ã€ŠThe Planetfall Generationã€‹


 The Implant

    In a room beside the ever crunching recycling station a girl sat smiling. A foolish grin on her face was in stark contrast to all the other inhabitants around. Everyone who lived and spent time near the awfully loud recycling station were the ones who were the most down on their luck.

    Everyone wore light blue jumpsuits with red accents in differing conditions of wear.

    The girl stuffed the last of the grey-brown goo into her mouth and dropped the finished plate into the recycling chute.

    A series of light steps later she was outside in the hallway. Jumping into the elevator beam she rose upwards. The clear plastic encasing reflected her worn jumpsuit and the yellow name tag, which read Fi. The unmistakable expression of excitement shone from her viridescent eyes.

    Arriving at her destination, the only greenery available for those living here, she sat on the small grass patch and caught the light whiff of life absent from everywhere else on the ship.

    Fi tried to calm down. After a few minutes the whole idea of a relaxed time before the awaited time escaped her mind.

    Today Fi turned eighteen and she finally had the chance to do something for herself. She could finally, just like everyone else over twelve years old, join in on Eden Dream.

    Eden Dream was the virtual reality where everything on the spaceship was decided. Allocation of resources, living spaces, workload and even the possibility of bearing offspring is all behind the doors of Eden Dream.

    She couldn''t take it anymore and rushed towards the Eden Dream workshop. There were many workshops on the ship in different areas. Depending on how many dreambucks you pay per month you unlock more parts of the ship. Fi only had access to the lowest & noisiest level on the ship.

    Arriving at the workshop Fi''s smile couldn''t help but grow wider again. On the walls multiple different video feeds were playing. Fi made a grabbing motion in the air towards one of the screens and the sounds started playing in her ear.

    "Eden Dream, where everyone can get to know the life on the planet Eden, our ultimate destination. For 280 years we have traveled to reach Eden. In twenty years time the ship and its inhabitants will reach its destination. On the planet life will be completely different than on our home planet Earth. According to our probes and best researchers there exists a foreign sort of energy on the planet. The creatures inhabiting the planet have been seen performing miracles aking to magic.

    In Eden Dream we prepare you for the life ahead. Magic, monsters and hardships will be the common daily routine. Train well and prosper for all of humanity!"

    Fi knew all the words by heart. It was one of the few videos she could actually watch about Eden Dream. Only those who had the brain implant could watch videos from Eden Dream. Fi had been heartbroken for quite many dreams as everyone around her got the Brain implant as they turned twelve. Fi on the other hand had a birth defect which made it impossible for her to join before her brain had properly grown. The doctors had said and tested her multiple times and were sure she could get it once she turned eighteen.

    It had been many rough years being at the bottommost rung of the ship, eating something only resembling to food. Sleeping in communal rooms where the sound of constant crushing literally crushed the possibility of peaceful dreams.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    As a younger child she had been in a zone few places higher with her parents. Until you turned twelve the ship would pay for the same level as the parents so families wouldn''t be split up. As she couldn''t enter the game at twelve she was shortly dropped to the lower levels as her parents couldn''t or wouldn''t pay for her upkeep. Fi didn''t really know which way it was and after many years of thinking about it she decided she didn''t really even want to know.

    While she still was under twelve Fi had really loved swimming and used almost all of her allocated hobby time for it. Sadly swimming was quite expensive and she hadn''t been able to do it since.

    The first thing she would do after gaining enough capital would be to book swimming time. Her greatest dream at the moment was to have enough money to rent Lake Pearl for her private use.

    Lake Pearl was the artificial lake within the ship. It had warm, almost tropical water and massive amounts of different lifeforms. Renting the whole Lake Pearl was however something only the richest few could do.

    After watching the few videos available to her, she heard the light tingle of a notification and saw her name appear on the wall in front of her, indicating it was her turn to enter the backroom. Small arrows appeared superimposed on the floor showing her the way to enter.

    In the backroom the arrows showed her to enter room number two. It wasn''t the first time she had been here. This where she had been doing check ups yearly to see the progress of her brain''s growth. This time however she would get the implant, as both the doctors and the ship''s AI had confirmed she was ready.

    Fi entered room number two and saw the pod-doc readying up the implant program. Beside the pod-doc sat doctor Ramon entering some information into the ship''s computer. Ramon was an older man with an approachable face. His graying beard softened his already kind smile, making him have the perfect grandpa look.

    "A second if you may." The slightly raspy voice of Ramon uttered. His hands entered the last few lines of information, while Fi sat her slim body on the chair reserved for clients.

    "So it is finally time for you to enter the Dream." Said ramon with a smile while turning towards Fi. She only nodded with an excited expression. Ramon didn''t say anything further and rose from his chair to check on the pod-doc. Clearly understanding Fi''s excitement.

    "You can take off your jumpsuit already, this will be ready in just a second." Ramon said after prodding the buttons on the pod-doc. Fi didn''t hesitate and took off her jumpsuit, revealing more of her light brown skin. Fi also put her hair into a bun knowing the pod-doc needed access to her neck. Her hair was a few tones darker than her skin and matched well with her black underwear. Just as Fi had finished setting up her hair the pod-doc opened with a hiss. Ramon only stepped back a few steps letting Fi enter the pod.

    Fi wriggled into the most comfortable position she could find while laying inside the pod. Above her face, on the dome of the pod, an interface popped up. It explained the brain implant procedure and mentioned that she should not be alarmed of the weird sensory feelings that happened when she would enter Eden Dreams tutorial in her sleep. After explaining the information required a new window popped up. On the window were the options of "Yes I understand the procedure and wish to continue" and "Please explain again". Fi grabbed the affirmative answer and clenched her hand until the confirmation countdown ended. As soon as she was done yet another countdown appeared.

    "You will fall asleep in: Ten¡­ Nine¡­ Eight¡­ Seven...Six¡­" She closed her eyes and drifted asleep just as the countdown hit zero.

 The Patch

    Out of a dreamless sleep, Fi woke up with a start. One second floating, the next tugged into all directions. A kaleidoscope of colors filled her spinning vision. She felt she was upside down, sideways and all different orientations after each other. At one point in time, she was both the right way up and upside down at the same time.

    Her muscles tensed up and loosened up after each other. Her vision focusing and blurring. After an eternity of sensory overload, everything stopped and Fi felt ground under her feet. Fi was still in a complete and utter darkness.

    Out of the darkness rose a replica of Fi. An user-interface booted up in her vision. It said:

    ''Welcome to the tutorial of Eden Dream.''

    Her waiting had paid off. She was at last in Eden Dream. Fi started jumping uninhibitedly as her pent-up emotions surfaced. It was ten minutes full of tears, laughter and happiness.

    With the ten minutes gone, Fi calmed down and read the information on the UI. It informed her that she could control the user-interface with a focused thought.

    She was first to close the UI. The focused thought filled her mind. The brain implant would read her brain and learn that this is what she wanted to do and next time it would work flawlessly within normal thoughts.

    Within a few minutes she had started to get a hang of using the menu and it started flowing smoother and smoother. Fi heard a soft ping and got a notification telling her she learned to use the user interface.

    Another smile spread on her lips as she was yet again one step closer to leaving the tutorial. A smile had crept on her lips, but it immediately vanished, as the avatar moved and started speaking.

    "Hello, Fi. I am your avatar and at the moment I look, move and sound exactly like you. Would you like to make any changes?" The avatar said and moved like Fi. Without even a hint of the uncanny valley in the avatar.

    Fi''s heart started pounding as she saw herself in front of her. Fi pondered for a while and inspected her avatar. Surprised when walking around the avatar and inspecting it from every direction.

    Many things that she didn''t approve of herself didn''t look unflattering from an outside perspective.

    In the end, Fi clapped her hands together and spoke.

    "I am satisfied with the way I look, move and sound." The avatar sank into the ground disappearing from view.

    The world around her brightened up into a jade green cell.

    "Congratulations you are player number 300 000 in Eden Dream." a voice with years of authority behind it said. A perfect female form walked through the wall, clad in jeans and a red blouse. Clothes of the same fashion as back on earth. Fi had seen similar clothes in movies from earth.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    "Who are you?" Fi spoke stepping towards the woman.

    "You don''t need to know yet." The woman said while looking Fi up and down.

    "Interesting, you are quite much more grown than normal newbies." The woman mused while holding her chin. Fi was to speak, but the woman motioned Fi silent and continued. As the woman started speaking, on Fi''s UI a system announcement was reading the same words as the woman spoke.

    "Good Evening to everyone on the ship. Today we have reached 300 000 registered players since the start of our journey. Many of the players have since passed leaving the duty to their offspring. In twenty years we will reach Eden and it is time for the final patch before arrival. "

    Everyone stopped to listen to the announcement. It had been over fifty years since the last patch that had changed the game. The news about the patch was a grand occasion. Machinery unmoved by the announcement kept on moving.

    "This final patch changes everything. All current dreambucks will be retrieved by the system and everyone is allowed to choose a few important items they want to keep. In 5 hours everyone except childcare staff will be put to forced sleep and will remain asleep for the next six months."

    Many on the ship gasped in shock. Their hard work during the last fifty years would go down the drain. One half wanted to raise their voices and mutiny against the ship, but they knew it would be for naught and could only silently lament their bad luck. The other half of the people were jumping in joy and hugging everyone close to them as they had the chance to turn their lives for the better.

    "The patch will start out in the same manner as we would on landing on Eden. We have gained as much information as we can with our newest probes and everything should be as close as possible to the real conditions on the planet. "

    The woman took a short break as she breathed in and a wonderful smile spread on her face as she revealed something she had held inside of herself for quite some time.

    "We had also sent a transmitter array to the planet. It has been up and running for the last 50 years. It has been transmitting k20 energy to us from Eden. The k20 tanks on the ships are now full. Everything you learn on Eden Dream about magic will be available to you when you wake up after the six months!"

    Everyone gaped in shock as they tried to comprehend what this all would mean. When those words hit the audience the sadness from losing their dreambucks vanished instantly and an endless anticipation for unimaginable powers replaced it. Everyone started rushing to their own bunks and getting their belongings together so that they could be the first enter The new Eden Dream.

    K20 energy was the unique energy that existed on planet Eden. The sole reason for the creatures on the planet to have magical abilities. They K stood for kerros, which was a language from earth that a few spoke on the ship, meaning layers or levels. The implication was that K20 energy had twenty different layers of different types of energy that together was this invisible and close to an intangible form of energy.

    "You will be able to choose one of four ships in which you will land with or choose the fifth where you will have the ship as a satellite to Eden. All the ships will land in different places and you will found and build the cities. "

    A short silence in the announcement as the woman in earth clothes spoke in a solemn tone.

    "The name of this patch is Planetfall Generation."

 The Team

    Fi was over the moon. First of all, she had a much greater chance of being able to rent the whole Pearl Lake, second she would be able to gain magic and able to meet someone important. The woman in front of her was at least an admin, as she could trigger system announcements and the new patch.

    The woman turned her attention towards Fi after the announcement.

    "I''ll let you get a headstart with a few other lucky ones. Just like in twenty years we will send a few smaller ships ahead of us to scout out the locations already chosen." The woman continued with confidence.

    "I''m absolutely sure there is nothing else dangerous there, but it doesn''t hurt to double check. Your mission will be to set up the beacons for the landing phase. While they are not necessary it will smooth out the landing."

    Before Fi had time to react the woman waved goodbye and sank back into the wall. Left all alone, she pondered for a while and checked the menu to see the status of her body.

    A window appeared showing her body''s transfer route back on the ship. It would be safe. Now that she didn''t have to worry on material matters, she selected the option to initialize the game.

    Portals of all colors imaginable surrounded Fi swallowing her into them all simultaneously. A few seconds passed. She appeared into a smaller ship with four seats in the cockpit.

    Outside of the window opened up a breathtaking view.

    There it was, Eden, the promised land. The planet, green with big oceans. Few things separated it from earth. It didn''t have ice on the north pole, but a humongous flower yellow in color.

    A big line on the equator of the planet covered in huge crystals. The crystal line seemed to have a few different zones of differing color. Represented was both white and black. On the horizon appeared a tinge of some other color, but Fi couldn''t be sure what it was.

    The planet covered in multitudes of different zones.

    Strapped in on her left a woman appeared. The woman''s appearance to be in her forties.

    Stunned by the visage, it took a moment for the woman to notice Fi.

    The woman''s slightly crooked nose and blue eyes gave her an odd but pleasing visage.

    "I am Bernadette, but you can call me Blue like everyone else," Blue said while stretching her hand. Fi managed to grab the outstretched hand with difficulty. The straps limiting her movement.

    "Blue?" Fi muttered in a quizzical tone and introducing herself.

    "Ah wait a second," Blue said and a hue came over her eyes indicating she was checking the menu. In a few moments, her hair turned blue. Fi nodded in understanding.

    Fi was to open her mouth when in a seat behind her a young boy with pitch black hair popped in. Blue gasped in shock as she saw the boy.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    "You are Illusion!" Blue yelled. The boy grimaced and rubbed his temples. Blue caught herself squealing in a teenager''s ecstasy and covered her mouth in embarrassment. It wasn''t proper for a lady of her age.

    Fi nodded towards Illusion not really interested in him. Illusion answered the nod thankfully.

    "Pleasure to meet you. You already seem to know me, but please use my real name instead of my stage name. I am Robin." Robin didn''t forget his manners even with the lady hysterical at seeing the star.

    Fi introduced them both.

    "As appearances are so deceiving can you tell me your ages?" Robin asked while trying to get a better position under the straps.

    "I am eighteen as of today," Fi said while smiling bemusedly. She didn''t think ages mattered that much, but still entertained Robin''s question.

    "Sadly I am in the late sixties. I might not be in the best shape when we finally make planetfall." Blue said with a sigh. Both nodded with sympathy.

    "Fifteen," Robin said matter-of-factly. His age was already public knowledge seeing he was the current musical superstar.

    Why Blue''s appearance was in her forties while pushing seventy years old is for a simple reason. Some 500 years ago back on earth, the human genes were modified so that you aged quicker while young and slower after that.

    Everyone lives till a bit over a hundred years old. If we compare the aging process to the one before the gene transformation, twelve is the new age where you become an adult and gain the right to vote.

    In your life, you spend twelve years as a child. Thirty years as a young adult. Forty years in a middle-aged appearance and the last twenty years of life as a spry sixty-year-old.

    As they were pondering their ages the final member of their team arrived in the last seat behind Blue. It was a slim and scrupulous looking man. He was in his thirties. The slim man was silent as he arrived and his sharp brown eyes brought shivers to everyone he laid eyes upon.

    "Sawyer." The high and unpleasant voice came from the slim man. While Fi was a bit unnerved from his eyes, she introduced the rest of them. Sawyer nodded in response adding nothing to the conversation.

    As they finished their introductions a video feed started playing on the window.

    ''Please choose your destination, you are the first of four scout ships entering the orbit '' The message on the screen read. Three points blinked on the planet below. While an arrow on top showed the fourth being on the other side.

    All four looked at each other and started reading up on the different locations.

    The first place, inland under a mountain with thick jungle. The second was on a set of islands far south on the planet. Third being close to the crystal belt.

    The fourth and final one on the other side of the planet inside an old and inactive volcano.

    Everyone except Sawyer had thoughtful looks on their faces. Sawyer pressed a few buttons in the air setting up a voting system. Voting for the set of islands himself.

    Fi didn''t hesitate for more than a minute and voted for the islands as well.

    Blue thought a moment longer, but seeing two others voting for the islands she didn''t hesitate either and voted the same.

    Robin sighed and voted for the crystal belt, knowing they would be going to the islands instead.

    The tally finalized and a countdown appeared on the screen and urged them to ready for entering the atmosphere. The countdown hit zero. Engines roared to life sending them hurling towards the surface.

    Fi''s head, pressed against the back of her chair. "Finally, planetfall." Fi thought as a magnificent smile spread on her face.

 Planetfall

    Streaks of light trailed the scout ship that was hurling towards the ground. It felt the planet was rushing towards them. They got closer and closer. The planet started losing its round shape. Overview became details. Half of their vision filled by endless ocean while the rest held a continent. Soon, with the computer''s assistance, they spied a set of islands.

    In total three bigger islands and dozens of smaller ones surrounding them. One of the islands painted with a red marker. Indicating it as the target for landing. In the middle of the Island stood a big white tree.

    Fi zoomed in on the big white tree.

    "It is frozen!" She exclaimed in surprise. Blue tried to say something, but it became gibberish while she was still pushed against the chair.

    "You haven''t seen something like this before?" Robin said with raised eyebrows. He didn''t struggle like Blue. Fi simply shook her head.

    "This is my first time in Eden Dream," Fi said with a gleam in her eyes. Blue stopped spouting gibberish hearing this. Robins next question cut off by another countdown.

    "Prepare for landing." The announcement said, giving them a few short seconds to prepare for the countdown displaying a zero.

    The ship came to a stop with a jolt. Throwing everyone against the straining straps.

    Silence filled the cockpit. A groan from Blue cut the silence short. Everyone turned their gazes toward her. Blue''s complexion was pale, but she threw a thumbs up showing she was alright.

    Sawyer unstrapped himself and exited the cockpit with haste. A soft pshh sound was heard as the cargo door hydraulics were engaged. The three in the cockpit exchanged glances and shuffled they way out back.

    In the cargo hold was an ample amount of food, water, quick setup shelters, tools and weapons. The cargo should be more than enough to last for the month.

    Blue grabbed a railgun rifle in a trained manner. Robin grabbed a plasma pistol and a holster. Equipping both of them without trouble. He noticed another pistol was missing realizing Sawyer had grabbed one.

    Fi was walking, out of the ship, without a care in the world. A feminine hand grabbed her shoulder. Fi turned questioningly.

    "I can see you really have no experience here. Take these." Blue said without any ill intentions. Fi grabbed the holstered gun. Putting the holster on under the gaze of Blue wasn''t an easy task.

    It was evident Fi had no idea how to put it on. Blue grabbed one end and showed Fi how to work the mechanism. Fi thanked Blue with red cheeks.

    Robin had walked down the ramp. The two women walked down the ramp after each other. Fi didn''t enjoy the feeling of having the gun pushing against her hip on every step. She sighed and hoped that she would get used to it soon.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Outside the ship was a small clearing surrounded by tropical trees. Robin was fifty meters from the ship, looking at the surroundings, as the women approached he turned to look at them and smiled. Seeing Fi wince a little bit every step when the gun hit her bough a chuckle from him.

    The air was heavy with odors. It smelled of fresh air and prospering life. Fi had to hold back tears as she hadn''t been able to breathe or smell these smells in many years. This was her longing.

    Dozen kilometers east stood the frozen tree. It towered over its brethren painting a breathtaking visage. The contrasting white three from the light brown and green palm-like trees was pleasing to look at.

    "So you really haven''t been in Eden Dream before huh?" Robin said and took another look at Fi. She could only nod, afraid of her voice breaking. When Fi didn''t say anything, Robin didn''t push the topic either.

    He scanned the surrounding once more. Robin spotted the gleam of water through the foliage to the north.

