ã€ŠTangledã€‹


 1-Desires

    The room was expansive and large, the lights were out, and several glass showcases filled the room. A single man was staring at a large painting plastered on the wall, it was an odd painting of a sun, burning away the land, and soil, and the people in it were terrified as they burned. The man in the long black coat gently touched the words written in the lower corner of the painting, while slightly muttering to himself.

    After a moment of silence, the picture distorted, as if caving in on itself, the large condensed ball that was once the painting rolled on the floor, and a large entrance was revealed. A small static buzz could be heard, and a voice belonging to a young woman spoke.

    ¡°Professor, please hurry up.¡±

    Before he could respond, gunshots were fired, and explosions occurred from the receiver, eventually the communication was disconnected. The man quickly jumped into the entrance, and walked down the stairs. The spiral staircase went on endlessly until a large underground chamber came into sight, the dry air slowly became cool, and q gentle glow greeted him.

    Inside a giant glass tube, floating in a green gel, was a seed, that gave off a strange green glow.

    </a></a> The man whispered, ¡°the rudraksha seed, the last legacy of the late Sene Byon.¡± As the man reached out to to touch the glass, a small blast knocked his left hand backwards.

    The man turned around, his short, and messy black hair that needed a comb, his brown eye seemed calm, and a lazy grin hung on his face, he looked to be around his early twenties.

    There standing in the entrance were a group armed men, some had mechanical limbs, and others wore something similar to a crisis suit, with electronic sparks coursing around the surface of the suits. One of the men stepped forward, and lighted a small cigar.

    ¡°Saia, you''re really annoying, you know that?¡±

    ¡°Ahah, you''re probably right.¡±

    After blowing out a single puff he threw the cigar away.

    ¡°Where did you take the other legacies?¡±

    ¡°I gave them to a friend.¡±

    ¡°Can you tell me where that friend is?¡±

    ¡°Sorry.¡±

    ¡°Yea, you will be, take him down.¡±

    Saia''s right eye gave off a small red mechanical glow, he just stood their with a lazy smile on his face, staring at the armed men. As one of the men started to pull the trigger a large scream escaped his lips, as red liquid poured down his chest, and he fell to the floor.

    Flashes of metallic silver, and red liquid splashed out in unison, as arms were cut off, heads flew, and mechanical armors were shredded. Gunfire rang out, and large screams could be heard, as sparks of silver, danced around the spray of blood.

    In less than two seconds, all the men lay dead in the pool of their own blood, peices of broken metal, and electricity remained on the stair case. A single woman reappeared walking past the pile of dead men leaving red prints from her black shoes. She wore a formal black suit, and a single blood red tie, her face was covered with a thin white mask, and her silver hair was tied in a ponytail.

    In her hand was a thin sword, that had sparks of electricity dancing on the blade.

    ¡°Sorry it took me awhile.¡±

    ¡°No, you were just on time.¡±

    Saia lightly tapped on the glass tube, ¡°with this, my debt to him is over.¡±

    ¡°You better hurry then, it seems a gate is forming in this city, and the military will make a move soon.¡±

    Saia thrust his left hand smashing the glass, and scooped up the floating seed, before putting it into a small container. The woman walked back up the stairways, and Saia followed, screams, shouts, and gun fire echoed loudly above, as the night was painted a deep red.

    The night sky was black, and a purple, violet light shone on the mega city filled with neon lights, and towering skyscrapers that filled the city to the brim. Two people could be seen walking out of a large building, surrounded by thick walls, and armed guards, with some robotic humanoids mixed in.

    The woman slowly disappeared from view, and a massacre began. Farther away in the distance of the mega city, the air distorted, and a giant black rift started to from, green muscular creatures started to pour out, they were armed with primitive weapons.

    A loud groan echoed for several kilometers, as more dangerous, and weird things started to manifest from the ever enlarging rift. Eventually a loud siren rang, and a single helicopter flew around the city, broadcasting a message.

    ¡°Raid!¡±

    Sirens all across the city rang out, people started to flood to the streets, and armed soldiers slowly began to roll into town with tanks, soldiers, and military grade assault robots. Artillery shells screamed through the air as they landed on a horde of shadows in the distance, air planes flew across the skies to meet the rift, that was now the size of a mountain.

    Screams, and shouts enveloped the city, no matter how many explosions occurred, the incoming tide of shadows continued onward, pressing closer to the city.

