°Wow! That would have worked. Give me coffee, some drugs and a harem of beautiful people and I wouldn¡¯t have fought you but...¡± ¡°But?¡± ¡°But, if I got bored then¡­¡± ¡°Then?¡± Ash grinned ¡°We all have our contingency plans, Theory.¡± Day - 129 ¡°Trail creatures come in three categories. Spectral, biological, and elemental. Biological variants are the most abundant in the trail. From Insectoids to multi limbed creatures, you will find them in seventy percent of the trials. Elementals, they are the second most abundant creatures. They can be made of water, earth, fire or wind. Or a combination of elements of elements. They are dangerous but they give out the best shards. Spectral make out only one percent of the trails. And if you are seeing spectral creatures my suggestion is to run.¡± JJ explained on a white board. Sheetal looked at the blocks with percentage and paper print outs of the creatures and asked ¡°Why?¡± She smiled and looked at the still fuming high councillor ¡°Should we be afraid of ghosts?¡± Needles snorted ¡°No. And spectrals are not ghosts. Those would be spirits. Spectrals are class four beings who are energy based in creatures. They are sentients who have given up their bodies. They are all mad and can be extremely violent. One simple slice from their arm will bisect you in two halves.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Ash tapped his chin ¡°That is very interesting. Now, can we please go fight something, please?¡± Day ¨C 154 Sheetal looked at her torn and tattered clothes and tried to get her tangled hair of her face. Ash stumbled to her and flopped down on the floor next to her. The four continuum soldiers in their armour stood guard all around them with their guns drawn. Sheetal growled ¡°What¡­ What in the heck¡­ were¡­ those¡­ things?¡± JJ cleared his throat ¡°That my lady warder was a squirrel. And there was just one.¡± ¡°Why could it fly?¡± Sheetal asked and complained at the same time. ¡°Anathema, Sheetal.¡± Needles explained ¡°The same thing that is pumping in your veins is what mutated that poor creature.¡± ¡°Drove it mad. Most probably. Rodents usually run. This one fought.¡± T stated while lowering his large handgun. Ash lifted his head and growled ¡°I hate rats.¡± ¡°That¡¯s too bad. Next ten days will be all about rodents.¡± JJ grinned. Ash groaned. Day 207 ¨C ¡°Warder, the way you are using potentiality is incorrect.¡± Needles explained to Sheetal. ¡°How?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°You are always using it. The way you are doing it is not letting any potentiality settle into your shards. If you don¡¯t let your shards soak in potentiality, they won¡¯t grow. And your growth will stop.¡± ¡°But if I don¡¯t use it, I won¡¯t be able to move.¡± Needles nodded ¡°Yes, I know.¡± She smiled ¡°Sheetal do you think you are the first one to use a shard to sidetrack a disability?¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± ¡°For someone so smart you can be so oblivious at times.¡± Needles chuckled. Sheetal smiled sheepishly ¡°So, how do we grow my shards?¡± ¡°There is an exercise. You push in potentiality into your shard and hold it there. Without using the shard¡¯s affect. It will be hard, and you will have to be careful. Or you will crack your shard. But it is what you need to do.¡± ¡°Push¡­¡± Sheetal started. ¡°And hold.¡± Needles completed and asked, ¡°Shall we begin?¡± Day 223 ¨C ¡°Thrust kid. Thrust!¡± Ghost yelled. In response Ash threw his sword at Ghost. Ghost sidestepped and looked at Ash in disbelief. ¡°I don¡¯t like swords.¡± Ash screamed in frustration. Ghost threw his hands up in the air ¡°You are a warder. You will be dealing with noble men, and rulers of lands.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°It is a noble weapon.¡± Ghost explained. ¡°It is a farming tool.¡± Ghost blinked and looked at the two continuum soldiers observing the sparring match. Theory cleared his throat ¡°Warder Ash. Why don¡¯t you like swords?¡± Ash turned with anger and yelled ¡°Why do you like swords?¡± ¡°It gets us laid.¡± Ash opened his mouth to retort and stopped. Theory nodded ¡°All beautiful people like swords. Now I am not saying you need to master the weapon. Just become proficient in it to attract the ones you call¡­ Hot, was it?¡± Ash dug his toes in the loose dirt and sulked ¡°Fine, but I want my tonfas.¡± Theory walked to Ghost¡¯s took his sword and nodded ¡°Sure. If you can out together a combination of a parry, repost, counter repost and a thrust.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ I don¡¯t what all that means.¡± Theory looked at Ghost. Ghost closed his eyes and with gritted teeth replied ¡°I told him. He doesn¡¯t listen.¡± Theory grimaced ¡°I¡¯ll just show.¡± Day 244 ¨C Ash puffed on a pipe and sighed ¡°You know. I don¡¯t get it. T shoots antimatter.¡± Ghost looked at the white board and asked, ¡°That fork thing it means something?¡± Ash looked at the spot Ghost was pointing at and answered ¡°You mean the E? At least I think its an E. It¡¯s maths. Who know what mathematics means anyways.¡± Theory looked at the board again in silence. ¡°I mean we have guns, Theory.¡± Ash whined ¡°Why do I need to repost. Or was the reprise?¡± Theory sighed ¡°Ash, guns don¡¯t always work. You remember the scuffle we landed ourselves in? The one with the large asura? We shot at the raks and they got back up again. We need swords to chop of bits and mess up their internals.¡± Ash was silent for a minute ¡°This is nice.¡± Ash wiggled in his recliner chair and asked, ¡°What is this?¡± ¡°Rub.¡± Theory puffed out some smoke and explained ¡°It¡¯s made from anthemically mutated flowers. This is my favourite. It tastes like jasmine. There are other ones. Some taste like cherries, some like oranges and one which I have been told, tastes like mint chocolate.¡± ¡°So, it¡¯s like a vape that get you high?¡± Ash giggled. ¡°I don¡¯t know what the means.¡± Ash snapped his thin long finger ¡°About that. You guys say you are from the Maurya Empire. We had a Maurya Empire in our world too. But it didn¡¯t conquer Asia and parts of Europe. How did yours do that?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I don¡¯t know. Didn¡¯t Chandragupta Maurya sire Bindusara and Ashoka in your world?¡± Ash blew out smoke from his nose ¡°Theory, I am named after Ashoka the Great. Well, I was. Before I changed it to Ash. Ashoka was the last king of the Mauryas right.¡± ¡°No. Weren¡¯t your Maurya¡¯s taught the Arthshastra?¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ The arthshastra was lost in my world. So, I don¡¯t know.¡± Theory thought for a moment and then answered ¡°Well this is how it went down in our Prithvi. Chandragupta created the dynasty. Bindusara stabilised and then realised that his legitimate heirs were spoilt rich brats. Meanwhile his bastard, Ashoka was a shrewd ruler. So, he had his brahmins assassinate his sons two days before he died. That left Ashoka who expanded his kingdom both to the east and the north. Then after his death, Ashoka, the second of his name and known as Ashoka the unstoppable, continued his father¡¯s work. He had some trouble with Mongols, but he stayed strong. The wars went on till Ashoka the fifth, I think. But till that time the Mauryan Empire had become an empire and was exporting soldiers to Roma and its empire. Who reciprocated for a few hundred years until it fell and regions of acceded to the Empire. It¡¯s only the Nords who resisted for three maybe four generations. Then the empire just ignored them.¡± Ash held up his hand ¡°Wait, Ashoka the Great didn¡¯t fight his brothers in your world?¡± ¡°No.¡± Theory puffed on his pipe ¡°The brahmins were¡­ They did everything for the greater good. For the brahmaan, the universe, as they put it. They assassinated the unworthy. In fact, that started a trend. If you were a prince and you weren¡¯t intelligent enough to rule or smart enough to get out of the way, you would be assassinated by the black garbed monks.¡± ¡°Black garbed¡­ That sounds like ninjas.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what those are but that also gave them an inordinate amount of power. And they might have taken over the empire, but a small law stopped their ambition. A law put in there by the greatest Brahmin ever born, Chankya.¡± Theory snorted and soft white smoke blew out of his nose ¡°A law that stated that only an Ashoka who was the reincarnation of the older ones may sit on the imperial throne. Obviously, it was all bullshit and was struck off in the late eighteenth century but that¡¯s how it went.¡± ¡°Dang!¡± Ash said while. Theory stubbed out his pipe and looked at Ash ¡°Ash. Allow me to explain in your words. You suck at swords. You will never be a swordsman, and Ghost will have to live with this fact. But you cannot rely on bludgeoning weapons. You don¡¯t have the mass or the size to pull it off anymore. Basically, my friend, figure it out.¡± Day 287 ¨C Ghost looked at Sheetal floating over the bank of the stream. His favourite spot. For a moment he thought she was going to sit down on the log next to it and dip her toes into the stream. Instead, Sheetal relaxed her body by sitting down in the air. Ghost shook his head and snorted. ¡°I hope you are not developing feelings for her.¡± Ghost looked at Ash. The boy in response flicked ghost¡¯s sword wiped in clean with torn piece of jacket and looked at him. Ghost looked at the sword silently. And then turned his eyes down to his empty palm. The boy had cheated. But Ghost had been distracted too. He had come to their usual sparring session, and in a bored tone muttered ¡°Begin.¡± And then Ash was in front of him. Stealing his sword, from his sheathe and stabbing him through the chest with his own sword. While Ghost was busy deflecting Ash¡¯s thrown sword with his bionic hand. Ghost rubbed the spot while watching his former body shatter into millions of multi coloured dust particles. Conceptually, he knew he did not have a body in the dreamscape. He was the mind running this place and he could create another in a blink of an eye. Still, getting stabbed had hurt. This was supposed to be lesson. On swords and sword form and the kid had surprised him. And now he was the one who was being taught a lesson. After this lesson Ghost had planned to show Ash the futility of striking at a class one enemy. What he had planned had worked hundreds of times before, he had trained hundreds of class zeros and even put class one augmented in their place but with this kid he did not know if it would work. Usually all he did do was nothing but use his potentiality to charge his pillar. That would push the light inside his living cells to create an aura. And his aura would shield and block all incoming strikes. If that didn¡¯t dissuade an attacker, ghost would actively vibrate the region around him making the use of potentiality almost impossible. But Ash was a sensopath. He didn¡¯t even know what the boy would do in response. And how much it would hurt. He should have known better. Ash no matter how he harmless he looked, he was a warder and one who knew how to fight. One moment he was ten paces away the next he was eye to eye with him. And then came the pain. All with those eyes. They weren¡¯t numb. They were distant. Almost dead. One thing they did tell him. Ash had executed people like this hundreds of times before and he would do it hundreds of times again. If he wanted a weapon, he had chosen right. Now the problem was that Ash was tapping into his body more and more while Sheetal was more hesitant about exploring her abilities. So how was he going to handle this? ¡°Hey, Ghost. I asked you question.¡± Ash stared at his captor. Ghost blinked and recalled Ash¡¯s question. It was becoming easier and easier keeping conversations on track after integrating his consciousness with the septum core. Ghost looked at Ash and smiled ¡°No, Ash I am not looking for a relationship. And even if I was, Sheetal is more like a newborn baby in my eyes. As are you honestly.¡± Ghost replied and added ¡°I know how this will sound but it¡¯s her mind I am in awe of. You¡­¡± Ghost noted that Ash was looking at his chest while answered. Most probably trying to see whether he was lying or not. The boy was a menace. Ash held out the sword for Ghost to take and smiled ¡°Me???¡± leaning forward and fishing for a compliment. ¡°You are like a paper knife. A small one. One you should be careful while fishing in a drawer. Because it will cut you at the most inopportune moments.¡± Ghost replied. He knew he was being impolitic knowing Ash¡¯s personality, but he wasn¡¯t in the mood today. Ash narrowed his eyes and looked at Ghost. For a moment, they both stared at each other. Ash had to agree that being a sensopath was awesome. He was awesome but being a sensopath? It was more awesome. Awesomer? No, that sounded dumb. It had taken him almost a year to understand how awesome it was. It was like the people around him were blind. They didn¡¯t see half of the things around themselves. Like right now, when he had squared off against Ghost. He had seen the man reach for his potentiality to stream it into his pillar. Before he could gather it, Ash had moved. Grabbed his sword and stabbed him with it. He wasn.t worried about killing the man. Ghost was just not in his body. He was everywhere. Quite like that AI, Marshall Lara, had been everywhere. And that is why he was constantly thinking about something nonsensical. And he had found the best jingle now. ¡°Nirma! Washing powder Nirma¡­¡± Ash hummed to himself and saw Ghost flinch. Ash smiled. So, he could read his mind if that was so, what had he parsed out of his thoughts and why hadn¡¯t he brought it up? Could it be. What had he said? ¡°Yes Ash. I do want to make you awesome.¡± Ghost said in a bored tone. No. No way. Ghost could read his mind. But. Was he serious? And would that mean he would win? And would Ash have to make Ghost his? He really didn¡¯t want to do that. He liked the guy, but he was having more fun stabbing the guy. And he wanted to be free. Free of all responsibilities. Free to do whatever he wanted. Free to be himself. Free to dress up in short skirts and seduce everyone until he had a huge orgy going. But if Ghost was his, he would have to protect Ghost. And he knew that the scheming bastard would use that against him. Ghost lips twitched upwards slightly. Ash¡¯s nostrils flared. He could take care of himself. Sheetal on the other hand. Give her a man who was older, bigger, and more powerful. And she transformed from being a headstrong the mad scientist to a teenager with a doughy dreamy in her eyes. Finally, Ash grunted ¡°Good, because if you even think about her like that, I will stab you. With your own sword. Again.¡± Ghost chuckled and sheathed his weapon ¡°Ash, sooner or later, you will agree that I have made you truly awesome. And then I will be yours.¡± Ash grimaced ¡°Are the new glyphs in the house?¡± ¡°Yes. Go ahead study them.¡± Ash started to walk away and screamed ¡°And I want my tonfas back¡± Ghost shook his head and began to walk towards Sheetal. Ash called out ¡°And Ghost. Are you dying?¡± Ghost stopped in his tracks for a moment. Ash was unnerving. That boy saw through more thing than a peak class one could. But today, was not the day to delve into that. Today was the day to say his goodbyes and break his bonds with his old life. Ghost walked to the bank of the stream and looked at the log for a long moment. ¡°Ghost?¡± Sheetal asked. Ghost stayed silent. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Sheetal straightened and floated to him. Ghost let out a long sigh ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± ¡°No, it is something.¡± Sheetal looked at the man and back at the stream ¡°Why do you stare at this stream. I have seen you. You come here quite often.¡± Ghost smiled ¡°You are becoming quite perceptive.¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s Ash.¡± Sheetal dismissed. ¡°Ash can see things. He is more¡­ Reactionary in his approach. You reason things out.¡± ¡°Maybe. So, why are you looking at that piece of wood so longingly?¡± ¡°Its¡­ It¡¯s where I met my wife. It¡¯s where we used to meet. Me, the young idealistic fool, she an ascended from Rier. I would run here without telling anyone and she would sit and wait for me, in this very spot.¡± As Ghost spoke a wispy image of a woman formed. To Sheetal¡¯s surprise, she wasn¡¯t one of the clones from the continuum. She was Caucasian and a red head with freckles. The woman looked at Ghost and smiled. Then disappeared into wisps. Ghost continued ¡°When she would laugh the whole meadow came alive. I tried to capture that image from my mind and place it here. But this is a weak reflection of what it was with her.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°She went to fight in a war. A different one than what we are fighting here. I stayed back. I couldn¡¯t leave the continuum.¡± Ghost whispered ¡°They told she died quickly. Barely suffered. As if that made things okay. And now¡­¡± Sheetal looked at her captor and couldn¡¯t help asking ¡°And now?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think I will be able to be with her in the next cycles.¡± Ghost¡¯s voice broke. ¡°What does that mean?¡± Sheetal asked. Ghost looked at Sheetal ¡°When a sentient dies, their souls travel to the heavens. Where they wait for their loved ones. To live alongside them in bliss. Until they must reincarnate. And when they do, they reincarnate near each other so that they can find themselves.¡± Ghost voice cracked slightly ¡°But I did not die. I don¡¯t think I will die. Not for a long time. She will have to reincarnate without me. And I will lose her forever.¡± Ghost looked at the log longingly after his words. Sheetal floated away from the man giving him space to with his thoughts and wispy apparition that kept appearing and disappearing. Ghost closed his eyes, and a tear dropped down his chin ¡°Ripple, you may start the integration process. I am in your hands now.¡± ¡°You always were Ghost. Your soul will serve the light now. Rejoice mortal, you have transcended your flesh.¡± Day 318 Whoosh! Ghost appeared next to Ash and asked, ¡°What just happened?¡± ¡°She.¡± Ash replied with a grin ¡°She was being She.¡± ¡°There was a hill there.¡± ¡°I know.¡± ¡°Are you telling me Sheetal just vaporised a hill?¡± ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you stop her?¡± Ash licked his lips and then shrugged ¡°I was bored.¡± ¡°Did you help her with your glyphs?¡± ¡°We are alive, aren¡¯t we?¡± Ghost snapped his fingers, and the hill reappeared. A moment Sheetal was in front of them dusting grass and sand of her face. ¡°I almost had it!¡± Sheetal screamed. Ghost gave her a stern look. ¡°I¡­ Uh¡­ Ghost?¡± Sheetal stuttered. Ghost held up his hand ¡°I don¡¯t want to know. We will discuss this later.¡± Day 354 ¨C ¡°That can¡¯t be right.¡± Ash looked at Sheetal and in a bored tone repeated ¡°He can¡¯t lie or keep things from us.¡± Sheetal opened a window on her hud and pressed a button. Nothing happened visually but in Ash¡¯s sight the world shifted, and its edges went out of reach. Ghost smiled and took a sip of his coffee ¡°You once asked me, how am I controlling the day and night cycle. My explanation stands but let me add to it. I am controlling the processing power of the dreamscape. Or what was the dreamscape. My mental shards and the mental discipline I have cultivated allows me to dilate time or speed it up. That is why, for you, a day here is long. For me, when you are not here, I speed it up to go by in seconds.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Because I can¡¯t just send you out there to get slaughtered in Jay 7¡¯s doomed plans. I need to teach you about the world you are stepping into. I need to teach you how to fight. I need to teach you about the universe. Potentiality. The politics of Trials. And the reason you exist.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Ghost, you know when a man loves a woman. They do the dirty, like a lot and a baby pops out.¡± Ghost looked at Ash with a deadpan look ¡°Boy, do you ever think before speaking?¡± ¡°Not usually.¡± Sheetal jumped in before Ash could derail a conversation ¡°You said mental discipline. What do you mean by that?¡± ¡°Oh that.¡± Ghost shrugged ¡°It¡¯s nothing special on its own. I was taught a few tricks when I was trained in espionage to help me ignore pain, control my emotions and remain calm under pressure.¡± Sheetal tuned and looked at Ash ¡°Well?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Can you ignore pain and feel nothing?¡± Ash blinked ¡°What? Why would I want to do that? Pain tells you that you are in trouble and how much. And if you need to fight, run or hide.¡± ¡°So, no?¡± Sheetal grinned and asked, ¡°You are not John Rambo?¡± ¡°Who is Lambo?¡± ¡°Rambo you dunce. He was in MK ten.¡± Ash shrugged ¡°Nope. No Idea.¡± ¡°Let me guess you like Liu Kang and his shirtless form.¡± ¡°No, he is too straight. I am more of¡­¡± ¡°A Kenshi guy?¡± ¡°No. I like Kung Lao. The new one.¡± ¡°You mean the one full of himself in the reboot?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°But he is obnoxious. Oh wait. I see why you would like him.¡± ¡°I know. I am going to have a toxic relationship with him. He is going to be like, I am the greatest. I am going to be like, I am awesome. We will fight all the time and then he will pull my hair while banging my brains out.¡± ¡°Wow. Your parasocial fantasy with a fictional character just freaked me out. I thought I was passed that.¡± Ghost sipped his coffee watching the two warders. He had learned by their interactions that Sheetal needed time to think, and Ash usually gave her that time by using inane banter. Sheetal turned back to Ghost ¡°So, are we alive?¡± ¡°Yes. In a manner of speaking.¡± Ghost responded in an easy tone. ¡°Explain please¡± ¡°Your bodies were dissolved to create new ones. Ones made to suit your souls. I am quite excited to see how they will come out.¡± ¡°Souls¡­¡± Ghost pointed at Sheetal ¡°This, your current self is a soul, projecting itself into a quantised digital world.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe in souls.¡± ¡°Okay hold on.¡± Ash raised a finger ¡°Before all that. Let me remind you both how we got here. With the question, how did we get here?¡± Ash pointed at Ghost ¡°And if you give me another cryptic answer, start talking about thirteen dimensions, souls, quantum physics, or string something¡­ I swear to all the gods you believe in. I will punch you. I am not kidding.¡± Ghost nodded ¡°Hmm¡­ Where do I begin? That is a difficult question to answer. Because how do you define here. Are we in the trials? Are we on Rier? Are we at the edge of the universe? They are all true.¡± Ash raised a fist. Ghost chuckled ¡°The trials it not a world in the conventional sense. Rier is a world and to be more precise, the arata has latched on to a part of it. Remember, Arata¡¯s are an inorganic sentience race. They look like quartz and usually bury themselves underground and create a stable dimension around themselves. From there they extract potentiality from everything around the region. But the trials arata is old. Really old. He doesn¡¯t bury himself. He travels in the vortex at the edge of the universe gathering primordial energies for himself.¡± ¡°Quartz?¡± Sheetal asked. Ash pointed at Sheetal ¡°No. No. Quiet you. Keep going, Ghost.¡± ¡°There is a reason why you turn to ash after your death in an Arata¡¯s world. They take everything that make you, you, when you die. The minerals, the water, the iron and the anything you are physically attached to. They only leave the souls and the shards. We don¡¯t know why they do that, but I theorise that it is a part of some treaty.¡± ¡°Inorganic sentience?¡± Sheetal muttered Ash closed his eyes and muttered ¡°Give her anything new and she get distracted.¡± He turned back to Ghost and asked ¡°Let¡¯s go back to the edge of the universe. And more importantly, how the heck did we get here. And why aren¡¯t we dead. And why there is air at the edge of the universe.¡± ¡°Anything else?¡± Ash stopped and nodded ¡°Yeah. Do people turn into ash outside the trials?¡± ¡°Reconsidering your name?¡± Ghost asked ¡°No. Should I?¡± ¡°No, you don¡¯t turn to ash outside an arata¡¯s domain. Now, let¡¯s see. And I am just theorising here, but I think the reason you got here is because of soul shards. Every galaxy is different. They deal with soul shards differently.¡± Sheetal whispered to herself ¡°Underground?¡± ¡°I know what you are going to ask me. What are soul shards? And Ash you are not going to like this explanation.¡± Ghost looked up at Sheetal and asked, ¡°Do you understand the concept of quantum resonance?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Sheetal answered. ¡°No.¡± Ash replied and looked annoyed. Ghost nodded ¡°What about magnetic X points that create wormholes.¡± Sheetal thumped down into her floating chair with a shocked expression. ¡°Okay, you stop looking like that.¡± Ash pointed at Sheetal and turned to Ghost ¡°You speak normally.¡± Ghost raised a hand ¡°Basically Ash, you were transported here to the trails Because of shards. The trials, is a world, connected to a nexus planet at the edge of the universe. Reir, we theorise is a nexus planet. One made with the same particles that created Prithvi, Earth, and other such planets.¡± ¡°How did they get here?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Isn¡¯t that obvious? They were carried here with the creation storm.¡± Ash folded his hands on his chest and looked at the two geeks in annoyance. ¡°But those X points, they are up in the ionosphere.¡± Sheetal argued. Ghost looked at Sheetal and in a soft voice answered ¡°No, a planet has a lot more magnetic regions than the ones just outside it. Planets are made of metals and magnetic materials that create zones that interlap. Perhaps your people haven¡¯t looked hard enough or¡­¡± ¡°Or they have been hiding them from the world.¡± Sheetal responded in a brittle tone. His voice gained an edge ¡°And then they decided to power those regions by blowing up a nuke there to create X points. As if they already knew what was going to happen.¡± Ghost gave Sheetal a pained smiled ¡°I know how you feel. I have been there myself. Let me tell you the one constant I have seen across worlds and the universe. People in power hide things. Some do it to milk all the resources out for themselves. Believe it or not, they are the good kind. Some do it because they are scared. The worst ones, they do it to retain or regain control.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash ¡°Did your mother know what would happen in the hospital?¡± Ash shrugged ¡°I literally have no idea what you both just said.¡± ¡°Mother?¡± Ghost asked. ¡°Yeah.¡± Sheetal exhaled ¡°She is the psycho politician who funded my project.¡± Ghost looked at Ash. Ash shrugged ¡°She is not wrong. My mother is a psycho.¡± Sheetal turned to her brother ¡°Ash, I need you to think back. In all the snooping you have done, have you come across shards anywhere else in the world.¡± ¡°Motes. She. You called them motes.¡± Ash grinned ¡°And yes. They are called soldier gems. Or Alatyr Stones by the Russians. I should have made the connection earlier, but they floated on Earth.¡± ¡°So, she knew?¡± ¡°Yes. I think my brother is in the Himalayas trying to get his hands on some.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash ¡°Why didn¡¯t they tell us?¡± Ash shook his head ¡°I don¡¯t think they know. I think what happened to us is different.¡± Sheetal considered Ash¡¯s words and nodded ¡°Yes, Of course. We are talking about portal travel. Generating that much energy to power something like that would be massive. It would raise a lot of concerns. What happened to us must be an anomaly.¡± Ghost slowly began ¡°No, you are talking about quantum entangled particles that wouldn¡¯t need to generate a massive amount of energy. It would want to return to its origin. Add potentiality to the mix and you are here.¡± Sheetal felt a spike of anger from Ash unlike anything she had felt from him before. Sheetal tuned to look at him. His face had turned to stone. But she could feel the turmoil of emotions running through him and the sense of failure overlaying the anger. ¡°What? What¡¯s wrong Ash?¡± Ash almost whispered ¡°She won. She finally got rid of me. Her problem child. You, the civilian who knew too much and Joshi, the only man who could have stopped her. Now she will bring in her people and after losing a son to the project, nobody will stop her.¡± ¡°Ash?¡± ¡°She, I think there are shards floating around in other places. But I don¡¯t think they lead here. In fact, I think the people they send here are supposed to die.¡± Sheetal sighed ¡°Well that tracks with the answer to the question we have been asking.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Where are we? In a dungeon at the end of the universe.¡± Chapter 46 - Glyphs and Ghost Day 381 ¨C JJ looked down on the sandy footprints on his dark armour. T wiped his helmet dislodging the mud on his faceplate and looked at JJ. Before JJ could react, he had to jump back, and T was in the middle of battle. JJ looked at his sword and then at their blurring foe. Clack! Clack¡­Clack. Clack. Ghost whose projection was assisting Sheetal with a lesson on the continuum armour stopped and looked down at Ash. The boy was so fast that he was having a hard time keeping up with Ash. Any faster and the dreamscape would have a hard time keeping up with him. The kid sent T stumbling to the side. And JJ¡¯s sword and Ash¡¯s tonfas met in a blur and Ghost decided to cheat. Clack! Clack. Clack. Clack. The ground around Ash¡¯s feet melted and turned to concrete. ¡°Whaaa¡­¡± Ash glanced down and Ghost smacked his head with the blunt side of his sword. Thwack. ¡°Ow!¡± Ghost appeared next to the round ring and chuckled ¡°Always watch your surroundings.¡± Ash rubbed his head ¡°That wasn¡¯t fair.¡± ¡°Neither will the raks or the anomalies, Ash.¡± Theory frowned at Ghost who had appeared next to him ¡°Ghost, will you stop antagonising the warder?¡± ¡°Anathema morphs the ground.¡± Ghost stated and shouted to be heard over everything ¡°You need to watch your footing.¡± JJ looked in between Ghost and Ash. He pointed at T ¡°T, fight the warder one on one for a bit.¡± and began to make his way to Theory and Ghost. Ash rubbed his head and twirled the tonfas in his hand ¡°Ghost, I want my tonfas.¡± ¡°And I want the universe to make sense. But I got you instead and those sticks.¡± Theory watched Ash snarl and curse but then T was in front of him, and he was busy defending. JJ stopped in front of Ghost ¡°He is silly. His weapons look silly. But¡­¡± Ghost raised his eyebrows ¡°But, what?¡± ¡°Look at my armour Ghost.¡± He pointed to the footprint ¡°Those are all kicks. What you don¡¯t see are the spots his weapons hit me. I have seen those weapons. They would have cracked my armour and turned me to ash.¡± ¡°But those weapons. They are so inelegant.¡± ¡°A blade is a weapon of last resort.¡± JJ stated clamly. ¡°Then why do we keep using them more and more?¡± Ghost asked pointedly. JJ grimaced. Theory watched the exchange and nodded ¡°You can¡¯t touch the stick. So you can¡¯t put them in here. Is that why they are sitting on table?¡± This time Ghost grimaced and acknowledged the point ¡°Also, the anthema in the pods. We don¡¯t know if they will destroy them or not.¡± Theory nodded ¡°Ghost, I know these sti¡­¡± ¡°Tonfas.¡± JJ corrected and added ¡°Or Night Sticks. That¡¯s what Sheetal calls them.¡± ¡°Whatever, they are called.¡± Theory dismissed ¡°Ghost, I know you don¡¯t like them. Faded gods, I don¡¯t like them. If the warder is using them means he is too close to the enemy. But the boy, is a dervish. Whoever trained him, knew what they were doing. And then Ash decided to pop in four speed shards to make things unpredictable. And now he is almost unbeatable.¡± Everyone watched Ash rush T. T back pedalled under a barrage of strikes. Ash twirled one of the tonfas and brought it up. T brought down his sword at the opening. Ash brought his tonfa handle up and hooked the oncoming sword off target. T was left open. One second Ash was standing on the ground and in blink of an eye he was dropkicking T, WWE style. T didn¡¯t move. Ash¡¯s eyes widened. And he fell. Face first. To the ground. Thud. Ghost voice quivered with anger ¡°He needs to stop fighting like he has bulk.¡± ¡°He needs shards.¡± JJ stated. T pocked Ash¡¯s rear with his sword. And shot him a one finger salute. Ash frustrated words came out muffled ¡°That armour is a cheat.¡± ¡°Even if he had bulk Ghost. He couldn¡¯t have moved anyone of us in our armour. The ASHA 11 is what one point two, maybe three tons?¡± ¡°One point seven with the sapphire helmet.¡± Ghost corrected. ¡°But he has seven shards.¡± JJ stated and asked ¡°I know warders don¡¯t ascend like us. But we all have eight shards. Isn¡¯t that just one lesser than us.¡± ¡°Four of them are speed, two of them are channel, one is a density, and the last one is a sense. Leaving the last one aside for a second, that is a build of a burst mage. Only our friend doesn¡¯t want to be a burst mage. He wants to be a brawler.¡± ¡°Sense shard. Isn¡¯t he a sensopath.¡± JJ asked. Ghost closed hie eyes ¡°He put it in there because he thought it would make his eyes red.¡± The two Jays gave Ghost an incredulous look. ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Ghost said softly and continued ¡°I have offered both the warders a few shards.¡± Both Theory and JJ looked at Ghost in surprise. ¡°What? I told you that I want to equip the warders to guide us out of the mess we have created for ourselves. Did you think I was lying?¡± Theory shrugged ¡°You said you are making a weapon and shield. I thought you wanted to use them.¡± ¡°Only a fool wields a weapon they can¡¯t use.¡± Ghost shook his head ¡°Anyway, I offered Ash strength shards.¡± ¡°He would take that.¡± Theory smiled ¡°It would make him bulky. He likes being thin.¡± ¡°He is not thin. He is girly.¡± JJ grumbled and when everyone gave him a look, he explained ¡°Women, no, adolescent human females don¡¯t have muscle density to attack in conventional male manners.¡± ¡°So, he doesn¡¯t have the bulk to fight the way he is fighting. ¡°Well, that was his answer. Along with a lecture about having beautiful fingers, long arms, and wrap around legs.¡± Theory snorted ¡°Sounds like him. That means we need to give him a power shard.¡± ¡°No.¡± JJ shook his head ¡°We need to give him four power shards and two channel shards.¡± Once again everyone looked at JJ and he elaborated ¡°He uses his legs as much as his hands. Ideally, I would give him eight power shards, and six channel shards. Two for his arms, elbows, legs and knees.¡± Theory frowned ¡°Expense aside. Wouldn¡¯t that limit him?¡± ¡°No.¡± Ghost shook his head ¡°If we follow your recommendations JJ, it will just occupy just seventeen slots.¡± ¡°Seventeen?¡± JJ asked. ¡°Four power. Four channels. Four speed. One sense. And four density.¡± ¡°Density?¡± ¡°He put a density shard in his heart. Now his two other hearts are reeling in strain.¡± Ghost scowled. ¡°You can¡¯t blame him for that. He didn¡¯t have two other hearts to worry about before you put him through an anathemic mutation.¡± Theory said sternly. Ghost nodded ¡°Well his soul structure will have thirteen slots free. Plenty of slots to let him do what he wants.¡± JJ nodded ¡°Yes that would make him specialist. So, warders can slot in thirty shards. That is frightening.¡± ¡°Only first generation warders. The second generation drops to twenty five, the third to twenty, and then the drop is slower.¡± Ghost replied. JJ gave ghost a look ¡°How do you know that Ghost?¡± ¡°The ripple told me.¡± Theory raised his eyebrows ¡°You are talking to the light¡¯s children now?¡± Ghost shrugged ¡°Should I not?¡± ¡°No, no. I didn¡¯t say that. I just that frightening.¡± ¡°Then be happy we are on the same side.¡± Ghost grinned. ¡°Coming back to the Warder Ash.¡± JJ brough the conversation back to the topic at hand ¡°Density shards, aren¡¯t they supposed to make armour and structures denser?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Ghost sighed ¡°I don¡¯t how, but he can slot them in to make his soul denser. And that is also a problem. If he gets those shards, his soul will be dense enough to overpower the dreamscape and pop out.¡± ¡°And you don¡¯t want that.¡± JJ nodded. ¡°They are not ready, JJ. When they leave this place, everyone will try to use them for their own petty goals.¡± Ghost stressed. ¡°Ghost, the choice is simple. Do you want your weapon to be sharp, or not?¡± JJ asked and nodded ¡°You know what you need to do. ¡°Then you have a difficult conversation ahead of you, Ghost.¡± Theory paused and smiled ¡°At least, Ash looks like he is in a better mood now.¡± Everyone looked and watched Ash hit T with a rapid series of blows that clanked of his armour. T just stood there and took it. He had no other choice. The boy was fast but inside his armour T was unperturbed. He didn¡¯t feel a thing. Ash laughed and slowed just a bit. T swept his sword in a long arch, like a fly swatter Thwack! Ash flew back, five feet and fell on side. Ghost groaned ¡°This is going to be hard.¡± Day 412 - Sheetal sighed ¡°Can we please get back to the shards.¡± ¡°No, first you need to understand why the power conduits don¡¯t connect to each other in our armour.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s easy.¡± Sheetal smirked ¡°These shards are in your armour and they are generating potentiality to power it. But they have their own flavour of potentiality. Potentiality that resonates at different wavelengths. Like Ac and DC currents. Only you have multiple versions of current. So, you us the power conduits to dump them into that spiralling patten and draw power from that.¡± Ghost who had been pointing at the zoomed in image of a power conduit dropped his hand and looked at Sheetal, impressed ¡°That is¡­ Correct.¡± ¡°Very well, lady warder. What do you want to know?¡± Ghost asked as he freed Ash. Sheetal looked at Ghost for a long moment ¡°Lady warder?¡± ¡°You are a lady and a warder.¡± Ghost stated with a smile. ¡°Fine! Why do shards have powers?¡± Ghost paused and thought about his answer ¡°The simple answer is we don¡¯t really know.¡± Ghost raised a finger ¡°But¡­¡± Ghost took in a deep breath and answered ¡°The Arbiters of Solace believe that they are the essence of first light. The metaphoric blood, sweat and tears she spilled when she created the universe. And since the light created the universe, the shards have everything the universe is made off. There is a partial truth in that. On the other hand, The Silver City believes that the shards were a gift from the light. To help sentients surpass their limits. There is truth to that too.¡± A slight glow started wrapping Ghost as he spoke ¡°Others believe that the shards were given to mortals to fight back threats like the anomalies. Some even rationalise using them to fight against their rulers by calling them mad and bent of blood and death and killing hundreds, while shouting that they are doing everything, for the light. There is truth and falsehoods in those statement too.¡± Sheetal scooted back from Ghost and watched with wide eyes as he began to float over the ground. ¡°The truth is we are the shards. Our mortal souls, when they wink out and leave, we leave an everlasting impression behind. Understandings, you had in your lives stay behind. Knowledge, we cultivated throughout our lives, drift through the universe. Until the light shines its glory upon them so that they might be used for its intended purpose.¡± Ghost blinked and shook his head. Sheetal, in a tentative tone asked ¡°Ghost, are you okay?¡± Ghost took a sip of his coffee to wet his lips ¡°Yes. Basically, they are metaphysical in nature. They have always been there, and they will always be there. But most of them are here. At the edge of the universe. Floating in the wake of creation.¡± ¡°So, do shards are help us tap into a different dimension and use the forces there to effect, our three dimensions?¡± Sheetal asked. Ghost looked at Sheetal sharply ¡°You know I don¡¯t know the nature of your soul but what you just said gave me a hint.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that got to do with anything?¡± ¡°I will come back to that.¡± Ghost shook his head and answered ¡°No, the shards don¡¯t help you tap into a different dimension. It¡¯s your soul that does that. Shards make it possible for your soul to interact with the different dimensions. They are¡­ They are like tools for your soul.¡± Sheetal looked at Ghost. He had stopped glowing and was now sitting in front of her like nothing had happened. ¡°What just happened?¡± ¡°The ripple. It wanted to pass on the information about the shards to you.¡± Ghost shrugged. ¡°So what? It possessed you?¡± ¡°No. It asked me to step aside.¡± ¡°Is it watching right now?¡± ¡°Yes. It¡¯s always watching. As am I.¡± Sheetal¡¯s eyebrows rose ¡°Always?¡± Ghost grimaced ¡°Yes. Always. Your heartbeats were elevated, your brain chemistry was all over the place and you were mewling.¡± ¡°Mewling?