    "Let''s head for the beach. We need to get familiar with our immediate surroundings before deciding where to set up camp." Robin said and started traversing towards the ocean.

    "There is so much more for you to see dear. So much more." Blue said reassuringly as she wrapped FI under her arm.

    Fi tensed up as Blue was so close to her. After a few moments, she loosened up and let herself be held. Blue smiled at Fi and only started leading them forward after Fi loosened up throughout.

    Walking through the foliage Fi saw all manners of unknown creatures. Many of them scurried away in haste when noticing the two women. Some only looked at the trespassers with interest.

    Wonder and awe-filled Fi. She had been missing so much the last six years. The sadness tried to rear its ugly head, but she forgot it when she saw another interesting creature.

    It didn''t take long for them to get through the foliage. Once the last leaves parted, a blue sea glistened. One of the smaller islands a few hundred meters offshore. The sand Fi stepped on was white and felt hot to the touch.

    Seeing Robin in front of them looking into the water Fi rushed from Blue''s arms. Fi ran with all the speed she could muster. Her poise was not that of an experienced runner, but of someone quite foreign to it.

    It was a new experience for her to run on sand. She hadn''t visited Pearl Lake a single time. Only videos and pictures colored her impression.

    In a few short moments, she reached Robin and panted profusely. Robin didn''t turn but was looking into the water instead. The three of them were in front of a lagoon.

    It was completely separated from the sea with high banks of sand. Inside the lagoons crystal clear water, swam many different sorts of colorful fish.

    Before Blue could reach the two, Fi was getting out of her jumpsuit. In her underwear, she splashed into the water spraying it everywhere.

    Robin couldn''t help but laugh.

    "She really doesn''t have any inhibitions does she?" Robin said as Blue arrived. Blue shook her head with a gentle smile on her face.

    Fi dove under the water elated to be together with her most favorite element again. She could see so many new and interesting things in the lagoon.

    Fi waved at a nearby school of fish. The fish scattered in all directions. She swam through some long red seaweeds to look at the multicolored corals.

    When Fi was halfway out of the seaweeds, she felt something grab her leg.

    She turned to look, only to see the red seaweed moving and grabbing her legs. It wrapped its long strands around her legs pinching them hard.

    Fi couldn''t help but scream underwater. It was painful. Excruciating, pure pain. She tugged at her legs, wriggled with all her power, but couldn''t get free whatsoever.

    Her air was running low and depleted faster the more she struggled. Panic started to set in as she realized she had to do something, soon or she would die.

 Alive

    Fi was about to lose hope. She was stuck. Her legs and lungs felt like they were about to burst.

    With little air left, she stopped struggling to save the last bits. She looked around her to see if there was any solution to her problem.

    Suddenly she felt the hold on her legs loosening. Her movement stopped completely in surprise and the seaweeds untightened further.

    Fi had to fight her instincts to struggle, but she managed to move slow enough and peel off the rest of the seaweeds.

    Fi''s air was about to completely run out. She knew she couldn''t stay here for longer, but also she couldn''t move quickly or she would be caught again.

    Fi let herself slowly drift upwards to the surface with the tiniest movements possible. She was about to black out. She still didn''t dare to move any faster.

    Fi thought she was at a safe distance from the weeds now and with her last ounce of strength reached the surface.

    The sweet air filled her lungs again. Her heart was beating faster than it had ever done before. Her brown hair plastered on her face, giving her a disheveled look. A panicked expression painted her face darker.

    Blue was already swimming towards Fi. The two on the shore had become worried as she stayed for so long under the surface. A look of relief was painted on Blue''s face.

    Blue grabbed on to Fi and dragged her towards the shore. Fi was completely out of it and barely even noticed herself being dragged.

    Finally on the shore Fi just lay down on the hot sand. She breathed fast and it took her quite a while to calm down.

    Blue instructed Robin to go get some provisions and clean water. Robin only nodded curtly and threw one last glance at Fi before he left to fetch what was asked of him.

    Blue noticed Fi had finally calmed down and asked.

    "Mind telling me what happened?" Blue sat on the sand beside Fi with enough distance to let her breathe, but close enough to feel cared for.

    Fi shook as she thought that she had almost died just then. That if she didn''t keep her calm she might have died before Blue arrived to save her. Fi''s cheeks flushed red and tears welled up in her eyes.

    "I almost died there." Fi squeezed out. Blue didn''t push to ask questions but let Fi take her time.

    "I was swimming and enjoying my time as I swam through some red seaweeds. They grabbed me." Fi felt it hard to continue but pushed through telling her story to the end.

    On the beach, only the waves from beyond the lagoon could be heard. Two women sat beside each other, waiting for Robin to arrive.

    The monotony of the waves was soothing. Soon steps were heard beside them and Robin arrived carrying a backpack full of provisions.

    The three of them sat in silence eating the dry but tasty provisions. The fresh and cold water quenched a thirst that felt impossibly large.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    After half an hour Fi had finished her food and almost processed most of her situation. Fi thought about how she should learn to survive. She didn''t want to feel that kind of helplessness ever again. Not knowing any other way to learn, she looked with pleading eyes towards Blue.

    "Please teach me how to survive!" Fi said with determination. Blue was a bit surprised that she would turn around so quickly. It wasn''t the first time Blue had seen a newbie almost die. She had been in the same position herself a long time ago as well.

    She knew it wasn''t an easy concept to wrap your head around. To feel your mortality.

    That death was only a hair''s width away.

    Robin and Blue nodded.

    "Absolutely dear. It isn''t my first time looking after a newbie like you." Blue said and pinched Fi''s nose gently. Fi''s cheeks flushed again. It was a long time ago since she was last treated as a child. It didn''t feel bad at all.

    A warm feeling rose in Fi''s heart. Even if it was a bit embarrassing it felt good to have someone look after her again.

    Suddenly she missed her parents. Fi thought she was completely over them not looking after her, but she truly missed them now. Tears started rolling down her cheeks and she bawled like a child.

    Through her tears, Fi saw a motherly smile on Blue''s face as Fi was wrapped in another hug.

    Robin, on the other hand, didn''t really know how to react. He wasn''t as used to things like this either. Robin felt touched inside and told himself he didn''t want to see Fi like this again.

    "I''ll go set up camp for us. I saw a stream of water on the way here. It seems like a good place as any to spend the first night." Robin spoke with a slightly flushed face as well. He couldn''t help but get a bit emotional too seeing Fi like this. He turned around as he spoke not wanting to show his emotional side.

    Blue nodded towards him and smiled to herself as she noticed him trying to hide his feelings.

    When Fi, in the end, stopped shaking in Blue''s arms, Blue spoke softly.

    "Tell me about yourself." Fi kept still and spoke with a thin voice on Blue''s chest. Fi told all about herself. Her good and fulfilling life before turning twelve. The hardships during the six years on her lonesome.

    Six years ago she went into checkups to see that everything was good to go for the brain Implant. Excitement had filled her gaze back then, just as it had when she finally got the implant today. When she heard the news from the doctors she was absolutely devastated.

    Shortly afterward her allowance ran out and she couldn''t do anything but move to the lower decks. There she had nothing to do and no-one to lean on.

    She had a few short friendships over the years, but they broke quite quickly as the others focused their gaze on Eden Dream.

    Both luckily and unluckily she was for the most part left alone in the lower decks and no-one did anything untoward to her.

    Luckily there were many movies back from earth stored on the ship. Fi spent her time watching movies, relaxing in the greenery and drawing.

    Spending every day always wistful about better days. Days when she could finally take her fate into her own hands. It ate at her. The few friendships she managed to have, kept her sane.

    She caught up to the current day and the words ran out. Blue told her that everything was going to be alright. Now she was here and the loneliness was behind her.

    Sometime later Fi stretched herself as big as she could. The lagoon was still crystal clear with a calm surface. The setting sun painting the world in red.

    Birds filled the air with their soft songs. The cooling sand under her naked legs. A soft wind caressing her hair.

    Fi had never felt so alive.

 Vials

    Back on the colony ship outside of Eden Dream. In a section missing from any maps of the ship.

    A room with earthlike decor.

    A big table in the middle of the room. Three people were sitting clad in relaxed clothing. The clothing looked out of place to the ship''s other inhabitants.

    The woman who had spoken to Fi and made the patch announcement strode in.

    "Why did you call a gathering with all of us at a time like this. I really need to be monitoring the new patch." A man in an oversized t-shirt spoke.

    Three cups of coffee sat on the table. The other two surrounding the table showed their dissatisfaction with being called.

    "The others aren''t here it seems." The woman said holding a tablet in her hand.

    "Luckily, everyone that I need is here so I can begin." She fiddled with the tablet in her hand and eyes everyone with an expectant gaze.

    "Spit it out, Pruet. No need to be so dramatic." A heavyset woman said and scratched her own neck.

    Pruet smiled at this and demonstratively stretched the silence a bit longer.

    "I stumbled upon a prime candidate for Silver Exhaust," Pruet said sliding her tablet towards the others. The three others grabbed at the tablet with haste. Excitement written on their faces.

    The heavyset woman soon had a puzzled look on her face and started asking.

    "What is so special about¡­" Her voice trailed out as she saw the statistics on the next page. She swore in excitement and rushed with an uncanny speed towards her station.

    * * *

    Fi was getting herself ready to sleep. It would be a rough couple of weeks, as she would be trained by Blue.

    Blue had sent a few documents about simple gun use and survival techniques for her to prep with before heading to bed.

    Fi thought she wouldn''t be able to sleep at all and would be reading the manuals for most of the night. The exhaustion from the day caught up. She got through a few pages before falling into a deep sleep.

    The UI</img> wake up function pulled Fi awake all too early. Realising she didn''t get anything read last night, she attacked the manuals with a gusto. She had set the alarm to read before the boot camp started.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Too little time was left and she didn''t have time to finish it all. Fi hoped it was enough to start the day with. She stepped out of her white scout model quickshelter, stretching her body in the morning sun.

    Blue was heating up porridge while the two men were reading a manual. The pictures on it seemed to align with what she knew of beacons.

    Robin and Blue greeted her, while Sawyer nodded towards her general direction without looking up from the manual. Blue set in a few fruits she had gathered during the morning and served the porridge to everyone.

    Robin finished his food first. He sat his tableware down and spoke up.

    "We need to take the k20 opener now," Robin said fishing out four vials with a light pink color. The rest perked up at his suggestion and nodded. Fi was nodding harder than the rest. She knew what the k20 opener was. A small medicinal vial which would open their bodies to the k20 energy making the use of magic possible.

    "I guess we will get this into our real bodies too, this time," Sawyer spoke up for the first time. He rose up and grabbed one of the vials from Robin. Fi and Blue did too.

    They all popped the corks of the vials and toasted, downing all the fluid in one go.

    It tasted like clouds and disappeared down Fi''s throat. She felt a wonderful tingling feeling surging with lightning through her whole body. Fi felt like the world had more tangible elements than before. She could feel something just out of reach. Something her body was aching to have.

    Fi frowned as she didn''t get any powers immediately. Blue just shrugged. Sawyer had an unreadable expression.

    All turned towards Robin as he grunted. They felt as part of the k20 energy around them was sucked into Robin. Making him moan in pain. His features became more angular. His skin porous and gained a grey hue over it.

    No more energy was sucked into Robin. His visage was closer to a rockman than a human.

    Robin screamed in a primal fashion as he jumped five meters from the camp, smashing the ground with his rocklike fist.

    The ground caved in under his powerful assault. A half meter deep crevice formed following the earth-shaking sound.

    Fi couldn''t but yelp in surprise. This was the first time she had seen anyone use magic. Robin had gained a magical body augmentation. Fi couldn''t wait any longer for her magic powers to emerge. Her fingers were twitching wanting to touch Robin''s rocklike skin.

    Robin calmed down, looking at his hand with a satisfied expression. He turned towards the group. Noticing Fi biting her lip he laughed.

    "Just wait a few days friend." Robin squeezed between the small bursts of laughter. "Five at the most. You will get the powers too."

    Fi shook her head. Robin stopped laughing and raised his eyebrows.

    "It''s not that," Fi spoke with her fingers twitching even harder.

    "Can I touch you?"

    Robin couldn''t help but blush. Painting his rocklike cheeks in a pink tone.

 Bootcamp Day One

    Robin couldn''t help but be stunned. It wasn''t the first time something similar had happened to him. He was after all the current musical superstar on the ship.

    Would have been a wonder if he hadn''t met with anything of the sort. Robin had however never met anyone as brazen as this.

    Robin saw the innocent excitement in Fi''s eyes. It didn''t make him feel any easier about it.

    "I don''t care, do what you want." He said with a huff. Everyone except Fi, who didn''t pay any attention to it, saw that he most definitely cared.

    Fi grabbed Robins arm. Feeling the rocklike skin, her attention undivided, no shape escaped her touch. Fi tried pinching, but the skin didn''t stretch. She knocked on it and nodded as if understanding something.

    The expression on Robins'' face was most bemusing. Twisting in every fashion possible. Trying his hardest to not push Fi away.

    Finishing with Robin''s arm she moved her hand to his face.

    Blue had thought that it wasn''t possible for Robin to gain any more red on his face, but it happened.

    Fi didn''t pay any heed to his expression but took a step back. Something was on Fi''s mind. Robin was just about to blurb out "What?" when she aimed a kick at his legs.

    The three team members were stunned and didn''t have time to react before a dull thud sounded. The legs collided together. The end result being Fi jumping in pain as she swore in abandon.

    With this episode behind them, the group dealt missions. Robin was to scout for the best place to place the beacon. Sawyers mission was to scout the dangers and areas around them.

    The mission left for Fi and Blue was to find any food sources. Fi and Blue spent most of the time getting used to the gun, the knife and some simple survival techniques.

    Fi learned the pistol had a few settings. One mode for using it underwater which greatly interested Fi. They tried it out together in the lagoon while staying away from any seaweeds.

    The second mode for killing shots, lethal up to hundred meters. The third mode for stunning and incapacitating instead of killing. Blue told her the pistol was not meant for long range engagements. Any further than thirty meters and it wasn''t accurate.

    Guns could however only work so far on Eden. Creatures had hard carapaces and other varying means to survive simple gunshots. The safest bet was to learn magic and utilize it together with all the other tools in her arsenal.

    The most important rule that Blue tried to hammer into Fi, was that always find out what something is before recklessly trying. Countless unimaginable ways that the environment, fauna and flora could kill you here.

    If you weren''t careful enough you would find yourself dead. Having to start over from scratch.

    As they were still inside Eden Dream they could respawn, but with heavy penalties. Dying took all your dreams bucks, all your powers you had gained up till now. It had a respawn time of a month.

    It was however still mild to the real consequences when they would arrive in Eden.

    In the last three hours, the women were hunting. Blue was hunting food and Fi the surrounding trees as every shot kept missing the moving targets.

    Nothing could stop Fi from persisting. Shot after shot was fired. The incapacitating energy buzzing into trees, leaving small scorch marks.

    By pure luck, Fi managed to catch some prey. A grey bird the size of a pineapple. The grey bird had been sitting, minding its own business as a white striped green boar stood under it munching on roots.

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.Fi had aimed her best at the green boar. The crackling shot whizzing past the boar, knocking the bird down from its branch.

    In her usual style, Fi had taken her lucky shot in style and celebrated as if she had aimed for the bird.

    Butchering the bird was another chapter in and itself. She thought it would be easy after felling the prey. It squeezed at her heart to take its life. Fi knew it had to be done and steeled herself.

    Plucking the bird and making it ready for cooking was a gruesome affair. The camp had a similar recycling plant as on the ship but in a much smaller scale. It could be carried in a backpack but was not something you could take with you on shorter trips.

    It was necessary to learn all the basic. You had to be able to survive on your own. Fi felt thankful to Blue for teaching all these necessary skills. She didn''t hesitate to show it either.

    She might have taken the wrong time for it. Fi had blue in a tight hug, just after finishing with preparing the bird for cooking. Smearing Blue into the same mess as Fi herself. While Blue wasn''t happy about it, she didn''t mind it either.

    The two women with jumpsuits painted red entered the camp. Sawyer and Robin had arrived. Sun was about to set after another long day.

    Robin grabbed the food with an eager fist. He walked towards the recycler. Tapped at a few buttons and poured the food into it.

    Fi started smattering about her day to Robin. She didn''t let Robin utter anything than acknowledgments. Fi told about what she had learned today and would have talked for half an hour if Blue didn''t grab her to lead her towards the showers on the scoutship.

    A clean jumpsuit and refreshing shower were in order for them both.

    A refreshing shower later, the two women appeared again. Food was ready and fantastic smells spread out over the campsite.

    The smell of real food. A hint of ecstasy spread over Fi. In a floating gait, Fi moved to the recycling unit. Fi grabbed a plate of food made from her catch and some other ingredients they had gathered.

    The plate was almost to Fi''s nose. She poked at the hot food with her finger feeling the consistency. It was a springy piece of meat. Nothing like the sludge she had been eating on the ship. She enjoyed the food in silence. Closing her eyes not to let a single flavor or differing consistency escape.

    This was heaven.

    The meal eaten, they gathered for information sharing. Sawyer started the meeting by sharing the map he had been updating on his user interface. The general outline of the Island was showing. The island itself was 18 000 square kilometers. If comparing to Hawaii on earth it was close to double in size. A singular mountain loomed on the southern side of the island.

    Sawyer zoomed in and it showed the general area. They were on the northern shore. Surrounded by trees.

    Robin painted a dot ten kilometers southwest.

    "This should most probably be a good place for the beacon. I''ll have Sawyer come with me tomorrow to make sure."

    The team acknowledged.

    Blue motioned to Fi. Taking a step Fi marked a few points on the map. The points marked a few good spots with ample fruits. A thumbs up from Blue made Fi happy as she had marked them in the correct locations.

    Half an hour passed with the team was explaining the situation in detail. Fi was sure to note down everything into her UI for later use.

    "Anyone gained any powers during the day?" Robin asked. Fi knowing that the two of them hadn''t during the day, turned towards Sawyer. A shrug was part of the answer from Sawyer.

    "I kind of did. I gained powers, but have no idea how to trigger them as of now." Sawyer said sipping at the fruit tea in his hand. The team nodded as it wasn''t usual for it to happen this way either.

    The game didn''t help you. It was the same way on Eden. You would have to figure it out yourself. The UI would exist and could record things you knew, but it wasn''t an all-knowing machine.

    Silence fell over the camp as everyone got themselves ready for bed. The team had retreated into their respective quick shelters.

    Fi was still in her jumpsuit reviewing the day. A happy exhaustion was shining on her face. The first step taken. In a few weeks she would have autonomy.

    Her train of thought shattered, as a high pitched scream rushed through the camp.

    Fi exploded off her bed and didn''t forget to grab the pistol. Everyone had simultaneously exited their tents.

    On the ground, by the fissure made by Robin, stood a two meter ball of fluff. A pure white ball of fluff. The rabbit inside, size of a cat. A soft crackling sound and small blue bolts exited the rabbits long fur at small intervals.