    The blaring sirens, and people rushing to the shelters was a telltale sign to Saia as he sat in a truck driven by a blonde haired man with handsome features, in a slim fitting military suit, with several mechanical sounds coming from the metal parts of the suit. He was already on a broken highway driving away from the city before the incoming panic arose, three hovercrafts were chasing the wheeled jeep, letting lose a flurry of high caliber ammo, that were immediately burned away, or self detonated before even coming close, by a woman standing on the roof of the jeep. For some reason the bumpy ride should have thrown her off, but she stood on the roof easily.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    In the distance on top of a building around 3000m away lay a single person tapping on a high tech sniper rifle neatly perched on the roof of an building still inside the city, a small cable attached itself to the figure.

    The person in a mechanical suit was blending into the scenery, the face was covered with a small helmet, with three red protruding scopes attached to it. In that helmet, a soft voice muttered.

    ¡°Temperature mild, compensating for wind speed... Acceptable.... Target around 170km per hour, wind direction... 90 degrees.¡±

    After that complete silence followed, a second later, a powerful burst of air exploded, and the rifle shook, a single hovercraft exploded, veered of course and slammed into another one.

    ¡°.... One more to go.¡±

    After one more shot, another explosion occurred in the far distance. The lone figure ignored the scene and stared at the waves of people moving away, and large artillery shell exploding in the distance. Military tanks parked all across the city, and started to open fire at the sea of green skinned orcs. Snipers hidden in buildings, and soldier began closing off intersections and forming defensive lines with vehicles.

    The streets were blazing with gunfire, and loud noises. She watched as a strange formation formed in the sky, letting lose a barrage of electricity accurately destroying a group of soldiers, she saw fireballs blasting away defensive positions, and orcs that dove into hapless human soldiers.

    In one intersection, a robotic soldier skewered an orc with it''s bladed limbs, before smashing the corpse into another. It managed to kill a few more, before it was eventually torn apart by crude bladed weapons that had a strange glow to it.

    A small whistle escaped her lips as she stared at the scene of carnage.

    ¡°A military grade blade stalker being destroyed by six orcs, one is worth over 100,000 credits, but orcs are just breeding machines similar to rats.¡±

    In the distance something that size of a mountain emerged, it had the face of a beasts skull with fiery eyes, and leathery wings that seemed to emit a black light. With a single wave of it''s arms, three fighter jets were carved open.

    Eventually a chain of explosions in the sky wiped out three fighter squadrons, the tide of green overran the defenders, and the wreckage of military vehicles littered the city, sending numerous plumes of smoke into the sky. Black creatures started to appear, chasing the fighter jets, and swooping past the orcs, and picking out the people hiding, and fleeing.

    Without bothering to pack up the rife she quickly began to move to the edge of the roof, the rifle slowly began to disintegrate, the particles followed her, and dissipated into her metal knapsack.

    As she was about to leave, a single gun formed in her left hand, and she opened fire, the resulting blast knocked something resembling a giant bat unto the floor next to her. She didn''t wait to check if it was dead, and merely jumped off the high rise.

    This was the year 2660, after various global cataclysms, some man made, some not, the world was reduced to a barren shell. The population that once numbered billions was now reduced to several hundred million.

    Those who survived the downfall of nations, formed their own empires, some through many years of blood and conflict, others through mutual protection. These isolated empires are now scattered across the world.

    When civilization was rebuilding itself another tragedy hit, a mysterious continent appeared flying above the largest ocean. Border empires that discovered it tried to explore the continent, but would somehow be relocated somewhere else when they came close enough. Absolutely nothing could physically interact with it.

    Along with that continent came the rifts, strange pathways varying from the size of a dog, to the size of a city appeared randomly throughout the world, and from it, strange creatures of fantasy invaded.

    Small villages were sacked, and the people were either eaten, killed or kidnapped. Some empires fell, while others still resisted. When they spawn, how long, and why are unknown, it just became a part of living in this world.

    Despite all of this, how can technology reach this current level?

    The reason is because of hidden military labs all across the globe that survived the cataclysm that shook the world. These labs were treasure troves of data and knowledge, those empires that obtained these labs have been able to maintain, and advance technology.

    Due to the arms race from guarding their own technology, the technology levels are disparate world wide.

    Who, and for what reason these labs were created remains unknown to most people, except for a certain few who are scattered in the world.

    One of those is a man named Saia Peregrinus.

    Saia was currently sitting in an abandoned warehouse in the outskirts of a ruined city, he was holding a small device scanning the seed on a desk.

    ¡°The genetic structure is too strange, nothing I have seen before, there are too many unknown elements to it that are unrecognizable, and also, what a complex cell structure.¡±

    Saia had been staring at the seed, and analyzing it for over two hours, after a good long conversation with himself he placed the seed back in the capsule, and stared at a blond man walking into the warehouse.

    ¡°So Leon, how is it?¡±

    A small sigh came from Leon as he stood in front of Saia.