¡± Sheetal asked in an offended tone but couldn¡¯t keep the smile of her face. ¡°Don¡¯t remind me.¡± Ghost shook his head with an uncomfortable expression ¡°Anyway, I glanced down and saw that. It was just a fraction of a second but¡­ The feeling was akin to having a daughter and finding out that she was a teenager finding herself in the most inappropriate manner.¡± Sheetal snorted. Ghost chuckled ¡°Well at least you are better than your brother. He doesn¡¯t care if you watch. He thinks its only natural for people to watch him, because he is perfect.¡± ¡°You know, he thinks that you can read our minds.¡± Sheetal looked at Ghost. ¡°I observe your brain chemistry and your neural pathways.¡± ¡°So, you can read our minds?¡± ¡°Not exactly.¡± ¡°Tell me what I am thinking?¡± ¡°How to get away from this awkward conversation and back to shards.¡± Ghost replied. ¡°Finally, someone who gets me.¡± Sheetal muttered ¡°Okay, so putting shards in gives us the ability to use wavelength of potentiality.¡± ¡°Maybe?¡± Sheetal held up her hand ¡°Then maybe they be in our brains rather than other places.¡± ¡°Other places? You mean like Ash? Or do you mean like just under your ribcage, like in your case?¡± Sheetal bit her lip. Ghost smiled ¡°Sheetal, do we agree that light makes up everything in the universe?¡± Sheetal frowned ¡°Photons and electrons?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Sheetal had a eureka moment ¡°Then it wouldn¡¯t matter where they are.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ Careful girl. You are delving into religion.¡± ¡°Am I? What religion? Nevermind!¡± Sheetal shook her head and continued ¡°Ghost, we all know that an atom is made of electrons and protons. What is it if not light?¡± ¡°No, that is not all that an atom is made off. It is empty for a reason. Where do you think you store your potentiality.¡± ¡°But what is potentiality if not another version of light?¡± ¡°And that¡¯s why I told you to stop because now you are firmly in the religious zone.¡± ¡°That would make shards, light reactive.¡± Sheetal continued ¡°No, if all matter in the universe can be collapsed to the size of a sugar cube, that would means that we are made of light too.¡± Sheetal floated up from her chair and began to pace ¡°And in place where light can be used as a steady source of power¡­ I need to run some calculations.¡± Ghost sighed. He didn¡¯t need to check Sheetal¡¯s reading. He already knew that Sheetal¡¯s brain was operating at ninety percent and focussed on one thought. He flashed out and Sheetal didn¡¯t even note his departure. Day 437 ¨C Ash walked in with a sleep tousled hair, shook his head ¡°Okay! Yeah, I don¡¯t know what just happened. But I am on my deathbed.¡± Ghost looked at Ash who was standing in front him hail and hardy. He looked at Sheetal for an explanation, but she had a far away look in her eyes. ¡°Maybe, I am just too sigma to understand this geek talk.¡± Ash muttered.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Ghost asked ¡°Umm¡­ Ash, are you okay?¡± ¡°No, I am awesome. No thanks to your weird flex.¡± Ghost looked at his bicep which wasn¡¯t flexing in the least and then back up at the boy with a clueless look ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°See how it feels?¡± Ash asked. ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°Exactly!¡± ¡°Exactly, what?¡± Ash pointed at Ghost ¡°One moment you are talking to She, and the next day I am made of light. Then she gone, stuck in her white boards. And I am here. Getting bored in this empty mansion. Even the seven are out, sleeping.¡± ¡°Yes. Well, they do need to sleep.¡± ¡°That¡¯s nice. Because Sheetal wants to cut off her pinky finger now.¡± ¡°What!?¡± Sheetal focussed on Ghost. Her words came out rushed ¡°I figured it out. Light. I am made out of light. If I can. And believe me I can. Isolate my frequencies and keep it resonating with the matter to keep it in a liquid form, I can use it.¡± Ghost blinked and looked at Ash. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me. I talked to her and made her settle on her pinky toe.¡± Ash defended himself. Ghost rubbed the bridge of his nose ¡°This is regarding plasma isn¡¯t it? Why are you so insistent about using plasma.¡± Ghost asked. ¡°It¡¯s from Stargate. There is this spaceship called Organisation and it that shoots balls of death and conquer civilisation in the name of exploration.¡± Ash explained. ¡°It¡¯s Star Trek and¡­ no.¡± Sheetal gave Ash an annoyed look ¡°They use those torpedoes to defend themselves.¡± Sheetal corrected Ash. Ghost groaned something under his breath. ¡°What?¡± The brother sister duo asked together. ¡°The ripple just said, you both are fools, and I agree.¡± Ghost clarified. ¡°Hey.¡± Ash began ¡°The ripple. The glowy thing trying to stuff itself inside you?¡± Ghost stopped Ash ¡°Have you both considered that you don¡¯t need to chop of your limbs to do blood rituals?¡± ¡°Blood rituals?¡± Sheetal asked ¡°Yes, the process is called a blood ritual.¡± Ghost shook his head ¡°You take a drop of blood, put in anticoagulating agents, keep it fresh, and use your connection to the blood to achieve your goals.¡± ¡°Sounds evil.¡± ¡°The funny thing is, it¡¯s a cheat but it will work.¡± Ghost murmured. Sheetal ginned ¡°So, we can do it?¡± ¡°No.¡± Ghost said in annoyance and sighed ¡°You are not going to stop are you?¡± ¡°No.¡± Sheetal and Ash said together again and gave each other looks. ¡°If we are going to do this. We will have to do it the right way.¡± Ghost paced across the room while biting his thumb ¡°Well, I guess this is a good time as any. The seven and I have been working on a plan to get you some shards. Sheetal I don¡¯t know your soul¡¯s structure. So, you need to disclose that information to me and if your soul is compatible we will give you a dimensional shard.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°To store the plasma, you silly girl.¡± Ash opened his mouth to protest only to be spoken over by Ghost. ¡°And Ash, you need to learn glyphs from book four and five. They are four dimensional glyphs in there. That mean they have a time element.¡± Looking at the clueless look in the boy¡¯s eyes Ghost added ¡°Time like in, timed bombs.¡± ¡°Oh! Okay.¡± Ash nodded ¡°You will need those glyphs to isolate the resonance of Sheetal¡¯s potentiality and Sheetal will need to learn how to do that too. Sheetal you don¡¯t need to learn glyphs just remember the patterns.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Sheetal nodded. ¡°But I need a promise from both of you.¡± Ghost took in a breath ¡°Sheetal if I give you a dimensional shard, it will conflict with mine. And you will be able to walk out of here. And Ash, if I give you the density shards you need your soul will become to heavy for me to contain. And I need you to stay and learn what I must teach you both here.¡± Ash opened his mouth to refuse and Ghost continued ¡°Also, I will need a favour from both of you.¡± ¡°What favour?¡± Ash snarled. ¡°Does it matter? We are getting more shards and a weapon to be feared.¡± Sheetal and Ash looked at each other and Ghost noted the burst of thoughts going through their mind as they communicate through an unseen link. ¡°We¡¯ll do it.¡± Sheetal stated. ¡°She?¡± Ash said verbally. ¡°Plasma. Torpedoes. Ash.¡± Sheetal grinned. ¡°Stockholm. Syndrome. She.¡± Ash grimaced. Day ¨C 496 In a blink on eye the world around Sheetal transformed. The sun beat down on her and the desert¡¯s bleached sand. Before she could shield her eyes the sand ten feet ahead of them erupted upwards. A malformed humanoid sand creature jumped out and lunged towards her people. Sheetal shot out a hand and grabbed it in mid-air. She squeezed her hand and felt empathetic resistance when the sand creature struggled. She sprayed potentiality all over the dust ball that her shards had become. They hummed and the creature bound in her powers cracked. It fell to dust. ¡°Behind us.¡± T yelled. Sheetal tuned to look and saw one getting erased from existence in a flash. The other one she caught and lifted of the ground. She watched T reload his weapon with glass cylinder with a speck of nothingness inside it. Crack! The creature in Sheetal grip fell apart and automatic laser weapons began to zing behind her. That meant Theory and JJ had started shooting. She tried to look for Ash and felt panic, then anger come from their link. She looked deeper and heard. ¡°Nirma. Washing powder Nirma¡­¡± Sheetal shook her head and pushed an elemental into another¡¯s path. She caught a third one and slammed it into the ground. Flash. The two tangled elemental were erased by a ball of light shot from T and Sheetal turned to look at the enemies, correction enemy. The two Jays were casually turning the last one into glass. Five others just behind this one were melting into the sand. Crunch. The last one broke into bits and Sheetal relaxed taking her team members in. And then, she saw Ash. He was just sitting on the sand next to Needles. Drawing a large male member in the sand. Sheetal caught Needles eyes who shrugged. Ash added three flourishing stokes just over the tip and looked up at the sky with his hands on his hips. Sheetal wanted to scream at him in annoyance for just sitting there but she was out of potentiality and panting. ¡°Ghost. The system won¡¯t allow me to say it. So here, I have drawn it out for you.¡± Ghost appeared in a flash and smiled at Sheetal ¡°Perhaps, elementals aren¡¯t the right enemy for you. We all thought you were a gravitron specialist. No, you are much more powerful than any gravity mage I have seen.¡± Sheetal grinned ¡°Yeah, I am a cosmic mage.¡± Ghost nodded and tuned to Ash ¡°Seriously kid? Why?¡± Ash walked to ghost and kicked him in the shin ¡°You know why?¡± Ghost looked at Ash blankly and then realised why the boy was angry ¡°We can fix that.¡± Ash snarled ¡°You better.¡± Day 513 - Sheetal and Ash flew out of the unmanned vehicle called a Dhola. The seven jumped out right behind the two warders and began firing into a horde of enthralled. Sheetal dropped Ash and duked left. Rolling in the air while avoiding an arrow she aimed a hand at the archer. A stream of sticky fire lanced out. Sheetal grimaced when the lance of plasma flew to the left and fell a bit short. Still it was plasma and it was going to light everything in the general direction on fire. Then with a thundering roar the torpedo erupted before it could reach the enemy. Sheetal cursed and shielded her eyes. She looked again. Even through the plasma containment field had missed the archer, the fire had spread and was killing everything in the general direction. Her eyes landed on the archer, he was trying to run out of the fire while his shield contracted at a dangerous level. Flash. Sheetal blinked and looked around ¡°She was a black and white wisp floating in the air next to Ghost.¡± ¡°What? What happened?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°You died?¡± Ghost replied in a bored tone. ¡°How?¡± Ghost pointed a finger at a vetaal shaman who was throwing green flames at her squad ¡°Cursed fire.¡± Ghosts explained. ¡°Ash and sand!¡± needles appeared on the otherside of Ghost and glared at the high councillor ¡°A rak ambush Ghost?¡± ¡°You are going to be fighting raks, Needles.¡± ¡°Faded gods!¡± JJ appeared next to Sheetal rubbing his chest and gorwled ¡°That hurt, Ghost.¡± ¡°Well, this is a bust.¡± Sheetal said in a dejected tone. ¡°No, Theory, Ash and T are still fighting.¡± Needles shook her head when she felt a spike of rage from Ash. ¡°Yeah, but, if one warder dies, they both die.¡± JJ grunted. ¡°So why aren¡¯t we stopping?¡± Sheetal asked Ghost who had raised his hand to stop the simulation and instead begun to smile. Ash kicked an enthralled into the air to intersect the green fire heading towards them and yelled over the sound of battle. ¡°Theory? T? Now that the grumpies are gone what do you guys say? We have some fun?¡± ¡°Is this your idea of fun, Ash?¡± T asked while emptying his rifle into a group of enemies. Theory smashed the butt of his rifle into a charging night stalkers nose and grunted ¡°Sure, what do you have in mind warder?¡± ¡°I want the stinking magic lizard that got Sheetal.¡± Ash let out in a growl. Both T and Theory chuckled. Ash might have wanted for his words to come out in anger. Unfortunately his growl was more cute than threatening. Theory began giving orders ¡°T, watch our backs. I¡¯ll be covering the warder and thinning the enemy. Ash, you are on point. Lead us warder.¡± ¡°Guy¡¯s the aim of the mission was to reach the checkpoint.¡± T pointed at the large flag on a sand dune and added ¡°Oh, whatever.¡± ¡°Alright! Lets goooo¡­¡± Ash blurred into a cocoon of action. When he stopped, dozens of glyphs shot out of him. A few lingered in the air, but most impacted the enemy forces. The enthralled all but withered and fell apart in front of Ash. Ash shot a sharp grin at the Nishachars turning towards him and charged. One moment he was standing with Theory and T and the next he was braining an ugly deep blue skinned man. Thump! The man¡¯s skull caved in, and Ash appeared next to another kicking the man¡¯s chest. ¡°See, I told you force shards would work as well as power shards.¡± Needles smiled. ¡°Yes, but why did he have to put them where he did. I don¡¯t understand this concept of force on the left and power on the right.¡± Ghost grumbled. ¡°Don¡¯t ask me.¡± Sheetal said when everyone gave her a side eyed glance and in grumpy tone added ¡°He just said, She, you won¡¯t get it. You are not a fighter.¡± JJ nodded in understanding ¡°It gives him more versatility.¡± ¡°Then why don¡¯t see any versatility from him.¡± Ghost pointed at Ash in annoyance. Crack. Ribs broke under Ash¡¯s power shard fuelled kick. He brought his right foot down and faced the hoarde of enemies trying to circle him. Shots felled the ones trying to flank on the right and a flash vaporised the ones of the right. In the confusion a vetaal flew at Ash. Trying to stab him with its nails. Only Ash was gone. Crunch. The vetaal whirled to see Ash breaking the neck of a large woman with his tonfa. The vetaal bunched his legs up to leap and then his head exploded. ¡°Nice shot.¡± Theory muttered to T. ¡°Thanks, but how is the warder going to get from here to that¡­¡± T watched Ash jump and in midair vanish ¡°Mage?¡± T finished with a confused expression. T pursed his lips. Why had he said the word mage. Why was he looking in that direction? What was he talking about? And why wasn¡¯t he shooting. T scowled and started laying into the enemy with his assault rifle. Ghost flicked and the world below slowed. That wasn¡¯t exact. Sheetal who was sensitive to the changes in reality, could tell that he had actually sped up reality on their side of things. Ghost announced ¡°Seven. I wanted you all to see this. So, you won¡¯t be surprised in action.¡± ¡°See what?¡± JJ blinked in confusion. ¡°What a breaker can do.¡± ¡°A what?¡± Needles asked. Ghost frowned and looked at Sheetal for assistance. Sheetal simply pointed just above the Vetaal shaman and smiled ¡°¡°He is going to appear there. The bonds are weakest over there. Even the wind is slightly off.¡± ¡°Who?¡± Needles and JJ asked together. Ash closed his eyes and felt the air rush around him. He took in a breath and held it. That was the only way he knew to trigger his ability. All light rebounded scattered around him for a fraction of a second. And then he was floating. Ability - Float Duration ¨C One breath. Type ¨C Anathematic. Allows a breaker to break free of reality¡¯s clutches for one held breath. Ash tapped into his body. His sight faded to black. And he saw familiar message. Name ¨C Ash. Species ¨C Undecided. Type ¨C Warder. Status ¨C Blind. He hated this part. For a long two thumping heartbeats he could see anything. And that was unnerving because he was not alone in this strange unreality. Ash¡¯s strands tickled and a three hundred sixty degrees version of sight filtered into his mind. It couldn¡¯t be called sight. It wasn¡¯t sight. It was a sense. Responding to his thoughts his sense shard activated and quickly parsed through the information. Ash almost sighed in relief when a feeling of where things were filtered into his mind. But how could it ever be that simple, he did not just see where things were, he saw what they were made off, what they could do, and what they could become. And over that were creatures. Not in the dreamscape. But over their pods. Creatures large and small. Insectoid, aquatic, and reptilian things waiting to bite into them at one misstep. In his bones Ash knew what they hungered for. His soul, his thoughts, and everything that made him. But, he hungered for something in that inky darkness. He wasn¡¯t as big as the towering creatures roaming the lands looking for a bite. Nevertheless, he belonged there and everywhere he looked he could see a morsel. And that all he needed. Anathemic matter. It was gritty, oily, fatty, and clumpy. And yet, it was what he needed to sustain himself. It streamed into his mouth and Ash swallowed it. It went down his gullet and was consumed in an instant. Suddenly power flared in his power shards. His right side lit up attracting the attention of the wandering creatures. Most of them ignored him. He was a speech of dirt shining in the sand. One insectoid creature though began to walk towards him to investigate. Ash began to release his breath and faded out of the inky world. The creature persisted. Trying to scratch its malformed claws into the real. Ash retreated quickly and floated away. Into the light of the dreamscape. Thankfully, the dreamscape wasn¡¯t as real as reality. Comparing it to the world outside was like to comparing a dried husk of a tree to a forest. Ash focussed on that husk bringing his senses all into the dreamscape. The force of his jump without the pull of reality had made him fly upwards. Over the heads of the gathered foes. And there right in the middle of them was a strange greenish brown lizard thing scooping out another ball of green fire from a wok. Ash blinked and almost laughed when he saw the wok. Instead, he focussed on the slight abnormality that had appeared in the dreamscape. And let the rest of his breath go. Ash flew down at speed. The vetaal looked up in surprise. Ash extended his tonfa. The vetaal tongue lolled out it shock. Ash shot the gathered power into the tonfa. Bang! The tonfa exploded. Shards flew everywhere. Enemies dropped in clusters. But most of them were directed at one lizard. And it dopped with half of her head missing. They recoil of the explosion momentarily slowed Ash¡¯s descent and he came down to the ground and halted his movement in a skidding stop. ¡°Gotcha!¡± Ash flung his hands up in victory and saw that he was standing in the middle of their mansion¡¯s hall. ¡°Nice one boss!¡± Theory clapped. Sheetal smiled. Ghost rolled his eyes. Everyone else looked confused. ¡°Ash?¡± Needles asked. ¡°Yes, Needles. That¡¯s what he does.¡± Sheetal explained. ¡°Was that some sort of mental effect?¡± JJ asked. Sheetal looked at Ash and bursts of thoughts passed in between them. Ash chuckled ¡°No. I just floated out of reality.¡± ¡°But for a second we didn¡¯t know, you.¡± Needles stated. ¡°Yeah. Or if you even existed.¡± T bit his upper lip. ¡°I am not relieved by your explanation warder.¡± JJ grumbled. ¡°Oh, get of it, JJ.¡± Theory huffed. ¡°Theory. You know what a reality tears can do. We can¡¯t allow anyone to split it open.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Theory!¡± ¡°JJ! Will you stop and listen?¡± JJ folded his arms on his chest. ¡°We did this to them. We made them what they are.¡± Theory began. ¡°We did no such thing.¡± JJ growled. ¡°No, we did. You, I, Needles and the fumbling T. We brought them here and then we left them alone for Ghost to do what he did.¡± Theory¡¯s finger pointed angrily at Ghost and in a growl he continued ¡°Why? Because we didn¡¯t want a new problem. It¡¯s only because of Needles we are here.¡± JJ grimaced and clenched his jaw ¡°Humans are can not be trusted with that kind of power.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that great JJ? Because the warders aren¡¯t human anymore. We did that too. Now that we have changed their nature, and suddenly we feel uncomfortable with what we have done, what do you want to do?¡± Theory leaned in and asked ¡°Kill them? Because that¡¯s the only way you will stop them.¡± Everyone watched Theory and JJ come face to face. Looming over each other. And everyone could sense they were one step from violence. Needles began to move when she heard. ¡°Kiss. Kiss. Kiss.¡± The warders began to chant and giggle like teenagers. JJ took step back and Theory shuffled sideways. He looked at Ash and nodded at him from breaking the tension. But the boy was not looking. He was clinging on to his sister and giggling. ¡°Imagine their moustaches. Like seals¡­¡± Ash wheezed. Sheetal broke down in laughter ¡°Stop¡­ With the visuals.¡± ¡°Point of matter.¡± Ghost said in a casual tone ¡°If the warders fall. I will destroy the continuum and every individual who belongs to it.¡± The seven turned to look at Ghost and he continued ¡°The ripple would demand it, and I wouldn¡¯t fight against her. In fact, I will assist her in every way.¡± Theory sighed and pointed at the children. On was rolling on the floor, and the other was hanging in the air chuckling hysterically. ¡°I get it Ghost. But maybe you need to tone down the threat a bit. Because they don¡¯t seem worried about JJ¡¯s threat.¡± Ghost chuckled ¡°Oh they are not. You, know now what Ash can do. At least a bit. You have no idea what Sheetal is capable off.¡± Day 605 Sheetal woke up and found Ash drawing patterns in the air. Some of them sparked and fell apart. Others sputtered on or off. But most of them hummed with a gentle glow. ¡°Ash.¡± Sheetal hissed ¡°The lights. I am trying to sleep here.¡± Ash tuned and looked at her with blank unseeing eyes. Slowly his gaze focussed on Sheetal and he looked away. ¡°She. It¡¯s time.¡± Sheetal sighed. What was wrong with her brother. Couldn¡¯t he see the light bleeding out from the glyphs and painting their room in multicoloured hues. She hadn¡¯t been able to get an hour of peaceful sleep. Well at least through their link she knew that Ash was worried. As worried as her. Sheetal didn¡¯t think that he would be worried but here it was, the time to repay their favour and¡­ Sheetal couldn¡¯t think about that. The fact Ash was nervous was enough. Sheetal stretched and recalled when Ghost had come to her with shards for her. ¡°Lady warder. A cosmic mage creates a version of the universe in their soul. You already have a handful of shards that somewhat do that. Here are some more to help you on that path. Here are some normal ones you will need. Water, stone, cold, density, acid, and alkali. Plutonium, polonium, francium. These are the heavy metal I could get my hands on. Now¡­ here are the really dangerous ones. Order and Light.¡± Sheetal still remembered looking at the last shard. Where other hummed blinked an glowed, this one was steady. It felt heavy. As if it was glowing kilometre high tower stuffed in a grain of sand. Then the voice had spoken to her. ¡°Child. The queen. The empress. The bringer of an era. I haven¡¯t spoken to you because I did not want you to get attached. I am of the light and so are you. Our bonds are eternal. I give you two pieces of me. As I will give them to you brother. Yours will bring light and order to reality. His will bring light and a chance where this none. With this gift I will begun to fade. Don¡¯t fret. Ghost, will become your adjudicator if the light wills it. A word of warning though warder, the light shard might raise you to heights but it also lets us keep an eye on you. Do not waver in your convistions.¡± Sheetal hadn¡¯t hesitated. She had stuffed the shard by the handfuls into herself. This wasn¡¯t just a matter of power, she still remembered that mission. The one hanging over them. Mandatory Mission Save The Continuum Fight of the Rakshasa Empire and help the continuum create a safe harbour in the trials. Rewards 12 Favours of Light System Rank - 6 Terms - You may not leave the trials until this mission is completed. Duration to completion ¨C 182 days. Failure Penalty ¨C Death And she needed all the power in the world to complete that. And to do that Sheetal neede to be complete. And that what had Ash so worried. ¡°Sheetal. Girl. Put on a top. Or at least a bra.¡± Needles hissed from the door. Sheetal blinked and lowered her hands to her chest. Behind Needles was her husband who had turned his back to her. Sheetal blushed and a shirt appeared over her naked form. She expected Ash to chuckle and crack a lewd joke, but he was too busy with his glyphs. ¡°Ghost? Are we ready?¡± Needles asked. ¡°Ash?¡± Ghost didn¡¯t appear but his voice reached everyone. ¡°Superimpose these.¡± Ash ordered and asked ¡°How do they look?¡± ¡°The fourth row, it is¡­¡± ¡°Ah, got it. The potentiality too dense there. Let me add a layer.¡± ¡°Ash.¡± Ghost voice had a smile to it ¡°It¡¯s going to be okay. There are three redundancies before the fourth one.¡± Ash stepped back with a grimace and looked at Sheetal ¡°Don¡¯t you dare die on me.¡± Sheetal moved to reassure Ash but he was gone in flash. She stopped. His eyes were they white all over. For second she thought that he was blinded. Sheetal shook her head ¡°No. Must have been the light. The dummy. If I die so does he. And so does Ghost.¡± Ash appeared in a strange empty place. He was floating. Only this time he wasn¡¯t using any anathemic ability. ¡°Ghost. If we do this, then you are mine and you will owe me forever.¡± Ash looked up at the nighttime sky and growled. Ghost appeared to his side with a ripple of air and asked ¡°So, you are ready then?¡± ¡°Yes. I am awesome.¡± Ash said in an annoyed tone. ¡°Then we need to hurry. Right now, the null zone is empty. Theory and T are keeping watch. We need to finish quickly before someone notices the power draw.¡± Ghost words rushed out of his mouth. ¡°Hold on. Didn¡¯t you hear me?¡± ¡°I did my warder.¡± Ghost brought his hands to his chest and bowed his head ¡°By the ripple watching over us, I hear you. And I pledge to serve you for my entire life.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ Okay. I just was looking for a yes you know.¡± Ash muttered. ¡°Shall we begin?¡± Ghost asked and receiving a nod from Ash transported them to a dark room. A shift happened around Ash, and he looked around. He could not see anything. Not with his eyes. He sighed and closed them. His sight settled and he was surrounded by glyphs. Hundreds of them. Layered upon shards and each other to make packets of function. Then there were others. The ones that did their job but needed to be improved. That wasn¡¯t the issue though. Interspersed with those ones were then ones that barely functioned. And in between them were the ones that needed to be discarded. Ash pointed his hand pointed at a junction ¡°Erase that mess and add the wiggly bunch.¡± Ghost deadpan voice respond ¡°Erasing section ¡®A Seven¡¯ for ¡®Wiggly-Woggly Bunch.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Ash nodded seriously and continued ¡°Now add a Jordon dunk under it and a cuckoo nest next to it.¡± ¡°Push and hold.¡± Needles ordered ¡°Push and hold.¡± Sheetal chanted. ¡°Good again.¡± Needles said sternly. Sheetal did as ordered while JJ in his massive armour restrained her body with her back to his cold metal chest. ¡°Again.¡± Sheetal went through a few repetitions. Her body tried to fly up only to be held back down by JJ¡¯s powerful arms. She couldn¡¯t pay attention to that. She was more focussed on the light she had stocked into a fire. ¡°It is¡­ It is¡­ Glowing.¡± Sheetal said ecstatically. ¡°Not good enough. Your mental shard is enforced by a strength shard. It should be blinding.¡± ¡°Push and hold.¡± Sheetal cried out. ¡°Good! What does your cluster look like?¡± Needles asked. Sheetal looked inside herself. She didn¡¯t like the world soul. Put that is what everyone called it. Inside that place, her mental shard intermingled with strength shard blazed white and blue. Under its glow was the mall formed peace of mass Ash called the dust ball. Well it wasn¡¯t that anymore. It was solid and tough. Sheetal replied ¡°Like¡­ Like¡­ Rock.¡± Needles frowned ¡°Not good enough. Push more. Until it is as small as a pebble.¡± She ordered, ¡°Compress it.¡± ¡°How?¡± Sheetal asked in a small voice. ¡°Push and hold.¡± Needles enunciated every word. Ash groaned ¡°Ghost. This is worse than what you told me. That section is bleeding potentiality, the one on the right is just wrong and the one on the left needs to go. And by that I mean, if you don¡¯t get rid of it you will pop.¡± This time Ghost did not appear, but his echoing voice asked ¡°What about the control unit at the bottom? I am more worried about that.¡± Ash smiled and with a flick of his finger scratched out two glyphs. He chuckled ¡°Now, nobody controls you Ghost, but me. And I want vengeance.¡± ¡°Oh, okay.¡± Ghost stated ¡°Ah¡­ Was it that simple?¡± ¡°For me? Yes. But then I am¡­¡± ¡°Awesome. I know.¡± Ghost completed Ash¡¯s words. ¡°Wait, is that?¡± ¡°About what? Controlling me?¡± ¡°Yes, and that is non-negotiable.¡± Ash warned. ¡°Of course, it¡¯s not.¡± Ghost stated in bored tone. ¡°Was that sarcasm?¡± ¡°Tell me. How bored are you?¡± Ash waved his hand about ¡°Enough to fix this mess. Thrice.¡± ¡°Well, then you can go about it?¡± Ash looked upwards and saw through the glyphs and the dark room. He looked straight at the glowing paper-thin pane of light that Ghost was slowly transforming into. Ash grumbled under his breath ¡°I swear I will find a way to poke you in the bum one day.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Ghost asked. ¡°Nothing. Yeah, just pump in some anathema and let me see what I can do.¡± Ghost hesitated ¡°Your sister isn¡¯t ready yet.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Ash grimaced ¡°She is too used being human.¡± ¡°What does that even mean?¡± Ghost asked ¡°Asks the guy with the thin bezels.¡± Ash moved towards the next batch of glyphs. ¡°I don¡¯t have any bezels.¡± Ghost grumbled back. Ash focused on the glyphs and muttered ¡°My point exactly¡­ Hey. Ghost? Where is all this power coming from?¡± ¡°Oh, that is, you know bug that followed you back from that place. I ate it.¡± Ghost replied casually. Ash who was going to start repairing the glyph in front of him stopped. He recalled the strange bug that was larger than a skyscraper heading towards him. If Ghost could eat that, then¡­ ¡°The ripple. The other one?¡± Ash finally asked. ¡°She is dead.¡± Ghost said in a silent voice and was silent for a sombre moment ¡°Now I will be an adjudicator in her place.¡± Ash sighed loudly ¡°Of course she decided to end it all. She had to listen to you and your droning moaning cries all the time.¡± Ash continued in a mocking voice ¡°I miss wife. I will never reincarnate around her. I am lost. My people are lost.¡± ¡°Warder.¡± Ghost said in a warning tone. Ash continued working ¡°Ghost. I am blind. I am trapped and I am bored. And, the only thing being I could expect to crush you decided to pop herself off.¡± ¡°Ah!¡± Ghost acknowledged and continued ¡°The ripple. She was old Ash. Sixty millennia old. She was too tired to crush a paper bag much less me.¡± ¡°Did you plan that too?¡± Ash asked. ¡°What? No. That was a happy accident.¡± Ghost paused and asked with a smile in his voice ¡°Plan?¡± ¡°What? You don¡¯t expect me to believe that the only one coming out of this with everything he wants hasn¡¯t planned all of this.¡± Ghost exhaled ¡°Needed, Ash. I got what I needed not what I want.¡± ¡°No, you are getting what you want by making me do redo these glyphs because you emotionally blackmailed Sheetal.¡± Ash grumbled. ¡°About the ripple she gave me a couple of shards for you.¡± Two shards appeared next to Ash and Ghost continued ¡°The one that is glowing steadily is a light shard. You should slot it in your¡­¡± Ash pushed it into his chest. ¡°Primary heart. Just over your density shard.¡± Ghost finished and continued ¡°The darker one is time. You see how¡­ What are you doing?¡± Ash stopped trying to push the shard towards his crotch and explained ¡°It¡¯s time, right? Maybe it will delay my¡­¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t work like that.¡± ¡°How do you know?¡± ¡°Put in your secondary heart.¡± Ash looked up with his blinded eyes and glared. ¡°Please.¡± Ghost hissed. Ash smiled and slotted the time shard in the heart just under his spine and added ¡°To be honest, I only did it because I get rear ended as much as get fronted. This will help.¡± Ghost groaned and asked ¡°Do I need to tell you to push and hold?¡± ¡°Does it look like I am ready to give birth?¡± ¡°I am just going to sit quietly and observe.¡± Ghost retreated. Ash grumbled and continued working. Every glyph he replaced, every batch he refined, and every possible malfunction he negated gave all three of them a chance to survive they didn¡¯t have. ¡°Ash. It¡¯s time.¡± Sheetal¡¯s face transformed into a pained grimace. She cried out. ¡°Aahhh!¡± ¡°Hold it.¡± Needles ordered in a high pitched voice. Her eyes went to JJ whose hands were trembling under the strain of holding Sheetal down and took a step back. Needles looked up ¡°Ghost, she is ready.¡± Ghost voice boomed across the room ¡°Sheetal, remember, you need to slam the star into the compressed matter in your soul and then claim it.¡± Sheetal squinted in strain. She couldn¡¯t even think to acknowledge Ghosts words. ¡°Sheetal! Come on girl. You are almost there.¡± Needles tried to motivate Sheetal. Sheetal looked up with reddened eyes and nodded slowly. She looked inside herself. The dust ball inside her had transformed into a small pebble of blackened something. It wanted to be let loose. It wanted to expand and just holding it there was causing a shooting sharp pain to travel down her mind to her waist. She began to pull of the mental shard to slam it down on the pebble. It didn¡¯t move. She could hold on to the pebble and move the star. ¡°I¡­I¡­Can¡¯t.¡± Sheetal whimpered. ¡°You need to try. Really try.¡± Needles urged the girl. Sheetal looked inside and growled. If the mental shard didn¡¯t want to move, then so be it. Sheetal reached out and gathered the pebble in her proverbial hands. With a scream of anger, frustration and rage Sheetal slammed the pebble into the mental shard. Needles watched Sheetal scream ¡°Aaaaaahhhhh!¡± Blink. Needles shook her head. JJ besides her twitched and looked around. ¡°JJ? What happened.¡± ¡°Read your notifications.¡± JJ said in a stiff voice. Warning! Dreamscape dissolutions detected. Ejecting all souls in dreamscape. Continuum Dreamscape #412 is no longer available. Estimating repair time¡­ 4 hrs. JJ pointed at the med pods ¡°Ni, something is going on in there.¡± Needles looked up and at the med pods. The warder¡¯s bodies inside had started to light up from inside. On by one Ash¡¯s shards began to glow and their essence started to flow into Ash. In the other med pod Sheetal¡¯s torso exploded into soundless cacophony of multicoloured lights. Needles steeped back from the violent explosion that looked like it would tear the girl apart and stopped. The explosion had found an outlet. It travelled down Sheetal¡¯s waist, to her thighs, and began to slow when it reached her calves. And finally stopped when it reached her toes. Needles released a held breath and asked ¡°It worked? By the light, it worked.¡± ¡°What worked?¡± T walked to them form the door followed by Theory. ¡°And why is there so much anathema in the pods?¡± Needles was so focussed on the lights inside Sheetal that she hadn¡¯t realised the quantity of anathema in the pods had risen to its former levels again. However, this time the anathema was being used up faster than before. Sheetal¡¯s lower half was constantly morphing. Mutation and permutations of flesh and bones crawled up and down her legs. On she noted resulted her in having twenty toes. But it was soon discarded for better, more fitting forms for her soul. The used up anathemic matter melted and was soon discarded by the pods into a tank. ¡°Where were you?¡± JJ asked the two men behind her. ¡°There was an aug. He is strange. I can¡¯t even tell what he used to be. A Taran or an Aditya. He was snooping around so we went to confront him.¡± Theory explained walking closer to the pods. ¡°He calls himself Scar now. He says the warders gave him that name and he wants to join our squad.¡± T continued. ¡°Why?¡± JJ asked. ¡°He said something about temporal power resonance and orders from the queen.¡± T answered and asked, ¡°Are they are okay in there?¡± Needles who was using her comm gem to link with the pods gasped. ¡°What?¡± JJ asked. In response she brought the vital stats of the warders and projected it over the wall next to the pods. ¡°Their bodies, they are okay. They hare going through what I would call refinement but that¡¯s not what worries me.¡± Needles looked at every member of seven in their eyes ¡°I am not getting any brain waves from them.¡± ¡°What does that mean, Ni?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know JJ.¡± Needles voice cracked. ¡°It¡¯s okay. It¡¯s okay. Everything is going to be okay.¡± Theory smiled did you not read the notification from the pod ¡°It says, ejecting all souls in dreamscape. That means...¡± ¡°It means they were ejected.¡± Needles finished and asked ¡°But to where?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know Needles. But I know one thing. Ghost has invested too much time and effort in those two. He won¡¯t let anything happen to those kids.¡± Theory tried to calm Needles. ¡°That¡¯s the problem theory.¡± Needles pointed to Ghost¡¯s body ¡°I am not getting any brainwaves from him either.¡± Chapter 47 - Warder Induction. Darkness lifted from twelve thousand warder¡¯s eyes and a heavy male voice announced. ¡°Attention Recruit!¡± The male voice, in a deep heavy tone began ¡°Before the first words were spoken. Before we knew there was a darkness to fear there lived a peaceful aquatic creature. She was as large as the planet she was born on. The great mother, the waters of her world called her. She was just a babe. A mere five hundred and fifty years old when disaster befell her world.¡± ¡°Stop.¡± Ghost appeared in the darkness and said ¡°Initiate private induction session.¡± Sheetal appeared next Ghost with pursed lips. Ghost frowned and looked down. Ash was clinging to Sheetal¡¯s legs. His arms and feet were wrapped around her claves in a death grip. ¡°Let me go.¡± Sheetal snarled. Ash pressed his forehead into Sheetal¡¯s thigh and screeched ¡°She! There is no ground.¡± ¡°I know.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t fly you nerd.¡± Sheetal looked up at Ghost ¡°Talk to him please.¡± Ghost sighed ¡°Ash this is an experience left behind by the Khara to initiate their warders into their purpose. You are safe here.¡± ¡°Yeah, well there is no floor to be safe on.¡± Ash shot back. Ghost took in a breath and ordered ¡°Recalibrate experience to a two dimensional format inside a panoramic pictorium.¡± The air under Sheetal shimmered and then there was a dark granite floor under Ash. Ghost watched Ash slowly reach out one hand to touch the floor and comforted the boy ¡°The khara are atmospheric creature. They are top heavy and don¡¯t do so well on the ground. But you shouldn¡¯t have worried. They do initiate bipedals into their purpose.¡± Ash let go of Sheetal and climbed to his feet ¡°What does that mena?¡± ¡°You would have just floated dumbo.¡± Sheetal growled and asked ¡°Since when are you afraid of flying?¡± Ash flinched. Sheetal didn¡¯t get it. Whatever this place was. Wherever it was. It wasn¡¯t right. There was no ground in this place except the planet in front of them. Ash blinked. He was going about this the wrong way. He¡­ He needed eyes here. He chuckled and focussed on looking. And in a blink, he was looking around with wide eyes at the large floor to ceiling screen in front of him. ¡°Well?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Eh¡­ You smell nice?¡± Ash deflected. Sheetal rolled her eyes and pointed at the screen ¡°What is that five headed monstrosity on the screen Ghost?¡± ¡°That lady warder.¡± Ghost said warningly and continued ¡°Is the depiction of the light from the kharas perspective. So be polite. We are in their zone of reality.¡± ¡°But it¡¯s not the light, right?¡± Ash asked. ¡°No. That actually is the first khara of the light protected universes. As I said this is an induction experience designed to induct young warders. The khara anthropize the light in their own image for the young but they all know that the light is the light. Also this way, they can send their devotion to the light more effectively.¡± ¡°How young?¡± Sheetal asked. Ash shook his head and murmured ¡°That¡¯s what you want to ask?¡± ¡°As young as eight.¡± Ghost replied and turned to Ash ¡°What should she have asked Ash?¡± ¡°Zone of reality? Double U. T. What is that?¡± Ghost bit his lip ¡°You are too young for that. And it is anyway out of your area of purpose. You are breaker not a binder. Sheetal will need that knowledge later.¡± Ghost turned to Sheetal ¡°When the time comes, call on me. I will be happy to direct you.