    Half of the rabbit''s fur split from his body and flew in an astonishing speed towards Blue.

    "Watch out!" Fi yelled.

    White fur covered Blue. She didn''t have time to react.

 The First Battle

    A loud crackle was heard. Flesh was burnt. The nauseating smell entered Fi''s nose. The seconds with no movement from inside the new fluff ball felt like an eternity.

    In the end, Fi could let out a breath of relief. Blue moved and fired her rifle towards the original ball of fluff.

    The railgun rifle was absolutely silent. The explosion from the impact was the first sound heard. Half of the fissure collapsed instantly. Only a small hole appeared in the rabbits half sized fur. It grew shut quick.

    Robin rushed into action, willing his stoneskin to appear. He jumped towards the rabbit aiming to crush it with one punch.

    The rabbit was all too nimble to be hit. A fistful of fur puffed onto Robins'' chest. Another crackle. Completely unfazed by the rabbit''s attacks, Robin smiled. His assumption was correct. Lightning based attacks dealt minimal damage to him.

    "Help Blue!" Sawyer yelled as he steadied himself into a firing posture. Robin instantly caught on to Sawyers plan and rushed to Blue ripping off the fluff covering her.

    "Blue don''t shoot!" Fi yelled fearing for Robins life. Fi didn''t forget today''s lesson either and got in a similar posture to Sawyer''s. The posture wasn''t even close to as stable.

    Robin got to pulling the fur off Blue. The rabbit was eyeing the group with careful black eyes. Clear intelligence in its expression.

    Two plasma pistols started firing towards the rabbit. The rabbit was weaving between the shots as it cried in an ear piercing fashion.

    The rabbit wasn''t attacking anymore, just trying to dodge. Sawyer, quick to notice something wasn''t quite right. He didn''t stop firing as he lifted his head to look around them.

    Sawyer''s expression darkened. At the clearings outskirts, several other white fluffy forms emerged.

    Sawyer fired blindly at the half-fluff.

    "More rabbits incoming. Total of eight!" Sawyer proceeded to yell. He never stopped firing at the original rabbit.

    Robin began tearing off the fluff faster.

    "Take it off my eyes so I can shoot" Blue commanded Robin. He did his due diligence clearing Blue''s eyes quick as lightning.

    Blue didn''t hesitate at all. She had lifted the gun before having her eyes cleared. Blue calmed her breath and fired at a new rabbit.

    This time she didn''t miss and the rabbit blew into pieces.

    The other rabbits it instantly scurried towards the dead rabbit absorbing all the electric fur from the dead rabbit.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.The threat hadn''t eased up with one of the rabbits dead. Fi realized it wouldn''t be over until all of the big balls of fluff were dead.

    Robin was hesitant but made up his mind. He jumped towards the closest rabbit and left Blue half covered in crackling fur. Blue didn''t pay it any attention aiming her rifle for another shot.

    Sawyer dashed after Robin swapping his pistol into a knife. A scary expression on his face.

    Fi turned her attention to the rabbits further away and shot in their direction. She aimed lower rather than higher. Making them think twice before proceeding through gunfire.

    "Good thinking Fi," Blue said. Calmly squeezing another slug towards the rabbit. This time the rabbits knew what the gun did and moved as soon as Blue''s finger did.

    The slug missed leaving yet another hole beside their campsite.

    Sawyer was very experienced backing someone up in a fight. His actions complementing Robin''s.

    The rabbit was shortly cornered and couldn''t keep up with their combined efforts. Robins powerful fist was dodged, but it didn''t have time to dodge Sawyers cunning attack. The rabbit''s back was pierced.

    Robin noticed the weird expression on Sawyers'' face. The rabbit melted from the inside leaving a puddle and a bundle of loose fur.

    "That is a bit too gruesome isn''t it," Sawyer said, displeased with the powers he had gained.

    Sawyer was a silent man. His eyes piercing and scary. Fi mused there was a good heart hidden under that shell. At this moment she decided to be unreserved in his presence.

    The clearing became silent. The rabbits left, noticing they were disadvantaged.

    The small parts of white fur covering Blue fell. Fi sank to her knees with a gaze somewhere far away.

    The whole group was breathing hard. Coming close to death was not a thing you got used to.

    Blue grabbed the nearest wall steadying herself. Her adrenaline ran out and she felt the pain, reminding her she still lived.

    Blue grimaced and started walking supported by the wall. A small pod-doc installed in the scout ship her destination.

    Sawyer moved to help Blue. She shook her head and threw a weak thumbs up his direction. Sawyer knew better than to insist and started gathering what was left of the rabbits, hoping there would be something worthwhile left to craft with.

    Fi didn''t pay any attention to anything. Her gaze still locked into the unknown. Only one left to help Fi was Robin. He approached Fi offering his hand. Fi didn''t seem to notice at first. Robin kept his hand outstretched.

    Some twenty seconds later Fi saw the hand in front of her and followed it with her gaze. The hand led to Robin, a human, someone safe.

    She grabbed the hand and stood up with his help. They both knew no words needed to be shared. What they needed would be time and rest.

    Everyone survived. That is what mattered.

    Fi didn''t head straight to the quickshelter, but took a detour via the scout ship. In one corner of the cargo bay lay one lonely pod-doc. Some images displayed on top blinking in green.

    Fi let out a breath she didn''t know she was holding. She stepped to the pod-doc, laying her hand on the see-through plastic dome and left a message. Blue would see it when she woke up.

    A simple message was left blinking inside the dome, where only Blue could see.

    "I am glad you are okay."

 The Manual

    Fi laid on her back in bed. The shelter was dimly lit. Her feet moving to the beat of music. A small strip of text on the entrance read; privacy mode engaged. No sounds would transmit to the outside.

    "I haven''t had any time to read up on any manuals on the UI. It has been up and go all the time." Fi thought adding some stomach drums to the song. She focused her mind and brought up the UI. Navigating through the options took only a moment. She entered the manual and read.

    ''The utility you are browsing with inside of Eden Dream has been simply called the UI. The word user-interface or UI was mostly only used in an official fashion after the ships launch. Using the word Dream quickly became the popular go-to all encompassing word of what the UI is capable of.''

    Fi had heard about Dream being used as the term but had thought it wasn''t the go to way, since everyone referred to it as UI when talking to an outsider.

    ''The Dream is capable of recording, storing and sending data to all participants on the Dream network. Offsite, meaning off the ship, beacons are required for longer ranges than touch. There are some carriable beacons as well as some magical powers which can bridge the gap between users.''

    Fi knew all about this and couldn''t wait to test it out properly after the beacon was installed and she could finally connect with everyone.

    The next part told her that while space was almost limitless that didn''t mean everything was recorded. In an effort to keep some privacy the implant wouldn''t record anything unless the user willed it to.

    ''Once you start using abilities all of them will be recorded here in the most exact way possible. They can be shared. Your vital statistics have already been recorded and will continually update. Please look at the popup for an example of your current stats.''

    Fi sped through the text and jerked in surprise when the popup opened. Her heartbeat showed a tiny spike when she was surprised but otherwise it had quite the steady rhythm.

    All her statistic showed up in green. The recycling stations automatically filled all foods with the necessary vitamins. If you ate all on your plate you didn''t have to worry about malnutrition in any way.

    Fi finished reading the manual and got to checking all the other options. There was still the skills, friends, crafting and online to check out. All of them being grayed out till she had the capability to use them.

    Fi decided she needed to add all of the team as friend first thing in the morning tomorrow.

    Beacons coming online would also in another way be a good stepping point. They could start reporting about new points of interest and creatures. Even naming them possibly.

    When you upload a record of something that is new. Preferably even have a sample of it recorded you get to name it. The name will be then added to the entry which others will see upon meeting the creature or looking up information about it online.

    If the name wasn''t popular it could be voted to not be the name for it. That had happened multiple times and usually it was for the better. Sometimes the names became absolutely atrocious and most likely only jokes that people thought was moderately funny that became voted as the actual name.

    Fi had only heard of a few and they seemed to be so unremarkable she didn''t really care that much as a complete outsider. She decided to start recording in every situation to be able to review the materials for later use. Fi had much to learn and had to use all available avenues to get stronger.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    The Dream swooshed disappearing from Fi''s sight.

    "Wait wasn''t skills already unlocked?" Fi thought. It was supposed to be grayed out, she hadn''t learned any skills.

    Thinking it was a visual bug when closing, she opened it up again holding no hope.

    Contrary to her expectations it was actually in the same color as all the other text. In this case it was purple. She had been playing around with the colors when she got bored during a dull part in the manual.

    There was only one thing listed under skills. A text in silver, italicized. It read ''Silver Exhaust''. Fi was flabbergasted.. She had never heard anything similar. Even the manual said that for something to be seen it had to have been triggered first.

    Focusing her thoughts on Silver Exhaust a short description popped up.

    ''When burning up magical power (k20) all energy isn''t transferred to the skill, but some is lost in the converting process. This excess energy that is lost is called Silver Exhaust. Gain Silver Exhaust by burning up magical power or in small quantities by secondary consumption.''

    Understanding the gist of it, but never having heard about Silver Exhaust before she decided to ask Blue about it.

    Tiredness washed over her. She willed the music off. Fi slipped out of her jumpsuit and slid under the covers. The velvety covers kind to her naked skin. A perfect temperature. Sleep was not far away.

    * * *

    Pruet sipped at coffee in the ship''s secret compartment. A notification jumped up in the corner. Pruet smiled sincerely. Fi had finally read about Silver Exhaust.

    Pruet stretched her long and slender arms. Her perfect body painting an alluring picture in the mirror.

    She stepped into the hallway with her high heels on. Echoes of heels stretching into the faraway ends.

    Pruet was only on her way to grab some long needed shut-eye. She had been monitoring Fi closely as her biggest project for the last few years was finally bearing fruit.

    She was at the last door before her own. From behind the doors one sided yelling could be heard.

    "I told you to not come here!" An absolutely livid voice rang out. Pruet recognised it at one of her comrades voices.

    "How can you be so absolutely dumb to enter here. I damn sure you have a good reason to be here." The voice took a turn to an intimidating tone.

    "You are completely unnecessary and your life is mine to take. Whenever I feel the slightest need for it."

    Pruet recognised the voice. It was Jallow, the one responsible for the meatspace systems. Most specifically the possible allocation of materials and the exchange rate for all goods. Pruet pressed closer to the door and was about to listen in to the conversation, but stepped in to the room after hearing the next phrase.

    "In fact you have already done your job. You shall die for risking my capture." Jallow said with a voice suddenly void of emotion. Pruet entered the room only to see a plasma pistol fired, executing a man in a blue jumpsuit.

    Pruets eyes widened. A normal passenger. This was completely against the regulations. She thought it would have been one of the seven admins getting berated.

    Pruet got fuming mad at Jallow. She thought the other was a good man dedicated to the big plan. Jallow had other schemes it seemed.

    Wind cyclones appeared around her. Pruet''s black her flowing turbulently in the raising wind. A blade of wind appeared in both of her hands.

    "Jallow, I have got you now. I started recording outside the room and saw everything. Give up now, you are way weaker than me." Pruet spit between her clenched teeth. Jallow turned towards her in his office chair. An expression of annoyance rose in his eyes.

    "Another pest to ruin my day." Jallow said shaking his head. Pruet got even more furious. She wanted to attack so badly but wanted to take him in alive. Last month they had fought to measure their abilities and just like every time before it Pruet had won easily.

    "And most definitely you are not my match." Jallow said without rising up and pointed his finger at Pruet''s heart.

    "Die!" Jallow shouted out and a streak of light left his finger piercing Pruet''s heart before she could react.

    Pruet slumped on her knees with complete disbelief as she tried fixing her heart. The damage proved too big, her powers weren''t enough. She struggled to speak something, but in the end death''s sweet embrace took her.

    "I really didn''t want to use this yet." Jallow said with a heartbroken face. He thought at the painstaking decades it had taken him to figure out how to stop the full memory recall. He could only use it once. Jallow finally pressed the button and started cleaning up the bodies.

 Maker

    The morning sun blossomed over the campsite. The four white shelters surrounding the scout ship. Two of the shelters were empty.

    Fi and Robin were still sleeping in their respective shelters. Blue was still recuperating inside the pod-doc.

    Sawyer was outside trying to find out the different aspects of the rabbit fur.

    He took short breaks between tests and was thinking about good names for the rabbit. His vote was tied between Fluff Lightning and White Lightning Rabbit.

    Fi was the first one of the rest to wake up. She had ordered the Dream to wake her up at six sharp. A videofeed of the morning sun started playing on the wall. A light slowly brightening on her face. Fi was brought slowly back from the deep dreams, into a light dream and finally to a gentle wake up.

    "Good morning world." Fi called out. She put on a new set of clothes. Well a new jumpsuit at the least.

    She had heard that on Eden Dream, right here where she was, she could finally get some other clothes. The universe both gave her the ability to be there from the start, for what she was thankful for, and not to be able to enjoy all the benefits that it gave.

    Fi was happy she had saved the little she had and could have a few different types of lingerie to choose between. This way she could still feel special every day she wanted.

    Exiting the shelter she called out happily to Sawyer. In his usual taciturn form he didn''t bother to give more than a nod.

    Fi shuffled quickly to his side. She looked curiously at the white fur in Sawyers hands and was about to ask what he was doing before she remembered.

    "Quickly accept my friend request!" Fi said and laid her hand on Sawyer''s. Only a small hint of surprise could be seen from his face before he quickly accepted it.

    Fi started dancing around Sawyer. His calm face turned into a question mark.

    "My first friend ever on Eden Dream." She sang out multiple times. As soon as a smile spread on Sawyers face Fi stopped dancing and clapped her hands once.

    "As a friend you have to teach me something so I can stay alive and that way be longer with you." FI said with an earnest expression. Now Sawyer couldn''t help but laugh out. His laugh was completely captivating. Anyone hearing the laugh would be infected by the same mirth.

    "Well aren''t you something, little miss." Sawyer said shaking his head. The smile never left his lips.

    "I actually have something to teach you." Sawyer continued while Fi watched him like a hawk. She had turned on the recording function so she could review whatever Sawyer told her later.

    "Here we have Fluff Lightnings fur and I have¡­" Fi''s hand in Sawyers face stopped his speech.

    "You named the rabbit already?" Fi asked with excitement. Sawyer was completely taken aback and only managed to nod. Fi started listing her ideas to Sawyer on the name.

    "Cracklefluff, Dandelion Lightning Rabbit, White-Blue Snowfluff¡­" Sawyers eyes widened when the flood of names kept on going. He was about to stop her before deciding only to add all the names to the application and let the people vote for it.

    It took a while before Sawyer could get back on track and talking about the fur. When Fi was out of ideas he cleared his throat and spoke.

    "As I was saying the fur from the creature we met last night." Sawyer said heavily intonating it wasn''t named. Fi nodded with a smile.

    "I have been checking its properties ever since I took the night watch from Robin." Sawyer said. Fi blushed a bit in shame. She didn''t take any part in guarding the camp and was only a burden. She decided silently to definitely take watch next night.

    "The rabbits fur seems elastic and able to harness a charge of electricity. With enough of it and a good control of k20 energy you could most probably mould the armor to your liking." Sawyer said stroking is chin.

    "It could most definitely be used as an attack item too. If you can control it with lightning energy you can most probably use close to the same attacks as the rabbit itself." Sawyer said and was satisfied with his own explanation.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    "How do you know all of this?" Fi asked and moved a stray hair out of her eyes.

    "I am a maker. I create items." Sawyer said. Fi nodded, thinking it made sense. Who else would know so much so fast. Fi knew makers where usually quite respected. It wasn''t easy to learn how to handle materials with care. Higher end materials became really expensive and losing them to shoddy craftsmanship was infuriating.

    "What can you make out of this much?" Fi said. Both of their eyes laying on the white fur. Fi was imagining all kind of magical items. She didn''t know enough of what was possible to form any proper opinion.

    "Of this much?" Sawyer said eyeing the bundle of fur. He thoughtfully turned it around and measured it in his gaze. Fi waited expectantly. Her eyes opening wider in the same rhythm as Sawyers.

    "Gloves. Yes definitely enough for gloves." Sawyer said. He started tinkering with it, sinking deep into his work.

    Watching for some minutes was interesting, but soon it lost all of its glamour. It was just like everything else. Hard work and dedication.

    Out of nowhere Sawyer grabbed her hand. He measured it quickly and continued on with his work.

    ''It is for me.'' Fi thought with sudden palpitations. Her first item and it was created by her first friend.

    Fi willed for music to start playing in her ears. An amazing upbeat song started playing and before she knew it, she was gone with the rhythm dancing away.

    Ten minutes passed. Robin crawled out of his shelter to an interesting scene. Fi dancing lost to the world. Sawyer working with steady hands.

    Blue took this to be the timing to exit the scout ship too. A tired smile was plastered on her face. The doc-pod could speed up the recovery, not magically heal it. At this point in time that is. Soon when healing magic would be harnessed the healing times would speed up even more.

    The two of them just sat and started preparing breakfast, sharing small talk between them.

    In the middle of a spin Fi saw the two of them had arrived. She tried to immediately stop and lost her balance.

    Fi made a graceful landing on her hands and nose. Mostly her nose. It hurt.

    Fi rubbed her nose under the laughing yet silent gaze of the two latecomers. She quickly perked up when she remembered having things to ask Blue.

    "Blue Blue Blue" Fi said. She rushed in grabbing Blues hand. She started pouring out words in a neverending flood. Blue put her finger to Fi''s lips. Silence fell and Blue handed a plate of food to Fi.

    Obediently sitting down and started to eat. Blue nodded at her direction. Fi pouted, only picking at her food. A stomach was yelling for attention. Fi remembered she was actually really hungry and dug in.

    Food was soon finished. Morning coffee was brewed and served. The hot drink waking her up Blue finally spoke.

    "You had something to say Fi?"

    "Yes!" Fi said and was ready to start shotgunning out information. She did remember to speak patiently.

    "I noticed I have a skill called Silver Exhaust. I haven''t used it but it reads like this." Fi said and touched Blue on the arm.

    The skill information was shared over the Dream. Fi didn''t forget to send a friend invite at the same time.

    Blue accepted the friend invite without thinking. Fi responded with a hug. The hug was completely unexpected.

    Robin''s coffee almost spilled when Fi lifted her leg during the hug.

    "I haven''t heard anything about silver exhaust." Blue said enjoying the closeness of another person. Fi didn''t let go either and hung on. She turned her light green eyes towards Robin.

    He was quick to deny any knowledge about Silver Exhaust as well. He turned in turn to look at Sawyer and asked him the same question.

    Sawyer only asked about what the description said, without looking up. Fi told him withholding nothing.

    "I do know that all skills aren''t equal and they have different ratios of energy conversion." He said and slowed down his work.

    "I will give you an example. You start out with 100% energy and start converting it into a spell. You use it all, all 100%. Only 70% of the energy will actually be used for the spell while the 30% are gone and drift away from your body." Sawyer then said. All the others nodded in unison.