    ¡°They lost our trail, seems like the triad is desperately looking for clues, but the military, and orcs made everything chaotic.¡±

    ¡°...How''s the city?¡±

    ¡°About a quarter of it is in rubble.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Saia sighed, as he dug in his long black coat to dig out a book, his right eye glowed a deep red so he could read the pages in the dark warehouse.

    Leon stood still staring at Saia for a long time before speaking.

    ¡°Professor... I¡­...¡±

    Saia didn''t bother to look up, instead he turned a page.

    ¡°Is it a woman?¡±

    ¡°How did you...¡±

    ¡°No, it''s plainly obvious to anyone but you.¡±

    A troubled expression appeared on Leon''s handsome face, Saia turned a page before continuing.

    ¡°Ten times. Do you know what that number represents?¡±

    ¡°Eh.. Um..¡±

    ¡°It''s the number of times you were tricked by a woman, I share some blame for not teaching you properly when you were young, but you are an adult now, so your mistakes are your own.¡±

    ¡°But she....¡±

    Before Leon could continue, Saia interrupted, ¡°you helped a prostitute rob a powerful crime syndicate, you tried to help a woman belonging to the southern tyrant, you made enemies with the Cyfang mercenaries over a bar fight because of a girl, you got captured by the Saron Empire because of a female agent...... Should I go on?¡±

    Leon remained quiet as Saia continued to turn the page of his book.

    ¡°Anyways be careful.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°What? You thought I would object? Do what you see fit, just remember to bear the consequences of your actions.¡±

    A bright smile appeared on his face, and his blue eyes shined with enthusiasm, as he quickly disappeared from view.

    ¡°Is that okay?¡±

    A small slim shadow could be seen sitting on the roof, where a large hole was opened.

    ¡°Well everyone has thier own desires, who am I to restrain him? Especially if it''s you guys.¡±

    ¡°No, I mean he took the jeep.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡±

    As Saia walked out, the jeep was long gone, as he stared into the sky he saw a massive shadow flying in the clouds, creating a deeper shadow on the land.

    ¡°What a sight.¡±

    Ciel who was lying on the rooftop stared at the shadow with her visual scopes, and lost interest a few seconds later. To her if you''ve seen one, you''ve seen them all.

    Saia was already walking back into the warehouse, and started to read his book again.

    Ciel who was bored asked Saia, ¡°what are you reading?¡±

    ¡°A book.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?

    ¡°A book about gardening.¡±

    "Boring."

 2-Death

    The sky was coated in a thin black light, with strands of silver shining through unto the world, underneath this scene were two people walking along a endlessly stretching highway, rising above a barren land, dotted with strange plants, that seemed like they belonged in an abstract painting.

    Saia was walking slowly, brushing away dried dust particles from the gusts of cool wind. A smaller figure dressed in completely black mech suit, was now leaning on his shoulder as they walked.

    ¡°Saia.... I''m tired.¡±

    ¡°... And?¡±

    ¡°Carry me.¡±

    ¡°No, in fact since you''re wearing that stealth suit, you''re the one that should be carrying me.¡±

    As soon as as he responded she quickly clicked her tongue and pulled out a small device, she gently placed it on his back as they continued to walk. Along the way Saia could hear game noises, while his body deflected large gusts of wind.

    The highway was cracked, large pot holes were becoming more frequent, and the constant crumbling felt like the highway could collapse at any moment. Saia casually walked by a couple of skeletons lying on the edge, they were deformed, and bulbous, but at the same time resembled humans in every other way. Strange patches of purple flesh clung to the skeletal remains, however as he was walking by, a weird expression appeared on his face as he stopped.

    Immediately Ciel ran into Saia, causing the gaming device to fall out of her hands, but was quickly recovered.

    ¡°.... Saia, watch where you''re going.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, there''s something I want to check on.¡±

    He slowly walked towards one of the skeletal remains and examined it quietly, after nodding his head a few times he immediately jammed his left hand into the patch of purple skin, and pulled out a deformed purple creature shaped like a human fetus, with eyes, and muscular limbs.

    The creature was thrashing widely, gnawing at his fingers. Ciel crept beside him, and materialized a shot gun in her hands, without a single response she blew away the stomach of the skeletal remains, after several blueish explosions, the skeletal corpse flew off the edge of the highway.

    Saia eyed the creature gnawing away at him with interest, he studied it''s body thoroughly before throwing it over the edge.

    A small gun shot rang out, as red stains sailed through the air. Saia eyed the torn flesh on his fingers and smiled, the giant gnash that was once their, quickly disappeared.