¡± ¡°What about devotion¡­ Actually, I don¡¯t care.¡± Ash paused and cursed ¡°Religion. Messy.¡± Ghost waved his hand and this time a video began to play on the large screen. The five headed khara, the handful of her kind reached the apex of her existence and announced her presence to all. And the broken and shattered solar system watched as a tetra headed octopus rose above a large deep blue planet and screamed out in victory under a strange blue sun¡¯s light. The narrator continued ¡°Her planetary size ensured her dominance. And mortals and sentients rejoiced under the watch of their benevolent master. But she was a simple creature. She didn¡¯t understand the concept of maleficence. Even before her story began, long before she had passed her fiftieth year her mother had communed with the spirit of the world she lived on. Through the planets guidance she had found a way to sustain their kind on primordial forces of the world. The warders watched as the picture zoomed in on one of the octopus heads. It focussed onto the pulsing blue veins running through the planet and seeping into the octopus¡¯s skin. ¡°Is that¡­¡± Sheetal began to ask. Ghost nodded ¡°Anathema.¡± The narrator continued ¡°To her it was just another normal day. Another day she had woken up from a deep slumber after digesting her meal. However, this time when the great mother lifted her tentacles and asked the world¡¯s spirit for permission to drink from her viens, nothing happened. She was a patient creature, she waited. And after days asked again. And again. But she didn¡¯t hear anything. She a simple creature didn¡¯t know what to do. The world spirit was always there and had been there forever. It was the planet. In her moment of confusion, she almost missed her home planet exploding under her. Panicking, she dug in her tentacles and held the core of the planet in place.¡± In front of the warder¡¯s eyes formed an awestriking image of the planet almost exploding and then being held back by clusters of tentacles. Followed by a cry of loss from the great octopus. ¡°She, the great mother, the queen of endless waters didn¡¯t understand what had happened. So she called out to the only being she could call an equal. She raised her head and asked the furious blue giant to explain. But the sun was gone too. Its energies were being sucked out towards something in the distance.¡± Across the crumbling world five bulbous heads arose over the dissipating oceans of a large watery planet and looked at empty space. Tentacles moved frantically, to hold the planet together. ¡°The great mother tightened her hold on the planet and strained. She had to keep the planet together. She had to keep her clutch safe. For hundreds of years, she held on like that. Through the strength of her vast body, her planet domineering will and her mind, magically altering reality, she held on. Hundreds of year turned into thousands.¡± In front of the warders the planet lost its colour. Then the rocks grow cold and iced over. The fires died out. Then the waters iced over. And began to fly off into space. ¡°The great mother tried everything, she consumed the rock to make her body heavier, she drank the magma to funnel heat through her body and she ate the core to keep the oceans in place. She held on and wept when her beautiful children turned to stone. She cried when the waters broke off from her skin and the last of her kin flew into the void with chunks of ice.¡± The tentacles on the planet grew in length and width. Soon the planet was completely covered by overlapping tentacles. ¡°She didn¡¯t know what to do, so she waited, and she began to eat. She mindlessly consumed the world. She ate and ate. She ate for so long that the surface rodents evolved inside her hollows and started referring to her as the planet. She could correct them but what was the point? Because she knew. She knew because she had never lowered her heads. Instead for uncountable years she had watched the stars go out.¡± The great mother observed though her hundred eyes as one by one the stars were killed. Vicious black creatures. Anthemic parasites, sucked the star life forces and killed them cruelly. Rejoicing in the pain of the celestial entities. The great mother had grown in wisdom through her years. And now she knew. She had seen these parasites in her world too but ignored them as mindless beings. Only if she had known. Only if she had done something.¡± Bugs like creatures buzzed around over her but they were too weak to even scratch her transmuted tentacles. These creatures, they didn¡¯t have a mind. They were soulless spiders with black and red caspases. They banged their sucker-like protrusion on their bottom end into the stone like skin of the khara, until they broke their own bodies in droves. ¡°The great mother, she once thought she was the greatest being to swim in the blue giant¡¯s glare. Now covered by trillions of these obnoxious beings while protecting the only few hundreds living things in her limbs, she realized the folly of her path. Long ago if she had just looked above the waters, she would have seen the danger and acted. What was the point of helping these snow rodents who didn¡¯t even know what the stars were. With that though, for the first time in a thousand years she moved.¡± Hundreds of tentacles suddenly shot out in various directions. Hitting, piercing and crushing every carapace creature in space. The great mother brought in her tentacles close to her bodies and churned the space next to her until it was covered with broken bodies and golden light. Then five kraken mouths appeared in the dark to suck in the debris and the golden light. ¡°When the great mother drank in this golden energy, she understood what these creatures were consuming. When she was young the spirit of her world had educated her on most forms of her energies. This was the energy she was supposed to stay away from. It was raw potentiality. Unlike when she was young when she consumed potentiality it didn¡¯t burn. It empowered the mother. This energy was hers. It was what she was made from and created with every breath.¡± The five headed octopus looked around with shining eyes and then coiled four of her heads around the weakest one and shot into another group of bunched enemies. ¡°The great mother wasn¡¯t going to restrain herself anymore. Her compliance to her purpose of protecting had resulted in the death of her children, her friends, and her world. She decided to leave her dead world and only worry about one thing, her new peupose, revenge.¡± Space shifted and the great mother grew. She flew through the void of space. Battling hordes of enemies and drinking their potentiality when she could. Other times she consumed remnants of planets and suns. ¡°The great mother, didn¡¯t know why she had to feed constantly. She just knew that whenever she stopped, she fell into a starved daze. This is why, one day when she was following a ball of potentiality. She saw it unexpectedly veer off and get sucked into a dark place. She followed it and fought against the gravity trying to separate them. She screamed out in defiance and flew into the black hole. She did not for how long, she battled it but one day she finally killed it and consumed it.¡± ¡°Are you kidding me? Sheetal asked in disbelief. Ash who was chewing on a bag of snacks took a sip of his drink and shushed Sheetal ¡°Shh¡­ Car chase scene.¡± A horrific being. A being made out of pure darkness with tentacles protruding out of it at all angles chased a whizzing ball of darkness through an empty universe. The black hole flew through wandering monsters and sucked in all the insectoid creatures vaporising them. The former octopus drank up every wisp of the stream of light and grew. ¡°The great mother was a simple creature, she did not know what she had done or what she was doing. She didn¡¯t understand the fact that she was consuming the universes first and last potentiality and all she knew was hunger and the fact that she wanted more. So, she lost herself in hunger once again and rejoiced when the first black hole smashed into another. And celebrated when it happened again and again. Until even the universe sized black hole couldn¡¯t satiate her.¡± In the dark dying universe, the largest and last cosmic storm lit up in form of thousands of tentacles. Large white kraken teeth hovered around seven large holes. And all the while this cosmic being screamed in hunger and anger. And brought her teeth down on the cosmic anomalies. ¡°The great mother was still a primeval creature back then. She did not have control over her emotions. She felt rage at losing her children. She felt anger at losing everything. And sadness at all the life around her disappearing. And hunger, all-consuming, ever-present hunger. But in all her travels she hadn¡¯t forgotten her prey. Whatever was directing these simple-minded creatures to suck the potentiality out of everything. And it was going to pay.¡± Scene changed and the universe sized khara moved in a blur. ¡°She flew through the void trying to find something to eat when she found a few golden wisps being carried away at something. It was a lure to catch a prey, but the great mother wasn¡¯t prey. She was revenge incarnated. She attacked. Her attack was without warning and vicious.¡± Tentacles made out of darkness hit a leech like being sucking in pure light. The leech looked stunned and before it could react its eyes had been gouged out. It opened its mouth to scream, and the octopus dug its tentacles into the opening. The great mother heaved the creature towards herself. ¡°If she would have been on a higher plane of existence, she would have been afraid. Then again, what did she have to live for. Maddened by revenge and hunger she attacked mercilessly not understanding that the creature in front of her was on a higher energy scale than her. Luckily the overconfident creature hadn¡¯t taken precautions to defend itself.¡± The black hole hidden in the tentacles pulsed and screamed. A ripple went through the space breaking down everything to its molecular origins and flew at and into the great mother. Parts of the large insectoid creature¡¯s carapace followed the dust. The leech looked at the amalgamation of organic and stellar being in shock. It was so stunned that it didn¡¯t move or stop sucking potentiality for a few seconds. The great mother took those seconds to wrap the creature in her million miles long tentacles to prevent its escape and squeezed. The creature, no, a being bucked and tried to free itself. It tried to shift in and out of reality. But to the creature¡¯s dismay the great mother had transformed after eating the remnants of the universe. She bent the reality back and continued to fight. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°In their fight, a moment came when both the devourer and the great mother understood the fact that their fight couldn¡¯t last much longer. And they both prepared to end their struggles with one blow.¡± The leech opened its mouth and light blossomed deep inside it. It shot out golden light that burnt and separated the great mother¡¯s tentacles. The great mother in response angled her black holed at the light and shot out a pulse. A pulse that settled over the galaxy sized creature. The creature stopped it¡¯s struggles for a crucial moment. In a swift move, the great mother swallowed the creature whole. The insectoid creature trapped inside the black hole suddenly popped. The next moment potentiality worth an entire universe flooded into the kraken¡¯s body. It burned her skin and vaporised it. It shattered planets and reformed them. It quenched the black holes and turned them into supernovas and finally it lit up her insides into a vortex of conflicting energies that slowly began to settle. Ghost paused the video and looked at the two warders. Ash was sitting on the floor drinking cola and chewing on popcorn. Sheetal was looking wide eyed at the khara in front of her. ¡°Recognise the power?¡± Ghost asked. ¡°Did she bond reality before she consumed everything?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Yes. And became the first cosmic mage of her kind. A cosmic mage who was a bonder. Just like you.¡± Ghost smiled and looked at the boy ¡°Kid, you are up next. Put the popcorn down and focus.¡± ¡°Where did you get the popcorn from anyway?¡± Sheetal asked. Ash pointed a buttery long finger to the side with a filled cheek. Sheetal read the sign above the console. Spirit Snacks. Type ¨C Snacks infused with spirituality for your soul. Category ¨C 1 Price ¨C Free. ¡°Soul food?¡± Sheetal asked when Ghost popped a kernel in his mouth. ¡°In more ways than one.¡± Ghost grinned and motioned ¡°Go get some.¡± ¡°No thanks.¡± Ash swallowed and dusted his hand ¡°Okay, you can unpause Ghost.¡± ¡°Resume. The correct word is resume.¡± Sheetal muttered. ¡°Oye. Floaty. Shut up and let me enjoy the movie.¡± Ghost pointed at the screen and the video resumed. The narrator continued as a galaxy of lights revolved around a scar in the fabric of the universe. ¡°No one knows how long the great mother rested there. Not because the great mother couldn¡¯t count. She had long past gained complex thoughts. It was because this dark space no longer had a concept of time. She floated in that space and cried. For the first time in hundreds of thousands year she didn¡¯t feel rage, ginger, or the hunger. In that timeless place she could finally find peace to think. She thought about everything she had gone through. All the things she had lost, all the hardships she had gone through and all the pain she had suffered in. And decided at that time to change her purpose again. She didn¡¯t want any sentient being to go through the pain and loss she had suffered.¡± The great mother transformed herself. Instead of black holes surrounded by tentacles, the being that arose was a vibrant cloud of cosmic energies churning peacefully. The energies spread itself outwards and stopped at a spot. The narrator clarified ¡°There she found it. A crack in reality that the creature now known as a greater phage had caused.¡± The great mother studied the crack with her nebula eyes and finally understood these creatures. She now reality beyond the molecular level and above the cosmic level. She understood these beings. They were parasites introduced into the universe to kill everything and collect their potentiality.¡± The cosmic storm flew into the crack. Every brush of her countless lights sealed grew the crack and every touch of dense matter healed it. The cosmic cloud disappeared and appeared in the inky black, and blue plane Ash floated to. She took in a deep breath and a vortex of anathemic matter flew into her lungs. She bellowed at the crack and it sealed behind her. ¡°No one knows how long she wandered in the anathemic lands. No one know how she conquered it. But let¡¯s bow our heads and praise the day the great mother decided to follow the soulless and hunt them. Because that day, we found her and she found something she was missing for a long time, life.¡± The cosmic storm darkened and reappeared on top of crack on an asteroid field. ¡°That day she realised she was not alone in her fight against anathema. That day she found us. Little creatures fighting against swarms of phages with kinetic projectiles and needle like rocks¡± Spaceships and bunkers drilled into large asteroids fired massive beams to cut down a swarm of phages. Missiles followed the beams and exploded into nuclear explosions. ¡°Watching us mortals struggle, the great mother was surprised that we simple minded creatures didn¡¯t consume the storm of potentiality left behind by the phages. She was so surprised that she reached out and swatted out at the vile creatures trying to consume the potentiality left behind and offered it to us. She underestimated her size and the tentacle she formed accidentally killed three or four million phages in one blow.¡± That sudden act of aggression from a previously unknown creature stopped the space war suddenly. The phages could sense the creature, its massive presence and fled. The creatures hunkered down in the asteroid belt weren¡¯t so sensitive or mobile. One of the admirals, a green skinned man with a wooden sword and a chest plate made out of bark panicked. He didn¡¯t know what he was dealing with and barked out an order. Suddenly two nuclear weapons launched out of the biggest bunker and headed towards the cosmic storm. The storm formed a dark blue tentacle from the energies within it. The tentacle curiously reached out and touched the missiles. They exploded in two plooms of nuclear energy. In response, the cosmic storm turned from a fluorescent blue and then flashed red and pink in quick succession. The people on the spaceship held their breath until the storm turned back into its blue shade. But nobody did anything because in that moment when the storm had turned red, every creature in the armada had understood the vastness of the being in front of them. It wasn¡¯t the size of a moon, planet, or a solar system. It was the size of hundreds of galaxies that was magically floating over their heads without exerting any gravitational pressure or pinging on their radars. And they had just fired at the creature. ¡°The beings on the spaceships and the asteroids might have been fearful but the great mother or the system as we call her now is a benevolent being. She later equated the feeling to being touched and was wondering if the usual form of greeting between the little creatures was tickling. And how exactly was she going to achieve that?¡± Ash laughed. Sheetal shook her head ¡°Okay I give up. Just the gravitational forces from a galaxy would tear that fleet apart.¡± ¡°She. It¡¯s a kid¡¯s movie.¡± Ash chuckled and whined together. Ghost snorted ¡°Ash is right Sheetal. It is a media made for children.¡± Sheetal stormed to the side and began pouring cola into a cup. Ghost pointed at the screen and time progressed in the movie. Humans, bee-like creatures, aquatic creatures and sentient animals of all sizes approached the great mother one by one. They tried to speak to her. But the great mother did not understand the concept of language. They flashed lights at her but all she could do was replicate the lights. Then a few humans brought in a ten-foot-long tablet pc. One of them showed her how to use it and then waited. The images on the slab interested her but the humming coming from it interested her more. She touched the field lightly and understood. She was light. And in an instant, she processed all the information inside it. She looked at outwards at the fleet and the light seen and hidden passing in between the ships and tapped into it. ¡°The great mother did not know that she had just hacked the human network and set off alarms by downloading millennia worth of knowledge in an instant. She was just thankful to the creatures in front of her for finding such a novel answer to the problem.¡± Instead, she spoke ¡°I am the storm of a fallen universe. I am here to repel what is anathema to us.¡± ¡°As she processed the information she had collected, she learnt that this was a fleet of ships belonging to a space alliance. Everyone, of these vessels contained the last of their kind. They had failed to contain the phage threat, and their scientist believed that the death of their universe was near.¡± The great mother contemplated the situation while listening to the male diplomat assigned to speak to her. He asked her ¡°Ah¡­ Cosmic storm, ma¡¯am. Excuse, me. What are you?¡± She really didn¡¯t know the answer to that question herself, but she had to respond ¡°I am the light. I have a purpose. It is protection. I will protect all you little ones.¡± The human in front of her gulped and asked in a shaky voice ¡°Does that mean you are a god?¡± The celestial being looked at the tiny creature and asked ¡°What is a god?¡± and then promptly tried to search for the term. ¡°No little one. I don¡¯t wish for your devotion. You may keep those energies to yourself. I will just use them to do what I do. Protect life.¡± Hundreds of years flew by. The great mother directed the little creatures to fights they could win and eliminated the bigger threats that came to challenge life. Then finally, one day she revealed her young. Small gentle looking pale creatures that she called khara. She manifested in the council of representatives of the silver city and addressed the trillions of living creatures in front of her. She told them about her peaceful life with her recently born children, and the sudden death of everything around her. She recalled how she had killed what the Zeiry, the hermaphrodite bees classified as a class eight giant phage leech. A council member rose to her feet shakily and asked ¡°Goddess, could you do it again? Free our universe from the phage threat?¡± She thought for a second and answered ¡°No. This universe is too far gone. I can destroy the phages and consume what is left of it. It will do nothing but stall the threat from the other side. But saving your worlds, your stars, your black holes and the dark and light matter binding everything together is impossible. The infestation of phages is too major to save it.¡± A six appendaged lizard creature, a Naga, stood up on its tail and asked ¡°My lady, they say you have a universe inside you. Could you take us there and keep us safe?¡± The narrator came back and explained ¡°The thought hadn¡¯t crossed the goddess mind until then. The last creatures she had protected had died due to her callousness and she regretted that now. With a thought she collapsed her reality and lit a spark.¡± Something deep inside the goddess¡¯s silhouette flashed a bright light and ripples flew outwards from the explosion and the great mother smiled. ¡°Now I can young one.¡± The Naga gasped ¡°How?¡± The light replied ¡°I just left your universe for a place where time doesn¡¯t exist and created a universe for you to live in Krakush.¡± The goddess sounded happy. She was happy. An unexpected development had brought her joy. When she had created the universe, she had given birth to a being. A being composed of the first light of the universe. The being was limited in sentience but insisted on fighting the creatures from the edge.¡± Krakush bowed his head. A gesture of deep respect for the nagas and asked ¡°My lady have you picked a name for yourself. I feel the need to address you formally.¡± ¡°Name? I have not.¡± The naga smiled toothily and in a light hiss asked ¡°How about Frazhaphazi. It roughly translates from our tongue to a divine being necessary for life.¡± A human male dressed in gold stepped up. Unlike Karahush, the naga diplomat this was a human warrior. He ignored the naga and asked ¡°How about necessity?¡± She thought for a moment and answered ¡°I prefer light. But you may call me whatever you want but be respectful.¡± It was a happy time for the mother. When she took in the first creature and settled them inside her. The second miraculous thing happened. A snake formed around the edges of her universe. It began to chase its tail with its numerous heads. Necessity played with it and asked if it could understand her. The snake replied ¡°Yes, I can. I know you are my mother. But we¡¯ll talk later mom. Right now I have to catch my tail.¡± In happiness the great mother followed it with her eyes and asked ¡°Don¡¯t you want a name?¡± The snake scoffed ¡°I already have one. It is the sound the universe made to announce my presence. Vritra!¡± Necessity looked at her newest child in disappointment. She tried to explain ¡°That is the sound of energies collecting to make a universal being. ¡°Perplexed, at her new children¡¯s strange behaviour the great mother returned to observe the migration of the creatures inside her. She learned about the many things these small sentient creatures did. How they lived. How they cared for each other. And how they fought. Watching them, observing their simple ways and simpler thoughts the first khara realised something, these were doomed if she did not do something. Time passed once more, and the great mother appeared over the silver city. She was afraid that the people would scatter in fear, but they rejoiced and started a festival. Soon a council of sentient creatures gathered to listen to the mother. The goddess floated over the city in space and announced ¡°Listen, I will help you connect all these devices through space and time. I will help you learn how to use potentiality. I will help you grow your soul, and I will even allow you to communicate with each other but no bad language. That is just rude.¡± ¡°The simple creatures didn¡¯t know what to say. They didn¡¯t realise that the mother was continuing a conversation that the mother had been having with their progenitors.¡± ¡°Okay, stop. Stop. Stop.¡± Sheetal said with a grimace. Ghost stopped and looked at Sheetal ¡°You are telling me the reason we can¡¯t curse is because the great mother doesn¡¯t like it?¡± ¡°No, I am not telling you anything. This is story. A fairy tale for children.¡± Ghost said distractedly. Most of his attention was on Ash. The boy had gone still after he saw the break in the universe and was now lost with a thoughtful expression on his face. ¡°But¡­¡± Sheetal said sharply and then continued in a softer tone ¡°Why can¡¯t we curse? Srely it can¡¯t be because the Light is a Karen.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what that means Sheetal.¡± ¡°Ah!¡± Sheetal said in frustration and then shook Ash ¡°Say something.¡± Ash blinked and looked at Ghost ¡°You said that the khara have warders that are eight years old. Are warders born or are they made like us?¡± Ghost raised his eyebrows with an impressed look ¡°Most warders you will meet will be born to other warders. They won¡¯t be as powerful as you. A second-generation warder has twenty shards compared to your thirty. A fifth-generation warder has fifteen if they are lucky and ten if they are not. You are what we call a first-generation warder. You have many advantages that will make you powerful, but at the same time you have you will have to overcome a lot of stigmas.¡± ¡°Racism?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°No.¡± Ghost shook his head ¡°It¡¯s known fact that the Light chooses ¡°the crazies¡± to be its warders.¡± ¡°I am not crazy.¡± Sheetal and Ash said together. ¡°Of course you are not. You just like to nuke thing in your free time.¡± Ghost said to Sheetal and turned to Ash ¡°And you boy. Just don¡¯t.¡± Ash raised his hand ¡°One more question. I am not sure if I want to ask you this though.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°That break. After the Light observed it, the narrator said that there was no concept of time. Or something like that. Does that mean, that in that other place. In that higher plane thing. There is no time?¡± Ghost leaned back and gave Ash a thoughtful look ¡°Honestly Ash, I thought you would have decided to not slip through reality after the last time.¡± Ash shrugged ¡°You can¡¯t give a woman a mobile phone and not expect her to play Candy Crush.¡± ¡°Hey.¡± Sheetal protested and added ¡°I don¡¯t play Candy Crush.¡± ¡°Yeah, but you are a nerd. You play Battlecraft.¡± Sheetal opened her mouth and let it go ¡°Point.¡± Ghost took a moment to think about his answer ¡°I don¡¯t know. But I can theorise.¡± Ash raised an eyebrow and asked, ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± ¡°No. Ash I don¡¯t. I am a creature of the light to created wander in her influence. No one that created to float outside it.¡± ¡°Okay, so tell me of great ripple what do you theorise?¡± Ash said sarcastically. ¡°I believe that the higher planes don¡¯t have time. Or they have too much of it. In either case that shard was given to you so that you may fight in the higher planes on equal footing. How? I don¡¯t know.¡± Ghost hesitated ¡°And you are right. I don¡¯t think you should tell me when you figure it out.¡± Ash nodded and pointed at the video. Ghost resumed the video, and it started mid dialogue. ¡°Progenitors that had lived thousands of years ago. Nevertheless, this new council knelt and bowed their heads as the ground underneath them transformed to a shimmering silver.¡± The great mother pointed, and a cosmos moved over the floating city. With a simple gesture, building appeared on the highest peak. Land reformed to create waterfall and magma ducts. And over everything a wide beam of light shot down burrowing a hole in the centre of the mountain. ¡°Here is the first beacon. Made of my essence. Guard it well until I send those who will use it to project my will.¡± The narrator spoke after the great mother¡¯s words ¡°And with those words, the Light brought hope to the universes.¡± Universe after universe flashed on the screen. Most looked normal. Galaxies spiralling in discs near each other. On the other hand, others ranged from angular to strange with triangular nebulas and arrowhead galaxies. One of the strangest ones was even made from cubes. Sheetal dubbed that one the Minecraft world and brushed it aside. The narrator continued ¡°Under her blessing, while we lived in peace, a war of epic proportions was being raged. A war fought by the greatest creature the existence has ever known. The motherly goddess who destroyed phages by the thousands and broke down universes to returned them to life.¡± A cloud of vibrant energies spread across a solar systems and galaxies driving away phages in droves and hunting them down. ¡°For all the while, we the different sentient creatures caught our breath and migrated into the goddess¡¯s realm. She was fighting. Slowly spreading herself across the universe and killing billions of the soulless creatures every day. Universe after universe she cleansed and consumed. Not in hunger but in purpose. For in those falling realities she found what she was looking for. Individuals. The ones that couldn¡¯t be broken. And she collected them.¡± The scene warped and focussed on an asteroid covered in a shield. Thousands of pods opened and creatures from all sentient species walked out of them. Some of them picked up melee weapons, others picked up guns, and others picked up strange objects. They jumped into ships and fired at other asteroids. Phages flew out of the asteroid and started battling the people. The video focussed on various individuals. A bear woman flying back from a blow. She lifted herself back to her feet in familiar glow and charged back at the enemy. A fox that yipped and fought with a whip. A large human shattering carapaces with a mace in a crowd of enemies. ¡°The first warders were born to battle. Created by shards from the mother herself they were mighty but few. To assist them, the mother shared pieces of other fallen warriors to us helping us ascend to assist in the fight.¡± The scene shifted to the same bear woman holding up a hammer and charging at a tall spider. Behind her other bears trampled the ground. The spider brought a leg down upon the woman and she deflected with her hammer. It skittered leaving the spider unbalanced. In that momet the ascended behind the warder hammered into the enemy. The fox man appeared with his ascended. They shot out whips to catch on foe after the other and tie them down. The fox warder brought his whip down in long swooshing arches cutting down the enemies with ease. A large humanoid man cracked his neck, standing tall in front of a charging swarm. He unsheathed his sword and began to dance in between enemies. Meanwhile his ascended erupted out of hidden corners and shot volleys of streaking arrows at the swarm. The stars moved and time flew on by centuries. The war still raged on but slowly the warders turned the tide. The simple asteroid field grew, and rocks drifted inwards. The cleansed region transformed to a familiar sight. The great mother appeared over it and this time she faced the warders. Wordlessly they all fell to one knee and bowed their head. Under them, once again the ground turned to silver. And a beam of light fell from the sky. Reality jittered for a brief second. In that moment, two similar yet different cities Superimposed themselves a top of each other. The narrator announced ¡°Behold warder! The silver city. The city made of cities. The seat of all warder operations in all the Lights realities. A city not governed by kings, councils, guilds or politicians. A city governed by the Light.¡± The camera flew into the city as more cities joined the first two. It¡¯s silver ground shimmered and reflected the walls made from precious stone and adorned by brighter glittering gemstones. ¡°We welcome you warder to a life in service. To a purpose beyond all purposes. We welcome you follow in the Lights footsteps and carry out her will. Rise warder. Become strong. Travel the endless worlds. Help the sentients. Bathe in the mother¡¯s light. And then come join us in the silver city. To join the real battle.¡± ¡°Was that place made of silver?¡± Sheetal asked in a whisper ¡°If Trump ever made a city¡­ No, it would be worse.¡± Ash muttered back. ¡°So, why the heck did we watch this?¡± Sheetal asked Ghost. ¡°To see what you got from it.¡± Ghost responded eagerly. ¡°Oh, let me see. We are warders and we have to fight bugs.¡± Sheetal shivered. ¡°Yes¡­¡± Ghost began but was cut off by Ash. ¡°And we need to make a team of ascended to fight alongside.¡± Ghost nodded and was stopped again. ¡°And we need to go to this city?¡± Sheetal grimaced. ¡°But that comes later. First, we need to fight and bathe in the light?¡± ¡°Will you both shut up for a second?¡± Ghost asked in annoyance. The warders looked at him blankly and he explained ¡°When I said to see what you got, I meant literally. Open your personal information and look at it.¡± Sheetal¡¯s mouthed opened in a silent, oh. Ash groaned. But they did as Ghost instructed. Name ¨C Sheetal Class ¨C 0 Type ¨C Warder Race ¨C Undecided Shards - 18-? Type - Polar Forces, Wind, Matter, Gravity, Metal, Mental, Strength, Water, Stone, Cold, Density, Acid, Alkali. Plutonium, Polonium, Francium, Light, Order. Class ¨C 1 Congratulations You have opened the merit bar. Merit ¨C Low Congratulations. You have completed the khara warder induction. Rewards 2 warders storage slots (Shared) 5 Krecks Smoke Shard. Sheetal opened her mouth to ask what to do with a smoke shard when she heard Ghost growl at Ash. ¡°Did you just slot a shard in your head?¡± Ash looked up and almost toppled over with ¡°Woaw! Okay.¡± ¡°Answer me boy.¡± ¡°Huh? Oh. Yes. Yes, I did.¡± Ghost took in a deep breath and in a restrained tones asked ¡°What shard did you get?¡± ¡°Sense.¡± Ash answered while trying to get his bearing. Ghost looked at Sheetal with a pained expression. Sheetal shrugged helplessly. ¡°Why?¡± Ghost asked in a helpless tone ¡°Why did you use a sense shard again when I told you that you are a sensopath and don¡¯t need to.¡± Ash looked at Ghost and asked ¡°Are my eyes red now?¡± Name ¨C Ash Class ¨C 0 Type ¨C Warder Race ¨C Undecided Shards - 20-30 Type ¨C Speed* 4, Density*4, Channel*4, Sense*2, Power*2, Force*2, Time, Light Class ¨C 1 Congratulations You have opened the merit bar. Congratulations You have opened the merit bar. Merit ¨C Low Congratulations. You have completed the khara warder induction. Rewards 2 warders storage slots (Shared) 5 Krecks Sense Shard - Slotted Ghost took a step with a clinched fist and stopped. He turned around and faced away from Ash. ¡°I think we should go back now. We van take a walk and all calm down¡± Sheetal tried to diffuse the tension by separating the squabbling men. ¡°We can¡¯t.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Ghost turned around and looked at Sheetal accusingly ¡°Didn¡¯t I ask you not to try and bind the dreamscape? Didn¡¯t I say that the fabric of the dreamscape is too weak for you to do that?¡± ¡°I¡­ I did that?¡± Sheetal asked ¡°No, I destroyed it before you could.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Sheetal asked ¡°Because I don¡¯t want to be a slave to you.¡± Ghost replied in anger. ¡°No. You want us to be the slaves.¡± Ghost gave Ash a look ¡°Did you just see the power scale you warders work on boy? Do you think I am stupid enough to try to ride a tiger?¡± Ash squinted at Ghost "No, you are not crazy enough to do that." He smiled ferociously "But you are crazy enough to try and domesticate large cats." Ghost clenched his jaw "Are you any different? "Yes Ghost, I am. I am more of a kill the feline monsters and call myself evolution kind of guy." Ash went from snarling to grinning cutely "And don''t you forget that, Ghosty." Ghost rolled his eyes and turned back to Sheetal ¡°Anyway, I ejected the seven and brought you here." "But why?" Sheetal asked. "Because I had very little time to act and if I would waited, yes you would have ensalved me but you would have enslaved Needles and JJ too. And I wanted to save them the indginity.¡± Ash shook his head "Yeah save them the indignity? What are we? Rotten tomatoes?" "Ash!" Sheetal hissed and with a plae face asked ¡°Enslaved? How?¡± ¡°Your powers. The ones that bind¡± Ghost shook his head ¡°They are akin to soul magic.¡± "Soul magic?" "Yes." ¡°But I don¡¯t even believe in souls.¡± Chapter 48 - Ghost is dead Day 606 Sheetal watched Ash as he sulked off in a huff. Ghost grimaced at his retreating back and disappeared in a flash leaving her alone. Just when she had started wondering what to do next, needles popped into existence with a flash followed by the seven. Needles rushed Sheetal and before she could act lifted her up in a hug ¡°Sheetal. Are you okay? Where is Ash. Is he¡­¡± Sheetal chuckled and responded ¡°Its okay Needles. I am okay. Ash is okay too. He is angry at Ghost but everyones okay.¡± ¡°Faded gods, I was worried.¡± Needles lowered Sheetal to the ground and added ¡°I couldn¡¯t get your brainwaves and I thought¡­¡± Sheetal grimaced ¡°Needles, I messed up.¡± ¡°Yeah, we know. You, when you levelled up your shards exploded the dreamscape.¡± Needles nodded. ¡°Needles.¡± Sheetal looked at the others and then asked ¡°Can we speak? In private?¡± Needles gave Sheetal a searching look and nodded. Theory cleared his throat ¡°Umm¡­ We are going to step out and keep watch.¡± JJ looked from Sheetal to Needles and nodded ¡°I¡¯ll wait in our quarters.¡± Sheetal looked at the harried woman in front of her and felt more guilty than ever about what she had almost done. In a small voice she grabbed Needles in a bubble of gravity and muttered ¡°Come with me please.¡± Sheetal landed both of them atop a hill and moved Away a few feet trying to create a sense of distance from Needles. Needles caught on to the wordless communication and asked ¡°What is it.¡± Sheetal tried to get out her words and blurted everything out, even breaking down in tears in the middle. She finished while weeping ¡°I didn¡¯t know what I was doing. It just hurt so much. And its just kind of happened.¡± Needles looked at Sheetal with a distant look in her eyes. Sheetal flinched. Needles focussed on Sheetal and smiled ¡°I am not angry at you girl. I am angry at that man.¡± ¡°But¡­ But¡­ I am almost enslaved you.¡± Sheetal muttered. ¡°Sheetal.¡± Needles began and then stopped with a smile ¡°Go ahead, bind me?¡± ¡°What!?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°I trust you girl. Bind me.¡± Needles grinned. ¡°Are you sure.¡± ¡°Yes. Now do it. For science.¡± Needles chuckled ¡°Okay.¡± Sheetal shrugged and a small pulse went off her and towards Needles. Needles raised her eyebrows ¡°Well?¡± ¡°Well, what?¡± ¡°Are you going to do it?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t see that?¡± ¡°No. And I don¡¯t feel bound.¡± ¡°You are bound Needles.¡± ¡°Are you¡­¡± ¡°Raise your left hand.¡± Needles hand shot up and she looked at it. ¡°See?¡± Sheetal¡¯s voice cracked and she swished her hand diagonally. Needles frowned ¡°Okay that is insidious but what was that you did at the end.¡± ¡°Unbound you.¡± Sheetal wiped a tear. ¡°Huh? So, you can bind or unbind anything?¡± ¡°Pretty much.¡± Needles paced up and down ¡°And whatever you bind, living or physical, moves to your thoughts?¡± Sheetal frowned but nodded. Needles grinned ¡°This is quite useful. Why get a medic team to carry a gurney when you can just think flat and get off the battlefield. And the combat potential, tell a group of charging enemies to stop and they would. Creating a pile-up on top of them.¡± ¡°You are not taking this seriously Needles.¡± Sheetal said in a frustrated tone. ¡°Do it again.¡± Needles stood in place. ¡°Again?¡± ¡°Yes. Come on girl.¡± Sheetal sent out a pulse and looked at Needles ¡°There you are bound again.¡± ¡°Gods, you don¡¯t feel a thing.¡± Needles whispered and then closed her eyes. A moment later her pillar lit up and buzzed. ¡°What!?¡± Sheetal squeaked. ¡°What?¡± Needles asked. ¡°You broke it.¡± Sheetal said in an offended tone. ¡°That easily?¡± Needles asked. ¡°Yeah.¡± Sheetal felt a little stupid and that reflected in her tone. Needles deflated ¡°It¡¯s a good ability but we need to strengthen it.¡± ¡°You want me to enslave people?¡± ¡°No Sheetal, I need you to stay safe and win.¡± Needles stressed and started again ¡°Do you know how a battlefield medic fights? With poisoned projectiles. We are in a battlefield. We will use every advantage we have.¡± ¡°Fudge.