    It did make sense. Fi didn''t really have a problem with understanding it from the start. She was sad there was no answer to the question itself what Silver Exhaust was. She would just have to wait for her to awaken har magical skills.

    Standing up Sawyer handed his newest creation to Fi.

    "Here for your first Eden Dream friend. So you can live long and be my friend." Sawyer said. He bowed in curtsy.

    With shaking hands Fi grabbed the white fur gloves. They were thin and the air flowed through them. They wouldn''t be hot even in this climate.

    Robin thought they looked extremely cute on Fi. Small blue bolts struck from the gloves. They didn''t hurt Fi at all.

    Sawyer''s price for the gloves was a hug. The thing Fi knew best to give. Really the only thing she could give him right now. Fi wanted to get stronger quick to be able to give back to this amazing bunch of teammates.

    Fi struck a pose with one of her hands in the air. It looked quite comical. She then shouted:

    "My first item, and they are so heartbreakingly cute!"

 Admin

    Fi stood in her pose long enough to make it awkward. Retreating her hand she assumed a normal stance.

    "What does it do?" Fi asked with a cocked head. Sawyer scratched his neck. Sawyer stepped in and put his hand on Fi''s shoulder.

    A system notification dinged on the Dream. Fi pulled up the screen. Another tab for equipment opened in the UI. Sawyer had sent the information over. It read:

    White Bolt Gloves -

    ''Cool in any weather. Releases small blue lightning bolts every few minutes. The user is completely immune to its own bolts. Overall lightning resistance up.

    With energy consumption can release a surge of electricity through anything it touches. Can be used twice per day without harming the item.''

    Fi was both happy and excited. Every day she waited for her powers to awaken more than before. It was almost completely unbearable. A knot in her stomach waiting to burst. She felt it was going to be an worldbreaking experience when it did finally happen.

    Fi thanked Sawyer with her most powerful weapon. The hug. Sawyer wasn''t a man who was used to bodily contact. He pulled quickly out.

    Sawyer liked working in teams. His style was more picking up the slack that others missed and do solo mission. Solitary time was a good time to set your thoughts in order.

    The gloves were gained. The hug was given. It was time to move on with the daily missions. Today it consisted of mostly the same stuff.

    They really needed to wait for all of the group to gain their powers before venturing further out. Sawyer and Robin had told them about some creatures nearby that would pose a threat for them.

    Towards the direction of the big ice tree, there existed creatures that looked like overgrown squirrels made of ice. There was no beating heart inside of them. Purely see through ice.

    In the ocean there was a big white fish. It was bigger than anything that lives back on earth. The blue whale was dwarfed by it. It surely had something else going for it other than its size. It couldn''t only survive with it here.

    To the south, close to the planned beacon set up location, was another danger. There were some bulky creatures made of stacked boulders. Mostly darker in color and their forms seemed to differ from one individual to another. Their stature fully erect was over three meters.

    The power level of these boulder creatures was a mystery. The greatest problem they brought was while the creatures slept. The k20 energy around them would warp and create different dangerous phenomenons.

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report itLightning storms, condensed tornados, rain of fire and spikes of ice sporadically appearing around them.

    Sawyer and Robin were going for the beacon set up location. To make sure everything was in order around there and nothing else than the boulder creatures were around to disturb the beacon.

    Fi and Blue on the same mission as yesterday. They were to find food. Well almost the same, they were to also try and locate where the white and fluffy rabbits lived. It wasn''t a priority mission and should only be carried out if they had finished their other work.

    There was some question if they were powerful enough to handle a rabbit ambush, but they figured it would be enough. Partly because of the rabbits had already tasted loss. To add to it they had Blue and the newly acquired White Bolt Gloves.

    Finishing their plans. They were about leave for their separate directions when Fi intervened sending a friend request to Robin. He duly accepted it and they split up.

    * * *

    In a completely white room back on the ship. The door outside was unassuming. If the regular people on the ship learned of what was inside their worldview would absolutely break.

    A mechanical whirring was heard. A part of the floor split up revealing a naked body. A familiar naked woman. Her body was as close to perfect as human ingenuity could create. It was Pruet.

    Slowly Pruet''s eyes opened. They were completely empty. The only movement in the completely white room was the small movement of her chest.

    The scenery stayed the same for a few hours. At the cusp of the third hour a flicker could be seen in Pruet''s eyes.

    At the fifth hour all life had returned into her eyes. A more natural redness held her cheeks. She dragged a hand along her body.

    Alive again.

    Pruet sat up and went through her memory. Sweat started to drip and a pained expression remained on her face. She had no memories of the last day.

    No auxiliary memory was created from the ships cameras either. Something was really wrong.

    Pruet queried the ships AI over the Dream of what had happened in the last twenty four hours. The answer brought a rising panic. Nothing had happened in the last twenty four hours.

    "That is impossible!" Pruet let out a scream. She started to think about her options.

    Who could even kill her on the ship. An accident was out of the question. If an accident had happened it would have had to been so huge it couldn''t be covered up.

    She thought she had been the strongest being on the ship. The admins had gained the k20 energy already for the last twenty years. They were immensely powerful.

    Every year they held a competition between the seven admins. Easy victories were achieved every time. No one had been capable of even threatening her.

    Pruet shut har eyes hard. Trying to think of any other solution than to be extremely scared.

    Someone on the ship had enough power to kill her and delete the data of it. Especially deleting the admins constant backup for cloning.

    The only decision she could do was to keep silent. Someone was out there, they knew who she was, but she didn''t know who her enemy was.

    Pruet had felt immortal since starting this cloning project back on earth for admins. This was the first time in 280 years she felt fear of dying. They had backups after backups of their bodies. The amount of clones were in the hundreds. Constant stream of data sent for safekeeping to replicate them at the same instant they died.

    There was a traitor among their midst. That was for sure. It was time to start scheming in the shadows. Time to start the game.

    To lose would mean over 300 years of hard work down the drain.

    To win being the sole overlord herding mankind to new heights.

 Finally

    It seemed it had only been one hour before they sat out on their missions. The day had gone past without incident. It didn''t take long for the hunting and gathering to feel like routine.

    A pleasurable routine.

    New ways to survive. Confidence in shooting skills. The day''s harvest.

    Fi and Blue had a few hours to spend on shooting practice. No excessive talent existed for shooting guns with Fi. She managed to hit her mark more often than not, but would still have trouble on a moving target.

    The women arrived in camp before the boys. With the recycling station they set up dinner for everyone, and started chatting.

    Both of them finished their coffee, refreshing their energy. They were sweaty and dirty after the days toiling.

    Fi was just about to suggest taking a shower before eating. Swimming. She wanted to go swimming. The deadly lagoon calling her, she rose up.

    "We need to go swim in the lagoon this instant," the words splurged out of her mouth. Blue raised her right eyebrow and rubbed her slightly crooked nose.

    "Are you not scared? You almost died there last time," said Blue. She set down her empty cup. She knew after Fi said something, it was about to happen no matter what. Blue didn''t have the heart to stop Fi even if she could.

    "I am," said Fi with an earnest gaze. She put her hands on her hips and continued.

    "I love swimming more than I am scared of it."

    Blue smiled at Fi''s mannerism. If there ever was a question who had the most authentic character, it would most definitely be Fi.

    Wrapping her hand around Fi, Blue started leading them towards the shore.

    This time Fi didn''t go in without a weapon. She took off her jumpsuit, but strapped the holster around her lingerie clad hips. The knife wasn''t left out either.

    Blue threw a thumbs up at Fi. Clad in the same type of attire, they both dove into the clear blue lagoon.

    The cool sensation enveloped their bodies. The water couldn''t have been better.. The view underwater was just as beautiful as last time. Colors everywhere. Fish, corals and a multitude of other wonders of the sea soothing their eyes with their splendor.

    They stayed far away from the strangling seaweed, close enough to shore that they could escape if trouble did appear. They swam for a whole hour until they were fresh and clean.

    With the water to her waist, Fi was on her way ashore. She stepped on something different. It squished under her foot like a dog toy. Lifting her foot, she stood there staring. What she had stepped on was a yellow little blob the size of a tennis ball.

    It was retracting to its original form. It started growing. No it wasn''t growing Fi realized., but coming closer to her face.

    She shrieked, alarming Blue. Blue splashed into the water with a gun at the ready.

    The water sprayed as the yellow blob materialized just a few centimeters in front of Fi''s face. It stopped. Right in front of her eyes and hovered there.

    A second passed as her eyes adjusted to the blob so close to her. It was an adorable little octopus. A yellow octopus was in front of her face waving its little tentacle menacingly.

    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.Laughter echoed over the lake as Blue lost it, her edge from danger completely subsiding. She fell onto her butt in the water because she was laughing so much, her short blue hair still wet from earlier.

    "I am really sorry Mr. Octopus. I didn''t mean to step on you." said Fi bowing slightly. It was like the octopus understood it was a mistake and only cocked its head at Fi.

    Out of nowhere, the yellow octopus jolted and flew backwards away from Fi. Instantly alarmed, Blue lifted her gun, scanning for potential threats. Quickly she relaxed again, noticing the energy around and rushing into Fi.

    Fi was gaining her powers.

    The k20 energy became turbid around Fi. Opposite to her heart on the right side of her chest, a small orb formed. With a crack, it manifested into being.

    An influx of energy flowed through Fi''s body. A microscopic web of crystalline material stretched all over. From the end of her fingers till her heels. Soon, all her insides were covered in the crystal.

    The world broke open once more. It was like a second birth. Dreams did become reality. Viridescent eyes with a newfound depth gazed at Blue.

    A shudder shook Blue. Nothing so beautiful existed in her memories. This was something she would never forget.

    The water swirled around Fi''s legs, lifting her high in a frothing column of water.

    Releasing her control over the element of water, the column crashed, splashing bright blue wetness over the beach.

    The whining of the wind against her was gone in an instant, the water''s call diminishing it completely. A slender body disappeared into the depths without a ripple. She was finally home.

    At the bottom of the lagoon some twenty meters deep sat a girl with a light brown complexion. Shoulder length hair, a few tones darker than her skin, floating around. The hair never entered her field of view.

    First thing she noticed was that she could now stay under water indefinitely. Her body naturally filtering the water into breathable air.

    Trying the limits of her skills, she quickly exhausted herself. Glad to see that no matter how tired she got, she could still breathe. It didn''t seem to consume much energy, if any.

    Not wanting to enjoy the miracles of the lagoon alone, Fi tried creating pockets of air. To her surprise, it seemed quite possible. Testing how long she could hold the air bubble, she found out one air bubble didn''t consume too much energy and seemed to be about what she could do passively.

    The pocket was double the size of a human head. It could be attached to anything and would follow it around.

    Fi was cautious and realized to test for how long the air lasted. It seemed to last for about ten minutes. It would be shorter with any use of excess energy. Fi put a note on the Dream that she should try to add air into these to make them permanent for the wearer.

    The Octopus had been following Fi around while she was testing. It seemed to like the energy waves emanating from her body. It hesitated for a while before finally setting itself on Fi''s shoulder.

    Only giving the octopus a short smile, she focused her attention on testing.

    Hours passed. The sun started setting behind the treeline in the east, the ice tree glimmering in the last rays of the sun.

    A kind moonlit night set itself on the Island.

    Blue came and checked up on Fi. Seeing she was okay and getting used to her powers, Blue left for the campsite.

    One of the three round moons sat straight above the lagoon. Energy would have to run out at some point, and that was now. Fi was completely out of energy.

    Maybe she wasn''t. Fi''s eyes shot up as she remembered. Silver Exhaust. Quickly opening the Dream she saw it on a status indicator to the right.

    ''Silver Exhaust available for two minutes and five seconds'' it read.

    Fi waited with bated breath to see if the timer would go down on its own. It didn''t seem like it did. The conclusion was that she could enter the mode for the amount of time indicated.

    A bright smile, competing with the moon''s brilliance, lit her face as she activated Silver Exhaust.

 Silver Exhaust

    Silver smoke emanated from all over Fi. Her body covered in a thin mist.

    The smoke crawled up her body. On her head, a silver crown formed of smoke. Silver smoke disappearing around her until only the crown remained.

    The silver smoke shimmered, its contours in a constant roil. The crown, like fire evaporating the water around her head.

    Fi opened her eyes and a silver glow combined with the green. Her poise majestic, like a silver empress ready to deliver justice.

    Water under her control again, she summoned it propelling her to the air. Seven pillars of water dancing over the once calm lagoon. The moon''s reflection broken, a vow of silence forgotten. The lagoon raged to life.

    Fi''s flame of light had never burned this bright. Unlimited power floated through her veins. A primal scream escaped her lips.

    The sleeping birds already woken by the roiling lagoon now left their branches screeching for everyone to escape. Death itself had come visiting.

    Time was up. Silver Exhaust was running out. The pillars of water set their queen on shore. Retreating into the water, the pillars vanished. Fi''s eyes returned to their usual viridescent color.

    The lagoon gained its calm again. The creatures sensing the impending doom vanishing returned to their usual ways.

    Fi was exhausted, through and through.

    All energy gone. Silver Exhaust timed out. Hunger made its comeback. Fi returned to camp while struggling to stay awake.

    At the clearing''s edge, Sawyer noticed Fi. He gave a congratulatory holler. Fi smiled in answer, making her way to the recycling unit.

    A quick and dirty meal later she was asleep. Safe in her bunk. She succumbed to a deserved sleep.

    * * *

    In the room with a conference table and an earthlike decor, sat seven admins.

    Pruet stood at the table. Her rank was the highest. She leaned on the table with both hands, smacking her lips. The expression on her face, not a happy one.

    Silence was a rare occurrence in this group of people. This was the first time in fifteen years.

    Pruet smacked the table with some force, startling the group. They hadn''t seen her this angry before.

    "This is unacceptable!" Pruet yelled. Her eyes burning into each and every one of them.

    "I go through logs with some more care and everyone except one of you is eating more pie than you have the right to." She smacked table again leaving a dent.

    "What kind of devotion to the sacred mission is this. The evolution of humanity resting on our shoulders and here you are bickering for bits and pieces." Pruet said spattering spit all over.

    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.A myriad of expressions around the table. Some in shame, some silently taking the beating and some giving the I don''t care gaze.

    Pruet ranted for another fifteen minutes. A warning signal interrupted her. Not moving a single muscle on her face, Pruet turned around and left the room.

    The six around the table looked at each other in silence. No one spoke. The first got up and soon everyone had left.

    In her own room, Pruet spun on her chair. She put a pen in her mouth. That was the one nostalgic thing she still used. Putting thoughts on paper felt final.

    Reinstated in a new body, she had beelined to read everything she had done the day before. The one she was killed on.

    Nothing groundbreaking gained from that. So she planned to put together this charade to open the game a bit. She had been able to rule out two suspects with this method.

    They had immediately gone to remedy the situation. Those who rushed to undo their bad deeds immediately after getting caught definitely weren''t the one. They would be sly. Question if she had any data of them. If she did have some, there wasn''t actually much she could do.

    This game was both scary and exciting. Pruet decided to check up on the new wonder child. Seeing the numbers on the screen and checking the video replay of Fi''s Silver Exhaust usage, a whistle escaped her lips.

    Pruet rubbed her perfect hands together satisfied. If Fi continued to gain power, she would be a good piece to have on your side.

    * * *

    Morning had come and gone. Midday arrived and Fi was still sleeping. Fi rubbed her nose in her sleep. It itched. An itch followed by a nose rub, repeating for multiple times.

    The chains of sleep couldn''t hold her any longer. She woke up. A yellow mass was in front of her. Fi stopped breathing. The yellow blob tapped her nose.

    A familiar sight, she thought. A small octopus standing in front of her.

    "You followed me," said Fi and rubbed her eyes.

    The octopus nodded. A theater of arms started flailing in front of her. It was some sort of speech.

    Fi blinked a few times. She tried to understand the message. Scrutinizing the octopus she started seeing patterns in the movement. Why it understood human language was beyond Fi.

    Maybe it was because of them being in a game. Some realism omitted in favor of entertainment.

    "You want to follow me?" Fi said. Not expecting to have understood the octopuses movement, she gaped when the octopus nodded again.

    Fi sat up. The octopus flew on Fi''s right shoulder. It showed content while slouched against her. The suction cups obtaining a steady perch, the octopus wouldn''t fall from anything small.

    "I have no idea what to call you little one. So you''ll have to satisfy yourself with the nickname Octo," Fi said. She shooed the octopus away while she dressed.

    They exited the tent with Octo perched on Fi''s shoulder. The campsite was devoid of life. Fi remembered Blue telling her that if they ever split up they should leave messages on the ship.

    Fi chose a small burrito recipe. She grabbed the burrito and headed for the ship. Inside the cockpit, she sat down. A message from Blue played on the screen.

    ''Congratulations!'' The familiar figure of Blue said on the video feed. Blue ran a hand through her hair and continued with a mischievous smile.

    ''The boys found the rabbits nest. The beacon''s setup location is right beside it.''

    Fi munched on the burrito and true to her guess she would see some action.

    ''Your abilities awakened at the perfect time. When you have finished your morning meal gather with us southwest from here.'' Blue said smiling one last time before cutting off the message.

    Fi jumped up, bits and pieces of the burrito flying around the cockpit.

    "Come on Octo, we have a fight on our hands," said Fi leaving the ill-fated burrito behind.

    Outside of the camp, she thought of something. Fi ran back into the camp. She grabbed a backpack and a filled canister of water.

    Armed with the backpack she vanished into the vegetation.

 The Beacon

    Foliage parting. A yellow octopus bobbing up and down. A woman in a blue jumpsuit running. The sloshing of water from the backpack on the woman''s back.

    Fi''s hair fluttering in the wind. Excitement the foremost feeling. A smile tender, able to melt the iciest hearts, on her lips.

    She had powers, she had a new friend and she had an inkling of a new family.

    Fi concentrated on the water in her backpack. She was trying to come up with different ways to control it outside of a body of water.

    She could do a sword but didn''t know how to use one. Water couldn''t bind her foes, as a traditional rope could. Focusing it to a tiny beam with huge force might work. Cutting with water was a very plausible thing.

    Drowning the enemy was an option. That option however quite on the brutal side. Not to mention a slow method, which would leave her open for attack.

    Using water to smack her enemy, possible.

    Happy gaining powers, she thoughts her problems were over, but now she had a new one to deal with.

    How was she to go about beating someone up without water nearby? She would have to carry water around wherever she went.

    A branch hit Octo square in the face. Octo''s form stretched. With a bang, he rebounded slamming into Fi''s shoulder. Fi squinted in pain.

    "Ow, careful Octo," said Fi. She pushed a branch out of the way reaching the agreed upon location.

    She arrived at a small clearing with a similar vegetation to their campsite. A rabbits screech welcomed her to the clearing. Grunts of fighting could be heard.

    Robin was struggling with the biggest rabbit. They were one big furball. He was basically completely inside the four-meter furball.

    Sawyer was aptly dodging attacks from the smaller ones. Right beside him stood Blue, firing her rifle.

    "Fi!" Sawyer yelled seeing her. Fi dropped her backpack. When it hit the ground it burst, leaving water floating in the air.