    ¡°To think even after fifty years, these things are still roaming around.¡±

    ¡°Are you surprised?¡±

    ¡°A bit, after all, why would they remain in a place they already sucked dry.¡±

    ¡°Well in this world the winners can do whatever they want to the losers, right?¡±

    ¡°Fair enough.¡±

    Saia did not bother to comment, and continued onward, it was slow and casual. The one behind him occasionally poked him in the back.

    ¡°Too slow.¡±

    There was no need to hurry, and time itself was merely an arbitrary number. If he said he would be there, he would, the problem was merely when. Eventually they reached a section where the high way was completely destroyed, below was a canyon filled with twisted metal, dilapidated buildings, charred skeletons, and ruined homes.

    Ciel just stared silently at the ancient graveyard, and turned to the large missing portion of the connecting highway.

    ¡°Roughly thirty meters.¡±

    Saia walked behind her, and gently placed his palm on her metallic knapsack, and silently pushed her over the edge.

    Two men with thick military grade mech suits, were smoking near an exotic looking tree as they stared at the dark sky.

    ¡°I hate mornings.¡±

    ¡°What the hell do you mean, there''s barely any difference.¡±

    ¡°No well, I just prefer purple, you know?¡±

    ¡°Shut up Ja....¡±

    One man''s head immediately rolled off his neck, while the other man''s forehead was impaled with a small dagger, that sent static coursing all over the body, and mechanical suit. The two bodies fell silently near the tree as a figure walked passed them.

    The person had a feminine figure, and glossy silver hair, but the face was covered in white mask that occasionally flickered with bizarre images, she lightly touched the air with her finger that was covered by a thin black mechanical glove.

    His coded signal ended near here. Ten signatures in a twenty meter radius,

    After glancing around, she slowly walked towards the dead bodies, and disappeared into the shadow of the tree.

    The mansion was covered by an electric fence, and thick mechanical walls, with strange lights and noises coming from it. The garden was surrounded by strange yet beautiful plants, flowers, and statues with artistic flair to them.

    Men in military suits, some in high tech armour were standing in many way points, and entrances, obviously one look, and you can tell this was the home of a very powerful individual. In the entrance a group of men we talking casually with each other.

    One of them turned around and noticed a familiar face.

    ¡°Hey Jason, weren''t you supposed to be guarding the back.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, I need to use the washroom.¡±

    The man stared at Jason in the mech suit looking desperate, after a sigh he waved him past. As Jason approached the sealed door he noticed a scanner, and id card slot near it. A red beam of light scanned Jason''s face, he then stuck a card inside which was followed by a strange spark of electricity, and the door opened.

    While inside he spotted a few attractive woman in maid clothes wandering around, some of which were mingling with armed guards. He spotted a cute looking girl with brown hair walking past him, and immediately grabbed her.

    She gave a startled expression, but Jason gave a kind smile.

    ¡°Sorry, but can you point me to the washroom?¡±

    ¡°What! How long have you worked here Jason, stop screwing around, and you should be taking off your suit before entering the main area, idiot!¡±

    The maid dragged him to the changing area first, before leaving.

    After taking off the mech suit, Jason revealed his long silver hair, and body that was hard to be mistaken for a man. The man''s face slowly changed, and deformed into a plain white mask, she dug her hands into the mech suit which had areas that were hollowed out, to pull out a scabbard.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    A calm, and soft voice whispered behind the mask.

    ¡°Well then, should I start?¡±

    Saia was now walking on a shore, where the ocean waters were dyed in a strange dark color, a small cluster of houses were scattered across the massive beach. As he walked closer he could spot heaps metal on the ocean shores, the farther he walked, the more numerous they were. Thousands of ancient ships, that were likely centuries old, became a permanent part of the scenery.

    Strange creatures could be seen moving inside the graveyard, and swimming on the thick, dark waters. He could see a shadow in the distance waving to him, as he waved back, he felt a powerful force smashing into his left hand.

    A bitter smile appeared on his face but he said nothing and just kept moving towards the figure.

    ¡°Hi Ciel, is he here?¡±

    ¡°Yea, he''s in that building.¡±

    She pointed toward a rundown wooden building, with the name Bouto''s surfboards painted on the

    it.

    ¡°By the way, what was that shot for?¡±

    ¡°For what you did to me on the highway, warn me next time.¡±

    Saia just shrugged his shoulders as he went past several small wooden buildings, out of the corner of his eye he could spot some shadows spying on him

    ¡°Twen... No, thirty people. Ciel, is it safe?¡±

    ¡°Yea, those people are the locals that made a simple life here, away from the main conflict areas.¡±

    A small smile escaped his lips, as he slowly arrived at the entrance, and opened the unlocked wooden doors.