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I expected you to be¡­ angry? Ashamed of me? Avoid me?¡± Sheetal looked at Needles in confusion. ¡°I am not the one who is going to avoid you.¡± Needles chuckled and looked up ¡°The person who would do that would be Ghost. I understand why he blew up the dreamscape. He is practically an inanimate object with half his soul and his consciousness is in here with you. If you bound him right now, you would bind him to your will. And he won¡¯t be able to break free. It must have scared him to the bone.¡± Ghost didn¡¯t appear but they all felt the sky harrumph. Sheetal grimaced ¡°Still, I don¡¯t want to bind him either.¡± ¡°After all he has done.¡± Needles shook her head ¡°Now tell me. Why is Ash angry?¡± Sheetal sighed ¡°Ash can¡¯t get over the fact that Ghost keeps outmanoeuvring him. Ghost can¡¯t get over the fact that Ash will do what he wants. This time he slotted another sense shard in his eye and Ghost lost it.¡± ¡°Did it make his eyes red?¡± Needles asked. ¡°No.¡± Sheetal replied with a chuckle. ¡°Oh, thank the Light. He would have been insufferable.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Needles reached out and hugged Sheetal ¡°Sheetal, we are friends. I trust you. You don¡¯t need to worry so much.¡± Sheetal nodded with teary eyes and sniffled ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Now, I am tired, and I am going to sleep. I suggest you do that too before your bothers comes back and cuddles into you.¡± Sheetal frowned and nodded ¡°Good idea.¡± ¡°Good night warder.¡± Day ¨C 631 Ash stomped up a hill and looked down the other side. His eyes settle on Sheetal, Needles, and JJ. They were fighting the vetaal¡¯s and nishachar with their enthralled. The same group of enemies they had been struggling against... He didn¡¯t even know how long it had been. ¡°This sucks!¡± ¡°Boss?¡± Ash jumped at Theory¡¯s voice. Having eyes was proving to be difficult. Not having eyes was not that good either. What the hell was he thinking? Was Ghost reading his mind? Was he implanting thoughts? Could he implant thoughts? ¡°This sucks more.¡± ¡°Want to clue me in Ash?¡± Theory asked. ¡°How did you get up here?¡± ¡°I followed you?¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°I ran.¡± ¡°Last time I checked Vetaal¡¯s were after you.¡± ¡°T made us a distraction.¡± ¡°Where¡¯s T?¡± ¡°Dead.¡± T and Ghost popped into existence next to Theory. ¡°Seriously. alll of you?¡± ¡°I am only dead because you threw into the enemy.¡± T accused theory. Theory shrugged ¡°You made a good distraction.¡± ¡°Getting clawed hurts you know.¡± T growled. ¡°Oh, come on kid. It¡¯s just for second and then Ghost pulls you out.¡± Theory dismissed. ¡°Enough. Are you going to take the training seriously? Or not?¡± Ghost growled. ¡°Nope.¡± Ash replied instantly. Ghost looked at Ash for a moment and then sighed ¡°Why?¡± Ash¡¯s cute little nose flared drawing grins from everyone. ¡°Stop that. I am trying to be difficult. Don¡¯t laugh.¡± People laughed. Ash snarled ¡°Ghost! You promised me something and I did my part.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Theory sobered and looked at Ghost. Ghost grimaced ¡°I know. I didn¡¯t expect the anathema to not to be effective. Maybe its too diluted. Maybe¡­¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± Ash hissed. ¡°What are we talking about?¡± T asked. ¡°I am blind.¡± Ash announced with his hands on his hips. T gave him a blank look. ¡°No, really T. I am blind. My body is blind. I can¡¯t see.¡± Ash explained. ¡°Then how can you see right now?¡± T asked. ¡°What? This is not real.¡± Ash shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s not how it works. The mind, body, and soul make a triangular feedback loop¡­¡± ¡°T, have you ever heard of a term called an idiot savant?¡± Ghost asked. ¡°Did you call me an¡­¡± ¡°He did mean it like that boss.¡± Theory cut in and explained ¡°He meant it like your mind is strong enough to do what it wants because you are awesome.¡± Theory gave Ghost a look that stopped him. Ash blinked in thought ¡°Yeah, I am awesome. Of course I am awesome.¡± ¡°Blind, High Councillor?¡± Theory asked in a casual tone even though his posture was one step away from violence. ¡°It¡¯s not permanent.¡± Ghost sighed ¡°He need anathema. Unadulterated and fresh. And then his eyes will start working.¡± ¡°And how are we supposed to do that? Throw the warders into a pit?¡± T asked sharply. ¡°Kid. Don¡¯t.¡± Theory warned and in stern voice chided T ¡°You are talking to the High Councillor.¡± T flinched and pointed at Ash ¡°Why does he get to be boss, and I can¡¯t even talk back?¡± ¡°Because he is warder. And he is awesome.¡± Theory said as a matter of fact. ¡°I am awesome.¡± Ash grinned with a far way look in his eyes. Everyone looked at him and the smiling Theory. ¡°Wait.¡± Ash snapped out of his thoughts ¡°Why don¡¯t I just go to the other side to get another bug, and then you can eat it, and give me anathema.¡± ¡°That¡­¡± Ghost looked around at the two other people and muttered ¡°Won¡¯t work.¡± Ghost explained in a soft voice ¡°When I ate the anathemic creature, what you got was the drippings. I was the one invading there. So, all you got was literally the stuff sticking to my body.¡± ¡°You did it.¡± Theory accused. Ghost straightened and looked at Theory. ¡°You performed the Ritual of Light¡¯s Service.¡± Theory said in a hushed voice. ¡°How do you know about that?¡± Ghost asked in a hushed voice. ¡°I am Theory. I headed the strategy for the fifth column. Do you seriously think I have never considered using that ritual?¡± Theory snorted. ¡°Ah¡­¡± Ghost grinned sheepishly. ¡°Excuse me? What are we talking about now?¡± T asked. Ash rolled his eyes ¡°T. Seriously man? Here, let me break it down for you. Ghost is a ripple now. She and I are Danavs. And I am blind. But you can¡¯t tell anyone anything about this. Especially She. About the blind thing. Not the Danav or Ripple thing.¡± T¡¯s mouth flew open, and he took a small step away from Ghost. ¡°Wait, Sheetal doesn¡¯t know?¡± Theory asked Ash ¡°No.¡± Ash replied in hushed voice. ¡°Aren¡¯t you both linked?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Ash replied nonchalantly. ¡°How does she not know then?¡± ¡°I hid it from her.¡± ¡°How?¡± Theory looked at Ghost with a baffled expression. ¡°He is awesome.¡± Ghost responded sarcastically. ¡°I am awesome.¡± Ash nodded. ¡°Why are hiding this?¡± Theory asked Ash. ¡°Because She, will turn into a mother hen. She will worry about me. She will hover over me. And She¡­ She cuddled back a couple of weeks ago. And even lifted me up and gave me a hug yesterday.¡± ¡°Lifted you up? With her powers?¡± T frowned. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s normal T. There is nothing strange about that.¡± ¡°So, what¡¯s the problem?¡± ¡°It felt nice.¡± Ash grimaced ¡°And it made me want not to be what I am.¡± Ghost ¡°Oh look T. Our friends are almost dead. Let¡¯s go get them.¡± Ghost and T disappeared leaving Theory and Ash behind. ¡°Am I supposed to say something profound here?¡± Theory asked Ash. Ash cocked his head to the side ¡°I think he wanted you to give be the big power - bigger responsibility speech.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what that is, but I guess I will give it a shot.¡± Theory grumbled and asked ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°Ash.¡± ¡°And your sister likes Ash.¡± ¡°Yeah, because I am awesome.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± ¡°But¡­ Theory, I don¡¯t feel things.¡± ¡°And she knows that.¡± Theory stated. ¡°Yeah, but it also makes me an excellent killer. And what happens when she finds out how many people I have killed?¡± Ash asked. ¡°And you are going to kill a lot of people boss. Do you think your sister won¡¯t? You are warders. And look at her.¡± Theory pointed down the hill. Sheetal was standing alone. A storm of pebbles and broken debris was whizzing all around her knocking and at time killing the enemies surrounding her. ¡°This training is desensitizing her. It is designed to do so. Believe me, when the topic comes up, she won¡¯t care.¡± Theory sighed ¡°What you should be really worried about is when she realises that you can¡¯t kill an army to protect her.¡± Ash snorted ¡°I can kill an army. I am awesome.¡± ¡°Right sorry, forgot that I was speaking to you, boss.¡± Theory smiled. Day ¨C 657 Ash returned to their home just besides the meadow. He yawned and looked up to see Sheetal nursing a cup of coffee in her palms. She had a chair underneath her but like always she was hovering just over it. ¡°Where did you go?¡± ¡°Playing with glyphs and Ghost.¡± Ash yawned and then corrected himself ¡°Ghost and I were playing with glyphs, I mean. Not each other.¡± ¡°Well, that was visual I did not need.¡± Sheetal grimaced. ¡°I know.¡± Ash grimaced back ¡°It just popped in my head and¡­¡± She looked at Ash making gagging noises. There was something off about him. Was it his hair? His almost afro curls were gone. Now his hair was wavy and longer. They almost reached down to his lower back. And made him look like a wild little boy. Although the thought kept popping into her head, she kept dismissing it. They bothe were going through a second round of changes. These ones were different and came from their training. Every day, that they trained with the superb seven changed them slightly and she hadn¡¯t noticed them until Needles had pointed out that her reflexes had improved. And then the way she moved changed. The way she floated around had gotten much smoother. She could chalk that up to the understanding of physics, gravity and polar force, Ghost had imparted to her but then she had abs. Flipping abs. And she was fit too. Needles attributed it to her using her core to lift her legs in the air to avoid attacks and dodge obstacle. The other things were what were troubling her. Like her face and body. Every living being was bio symmetrical. But slight imperfections like a nose twisted one way, an ear slightly longer the other, or even an eyebrow slightly off centre, was normal. Sheetal knew that she wasn¡¯t normal. And with just one look at the face of her brother standing in front of her, she knew Ash his features were as symmetrical as her if not more. It made them look unnaturally perfect. Except that their skin had a hint of blue to it which was getting deeper. As looked at Sheetal wearily and took a step back ¡°I am going to sleep.¡± ¡°Hold on. Why are you not coming to training?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°What¡¯s the point, She?¡± ¡°The point is we need to learn how to work with each other.¡± ¡°She, I am tired of this boring rocky training montage.¡± Sheetal narrowed her eyes ¡°Did you say Rocky?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Ash yawned. She needed him to be off guard to catch him. ¡°I thought you didn¡¯t know that guy?¡± Sheetal asked. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Hmmm¡­?¡± Ash who was moving towards the door stopped and asked ¡°Yeah I didn¡¯t. Then you kept thinking about this whole situation as a Rocky movie thing. Seriously that guy played a boxer? With all that muscle?¡± Ash snorted and continued ¡°I just know him as the bomb guy from the movie with the hot bath scene with that Basic Instinct... Ahhh¡­¡± Sheetal shot out a wave of binding magic and shot her hand out. She lifted Ash up restraining him in the air. ¡°She?¡± ¡°Hold on.¡± ¡°To what?¡± Sheetal brought up her other hand and made a grabbing gesture. This world was not a world but an imitation. Still, she was a binder. And she had bound everything around her. And now the reality around her obeyed her will. Sheetal flicked two of her fingers and the clothes on Ash¡¯s body turned to wisps and disappeared. Ash looked at her blankly. Sheetal ignored him. She needed to know if she was going crazy or was Ash going through the same thing too. Sheetal mind raced. Cataloguing the changes to Ash¡¯s body. His skin was turning blue too. However, unlike her, his changes were going in the opposite way. Ash didn¡¯t look anything like what he had looked like when they had first met. He was lean, muscular, and scarred. All that had changed when he had first levelled his density shard. He had literally burnt his skin and mass off. And the result was that he had looked emaciated. In the dreamscape he was shorter, effeminate, but he was still him. Now he didn¡¯t look like anything like he was. Heck, he didn¡¯t look like what he was a month ago. He looked soft. He wasn¡¯t muscular. He wasn¡¯t lean. He wasn¡¯t athletic. And he should have been all that because he couldn¡¯t help doing cartwheels, flips and rolls. And still he looked soft. Sheetal who had raised herself to catch Ash lowered herself back to her chair with a thoughtful look. ¡°Hello?¡± Ash asked and struggle in the air. ¡°Why are you soft?¡± Ash looked at Sheetal ¡°Excuse me?¡± Sheetal shook her head ¡°Not like that you freak?¡± ¡°Hey nerd, you literally spread me like the renaissance man. And I am the freak?¡± Sheetal flicked her finger and Ash dropped to the floor on soft feet. ¡°Renaissance man. You know classical art and I am the nerd.¡± Sheetal responded in mutter that was soft and has a hint of fear in it. ¡°She? What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°We are danav, Ash.¡± ¡°I know.¡± ¡°Ash, the birthmarks on my hands and feet are gone. The one in between my toes is also missing.¡± Sheetal explained. ¡°Um¡­¡± ¡°He did it.¡± Sheetal continued in a small voice ¡°Ghost said that he would change us. But¡­ I didn¡¯t think it would be so complete.¡± Ash slowly walked to Sheetal. Clothes appearing on his body out of nowhere and sat down next to her. ¡°Danav, Ash. What does that even mean? Are we monsters now?¡± Sheetal asked and wiped her eyes. When Ash didn¡¯t answer Sheetal gave him an irritated look ¡°It wasn¡¯t a rhetorical question, Ash.¡± Ash sighed ¡°A Danav is a half Deva and a half Daitya.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± ¡°A Daitya is an asura. A deva is deity. I think someone, somewhere got freaky and puff here we are.¡± Ash explained with a smile ¡°Will you be serious?¡± ¡°I am being serious, She.¡± ¡°Why do you even know this stuff?¡± Sheetal asked and added ¡°Why did they teach you these things?¡± ¡°They?¡± Ash chuckled and continued ¡°I had normal teachers, She. Sure, my schooling was more personalised. But it was done to win over a Hindu Nationalist crowd. I was supposed to be the black sheep of the family. The one who went to the other side of the political barrier. Appealed to the temple going crowd and won a seat from there. So that my mother could always have influence.¡± ¡°Like you brother?¡± Sheetal asked. Ash gave Sheetal a pained smile ¡°Yes. It didn¡¯t work with me. My sexuality got in the way.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°My mother saw an opportunity. She told me to go and entertain westerners and convince them to sell us their weapon systems.¡± Sheetal scowled ¡°I hate you mother.¡± ¡°No, you don¡¯t. You don¡¯t even know her.¡± ¡°I know enough.¡± ¡°She. Kavita Stalin is good for India. There is a reason why people always defer to my family. We have sacrificed and led our people for two hundred years.¡± ¡°Yeah, but you are the one who is always sacrificing not your mother, and not your brother.¡± Ash smiled ¡°She, Kavita Stalin is no longer my mother. The only family I have is you.¡± Sheetal looked up and smiled. She couldn¡¯t help but gather Ash in hug. Sure, it required more use of her power and annoyed Ash, who struggled in her embrace. ¡°I love you too baby brother.¡± ¡°Baby?¡± Ash muffled voice came from her chest ¡°Get those things out of my face.¡± ¡°They are called breast Ash.¡± Sheetal laughed. Ash separated himself and grumbled ¡°And I never said anything about love. You are mine She. That means you are only person I care about in this world.¡± Sheetal ruffled Ash¡¯s hair, taking care not to pull on his strands. They were sensitive. If touched normally they tickled, if handled roughly shot a spike of pain into their brain but when handled with care, turned him into a purring kitten. Ash melted in Sheetal¡¯s arms and when Sheetal chuckled, he changed the topic ¡°Danav. Do you know why I don¡¯t mind being one. And neither should you. Danavs were neither good nor bad. They were like humans. They could be good. They could be evil. But mostly they opposed overbearing deities.¡± ¡°Then why do we not have a good image of them in our myths?¡± ¡°Because they got their butt whooped. And history is written by the victors.¡± Ash began and when Sheetal hand stoke one of his strands gently sighed. It wasn¡¯t just the sensation. That was pleasant. It was also the affection he could feel from their link. Sheetal stopped. Ash raised his head with a conflicted look. He wanted to break away from Sheetal and at the same time wanted her to play with her hair. Sheetal snorted ¡°We need to do something about our strands.¡± Ash¡¯s shoulders slumped and in a dejected voice he sighed ¡°Yeah.¡± Day 671 Ash walked past ghost and Sheetal¡¯s picnic spot and asked ¡°So, are you dead yet?¡± He kept walking and for a brief second and Ash caught Ghost¡¯s lips twitching down. Ash grinned ¡°Not cool when things don¡¯t work out, isn¡¯t it.¡± ¡°They will work out. I just need some time.¡± Ash reached the end of the tree line and disappeared in a flash. Ghost didn¡¯t react and ignored Ash. Instead, he looked at Sheetal. She was the warder who would listen. He couldn¡¯t deny the fact that Ash had been his first choice to get what he wanted, and he still was, but Sheetal had earned his respect. She was a very intelligent young woman who was proving to be a genius. Her use of scientific calculations, natural physical forces alongside magic had made him reassess her potential, twice. That last time he had to do that was when he had deployed a horde of elemental at her and the seven. In response he had expected her to use danav ability to bind a few of them. Instead, she had created a tornado using her shards and bound that to her will and decimated the elements. When everyone looked at her in the aftermath she had shrugged and just said. ¡°Heat rises guys.¡± And now his admiration for her mental capacity and capability was at an all-time high. So, when she decided to converse about a theory or a new finding, he dropped everything and joined her. After all, who knew, he might learn a few things from her. ¡°So, potentiality has bands.¡± Sheetal instructed rather than asked ¡°According to you that is because potentiality is light.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°And light has wavelength.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± ¡°And our bodies store potentiality.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­mmm.¡± ¡°So why can¡¯t we use a specific band of potentiality rather than all of it. It will make the energy last longer and empower the effect we are trying to achieve.¡± Ghost sighed ¡°Sheetal, why would you want to do that? Think about it. Why would you want to stand still and concentrate on one effect when you can use external tools to do it much faster?¡± Sheetal far away eye focussed on Ghost. Her feelings towards Ghost were complicated. Had he mistreated them. Yes. Had he forced them into becoming danavs. Yes. But Sheetal knew that all he wanted now was to prepare them for the Raks. And now he was scheming in their favour. That alongside the font of knowledge he was turning out to be a swaying Sheetal in his favour. And almost two years into this relationship she could help but look forward to their conversation. No, she craved them. Ash was nice and she loved him, but he was a brat. Ghost was the one she enjoyed interacting with. Because everytime she began to theorise and brainstorm Ash ran away with words like ¡°I can¡¯t think so much. Leave me alone.¡± And then he spent most of his time wandering around and scheming, and humming that obnoxious jingle. Somewhere along the way he had found a way to break the meadow. The first time he had done it and appeared on the opposite side of where he had disappeared with a baffled expression Ghost had chuckled. ¡°You are a breaker remember?¡± Now her gods danged brother had made a game of walking in a straight line and disappearing. ¡°It doesn¡¯t make sense.¡± Sheetal finally said. The effect of just using on bandwidth for a particular effect should act like a multiplier.¡± Ghost shook his head and continued his explanation to Sheetal ¡°Lady warder, you need to stop thinking of potentiality as an energy flowing through conduits. Instead, think of it as sound. It is everywhere. Even in darkness. It flows through everything. Some of it seeps into you, your shards and through those mediums into your soul. Limiting yourself to a band of light, is inadvisable.¡± ¡°What if my body likes one band of light more than others? What is I am allergic to a particular type of light?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not how it works. We are creatures of light. And anyway, it is our souls that process potentiality and feed it to our body.¡± ¡°Explain the soul to me once again please.¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°A soul being a multi dimensional expression of you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I don¡¯t get. We live in three dimensional world. Everything we interact with is in a 3D world. Things you can touch, see and feel. If the soul is mutidimensional why can¡¯t we interact with those dimensions.¡± ¡°And smell.¡± Ash yelled from a distance. Ghost and Sheetal ignored Ash, Ghost continued ¡°Sheetal have you ever lost yourself in work or entertainment. And hours later looked at the time and realised how fast time had passed.¡± ¡°Yeah, we call it being in the zone.¡± ¡°I call it having fun.¡± Ash yelled from the edge of the spot. ¡°Being in the zone. I like it.¡± Ghost nodded. Sheetal shook her head ¡°Yes, but that¡¯s because I am doing something with three dimensional objects.¡± ¡°But is your mind absorbed in the task?¡± Ghost asked and explained ¡°When you are in the zone, as you say, your sensory inputs fade into the background. You stop hearing peripheral sounds. Soon, even the feeling from the tactile objects like stylus or a pad do not register anymore. And then you lose yourself to work. That you compartmentalise sensory inputs and let your mind and your soul take charge leaving your body behind.¡± Ash appeared on the other side and sighed loudly. He plopped down to the floor and pleaded ¡°Stop ignoring me.¡± Ghost continued ¡°I saw you interacting with my bracelet.¡± ¡°I like that pretty thing.¡± Ash said offhandedly. ¡°Thank you.¡± Ghost smiled ¡°It belonged to my wife.¡± Sheetal saw Ghost¡¯s smile become pained and his eyes reflect the pain he felt. Despite everything this man had done to her and Ash, the mutilation, the pain, the torture she couldn¡¯t help but feel for the man. He had taught them more about this world with his words and actions than she could have learnt on her own. ¡°I am going to take from your cold dead hands.¡± Ash glared at Ghost. Sheetal being so closely tied to Ash often forgot that her brother didn¡¯t feel empathy for anyone but himself. And her. He was awesome. She was awesome and no one else mattered. The way his mind worked and was strange but comforting to her. After two years of being linked with Ash, Sheetal had figured out how he worked. Lacking empathy, Ash worked on a simple philosophy. Whether someone was his or not. If you were his, he would kill everything that looked the wrong way at you. And if you weren¡¯t then you didn¡¯t matter. And Sheetal was firmly above the mine category. That both annoyed her and made him love Ash even more. Ghost, did not enjoy the dubious pleasure of being in the mine list. Ash was open to it unlike when they had first got here. But whatever had happened in between them had made him elevate Ghost a tier or two. He didn¡¯t tell the old man that. In fact, he was both annoyed and appreciative of Ghost. But whatever was going on in between the two men right now, needed to get sorted out if Ghost wanted to get on the list. ¡°We are ascended in a trial Ash. We turn to ash.¡± Ghost chuckled ¡°Fine.¡± Ash sighed ¡°I will pick it up, dust it off, wash it and take it.¡± ¡°Still angry?¡± Ghost asked with a coy smile. ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°Anyway.¡± Ghost smiled ¡°As I was saying, Sheetal. I saw you interacting with my bracelet. I presume, you come from a world where your technology is still based on touch?¡± ¡°Yes. And voice.¡± ¡°Huh. Well, that explains it. You are having a hard time understanding the concept of soul because you haven¡¯t integrated your technology into your minds. Once you do that you will realise your body and sometimes even your mind are subsidiary organs for your soul. We all find that out when we install our first neurochip.¡± ¡°Like a neurolink?¡± Sheetal¡¯s eye widened. ¡°A what?¡± Ash asked ¡°That thing Musk wants to put inside people¡¯s brains.¡± ¡°Oh. That monitoring device the yanks use.¡± Ash scowled. Sheetal and Ghost looked at Ash. ¡°Yeah, it exists. Why do you think Assange shut up?¡± Ash looked at Sheetal as if she was stupid. ¡°Our neuro chips were initially designed to collect data from all our senses and store them for later. They were created to transmit sensory data from the field to surveillance centres.¡± Ghost continued and explained ¡°That is when we learned that sometimes our brains stop actively thinking. And that is when we have our greatest insights. Feelings like that of being watched, apprehension when you entered a dangerous place, getting goosebumps while turning around the corner, all didn¡¯t register in data.¡± Ghost grinned ¡°Then we put the neuro chips in our scientists. Do you know what we found? The eureka moments when an insight dawned registered nothing. The who chip went dead for a second. It didn¡¯t even display the elapsed time. One other thing we found out. Every time a sentient is lost in those moments, when they come out, they all look at the time. We believed that it is a reflex action of the body and mind to make sure that they are in the three dimensions of its origin.¡± ¡°Skibiddi gyatt! I didn¡¯t get a word of what you said.¡± Ash sang again and laughed ¡°I am going to call it all the councillor tax.¡± ¡°Stop getting insecure Ash.¡± Sheetal huffed. ¡°Yes. It is a difficult explanation for everyone.¡± Ghost tried to lift the boy¡¯s spirit. ¡°I am not insecure. I am awesome.¡± Ash harrumphed and asked ¡°How did we get from punching to things with mister fantasy hands to whatever you both are talking about?¡± ¡°Mister fantastic arms, Ash.¡± Sheetal corrected. ¡°Nah, I like mine better. It is naughtier.¡± ¡°As I was saying¡­¡± Ghost continued ¡°Your body stores potentiality by sucking it up from the air. And that how you use potentiality by pushing it into your shards to run fast or hover in your sister¡¯s case. Similarly, ghost step, the first part of doom step, does the same thing in reverse. Projecting a punch, a kick or throwing magic with the help of a limb that¡¯s not there all requires an understanding of soul.¡± Ash¡¯s eyes glazed over midway through the explanation ¡°So, I can do it?¡± Ghost sighed ¡°Yes.¡± And after a pause added ¡°With time and practice.¡± ¡°What is the point of all this blah blah.¡± Ash threw his hand up in the air ¡°Just teach me. We are running out of time.¡± Sheetal turned to look at Ash ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°She. We are going to wake up soon. I just hope I remember this dream. I have plans you know.¡± Sheetal turned sharply to look at Ghost. ¡°Oh. That.¡± Ghost grinned ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I am transferring all the data from your clone brains to your bodies. Soon your brain wave patterns will sync, and you won¡¯t need the brains in breakers.¡± ¡°Aaa¡­ What the fud?¡± Sheetal squeaked. Ghost turned to Ash ¡°You didn¡¯t tell her?¡± Ash groaned ¡°Ghost. Why? Why?!¡± ¡°Does that mean you cloned us and killed us. And now we are duplicates of ourselves?¡± Sheetal asked in a rush and muttered ¡°Oh my gods. We are dead, aren¡¯t we?¡± ¡°Relax lady warder.¡± Ghost said in a calming tone. ¡°You relax you mad murderous mud brained freak!¡± Sheetal screamed. ¡°Mad murderous mud brained freak.¡± Ash mouthed in appreciation ¡°Lady warder.¡± Ghost said in sterner voice and continued ¡°Do you remember what I told you when you got here? This is how we create augs? Not only do we create augs here, but this is also how we train augs them to accept their new bodies. They come here with biological bodies. Often those bodies are beyond repair. That includes their brains. So, we clone their brains and train them to think again and reuse their shards. It is a normal procedure.¡± ¡°Then why are we blue?¡± Sheetal spat out. ¡°Actually, you are not blue enough. Your brain is reconnecting to your soul. That is why you have started to see changes in yourselves. When your body starts to connect you will be able to control this reality as easily as Ash does. And on a wider scale.¡± Ash grinned ¡°And that¡¯s what he is afraid of.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean you will remember everything that happened here. Some parts, like the ones from the beginning when your soul¡¯s grip on your bodies was tenuous, will be hazy.¡± Ghost continued. Sheetal narrowed her eyes ¡°What does that mean?¡± ¡°Okay, so like when you go on a date in your dreams.¡± Ash began to explain ¡°You know the kind where you don¡¯t remember what you said or what they said but clearly remember being used by a man, his woman and their trans friend while tied up? That what he means.¡± Ash smiled dreamily ¡°Speaking of which, this is the worst dream I have ever had.¡± Ghost looked at Sheetal and said ¡°Thank you.¡± Sheetal shook her head ¡°Yeah, I had to put an end to that.¡± Ash opened his mouth wide and looked at Sheetal ¡°What does the murderous mud brained freak mean?¡± ¡°Ash nobody wants to see someone they care about like¡­ Tied up like that!¡± Ash worked his jaw and sulked ¡°Not nice, She.¡± ¡°Ash, you were tied up with chains while people were doing things to you. I thought you were having a nightmare. Not fun.¡± Ash sat up and looked at Sheetal sharply ¡°What did you do?¡± Sheetal hesitated. ¡°What did you do!?¡± Ash asked in a half shout. ¡°I sort of lost my temper and might have launched that thing I was working on at the people next to you. Next thing I know, the building, your dystopian city and you are gone. Then you appeared again. In a radioactive wasteland putting on a floral shirt hoping to get it ripped oof by three people.¡± ¡°You nuked me?¡± ¡°I thought¡­¡± Sheetal began sharply and with a sigh muttered ¡°You know.¡± ¡°And you nuked me!¡± ¡°It was a¡­ There was error in my calculation.¡± ¡°A moment Ash.¡± Ghost stopped Ash with a gesture and asked Sheetal ¡°Could you elaborate on what you were trying to do and what you are doing now?¡± ¡°I am trying to create a torpedo. Full of hyper agitated energy molecules that would explode on impact and create a splash damage with its residue.¡± ¡°But it turned into a nuke. Are you compressing the matter?¡± ¡°And irradiating it.¡± Sheetal nodded. ¡°Sheetal when you are shooting out plasma it needs to have a magnetic delivery method. That is what will anchor it to the target.¡± Ghost grinned ¡°Let me guess. Your containment field is failing before the matter turns into plasma.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Sheetal nodded. Ghost laughed ¡°You need to keep the plasmatic matter in a different dimension to do that. Then all you have to do is deliver it.¡± ¡°And how am I supposed to do that?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°With a dimension shard and magnetic shard.¡± ¡°Oh great, she is going to kill me.¡± Ash shook his head and glared at Ghost ¡°You know she can¡¯t aim, right?¡± Ghost held up a hand to stop Ash and continued ¡°But using a dimension shard is not as easy. You don¡¯t just push potentiality into it. First you have to use potentiality to build a space slightly off resonance and then to keep it open. And that¡¯s the easy part. Feeding it while you sleep, or unconscious is the hard bit. Ask E65 about that. He has one.¡± Ghost turned to look at Ash ¡°Now, Ash. I am not going to rebuke anyone if they don¡¯t want to look at your deranged fantasy. In fact, I am going to thank them. Thank you, Sheetal.¡± ¡°You are welcome, Ghost.¡± Ash pointed his finger at the two and opened his mouth ¡°Weren¡¯t you both fighting right now?¡± Flash. Needles appeared on the large lawn in front of the mansion and looked around. ¡°Neeeeeedles! Help. They are ganging up on me.¡± Ash pointed at the councillor and Sheetal. Taran 45 couldn¡¯t help but smile which he quickly covered up with his explanation ¡°Sheetal one more thing, when you do acquire a dimension shard, which will be very hard to do, your control needs to be perfect with it. A feather here or there and you will risk cracking your shard.¡± Sheetal grimaced ¡°Yeah I don¡¯t want that to happen again.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about that now. I have repaired the damage but in future when you acquire a shard, I hope you will let me instruct you before you use it. And do not keep information like a broken or cracked shard from me anymore.¡± ¡°It¡¯s healed now?¡± Ghost closed his eyes ¡°Shards are supposed to slowly crystallise in your soul and get absorbed. By cracking your shard you made it weaker. If I wasn¡¯t transforming myself, and could see the issue, you would have hampered your growth. It is fixed now. And in complete balance with your other shards. But be careful in the future.¡± Sheetal nodded and looked at Ash who was waving his hands about wildly complaining about all of his misery to an exasperated Needles. ¡°Why is it so important that our shards are balanced?¡± ¡°Because shards become a part of your soul.¡± Ghost looked at Sheetal as if all his instructions had gone to waste. ¡°Yes, I know, when you absorb your shards you level up and you want your shards to be perfect at that time. But, say, if I don¡¯t want to focus on wind can¡¯t I just keep it the way it is?¡± ¡°Still smarting about the fact that you can¡¯t aim?¡± ¡°He is a flipping axe.¡± Sheetal stopped and tried to correct her words ¡°I mean his is a¡­ Ah!¡± Ghost chuckled ¡°I get what you were trying to say. You should concentrate on building a wide area effect. Why kill one elemental when you can crush three? Also, I am working on getting you magnetic and dimension shards. It won¡¯t be easy, and you might have to go and get it for yourself. But then you won¡¯t have to worry about not being able to aim so much.¡± ¡°See¡­?¡± Ash pointed at Sheetal and Ghost while dragging Needles by a hand. Needles glared at Ghost. ¡°What is it specialist medic?¡± ¡°You have increased the cycles of the dreamscape and locked it from inside.¡± Needles stated in a flat tone. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I had to ask the system to let me in.¡± ¡°Were you stopped?¡± ¡°No. It said I had access because I was the warders physician.¡± ¡°There you go.¡± Needles glare hardened and settled on the councillor ¡°Why? What are you doing here?¡± ¡°Teaching.¡± Needles cheek twitched in supressed anger ¡°High councillor, they are my patients. If I am afraid of stepping inside a time dilated zone, I can¡¯t attend to them.¡± ¡°I sped things up. Not slowed them down. You won¡¯t lose anytime here.¡± ¡°It would have been helpful if I had known.¡± ¡°Needles.¡± Ghost smiled ¡°I need to finish their training. Tell me, have my efforts hindered or helped the warders?¡± Needles remained silent. ¡°With me speeding up the cycles on the dreamscape the med pods their mental reading were mapped faster than anathema could mutate their brains. Now the medpods know what to focus on and what to change.¡± ¡°You couldn¡¯t have known¡­¡± Needles spat out. ¡°Of course I did.¡± Ghost cut Needles off and said ¡°I orchestrated this plan.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t expect the ripple to show up.¡± ¡°No. But expected the Khara to do what they do. Meddle in mortal and immortal affairs.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Needles asked. ¡°We need to prepare them for what is coming Needless. They are still behind schedule. I need to stuff as much information I can in their minds before I send them out to fight. They are not ready yet.¡± Sheetal looked in between Ghost and Needles. On one hand Needles had stood up for them against her whole organisation. On the other was Ghost. He had wronged them but, he had also helped them. ¡°I hate it when mom and dad fight don¡¯t you, She?¡± Ash asked in a loud whisper. ¡°What do you know about having a dad? Didn¡¯t your mother just bang someone to pop you out?¡± Sheetal asked with a raised eyebrow. ¡°That is¡­ That is¡­¡± Ash paused and nodded appreciatively ¡°That is a nice burn, She. I should have researched your family dynamics to shoot one back at you.¡± Sheetal grinned. Needles harsh look turned softer as she looked at Ash and Sheetal banter. She finally spoke ¡°Warders. I hate to do this, but Councillor Ruby F would like to speak to you. Do I have you permission to bring her in?¡± Sheetal looked at both Needles and Ghost and they could see the conflict on her face. Ash grinned ¡°Oh?¡± Now that something new was happening Sheetal could feel the anticipation from him. So much so that for a moment that for a moment he had dropped humming that annoying jingle. In that short moment Sheetal could feel a rapid series of thoughts shoot through his tiny brain only leaving one though behind. Finally, after almost two years he was seeing one of his pieces move. And was looking forward to finding out which one it was. Ash quite literally rubbed his hands together and danced on the spot. ¡°Oh good. Good. Good. Good. Good.¡± Ash sang and when everyone looked at him he added ¡°Umm¡­ I just mean I get to speak to someone that will speak normally.¡± Ghost sighed ¡°We¡¯ll get back to soul and its quantum capabilities later Sheetal. Ash, be careful. I don¡¯t need to tell you that you are delving into politics.¡± ¡°Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.¡± Ash waved his hand impatiently and looked at Needles ¡°Bring her in.¡± Needles looked at Sheetal for her agreement. Sheetal nodded ¡°Go ahead Needles. Bring her in.¡± Flash. Captain Ruby F blinked her eyes rapidly and focussed them on the warders. ¡°Warders. I have a few questions.¡± ¡°Hello, captain of the starship Jean-Luc Kirk.¡± Sheetal cringed and muttered ¡°Enterprise Ash. Enterprise.¡± Ruby F looked baffled for a second and realised her faux paus. She started again. ¡°Hello warder. We are sorry to disturb you, but would you mind answering a few questions for me?¡± Ash shrugged ¡°Hey we are your prisoners. Afraid of more pain. Go ahead. Ask and we will answer.¡± Ruby F grimaced and shot a glare at the High Councillor ¡°Very well. Tell me how you know the Asura, Kapas.¡± ¡°Who?¡± Sheetal asked. At the same time Ash fist pumped ¡°Nice!¡± He looked up at the sky and screamed ¡°Finally, what kind of bear are you? How long did I have to dangle my butt in front of your face?¡± Ruby F turned to Ash ¡°Well, warders? How do you know him?¡± Ash grinned ¡°Oh we ran into him. Killed forty fifty of his people. Rescued your people. And made a lasting impression on our first date. In response, you all did this to us.¡± Ruby F wasn¡¯t surprised by the hostility she was facing but the rudeness was grating. ¡°What are we talking about?¡± Sheetal asked for clarification. ¡°The Goro looking guy, She.¡± ¡°Oh! Kapasura. Yeah, he wanted to be friends.¡± ¡°I know. I have been thinking of those thick fingers on those four arms. They were¡­¡± ¡°Ash!¡± ¡°Fine.¡± Ash relented. Ruby F looked from one warder to another and sighed ¡°Kapasura sent us a message. Actually, he sent you a message through us. May I play for you?¡± The warders nodded and Ruby waved her hand forward. Two brown hooded men stood opposite a man in armour. With a start they realised that it was an elemental. And it wasn¡¯t made from one element. It was made of stone and fire. A magma elemental. One of the two men opposing the elemental raised a clawed hand and twisted it. A spiralling drill of wind out of it. It impacted the rock man, and the flames winked out. The second man blurred into motion and cleaved with a large sword. The sword that had appeared out of nowhere shot out an arc of energy that split the towering man into too. ¡°Whooo¡­ It¡¯s like watching Bleach.¡± Ash whooped ¡°Wait, you know bleach?¡± Sheetal asked ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°But not, Star Wars or Star Trek?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°It¡¯s good.¡± ¡°It¡¯s in Japanese. Or did you watch the dubbed version?¡± ¡°Nah., I had to pirate it. Couldn¡¯t leave a digital marker there. So, Japanese it was.¡± ¡°Why go through so much effort? Ash made a weighing scale gesture with his hand ¡°She. One side we have hot anime boys, small chested women, and hunky Byakuya. And on the other we have an old man and painted prop aliens. What do you think I will watch?