    "Help me cover Blue," Saw said while grabbing one of the rabbits by the ear, melting it off. Fi bound to Blue''s side breaking off three thin lines from the water ball.

    At the flick of her finger, the water lines sped up. Careening through the air all three of them stuck the rabbit leaving neat little holes. Fi was surprised at how effective it was.

    The surprise wasn''t limited to Fi. The team impressed and the rabbits scared of the newcomer.

    The hit rabbit spit up blood, its innards punctured. It struggled for a few steps. Its struggle moot, the rabbit keeled over never to move again.

    The leader of the rabbits understood the precariousness of the situation. It made a loud screeching noise and all the rabbits started retreating.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    "Get as many as you can!" Blue yelled aiming a shot at the retreating rabbits, felling one.

    "Fi get the big one," Sawyer said rushing to cut off its escape. Robin was struggling to keep his grip. The rabbit got loose as Fi ran after it.

    Fi used the same tactic as last time and three streams of water left for the rabbit. She jumped propelling herself with the rest of the water.

    The leader''s sharp teeth sunk into Robin''s arm. Robin screamed, letting go of the rabbit. The rabbit didn''t waste time and dashed towards the forest. A cunning dodge later it was past Sawyer herding its flock.

    Fi angered by the rabbit''s actions, dove into the furball with the speed boost provided by water jets. The fur around her crackling making her numb. She formed the water into a beam at the end of her finger jabbed her finger towards the rabbits head.

    For a quarter of a second, the skull held. The rabbit had time to initiate an electric shock on the intruder, before the bone burst. The stream of water pierced the rabbit''s brain killing it instantly.

    The legs collapsed and the rabbits with Fi on its back tumbled forward. An intention on the ground after them.

    The electric shock struck Fi. The rabbit had died during its attack leaving it only at quarter strength.

    Fi crashed to the ground and covered her head in water to protect it. It helped only a bit. Her body was aching all over. A numbness spread over her torso.

    Blood was flowing from her scratches. She checked her condition and found no major injuries. Fi let out a breath of air calming herself.

    Robin ran over holding his bleeding hand. His face painted black with worry. Fi sat up and Robins expression loosened. Robin threw a glance at the rabbit and found it completely unmoving.

    Sawyer and Blue soon joined the two. They started patching up Robin and Fi. No major injuries were on Fi, but Robin required the pod-doc.

    "I''ll take Robin back to the ship," Blue said standing up. She helped Robin up and draped his hand over her shoulder. Sawyer stood up about to interject, but Blue continued.

    "You need to stay here to set up the Beacon. I don''t know how to and we need to know the updated situation. The sooner you get it up the more we will know," Blue said and held most of Robins weight.

    Sawyer thought it out and nodded.

    "It won''t take long for us anyway. One hour and it should be up. Then I can send Fi back to the camp." Sawyer said and tugged his backpack open. Fi shook her head, discontent with the idea.

    "I will stay," Fi said staring at Blue. It looked like a child contesting their parent''s orders.

    The group looked at each other, not sure what to do.

    Silence fell over the group. Fi had her hands crossed and stared at everyone in turn. Everyone turned their gazes away.

    A smile spread on Fi''s face. She pumped her fist in triumph.

    "Good, it is decided then," Fi said shoving Blue and Robin gently.

    The group gave up any idea of changing her mind. It was decided, by the authority of a young lady, foreign to this world.

    With the two leaving Fi and Sawyer started working on the beacon. An hour later the beacon was set up. It was a black rod standing two meters in the air.

    Hair-thin fibers spread under the ground anchoring it in place. The beacon was flexible yet durable. The beacon''s fiber reached further, connecting it to a geothermal heat source. The beacon had many backups for its continuous function and would stand the test of time.

    The beacon was ready for launch. Sawyer and Fi hand at hips admiring their efforts. They looked at each other and smiled.

    "Are you ready with your names?" said Sawyer stretching his back. Fi mimicked his actions.

    "Absolutely. I''ll definitely name the rabbit Cracklefluff." Fi said hand on her chest. Her eyes glowing with anticipation for the beacon to launch.

    "You do the honors, just like I showed you," Sawyer said motioning towards the beacon. Without hesitation, Fi stepped to the beacon.

    A singular button was lit blinking with purple light. It was a small square on the sleek black beacon. Fi gave it a light punch and it activated.

    Fi shielded her eyes as a bright light emanated. The glowing beacon sent out a pulse spreading in all directions.

    The light soon calmed down. A notification popped up.

    ''You have connected to the network,'' the message read. For the first time, Fi was online.

 The Captain

    ''New monster application uploaded.'' The notification rang.

    ''New map data sent. New Map data available'' Fi downloaded all new data available and a planetary map appeared in her UI.

    She chose the new option and zoomed out to see the map. The planets general details were available. All the four areas that the early scout teams had arrived at were the most accurate. Fi''s group was the last to set up the beacon.

    A fifth area on the map read transmitter location. It was at the farthest point from all five campsites. Somehow it felt like no-one wanted them to see what was there. The map data was obfuscated and blurry.

    Fi and Sawyer silently checked up on all the new data. There was a lot to digest. One of the groups had lost half of their members to a sudden attack. A yet unknown monster was behind it. Only a short video feed of a humongous shadow crashing down existed.

    ''Incoming group call. The captain of Harmony 3 calling'' A list of recipients followed. It was to the whole team.

    Fi didn''t answer the call and asked.

    "What is the Harmony 3?" a stupefied look sat on her face. She had no idea what it was.

    "It is the real name of our ship. Technically the whole ship is called Harmony." Sawyer said brushing his growing stubble.

    "Harmony 3 would be a part of the ship which will probably land here," Sawyer continued and eyed Fi.

    Fi nodded pursing her lip. She had heard the ship would be split in five. Four of them landing on the scouted places while the last one staying in orbit.

    The one in orbit would serve as a trading hub and the command center of the new planet. You would take a shuttle there and be able to look at the best items people could gather. The greatest work by the makers. Items of untold value would be sold.

    Broken out of her daydream, by Sawyers'' hand on her shoulder, she smiled.

    "Let''s answer the call," Sawyer said with no smile on his lips. A radiant smile in his eyes offsetting the cold expression. A man in love with being alone spun around Fi''s little finger.

    Fi nodded and they answered the call.

    "This is the captain of Harmony 3," a familiar voice said. It was raspy with a twinge of gentleness strewn in.

    "I am Ramon. Chosen by the AI for prior merits. A background as a medical doctor." Ramon said over the comlink.

    "How is the situation on the ground?"

    "All of us are still alive," Sawyer said. A sigh of relief was heard from the Captain. Sawyer smiled hearing care from the captain. He had a good impression of the new Captain.

    "We have cleared one of the menaces around. Application sent in with the name Cracklefluff."Sawyer said holding his tone steady throughout the name. Snickering could be heard in the background on the other side.

    "We still have two major places to clear out before we are ready to welcome you. No major threats have been scouted as off now." Sawyer continued, used to reporting in.

    "It is great that the Cracklefluff threat has been taken care of," Ramon said stifling his laughter. He took a deep breath, clearing out the mirth sneaking into his voice. Ramon had to try and be authoritative with his new role.

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original."We will be in touch. Staying alive is your greatest responsibility." Ramon said content with his tone.

    "Acknowledged Captain Ramon. Staying alive priority number one," Sawyer said and saluted. His answer followed by silence on the other side. A light cough.

    "I need you all to acknowledge your mission priorities." Captain Ramon said. He finally felt like a real captain. Finding his question if he was the right man for the job disappearing.

    "Yes sir," four teammates said in unison. Fi was glad that a person she knew was captain. Ramon was a good man, a truly good one, Fi thought.

    "Godspeed, Captain out," Ramon said cutting off the transmission. The whole crew behind Ramon with a newfound respect for the man. A captain who cared for his underlings was fantastic news.

    Back on the planet Fi and Sawyer looked at each other. They nodded at each other and accepted an invite to chat group scout team three.

    Robin had while carried set up a group for them to share information in.

    ''Cracklefluff?''The first message sent on the channel read. A crying laughter emoji followed.

    Fi sent in an angry one in response. Then forgetting the issue when a new notification dinged.

    ''Please name the island'' it read.

    A group call was initiated by Blue. All joined in.

    "What shall we name the island?" Blue asked with a pant. It was tiring walking the distance to the camp with an extra weight. The group pondered and threw in all manners of suggestions.

    After a while of arguing on merits of different names, Fi spoke up.

    "Can''t we let the people on Harmony 3 decide?" Fi said and pulled at her ear. The group didn''t disagree with the decision. It was the usual way.

    They all agreed in the end. Robin did begrudgingly, he wanted to be the one to name the planet. He still had the chance to be doing something as he technically was also part of Harmony 3. Voting and suggesting names was possible, he wouldn''t have as big of a voice there.

    Robin realized he might actually have a bigger chance of influencing the vote with his star status. He smirked while walking.

    Sawyer started handling the corpses of the Cracklefluffs. He took all the materials he thought were of use and discarded the rest. He left a small bit of the rabbit for Fi.

    It was too long of a distance to bring them all to the recycling unit.

    He used his powers of melting to help. Sawyer was still disgusted by the process. An ugly expression on his face he wished luck to Fi and left for the campsite.

    Fi waved him off and sat leaning against a tree. She had to formulate a plan. The first step would be to make a fire for her food. There wasn''t really a second step. Staying awake and guarding the beacon for the night wasn''t a big deal in her opinion.

    She decided to venture into the Dreams online mode. She entered the forums. Reading the rules quickly she entered Harmony 3''s part.

    She saw a few different parts of the forums. A few posts caught her eye. Specifically, the ones recruiting members for their alliances, groups, sects and guilds.

    There were a few big ones, the same as before the reset.

    Many of the members which had been part of the big guild made new ones and joined smaller ones. Hoping for a better position in the future.

    Fi didn''t have any interest in joining any group at this moment. What interested her was a singular post on the trading forums. Posted by a group who called themselves the Radish Maker Guild.

    They were asking for a batch of materials to be sent back to the ship. Any materials would do and they would pay with everything they had.

    No idea existed in her mind that she could trade before the Harmony arrived.

    She looked into it and found that the scout ship came with automated pods for sending materials. Their normal capacity was enough for them to reach orbit. These on the scout ship modified to reach the colony ship.

    This was a great opportunity for her. She could make friends with a maker''s guild and get some much-needed money.

    Fi sent a message answering the post. She stood up. She was to search for materials and creatures immediately.

    Linking herself with the beacon, it would inform her of creatures entering within 150 meters.

    She slapped her face. The glow in her eyes intensified.

    "Octo, hold on tight. We are going hunting." Fi said. Octo raised one tentacle in a salute, mimicking Sawyer''s prior action.

    Fi laughed and launched into the forest.

 New Horizons (Teaser Chapter)

    A man with a golden mustache stood in front of a board. On the board information on six admins. Pruet''s part the longest.

    Jallow stroke his mustache, deep in thought.

    There were a few opponents he had to be aware of. Pruet the foremost, then two others.

    One of them was a heavyset woman called Isolda. She was the best programmer they had. Isolda knew the ins and outs of every system on the ship.

    She was solely responsible for the Dream''s upkeep. Nothing much escaped her grasp.

    The other Nadish, deep and unfathomable. He lived in a completely different world. Taking only minimal part in anything.

    Nadish was a problem solver, the pinch hitter. When something unexpected or bad happened, Nadish was there to clear the problem.

    Sometimes Nadish was there before it happened. His powers of prediction were astounding. Jallow suspected that Nadish knew of his schemes. Nadish could only know the tip of the iceberg. If he did know more he would have done something to him long ago.

    Finally Pruet herself. It was unlucky that it had to be Pruet that walked in on him. She was too smart. The fake-out yesterday had rattled a few cages.

    "I will have to work on Pruet. She is the most immediate danger. " Jallow thought. Thinking of Pruet''s latest breakthrough in finding a subject for Silver Exhaust. Fi''s development had to be curbed or Pruet would gain a strong supporter.

    Jallow sighed, his hand falling from his mustache.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience."I''ll have to use another one of my trump cards." Jallow thought and started to clean his pipe. He was an avid smoker.

    Jallow walked to his workstation, set in a few parameters and pressed enter. He filled and lit his pipe. Drawing in a long breath he sighed again, his heart aching from using yet another one use trick.

    * * *

    On the island part of the mountain collapsed. The dust cloud filled the sky. A big shadow loomed from it. A deep growl sounded, shaking the whole island.

    A gray mass with a golden glow emerged. Another growl shook the island.

    The King had awoken.

    * * *

    Most of the ship''s passengers were inside of Eden Dream. They were on the ship in Eden Dream. They prepared for arrival and were finding groups to join.

    A group of burly men were sitting in a canteen drinking. Toasts rang out. The men were celebrating banding their groups together. They were now one of the bigger groups out there.

    The groups previously were an adventurers guild and a maker''s alliance. With teaming up resources would be easier to gather and protection of the makers was assured.

    One of the men was on the forums.

    "Hey, a girl named Fi responded to the Radish Maker''s Guild.

    Adrian isn''t your daughter named Fi?" the man asked looking at Adrian''s direction.

    Adrian took a second to answer. He rubbed his temples.

    "I did have one like that yes. Haven''t talked to her in many years," he said with no emotion. His skin tone was the same as Fi''s. His face was as if carved by the same sculptor.

    The man who asked the question shrugged. He didn''t care what the reason was.

    "Do call her and rope her in to give us the items instead." The man said laughing.

    "If it matters It is an order from me, Harry the master of Red Impaler," Harry said his bald head shining in the light. Bushy eyebrows covered his big eyes.

    "Fine. I''ll do it," Adrian said. He stood up and left the group. Activating the Dream, he sent a message to his wife.

    ''Fi''s back,'' he took a deep breath. Adrian tugged at his jumpsuit feeling it cling too close to his neck.

 Proposition

    As the morning sun rose Fi''s backpack was bulging with materials. She had been contacting the Radish Maker''s guild constantly to see which materials were valuable and worthwhile to gather.

    Her contact person at the Radish Guild was called Hestia. She was the leader of the Radish Maker''s Guild and had the greatest knowledge of them all.

    Hestia didn''t sound like a leader of a maker''s guild. She sounded like a teenager with her voice. Laughter was never too far away from her lips.

    The two girls meshed well together. They had found a common ground in many earth-movies and had been referencing them.

    Fi had killed multiple creatures of different sorts. She had been careful to find out first what they could do before going for the kill. Using the water jets as a piercing weapon seemed like a safe route.

    One Cracklefluff was also in her bag. Some materials had been growing by themselves that Hestia pointed out were interesting. An interesting material they found was a mushroom with a frozen core. Something could be made out of that.

    Fi was a bit disappointed that she didn''t find more of the mushroom, but one was good enough. At the same time she was gathering these she was putting in new flora and fauna applications.

    Fi dropped her call with Hestia when another from the scout team came in.

    "Where are you?" Blue said with worry creeping into her voice. Fi smiled feeling cared for. A warmth spread in her chest.

    "All good, been gathering ingredients. Also, I''m a few minutes off the beacon. You there?" Fi said and turned towards the beacon.

    "That is a relief. It was your first time alone after all." Blue said with tangible warmth.

    "I brought you breakfast"

    Fi''s stomach piped up insisting this breakfast that Blue mentioned was a necessity to have.

    "I''ll be right there," Fi said and picked up the pace.

    The ground shook and the leaves rustled. A low growl hit Fi and a tantamount pressure came upon her. She froze. Another growl arrived shaking her world yet again.

    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.Something ferocious had awoken. A king had spoken and declared the island theirs.

    All color had drained from Fi''s face. She turned scanning if she could find the source. Nothing could be gleaned from between the trees. Fi regained her senses enough to ask.

    "You heard that?" she said ready to move for cover.

    "Yes," Blue said with a clatter of teeth. She had more experience and knew something like this was an existence that needed to be dealt with utmost caution.

    "This is something we can''t afford to mess with. Best to stay away from anything that can make sounds like that," Blue said and shivered.

    Fi nodded and realizing Blue didn''t see her she answered too.

    Arriving at the campsite she shut off the call only to be met with a warm hug. Blue''s arms wrapped around her.

    "I''ll return message to sender and say I''m glad you are okay" Blue said squeezing tight. Fi answered the hug in kind.

    They exchanged pleasantries over breakfast. It was a tasty meal with fresh berries. Blue told her that Robin was okay and would be fit for a fight in just a few hours.

    Nothing major had broken on his arm.

    Fi smiled happily hearing everything was going well. She told Blue that she had been in contact with a maker''s guild and was gathering ingredients with their help. Blue commended Fi for setting up an alarm system for the beacon, instead of leaving it for its own.

    With the breakfast finished they headed for the campsite. They had a wary countenance, aware of the dangers around them. The growl that shook the island was a thing they wouldn''t forget anytime soon.

    * * *

    Pacing back and forth in her room Pruet was thinking about how to contact Fi. How could she rope Fi to her side? She wasn''t allowed to contact someone as an admin.

    That was one of the strictest regulations. When arriving at Eden they would be able to help out as the last line of defence. The captain''s and highest level authority would know of their existence.

    A new idea came to her. Everyone was rushing to take control of the ship, that could be of use. She was going to introduce a new rule proposition.

    That every admin could take on a disciple. The relation would have to be kept secret.

    This was the perfect way to give her control over Fi. Pruet would be able to help Fi grow into the monster she had the capability to become.

    The proposition had a good chance of going through. Everyone wanted to have some form of influence on the ship. This would allow them to not break rules and still work it out.

    Pruet started writing the proposition with a bright smile on her face.

    * * *

    Fi and Blue were walking toward the campsite. Fear giving way to mirth with Fi cracking a joke. The journey became more jovial and the campsite didn''t seem as far away.

    On the Dream, Fi had an incoming call. It was from Adrian. Fi''s heart was beating fast and she stopped instantly. Her breath was coming in short bursts. Panic setting in. Could it be her dad, she didn''t know his id.

    With a shaking hand, she answered the call.

    "Hello Fi, this is your dad" was heard from the other end of the call.

 Non-Issue

    Fi shook like a leaf during a gale, her world of comfort had come crashing down. Breaths coming in short bursts, a whining sound, her eyes flickering in panic.

    "Don''t worry Fi, I won''t hate you for not calling us," Adrian said, his tone indecipherable. Tears started welling up in her eyes.

    Blue noticed Fi wasn''t by her side. She stopped and saw Fi at the brink of breaking down crying.

    Blue approached Fi, taking her hand, and asked what was wrong.

    In her hurry to mute the call from Adrian, to answer Blue, she closed the whole call. When she realized she closed the call she started falling.

    Blue managed to catch Fi. The river of tears flowing down onto Blue''s jumpsuit. Ragged breaths coming in short bursts close to a panic attack. Blue held on to Fi in silence, not understanding why she broke down.

    With Blue''s knowledge of Fi it didn''t seem like she was the type to start crying on a whim. Blue was confused but still held on to Fi without a word of comfort, knowing it was best to wait. Giving closeness and security the priority number one.

    Fi was thankful for meeting Blue. There was a security in being with Blue. Everything was going to be alright when Blue was around.

    In the back of her head, a thought came, spurred by the nightmarish imaginations of the heartbroken, what if Blue left her too? This train of thought was too rough to follow and she tried to shake it off the best she could.

    The thought was born and would stick in her mind. It wasn''t to be shaken off. She would have to try and believe, as hard as she may.

    Fi took a deep breath and explained what happened. She got her head around what had happened, her father had contacted her. She didn''t know what Adrian wanted. If he was calling the rest of her family had to know too.

    When Fi had to leave there were three members of the family. Adrian, Rubella and Gareth. Father, mother and younger brother respectively. A conflicted feeling enveloped her, tying her between choices.

    On one hand, Fi wanted to meet up with her family and reconcile. On the other, she wanted to never see them again. She had her things together now, why did they have to call and muck everything up.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Life had been clear. Get into Eden Dream, become stronger there and enjoy life. Now there was her family trying to get back in the picture.

    Then she did realize to think that why did they call her now, but couldn''t come up with any reason. She abandoned this path of thought and decided to just message them saying she needed time.

    Fi did that and sent a message to her father. She would have to call them soon as she was so flustered she couldn''t make any good decisions, is what the message contained.

    The message was sent after deliberation and the waiting for an answer part began.

    Blue and Fi stood there together waiting for an answer. Seconds turned to minutes and minutes to hours, before they decided to move on towards the campsite.

    Fi was let down. No jovial steps, no happy smiles. The ordinary Fi was gone and only a husk was left.

    Arriving at the camp an answer finally came through. It read ''Fine.''.

    The last lights of life in her eyes flickered to darkness. The husk was to stay, her mood not improved.

    The two men happily said hello to the arrivers. Fi lifted her hand in the smallest of waves without moving a muscle on her face. Without stopping or looking at anyone she hid in her quickshelter, pulling the covers close.

    Robin questioned Blue what this was all about, with a worried look on his face. Sawyer''s face reverted into his usually grim expression.

    Blue explained briefly about it, since both of the two knew about Fi''s upbringing. They were astounded and infuriated by this news.

    A dangerous glint could be seen in Sawyer''s eyes. He turned away and messaged from outside the camp, that he was going to hunt for food.

    Robin was swearing and started training his body to take the edge off. He lifted a big boulder he had brought to camp just for this purpose.

    Blue sat down thinking about what to do. They needed Fi back in fighting shape asap. Even if that did come secondary to her mental health. They didn''t have much time to spare before the ship would arrive and most of the dangers should be cleared.

    Her brows scrunching, leaving Robin to cover the camp, she left for the forest.

    * * *

    Pruet was all smiles after the proposition went true. It was really a non-issue, everyone wanted to have some sort of impact on the ship. Some of the admins made the motions to disagree but really did only so to show their disagreement with each other.

    Now she could help out Fi and gain someone with the potential to become the strongest. She had a unique possibility, she would last for longer in every fight. Bring out even greater power with Silver Exhaust.

    In a long fight Fi was the one who would come out on top more times than not.

    Pruet logged in to her workstation, reviewing all the information she had about Fi.

    She raised her eyebrows when she noticed Fi''s estranged father had called out of the blue. Pruet checked out surveillance tapes around the ship and found about the exchange between Harry and Adrian.

    "You think you can take advantage of my future disciple," said Pruet smiling while rubbing her hands together.

    "A pipsqueak like you rising up against an admin, its like you want to lose," she said, snickered and put a lollipop in her mouth.

 Ordinary Day

    The five of the scouting group had slept well. A deep and refreshing sleep gave the energy to enjoy life.

    Yesterday''s chaos seemed far away and Fi decided to take everything one step at a time. She put on another jumpsuit and to her surprise, it was tighter than before.

    She had gained some muscle in this short time. Most of it must have come from the awakening of abilities, which steered some of the energy into her muscles, strengthening them.

    Fi adored the reflection in the mirror. She was more toned and her behind was more pleasing. A light slap on it later, giggling she left the shelter.

    By the recycling unit sat the four others. Robin was stretching and doing some vocal warm-ups.

    Blue was cleaning her gun slowly, her gaze somewhere far away.

    In Sawyer''s hand was the Cracklefluffs teeth which he was examining in a great detail. Behind Sawyer stood Loa with one hand on Sawyer''s shoulder.

    Noticing Fi approaching Loa smiled and waved her big hand.

    "Good Morning Fi, did you sleep well?" Loa said creakingly. She had a wider more stocky body.

    Fi smiled back and took a plate of breakfast. Today they had cooked eggs which tasted wonderful.

    "Did you find you these eggs Loa?" Fi asked with her mouth full. Loa scrunched her brows when the mass of white and yellow in Fi''s mouth jumped around.

    "Do not chew and speak please, it is not civilized," Loa said and shook her head.

    "I found them fifteen kilometers west. There is a big fallen tree that is the nest for thousands of birds." Loa then continued with her creaky voice slowing down the further she spoke.

    Octo was looking at Loa curiously with his tilted head. A sound akin to a humph escaped from Octo. It turned away and didn''t face Loa.

    Fi didn''t pay any heed to the octopus on her shoulder and continued enjoying the eggs.

    Breakfast was finished and everyone split into their respective mission groups. Fi with Loa, Blue with Robin and Sawyer alone, just like always.

    Loa led them westwards towards the nest area of the birds. They were to gather a few eggs and see to see if it was possible to make this gathering of eggs a sustainable activity for a greater group of people.

    After some traveling and training of skills, they arrived at the big fallen tree. The tree trunk was ten meters thick and close to a hundred in length, it was massive in stature and a hundred birds was a gross underestimation.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    There were at least thousands of different birds here. The only thing that worried Fi was since most of the things on the island were quite strong, something had to keep the stronger monsters from feeding on this place.

    Fi took the lead and led them in caution forward, inch by inch. Loa pointed at a big rock with thick vegetation. Leading them to the rock Fi summoned the water from her water bottle having it having it spin around her hand.

    Loa raised her eyebrows and whispered at Fi.

    "Why aren''t you storing the water in your inner crystal?" Loa said touching Fi on the right shoulder, right above the crystal.

    Fi concentrated and the water in her hands slowly was absorbed. It moved through the crystalline structure in her body finding its way to the inner crystal. A small drop of water appeared inside of the crystal, she could feel its presence.

    "That was great advice, thank you so much," Fi said bowing her head. She was relieved she didn''t have to carry a dunk of water everywhere she went. This was more in line she wished it would work.

    "No problem, sorry I didn''t come to think of it earlier," Loa said her voice betraying no emotion. Loa sat on her knees peering over the bush. She was watching the tree and its inhabitants.

    Fi grew silent and watched the tree too, recording every second of it.

    They spent the rest of the day looking at it. The two of them had a few guesses as for how it thrived. One option, that there was something poisonous with the foliage growing on the tree trunk.

    Another option, where the big hole they saw on the tree was the sleeping position for a bigger and stronger creature. With no clear idea what the danger here was, Fi decided not to take anything from the tree and hunt something on the way back.

    The two arrived at the camp as the last ones and shared their findings. The map had been updated again and everything around them was becoming clearer.

    Fi hugged Blue when she heard Blue had finally gained her powers too. Happiness on both their faces evident. The only problem was she didn''t know what her powers were yet. They could only be found out if the right time presented itself.

    She was a bit more powerful now overall with the help of k20 energy and could be more accurate with her shots. Their team was finally ready, with all five members having gained their powers.

    It was time to venture to the Ice Tree and clear that place out from trouble. There had to some good materials there, maybe even something really rare. This was the time to take advantage of their early arrivals and gain as much power as they could.

    The five went to sleep in their respective quickshelters and bid to go the first thing in the morning.

    With an hour of yoga, Fi was completely relaxed and ready to drift away to the land of dreams.

    The morning sun woke the group. Today everyone except Sawyer had eaten breakfast. He was the last to exit his shelter, a groggy expression on his face, eating a hearty breakfast.

    Sawyer finished his food and spoke up.

    "Are all five of us ready to go?" Sawyer said and hoisted his backpack on. The group nodded and took their own equipment. Robin was the only one startled.

    "Five of us?" Robin asked with one eyebrow raised. The two women realized it too but thought he misspoke.

    "I was sure there were five of us, I must still not have woken up," Sawyer said scratching his head. The four of them laughed and left for the tree of ice.

 The Ice Tree

    The group left the campsite heading for the lagoon on Fi''s request.

    She hovered her hand over the lagoons water and water started getting sucked in. A small tornado of water rose, water not splashing anywhere.

    "What are you doing?" Robin asked eyeing Fi''s actions. He got closer for a better vantage point.

    Fi loosened her concentration on the task when it started to feel more natural. She turned her head towards Robin.

    "I am collecting water in my inner crystal, so I don''t have to carry it with me," Fi said and smiled. Her eyes were deep, an ocean of green. Looking into her eyes was easy, forgetting her gaze was hard.

    "You can do that?" Robin asked taken aback.

    "Did you know about it?" Robin said looking at Blue and Sawyer.

    Both shook their head as taken aback as Robin. They didn''t know of it either.

    Fi looked at them surprised herself.

    "It was one of our group who told it to me. I learned it yesterday," Fi said thinking they had to be joking. She thought about it however and wasn''t sure who told her, she just knew she was told.

    The group pondered on it, not coming up with anyone who told it and chalked it up to Fi not remembering correctly. She had been alone after all yesterday.

    In the end, they shrugged and decided to continue on the journey, daylight was limited and it was best to engage the ice squirrels while it was still bright.

    -

    The trees around them had an icy sheen, they were nearing the ice tree. The chirp of birds and sounds of creatures became less frequent the further they got.

    Blue was scanning the treetops for an ambush. The squirrels while not the most intelligent creature on the Island still lay ambushes. That is the way Sawyer found out about the icesquirrels.

    He was walking towards the ice tree when four squirrels jumped at him from the tree. His experience saved him, he rolled away from the ambush and dashed fast back to the camp.

    Sawyer had shared this encounter with the group and reminded them of it again today.

    Fi walked gazing at the ground in front of her it kept changing from frozen to thawed with no noticeable pattern. She wondered how it came to be that some parts were frozen and some weren''t.

    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.She questioned the group and the consensus was that it was because of the tree''s roots reaching all the way here. The ground right above the roots would be frozen while the ground between would thaw in the tropical sun.

    Last night Fi had come up with a new way to use water in battle would be to lock creatures inside a water bubble. She could have the bubble spin making it difficult to escape or she could press with the water locking the enemy completely in space.

    A notification dinged stopping her train of thought. Another message had arrived, it was from Adrian again. Fi sighed and opened it up.

    ''Dear daughter, you sent a package to the Radish Makers Guild, can you send the next one for us instead. We are a big group of makers too. Think of it as a makeup gift to set things right with your family." The message read.

    Fi couldn''t think straight and bit her lip. Hard. Anger and pain surfaced, sending her into a rage.

    Is this what her father wanted all along, materials from Eden, did he think of her as a human being at all.

    Suddenly he sends a message out after Fi posts to the forums and after the shipment was sent yesterday he sends another.

    Fi wrote a long litany of expletives to her father but deleted the message before sending. It wasn''t the right thing to do.

    Having reconsidered about it, she found herself hoping this was just the way Adrian showed love. Maybe it was all a coincidence and not that he wanted to take advantage of her daughter. It couldn''t be like that, it just couldn''t.

    Fi refused to answer the message and put it out of her mind. She was to go gain new materials now, have a proper adventure in the ice tree. Her first one.

    Deciding to focus on the matter at hand she exited the UI. She began training with water control, making small and cute forms with it. A water octopus appeared beside Octo.

    Its form was a bit vague and the movements not convincing.

    Octo slapped the water octopus and it lost its form. Fi laughed and splashed Octo with water. Shaking its little tentacle at Fi, introduced another fit of laughter.

    Playing with Octo she lost her anger and gained some more control over her powers. She would need to go swimming in the lagoon again, exploring it completely, to train her underwater skills.

    They soon arrived at the great tree of ice. It was massive, towering over the other''s. Leaves of ice glistening in the sunlight. The tree was bright and seethrough in multiple places. Some parts had a deep blue color, light not able to pierce through completely.

    Inside the blue parts were probably dwelling of some beasts, they would serve as perfect material for the group. They had one maker with them and a chance to make friends with new ones.

    Sawyer crunched his brows. He had been doing it for the last half of the trip.

    "We should have been ambushed by squirrels at least once. They were patrolling eagerly last time, there is no-one here which is odd." Sawyer said peering at the treetop. The others followed his gaze, but found nothing.

    The squirrels were gone, not a peep could be heard from them. A flap of great wings was heard and an ice-blue bird left from the top of the tree. It was some five meters in size, its wingspan a massive fourteen meters.

    A curved beak with a sharp edge on its face, ready to gut its food.

    "Watch out!" Fi yelled seeing the bird preparing to dive. The group rushed to scatter. It was too late.

    It dived at the group, pulling its wings to its body. The bird''s chest expanded and its head pulled back. A screech loud enough to break windows erupted. Following the screech came a frosty mist enveloping the group.

 The Ice-Blue Bird

    Ice cold mist spread all around Fi. A shiver ran through her body, her body cold, tips of her fingers numb. She summoned the water from the inner crystal creating a big shield.

    The shield of water relieved her from the cold. Seeing it was effective, she reinforced it and made it bigger, covering the whole group in a thin veil.

    The previously lost members in the mist saw each other and thanked Fi with a quick glance. Robin willed his skin into hard rock. Sawyer readied his pistol and pulled himself towards the edge of the water veil.

    Blue put one knee on the ground and aimed towards the sky. Her short blue hair twinkling with ice crystals.

    "I''ll trap the bird once it comes out!" Fi shouted barely legible over the screech. She was prepared to turn the water into a prison making the bird unable to fly. Her brown hair whitened with ice crystals too.

    Octo was sitting on Fi''s shoulder staring upwards with his black eyes as if he could see everything behind it.

    The screech ended, the mist a fraction of a second after and the ice-blue bird was visible again. It had stopped some ten meters above them, letting out a screech seeing them still alive it dove towards them aiming for Blue.

    Blue didn''t flinch and let the bird come closer while aiming at it down the scopes. Robin dashed towards Blue trying to tackle the bird in the air.

    Fi hoped her powers would be strong enough to stop the bird from crashing into Blue, squashing her into pulp.

    Blue let out a breath and squeezed the trigger. The shot was good flying straight for the birds head.

    The bird was close, Fi had to act now. Robin was too far away to stop the diving bomb of feathers. It was up to Fi. The water rushed to the bird starting to encase it.

    The bird only turned his head slightly altering the bullet''s trajectory. With a triumphant screech, the ice-blue bird was to spear Blue with its razor-sharp beak.

    Blue threw herself to the side, but it was all too late and she would catch the brunt of the bird. Maiming her and possibly even killing her.

    The beak was only a meter away when it slowed down. Water enveloped the bird, slowing it down enough for Blue to get away with her life.

    A cut along the length of her leg reminding how close to death she was. It wasn''t too deep and didn''t hit an artery, but it left a steady trickle of blood.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    The bird tried to spread its wings and fly away but the water was pressing down on it. It struggled with all its might and Fi was sweating buckets. The power consumption enormous, the bird more powerful than she imagined.

    If the fight went on in this matter she would run out of energy and have only Silver Exhaust to rely on. She had summoned the UI earlier and had the Silver Exhaust timer on.

    It was at its current maximum of five minutes. When she gained more power and her body could store more energy, the maximum would increase as well.

    "Kill it I can''t hold it for much longer," Fi yelled with another drop of dripping off her nose. She clenched her hands together trying to force the bird to be immobile.

    The bird trashed harder. Robin stopped his rush and raised his gun to not get caught in the crossfire. Blue and Sawyer were already aiming at it.

    All of them fired close to the same time, two streaks of plasma and a physical bullet left their guns. The air was whining from the bullets.

    As soon as the bullets were to hit the bird the ball of water froze. A perfect ball of ice. The bullets struck its surface, the plasma tearing through, but losing its energy quickly.

    The bullet hit the ice and a big part of it exploded revealing ice-blue feathers under it. The whole ball exploded and sharp pieces of ice flew out.

    The whole group was hit, leaving superficial wounds. A drop of blood hit Fi''s eye forcing it closed. Fi let out a yelp. It was a burning sensation of pain from her wounds.

    The bird didn''t wait for anyone and spat another mist of icy air upwards flying through it.

    Fi gritted her teeth and urged the rest of the water in the inner crystal to form another veil of water. The veil protected them again from the icy mist. This time it froze into a dome above them.

    The sun shone through, painting beautiful pictures of light. It was as if they were inside a heavenly palace of ice. Fi didn''t have time to enjoy the view but scanned for a big form through the ice. She didn''t find it but neither did let her guard down.

    "It seems to have retreated," Blue said with a grimace. She held her leg and took a tourniquet out of her bag.

    Sawyer came close and tied it tight, stemming most of the blood flow.

    "I think we should leave," Robin said looking at the shape of the group. Blue was in the worst shape, but no-one had escaped the harm''s way. Everyone was bleeding from somewhere.

    Fi was dripping sweat and blood.

    "I vote to leave, I am running on fumes," Fi said still with her one eyes closed.

    "And I used all of my water reserves for this," Fi continued waving her hand at the ice palace around them.

    Robin threw his water bottle at Fi. She nodded in thanks and controlled it to clean her eye and left a thin sheen of water over her eyebrows to catch the falling blood.

    "Go," Sawyer said and helped Blue on Robin''s shoulders. Robin''s strength in stone form was enough to carry Blue without too many troubles.

    The group was ready and headed for one side of the ice veil. Fi cut a path open for them with her water. The team exited the palace and headed for the cover of the trees.

    A screech put more speed in their steps.

    Fi turned her head while running and saw the bird flying with great speed towards them.

    They couldn''t hope to outrun the bird. Fi gritted her teeth and stopped. She turned around intending to give a chance for the others to get to safety.

    "Run! I''ll hold the bird," Fi yelled with a determined voice. She spread her hands and silver smoke started drifting out.

 Silver Empress

    Silver smoke enveloped Fi, diffusing her outlines, until settling into a crown on her head. Her eyes shone with a silver luster as power surged through her veins.

    The group was stunned, seeing Fi enveloped in the smoke. A royal aura emanating from her, a silver empress high above.

    Their water bottles exploded and the contents flew to Fi.

    They gathered themselves and left for the camp again.

    Fi was staring at the bird, mustering her courage. Her feet were shaking but were covered by the silver smoke.

    The Ice-blue bird hesitated, seeing this majestic form. Strong aura emanated from Fi, scaring the bird.

    Ice-blue bird thought about it for a second and decided Fi would have killed it if she was strong enough. With a screech, it dove for Fi.

    Fi summoned the water she had gained, which didn''t amount to much, and carefully operated it to drill into the charging bird.

    She didn''t go with full power, preparing to pull the water away so it didn''t get frozen.