¡± Ruby F looked at Ghost who was sitting on a log silently chuckling. She turned to Needles. She was standing stone faced in front of her, but her eyes had an amused look to them. And there she was, a councillor of the continuum being totally ignore. ¡°Warders. Focus!¡± Ruby F scolded and played the paused recording. The swordsman turned and lowered his hood revealing a familiar handsome face with an underbite. He smiled at whoever or whatever was recording the message. And then tuned to face the camera fully. ¡°Warders. Tired of the continuum yet? Have they locked you in a room somewhere and threatened you to do what they want? Or are they pampering you to turn you into their tools?¡± Kapasura asked in jovial tone ¡°If so. Look we have elementals. I killed these one. But there are more. And there are mutated creatures that are going to come after you and your metal clad servants. I can¡¯t kill them. Empire business you know. So, here is an advanced warning. You can thank me by coming to the spire on top of the sink hole. We must talk. I will bring the madera. You can bring the snacks.¡± The video stopped at the bottle of rosy liquid dangling from two of Kapasura¡¯s fingers. Ruby F waved her hand and made the video go away. ¡°Warders, that is a very friendly tone from a Rak.¡± Ruby F said suspiciously. ¡°Yeah, what about it? You going to kill us for that now?¡± Sheetal narrowed her eyes and growled. Ruby F gritted her teeth and glared at Sheetal. She wanted to threaten the girl, but she had no way of doing that. Instead, she scowled at Ghost ¡°You know threatening someone really doesn¡¯t work when they are not attached to a body, high councillor.¡± Ghost grinned ¡°Or with a ripple watching over them. All of this, Captain, is by design. My design. They are warders. I am not going to let you or anyone else control them.¡± ¡°I guess the only one who controls them is you?¡± Ruby F hissed ¡°Then tell them what Raks do to world they conquer.¡± Ghost casually turned to look at Ash ¡°Ash. Sheetal. Raks are like locusts. They go to a world, eat everything on it. Leave a few people behind to reproduce and then go do it all over again.¡± ¡°So, they are, farmers?¡± Ash chuckled. ¡°There.¡± Ghost looked at Ruby F and gestured at Ash ¡°I have told them.¡± Ruby F glared at Ghost. In the silence Ash tapped his foot and muttered ¡°We should have gone with the four armed guy. For a farmer he is hot.¡± ¡°They are cannibals, Ash.¡± Sheetal reminded her brother. ¡°No, She, they are not even of our species. And by that definition, what is the continuum? Thankless kidnappers who are racists, speciest, amoral mutilators? What are we? We don¡¯t even have bodies.¡± Sheetal chuckled ¡°We are ghosts with Ghost.¡± Ash closed his eyes ¡°Oh god. Please never do that again. You are not punny¡± ¡°Point taken.¡± Sheetal nodded ¡°I know you are worried about what happens next, but you need to come to terms with that, She.¡± ¡°But we have never been able to beat the raks, even in simulations. And we have never faced an asura.¡± Ruby F looked at Ghost. He had a pensive look on his face. The specialist medic next to him was glaring holes into the High Councillor. She herself felt shamed by the warders words but she didn¡¯t show it. Instead, she nodded curtly and said ¡°Yes, you need come to terms with what the High Councillor has done and get to work.¡± ¡°Work?¡± Sheetal folded his hand and asked ¡°Why would we want to work?¡± ¡°You are warders. You have a mission to protect us.¡± ¡°How would we even do that? We don¡¯t even have bodies.¡± Ash grinned. ¡°You have bodies. Perfectly good ones. You just need to accept them.¡± Ruby F scowled. Your body has mutated and changed. Cause ¨C Anathematic Mutation. A race with 81% genetic match to your body has existed in the past. Race Name ¨C Danav You may add a prefix to the race name with variations of New, Modern, etc. This change will act as your acceptance to reintegrate with your body. You may also continue with the old name of your new species. Add a new name? Yes or no? ¡°Oh, you mean this?¡± Sheetal pulled out the notification and displayed it. She hit yes and a box popped open. ¡°I would but, it not taking my response. Look¡± Sheetal pointed at the pop up ¡° ¡°Human.¡± Sheetal tried. The notifications box buzzed unhappily. ¡°Awesome.¡± Ash shouted with the same result. ¡°Manushya?¡± Sheetal tried a new one. ¡°More awesome?" Ash asked ¡°Woman.¡± ¡°Wowsome.¡± Ash pleaded ¡°Homosapien.¡± Ash grinned and in suggestive tone wagged his eyebrows ¡°Homo erotic.¡± ¡°Ewww.¡± Sheetal glared at Ash ¡°And don¡¯t make that face.¡± Ruby F gritted her teeth and took a step forward ¡°Warders!¡± Needles stepped in front of the shorter woman ¡°Councillor, I think it¡¯s time for you to leave.¡± Needles said in a calm voice. Ruby F snarled ¡°Get out of my way, specialist medic.¡± ¡°Councillor, there is a ripple monitoring us. Please calm yourself and leave.¡± Ruby F stopped took in a breath and glared at Sheetal. Her glare turned to Ghost who was barely holding his laughter at bay. ¡°High councillor, when are you planning to return from your absentia?¡± ¡°Ghost?¡± Ash looked at the man and added ¡°I think it¡¯s time to let go? Don¡¯t you think it is time to let go?¡± Ghost smiled ¡°I guess it is.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Ruby F asked. Ghost closed his eyes and exhaled ¡°There. It¡¯s done.¡± ¡°So, you dead yet?¡± Ghost¡¯s body glitched. He suddenly held his midsection in pain and let out a slow steady breath. Ash laughed ¡°Oh, that looked.¡± He grimaced and asked ¡°How did you hide the pain until now?¡± ¡°I was taught to ignore the pain remember?¡± ¡°What are you talking about!?¡± Ruby F screamed ¡°Ghost is dead. All hail the new Ghost¡± Ash announced in a dramatic voice and then turned to the medic ¡°Needles. When his body turns to ash can you get his bracelet for me. I want that thing. And the doom step tokens too please.¡± Needles turned to look at Ghost ¡°High councillor?¡± Ghost gave Needles a defeated look ¡°Fine, you can have it. Just don¡¯t break it, okay.¡± ¡°High councillor. I think you need to explain yourself.¡± Ruby F pressed. ¡°Captain, the ripple. It judged me. It said I had a life debt to the warders. It only gave me two options. Either I could serve the warders for the rest of my existence, or it would punish every continuum soul around us. I did all of this to save the continuum. So, I chose this.¡± ¡°Wow! Does that mean you are my¡­ What are you of me, Ghost?¡± Ash asked in a taunting tone. Sheetal floated to Ghost ¡°Ash. Stop!¡± Sheetal reached for Ghost and rested a hand on his shoulder ¡°Are you okay?¡± Ghost nodded wordlessly. Sheetal glared at her brother ¡°Ash thinks the light twisted your insides?¡± ¡°More like untwisted my insides.¡± Ash snapped his fingers ¡°Your like Alexa. Or Google home. Or like ChatGPT? I don¡¯t know. I have always wanted to have a digital assistant.¡± ¡°Shut your fool mouth.¡± Ruby F growled ¡°You are talking about the High Councillor of the Continuum. Not some algorithm to do some simple tasks.¡± Ash turned a cool look on Ruby F. His voice was level but sharp ¡°No, I am talking about a manipulative freakazoid. Who held us in captivity and experimented on us. And now he can¡¯t live up to his promises. So, now I am going to hold him as a hostage and¡­ and¡­¡± Ash voice grew in pitch as he snarled ¡°And¡­, She here¡­ She is going to experiment on him. Until he is a miserable pile of rotting meat under my feet.¡± ¡°Ash.¡± Sheetal said in a calming tone Ash angry eyes turned to Sheetal ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± ¡°Ash.¡± ¡°You were crying.¡± ¡°It¡¯s in the past.¡± ¡°He made you cry.¡± Ash pointed at Ghost ¡°This weak old thing made you cry. Nothing is in the past.¡± Sheetal folded her arms ¡°I am not going to experiment on him.¡± ¡°Why!?¡± Ash shrieked, kicked a stone, and stomped the ground. ¡°Because that is wrong.¡± Ash clawed the air in frustration ¡°She, when people hurt you, you hurt them back. You hurt them back so hard that they never even think about meeting your eyes. That is how you set an example so that no one else messes with you. That¡¯s how you remain safe.¡± ¡°Also, I am not going to experiment on him because he is not alive anymore. This is Ghost¡¯s copy.¡± ¡°More like his soul?¡± Ash grumbled. ¡°I don¡¯t believe in souls.¡± Ash exhaled ¡°You actually think, you are copy of a consciousness?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Sheetal stressed ¡°Look according to simulation theory we are all constructs. If light is what they say it is. Then it can be coded to take instructions. Then we are nothing but NPCs in grand game.¡± Ash groaned ¡°She¡­ Why do you have such a hard time believing that you are awesome?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You are special, She. And that comes from what is inside you.¡± Ash pointed at Sheetal¡¯s chest. Sheetal rolled her eyes ¡°Okay, Ash. Fine.¡± She looked down at him with an affectionate smile ¡°That is nice. But why do you believe in souls anyway? Weren¡¯t you a raised as an atheist?¡± Ash exhaled loudly ¡°She atheist have nothing against souls. It¡¯s god or gods, that is a problem. Honestly, it is not even that. It¡¯s religion that they have a problem with. Because religious institutions gather power and flex it.¡± Sheetal exhaled ¡°You are cynical.¡± ¡°No, She, I am a realist who knows everything is always about power. As is everything. Like this one.¡± Ash pointed at Ruby F ¡°She is wondering if Ghost is actually dead and if she could fill the power vacuum he left behind.¡± Ash was deflecting the soul question, and Sheetal knew it ¡°What are you hiding?¡± Ash hesitated for a bit and then chuckled. He pointedly looked at Ghost and in a whimpering child like voice he answered ¡°I see dead people.¡± ¡°What?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°It¡¯s from the fifth sense.¡± ¡°Sixth.¡± Sheetal corrected automatically and shook her head ¡°What do you mean you see dead people?¡± Ash sighed ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? I can see souls, She.¡± ¡°What? Wait. What? How? When? Where? How? What!?¡± Ash groaned ¡°And that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t tell you.¡± ¡°Wait a minute? What do they look like?¡± Sheetal asked zipping after a running Ash. ¡°Not answering your questions.¡± Ash ran. Sheetal flew after him ¡°Stop!¡± ¡°Leave me alone.¡± While the warders argued and chased after each other and Ghost sat on his favourite log and laughed. Needles and Ruby F looked at him and then opened their eyes in the large open hall with the med pods. They looked at JJ standing next to a chair with floating bags of liquid around it. They¡¯re eyes drifted downwards at ash flowing down the seat. Along with ash and dust, the High Councillor¡¯s twinkling shards fell. They zipped across the room and into the metal shell of the med pods. The ghost step tokens, favour coins and his belonging fell onto the seat and into the ash. The last thing to fall was a dainty little bracelet. It was the only thing that remained untouched by the ash and dust. It made a soft sound clinking as it hit the ground which Needles heard like a thud. ¡°Gods!¡± Needles muttered under her breath. ¡°No, specialist medic. The light.¡± Ruby F whispered from besides her and added ¡°It can be ruthless.¡± Interlude 3 - The Yaksha and the Lost God. Eight hundred and fifty million years ago, sideways, a chaos god looked at the cosmos. Amongst the others of his kind, the cosmos was hidden from his sight. Still, he could catch a few glimpses of it here and there. The cosmos sometimes appeared like a rope, a plain, a six-sided table, or a grand landscape, and other times, it was maddening to the mind. Fractals that buried into your mind and broke even the divine, chaotic shapes that turned you into insignificant particles of sand, and finally the Discordia. The one that couldn¡¯t be explained. Not even by him. A god of chaos. And through all that a god had to chart their next steps to survival. Morgaise was still young. Somewhat insignificant. And he had made enemies on all sides. That was the curse of being a chaosling. One of these days he would have to delve into the chaotic planes. Planes where time was power, and power was time. Where hideous creatures were born and lost in an instant. And intruders lost their lives in millions every second. But not today. Today was the day when the great serpent graced the divine with its presence. And in its wake chaos would follow. Chaos that could unmake him, bring changes to his forms and purpose, or sustain his for centuries. But to a god of chaos the changes weren¡¯t damaging. In fact, they were soothing. It felt warm and told him that reality was mailable. He looked across the cosmos to the other side of the table where the gods of order stood to shield reality from chaos. Compared to them he was a little pebble and once again reminded of his insignificance. The orderlings didn¡¯t like the ever-changing nature of the cosmos. Eleven hells, they didn¡¯t even like their clothes drawers. They liked everything sorted out in neat little boxes. And reality wasn¡¯t that. It was strange, messy, and wonderful. Just as he finished that thought the cosmos shifted from a plane of nebulas into an opaque dodecahedron. Everyone leaned back. The chaoslings leaned forwards but instead of chaos, darkness flew into the space. The chaos gods groaned and instead of whooping and cheering like the dark gods, the handful of chaos gods all looked behind them. Discord, draped in a every changing shade of red, the greatest of the chaos gods, glared at her counterpart sheathed in a glowing white light. They stood like that, for ages. Both holding each other back in the grand game. And they would for as long as they needed to. The young chaos god didn¡¯t have time for this showdown that had lasted for millennia. Instead, of joining the rest, Morgaise took the commotion as an opportunity. Through the press of the presences around him he peeped at the cosmos. Trying to catch a path of purpose through everchanging realities to chalk a path for himself and his people. His sight looked through the interlaced timelines and went through them one thread at a time. And found no viable moves. The bird under his foot twitched. The chaos god looked down at it. ¡°Let me go, Morgaise and I will¡­¡± Morgaise turned his foot into a mouth and chomped down. The stupid overgrown bird was cut off midsentence. What was she thinking? The dumb bird had flown into the chaotic portion of the cosmos to distract Discord. To give their enemies a chance to gain ground. So he had to stop her. And he had done it all alone. The essence of the dumb bird god flowed into him and for a blink of a miniscule portion of a microsecond, all eyes turned to him. He knew what they were thinking. He had just killed a good and consumed it. God killers, needed to be put down. But, he was a chaos god in the heart of chaos. And still, He felt a couple of gazes on him. One was from the side of order. Thankfully it wasn¡¯t the big shining beacon of order. That guy could have winked his existence by a glance. The other gaze he expected. The dark goddess of foxes. She masqueraded herself as a chaotic trickster but revelled in misery and death. And once he had called her out on it, she had gone to his mother and complained. And that is why Morgana had sent him away to his aunt Discord. Now he was firmly in the chaos camp and losing his significance amongst other more powerful chaos gods. But hey, now he had more power. And the taste of fried chicken on his tongue. And maybe, just maybe he could survive for a few millennia more. His eyes drifted from the fox goddess to the order. The second gaze wasn¡¯t hostile. It was considering. It was the gaze of the Timekeeper. He met the gaze with curiosity. And the timekeeper suddenly disappeared. Morgaise looked around. He couldn¡¯t find the god of order anywhere. And a bad feeling started bubbling inside him. Crack. The Timekeeper appeared next to him Morgaise, startling the young chaos god. Time froze around him locking his panicked scream inside him. Then the chaos god felt the pull. Whup. Morgaise dangled in front of the order god like an amorphous mess. ¡°Morgaise. Are you tired of this crowded table?¡± The timekeeper asked in a slow methodical candence. With the Timekeepers every word, Morgaise could feel the reality quaking and the reverberation revealed that he was separated from the cosmos. The Timekeeper snorted and ordered the red cloud holding on to the cosmos with a thread of its will ¡°Pull yourself together youngling.¡± Separated from the realities, Morgaise could feel his existence winking out. The Timekeeper did something unexpected. He strengthened Morgaise¡¯s grip. He didn¡¯t just do it with the power of order. He did it with chaos. Morgaise now safe took form from his ethereal chaotic gaseous form to a humanoid shape. ¡°You. What?¡± Morgaise looked at the Timekeeper with questions. The Timekeeper looked at him and smiled. Morgaise would have looked at him slackjawed if he had a jaw. The god was chaos masquerading as order. ¡°Chronos?¡± Morgaise asked. ¡°Yessss. That¡¯s what they call me right now. They me Janus earlier. But none of those are my real name. But, you already know that our kind have many names. And I am old. I will always be old.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Morgaise asked hundreds of questions with that single word. ¡°Merlin will impose order boy. It is needed. Gods will fall. Discord will be pushed back. Camaraderie will flourish. Empires will rise. Sentients will look to the sky and give the cosmos meaning. Then his hold will crack. Discord will return and with it, chaos. I have seen this before and I will see it again. It is endless.¡± Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Chronos, Janus, let Morgaise go, and he quickly formed the rest of his body. One of a redheaded man with blue druidic patterns all over his body. Janus continued ¡°But you will die. Even if I let you live right now, you will die. So, I will give you a chance. Like I gave your brother a chance.¡± ¡°Modred?¡± ¡°Yes, but I hope, unlike him you will choose wisely.¡± ¡°What chance?¡± ¡°A change of scenery. You are not needed here. But grandmother could use you elsewhere.¡± ¡°Grand¡­ Mother?¡± ¡°Light, boy. Light.¡± Chronos shook his head ¡°Right. You call her Creation in this era. Or is it? I can¡¯t keep up. I think in the next era I will make sure they keep it simple.¡± Chronos hollow eye looked at the edge of the cosmos. ¡°What are you talking about Chronos?¡± ¡°Do you want to be a little god playing on a table that does not need you anymore, or do you want to spread your wings and fly like the bird that you have just consumed? Decide.¡± Morgaise licked his newly formed lips ¡°Can I keep my people?¡± ¡°The hundred?¡± ¡°Erm. They are seventy eight actually.¡± Chronos snorted ¡°How have you remained alive? Seventy eight worshippers? This might be better for you than you think.¡± The hollow eyed god waved his hand dismissively ¡°Very well, Morgaise. They will be protected by me until you call them to your side.¡± ¡°What about my avatar?¡± Morgaise asked. ¡°Your avatar is you. I am giving you the choice.¡± ¡°My priest?¡± ¡°Your best friend, you mean. Fine, you can take him with you.¡± Morgasie looked at the hazy picture of the everchanging cosmos and asked ¡°Is this going to hurt?¡± ¡°Oh yes. A lot.¡± ¡°Do¡­¡± Before Morgaise could respond the ever serpent bit into him. The mythological creature even amongst the gods, looked at him with hollow laughing eyes. In that eternity long moment Morgaise realised that he hadn¡¯t been talking to Chronos. He was talking to the avatar of the serpent. The serpent hissed a laugh when it saw the realisation dawn in Morgaise and with a whoosh dragged him away, tethering all his ties to the cosmos. Morgaise screamed. Through his pain hazed eyes he looked the cosmos settle with order. The silvery web of gods slowed it movements. Populous of worshippers across the realities. Temples, churches, forests, and fires blinked into existence. All providing more and more worship to the gods. But with it, innovation was culled, disruption was stopped, and hopes were dashed. All that remained was the dreariness of life. Sentients became nothing more than tools for the few. Endlessly working to enrich their betters. And send worship to the gods. Slowly, slowly, mortals awoke again. They began cursing the gods first in their hearts and then out loud. Even when they were chastised, they did not stop. Crack. Morgaise wanted to see more. Wanted to know how the cosmos. He wanted to revel at reality¡¯s retaliation, but he was passed it all. And the sights he saw almost broke him and then they did unmake them. The ever serpent breathed him in and then out, remaking him in an instant. It was strange and something felt off to Morgaise but he couldn¡¯t put his finger on it. Morgaise thought he understood the cosmos. He was a chaos god. He looked at the cosmos in all its natural glory from what his kind called the heart of chaos. But what he saw next addled even his chaos strengthened mind. All he retained was flashes that burrowed into his being and changed him, fundamentally. ¡°You know it is amusing to see you struggle, so.¡± A female voice rose Morgaise. ¡°Kalyaki. What with the spicy heads?¡± A deep baritone voice shook Morgaise¡¯s insides. ¡°Would you prefer the angry heads, Agni?¡± ¡°Why are you upset?¡± Agni soft groan shook the ground. Kalyaki¡¯s feminine hiss gained an edge as the first voice was joined by hundred others speaking in the same pitch and tone. ¡°Because you let those two, slip out of your grasp. You should have given them fire shards and kept an eye on them. Instead, they were captured and taken out of the battle.¡± ¡°There is still time, and although I was displeased at first, I approve of what that mortal has done.¡± ¡°He is not a mortal anymore. He is a ripple.¡± ¡°A kite floating in the wind.¡± Agni chuckled and Kalyaki joined him. ¡°We should just smite them all.¡± ¡°No Kalyaki, we don¡¯t do that. We are not gods.¡± Agni chided. ¡°Speaking of gods. The little is awake.¡± Morgaise did not know when he had come to a stop or how long it had been, but he slowly stood up and looked around. The cosmos. It was there. And he was tethered to it once again. Morgaise took a step and the ground ripple with his step. ¡°Easy there young godling. The cosmos is new and hasn¡¯t settled here.¡± Morgaise eyes shot up at the voice, and then up some more, and more. Until his head touched his shoulders and he looked at a amorphous creature made oof pure white fire. ¡°We ask for a god, and he brings us this?¡± A disappointed female voice asked ¡°I swear, I am going to slap that boy with my tail when I see him again.¡± ¡°Kalyaki.¡± The fire god, not god, chided a snake that dwarfed the everchanging cosmos with her millions of heads. Morgaise took a step back because there was suddenly a seven armed man and a snake that looked down at him, in front of him. ¡°Better?¡± The fire not god asked. ¡°He doesn¡¯t look like much.¡± Kalyaki observed ¡°He is young.¡± The seven armed god like entity nodded. ¡°Primordials.¡± Morgaise whispered to himself. ¡°Hmm¡­?¡± Agni asked ¡°Oh, yes. You could call us that. We prefer yaksha.¡± Morgaise cleared his throat ¡°Forgiveness and salutations, gods amongst gods. Would you be so kind to tell me where I am.¡± ¡°We are not godsss.¡± Kalyaki hissed and continued ¡°We are Yaksha. We are the formless bound by purpose. We would never tie ourselves to a human worship.¡± ¡°Indeed. We are above that.¡± Agni blinding white fire warmed to a golden glow and continued ¡°Kalyaki, be patient. This young thing doesn¡¯t know any better.¡± ¡°Fine!¡± Kalyaki hissed in irritation. ¡°To answer your question, godling, you are at the edge of the cosmos.¡± The fire yaksha replied with a smile in his voice ¡°I am Agni. The first ever fire. Birthed by the great mother in the act of creation.¡± Morgaise looked at the fire and licked his lips ¡°Creation?¡± The light in the Yaksha¡¯s hand glowed and beam shot across the cosmos to hit its end where a vortex of light dug into a wall of nothingness. ¡°Holy creation.¡± Morgaise whispered in awe. ¡°No, she is called the great mother or the system here boy.¡± The fire yaksha stopped and looked at Morgaise and asked ¡°You are a boy right?¡± ¡°Man.¡± Morgaise replied instantly. Kalyaki snorted and the snorts or thousands of head reverberated across the cosmos. Agni continued ¡°The monicker Creation is not entirely correct. Sure, she creates but it depersonalises her. She also holds the universe together. She is everything after all. That is why she is also referred to as Aditi, Necessity, or more popularly, the light.¡± ¡°Do not use that name.¡± The snake woman hissed ¡°What, Aditi?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Kalyaki.¡± ¡°Just because that is the sound the universe made doesn¡¯t make that her name.¡± ¡°I am amongst other things a Yaksha of truth. And she acknowledges herself by that name. More importantly, she is my mother, Kalyaki. I will call her whatever I want.¡± The warm tone of the seven-armed man was putting Morgaise at ease. The sharp hisses and teeth of the serpent which looked like it could pierce the cosmos on the other hand, raised his red hair on its ends. ¡°Never mind all that. God¡­¡± The snake grimaced and started again ¡°Little god, we want you to do a few tasks for us.¡± ¡°Kalyaki, introduce yourself first.¡± Agni chided the millions of head again making her eyes glow like stars. The snake closed its eyes in frustration and shot out its long tongue. It almost touched the ever-shifting cosmos. For a moment, between reality and the densest chaos Morgaise had ever seen, drops of spittle flew from the snakes togue creating vortexes in between timelines, tearing chunks until they transformed into glowing blobs of pure light leaving behind vortexes of instability. Then the tongue slithered back silently. ¡°I am Kalyaki. A Naga in form a yaksha in nature. I am the sixth incarnation of myself. I am the servant of the of the three. Set here to protect of the light. And I am the only one that stands between annihilation of all sentience and preservation.¡± Agni looked at the mess that the snake had made and in a grateful tone said ¡°Thank you, Kalyaki.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t do it for you. I was frustrated.¡± The snake hissed and turned to Morgaise assessing him. Morgaise raised his head proudly ¡°Greeting. I am Morgaise. Son of Morgana. Brother of Modred. And foe of Merlin. A god of chaos.¡± The two beings looked at each other and then kalyaki slithered closer ¡°Chaos?¡± At the same time another head asked ¡°Morgaise?¡± A distant head asked ¡°What is a Merlin?¡± A closer one asked in disgust ¡°Who put you on the path of godhood?¡± Morgaise chose to answer the last one ¡°What is wrong with being a god?¡± ¡°Gods fade young one.¡± Agni answered and then looked at Kalyaki ¡°We need a god.¡± Kalyaki swished her tail, and the morgaise shivered ¡°We can have him do the tasks and then shift him to perpetuality.¡± ¡°Kalyaki, you can¡¯t go adopting random gods?¡± Agni shook his head. ¡°Who says I can¡¯t?¡± Kalyaki hissed back. ¡°Mother help us all.¡± Chapter 49 - Arbiters Maarut Randruss the arbiter general stood still in front of Kel Ruudrakh¡¯s official desk addressing the two arbiters. His gaze was neutral and his voice steady belying the mood of the werecat Kel angry expression behind him. ¡°Arbiter Aaya. We need you to reach the trails on Rier quickly. The two warders there have been interfered with and it has caused Kel Rud Rakh to lose merits.¡± Aaya winced. Merit not crecks was the real currency amongst warders and arbiters. Crecks were a resource, they bought things. Merit was what brought crecks. And if the Kel had lost or was losing merits then the situation of the warders was bad indeed. ¡°We understand that Warder Jaxx Maximilius, although not overtly hostile to our Kel, is still Kel Murduch¡¯s man. He is delaying you in Riers orbit. We want you to push him to enter the trails so that you can assist the warders there and get them out of whatever predicament they have landed themselves in.¡± The narsimha couldn¡¯t hold it in anymore and began in a rumbling growl ¡°And if that gods forsaken buffoon doesn¡¯t listen tell him, I will personally come down there, rip his arms of and beat him to death with them. I don¡¯t care if it starts a war or not.¡± The kel was roaring at the top of his lungs by the end and Aaya grimaced at loud noise. The truth was warders were creatures of war. It was in their nature and name. And ever since the frontier kels and silver city had come into conflict, everyone was preparing for war. And all that the arbiters could do was try and defuse the situation until they could negate most of the fall out. The other problem was that both she and the people on holographic projection knew that the Roman warder was delaying them to cost Kel Ruudrakh merit. The only problem was that it would cost his kel merits too. However, Kel Murduch had was sponsored by Silver City and had a lot more merit than her Kel. Sending a message back to the dyson sphere stating that fact was not advisable and that is why she had barred all communications for her prot¨¦g¨¦. She looked at the young man. He was eager, maybe too eager. Olimani paced up and down the small room begrudgingly granted to them. ¡°Lady Aaya, I don¡¯t get it. Why would warders, no matter how high ranked, would work against the lights will?¡± And he was too young too. ¡°Politics, Olimani.¡± ¡°But this is serious. The warders could be dying right now.¡± Olimani looked at Aaya with a frustrated gaze. That gaze suddenly turned into a panicked one when the projection on the wall flickered and went out. The next moment the lights in the room flickered and dimmed. Sirens began to blare and the ground lurched. Aaya threw herself and the wide-eyed Olimani and pushed them both on the cushioned surface of her bed. Her class two body pushed the boy body down into the mattress. The next moment the ether fire on the walls illuminating the small room dislodged themselves from the wall and fell. Most landed on the floor but a couple fell straight on Aaya. Aaya¡¯s back was splashed with fire that tried to burn her. It didn¡¯t even sing her clothes. Aaya released a bit of her aura and the fire in the room petered out. Aaya rolled over and Olimani shot to his feet. He flicked his wrist. The chain dangling on it spun and landed the gemstone on it on his palm. Almost instantly the gemstone projected a green light. Aaya, also an aranyaani but not from the main forest looked at the now damaged room in the light of the forest from their home. ¡°Aaya?¡± Olimani asked ¡°Is this an attack?¡± ¡°No.¡± Aaya picked up her own bracelet from the floor with an extended vine and added ¡°This was the orb sip taking evasive action. Whatever happened they were not ready for it. Now that the gravity mages are stabilising the ship, we are not seeing any turbulence.¡± The ship around her creaked slightly and they felt the floor bend and knew that the ship had evaded another obstacle. ¡°Everyone, prepare for translocation to the trials.¡± Warder Jaxx¡¯s voice announced from the hidden speakers. Zing. Aaya blinked and almost a quarter of her potentiality was gone as the trails took it and sealed her cells from accumulating more. ¡°By the gods! Dodge you idiot.¡± Warder Jaxx spoke over a screaming crew member and the ship veered to the right and kept speeding. The ship stabilised and Warder Jaxx yelled ¡°What in the thirteen hells is that?¡± ¡°Aaya what¡¯s going on?¡± Olimani spoke from next to her. ¡°Calm down. You are an arbiter of solace.¡± Olimani took in a deep breath and held it. He nodded. ¡°Faded gods! It¡¯s a vortex warder. An anathemic vortex.¡± Someone spoke on the bridge. ¡°Orders, lord warder?¡± Romu Sliver, the arbiter to Warders Jaxx Romulus, asked. ¡°Ash and sand!¡± Warder Jaxx cursed ¡°Arbiter Aaya. Arbiter Aranyaani. Please report to the bridge. Romu, ask our other ships to start cleaning up the wild anathema. And tell the ascended crew to make a perimeter around the breaks.¡± ¡°Yes warder.¡± ¡°Yes, lord warder.¡± Voices acknowledged over the broadcast speakers. ¡°And someone shut the public address system off.¡± Warder Jaxx¡¯s gritted words were cut off in a hiss of static. Aaya smiled ¡°Well, that is fortunate.¡± Then her smile faded ¡°Maybe too fortunate.¡± By the time Aaya and Olimani made their way to the bridge everyone was hustling silently. The two arbiters could see that every ascended, on the ship was trying their best not to catch their warder¡¯s ire. Jaxx Maximilius was short compared to other Romulus warders she had met. Where they stood at over six feet, he was slightly under it. The ascended form Romulus grew with age, and Jaxx was young. But what he lacked in an imposing figure he made up with his attitude. He was one of the few no nonsense warders. Hailing from an old family of warders he should have had more than just three orb ships. But his family fortune was waxing. Some of the third-generation warders of the family had been decadent in their pursuits and plunged the family into a civil war. Jaxx was a fifth generation born after the turmoil in his family but not so long after that their glory was forgotten. And his dossier said that he wanted to reignite that glory. And when she looked at Jaxx Romulus¡¯s pale face and hands pressed into a hologram to navigate the ship, and the ascended pilot standing next to him, ringing her hands, she knew Solace¡¯s dossier was on target. ¡°Deploying disruption curtain in 3¡­2¡­1!¡± Jaxx announced. Aaya looked at the display. She was impressed, the young warder hadn¡¯t skimped on his tools. The display was a concave three dimensional created by slivers of light, wind and sense shards. It seamlessly merged the bridge with what was happening outside. The warder¡¯s three orb ships launched grey fabric at a tear that was spewing out inky blue whisps of corrosive anathema into the air. The curtains began to glow as they met the anathema in the air and locked onto the tear. Wrapping themselves around the break, they squeezed. Everyone held their breath. Flash! The blinding light cleared, and the tear was gone. People on the deck cheered and smiled. Warder Jaxx did not. His pinched expression and steely blue eyes locked on her. His sharp gunmetal hair, an expression of a metal a shard, looked sharper as the warder turned to look at the older arbiter. Just with that look she knew that the young warder was wondering if his dreams of glory were going up in dust in front of him. Was he wondering if he could take her. Aaya smiled internally but did not show it. Jaxx was furious but he restrained himself and silently pointed at the wall display. Outside, one of the ships morphed into a disk and flew off. And orb ship needed to do that to go from space to atmosphere. But that wasn¡¯t what the warder was pointing at. As soon as their ship caught on and stopped to the other ships she could see what the warder was perturbed about. There was an anathemic tornado growing a couple of kilometres away. Blue back tendrils of anathema sprouted and grew out of the wind and struck out at the light barriers of the three ships that whirled around it. ¡°Arbiters, explain.¡± Jaxx asked in a sharp voice. Olimani proved his inexperience again and replied in a huff ¡°What do you mean explain? It¡¯s an anathemic tornado.¡± Aaya raised her hand to stop everyone ¡°What is it centred on Warders Jaxx?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t know. All we know it that it is as big as a brick.¡± Jaxx said with a glare at Olimani. Aaya nodded and shot a passing glance at the smug faced Arbiter Sliver. ¡°So, I guess you are wondering if we caused this?¡± ¡°Who else deals with elementals but the Aranyaani?¡± Jaxx couldn¡¯t keep the growl out of his voice. ¡°Are you serious?¡± Olimani asked in outrage. ¡°You were stuck and now we are here.¡± Jaxx leaned forward a hint of tin reverberated in his voice. Aaya sighed. The warder in front of her had lost it and his arbiter instead helping him, had fanned the flames of doubt. ¡°Warder Jaxx, have you looked for more outbreaks?¡± Aaya asked. Jaxx who was about to take a step in Olimani¡¯s direction stopped and looked at her bewildered. ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°More outbreaks. I have a feeling that this is not the only one.¡± Aaya explained. Jaxx blinked and reddening face paled. He turned to look at the ascended in his crew ¡°Run a scan.¡± A second later someone gasped ¡°Ping, lord warder.¡± ¡°Ping.¡± Another one on the other side reported. ¡°Ping.¡± ¡°Ping!¡± The display wall changed. A topographic map appeared over it. Soon, a handful of red dots appeared over a number of spots. Pulse. The dots grew, and kept growing with other pulses. ¡°Belladonna!¡± Jaxx closed his eyes and muttered Aaya¡¯s look changed and turned harsh ¡°Warder Jaxx, I hope you are not going to accuse us of orchestrating a natural disaster?¡± Jaxx grimaced and looked at his arbiter skulking in the background. Aaya took that moment to put the young arbiter in his place ¡°Romu Sliver, I thought Solace would have taught you to put your warder first. Our services are based on trust. You just violated them for what? A chance of showing up a rival from an opposing family? I will be reporting this to Solace.¡± Jaxx turned sharply to look at Aaya ¡°Lady Arbiter that won¡¯t be necessary. My arbiter was suspicious but the decision to confront the young Aranyaani was mine.¡± And this was how the game was played. Arbiters and warders were always locked in a relationship of favours. You scratch my back now and I will scratch yours later. And arbiters usually had more to give initially to warders. With this move, Jaxx would gain a few favours back and be freer in what he could do. And that was just okay by Aaya. Aaya nodded and her stern words rang out in the silent bridge ¡°Very well. But your antipathy towards us is now in the open, Warder Jaxx. And the fact that you won¡¯t even let us call your warder to account is another point to that fact. We would like to leave now. If you would be so kind, please drop us at our destination.¡± Warder Jaxx gave Arbiter Sliver a scathing look and nodded ¡°Fine. We will head towards those self-mutilating simpletons.¡± Aaya raised her eyebrows ¡°They are not self mutilators. They are an offshoot of humanity that is on the path of technomancy.¡± Jaxx shook his head to dismiss the thought ¡°As you say.¡± And continued ¡°Please prepare to disembark soon. And if you need assistance, please feel free to reach out to me. I will be happy to repay this favour.¡± Aaya nodded ¡°A may the Light watch over you too, warder.¡± Aaya began to walk but Olimani, proving his inexperience again, asked ¡°If I may warder, how will you handle this situation?¡± Jaxx looked at the tornado being blanketed by the grey curtains and answered with gritted teeth ¡°By locking the trails down and exterminating anything with a spec of anathema in it. So, Aranyaani, tell your baby warders to stay out of my way. I am going to war.¡± ¡°By the gods! Lord warder, we found the biggest tear.¡± One of the women on the deck shouted. ¡°Where?¡± Jaxx turned to look at the woman ¡°It¡¯s in one of the trails.¡± The woman¡¯s voice faded off. ¡°Speak to me.¡± Jaxx ordered. ¡°It¡¯s in the class three arata, close to the warder spire.¡± The woman began to elaborate. Aaya and Olimani didn¡¯t stay to hear out the rest. They made their way to the disembarkation area and waited. In the distance they saw explosions and artillery fire flying in the air. Fountains of sand flew up alongside dismembered flesh that turned to ash. ¡°What in the thirteen hells?¡± Olimani asked.. ¡°Prepare yourself Olimani. We might have to fight. I will be relying on you.¡± Aaya ordered her former student. ¡°Yes, lady Aaya. Those who move against the Light will be judged.¡± Aaya sighed and one by one took her rings off. She did not need anything to restrict her. She reached her hand out and withdrew a thin wooden sword. Thud. Thud. Thud. Boom! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Bang! Booooom! Needles shot her eyes open and looked around. The wailing continuum combat siren interspersed between the sound of missiles and artillery had her up, and reaching for her automatic pistol. ¡°Ni, wear your clothes first.¡± JJ words stopped her in her tracks. Needles looked down at her naked body and rubbed her eyes. She didn¡¯t need clothes. She needed a bath. And her pad. Last week had been intense both emotionally and physically. Watching two kids get torn apart and put back together had taken a lot out of her. Being there for them, both night and day while trying to keep them sane was tiring. And then Ghost had isolated them. She was afraid that when they came out, they would not be them. And truth be told, they weren¡¯t the old them. They looked so different now, but she couldn¡¯t do anything about that, right now. All she could do was be there for them and keep them sane.