    The bird acted as predicted and opened its beak spewing frost mist. The water drills dodged to the side and tried to flank the bird.

    The bird increased its speed determined to reach Fi before being hit by the drills. It was a game of dare, who would dare to operate for longer.

    The distance between them shrunk, the razor-sharp coming closer to Fi''s pretty features. Fi''s water drills approached the bird licking its feathers.

    Fi gritted her teeth and didn''t move. A glint of madness in the bird''s eyes, as it came ever closer.

    Her drills weren''t going to reach in time, but she wasn''t the only one who was going to die. She didn''t have time to dodge and had to decide on mutual destruction. Fi forgot about dodging, another layer of silver smoke appeared, and the drills sped up.

    At the last second the bird veered, clipped Fi''s shoulder almost tearing off her arm.

    Fi yelled in anguish, her arm useless. Her drills were close enough to not need another urging of energy and struck the bird.

    The water drills punched through the feathers, piercing into the bird''s stomach. A painful screech arose, echoing through the forest. The bird landed with wobbly legs, with one wing clutching its stomach.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    The bird had veered, saving them both from death. Neither of them were in a good spot. They were bleeding profusely and didn''t have much time.

    They gazed at each other, Fi''s silver eyes staring holes into the bird. The bird didn''t give up in this staring contest and its pitch black eyes warned of thousand deaths.

    The staring contest had no winners, as the bird puffed its chest ready to breath freezing mist.

    Fi grimaced, moving the last bits of water in front of her. It was a thin veil, thinner than any before. She wasn''t sure would it be enough.

    The bird''s chest expanded till it couldn''t anymore. It opened its beak aiming it straight at Fi with a victorious gleam in its eyes.

    The mist never came, interrupted by a hacking cough as blood spurted out of the bird''s mouth. It had underestimated its injuries, it couldn''t even spew mist anymore.

    The bird and Fi eyed each other, neither of them willing to attack. Like it was a prior agreement they both stepped back at the same time, lengthening the distance between them.

    They nodded at each other as though acknowledging the match as a draw. Both stepped back, multiple steps, very slowly. When at a good distance the bird jumped, shivered, and managed to barely fly away towards the top of the ice tree.

    Fi winced as the pain almost overwhelmed her. She examined the cut on her shoulder, gruesome and deep. Blood kept pouring out, she had to do something or everything would be lost.

    She went through all the advice Blue had given her. So many different kinds of advice, none seemed to fit, until she finally remembered one.

    Fi pulled out the plasma pistol. She opened the hatch under the grip, pulling out the core and crushed its safety override. Pressing it to the wound she let the elements combine and a blue ball of plasma appeared cauterizing the wound.

    She used the gun to push the ball of plasma away to not hurt her more than the wound did. A heart-rending scream ran throughout. The forest echoing sending it to an unnatural silence.

    She didn''t let up on the silver exhaust during this time, fearful of the bird''s return. Her vigilance paid off, it seemed like the bird was returning.

    The leafs shaking as something came through it. It was something ice-blue, but it was much smaller. The ice squirrels were back.

    The creature was see-through ice with a beating core purple core. It was the size of a pineapple and an ice grinding ice was heard when it moved.

    Fi promptly pierced its core, shattering the squirrel at once. She breathed out, maybe the trouble was over. Fearing another attack she ran as fast as she could with the wound she had.

    Her hand throbbed on every step, her face etched in stone in an unending grimace. She made it a few hundred meters away, to the edge of the frost covered trees.

    Chatter, multiple sources of chatter, all around her. The gnashing of ice on ice, painful to the ear.

    Fi called up the UI ringing the alarm, her position triangulated on the map, notifying the team. The squirrels were taking positions around her, ready to take down their wounded foe.

    Excited chatter, gnashing of teeth and a few gnarls. A few tails of ice visible through the foliage.

    Surrounded Fi took a stance and checked her time.

    ''1 minute 7 seconds left on Silver Exhaust'' the timer read. She squinted her eyes having only that much of time before the energy ran out.

    "Come at me you¡­ you¡­" Fi yelled at the squirrels but couldn''t find any words. Instead, she yelled out and rushed the nearest squirrel trying to break out of the formation.

 One More Second

    Desperation.

    Fighting for the last moments of life. Fighting for a chance to live for even a second longer. Staying alive was the ultimate goal. Fi was fighting with everything she had, but the clock kept ticking mercilessly.

    The silver exhaust timer was running out. Squirrel after squirrel jumped at Fi, time after time they shattered into pieces. There were too many when one died two took its place.

    It didn''t take long before her limp hand held her back and she couldn''t protect her side. While she didn''t need her hands to control the water, it made it more precise.

    The squirrels rushed in with open mouths, their eyes eery unmoving in their sockets. Their teeth of ice leaving marks on her skin.

    Her jumpsuit in tatters, blood painting the once blue jumpsuit purple. She was fighting with all she had, screaming and grunting every other second.

    ''One second more, One second more¡­'' Fi kept repeating that in her thoughts. Every movement like a dream, numb to the motions, she fought. Seconds ticking down.

    ''Ten-second warning'' The system notification rang. Her thoughts continuing on the same rails, stations whistling by faster and faster.

    Squirrels wave after wave approaching her. Her movements slowed down, the purple color on her jumpsuit intensifying. The silver smoke vanished.

    Fi was spent, every drop of power squeezed out of her body. Her arm did the motions, but the water fell down on the ground. The water absorbed by the forest floor, gone, just like her life was about to be.

    A squirrel bit into her leg, she didn''t have the power scream. Fi stood there without an expression. Her chants ending, the last station never to be reached, she slumped down on the ground.

    The last thing she felt was a squishy tentacle patting her on the cheek before everything went dark.

    * * *

    Pruet was in an annoyed mood. She was tapping on the table with her fingers, ready to burst in anger.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    "She is mine, how can you try and take her from me," Pruet said to the heavy-set lady in front of her. Isolda smiled, leaning back in her comfy chair.

    "Well, well what do we have here," Isolda said the smile never leaving her face. It was a smile full of glee, she had chosen wisely, Pruet wouldn''t be here if it wasn''t a big deal.

    "Are you saying you don''t have the abilities to go against me? The little weak me, so fragile and powerless," Isolda said and tried giving the puppy eyes.

    Pruet couldn''t hold back her anger. She crushed the table and left the room. Swearing the worst things she knew beneath her breath. A laughter was heard from the room she just left, it increased her anger to new heights.

    She walked fast and the click-clack from her high heels echoed in the hallway. Pruet was about to pull out her hair, even the echo of her heels sounded like it was mocking her.

    Pruet stopped, grabbed her high heels and slammed them into the ground, leaving them there. She ran the fastest she could, boosted her speed with the power of wind, to the training room.

    She asked the AI to give the toughest dummy possible, this was going to take a while.

    * * *

    A dreamless dark subsided, as her body was shaken. She didn''t open her eyes, it would be a relief to not have to open her eyes again. Her body was sore all over.

    Something was grabbing her by the head shaking her, not too gently at all. She tried to recognize the feeling but couldn''t find anything. Maybe it was best to fall asleep again, she wouldn''t have to feel this soreness anymore.

    Fi was about to drift off again before a wet squish sounded and her whole head jerked. Her eyes jolted open. She was greeted by a yellow blob right in front of her eyes.

    Her surprise was cut short when another wet squish hit her other cheek. Octo was slapping her with a power which didn''t belong to something so small.

    "I''m awake, I''m awake!" Fi yelled and opened her eyes as wide as possible. Octo got a suspicious twinkle in its eye and raised another tentacle.

    Fi tried to lift her arm in defense, but it only resulted in a scream. Her arm was still gravely wounded. The final ounce of tiredness disappeared and she was awake.

    She was alive, again. Another challenge overcome.

    Fi looked around and saw countless shattered pieces of ice. The purple cores were still around, left behind. She didn''t have time to process what had happened when a worried Blue appeared.

    Blue had a gun in her hand, her wound reopened blood flowing. She had escaped Robin''s grip as soon as she saw Fi''s emergency signal. Blue ran to Fi''s side.

    As she reached Fi, her legs wobbled out from under her. Blue fell to the ground, with a weak grunt. She didn''t have any energy to begin with and pure power of will could only last so far.

    Fi laughed. A clear and happy laughter. Tears flowed down her cheeks, her laughter spread into her eyes. Blue''s confused face was fast replaced with laughter.

    Inside a circle of ice-crystals, two women were bleeding and laughing with tears on their cheeks. A happy laughter.

    Two men appeared by their side, with worry turning into confusion seeing the two women. They looked at each other not understanding what was going on.

    The looked at the octopus for answers, but its head was bobbing, clearly in on the joke.

 Loa

    Back at camp Fi was sitting beside the pod-doc waiting for Blue to finish her procedures. They did a quick life-threat diagnosis on Fi, seeing she wasn¡¯t in immediate danger, Blue got to go first.

    Fi sat there tired, leaning on a crate with her back, careful not to lean on her damaged arm.

    She closed her eyes, thinking about the day''s events. Fi had realized there was something special about Octo.

    She had known it from the start, it could fly after all. Octo was all too intelligent for being a native. It seemed to hold power, stronger than her own.

    She opened her eyes to look at Octo. The octopus was fast asleep on her shoulder, leaning forward all slumped up, hanging by his tentacles.

    Sawyer had helped her with her outer injuries to make her more comfortable. Sprayed with a medical mixture, she had no idea what it was, but it effectively closed all small cuts. The pain was numbed down as a result of the spray.

    Fi¡¯s current problem was her limp arm on the side. It kept aching, the smallest touch paralyzing her in pain.

    She made herself as comfortable as possible while leaning on the metal crates, pulling the blanket closer and closed her eyes. Why was she not in bed and instead leaning against this uncomfortable crate.

    A suboptimal decision to say the least. She groaned, opened her eyes and rose up. The bed it was, soft and safe, she thought.

    Walking outside the ship she saw Loa, who motioned for her to follow her outside the camp. Fi was too tired to question anything and followed without a word.

    They walked till they were out of earshot of the camp. Loa stopped and turned to Fi, with a wonderful smile on her lips.

    Fi realized she had never noticed Loa¡¯s face before. She had blue eyes, a teensy nose between them. It wasn¡¯t the most beautiful face Fi had seen, but it didn¡¯t fall far from it.

    ¡°I have a proposition for you,¡± the creaky voice of Loa said. Her hands spread in a disarming fashion.

    Fi stood still, waiting for Loa to continue. Loa smiled shifting her legs, turning her wide hips to the other side.

    ¡°You haven¡¯t seen the pod-doc yet, but your arm will be near unusable for the next three months,¡± Loa said, the smile never leaving her lips. Like this wasn¡¯t a thing that would impact Fi.

    Fi squinted her eyes at Loa, there was truth in her claims, she knew her hand was badly wounded. Without the current level of technology, she would have never regained full capability on her arm.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    She didn¡¯t think it would be this bad. If she didn¡¯t recover her arm for the next three months, she would fall behind everyone again. This was out of the question.

    Loa saw Fi wasn¡¯t sold on her information but didn¡¯t refute it saying it was impossible.

    ¡°As I said I have a proposition for you. I can heal your arm within three days to full capability,¡± Loa continued.

    Fi¡¯s eyes widened she hadn¡¯t realized Loa had healing powers. This would change everything, they wouldn¡¯t have to worry about damage in the same fashion.

    Fi realized Loa hadn¡¯t said she would do it without compensation and looked at her with suspicion.

    ¡°You are a member of our team, why wouldn¡¯t you help us?¡± Fi said getting worked up. Her breath came faster, anger rising.

    Loa smiled, not minding the angry gaze from Fi. Putting her hands on her hips Loa opened her mouth.

    ¡°To be more exact, I am not a member of your team. I had to make you believe that, for reasons that you don¡¯t need to know.¡±

    Fi opened the Dream and went to send an emergency signal. Loa shook her head and the option for emergency signal grayed out. Soon Fi was kicked out of the Dream.

    The grey tendrils of panic begun wrapping themselves around Fi¡¯s heart. Fi was in no shape to battle, she had only gained minimal energy and silver exhaust was zeroed out.

    ¡°I can¡¯t have you do that,¡± Loa said and didn¡¯t move her hands from her hips. She hadn¡¯t made any fast movements, her poise anything but threatening.

    ¡°I am not your enemy. I am the one who can give you the possibility to rise to greater heights. ¡° Loa spoke smiling wider.

    ¡°Become my disciple and you will know more things. I can teach you new ways to utilize magic. I can heal your arm.¡±

    The monologue ended in a heavy silence. Loa waiting for Fi¡¯s reaction, Fi wondering how much of this was truth.

    What kind of entity could control her usage of the Dream. This was truth, she couldn¡¯t reboot the UI no matter how hard she tried.

    From this, she could deduce what Loa said had some credibility. Fi had to ask more questions, without more knowledge she couldn¡¯t make a good decision.

    Before Fi could start asking any questions, out of thin air, a white figure appeared.

    The white border around the figure disappeared, revealing a perfect body.

    Fi recognized this woman, it was the one who appeared before her when she joined Eden Dream. If Loa¡¯s credibility was in question before, it wasn¡¯t anymore.

    Pruet looked at Loa with anger in her eyes but hid it quickly when she turned to Fi. Closing her eyes for a quick second she activated the fictional authoritative mode.

    ¡°I will tell you this more than this old hag. I am more powerful than her and have more to teach you. ¡° Pruet said making herself as big as possible, looking downwards at Fi, showing her superiority.

    ¡°I am the creator of the Silver Exhaust technique and the sole reason you can use it. Follow me and you will become the most powerful one.¡± There was a natural pressure coming from Pruet, making her words have more weight.

    This took one boulder off her mind and added another heap of them. She now knew Loa had power and her arm being unusable was most probably true.

    On the other hand, the creator of silver exhaust was here, ready to teach her everything and said she was more powerful. Could the newcomer heal her hand was the next question.

    As if reading Fi¡¯s mind Loa answered her question.

    ¡°This overachiever of a woman can¡¯t heal your arm and you will be stuck with it for the next three months.¡±

    An evil smile on Loa¡¯s face she threw a haughty gaze at Pruet.

    Pruet didn¡¯t disagree with this sentiment, she didn¡¯t have the power to heal Fi. Instead, she started boasting about the possibilities of silver exhaust.

    Pruet said she could only forcibly train the silver exhaust and it wasn¡¯t even close to as powerful as Fi¡¯s version. Pruet had come up with three more stages for the silver exhaust. Fi had the possibility to learn the second stage if she agreed to become her disciple.

    It quickly became a back and forth where both of them were boasting about their abilities and things Fi could learn.

    Fi hadn¡¯t felt any good from the beginning and a headache was rising, clouding her thoughts.

    A new voice joined the fray. All the other three stopped in shock.

    ¡°Let me join in on this conversation too. Isolda and Pruet.¡± Octo said from Fi¡¯s shoulder.

 Questions

    The voice was deep, like a reverberating current from the bottom of the ocean. Fi''s body shook with the voice, it had a life of its own. A voice everyone noticed.

    Octo jumped from Fi''s shoulder transforming into a big man. Black afro hair spiked up, with the sides short shaven, giving him a pineapple-like appearance. His face filled with a bushy black beard, but his most striking features were his yellow glowing eyes.

    While the woman with perfect proportion had the strongest pressure, Octo''s pressure was all-encompassing.

    At first like a wave flushing over you, the undercurrent carrying you to the depths where the heart of the ocean was pulsating.

    It took some time for Fi to pull her back from the sensation. Octo was as powerful as they would come.

    ''Wait a minute,'' she thought. ''He was with me at all times¡­''

    Fi stepped forward and a slap landed resoundingly on Octos face.

    The pressure receded and Octo''s eyes opened wide. He lifted his hand to his cheek, looking at Fi.

    "This is for you spying on me in octopus form. I don''t mind if I am seen naked, however, it is inexcusable to do so without permission." Fi said with her hand on her chest. Anger and disappointment in her eyes.

    She thought persons of such caliber would not stoop so low. She was mistaken. Her expectations lowered, she continued. "Whatever your reason for joining the conversation is I won''t accept it. That will be your punishment, I won''t pursue it further since you did save my life."

    Fi squeezed herself a bit with her one functional arm. She wondered if she went a bit too far. Seeing a smile on Octo''s face she wasn''t sure if she should be scared or relieved.

    "I am sorry. I feel no explanation will suffice and I won''t try either." Octo said with a short bow. His yellow eyes held no hostility Fi could see and she was relieved.

    A breath she didn''t remember holding left her. The anger and disappointment weren''t so quick to vanish, only the fear for her own safety subsided.

    Octo opened his mouth again after finishing his bow.

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version."I am Nadish, one of the seven admins. I''ll leave you my contact information if you feel the need to collect on this debt." Nadish said with his voice gaining depth again.

    His pressure momentarily returning, only to vanish together with himself. The circle of three women was left silent, albeit for different reasons.

    Fi''s was uncertainty. Uncertainty of Nadish, he did something bad, which lowered her impression of Nadish. On the other hand, he behaved well and apologized without trying to come up with any poor excuses.

    While she wasn''t certain what to think of Nadish, he had gained enough points, lifting him from the bottom-most rung of people. Fi was also relieved he didn''t retaliate for her slap, it was a bit shortsighted of her.

    Sweat ran down her back when she thought what Nadish could have done to her if he wanted to.

    "You are a brave girl I will give you that," Pruet said, the first to recover. Pruet nodded and looked at Fi over again as if seeing her for the first time.

    "I''ll have to agree with Pruet here, which I don''t usually like to do, you really are a brave girl," Isolda said, her big hand under the chin.

    At least Fi thought it was Isolda speaking, who knew if there was a bug on the ground which turned out to be another admin. Fi thought she could never have peace again.

    Isolda continued, massaging her shoulder.

    "Not everyone can stand up to Nadish, he is quite the character with a presence unrivaled by any."

    Fi nodded slowly, she had reacted without thinking it through. If she had waited even for a second longer, she didn''t think she would have had the courage for it.

    "We will leave you to think about it, becoming a disciple of an admin is a big deal. We both will leave our contact information and you can ask questions of us." Pruet said giving one last glance at Fi, before disappearing in white light.

    "I can heal your arm, remember that," Isolda said and disappeared with a flourish.

    Fi was left alone in the forest, with thousands of new questions. No answers were found. She walked back to camp for sleep.

    When she was laying in bed a message arrived. It was from Isolda.

    ''No-one else than you will remember my visit. Don''t talk about us either. Signed Isolda/Loa''

    That was one question less on her mind, a drop in the bucket. A bucket full of questions remained, unanswered. Fi sighed as she received a new message, from Pruet this time.

    ''I forgot to tell you, I handled your father for you. He is busy now and doesn''t have time to contact you. Figure out your answer in peace.''

    She had just answered a question and now the bucket overflowed.

    What did they do to him? How did Pruet know about her messages? How should Fi handle her father? What about her other family, did she do something to them too?

    She had no answers to gain and she felt that if she tried contacting Pruet for answers, even more questions would follow. Fi didn''t have the energy for that and closed her eyes for much needed rest.