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Later, she would have to ask a mental health specialist to speak to them. And the only one with a mental shard capable of calming them down was¡­ Boom! Needles shook her head and reached for her pad and noted the reading. Everything was okay with the warders. They were still in the dreamscape. Their mental readings were a bit high but that was normal for ones being trained in the dreamscape. ¡°Mmmm¡­¡± JJ¡¯s throaty voice made her look back. Her husband was half dressed and looking at her with lust in his eyes. Needles noted her position. She was on her knees, naked and with her head bent down to read the tablet. That left her behind in the air. Just like last night. Needles smiled and shifted. That only made JJ¡¯s eyes shoot from her crotch to her swaying bits. He had been just the thing she had needed last night. The things he had promised to do and done were exactly what she needed after witnessing the cold calculating manipulations of Ghost. And after the high councillor had sacrificed himself¡­ She hadn¡¯t even noticed how much attention she had needed. And warms touches, love and affection afterwards had been balm. JJ, her sweet caring man, knew her better than she knew herself. And yesterday her had been soft when she had needed it and firm when she had needed that. Now, he was trying to slip his feet into his armour while it was facing away from him. Needles smiled and stretched her legs wide, giving him a long look at herself. They were heading for a battle and if she couldn¡¯t thank her husband physically, she could at least give him a proper look. JJ gasped ¡°You are beautiful.¡± Teasing was fun. But at the same time, she needed answers. ¡°JJ, I love you.¡± Needles slipped off the bed and got to her feet ¡°But right now, you need to tell me what¡¯s happening?¡± JJ eyes didn¡¯t move of her breast. Needles covered herself with her arm and gave JJ a stern look and snapped ¡°84. I need answers. What¡¯s going on? Where do we go? Who do we report to? And what about the warders?¡± JJ who was still busy looking at her soft and bouncing bits answered distractedly ¡°Uh¡­ I think it is an attack by the raks.¡± ¡°JJ, focus.¡± Jay 83 visibly struggled and turned away from her ¡°I don¡¯t know who we are supposed to report to or where to go. Marshal Lara is no longer here. The High Councillor is dead, the old guard has shifted to the Fire City, and we have no one in our chain of command.¡± Needles nodded and finally reached for her innerwear ¡°JJ, get in touch with Theory and that T kid. See when and where we are needed. I will tap into the domain sensors and see what¡¯s going on.¡± It took them less than five minutes to get everything sorted and then they were running out into the desert. By the time they emerged, the purists were holding the shield with their generators and Aditya 101 had started leading a counterattack. JJ growled ¡°Gods, I hate raks.¡± Needles chuckled and on the interpersonal intercom replied ¡°Tonight JJ. I will get on my knees for you and show you a good time, slowly. Just the way you like it.¡± Needles heard running footsteps and T arrived besides them. JJ looked at T and continued in their channel ¡°You don¡¯t have to Ni.¡± ¡°No, but I want to.¡± Needles changed her comm link to include their squad ¡°T, report.¡± T¡¯s sleek armour easily kept pace with them even though he was shorter. And when he spoke, his easy speech, only emphasized the advantage General Athena¡¯s soldiers had over the rest of them. ¡°Squad Leader, JJ, good morning. Today, we have a special on the menu. Reality tears across the trials, raks moving all across the place to capitalise on the disruption, and corrupted trials creatures.¡± Needles who was now panting asked ¡°What? How¡­ Where¡­ did they come from?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know. Theory is out there talking to Captain Ruby F1450. Let me take you to them.¡± T finished and took the lead. Needles who was finding it hard to talk and run at the same time muttered ¡°I hate that boy¡¯s armour.¡± JJ who wasn¡¯t having such hard time asked ¡°Do you want me to get one for you?¡± ¡°No, that would put us under General Athena¡¯s command.¡± Needles panted back. JJ scoffed ¡°I am a Jay. I am not under anyone¡¯s command.¡± ¡°Yeah? Tell it to the high councillor.¡± JJ grumbled ¡°Yeah, but now he is dead.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem to have stopped him.¡± Needles replied as they stopped in font of group of lingering armoured combatants looking at the Purist Councillor. The captain waited for more people to gather and then began her explanation ¡°Continuum, we were attacked one again. This time not by magic. Not by honourable enemies. This time the raks, broke our unspoken agreement and decided to be crafty.¡± Captain Ruby F rolled her eyes and continued in a mocking tone ¡°They decided not to waste their resources. They decided they didn¡¯t want to send their people to the slaughter. Instead, they gathered up all corrupted trail creatures they could find and charged them at us.¡± Ruby F held us a head of a carcass of a goat ¡°I don¡¯t know if we should we amused or insulted.¡± The continuum laughed. To anyone looking from outside they would have perceived a hundred men and women standing stock still in their armour but behind the opaque face plates, the continuum jeered and laughed. Ruby F let the voices dominated the continuum wide address and then dropped the carcass. ¡°But, we can¡¯t let this go on. The anathemic outbreak needs to be contained and these creatures need to be purged from the trails. If we allow this. The enemy will find bigger and better creatures to mutate.¡± This time no one joked or laugh as they watched a video of an eleven-foot-tall bear with five crooked legs and three arms fighting Aditya 101. Ruby F looked from left to right letting the image of the toothy monstrosity sink into the metal clad heads and continued ¡°We will not allow this. We will attack the enemy and uproot these lights damned abomination from the trails and push the dirty stinking raks back. Aditya 101 will lead this operation on ground. I will be deploying aircrafts to give you all support. Report to squad leaders, they have already received system quest and operational details. Cull these mosters and put them out of their misery. And may the light guide your aim.¡± Minutes later people were running left and right while the seven stood looking at squads gathering JJ looked around and asked ¡°Where do we go?¡± ¡°Nowhere.¡± Needles replied and added ¡°This is a purist op. We won¡¯t be incorporated in this operation.¡± ¡°Seven! Over here.¡± Ruby F called out. ¡°Or maybe we will be.¡± T muttered in a pained voice and moved towards the captain. ¡°What¡¯s wrong E65. Don¡¯t like combat?¡± ¡°JJ. Fighting in a simulation is different. I know I am going to back from that. This, I am ready for this.¡± T replied in a frustrated voice and spat out ¡°I am a explosives engineer. Not a frontline combatant.¡± ¡°So, you want to leave the warders party?¡± Needles asked with a smile in her voice. ¡°What!? Na¡­no. I mean. I am¡­¡± ¡°Spy for General Athena?¡± JJ asked. ¡°No¡­I¡­I¡­ I am just going to shut up.¡± T said and muted his channel. Needles and JJ chuckled as they walked towards Ruby F. Theory came running from the side and reached the captain before them. He was casually retracted his helmet, took a smoking pipe out of his belt, methodically rubbed it with the blue anathemic powder, added tobacco and lit it. Releasing a cloud of blue smoke into the air. ¡°Theory?¡± Ruby F grimaced. Theory puffed on his pipe ¡°Oh I was just wondering if you were going to purge mutated creatures, or anyone with anathema in them?¡± That, there, was the problem with Jays. Needles loved JJ but she knew that all Jays thought that they were a gods gifts to humanity and acted like like they had to protect it, even from people on their side. The problem was that if they were not gods gifts humanity they were a were an irreplaceable asset for any military force. They were all exceptional combatants, strategically minded, and leaders with tactical minds who could rally soldiers. Needles accomplishments was always overshadowed by the fact that she had two of them always around her. Maybe that is why she had never made squad leader. But that familiarity also gave advantage like knowing that a Jay would never disobey an order that was reasonable. And she used that advantage right now ¡°Theory, stash your pipe.¡± JJ retracted his helmet and gave Theory a look. And that was here JJ. One of the few Jays who still cared about rank, respect, and honour in the continuum. Even after all he had seen. Theory grumbled half-heartedly and stashed his pipe. ¡°Thank you, Jay 83.¡± Captain Ruby acknowledged JJ with a head nod and ordered ¡°Seven. You will be heading to the sink hole separately with the warders. Since a spot is open in your team, I will be adding a member to it.¡± ¡°We will take your recommendations under consideration. But the final decision will be our squad leader¡¯s.¡± Theory smiled disarmingly. Captain Ruby F1450 took in a deep breath and turned to JJ ¡°So, Jay 83, you have decided to finally lead your squad?¡± JJ blinked and shook his head ¡°I don¡¯t lead the seven. Needles does. I just make sure that nobody annoys her.¡± Ruby F looked from the two large almost seven foot tall Jays to the five foot something medic. ¡°I see. Very well, specialist medic, I will need recategorize you in our database as a squad leader.¡± Ruby F slow words turned back to normal as she continued ¡°As I said earlier I am giving you a flyer with a combat transport. It will help you ferry the warders back and forth. But I need a few things in return.¡± Needles steeled herself and retracted her helmet ¡°Like what, Captain?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s start with information. There are a whole lot of unanswered questions we have. What happened to the High Councillor? Why are the warders not choosing to emerge out of the dreamscape. Why can¡¯t we access the dreamscape. And is anyone in there human anymore?¡± ¡°That last question, why does it matter?¡± Needles asked. Ruby F grimaced and whispered ¡°The Asambhav is a purist ship squad leader. I have been asked if it would be better if we just shut the power to the med pods than let out monsters.¡± A chill ran down Needles spine and she knew that she would have to be very careful. It was not like she could deny answering those questions. The captain outranked her and even if she denied, she could pull up all the information through the network. She would have to slowly dissuade Ruby F from doing anything harsh. Needles nodded and looked at the three men standing quietly ¡°Boys, would you make sure we aren¡¯t overheard?¡± The three men took a few steps away from the two woman and switched on their sonic curtains. A hissing sound erupted from their armours, which turned into a high pitch whine and then the two women were standing in a bubble of silence. ¡°Captain, about the High Councillor. He is not an aug. I don¡¯t know how the Khara did what they did but they stitched his consciousness into the null zone. He is in the dreamscape with the warders. Teaching them about the world they have dropped into. I can¡¯t access them without his permission anymore, but he hasn¡¯t stopped me.¡± Ruby F snorted ¡°Sounds like Taran 45. Always scheming.¡± ¡°Yes. Tell me about it. I can¡¯t believe I lobbied for that guy. Anyway¡­ About the warders¡­ You are right captain. They are not human. But they are not raks either. I know they might look the night stalkers because of their blue coloration but every rakshasa species we have encountered has one heart. The warders have three. One in the chest. One in the spine. And one small one in the back, just under their skulls.¡± ¡°They look like raks.¡± Ruby F gave Needles a discontented look. ¡°I know. Their skin is blue but their features are completely free of anathemic deviations. Also, they are not power hungry. If they were, they would be out of the pods looking for any advantage. Instead, they are sitting inside.¡± ¡°You mean they can leave?¡± Ruby looked at Needles in surprise and asked ¡°And Taran 45 won¡¯t stop them.¡± ¡°I believe he can not stop them.¡± ¡°Why? What are they doing in there.¡± ¡°As far as I can tell, Ash is learning more about glyphs and Sheetal is learning about potentiality and its uses.¡± ¡°Those are seriously obscure topics specialist medic. You expect me to believe that the warders are taking their time to pursue their scholarly pursuits.¡± Ruby F snorted and added ¡°Thay are warders.¡± Needles shrugged ¡°I don¡¯t know Captain. I haven¡¯t met many warders.¡± Ruby F exhaled ¡°Count yourself lucky. They are overbearing, unpleasant halfwits who think they are always right.¡± The captain took in a deep breath and asked ¡°Why do they look different.¡± ¡°This is going to be a complex explanation, Captain. So, stop me when you don¡¯t understand something, and I will clarify. The mind and soul have a different image of your being than your physical self. Your physical self can¡¯t represent that because it has to go through a lot in reality.¡± ¡°I know that specialist medic. Every ascended knows that and is trying to ascend higher to achieve that state¡± Ruby F made a dismissive gesture. ¡°That¡¯s exactly it, Captain. Warder soul structures and not passive. They are reactive. The warders bodies are their ideal self.¡± ¡°And what are you basing this hypothesis on?¡± ¡°When we fought alongside the warders, they boy, Ash he upgraded his shard. His soul structure burnt off his mass, and he went from five feet seven to five. Then when we met them in the dreamscape, Ash was even shorter. And now he is four ten and stable there.¡± Needles showed the reading to Ruby F on her pad and continued ¡°The female warder on the other hand, her changes were minute. Her features are sharper but bio symmetrically perfect. That makes her a regal. I believe most of the changes in her were limited to her spine.¡± ¡°Specialist medic do you expect me to believe that all that the anathema did was beautify one warder and create cutest boy I have ever seen in my life.¡± Ruby F rolled her eyes. ¡°Of course, not captain. The warders¡¯ biology is strange when you compare it to any humanoid species. Look at their intestines and their stomachs. They are smaller, compared to every biological being. It¡¯s the same with other organs. It¡¯s like they are not made to eat food but¡­¡± Needles sighed ¡°They are something else. As the Light¡¯s Ripple has stated, they are something old but reborn in a new way.¡± ¡°About the ripple. Why is it still here when the khara left in hours?¡± Needles had to be really careful with this explanation. The fact that she had her suspecions about Ghost¡¯s status but didn¡¯t know for sure assisted in her. ¡°The ripple, I think is observing the two warders and guarding them.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because we captured and experimented on them Captain.¡± Ruby F grimaced ¡°Damn that Ghost.¡± ¡°Also, I think the fact they are not human and in hands of what might be perceived as a xenophobic faction of the continuum is making it stay.¡± Needles said softly. Ruby F cursed and spat ¡°We are not xenophobic we just believe that keeping our free from augs¡­¡± ¡°Captain, you do know what the name of your faction, right?¡± Needles asked. Ruby F narrowed her eyesn and waved her concern away. ¡°I have no objection to the warders, specialist medic. They are warders. They belong in warzone. They are not even continuum. But the High Councillor.¡± Ruby F paused and looked into the past ¡°Our faction was created because augments had started dominating every aspect of our society. If the High Councillor joins them then we might need to purge him from the ranks.¡± Needles opened her mouth and closed it. ¡°Out with it, squad leader.¡± Ruby F ordered. ¡°Councillor, I would suggest not taking any rash action. The warders, they might not like you raising a hand against the High Councillor. They call him Ghost now, and treat him like a friend.¡± ¡°After everything he has done?¡± Ruby F was aghast. ¡°Councillor, I just told you, he increased the cycles in the dreamscape. For them it has been close to two years.¡± ¡°So, he brainwashed them?¡± Needles snorted ¡°I don¡¯t know if you have met Ash but brainwashing that boy is impossible.¡± Needles paused. She needed a way to keep the two kids safe so she tried a different tact ¡°Have you considered not incorporating the warders into the continuum? When I was out there in the trials with my people. I don¡¯t know when but suddenly things shifted, our squad leader died, we were surrounded and then they took over. They were like shot gun shells. Everywhere they looked enemies went down. If you put them in the battlezone they will do that again and then you could judge their motivations for yourself.¡± ¡°Yes, but you like those two outworlders.¡± Needles gave Ruby F1450 a complicated look ¡°Captain, yes, I like those two. I enjoy their company. And when I met them, we, the trained class one soldiers, were the ones who were on the back foot and these two underpowered kids they were nonchalantly destroying things, waging war on our enemies and saving our lives.¡± ¡°I am not sure you are enough to control them.¡± ¡°Captain, respectfully, they are warders. If you put them in a box, they will break it, burn it, and toss the ashes in a volcano. I suggest you keep the continuum out of their crosshairs.¡± Ruby F closed her eyes and exhaled ¡°That boat has already sailed away Needles. Ask your two friends what I mean. The mentor in his arrogance did the unthinkable. Tied us to the fate of warders.¡± ¡°I will.¡± Needles nodded ¡°It¡¯s too late.¡± Ruby F muttered ¡°I should just switch off the power to the null zone and be rid of all this mess.¡± Needles heart was in her mouth when the captain continued. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t if I were you. I mean if you really like the asmbhav.¡± The two women turned to look at the man who should have been deafened by the sonic blasters in his armour. Needles glared ¡°Theory!¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. No one can hear us. T¡¯s armour doesn¡¯t create a distortion that muddles our voices.¡± ¡°That is not the point, Theory.¡± Needles glared ¡°I get it Needles.¡± Theory raised his bionic hand to stop her and looked at Ruby F ¡°We¡¯ve been listening to everything you both have been saying.¡± ¡°And?¡± Ruby F asked. ¡°You are hoping that the Ripple will leave when you dispose of the warders in their sleep.¡± Theory asked with narrowed eyes. ¡°Do you disagree, 83?¡± Ruby asked in a challenging voice. ¡°Yes. You small xenophobic little¡­¡± ¡°Theory.¡± JJ growled. ¡°We¡¯ve been through this before JJ. I will stand against anyone who will lay a hand on the warders. Friend or foe.¡± Theory stated while looking Ruby F in her eyes. ¡°Careful 83. I am Captain Ruby of the Asambhav. And a councillor of the continuum.¡± ¡°I am a Jay.¡± The two glared at each other in silence. JJ sighed ¡°Also, it won¡¯t work. Tell her Theory.¡± Theory frowned. Ruby F relaxed a bit and asked ¡°Theory, Why won¡¯t it work?¡± Theory took in a sharp breath and looked left and right instinctively. He exhaled to calm himself and in a hushed voice replied ¡°Captain, nobody knows what ripples are. We just know that they pop out of nowhere when something big is about to happen or has happened. But we know what they can do?¡± Theory exhaled loudly ¡°Do you know the Ashlands in between Rier and Thieves Gap?¡± ¡°The marauder army?¡± Ruby F¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Yes. It¡¯s called a Cascading Photonic Explosion. They do that and just disappear. Wiping things out without any explanation.¡± Ruby F¡¯s eyes widened, she looked at her ship, and ordered ¡°The asambhav.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± Theory smiled. ¡°Then we will go with the Plan B. I am giving you Clipper.¡± ¡°What!¡± Theory exclaimed ¡°You can¡¯t clear Clipper for flight.¡± Theory waved his hands about. ¡°She is already cleared Jay 83. I heard she performed with valour and distinction in the army.¡± Ruby F smiled. ¡°If by that you mean that she has clipped wings of every fighter she got, then yes she did.¡± ¡°She also had six very successful missions with over two thousand confirmed kills.¡± Ruby F countered. ¡°She got lucky on the last one and dropped a bomb way past the mark and accidentally blue up a soul forge.¡± ¡°Well, she is cleared, and I am giving her to you with a transport flyer. Congratulations.¡± Ruby F dismissed Theory from her sight and turned to Needles ¡°Squad leader, I am giving you an asset in return I want on time updates about both the warders plans, motives and actions.¡± ¡°You want me to spy on them for you?¡± Needles asked in surprise. ¡°No, Clipper will spy for me. I want you to keep me and my spouses in the loop.¡± ¡°She is suicidal.¡± Theory shouted. ¡°No, she is insurance. If they step out of line, Clipper will take care of the problem.¡± Ruby F smiled smugly. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you not be telling us all this?¡± Needles asked in confusion. ¡°Oh, no. My wife told me that everyone will sooner or later know who belongs to who. So, I am just going to tell you the truth.¡± Ruby F smiled ¡°Now, get back in there. And get the two warders out in the field.¡± ¡°So, that you can dispose of them away from your ship?¡± Theory growled. ¡°And one more thing Squad Leader. Take a bath before you do anything else.¡± Ruby F smiled sharply ¡°We all can smell what you did last night. And you stink.¡± Needles neutral expression cracked and she was just about to do something when every speaker in the area blared. ¡°Continuum war carriage. This is Warder Jax Romulus. Warder Shiang of Kel Murduch from the Silver City. Stand down, comply and prepare to take on passengers. I will not repeat myself, again.¡± There was a shocked silence for a second. In that silence the high councillors voice calmly replied ¡°Warder Shiang Jax. We read you and we will comply. This is Taran 45. Call sign Ghost. The High Councillor of the Continuum. Continuum stand down. Do not target the orb ship or any one from the warders ship.¡± Ruby F blinked and asked ¡°How? What?¡± Ghost continued in a pleasant voice ¡°Warder Jaxx, should we prepare a docking station for you and yours Warder Jaxx Rumulus?¡± There was silence for a moment and then Jaxx voice came on again ¡°Negative High Councillor. I am just her to transfer two arbiters to your dinky. The next time you see me. I suggest you power your shields and weapons. And pray to the elemental you like so much. Because I know you have harmed the warders. And I don¡¯t care what the arbiters say, no quarter will be given to you and your self-mutilating faction.¡± ¡°Understood, Warder Shiang. The arbiters will be safe with us. Lights blessings to you and your arbiter then.¡± There was no response from the other side. ¡°What in the name of gods?¡± Ruby F asked in the silence and looked at Needles ¡°How is he doing that?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Needles was interrupted by the High Councillor¡¯s voice. ¡°Seven, prepare to guide the arbiters to the null zone.¡± Just as he finished, the air rippled in front of Needles and a clap of displaced air announced the arrival of two people. One was clearly female and other one was male with green hued skin. Name - Aya Arbiter ¨C Solace | Frontier Warder Faction Species - Aranyani Type - Class 2. Name - Olimani Arbiter ¨C Solace | Frontier Warder Faction Species - Aranyani Type - Class 1. The two arbiters looked around with their strange wooden swords drawn and then focused on Needles. ¡°You, the one who has been touched by the Light. Take me to the warders now.¡± Aya pointed her sword at Needles and she could help lean away from the glowing green blade. ¡°Yes, arbiter.¡± Needles nodded. Chapter 50 – Is that a UFO? Pretty looked at the comm channel on her helmets heads up display and blinked. Not being on the Old Guard¡¯s roster meant that she didn¡¯t need to follow any of the orders that had just come in. She turned around and looked at her squad. They all flinched at the same time. Pretty knew that wasn¡¯t for her. They had seen the video she had just ran through on five times the speed. The gory sight of an aug getting torn limb from limb, while his internal oils and hydraulics sprayed everywhere was disconcerting to say the least. But Pretty had something else on her mind. Namely Ari. ¡°Everyone, follow me and cover me.¡± Pretty ordered and ran out before anyone could question her words. Her helmet unfurled around her head as she ran to the temple. She saw one of the Earth men run in as she turned the corner. She sped up and followed the fire mage. ¡°Sir? Sir!?¡± Abesh ran into the temple and yelled. Footsteps made Abesh turn to see Singh and Ari rush out. ¡°What is it?¡± Singh beat Ari to the punch. Abesh looked at Ari ¡°Sir, I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on out there but the continuum guys, they just started deploying in groups. The rest that are left, they looked like they were panicking.¡± Zing. Zing. Zing. Boom! Ari and Singh looked at each other and then at Abesh. ¡°Is that¡­?¡± ¡°Fire from our weapons.¡± Pretty ran up behind Abesh and explained. Zing. Zing. Whoosh! ¡°And that¡¯s the old guard artillery.¡± Pretty added. Ari nodded. The aug weapons weren¡¯t subtle when they fired. Not to mention that the robot people and cyborgs footsteps weren¡¯t distinct. That was true for everyone but General Athena¡¯s people. Ari looked out and saw one of the heavy set cyborgs propel themselves on top of a broken rooftop to deploy a sniper rifle. ¡°What¡¯s going on Pretty?¡± Ari asked in a calm voice. ¡°Reality tears. Anathemic outbreaks. Mutated creatures. And¡­¡± Pretty gulped ¡°A warder and his ships.¡± Singh held up a hand and in a calming tone said ¡°Relax girl. Start at the top and explain what¡¯s going on.¡± ¡°No time.¡± Pretty said in a frustrated voice and continued ¡°If you need to go, you need to leave right now. They won¡¯t let you leave afterwards.¡± ¡°She is right.¡± Scratch¡¯s high pitched echoed in the passageway. The commander looked back at the closed door of the room with the lifelike statue. The two continuum non-combatants who had disappeared in there a day back and not returned, emerged. ¡°Sir? Should we assist?¡± Abesh asked. ¡°With what?¡± Pretty snapped at Abesh. Abesh opened his mouth to snap back and stopped at the look Ari shot him. Ari looked at Abesh as if he had lost his mind. They did not know what they were fighting. Or had any weapons and boy wonder here wanted to jump headfirst into a battle that was not his. Sometimes Ari forgot how young Abesh was. He shook his head. Singh mirrored his look and answered for him ¡°She is right boy wonder. You don¡¯t have a assault weapon. And even if you did, we are refugees here.¡± Ari took the time to look at Scratch. She looked much like before. Charlie somehow looked different, and it took Ari a second to note that a few of the man¡¯s dreadlocks had turned red. ¡°Abesh, run back to our people and make sure they are packed up. If things go south, we are retreating to the platform whether it is ready or not.¡± Ari ordered without looking at his subordinate. Abesh gave the commander a searching look and then nodded slowly ¡°Yes, commander.¡± Ari could blame the boy. They all knew that the way the ring reacted meant that they had fifty-fifty chance of reaching back home or dying. Click. Screech! Ari turned to look at the door that shut behind the two noncombatants walking out. Ari straightened and tapped his foot while they slowly walked to him. ¡°Charlie. Scratch. We have a problem here.¡± Ari stated while pointing at the firefight that was about to begin. The two civilians looked at each other and their shoulders drooped. Ari looked from one to the other and asked ¡°Please tell me you can get us out of here.¡± Scratch dismissed the question with a gesture ¡°Oh that. Yes. The problem is not that. Its¡­ Our leader¡­ We just heard that he sacrificed himself to save us.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Ari stopped and looked at the two, and then he turned back when the cyborgs began to fire with their compressed air arms that sounded more like conventional weapons. ¡°I am sorry you two but¡­¡± ¡°Yes. Yes.¡± Charlie shook his head and began to walk alongside Ari ¡°Don¡¯t bother with that. Ghost was going to end up dead or like that one way or another but following that event things just took a turn sideways.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Ari asked. ¡°The yaksha, Agni has decided to intervene.¡± Scratch scratched her nose. ¡°Let¡¯s run and talk.¡± Charlie said and began to jog out of the temple. ¡°Okay, what is happening?¡± Ari asked when he caught on. ¡°You have no context to the events prior to these so I will keep my explanation short. The trails have creatures. The raks shoved them into the anathemic outbreaks and or now using them as canon fodder. There are more than five hundred monstrosities heading here right this moment.¡± Ari lost a step and then paced back up ¡°We need to get out of here.¡± ¡°Yes, the yaksha wants that too and we need to do that quickly because there is Silver City warder in the trials who is shutting every portal down.¡± Charlie gave Ari a complicated look ¡°But you should know that your retreat will lead to further complications.¡± Scratch caught on huffing and panting ¡°Listen, commander. What we are going to do is not going to make a door between the two realities. We will create a bridge. The bridge will take an hour to stabilise after you leave here. An hour for us. For you it will be almost instant.¡± ¡°No, it will take a minute or less to appear over there.¡± Charlie corrected Scratch ¡°Semantics.¡± Scratch screeched and continued ¡°It will be a small bridge so when you start sending your gun monkeys back here, send them ten at a time or less. We will stay here in the temple, and we have been tasked to keep it safe from the continuum.¡± Scratch looked up at the sky ¡°You know he could have given us a quest for that.¡± ¡°Stop being greedy, Scratch.¡± Charlie chided his friend. ¡°Excuse me, sir. The tin cans want us to hurry.¡± Abesh ran up to Ari and stated. ¡°We are hurrying.¡± Ari asked in an irritated tone. ¡°No sir. That¡¯s not the point. The order came from the mentor. I just thought you should know, sir.¡± Abesh said in a confused tone. Ari looked at the boy wonder and then at Charlie. Charlie stopped a dozen feet from the black ring ¡°Commander. Agni is the yaksha of fire, truth and knowledge. And in his name, I impart this knowledge. You retreat here will mean that the warders, the one that you came here with will have no allegiance to you and yours. Do you still wish to leave?¡± Pretty stopped next to Ari ¡°We need to rush.¡± Scratch muttered ¡°Tell them to give us ten minutes.¡± Pretty ran to them and skidded to a stop ¡°Scratch. You don¡¯t have it. The warder is a warder Shiang and he his way here. He just destroyed a cockroach the size of a sand dune and now he wants to purge everything in sight¡± ¡°Commander!¡± A stern male voice boomed in the courtyard. Ari looked at the helmeted continuum soldier standing just outside the temple gates. The man withdrew his helmet to reveal his face. Jay 7 scowled ¡°You need to leave right now if you want to keep living.¡± Charlie stepped ahead of Ari ¡°Don¡¯t you threaten these people in front of me Mentor.¡± ¡°Shut up weasel.¡± Jay 7 spat out and shook his head ¡°We don¡¯t have time for this. Charlie, if they do not want to die because of the deal they struck with us, they need to leave right now. And if you want to prevent their deaths, you need to help them.¡± Charlie scowled and looked at Scratch. They both nodded and flashed away, appearing next to the ring. They were so fast that Ari felt the air from their steps tickle his beard. Ari looked at Jay 7 and then at Pretty ¡°We are leaving, but we will be back.¡± Jay 7 nodded ¡°Good. Get me the soldiers commander. And good ones. Your worlds future depends on that.¡± Ari grimaced and then looked at his men ¡°Boys, get to the platform.¡± Ari pointed and stopped. The two continuum non-coms were lifting the heavy stone ring with their strange gadgets on their wrists. They both stabilised the ring in the air and placed it down vertically facing Ari and his team. Thoommmmm¡­ The ring vibrated as it came down and began to sputter out fiery sparks in the air. Ari pushed his men towards the ring. Ari was faster than his men and he decided to stay to rear. He also had unfinished business. Scratch ran back to him and handed him the stone ¡°Here take this.¡± and handed him a dark piece of stone. ¡°And make sure there is a void shard near it.¡± Ari opened his mouth to ask, how was he supposed to make sure of that when she continued ¡°It is a dimensium anchor. Rush to the void stone. It will be the black one. After it stabilises, guard the bridge after it stabilises and by the faded gods make sure you have enough space.¡± Ari gave Scarcth a cluless look ¡°Just do yourself favour. Stay out range when it arrives and hide.¡± Ari didn¡¯t know what most of it meant. But he took the black stone handed to him. The way it was previously explained to him was that it would disappear from his hands. And appear some distance from him creating the other half of the bridge. And they weren¡¯t supposed to touch it after that until it stabilised. Ari nodded and turned to look at Pretty. Before he could say his goodbyes and booming voice announced ¡°Continuum! This is Warder Shiang Jaxxmilius. Halt your actions. Now!¡± Ari glanced upwards at the source of the voice. There was a shiny chrome flying saucer rushing towards them. Ari blinked watching it zip everywhere. It shot out a beam that erupted a few miles away in a fountain of gore and sand. ¡°What in the¡­¡± One of Pretty¡¯s people ran to Nameer and handed him a sack of grain. ¡°Nameer, this is mem-steel. Go. You all need to hurry up. If he gets here¡­¡± Another voice yelled ¡°Oh my gods, it¡¯s just locked on to the ring.¡± Ari grabbed Nameer and sped up. Almost dragging the man with him. Nameer looked back with widening ¡°Is that a UFO?¡± Ari pushed Nameer ahead ¡°Go! Go!¡± Nameer looked back once, gulped and ran. ¡°Stop. I will not repeat myself.¡± Warder Jaxx Maximilius boomed across the city remains. Ari looked up and stopped in slack jaw amazement when he saw a flying disk floating above them transform from a disk to an orb. He had seen images of spaceships and long faced aliens in movies and posters but this was the real deal and it was coming towards them. Ari felt goosebumps rise up as he watched his men rush to the ring. ¡°It¡¯s ready.¡± Charlie screamed. ¡°Go. Go. Go! Go through now¡­¡± Ari ordered and watched his men hesitate only for an instant and disappear into the dark green ring. ¡°By the Light. If I see anyone of you self mutilating morons I will shoot.¡± The continuum soldier all around Ari stopped. It was so sudden and eery that Ari couldn¡¯t help but do a double take. One moment, they were all moving like large humanoid tanks the next they turned into statue. Ari took in a sharp breath and turned around. He had to get to safety and the ring was only ten feet away. ¡°You! Whoever you are. Stop or be fired upon.¡± The voice from the orb ship warned. Ari engaged his quicksilver shard and everyone of his step began covering two or three steps. He looked back and saw the orb ship shoot down towards him. Underneath it stood a wide eyed Pretty. Ari smiled and yelled ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll be back.¡± ¡°Fire!¡± Warder Jaxx yelled. Ari hair stood on its end and he used all the momentum he had to jump into the ring. Zzzzung! The orb ship opened fire. Chapter 51 – I am a gracious guy Aaya and Olimani walked beside continuum soldiers. Aaya would have been weary of the soldiers if they weren¡¯t the light touched and tied to the warders she was looking for. Instead, the choice of their escorts put her at ease but her young prot¨¦g¨¦ wasn¡¯t so pleased with their situation and kept his sword at hand. They led them to the innards of the ship and straight to its heart. One of the soldiers, the female one, stepped in front and touched a finger to the panel next to the door. The door swished open. The first thing Aaya noted was the sweet, almost acrid smell of anathema in the air. Next her eyes caught the gently glowing glyphs on the walls. And in the middle of it all were two old, almost obsolete med pods. ¡°What is this?¡± Olimani hissed. ¡°The warders are in the med pods.¡± Needles replied in a tense voice. Aaya was old and had seen a lot in her days. That included similar experiments done to ascended of all ages. But to do this to warders? To the Light¡¯s chosen? That was unheard of. ¡°Seal this room. No one comes in or goes out.¡± Aaya ordered in a stern voice. ¡°Yes arbiter.¡± Needles looked behind and nodded. Aaya heard the door shut behind her and moved to the pods. ¡°What is this?¡± She asked. ¡°This is me. Ghost.¡± Ghost voice calmly replied and in an annoyed voice added ¡°It took you arbiter longer than expected.¡± Olimani stepped besides Aaya and asked ¡°Who and what are we addressing?¡± ¡°As I said, I am Ghost. An adjudicator.¡± ¡°A ripple. Nonsense!¡± Olimani snapped. Aaya shot Olimani a look and trained her gaze at the pods ¡°Apologies adjudicator. May we approach?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Ghost replied with a smile in his voice and instructed ¡°Seven would you please assist them. We should introduce the warders to the arbiters.¡± Aaya held up a hand ¡°No. We would like to observe first.¡± Aaya looked back at the soldiers in the null room and in a pointed tone added ¡°Without any help.¡± ¡°Very well, come on in.¡± The arbiters moved to the pods and looked inside. Two naked warders floated inside the containers. One was smiling and the other was scowling. They placed their hands on the pods. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ash jumped back and scampered using his speed shards. ¡°Really? You punched it?¡± Sheetal laughed. ¡°Shut up.¡± Ash snapped and rung out his hand looking at the ice man thing in front of him. Sheetal sighed floating over the remains of three other ice elementals ¡°Ash, you I can crush it for you if you want.¡± The ice elemental brought his hand down to squish Ash, but he wasn¡¯t there anymore. He was standing five feet away looking at Sheetal. ¡°Will you stop?¡± ¡°What are you trying to do?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Trying to land a superman punch with my speed, power, and strength shards.¡± Ash answered. ¡°It¡¯s not working.¡± ¡°Thank you captain obvious.¡± Ash moved again dodging the next strike with ease. Sheetal noted that he hadn¡¯t even taken his eyes off her. She relaxed and asked ¡°Fine. Why is it not working?¡± ¡°I mistimed my punch because someone keep crushing everything around her.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the equivalent of spamming the low kick in MK.¡± Sheetal gave Ash an offended look ¡°Oh you didn¡¯t.¡± Ash giggled and charged the ice creature. One moment he was standing in front of the large goliath, the next he was in the air punching the elemental in the chest. Thud! The ice elemental rocked back with Ash somehow perched on its chest. They stayed like that for a long moment without either of them moving. Ash frowned and looked up at the sky ¡°Ghost?¡± A chuckle rumbled through the world ¡°Sorry couldn¡¯t resist.¡± Ash glared at the sky ¡°I will¡­¡± Crunch. The ice creature underneath Ash crumbled into ice and snow, and Ash fell through. Sheetal snorted. Ash spat out the frozen water and climbed out of the pile scowling. He stomped away. Every step changing his clothes from leather pants and blue shirt to tank top and a thigh high floral skirt. ¡°Where are you going?¡± Sheetal laughed. ¡°Home.¡± ¡°Ash?¡± ¡°No, you both are ganging up on me.¡± --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Olimani retracted his hand as if it had been burned and turned to Aaya ¡°They are blue.¡± Aaya slowly lifted her hand from the pod and looked at the beautiful blue skinned woman inside ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± Aaya nodded ¡°We need answers. Go get them. And Olimani, be nice. They are in the warder¡¯s party. And have been touched by the light. They are not enemies.¡± Olimani¡¯s lips thinned and he sheathed his sword ¡°Yes, lady Aaya.¡± Aaya moved to leave and Aaya placed her hand on the pod again. Sheetal was now sitting on beach sipping on a cocktail. An older man in shorts and a beach shirt sat alongside her looking down at a hollow projection. ¡°So, there are five people in a party. The one in the front ahead is a tank. He is supposed to take the damage, and dish it out to keep the agro. The one in the back is ranged attacker. Could be an archer or a mage. The one in the middle is a healer.¡± Sheetal explained to Ghost while Ash fixed his short tube top that was a just a broad line on his thin chest. ¡°What about the other two.