    Her hand was aching. She almost wished to be back on the ship, with a singular goal. Here she had too many things going on.

    Questions, an aching body and the soft bed lulled her to sleep.

 Wake Up

    Waking up, the most unpleasant part of sleeping. The drowsiness, the stranger in your own body feeling and this time the aching hand also playing a part.

    In trying to rise up, she put weight on her hurt arm, raising a scream. The painkillers had worn off and she struggled up, remembering to not put weight on her hurt arm.

    She climbed out of the shelter, her face pale, wincing at every step. Sawyer was eating breakfast and had printed some blueprints for new weapons. The blueprints piqued Fi¡¯s interest, but her priority laid elsewhere.

    She shuffled past Sawyer towards the scoutship. Sawyer didn¡¯t raise his head, not noticing Fi.

    The interior of the scoutship was like before, cold and unappealing. One corner of the cargo bay didn¡¯t heed to the rest of the ship¡¯s theme. It was the corner which held the pod-doc.

    The pod-doc would bring her respite from this pain. Maybe let her enjoy some movies in a drowsy state while it fixed her problems.

    If only the pod-doc could fix all her problems. The almighty pod-doc fixing physical, mental and worldly problems alike. That would be the greatest.

    Sadly that couldn¡¯t be the case. She would have to fix most of the problems on her own.

    ¡®This is what I wanted all along, the chance to control my fate. Everything is going to be so easy when I can decide.¡¯ Fi thought with dripping sarcasm.

    ¡®The person who said be careful what you wish for, what a hero¡¯ Fi¡¯s thought continued as she arrived at the pod-doc.

    To her surprise it was empty. Blue was gone, ready with her procedures. Surprise melted to bliss as she entered the pod-doc, closing the lid behind her.

    The pod-doc begun its scanning procedures automatically and Fi relaxed. She entered a few parameters, namely that she wanted no information and to proceed at the safest route.

    It whirred into action, small arms prodding every which where and sweet numbness arrived as the anesthesia took effect. Peak drowsiness was hit, a bliss well welcomed.

    Fi put on her favorite comedy and drifted away to a land of happiness.

    * * *

    The three able-bodied members of the scout team sat around the center of camp, the recycling unit. Coffee cups at the ready, the velvet brown color revolving lightly, they looked at each other. Blue was the first one to open her mouth.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Fi is out for two more days, before being ready to do something again. She will have to spend multiple nights in the pod-doc so no long trips possible after that either.¡± Blue said taking a sip of her coffee. A delighted sigh escaped her lips, in spite of pressing events.

    ¡°I need to take a few days off to do a gig from here,¡± Robin said warming his hands with the hot cup.

    ¡°Illusion needs to make an appearance and what better ways to do it than from Eden,¡± said Robin blowing on the coffee before taking a sip.

    Blue looked at Robin with pleading eyes. When that solicited no reaction she knitted her hands beggingly and pouted. Exactly like a proper lady should do at almost seventy years old.

    Robin rolled his eyes while taking a sip of his coffee. He held his silence not deeming Blue with an answer. His attitude didn¡¯t hold for long, with Blue trying to fake tears.

    ¡°Fine, you can watch it on location,¡± Robin said into his cup of coffee. Blue perked up and she almost let out a fangirl like screech.

    Sawyer gave a teensy smile at the side, he took the last sip out of his coffee and rose up.

    ¡°You do you, I do me,¡± He said and left for the forest.

    The two left in the camp left for location spotting, trying to find the perfect venue for a concert. They didn¡¯t forget to close the hatch on the scout ship leaving Fi safe inside.

    * * *

    Three days had passed and Fi heard the hatch close outside. The pod-doc insisted on having her there for two more days. Fi didn¡¯t like it, but it wasn¡¯t much she could do.

    On the bright side, Fi had the chance to think many things through. She would wait to see how she could do with her hand out of order. If she was mostly good with it she would take Pruet¡¯s offer and become her disciple.

    Silver exhaust seemed so powerful that it would be a waste to not learn it. Even if it meant that she would be handicapped for the next three months.

    While Isolda had health to offer, she didn¡¯t seem to have much else that would fit Fi.

    Pruet was the choice to make if everything was in order. Fi didn¡¯t even hold any light to the idea of becoming Nadesh¡¯s disciple. She said she wasn¡¯t going to accept his proposition and she wouldn¡¯t.

    With the choice for master half cleared, half pushed ahead, Fi had the brainpower to give for other questions. The next in line was family. A dreadful question. The most dreadful there was. She couldn¡¯t really make a decision before she knew what Pruet had done to her family.

    It was time for a break, another movie to watch. The library was extensive with the beacon having a connection to the Harmony. She put on a catastrophe movie and mindlessly followed it enjoying the loss of brainwork.

    An explosion happened in the movie and the whole pod-doc shook.

    ¡®The effects are quite good in this movie, making me feel like the whole world is moving,¡¯ Fi thought and sank into the movie again.

    The ship shook again. Harder. Fi realized it wasn¡¯t the movie and looked around, seeing nothing wrong she shrugged.

    ¡®Probably a small earthquake,¡¯ Fi thought and tried concentrating on the movie.

    An ear piercing crunch sounded. Light filled the previously dim cargo bay. A row of teeth filled Fi¡¯s view.

    The teeth approached and surrounded her.

    Darkness, her new friend, had arrived.

 Tint

    The only light source was the flickers from the pod-doc screen. A light tinge of red encompassed her world, a gleam of ivory spottable at times.

    Fi was in the maw of the beast. She didn''t want to think herself lucky, but she was swallowed whole. A tight passage squeezed the pod-doc, producing a creak.

    The squeeze was short lived and with a gulp, she was on her way again. She wasn''t about to get squeezed to death and she breathed out, hoping the worst had passed.

    The pod-doc entered a bigger chamber and started jostling around. Bang after bang rained on the pod-doc. Fi couldn''t see much but caught glimpses of stones crashing into the pod-doc.

    Fi tightened her right hand and her knuckles whitened. Her lips quivered and she grunted at every hit. She braced herself not to get flung around inside the pod-doc.

    A stone struck the dome and cracks like spiderweb spread. Fi screamed turning her head away from the cracks. The pod-doc had warning lights flashing, it wouldn''t hold for long.

    "I hate you world, why can''t you let me make my choices in peace!" Fi yelled her face red with fright and anger.

    She opened up the Dream and called Pruet, the stronger of her two master candidates. Her chest heaved fast, she was getting sick from all the tumbling around, yelping at every jolt.

    Pruet answered and got yelled at.

    "Come and save me, I''ll be your disciple, just save my life" Fi yelled holding to the walls of the pod-doc. The doc was bouncing as it got hit by two rocks.

    Fi lost her grip and hit her head. Blood seeped out from her nose and her sight blurred.

    "Now or I will really die" Fi yelled and protected her head while getting rummaged again.

    "On my way..." Pruet said and continued after a moment''s pause

    "Disciple."

    Seconds after she heard the affirmative answer the beast shook hard, throwing the pod-doc against the wall of flesh. Fi hadn''t had a good opportunity to gather water into her core, so she was essentially helpless.

    Fi protected herself the best she could. She got banged up, hurting her shoulder in the process. Fi''s face contorted and she screamed in pain.

    The same procedures happened a few times and she got more banged up every time. Pruet seemed to have some trouble dealing with the beast since it took so long.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Fi felt her grip on reality loosening and was about to fall unconscious from the continuous impacts when the impact which she futilely struggled against never came.

    Fi held her hand covering her face for a long time, before accepting that she was safe at this instant. The pod-doc was in an even worse shape than Fi. It was mangled throughout and it gave off the impression that it would crumble any minute.

    Breathing out, Fi waited for the rescue and checked her condition. Bruises all over, but no lasting damage was noticeable. Her shoulder didn''t seem worse for wear either, but had the dull ache back, which the pod-doc had graciously alleviated.

    The wall ahead of her split open and light flooded in. Fi shut her eyes, blinded by the sudden influx of light.

    The pod-doc shook slightly and rose in the air. It drifted through the gap as Fi''s eyes got used to the light.

    A smiling Pruet was the first thing Fi saw. Pruet''s too perfect face hovering over the pod-doc. The dome was forced open with a creak and a soft wind picked up Fi and the creature.

    They flew in silence southward, away from the campsite. Fi was too beat up to have time to process anything. She let herself be carried and hoped everything would be okay.

    Under them the ground passed fast, trees turning into a blur. It didn''t take them long to appear in the middle of the island. What opened before them was a big lake. The lake lay seemingly in the middle of nowhere with big trees covering it on every side.

    Before landing, she inspected the monster she had been eaten by. It had gray skin like a rhino, small green eyes a and a head too big for its body. The creature was about the size of a bus and had no tail. It looked like a mix and match of monster creatures.

    They slowed down and start approaching the ground. Pruet raised up her hands and in response five big trees fell, creating a clearing.

    The two women and a dead creature touched the ground in the new clearing.

    The ground was dry and was covered in soft moss, which was soothing to lay down in. Fi did just that and closed her eyes, enjoying the softness under her. She knew she couldn''t wait forever and opened her eyes.

    Fi looked at Pruet and saw her inspecting the creature.

    "Do I need to do anything special to formally become your disciple?" Fi said, asking the first question that came to her mind. Pruet held her chin, with her hand, stroking the too smooth skin.

    "Hmm¡­ No. You are my disciple now. I''ll tell you more soon. Now I need to go figure out how this creature attacked. It shouldn''t be awake yet." Pruet said never laying eyes on Fi.

    Pruet started turning white, almost disappearing, before adding.

    "I''ll give you the manual for the second form of silver exhaust and instructions on what to gather to soothe your wounds. I''ll be back in a few days."

    As Pruet finished talking, she had already disappeared in white. Fi was alone again. Dumbfounded, she lay there on the moss and read through the material she got from Pruet.

    She couldn''t concentrate on either of the documents and sat up. Fi didn''t know if she should laugh at her new master or wallow in misfortune.

    ''What is done is done. I need to get up, inform Blue I''m alright and achieve the second level of silver exhaust. I did pay for it with my arm after all'' Fi thought and then laughed.

    She had never imagined she would think something like that. Pay for something with a body part sounded so much like fiction, it''s like she was in a movie.

    The laughter eased some of the pressure on her. It was time to learn silver exhaust level two.

 Rain

    Fi sat with her back against a tree trunk. On the Dream, she summoned the manual and read it through.

    Seeing the text she turned her head towards the sky and closed her eyes.

    This wasn''t a manual in the traditional sense, but it held all of the scientific data Pruet had gathered.

    In essence, the contents held the way to forcibly train silver exhaust, with numbers and jargon.

    Fi started sieving through the data, trying to find any idea how to improve on silver exhaust.

    The gist of her understanding after many hours of labor was that you needed to fold the silver exhaust energy in half.

    Everything else seemed to be documented her except for the actual method to learn. Fi closed the source material and started a new document with the relevant information.

    There were only a few lines of text on the document, she didn''t have much to go on.

    At least she had a direction to work towards and it would take her mind off everything else.

    She slipped out of her bruised, but still whole, jumpsuit and glided into the water.

    First things first she gathered as much water as her inner crystal could hold. She sensed that inside the inner crystal was one more drop than before, her capacity had increased.

    Fi didn''t dare to go far and stayed within ten meters of shore. She was quite sure she could run away from any trouble unless it was a creature with powers similar to the one she was eaten by.

    The lake wasn''t as clear as the lagoon, but you could still see quite the distance away. The fish she saw wore a light green color, it seemed to be the dominant species.

    Their length varied from half a meter to two meter long giants. The fish had three dorsal fins, sharp as a razor. Fi saw two of these fish fight it out and the loser got cut in half.

    She recorded them and sent in an application for a new creature. Fi named it ''Tridorsal Swordfish''.

    With the scouting finished, she sat on the lake floor and activated silver exhaust.

    Silver smoke covered her, forming the fluctuating crown and awakening her silver eyes.

    Fi furrowed her brow, how was she to fold energy in half. She had five minutes of testing before needing to take a long break.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    The water shimmered around her and the Tridorsal Swordfish gave her a wide berth.

    First Fi had to find out how to control the silver exhaust. She spent the whole five minutes trying every which way of manipulating the silver smoke but to no avail.

    Her silver exhaust timed out, returning her appearance to normal. She pursed her lips and glided for the surface and with a wave of her healthy hand, one of the smaller Tridorsal Swordfish was caught in a strong current.

    The fish thrashed about, in every direction, but couldn''t escape. Fi and the fish surfaced at the same time. The fish slammed to the ground and scales scattered about. Fi sent a drill of water, finishing the fish off.

    Fi sat down, drenched. She raised her eyebrows and ran one hand over her body. Like she thought she could gather the excess water, drying her instantly.

    She was dry and had some food to prepare. This day could yet be saved.

    Fi concentrated on gutting the fish as clean as possible with her water manipulation. It was good training for fine control and would make her more accurate.

    Fi''s hope for a good and restful evening was ruined by the fact that she had no equipment to start a fire. She had been grabbed from inside the pod-doc, she didn''t carry survival equipment into the medbay.

    She tried doing like Blue taught and get a fire going some alternate method. Many hours of fruitless work later, she had a cold fish, an unlit fire and a ravaging hunger.

    Fi yet again leaned back on the tree, pulled her legs up and hugged them. Her stomach demanded food, yet raw fish wasn''t a thing she wanted to try. The empty black eyes of the dead fish looked at her accusingly.

    "Why did you kill me if you aren''t going to eat me," Fi said using her hand as a puppet. She sighed, it didn''t bring her any mirth.

    "I don''t have it so good either, little fish. At least I should be immune to rain, instead of getting drenched like the miserable heroine would in a movie." Fi said looking at the fish, her hand returning to hug her legs.

    Like on cue the skies opened up. Fi laughed and all the water droplets avoided her.

    "See little fish I am not as unfortunate as the heroines, drenched in the rain, waiting for prince charming to save them," Fi said. Her manic laughter competed with the raindrops falling on leaves.

    In the middle of laughing, she felt something hit her nose. She looked around but didn''t see what it was. Thinking it just a freak occurrence she laughed again.

    Another prick on her skin and she had been hit again. This time she saw what it was and her laughter stopped.

    Fi stood up and screamed at the skies.

    "Hail! What kind of tropical storm are you that showers me in hail? Do you want me to be a miserable heroine that bad?"

    She shook her hand angrily. The storm of hail became more fierce as she spoke and another one hit her. Fi let her hand fall to her side dejectedly.

    "Fine. I''ll be your miserable heroine. I''ll sit right here and wait for my prince or princess charming." She said and sat with her back against the tree.

    Fi sat there hugging her legs. Her empty eyes peering over her knees at the unforgiving world.

    She sat there without moving, pelted by the hail.

 Two Recliners

    In meatspace on the ship. Pruet''s body was still and unmoving. It looked like a perfect puppet, only discernible by the slightest breathing motion.

    The visage, destroyed by the opening of Pruet''s eyes. Life was back in her body, using half a second to steady herself back to reality, she moved out.

    She stretched on her lips, deep in thought, as she sat on her purple recliner.

    Pruet crossed her legs and hammered on the armrest with her fingers. The soft rhythmic hammering soothing Pruet''s mind, just like it did every time.

    "''If you have troubles sit on the purple recliner, hammer your thoughts in order and off you go." Was a line Pruet had said every day since getting on the ship. It had worked up till now and Pruet was sure not to end her ritual.

    She thought about who could be the one behind the beast. The creature shouldn''t have awoken until the whole crew was landing. It was a certainty that someone was behind this.

    The first two options she had in mind were Isolda and Nadesh. The argument it could be Isolda was on quite unstable ground. She didn''t really have a reason to go after Fi since Isolda had the chance of gaining Fi as a disciple.

    There were a couple of reasons she could think of, but they didn''t seem that plausible. Nadesh then, what arguments could be made for him being the perpetrator.

    Nadesh was a man of character, he held his word in high regard and always got the job done. His methods were usually more straightforward too. Unless it all was a cover, then he could be doing work in secret.

    It was a good cover to work in secret, but it didn''t feel right, Pruet''s intuition told her.

    Her hammering didn''t stop and the rhythm never erred. She couldn''t rule out either of the two, but neither felt like the perpetrator.

    She had a few options to go with. Take on the search by herself or rope in someone to help her. Pruet hung her head on her chest, stretching her neck.

    With moderate speed, she lifted her head back to the headrest and messaged Isolda.

    Pruet shivered, and the rhythm erred for the first time. It was her least favorite option, but the probabilities for success were best.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    Pruet quit hammering and gripped the armrests, pulling herself up. She walked to her cabin and took out a lava lamp. Placing it on the table between the two recliners she sat back down on her purple chair.

    She eyed the door and the hammering begun again. Pruet didn''t have to wait for long until the door opened and Isolda, the heavyset woman, walked in.

    Isolda was wearing a sneer on her face and opened her mouth, but shut it and lost the sneer as her eyes glanced on the lava lamp.

    "Thought you were jesting when you said it was serious biz, but you even brought out the lava lamp," Isolda said going for the recliner opposite, green in color.

    Pruet nodded, lifting the corner of her mouth. She leaned forwards and activated the lava lamp.

    A forcefield grew around it, sealing the two chairs inside. From the outside, it looked like a black circle and no sound could be heard.

    The two women saw the world outside and could hear the ambient sounds of the ship.

    Isolda leaned forward setting her elbows on the table, put her head in her muscular hands and said.

    "What can I do for my lovely little sister?" Her voice dripping with sarcasm.

    * * *

    The hail beat her for the better part of the night. It didn''t more than sting physically, but the effect on her psyche was great. She hadn''t moved from her position at all, deeming herself to be at the world''s mercy.

    It was a sleepless night. Fi could have shielded herself with a water shield, but she had no spirit to fight with.

    She felt small under the black sky, creatures and humans of great power deciding her fate. Where was her part of the world, she thought she had already managed to carve a small part for herself in the short week of camaraderie the scout group had.

    The powers that be were vying for her favor or demise. She didn''t understand much of what was going on but knew that if three of the admins wanted her, then conversely they wouldn''t want her to fall in someone else''s hand either.

    Without any will to join the game she had been ensnared and here she was, a pawn in the game.

    Fi sighed, realizing the night wasn''t going to end in sleep and stood up. She walked towards the lake, her entire face drooping. Limply she stumbled into the water and fell flat on her face.

    She let herself sink and when she didn''t sink anymore she pushed herself further with her powers. She reached the bottom some five meters deep and assumed her comfort position.

    If she was sulking and angry at the world down here, she still had to spend some energy constantly, recharging silver exhaust. Behind her sulking exterior, was a dry smile.

    ''Maybe the world won''t come upend me again if I pretend to have given up'' Fi thought.

    Sitting at the bottom of the lake she patiently waited for silver exhaust to fill up again. She didn''t get to finish her waiting when the white light appeared again.

    Above the surface, Pruet stepped into Eden Dream. She didn''t enter the water but hovered in the air. Her face unreadable behind the water''s distortion.

    Fi received a message from Pruet.

    ''Let me in. It is time for you to hear everything''