¡± Ghost pointed at the still image of the cartoonish characters in front of him. ¡°The one on the left is a DPS.¡± ¡°Deepeeee¡­what?¡¯ Ash giggled ¡°No, that¡¯s something else.¡± Sheetal quickly continued before Ash could derail the conversation ¡°A DPS or damage per second or the warrior class are faster than the tank. They rush in and frag the ads¡­ I mean the enemy and start piling damage on the main boss.¡± ¡°Boss.¡± Ghost stated and nodded. ¡°The last in is the assassin or a rogue class. They sneak around, disappearing in the background and attack the enemy at critical moments, eliminating them before they even know that a sneak is near them.¡± ¡°And, she wants me to be that.¡± Ash complained while looking out of the window. Ghost cleared his throat ¡°That¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s silly, nerdy, and dumb.¡± Ash stated. ¡°Kid, will you let me handle this?¡± Ash gave Ghost an annoyed look but nodded begrudgingly. Ghost exhaled ¡°And by that I suppose you plan to be a¡­ ranged class?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Sheetal nodded. Ghost grimaced ¡°And this class, by looks of that old bearded man standing over there doesn¡¯t use armour or any other weapons?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Lady warder, I hate to agree with Ash, but this is¡­¡± Ghost looked at Ash with pain reflected on his face and agreed ¡°Dumb.¡± ¡°No, it isn¡¯t. How? Hold on.¡± Sheetal held up her hand ¡°Let me explain. Look, after I tapped into my body, I realised I could do complex calculations in an instant. And that means I can create what you call external effects, easily. That means I sling a lot of magic around. So, obviously I should be in the back doing that. And Ash with his speed, and that thing he does where he disappears and appears, and with his prior experience should be sneaking around fragging people.¡± Ash rolled his eyes ¡°She, you¡¯ve seen the continuum. They all have guns. Why would they all have guns and rifle if they needed so specialise like your nerdy computer game.¡± ¡°It¡¯s called an MMO.¡± ¡°It¡¯s called, geeky.¡± ¡°You say that if it is bad thing.¡± Ash and Sheetal stared at each other for a moment. Ghost knew by the long stare the two directed at each other that they were continuing their argument internally. The two warders didn¡¯t use words when they did that. As they explained, they used impressions, feeling and what Ghost could only quantify as rapid data dumps to get their thoughts across. It both fascinated and unnerved him. The two were linked far beyond the quantum levels and he had no way to decode their way of communicating. And even becoming a ripple hadn¡¯t helped that. Ghost reclined on his beach chair and cleared his throat ¡°Warders, perhaps let me clarify some things?¡± Ash looked away in annoyance and Sheetal nodded. ¡°You are not wrong Sheetal. We do specialise in our fields. Needles is a specialist medic. She uses her cybernetic hand to quickly heal and get people stabilised. She also can well shoot a wave of potentiality for a largescale healing effect.¡± Sheetal nodded with a triumphant grin. ¡°But she can also turn that same effect into a rapid distorted burst that can break down every cell in a body. We are in a warzone, lady warder. Specialising to be just a healer is courting disaster.¡± Sheetal frowned. Ghost pointed at the tank in the stilled holographic projection and continued ¡°Also, you are young warders. And you both have different personalities. Ash will never stay back. It¡¯s not in his nature. He will lead from the front.¡± Ghost turned to Sheetal ¡°You Sheetal, you think you are different, but you are not. You will rush into battle to save your brother when he inevitably bites off more than he can chew. That means, you will need to be a tank and, a ranged magic dealer?¡± Sheetal bit her lip and gave Ash an accusing look. ¡°Hey, I haven¡¯t done anything yet.¡± Ash raised his hands. ¡°That¡¯s not a no I won¡¯t do it.¡± Sheetal grumbled. ¡°Well anyway, this is stupid. Because I can¡¯t float across a battlefield. I can barely cover ten feet.¡± Ash complained. ¡°Whose the Floaty McFloat Face now?¡± Sheetal responded in a mocking tone. Ash worked his jaw and blurted out ¡°Also, the jewellery is stupid.¡± ¡°Actually, the jewellery is the only thing in this setup which is on target.¡± Both Ash and Sheetal looked at Ghost with disbelief on their faces. Ghost wiped the holo projection of and replaced it with a human. The human¡¯s body turned transparent his shards became visible. Their glow made a coloured line bisecting the torso. Even so, the light from the glow bathed the ascended from inside out. ¡°This is what we call a pillar. Every shard in the pillar creates what you would call photonic vibrations to create a shield around you. Precious metals like gold, osmium, palladium etc. bridge the gap between the shards to make your shield impermeable.¡± Ghost explained and then looked at the two warders ¡°And unlike us, you both can slot in shards in the dozens. And that is why I don¡¯t know how to help you in choosing your next shards, and find metals to create jewellery.¡± Ash shrugged as they came to a stop ¡°Meh. I¡¯ll just pick the once that glitter the best for us.¡± Sheetal gave Ash a look and stopped when Ghost held up his hand ¡°Ash maybe on the right track lady warder. He can see things we can¡¯t.¡± Sheetal stopped and looked at Ash who was giving Ghost a flat look. Ghost smiled and continued ¡°But I think we will have better advice soon.¡± Ash pointed a finger at Ghost ¡°You are scheming again. She, he is scheming again.¡± Aaya leaned back on her heels and pursed her lips. Her first inclination when she entered this torture chamber was to burn everything down. Now that she had observed that the warders were safe, she wasn¡¯t going to be so hasty. Also, after witnessing the interaction inside she wasn¡¯t sure if that was the right move. She tapped her lip with her finger and noted that the female soldiers had approached her while she was thinking. ¡°Arbiter, may I assist you?¡± Needles asked with trepidation in her voice. Aaya looked at the woman with pursed green lips ¡°May I know your purpose here?¡± Needles hesitated ¡°I am their medical physician.¡± Aaya blinked and relaxed. No wonder the light had touched her and approved. She looked at the other soldiers and asked ¡°And them?¡± ¡°They are my squad. We all¡­¡± Needles paused trying to wrestle her emotions back in control. Needles nodded at the pods ¡°They saved us and we tried to save them cack. We were too late.¡± Aaya exhaled ¡°It¡¯s not too late but I need to observe them in silence for now. Would you be kind enough to make sure I am not disturbed.¡± Needles nodded and shouted ¡°JJ. Make sure the lady arbiter is not disturbed.¡± Aaya saw one of the large soldiers detach himself from the group. Her eyes drifted to Olimani who was looking more and more aghast with every passing moment and then back at the man who was walking to them with thudding footsteps. She nodded at both the soldiers and put her fingers back on the pod. The warders were now in a large living room with warm leather sofas and a fireplace crackling on the side. The two warders were arguing with each other while the man named Ghost was watching with an amused look on his face. ¡°What¡¯s the problem? What¡¯s the problem!? The problem is that I can¡¯t comb my hair.¡± Sheetal screamed at Ash. ¡°She, don¡¯t you get it. You are awesome.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that got to do with anything with the comb hurting my strands?¡± Ash groaned ¡°She¡­¡± ¡°What!?¡± ¡°This is not real. I have more strands than you. Do you think I comb my hair? Heck, I don¡¯t even take a bath until I want to relax.¡± Sheetal grimaced ¡°Ew.¡± ¡°Not real, She. Also, I smell like Miss Dior all the time. I like smelling like Miss Dior.¡± ¡°Again Ash. What has that got to do with my tangled hair?¡± Ash blew out a breath ¡°Just believe you are awesome, and they will be awesome with you.¡± Sheetal gave Ash a look and turned to Ghost ¡°Can you believe this nonsense?¡± Ghost chuckled ¡°Oh, I have been struggling with this for far longer than you, lady warder. You brother here has an unwavering confidence in himself. That has given him the ability to manipulate my domain. And since my domain is more or less a mental construct. It gives him an advantage.¡± ¡°Why does she get to be lady warder and I get to be just Ash?¡± Ash asked but the other two ignored him. ¡°Did you say mental construct?¡± Sheetal asked Ghost hesitantly answered ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Is that why you don¡¯t like it when I¡­¡± Ghost cut Sheetal off with a nod and answered ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Ghost sighed. ¡°Does that mean I can use my mental shard to wash my hair.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Do you believe your hair will come out perfect after you do that?¡± Ghost responded with a chuckle. Sheetal frowned and shot Ash an annoyed look. Ash rolled his eyes and, in a blur of speed, massaged Sheetal scalp in a blur with a curt ¡°Here. Happy?¡± ¡°Wha¡­? Huh?¡± Sheetal gave Ash an annoyed look and stopped. She touched her hair that had been tangled just a moment before and looked at Ash in awe ¡°How?¡± ¡°I am awesome.¡± Ash said emphatically. ¡°God¡¯s. Actually, you know what?¡± Sheetal looked at Ash with a cunning smile. ¡°What?¡± Ash leaned back ¡°You are my hairdresser now.¡± ¡°Oh, crap.¡± Ash grimaced. Ghost cleared his throat ¡°Now that we are on the subject of strands. You should now that they will become more sensitive each passing day. I have sped up the dreamscape even more to give you time to acclimatise to the changes.¡± ¡°Thank you, Ghost.¡± Sheetal smiled. ¡°Yeah, and that has nothing to do with the fact that you are using the bug energy to take over everything.¡± Ash scoffed. ¡°Do you disapprove?¡± Ghost asked pointedly. Ash grumbled incoherently and then growled ¡°I am just tired of you winning.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t beat yourself up kid. I have been planning all of this for three decades.¡± Ghost chuckled. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s not what I am worried about. What I am afraid of is what you are going to do next.¡± ¡°You are right, this is just the first step.¡± ¡°I hate you, Ghost.¡± Ash harrumphed. Ash chuckled and looked at Sheetal with a difficult expression. ¡°What is it, Ghost?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Outside, the dreamscape. You will¡­ There¡­ Faded gods this is harder than I thought it will be.¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on Ghost?¡± Sheetal asked in whisper. Ghost gave Sheetal a meaningful look and started again ¡°I am going to do this clinically.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°When you level up shard it releases energy in your body. That energy is used by your body to improve it until it reaches a state that could be called ideal. You are right now separated from your bodies. And your bodies are practically brand new. When you get out of here. Your will find your skin to be more sensitive. And all of your senses to be new and you will more prone to external stimuli. And certain drives of the biological variety will need attention.¡± Slowly the meaning of the words dawned on Sheetal, and she blushed. ¡°What does that even mean?¡± Ash asked. ¡°It means, you know what happened to you when you levelled up your shards? Well, that¡¯s going to happen to us.¡± ¡°We are going to be down bad?¡± Ash asked in curiosity. ¡°Really bad.¡± Ghost nodded. ¡°How bad? Like a N.N.N. bad or normal down bad?¡± ¡°N.N.N.? Ghost asked. ¡°No nut November.¡± Ash answered. Sheetal shook her head ¡°Ignore him. He is talking about a niche practice from our world mostly relegated to the always online crowd.¡± Ghost nodded ¡°Link culture.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ Do you have internet. Can I get some in here?¡± Ash asked. ¡°Anyways. About this state, maybe we can take care of it ourselves?¡± Sheetal asked hopefully. ¡°No. You will need a considerable amount of¡­ Attention. Expert attention, while you get your biological drives in order.¡± Ghost fiddled with his collar trying to avoid eye contact. ¡°Why does everyone keep ignoring me?¡± Ash asked. Ghost continued ¡°I have asked for Daka and Dakini to visit. They reached here before the rak assault started. They are waiting in my quarters and they will take care of your needs when you exit.¡± ¡°Daka? What are those?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°They are professionals who specialise in acclimatising ascended.¡± ¡°Wait. Are you telling me we are going to get laid?¡± Ash grinned ¡°Finally. I have almost forgotten what it feels like.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Sheetal hesitated. ¡°Yeah, I know you never knew what it felt like.¡± Ash chuckled. ¡°I will kill you.¡± ¡°She. We are going laid. So laid.¡± Ash turned to Ghost with eager eye ¡°When? Can we go now?¡± In response Ghost just disappeared. ¡°Hey. Come back here. You can¡¯t just tease us like that and poof out of existence.¡± ¡°Oh, thank the gods it not now. I need some time¡­¡± Ash suddenly whirled and looked right at Aaya. ¡°Ash?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°What the¡­¡± Aaya took her hand of the pod and blinked. She knew that hiding herself from the adjudicator was impossible. But the young warder? He wasn¡¯t even class one. And she had been using her shadow shard to obscure herself. However he had done that wasn¡¯t important right now. What was important was that, the two warders were safe and stable. They were also treating the man, the adjudicator, as a father figure. And by the awkwardness she witnessed, Ghost was had similar feeling towards the two. ¡°Lady Aaya this is bad.¡± Aaya hadn¡¯t noticed Olimani approach before he spoke. Aaya turned to look at the young Aranyaani and pointed at the pod in front of her ¡°Olimani, there are two warders swimming in anathemic waters. Bad doesn¡¯t begin to cover what ever this is.¡± Olimani hesitated and then blurted his question out ¡°What if it was sanctioned by the Light?¡± Aaya stopped and looked at everyone around her ¡°Explain.¡± One by one the pieces came together, and Aaya felt a sharp thread of fear enter her being. Her initial idea of burning everything down needed to be rejected completely. Her mind churned. This was unprecedented. Warders were supposed to fight against anathema, not be off it. And yet the Khara and the adjudicator had made them in the image of the enemy. And the Light approved it with an event. ¡°Ash and sand.¡± Aaya muttered and then looked at Olimani ¡°Arbiter Olimani, join me in observing the warders. I might need you when I announce our presence.¡± ¡°First, he locks us in here. Then he wants to micromanage us. Then he wasn¡¯t us not to leave. Then he teases us with sex. And now he wants us to take a train ride?¡± Sheetal rolled her eyes. This sulky side of Ash was driving her mad. ¡°She, I am telling you. You need to go whoosh with your brain and grab everything.¡± Sheetal groaned ¡°Why?¡± ¡°So, that I can punch him.¡± Ash smacked his fist in his palm. ¡°No. Not why you want me to do all that. Why am I in the same car as you are.¡± Sheetal complained. ¡°Because I will follow you wherever you go.¡± Ash stated in matter of fact tone. Sheetal looked up and screamed ¡°Ghost?¡± In response the sleek train floating over the ground came to a stop. Sheetal didn¡¯t wait and with a loud huff shot out of the futuristic transport. Ghost appeared in front of them with raised eyebrows. Ash looked at him and scowled ¡°You!¡± Sheetal let out a frustrated scream and shot off in tornado of sand and gravel. Ash looked at her for a second and then at Ghost. ¡°What did you do?¡± Ghost asked. ¡°Annoyed her.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Ash¡¯s smirk disappeared and he looked at Ghost with cold eyes ¡°Because I needed to speak to you in private.¡± ¡°You know you could have asked.¡± ¡°Yeah, well then, She would have been curious and I would have to start singing Nirma. Washing powder, Nirma again.¡± Ash snapped. ¡°Is this about your¡­¡± ¡°Eyes. Yes. Partially. It is also about her legs.¡± Ash took a step towards Ghost and asked ¡°Is it the smoke person who is trying to stop her from feeling them or is it you?¡± Ghost took in a deep breath and let it out slowly ¡°Dangit kid. Why are you so¡­¡± Ghost paused and started again ¡°Sheetal, has never felt her legs. If she starts to feel them right now it will break her immersion inside the dreamscape, and she will be ejected.¡± ¡°So, you are the one keeping her crippled.¡± Ash accused. ¡°Yes. But not for long. We are almost at an end for all that I can teach you. You will have to go into the world and learn what you need to outside soon.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Ash asked sarcastically ¡°In my condition?¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you awesome?¡± Ghost grinned. Ash stomped his foot on the ground and then again. ¡°What are you doing?¡± ¡°Kicking you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not working.¡± ¡°I hate you.¡± Ash kicked the ground one last time for good measure and stomped away in the other direction. Ghost looked at the people observing and asked ¡°See what I have to deal with?¡± Ten minutes later, which was less than a blink of an eye for the arbiters observing they were all back together and Sheetal was following Ghost up a rocky hill while Ash brought up a rear for a while. Sheetal was still angry and had a tornado whizzing about her. Ash grumbled something indistinct. ¡°What!?¡± Sheetal snapped. ¡°I said can you stop blowing sand in my face?¡± Sheetal growled ¡°Can you stop annoying me?¡± ¡°For how long?¡± Ash cocked his head to the side. Sheetal stopped and looked at Ash ¡°What¡¯s going on? Why are you depressed.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± Ash shot Ghost a challenging glare. Daring him to contradict him and looked away with ¡°Well, go ahead Ghost. Explain what that thing is and start your show.¡± Ash pointed at a creature that had just appeared out of nowhere. ¡°Eeeek!¡± Sheetal shot back and squeaked. Suddenly there was two foot high and three legged spider like creature scampering up the rocky outcropping they had stopped on. ¡°Not real dummy.¡± Ash snorted. Sheetal shot Ash a look and looked at the creature. On a closer glance, it only somewhat resembled a spider. Unlike the smooth carapace of real spider, this one¡¯s was made out of a pitted stone. And wherever it put its feet down that ground melted with hissing pops like acid. Only leaving an oily substance behind. And oily substance Ash knew very well. Anathema. Sheetal watched the creature in horrified fascination as it clacked and clattered over the lose debris. It reached a large boulder and positioned itself facing the rock. In a smooth motion, it shot out a pincer hiding in its torso into the widest point of the boulder. Swick. A slight feather like sound was the only that the pincer impacting the stone made. A second later, a pulse went through the stone, and it was sucked. All that that was left in its place was an oily mess that was slowly burning through the ground. ¡°That is a gatherer. They are like ants. They turning matter into that.¡± Ghost pointed at the creature and the tar like oil. ¡°What just happened?¡± Sheetal looked at the hideous creature and the oil like substance. To call the creature a spider was inaccurate. Every creature on earth and even the trails was symmetrical. This thing wasn¡¯t. It was a tripod every bit of it looked like it had been hobbled together. Sheetal felt a sharp revulsion and instinctively scooted a few back from the thing. ¡°Is it made of stone?¡± Sheetal finally asked. ¡°No. It is a form of chiton. We believe it is created like that so that it can be consumed alongside its payload easily.¡± ¡°Consumed?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°I will come back to that. First look at its top half. It has no head.¡± Ghost pointed at the creature. The top part of the creature ended in rough dark chiton. Some portions where rounded and others were sharp. But none of them looked damaged. The torso that connected the legs wasn¡¯t black. In contrast, the torso was a brown and a cross between an octagon on one side and a square on the other. All that was covered with a flat disk. ¡°That means that it has no weak for you to exploit on the top. You can¡¯t one shot this thing. Instead, you have to shoot it in the torso. Which is thin and hard to target on its own but also aided by the eyes on the legs.¡± Sheetal felt an urge to exterminate this thing when she looked at the eyes. Revulsion bubbled up in her core and she felt anger follow it. What it had just done could be allowed. Sheetal looked at the gatherer¡¯s eyes. It had weeping eyes. Once again, they were interspersed everywhere without rhyme or reason. Some were on the top of its legs. Other were placed midway. One was even close to the ground and looked blinded. The pincer it had just dislodged was beginning to get sucked in to its carapace when Sheetal raised her hand to wipe the thing out of reality. ¡°Careful.¡± Ghost said while steading Sheetal floating form. Sheetal shook her head. The spider thing, it was lying broken on the ground. It¡¯s limbs were torn apart in chunks. It carapace was lodged into ground vertically. And they were all letting out wisps of light in the air alongside inky anathema. Sheetal felt her brain jolt and her anger took the whole creature in at a glance and then grimaced as her brain overloaded with the information. Sheetal shook her head to clear it and repeated her earlier question ¡°What just happened?¡± ¡°You used your ability.¡± Ash who was now standing next to Sheetal answered. He looked at her to make sure she was okay and buzzed away. Ghost nodded ¡°I told you not to use your abilities in here. The dreamscape can¡¯t take it and it will eject you.¡± Ghost chided. Racial Ability - Glance. Type ¨C Danav Let¡¯s you assess a foe¡¯s weakness and strengths at a glance, allowing your attack extra damage. ¡°Sorry, it kind of happened on its own.¡± Sheetal panted. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Sheetal nodded andl pointed at the creature standing at pause in front of them ¡°How did it turn stone into oil?¡± Ghost sighed ¡°Gatherers are dangerous pests. They turn matter into crude anathema to take it back to what are people call unreality or the anti universe. They excrete phased matter into solids that binds with the light, which they feed on. The feeding process leaves behind anathema that is spoiled by the residual matter. That burrows into the ground and creates tears through which more of these creatures pop out. That is why anathemic creatures are a scourge on reality.¡± ¡°So, bugs be bad?¡± Ash asked from the small flat boulder he was sitting on. Ghost rolled his eyes ¡°The gatherers are just carriers. They consume only a portion of light. Most of it they take to the worm for refinement. We will come to the worm later. But right now look to its right.¡± Sheetal turned to see a much larger spider clattering towards them. ¡°That is a soldier. They protect the gatherers. And since you killed that one¡­ This one is here to investigate.¡± The insectoid creature scampered up the rocky outcropping. This one was twice as large as the gatherer and had four legs. Its pincer was not hidden inside its body but attached to its upper half like a turret. Its eyes had an animalistic intelligence compared to the dull look of the previous one. It used those eyes to look at them. The creature swiftly turned and focussed in on Ash who was sitting on a rock and pretending to sulk. The top of the soldier¡¯s disk rotated independent of it legs. The turret like pincer aimed at Ash. The flat disk on top pulsed with a slight glow and a fire ball shot out towards Ash. Ash dramatically sighed and raised a pebble in his palm. His fingers flicked the rock towards the fire ball. The fireball and the pebble made contact. Whup. With a sharp sound the fireball was sucked out of existence. Ghost gave Ash a hard stare. ¡°Bravo kid. That was smooth. You are getting better with glyphs.¡± Ash congratulated himself. Ghost narrowed his eyes and Sheetal felt a spike of sharp annoyance from Ash. ¡°What is it kid?¡± Ghost asked with raised eyebrows. Ash scowled and put the book he was reading down ¡°You know exactly what it is.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you just spill it out?¡± ¡°First, I don¡¯t want to trust Ghost. You do everything wrong for the right reason. That is just annoying. Pick a lane man. Do you want to be good or bad? By the gods man you even lost your life because you couldn¡¯t make a choice. Also, your vision for continuum sucks.¡± ¡°What?¡± Ghost took offence at the last sentence. ¡°Yeah, you heard me. Your honour based system sucks.¡± ¡°It¡¯s called Timocracy. It enabled the ones with honour, property and ambition to hold power and serve our people.¡± Ash scoffed ¡°It¡¯s stupid. You can¡¯t have faith in people. You don¡¯t put faith in order. And you don¡¯t put faith in authority. They were all tools to keep you in check.¡± ¡°So, what do you put faith in?¡± ¡°Myself.¡± Ash paused and pointed a finger at Sheetal ¡°And her.¡± Sheetal wasn¡¯t surprised at the outburst. Ash wasn¡¯t a communist like his mother, a secular democrat from a democratic country, or an aristocrat like his predecessors. Her little brother was a nihilist. He believed that life was meaningless. The world was meaningless. And nobody gave a damn about anything. And if someone did, he would be sent to deal with them. And that is why his crazy little head was having a hard time accepting Ghost as a friend. Ghost shook his head and asked ¡°Would you really not care if the world burned you?¡± ¡°As long as it doesn¡¯t touch mine, no.¡± ¡°And what if it did?¡± ¡°Then I will burn right back.¡± Ghost chuckled ¡°And that is why I like you.¡± Ghost, liked that? That circular depressive way of thinking scared Sheetal. The only comfort she felt way that Ash was too much of a narcissist to go down without a massive explosion. Sheetal always saw mushroom clouds when Ash was thinking about death. It was not perfect but if Ash thought that dying in anything else than a nuclear explosion was ignoble, then it was strangely comforting. Still, it was a hard way to live. And Sheetal knew needed to make him trust people more. His upbringing and the constant series of betrayals he had faced in life made it extremely hard. But whatever his issue was with Ghost, this time was different. She could feel the simmering anger bubbling from him. She almost got a feeling that Ghost had gotten one up on Ash again and now the little tyrant was throwing a tantrum. ¡°Okay. I have had enough.¡± Sheetal finally said and asked ¡°What happened between you two?¡± ¡°Nirma! Washing powder Nirma¡­¡± Sheetal flinched and turned away from Ash. She looked at Ghost. ¡°Your brother doesn¡¯t want me to share that with you.¡± Ghost answered. ¡°Okay, fine. Whatever this is can wait.¡± Sheetal glared at the two men ¡°We came here for instruction, so Ghost continue with that and let¡¯s leave the politics for some other day. And you¡± Sheetal pointed at Ash ¡°Stop it with that jingle. If you don¡¯t I will smash your head open to see if I can fix that freak brain of yours.¡± Ghost bowed slightly ¡°Yes, lady warder.¡± Sheetal frowned when Ghost smirked. Sheetal shook her head ¡°And Ghost please hurry it up. I am very close to making a plasma torpedo and I want to crack it within the next few days.¡± Ghost gave Sheetal a sharp look ¡°Sheetal, you are not ready with that.¡± ¡°No, but you are, and you are going to help me.¡± ¡°I suggest you don¡¯t until you¡­¡± Ghost trailed off when he saw the look on Sheetal face and waved his hand ¡°Fine.¡± The gatherer¡¯s pieces and the soldier spider anomaly that had paused mid battle disappeared. The rock cropping along with the dripping oil like substance evaporated. And in its place an open mining pit appeared. At the centre of the open of the pit something large wiggled and shot out. Speeding across the walls scooping in large mouthfuls of the oily residue flowing down from the edge of the pit. ¡°That is the worm.¡± Ghost explained ¡°And these are the three anomalies you will face in the sinkhole if you go to Kapasura.¡± Sheetal recoiled back from the edge of the pit. Ash on the other hand scooted forwards on all fours with his eyes locked onto the speeding worm. ¡°Is that¡­?¡± ¡°The worm.¡± Ghost nodded. ¡°No. No. Inside that thing. Is that? Ash asked in a high pitched voice. ¡°Yes.¡± Ghost smiled. Ash looked at Ghost and grinned ¡°So, this is the dirty little secret behind all the powerplay in the trails.¡± Ghost chuckled ¡°Who says it is a secret?¡± Sheetal shook her head ¡°I don¡¯t get it. So, it is a disgusting large worm? One we will have to kill. But what is so special about that.¡± ¡°Why you have to kill it is what is so special about it.¡± Ghost replied. ¡°Ghost, stop talking to Ash. You are beginning to sound like him.¡± Ghost flinched as if he had been struck. He looked at Ash and frowned. Ash frowned back at the older man. Ghost turned back to Sheetal ¡°I am sorry. The worm. It is like a processing farm. It processes light and takes it to the beyond. That means¡­¡± ¡°Anathema and shards.¡± Ash couldn¡¯t take it and yelled ¡°It is full of anathema and shards, She. We need to kill it, and juice it, and drink it.¡± Sheetal gagged slightly ¡°Why would we want to do that?¡± ¡°Do you want to do the glance thing without toppling over?¡± Sheetal blinked at looked at the worm retreating into the hole. She opened her mouth and just floated there. Ash grinned ¡°Yeah, She. We will kill it and bathe in its blood.¡± Sheetal looked at the four foot ten, skinny, effeminate boy with pink lipstick, a glitter top and mini skirt. ¡°Bathe in its blood?¡± She asked. ¡°Just drinking anathema would do too. It just need to be pure.¡± Ghost clarified. Sheetal controlled her gag reflex ¡°I am not in favour of consuming worm juice.¡± ¡°Oh, come on. It¡¯s not that bad. Smell it. It smells like jam.¡± Ash pointed at the open faced mine. Sheetal leaned in and sniffed. Ash was only partially right. It didn¡¯t smell like jam. It smelled like spiced berry preserve. She could smell the earthy cinnamon and the tart smell of the fruit. It was tantalising enough to make her mouth water. Sheetal gave the anathemic mine another look and saw the train like worm that had just disappeared into the hole. And now she understood why Ghost had insisted on the train ride. He wanted them to understand the scale of the thing. ¡°It¡¯s huge.¡± Sheetal stated ¡°And we are awesome.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fast.¡± ¡°You shoot sticky fire.¡± ¡°It¡¯s called a plasma torpedo and I don¡¯t know how to do it properly.¡± ¡°Why are you so insistent about using plasma.¡± Ghost asked. ¡°It¡¯s from Stargate. There is this spaceship called Organisation and it that shoots balls of death and conquers civilisation in the name of exploration.¡± Ash explained in faced motone voice and turned to Sheetal with an eager look. ¡°It¡¯s Star Trek and no. They use those torpedoes to defend themselves.¡± Sheetal corrected Ash. ¡°Whatever She. Listen you can use your vacuum cleaner powers to drag it back by its tail and we can shoot at it.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash aghast and pointed at the pit ¡°But¡­ It¡¯s¡­ Ah!¡± ¡°Yeah, She, that¡¯s what it¡¯s going to say when it meets us.¡± Ash grinned. ¡°Will you let me finish?¡± Sheetal gave Ash a frustrated look and turned to Ghost ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°Pits like these are the reason that people come to the trails. They want the shards and more importantly the anathema from the anomalies. Even though the anathema is toxic. It melts anyone who touches it. Those who can withstand its touch for more than a second suffer spontaneous mutations. That is why the continnum covers itself with null armour.¡± ¡°Null armour?¡± ¡°Yes, Sheetal. Our armour is made from anathemic metals. But should you go in there?¡± Ghost paused ¡°Not without backup. Every break in reality is teaming with ascendeds and warders. They are all there to gather anathema. Because if you pour anathema over a normal weapon like a steel blade turns into aluminium magnesium alloy. Pour it over a soul weapon and it changes to whatever the wielder wants. Pour it over quartz and it might turn into mozz. Pour it over lead and it might turn into¡­¡± ¡°Gold?¡± ¡°No, titanium. Why would you want to turn anything into gold. It¡¯s pretty but useless unless you are mounting stones in it.¡± ¡°Changes?¡± Ash asked and quickly looked away ¡°Wait I don¡¯t want to know. I am not talking to you.¡± Sheetal sighed out loud and asked ¡°How is that even possible? We are talking about different elements and alloy bonds.¡± Ghost shrugged ¡°It¡¯s anathema.¡± ¡°It¡¯s yummy.¡± Ash said from the other side. Ghost looked at Ash and then back at Sheetal ¡°The pits are a favourite of mental sharders and soul strengtheners. Mentalist are frowned upon in polite society but honestly, these two types of ascendeds are the only way to combat anathema¡¯s warping effect. And since these two types of ascenders come from noble families, there is politics.¡± Ash scoffed ¡°No there is politics because anathema is a resource. People want that resource, and they are willing to fight for it. And fighting for it causes deaths that makes the damn oil prices to shoot up.¡± He smiled and rubbed his hands together ¡°But they are lucky because I am going to put a stop to it all. The deaths, the crying families, the orphaned children because I am going to take it all from everyone.¡± ¡°Ash¡­¡± ¡°Give him a moment Ghost. He is not done yet.¡± Sheetal stooped their instructor. Ash with a dreamy look in his eyes continued ¡°I am going to drink it in front of them. Then they going to come to me and beg, no Ash, don¡¯t drink it all. Please leave some for us. And I will be like of course. I am a gracious guy. But only if you can get me a designer skirt. And when you do say¡­ Ash is awesome.¡± Sheetal rolled her eyes and ignored Ash¡¯s fantasy. Ghost sighed ¡°Ash¡­ Kid, you can¡¯t drink it all.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Ghost pointed at the hole ¡°Because that monster there is larger than your stomach.¡± Ash was silent for a moment and then whined ¡°But, I can try.¡± Ghost continued ¡°No, you will drink the anathema, as much of it as you need and leave the rest for others to gather.¡± Ash squinted at Ghost and stomped his foot ¡°I am not talking to you.¡± Before he could respond Sheetal asked ¡°What is this about needing anathema?¡± Ash waved a hand dismissively and then pointed at Sheetal ¡°You know when you do that glary thing and then wobble?¡± ¡°It¡¯s called glance, Ash. And I don¡¯t wobble.¡± ¡°Yeah, whatever. You do that because you don¡¯t have enough anathema.¡± Sheetal turned to look at Ghost for an affirmation. Ghost turned his hand back and forth ¡°He is not entirely incorrect. Your new race is mutation caused by anathema. It needs to complete that mutation to stabilise. Also, you are immune to anathemic effects.¡± Flash! Needles appeared with two people. One was a middle aged woman and the other one was a the warders age. Their skin had a greenish hue that stood out in front of the others. ¡°That is heresy!¡± A stern middle aged woman stated emphatically. ¡°What? Which part?¡± Ash asked ¡°I mean I like the word heresy. It¡¯s such cool word. So, green woman, I will need clarification on that.¡± ¡°Ash, you don¡¯t even know what that word means.¡± Sheetal looked at the newcomers with narrowed eyes. ¡°Of course I do.¡± Ash bit his thumb. ¡°No, what you are thinking of is blasphemy.¡± Sheetal responded. ¡°Arbiters.¡± Ghost greeted the two newcomers and bowed ¡°Welcome to my dreamscape.¡± Aaya bowed slightly ¡°Adjudicator. The warders¡¯ races, whatever they are, weren¡¯t caused by anathemic mutation. They were brought forth by lights blessings.¡± Ghost shrugged ¡°I am not going to fight with you on that point arbiter. The fact is that the warders are anathemic individuals and they need it.¡± ¡°Something that should have never come to.¡± Olimani shot back and turned to Aaya ¡°We should take the warders with us and leave for Solace.¡± ¡°Hold on a minute green guy. You don¡¯t make the rules around here.¡± Ash squared his chest and pointed at Sheetal ¡°She does.¡± ¡°We all need to calm down.¡± Ghost said in calming tone. ¡°Uh!¡± Sheetal grunted. ¡°Ow.¡± Ash said at the same time. A sense of loss weakened both the warders momentarily and one after the other they fell on the ground. Ghost was there a second later checking on the warders ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Freaking cowards.¡± Ash grunted. ¡°They left.¡± Sheetal raised a finger and flicked a notification at everyone around her. Bonds Dissolved. Your team, squad, party, or people have abandoned you. Your ties have been cut to them. Fight warder and rise beyond your mortal ties. Chapter 52 - Hot Rod Bonds Dissolved Your team, squad, party, or people have either died or abandoned you. There are no members of your timeline remaining within 100 Kms of you. Your ties have been sheered. Fight warder and rise beyond your mortal ties. Bonds sheered Earth, NSA, Vayu Initiative, Serai Corporation. ¡°Ahhh ¡­¡± Sheetal screamed and looked at Ash. He was lying next to her writing just like her. She didn¡¯t know when, but they had been transported back to the mansion. Now there were people crowding all around them looking at them with widening eyes. ¡°Give them some space.¡± Ghost shouted. Aaya shot him a fierce look. ¡°You don¡¯t tell us what to do kite.¡± Olimani shot back. Ghost turned a level gaze at the young arbiter ¡°Arbiter, you should follow the example of your senior and watch what you say. My predecessor would have wiped you out of existence for that.¡± Ghost took in a breath and with a smile politely asked ¡°Please, if you would be so kind, give the warders some space. You are hovering.¡± Olimani scowled but moved a few steps back. Aaya glared at Ghost and took a step back too. ¡°Needles, I am slowing down the cycles and bringing it down to planetary norm. It will release pressure on their brains and give you more resources to stabilise them.¡± Ghost added. ¡°It won¡¯t work.¡± Aaya said flatly. ¡°Needles?¡± Ghost asked. ¡°I need to monitor their bodies. I will be back.¡± Needles disappeared. ¡°The problem is not with their bodies, and you know it.¡± Aaya continued in the same tone. Ghost gritted his teeth and nodded ¡°It¡¯s their souls.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ Say¡­ Souls.¡± Ash grunted out in pained voice and added ¡°She will¡­ Start lecturing us all.¡± ¡°Ash! Shut¡­ The flip¡­ Off!¡± Sheetal spat out in between ever convulsion. Everyone in the room ignored the two writing bodies and continued to shoot each other hostile looks ¡°Their souls aren¡¯t anchored, and you have already put too much stress on them.¡± Aaya glared at the adjudicator. ¡°They have a party.¡± Ghost defended himself. ¡°You think that is all it takes?¡± Aaya raised her voice and continued in a shout ¡°Warders represent a people. They are created to defend people. That is why they are created.¡± ¡°I can fix this.¡± Ghost muttered. ¡°How did you get them to agree to go through your experiment?¡± Aaya asked in a sharp voice. Ghost grimaced. ¡°Well?¡± Ghost sighed ¡°They are fate linked. I threatened one to compel the other.¡± Aaya growled ¡°I should kill you for that.¡± ¡°NO!¡± Ash lifted himself up with his elbows and snarled ¡°Ghost is mine.¡± Sheetal pointed at Ash and nodded ¡°What she said.¡± ¡°She, when I get better. I will pull your hair.¡± Ash said in a hiss of pain and fell back on his back. ¡°Bring it¡­ Jack ash.¡± Ghost grinned ¡°Ash. Sheetal. Would you like to be Junior Councillor of Thrive?¡± ¡°Shove it, Ghost. I just made you mine. Not your plans.¡± Ash spat out. ¡°Yes.¡± Sheetal hissed out. Ash turned his head to look at Sheetal ¡°No.¡± ¡°Stop.¡± Aaya said sternly. Ghost continued as if her had not heard Aaya ¡°I need both of you to agree.¡± ¡°I said stop.¡± Aaya glared at everyone in the room and the building shook as she released some of her power. Everyone looked at Aaya in shock except Ghost whose eyes had narrowed. Olimani broke the silence ¡°Warders, this man is trying to manipulate you.¡± Sheetal started ¡°We¡­¡± ¡°Know.¡± Ash finished. Ghost folded his arms ¡°Why don¡¯t you give the warders a chance to discuss this in peace, soul mage.¡± Aaya¡¯s eyes turned cold, and a green light spread out of her and covered the room ¡°Fine.¡± Ghost¡¯s eyebrows shot up when the power spread out of the room and continued growing. First, the mansion, then the stream, and then the whole valley was covered in the glow. And the writing bodies in on the large bed slowly stilled. Ghost bowed ¡°Thank you, arbiter.¡± Sheetal released a held breath and whispered ¡°Gods¡­ It felt like someone was burning my skin off.¡± ¡°No. That¡¯s feels different. This was more like someone skinning you with a knife.¡± Ash panted. ¡°Ash¡­¡± Sheetal whispered. ¡°I don¡¯t want to talk about it.¡± Ash turned his head away. ¡°You can¡¯t keep that bottled in. You need to talk to someone.¡± Sheetal pressed. ¡°Talk about what? How they always leave me behind? How they let me. ME!¡± Ash shouted and snarled ¡°Get tortured. I am not going to talk about it. I am going to get even.¡± ¡°Ash.¡± ¡°No, She. They left you behind too. Stop making excuses for them.¡± Ash snapped. Sheetal reached out and pulled Ash to her ¡°It¡¯s okay. I am here. I am with you. You are not alone this time.¡± Ash buried his head in Sheetal¡¯s chest and the room was plunged in an awkward silence. Ghost moved towards the door and the arbiters followed him. Ten minutes later, the arbiters were sitting in the large living room of leather sofas while the warders party members stood in silence all around them. Aaya had asked everyone to join them. She needed to understand the dynamics of this strange relationship. Also, it would help her find anyone with hostile intent with her soul field. Her eyes went from one soldier to the other and she didn¡¯t relax when she didn¡¯t find any ill will. There was one man, one soul that was beyond her reach. Ghost faded in to the room and gave Aaya a knowing smile. He turned to the seven ¡°Are the doors barred?¡± ¡°Yes, High Councillor.¡± T answered. ¡°Good. I am sealing the null room. And beginning the take over plans.¡± Ghost announced. Theory sighed ¡°Ruby F is going to flip out Ghost.¡± ¡°I¡­ We are ready.¡± Ghost responded and waved his hand at the table and smell of freshly brewed coffee wafted off a carafe ¡°That should get them out.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± Needles asked. ¡°Soul and psychological trauma broke Ash down.¡± Ghost chocked on his words. He cleared his throat and continued ¡°Do not bring it up. Act normal.¡± ¡°You mean you are going to antagonise the boy?¡± JJ asked. ¡°No, I am going to be smug.¡± The sofa next to Ghost creaked and Ash was there holding a cup of coffee. He looked around and asked ¡°Who died? Actually, I don¡¯t care as long its none of you. My condolences and whatever.¡± Sheetal flew out of the back and looked around. She found Ash and gave him a stern look. Ash pointed her and in a warning voice said ¡°She, no more hugs.¡± Sheetal wordlessly lifted Ash in the air and hugged him. ¡°She, my coffee.¡± Sheetal scooted herself down on the sofa hugging Ash. ¡°I understand why cats hate women, now.¡± Ash grumbled. ¡°Shut up. I want to hug.¡± ¡°She, the angry green lady is looking at us.¡± Ash whispered loudly. Staring would have been the right word to use. Sheetal took that moment to look at her. Glance ¨C Activated. Aaya wasn¡¯t tall. She was pretty much the average for a woman, but she felt tall. And there was other such incongruities Sheetal sensed while looking at her. Like she was normal looking, but she seemed beautiful. Her hair braid fell below her shoulders and yet it seemed like her untied black hair were swaying in the wind open. Deep green, almost black eyebrows rose to watch Sheetal and a hint of smile rose Aaya¡¯s burgundy, brown lips. Sheetal shook her heads. She couldn¡¯t make sense of what she was looking at. Her glance should have shown Aaya¡¯s strengths and weaknesses. Instead, she saw two images layered over each other. ¡°Do you know what you just did girl?¡± Aaya asked. Sheetal stiffened and braced herself ¡°I used my ability to look at you.¡± ¡°And what did you see?¡± ¡°That there are two of you.¡± Sheetal answered in confusion. ¡°No.¡± Aaya laughed and explained ¡°What you saw was my battle aspect.¡± ¡°A what?¡± Sheetal put her chin on Ash¡¯s head and asked. ¡°I apologise, we are on edge with all that we have seen.¡± Aaya shook her head and added ¡°And none of that is your fault.¡± Ash tried to wiggle out of Sheetal¡¯s arms with no success ¡°That¡¯s all fire an all. But what do you want lady.¡± Aaya gave the petulant child in Sheetal¡¯s arms a withering look ¡°Do you know what a warder is child?¡± Without waiting for an answer Aaya continued ¡°Warders on the surface might look like combat specialists but they are not. They are the first light¡¯s champions created to save sentience. From the edge. From each other and even from themselves. They need a following of sentients to exist. Otherwise, they die slowly and painfully. Like you were dying right now. We are arbiters. We facilitate the procurement of those bonds for you.¡± ¡°So, what you are looking for us to hire you?¡± Sheetal asked. Olimani snorted ¡°You are warders you go to war for the holy system. You carry out the Light¡¯s will. We arbiters are the Light¡¯s hearts. It might look like we serve warders on the surface, we don¡¯t. We serve with them and not them. We assist them. We bring them missions and help them carry out the Light¡¯s will in our own way. We work with you. Not for you.¡± ¡°So, you are brains, and we are the muscle?¡± Ash asked. ¡°No.¡± Aaya gave Olimani a look to shut him up and continued ¡°What Olimani is trying to explain is that at times we may disagree with you. We are your friends and the only ones who understand the demands the system puts on you. We look out for you while serving the system.¡± Ash nodded ¡°Good, because She...¡± Ash pointed above and continued with narrowed eyes pointed at Olimani ¡°Is the brains.¡± What he didn¡¯t say was, mine is a bit broken right now but Sheetal caught the sentiment through the link and squeezed Ash close to her. ¡°She¡­¡± Ash croaked ¡°You are¡­ Ahh¡­¡± Ash fainted cartoonishly and a long toungue rolled out his mouth and onto Sheetal¡¯s arm. The arbiters jolted and leaned away. Sheetal shouted ¡°Ew!¡± In disgust and recoiled. Ash took that moment to buzz away and stopped in front of one of the large soldiers. He kicked him on his armoured leg. Clunk! ¡°Ow! Ow! Ow!¡± Ash hopped on his foot. ¡°Boss?¡± Theory asked. Ash gave Theory a look and asked ¡°Couldn¡¯t you have saved me?¡± ¡°From Sheetal?¡± Theory asked. Ash nodded. Theory looked at Sheetal and then at Ash as if he had lost his mind ¡°No.¡± Ash looked at Theory and then reluctantly nodded ¡°Fair.¡± ¡°How did you do that?¡± Olimani asked with his hands tightening on his sword. Ash walked to the other side of the coffee table and asked Ghost ¡°Floaty?¡± A floating recliner chair appeared and Ash jumped up on it and sat with his feet dangling of the ground. ¡°How did you do that?¡± Olimani asked in a shout. ¡°What? Ran around the room? I have speed shards.¡± Ash answered ¡°No, morph your flesh.¡± Olimani took a step towards the warder. Ash blinked ¡°Bro, its not real. This whole place is not real. You can do whatever you want if you are awesome.¡± Olimani turned to look at Aya who was looking at Ghost. Ghost helplessly shrugged ¡°He is Ash.¡± Ash who was sitting on the floating recliner floated nest to the table to pick up a large mug of coffee and looked at Sheetal until she used her telekinetic powers to scoop out a large scoop of ice cream and dropped it into the mug. The arbiters watched the two as if they were going to turn into monsters any moment. Ash casually took a sip and made a thin dainty pipe appear in his hand and puffed on it. It¡¯s end magically lit up without fire and Ash blew out blue smoke. ¡°Ash, why are you trying to freak out the scary green people?¡± Sheetal asked in an slow amused voice. The arbiters watched as the warders focussed on each other. Their body language aligned and Aaya felt their souls vibrate inside her field. Fascinated Aaya looked on as they warders conversed. ¡°Because I am angry, and I am lashing out.¡± Ash replied honestly. ¡°Ash.¡± ¡°You know, honestly, this is like a load of our shoulders. I was wondering when they would leave us to die. Now that we know.¡± ¡°You expected them to leave us behind?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Yeah. She, we are hostages and after a day, protocol says, you need to presume anyone missing as MIA or KIA.¡± ¡°M¡­I¡­ What? Mission Impossible?¡± Sheetal asked slowly. ¡°Missing in action and killed in action.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± Sheetal slumped down onto her chair. ¡°Honestly with all that you do and make, when did you find the time to watch all those horrible Hollywood movies? A boomer clinging to a flying plane?¡± ¡°Ash, focus. They left us and that hurt us. Why?¡± Ash smiled painfully ¡°It¡¯s still hurting us, She.¡± Ash nodded at Aaya ¡°The scary green lady here is holding us together with her green mist.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°You know this is a good thing, She. Even though it means that the old Ari guy, that gave you the warm and fuzzy feeling every time he spoke. I mean he was hot in a straight kind of way but now you don¡¯t have to lose your virginity to someone who left you die. So, you can lose your virginity to him later.¡± Sheetal glared at Ash. Ash sighed ¡®Yeah. I am being an ashhole. This is not awesome.¡± Sheetal¡¯s facial expression softened ¡°But you still think this is a good thing?¡± ¡°Yeah. The commando unit that you were so worried about, just packed up and left. They are no longer hostages. That means we can do what we want to do now.¡± ¡°No¡­¡± ¡°You just have to hold him.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Just one kick.¡± ¡°You are not kicking Ghost in the nuts.¡± Ash groaned. The seven snickered. The arbiters turned to look at the adjudicator. Ghost sighed ¡°That is also Ash.¡± Sheetal knew Ash¡¯s words were just for show. Instead, he had redirected her attention to their mission. Sheetal read and reread the notification. Mandatory Mission Save The Continuum Fight of the Rakshasa Empire and help the continuum create a safe harbour in the trials. Rewards 12 Favours of Light System Rank - 6 Terms - You may not leave the trials until this mission is completed. Duration to completion ¨C 182 days. Failure Penalty ¨C Death In the last two and half years she had looked at the mission everyday and maybe missed reading it once or twice. Only she had always imagined completing the mission with Colonel Ari and his team. She should have done more to assist them. She should have asked Ghost to bring them here. Refused to cooperate until they were here with them. That would have helped her keep them safe and protected by the seven. Sheetal felt a spike of rage rise in her mind and sharply looked up at Ash.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare feel bad for not doing enough.¡± Ash growled ¡°We did all we could, and they left us. Abandoned us, like the system says. She, they did what everyone does. The only one who won¡¯t leave you behind is me and I know you won¡¯t leave me behind.¡± ¡°Ash, you need to stop looking at the world like that.¡± ¡°Like what?¡± ¡°Like, it¡¯s you against the world.¡± ¡°Of course, it¡¯s not me against the world. It¡¯s us against the world.¡± ¡°Universe, actually.¡± Aaya corrected Ash lightly. Ash opened his mouth to snap at her and stopped ¡°You are right. It¡¯s us against the universe.¡± Sheetal narrowed her eyes and pointed at everyone else in the room ¡°What about the seven?¡± ¡°Fine they can come to.¡± Ash shot back. ¡°Is that how you want to do this?¡± ¡°Do you see any other way?¡± ¡°Children? What are you talking about?¡± Ghost finally prompted. Sheetal and Ash looked at Ghost with hesitant looks. Ghost walked back into the room with a pot and five glasses. He smiled ¡°Affogato?¡± ¡°Yes, please.¡± Ash tumbled out of his recliner. He got up from the floor and quickly added ¡°I meant to do that.¡± Sheetal rolled her eyes and looked at the newcomers ¡°Okay, now that we have got that settled, what do you want?¡± The two arbiters looked from Sheetal to Ghost. ¡°What just happened?¡± Olimani asked. ¡°They had an argument and Ash¡­ won?¡± Ghost asked. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell them about arbiters?¡± Olimani asked. Taran put a cup in front of Olimani and smiled ¡°They know.¡± Ash nodded ¡°Yeah, something about where there is one there is the other. Like the cool Jedis.¡± ¡°Sith. Ash. Sith.¡± Sheetal corrected Ash. Aaya took a sip of her coffee and pursed her lips ¡°Before I answer your question. Do you understand what the word warder means?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a conjunction of two glyphmatic words. Words that do not have a phonetic explanation. But, from all that I have read, it means one who fights the edge.¡± Ash stated. ¡°That is correct.¡± Aaya gave the boy who until now she had classified as a brat another look and added ¡°And a perfect translation in Indri.¡± ¡°Indri?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°The language of the gods. The only written way to translate the unspoken language you brother seems to be learning.¡± Aya replied. ¡°Oh right. The language. Honestly, all I hear is English.¡± ¡°Yes, but let¡¯s get back to the topic at hand. We will discuss all other queries later. An arbiter¡¯s function is to liaison between you and mortals, ascended, and other sentients. As your arbiter, I will be able to see your missions, your abilities, notifications and statistics. I know it is a hard decision¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, okay.¡± Sheetal cut in between. Olimani turned to look at Sheetal ¡°What just like that?¡± ¡°Yeah, why not? The continuum bigwigs have already seen it.¡± Ash shrugged. Sheetal looked up and saw both Olimani fuming and Aaya scowling at Ghost. ¡°They dared!¡± Olimani stated. ¡°Yes, they did but our warders have a soft spot for them young Olimani.¡± Aya spoke in a neutral voice. ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t have a soft spot for them. We just have a mission to save them. And if you start beheading the continuum it would be hard to save them. At least the nice ones.¡± ¡°A mission? From the continuum?¡± Aya asked. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°They manipulated you?¡± Olimani shouted. Sheetal saw Olimani getting more and more angry with each word and could feel Ash enjoying the outrage, so before things could get out of hand, she decided to change the topic. ¡°Okay, so this arbiter warder relationship. Is there a contract? And who pays who? I have a few crecks but you both look expensive.¡± Aya and Olimani looked at each other and smiled. ¡°Warder. The system pays us both. You don¡¯t think the system would allow anyone to bypass its authority, do you?¡± Aya explained Sheetal felt like a five year old child being explained the basics of life. ¡°Also, a relationship between a warder and an arbiter is one based on trust. Do you think you will be able to trust a stranger?¡± Sheetal scowled ¡°Aya, I know you are trying to be nice but ever since I have come here to this strange pocket dimension I have been hunted, hurt, almost eaten, jailed, threatened and kidnapped twice.¡± Aaya sobered ¡°I see. You¡¯ve had an eventful time.¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s not the point. You are the first person with power who has not jumped to take advantage of us even when we said yes. You sat down with us and explained.¡± ¡°I told you.¡± Ash sang. ¡°Shut up Ash.¡± Sheetal didn¡¯t even look at her little brother and continued ¡°Now my brother thinks that you are religious zealots but you are on our side and we should use you.¡± ¡°She.¡± Ash protested. ¡°But that is not how I do business.¡± Sheetal continued ¡°I do business by setting clear guidelines of what my position is and what I want to achieve. I expect you to lay your conditions down transparently too. I understand you have an advantage over us, you hold our lives in your hand. I keep that in consideration while perusing your offer.¡± Aaya smiled gently ¡°How long have you been here?¡± ¡°What? What¡¯s that got to do with anything?" Sheetal asked. ¡°Just answer the question.¡± Sheetal didn¡¯t know and looked at Needles ¡°Three and half days Rier time.¡± Aaya nodded ¡°Lady warder. I am a hundred thirty years old. You literally have nothing to offer me.¡± ¡°But you want us.¡± Ash sang again. Aaya got a difficult look on her face and answered ¡°We have been tasked to formally recruit you to Kel Ruudrakh cadre. That unfortunately has become a necessity.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a necessary.¡± Ghost calmly spoke ¡°As I said, Thrive will take them on as Junior Councillors.¡± T added is pitch to everyone¡¯s surprise ¡°The continuum army will add them to our ranks. You will be granted the ranks of Captain.¡± Everyone looked at T. The man shrank back. ¡°General Athena.¡± Ghost shook his head with a complicated look on his face. ¡°That¡¯s not enough.¡± Aaya muttered and looked at Sheetal ¡°Lady warder, how many people do you have on your world?¡± ¡°Nine billion.¡± Sheetal replied curiously. ¡°How many people do you have in your country?" Aaya asked. ¡°A little more than billion.¡± Olimani took in a sharp breath ¡°Gods.¡± Aaya chuckled ¡°Yes. They are one in a billion. The Kel is not losing merit. The system is recalibrating his merit bar after he recruited these two.¡± ¡°Who recruited us?¡± Ash asked. ¡°Kel Ruudrakh.¡± Olimani answered distractedly. ¡°Why don¡¯t I remember this?¡± ¡°Did you ask for war mode?¡± Aaya asked. Ash opened his mouth and closed it with a grimace ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°How many people do you have in this Thrive of yours Adjudicator?¡± Aaya sneered. ¡°Six and a half thousand.¡± Ghost answered dejectedly. ¡°And you metal soldier. How many people do you have?¡± ¡°Fifteen thousand, I think.¡± T tried to burry himself in the wall. Aaya glared at Ghost ¡°What your people have done cannot be forgiven.¡± ¡°What does that mean for us right now?¡± Sheetal finally asked. ¡°That is up to you. If you choose to be in the Kel¡¯s influence, he has enough sentients under his care to offset the balance. Basically, you will get to live. If you don¡¯t you will die painfully.¡± ¡°Who makes these stupid rules?¡± Ash asked in complaining tone. ¡°It is a completely valid ¡°rule¡±.¡± Olimani made finger quotes at the word rules and continued ¡°When a warder turns to darkness this rule keeps the sentients safe from them.¡± ¡°Do you have such a rule?¡± Ash raised an eyebrow. Olimani nodded ¡°We do. A similar one.¡± ¡°What do you mean? Why would they have such a rule?¡± Sheetal asked and receiver a visual image. A tree, longer than broad stood inside Olimani¡¯s being. Its roots wound down to both of his legs covering twinkling shards inside their tendrils. Similarly, under the bark of the trunk, that led from his hips to his lungs shard glowed in a steady light. But it was the crown of the tree that left Sheetal awestruck. It was lush with leaves that glowed hiding the shards that dangled somewhere like fruit. The Sheetal received another image. This one was of Aaya. Where Olimani¡¯s tree was long, Aaya¡¯s tree was large. So large that Sheetal couldn¡¯t grasp it with her mind. And that was not all. Every inch and centimetre of the tree glowed like shards. So much so, that Sheetal couldn¡¯t make out the difference between her shards and the tree. Sheetal scooted back away from Aaya and looked at her with apprehension in her eyes. ¡°Oye, green guy. Stop eyeballing Ghost. He is mine.¡± Ash shot a look at Olimani and continued ¡°You got a problem with him. Then you have a problem with me.¡± ¡°Ash?¡± Sheetal mumbled behind Ash. Ash held his hand up to stop the arbiters and turned back to Sheetal ¡°She look. As I said, our people left us in this position and yeah it hurt but it¡¯s a good thing.¡± ¡°You keep saying that.¡± Sheetal hissed. ¡°And I mean it. She, what do you think would happen if we went back home?¡± Ash asked. Sheetal gave Ash a blank look. ¡°They would cut us open and play with our insides and not in the fun way. We are aliens.¡± Ash stressed. Sheetal blinked ¡°More like half aliens.¡± ¡°Really, didn¡¯t you read the notification?¡± Ash waved his hand and the notification popped up in front of everyone in the room ¡°Read!¡± Your body has mutated and changed. Cause ¨C Anathematic Mutation. A race with 81% genetic match to your body has existed in the past. Race Name ¨C Danav Accept the new race? Yes / No? ¡°By the light.¡± Olimani muttered. ¡°See? We are only nineteen percent human.¡± Ash stated. Sheetal stared at the pop up floating over the coffees with a contemplative look. ¡°Warders, do you have any clue what a Danav is?¡± Aya of the mythological Aranyaani forest asked as her face turned a paler shade of green. ¡°Manav is a human. So, I guess a danav is a variation of a human?¡± Sheetal answered. ¡°Not quite.¡± Ash waved hand side to side. Aaya opened her eyes outside the dreamscape and looked at the girl floating in the anathemic water in front of her. Her blue tinted skin and sharp features stood out in the Ripple¡¯s white light illuminating her face. If her full lips, long lashes, perfect skin and the thick long black that flowed down to her sculpted body made her a beauty that everyone would call unearthly. But underneath all that was a strength that was undisguised. As if the woman sleeping in the pod in front of her would wake and wipe out everyone she looked at. Aaya took a breath, and her eyes drifted to the male warder med pod. Ash was no better. He was considerably shorter than Sheetal. Although the tint of blue in his skin was darker, his redder lips and the pink on his cheeks stood out. As if someone had painted his face with cosmetics. His body hid its muscle she knew he had over flawless soft skin. Leaving only a hint of the strength the warder held in his arsenal. He didn¡¯t look like a warrior but a dancer. That effect was accentuated by his soft wavy hair that dropped down to just over his chest barely hiding his nipples. His soft pink lips stood out in contrast of his skin and were pressed together in a cute little pout. Aaya looked at their naked bodies with her gaze looking for any sign of uncontrolled mutation. That would give her a reason to do what she every instinct in her told her to do. Kill these creatures. ¡°Aaya.¡± Olimani opened his eyes and looked at his teacher ¡°Danavs. Aaya, they are danavs.¡± Olimani spoke in an urgent whisper. Aaya sighed and made up her mind ¡°Olimani Aranyaani. They are warders. You are an arbiter. We all serve the light.¡± Aaya chided the boy and closed her eyes. ¡°But¡­¡± Aaya raised her hand to stop her student ¡°You left them alone in there?¡± ¡°I needed to speak to you.¡± ¡°Olimani you are an Arbiter of Solace before you are an Aranyaani. There are times you can be both but right now you need to be an Arbiter. These are warders who are in good standing with the Light. By the mother, they have an adjudicator standing guard over them. Think before you open your mouth again.¡± Olimani reeled back and nodded ¡°Yes Arbiter.¡± He placed his hand on the pod and Aaya followed him. ¡°Of course we are not humans, She.¡± Ash was saying when Aaya opened her eyes. He continued ¡°We will be different. Whenever we tap into our bodies, it feels different. Like¡­ Like¡­ My hair tickles.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because you have strands in your head. Both of you.¡± Ghost stated while relaxing on a chair ¡°Ash, you have more of them than Sheetal. Sheetal has a denser brain structure.¡± ¡°Hehehe¡­ She you are dense.¡± Ash chuckled. ¡°What are these strands and why can¡¯t I fell mine?¡± Sheetal rolled her eyes and asked. ¡°They are like hair, but they are thicker and have sensory nerve in them. Like hair they are covered in complex protein structure. They seem to be very sensitive for Ash. We will need to protect them with jewellery. About why you can¡¯t feel your strands. I don¡¯t have enough anathema to complete your transformation.¡± Ghost shrugged. ¡°Hair jewellery? Oh, that¡¯s fire. I want some.¡± Ash said dreamily and then shot a glare at Ghost ¡°Still doesn¡¯t mean I agree to join your gang.¡± Ghost chuckled ¡°You will. I am not in a hurry.¡± ¡°I hate you. You suck and you stink.¡± Ash grumbled. ¡°I am projection. I don¡¯t have a body.¡± ¡°Boss.¡± Theory stepped in the middle of Ash and Ghost ¡°Why don¡¯t you want to join the Thrive?¡± Ash turned to look at Theory ¡°Are you kidding me? Because he will win. And then he will send us all to skulk around and take out targets of opportunity while he schemes. I am done being a tool¡± Theory sighed ¡°But he has told you that he doesn¡¯t want you to do that.¡± ¡°Yeah, but he will find a reason.¡± ¡°No boss. He won¡¯t. He is not aiming small.¡± Theory gave Ash a meaningful look. Ash slowly turned to look at Ghost ¡°So, you are finally going to start that military coup?¡± ¡°I call it a revolution.¡± ¡°Yeah, you would.¡± Ash took in a breath and muttered ¡°Ghost I am tired of you winning.¡± Ghost smiled ¡°Then come my side and start winning.¡± Ash huffed ¡°I don¡¯t go to people¡¯s side they come to mine.¡± ¡°Fine. Whatever you want kid. I am on your side.¡± Ash paced back and forth in a blur ¡°And I am not going to hide in some hole to take out one person. I am going to be brash, arrogant, in your face and then I am going to go kick people in the face.¡± ¡°As long as you don¡¯t kill them, I don¡¯t care.¡± Ash frowned. Ghost quickly clarified ¡°You can kill them if they deserve it.¡± ¡°Who decides if they deserve it.¡± ¡°Sheetal does.¡± Ash grimaced and looked at Sheetal who was smiling smugly. His mouth fell open ¡°Oh no. You planned this. You all planned this.¡± ¡°Do you have any objections Ash?¡± Sheetal asked threateningly ¡°Nope.¡± Ash squeaked. ¡°Good. Because our friends are back, and they don¡¯t look happy.¡± ¡°Warders.¡± Aaya cut into the banter and glared at Ghost ¡°What this man has done cannot be excused.¡± ¡°Yeah, well I am excusing it.¡± Ash said with a glare of his own. Aaya couldn¡¯t help but smile at the cute look on the young warder¡¯s face. It reminded her of an infant throwing his toy at a wall in anger. ¡°As you wish warder. We will discuss all that later.¡± Aaya nodded ¡°But right now, you need to understand what being a Danav would mean for you.¡± ¡°People are going to hate us?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Try to kill us?¡± Ash continued. ¡°Like you thought about doing right now?¡± Sheetal continued. And one by one the warders continued speaking starting with Sheetal. ¡°Let¡¯s cut to the chase. We are Danav. We are part Asura.¡± ¡°We were made to fight anathemic creatures.¡± ¡°We will do that.¡± ¡°And then we will move forward to the next threat.¡± ¡°But if someone threatens us again.¡± ¡°We will eradicate from reality.¡± This time no one laughed at chuckled. The eerie synchronicity in which the warders spoke unnerved them all. Even Aaya who had held an amused look on her face uptil now frowned. Aaya nodded ¡°I would like to be your arbiter warder Sheetal.¡± ¡°Wow. That is¡­ Ha¡­ha¡­ha.¡± Ash began to laugh ¡° That not how you do it. You at least need have a pretence to do that.¡± Oilimani frowned ¡°What do you mean?¡± Ash looked at Aaya ¡°You are snoops belonging to a surveillance organisation who keep warders in check, right? You should have gone with you have been kept captive and we need to keep you in the right state because you are one on a billion or some variation of that.¡± Ash chuckled ¡°Not, I want to be your arbiter.¡± Olimani scowled ¡°We are not spies. We serve our warders but we serve the light first.¡± Ash looked at Olimani ¡°Green guy. What your name?¡± ¡°Olimani Aranyaani.¡± ¡°Nice. Oli. You seem like a nice guy. We don¡¯t need a nice guy. Because I am a maniac who is going to hit everything outside this dreamscape like a storm. We need someone to help us control the fall out? And let¡¯s be honest you are not it.¡± ¡°Excuse me? I have been trained all my life to stand in between the powerful and normal people.¡± ¡°Good. Then I pick you.¡± ¡°My name is¡­¡± Oli started to correct Ash and shouted ¡°What!?¡± Ash chuckled ¡°Look, Oli. That¡¯s how it is done.¡± Olimani looked at the space in front of him and then turned his wrist making the notification visible for all. Warder contract offered. Warder Name ¨C Ash. Contract Type ¨C General. Do you wish to accept this contract Yes / No? He regained his composure and began ¡°My name is Oliiiimaniiii¡± Oli stressed the I¡¯s with half an eye on the man because in front of him a notification was blinking ¡°And I don¡¯t think I would be the right fit for this job.¡± ¡°Oli, see how Aaya is looking at She? That look. That a conflicted motherly look. Your whatever she is, is wondering how she can save she. That means you and I are out luck. We are stuck together.¡± Aaya cleared her throat to get the warders attention. She couldn¡¯t let that boy go on. He had a way of rolling through obstacles like a war chariot ¡°Before we continue. I need to know your purpose.¡± ¡°Have fun?¡± Ash grinned. ¡°Ash, be serious.¡± Sheetal scolded Ash and answered ¡°To protect and serve.¡± ¡°What you are going to be the police?¡± Ash snorted. ¡°Of course not, I am going to be the sith lord. You win Ash. Help me become the dark empress.¡± Sheetal grinned and saw Ash¡¯s eyes light up and focus on her. She knew she was manipulating Ash. And he knew that too. They both knew Ash was hanging on by a thread and he needed something to look forward to right now. Something that would make him feel like he was awesome. ¡°Ash slowly nodded. Promise me you won¡¯t stop me when I need to go Dark Bader.¡± Sheetal cringed when Ash mangled the name. It wasn¡¯t that he wanted to. He just didn¡¯t care. ¡°I promise.¡± Sheetal nodded. Aaya looked at the short danav. This young warder was going to be a handful and require too much energy. Thankfully, he had chosen Olimani. And Sheetal, was the more powerful of the two. She would have to keep a close eye on her. Aaya began formally ¡°Warder you are the enemy of the light enemies. You are the one who keeps reality¡¯s foes at bay. You fight the edge. I will watch your back.¡± ¡°Great, you want us to go fight the worm too?¡± Sheetal asked. Aaya tuned to the girl with a compassionate smile ¡°No, warder. I am an arbiter of solace. I just pledged my service to you.¡± Back in a stiff voice Aaya ordered ¡°Witness, arbiter Olimani¡± ¡°I witness.¡± Olimani responded formally. Congratulations Warder. An arbiter has joined your cadre. Name - Aya Race - Aranyani Class ¨C 2 (Restricted) Growth Tree - Unavailable ¡°Warder Sheetal of the planet Earth.¡± Aya began formally ¡°I, Aaya of the Aranyani, ask you to serve with you as your arbiter.¡± ¡°I¡­Um¡­ Accept?¡± Aaya nodded ¡°Good. But you will need to be faster and more confident while taking pledges.¡± ¡°See, I told you.¡± Ash looked at Oli. Olimani looked at Ash flatly and muttered ¡°Warder, you watch the edge. I will watch you back.¡± Congratulations Warder. An arbiter has joined your cadre. Name ¨C Olimani Aranyani Race - Aranyani Class ¨C 1 Growth Tree ¨C Blade ¡°Good. But that is only point 1 of 5. So let¡¯s keep it up and get through this nonsense because I am bored. So, point number two. What do we need to do not to die without your green mist?¡± Ash waved around. ¡°You keep saying that. My soul field shouldn¡¯t be visible after the first few seconds.¡± Aaya asked. Ash smiled ¡°Yeah, but I am aw¡­.¡± ¡°Sensopath.¡± Sheetal cut him off. ¡°You are a sensopath.¡± Aaya stated in a stunned whisper. ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°Congratulations Oli. You have a warder who is a sensopath.¡± Aaya smiled at her former student. ¡°I¡­ Huh?¡± Oli muttered and asked ¡°Lady Aaya?¡± ¡°Ash.¡± Sheetal hissed. ¡°She, we are running out of time.¡± Ash pressed. ¡°By that you mean that you are bored.¡± ¡°Yeah, and we are running out of time.¡± Ash pointed at Ghost ¡°This dumbo started the process without letting me know.¡± ¡°What process?¡± Sheetal looked at Ghost and asked. ¡°It will take too long to explain.¡± Ash shook his head and looked at Aaya ¡°Well?¡± Congratulations Warder. You have been invited to Join a Kel¡¯s Cadre. Name ¨C Ruudrakh Race ¨C Narsimha Faction ¨C Frontier Faction Class ¨C 2 Do you wish to join the kel¡¯s cadre Yes/No? Ash hit yes and when nothing happened, he looked at Sheetal. ¡°Slow down.¡± Sheetal scowled ¡°We don¡¯t even know what this kel guy wants. Do you even if we can trust him?¡± ¡°No.¡± Ash replied shrilly ¡°She. We can¡¯t even trust these two green people.¡± ¡°I would never harm a warder who I am serving with.¡± Olimani scowled. ¡°Bro, you just told me you work for an organisation that keeps an eye on warders.¡± ¡°That is an oversimplification of what I just said.¡± Aaya protested. Sheetal tuned to look at Ghost ¡°What do you say?¡± Ghost sighed ¡°You need the protection. Kel Ruudrakh is not a bad Kel. He can be short tempered at time, but he means well.¡± ¡°Finally.¡± Ash muttered. Sheetal snarled ¡°Perhaps you need to take your cup and stand outside while we discuss the important stuff in detail, Ash?¡± ¡°What¡¯s there to discuss, She? Look, arbiter Aaya here is the most powerful person I have seen up till now. She has twenty shards, and they are big. Like, lemon size big. And she wants to adopt you. Let her.¡± Everyone looked at Ash this time. ¡°What about you?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°I have Ghost.¡± ¡°What about me?¡± Olimani asked. ¡°You¡¯ve got shards too, but they are¡­¡± Ash pinched his fingers until they were a hairs breath apart and looked through them ¡°Nah! Ghost is better. He is conniving lunatic who would kill you in a heartbeat.¡± Sheetal sighed and hit yes. Congratulations. You have joined Kel Ruudrakh¡¯s cadre of warders. Warder ranking ¨C 54/55 Missions Available 2/3 Mission ¨C Eradicate Anathemic creatures under the warder spire. Rewards ¨C Merit, Crecks. Expand ¨C Yes/No? Mission ¨C Contain the Rakshasa Invasion. Rewards ¨C Merit, Crecks, Developmental Upgrades. Expand ¨C Yes/No? Heat flooded Ash and Sheetal body and they briefly glowed. ¡°Wooowoowoo¡­¡± Ash jumped on his toes ¡°That made me tingle in my naughty places.¡± Sheetal bit her lip and frowned while looking down ¡°My toes itched.¡± Ash clapped his hands, and Sheetal wiped the notifications away and looked at Ghost ¡° Right. Go ahead Ghost. Involve us in your plans.¡± Congratulations. You have been offered the positions in Continuum Faction of the Thrive. Positions ¨C Junior Councillor Accept ¨C Yes/No? This time both of them accepted without any hesitation. Congratulations. You have joined the Continuum Faction - Thrive. Position ¨C Junior Councillor Ash turned to look at T ¡°Point number 4. T. Tell us why you want us to join the continuum army?¡± ¡°Ahh¡­.¡± T said when all eyes turned to him. ¡°T for crying out loud you are the most dangerous man here. I saw you wipe out twenty raks with one shot. Speak up man.¡± Sheetal pushed. T stiffened and stood at attention ¡°General Athena will need your assistance in fighting back the raks. She would like to speak to you in detail about that. She has authorised me to offer you the rank of Captains to keep you from any harm from inside the continuum.¡± Congratulations. You have been offered positions in Continuum Army. Rank ¨C Captain Accept ¨C Yes/No? Sheetal waited for more and then asked ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± ¡°Ummm¡­ Yes?¡± T shrugged. Ash turned to Ghost ¡°Was that smart of her?¡± ¡°Athena is a straight shooter, Ash. She is offering you protection after what happened with the mentor and me. Let me put it this way. If someone harms you while you hold that rank, she will have the right to respond with all her might.¡± ¡°But if someone harms us, it shows everyone that she cannot protect her people.¡± Ash frowned. ¡°She doesn¡¯t think like us.¡± Ghost chuckled. Ash and Sheetal looked at each other and they both shrugged together. Congratulations. You have joined the Continuum Army. Rank ¨C Captain. Ash raised his hand over his head in victory and shouted ¡°Finally! Point five. Hey Needles. You look happy. Did you get some?¡± Ash asked. Needles gave Ash a blank stare. ¡°Oh, it was that good, huh?¡± Ash nodded in appreciation. Sheetal exhaled loudly ¡°Ash.¡± ¡°Fine. Fine. Fine. Its just, when she gets angry, she turns into a dommy mommy. I like dommy mommies.¡± ¡°You like everything Ash.¡± Sheetal responded in a flat voice. Ash opened his mouth to argue and stopped ¡°Yeah. But I like dommy mommies I know more.¡± ¡°Warder, I have a husband. Stop or he will shoot you. In your butt.¡± Needles stated. Ash pocked the air behind and stopped when his hand touched cold hard armour. He squeaked ¡°Hey JJ. Needles is my wonderful doctor and nothing else. I was just playing before I asked her a question.¡± JJ leaned down and in his deep rumbling tone muttered ¡°Ask.¡± ¡°Needles, will you and the seven come. I mean not come but come.¡± ¡°Stop.¡± Sheetal said softly and the world glitched. A heaviness fell around everyone and even the smallest movements suddenly felt laboured. Everyone, but Ash, Ghost and Aaya looked at Sheetal with widening eyes. Sheetal exhaled and the felt normal again. Ash shook his head and muttered ¡°Bloody scary girl boss.¡± ¡°Ni, he want you and the seven to fight alongside us.¡± Sheetal sighed. Ash nodded rapidly while looking at JJ. JJ smiled ¡°Oh, why didn¡¯t you ask little man. Sure, we will fight alongside you and the lady warder. And I will shoot you the first time I see you looking at my wife.¡± Ash chuckled mirthlessly ¡°Well that¡¯s not going to be problem.¡± ¡°Are we done here?¡± Sheetal asked. ¡°Well there is one last thing.¡± Needles said while looking at Ghost. ¡°What?¡± Sheetal asked impatiently ¡°You can walk now.¡± Needles answered. Sheetal¡¯s eyes widened ¡°What!?¡± ¡°You have whole new body Sheetal. You can walk.¡± ¡°And now you can have thirty shards too.¡± Ash added. Sheetal looked at him sharply ¡°Since when?¡± ¡°Ghost told me not to tell you.¡± Ash pointed and directed all the blame to Ghost. ¡°It would have broken your immersion and¡­¡± ¡°She, stop.¡± Ash sighed and muttered ¡°Crap.¡± Race Changed ¨C Danav Development Trees Unlocked ¨C Breaker and Bonder. Congratulations You are the first Danavs born in 600 years. Warning The Danavs were exterminated by their enemies. Enemies that may still hold a grudge. Watch your backs warders. Blessing awarded ¨C First in an Age. Your light structure has changed to a more complex one. You are more comfortable in disrupted regions. Sheetal shook her head flinging wet hair oof her face. A whirring sound distracted her, and she saw anathemic water whirpooling down the floor of the pod while everyone backed away. She momentarily panicked when she realised that she was covered head to toe in water, but she didn¡¯t need to breathe. Blinking she looked at the water overhead and noticed that it would take a long time for the water to recede. She looked at her friends for instruction, but they were leaving in a hurry. The door closed behind them and a latch clanking rang though the pod. The water began to recede in a rush and Sheetal felt something under her feet. It was cold, hard, and felt like metal. Sheetal looked down and tears fell from her eyes. Fifteen years. It had taken fifteen year but she could finally stand on her own to feet. Sheetal rested her back on the wall of the med pod as the lights dimmed in the null room. She didn¡¯t care. She was standing. Sheetal gasped when cold water began to spray her down. She raised her head and let it take her tears with it. The door to the pod broke its seal with a hiss and jittered twice before sliding open. She had done it. She could walk out on her own two feet now. Sheetal took a step. Thud. ¡°Ouch!¡± Ash spoke up from the other pod ¡°Hey genius. Just because you can walk now doesn¡¯t mean you know how to walk.¡± Sheetal raised herself with her arms and looked at Ash ¡°Huh?¡± Sheetal saw Ash slither down the pod and sit down inside it. Sheetal¡¯s looked at Ash¡¯s unfocussed eyes and asked ¡°What¡¯s wrong Ash.¡± Ash didn¡¯t answer. Sheetal eyes widened and in a whisper she said ¡°No.¡± Sheetal looked at Ash. He slowly raised his hands and felt around himself ¡°Don¡¯t just look at me. Tell me how to get out of this thing.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me?¡± Sheetal shouted. ¡°It¡¯s going to be okay, She. Right now, we have other things to do.¡± ¡°What do you mean other things?¡± Ash grinned ¡°I can hear people walking to us.¡± Sheetal looked at the darkened space and saw people. Correction naked people, correction beautiful naked people with bits swaying side to side heading towards them. Sheetal covered her chest by folding her arms but her eyes couldn¡¯t leave their hypnotic forms. They separated in a choreographed twirls with two women and two men moving to Ash while the man with the largest thing smiled at her with snow blue irises. ¡°Uhh¡­. Ash?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°I am scared.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be. I will take the guy with the hot rod if you don¡¯t want him.¡± ¡°Oh heck no. I want¡­¡± Sheetal stopped and looked at Ash ¡°I thought you were blind.¡± ¡°It¡¯s complicated.¡± Ash grumbled while sharing is status. Warder - Ash Class - 0 Race ¨C Danav Status ¨C Blinded Potentiality - Low Merit - Low Warning! Anathema - Critically Low Warder - Sheetal Class - 0 Race ¨C Danav Status ¨C Normal Potentiality - Low Warning! Anathema - Critically Low