    ¡°Hi, sorry for the trouble.¡±

    Without waiting for a response, he walked in. The room was dark, and cold, a steely and stoic machine that resembled a human stood their. The robot did not speak, it merely stared at them, and made a motion to have them follow.

    Saia was brought to a store room, where a hidden entrance was revealed, eventually he was led into an underground room where a warm bright light greeted him, and old classical music was being played. The room, and music gave off a relaxing and calm environment. The floors were clean, and waxed, and a giant bar took up nearly half the space, there on the counter, sat an old man in a plain brown coat, and a matching cap.

    Saia slowly approached, the red haired man at the counter cautiously eyed Saia but made no abrupt movements, eventually Saia sat next to the old man.

    ¡°Elithas, what do you recommend?¡±

    The old man placed an empty glass in front of Saia, as the young man poured out a dark red liquid.

    ¡°Burgundy Saia, this one is said to be perfect in this world, well... Before modern civilization was ruined of course.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°It was once described as ''velvet and satin'' in a bottle.¡±

    ¡°What a treat.¡±

    Saia lightly swirled the liquid to strengthen the aroma, each time he swirled a different aroma arose, the more complex a wine the more scents to take in, which in result, intensifies the flavour. After all, the overall taste of the wine is a combination of smells, and flavors.

    Saia''s eyes burst open after taking one sip.

    ¡°Silky, pure, and elegant.¡±

    As Saia was commenting, Ciel found the nearest couch, and simply collapsed on it, she took off her metallic knapsack, and helmet placing it to the side, and brought out a hand held gaming device, and became absorbed into her own world.

    Her brown eyes glared at the screen, and the doll like face became twisted in anxiety, as she desperately tried to conquer whatever was getting in her way, her short black hair became messy as it tangled with the couch.

    Saia was currently taking a bite out of the snacks he was offered on a plate, while staring vacantly at a painting hung on the wall.

    ¡°... So what was that seed, I analyzed it before, but almost nothing about it is natural to this world. ¡±

    Elithas nodded, as he took another sip of wine, while leaning his back against the counter.

    ¡°Dr. Sene Byon, a genius in the field of bio engineering, a person who actually obtained knowledge of those whom ravaged our world, and saved the survivors. That seed, among a few other things, were created by him.¡±

    Saia stared at the picture of a gray haired old woman with glassy eyes, gazing into the sky, with a look of terror.

    ¡°That still doesn''t explain what these objects he left behind are.¡±

    ¡°They''re ingredients.¡±

    ¡°..... For?¡±

    ¡°You''ll find out soon enough, come visit me on my Island, in a week.¡±

    ¡°Sounds fun.¡±

    ¡°By the way Saia, have you guys had dinner yet?¡±

    Before a response even came, Ciel was already walking to the counter and sitting next to Saia.

    ¡°No we haven''t,¡± She said in a firm tone.

    An hour later, a few dishes were laid on the counter, boiled fish, fried vegetables, and roasted meat.

    Ciel was already taking food unto her plate, while Saia inspected them.

    He stared at Elithas in curiosity.

    ¡°Roasted meat is rare, most wildlife aren''t edible anymore, unless genetically raised, and farmed, and even then those facilities are heavily guarded by the empires. Where did you obtain them?¡±

    A slow smile escaped Elithas'' lips.

    ¡°You''ll find out, soon.¡±

    Saia raised an eyebrow but didn''t bother to pursue the topic, when Elithas likes to play coy, he will never reveal anything.

    He just stared at Elithas'' white hair, robotic limbs, and winkled face.

    ¡°You should have taken them all those years ago when you had the chance Elithas, your body is falling apart now.¡±

    ¡°I''ve used them for something much greater.¡±

    ¡°I''m going to guess you won''t tell me, and I''ll find out later.¡±

    Elithas nodded slowly, while a tall woman with long black hair walked into the room carrying a small box. Elithas turned to Saia with a glint in his eyes.

    ¡°Saia I challenge you to chess.¡±

    ¡°I accept.¡±

    Hours rolled by, and Ciel was now huddled back in a corner gaming, the red haired man was now watching over a chess match between Elithas, and Saia.

    Saia''s opening move was utilizing first turn advantage to play the lines, while Elithas was setting up a Sicilian defence. This was the third match, and the score was one win and two draws, Saia quietly took a black pawn with his knight, to check the black king.

    Eltihas frowned, as he was forced to retreat.

    ¡°Saia, you''re as terrible as always huh.¡±

    Ciel nodded vigorously without actually speaking.

    As Elithas took the white bishop, he slowly regained control of centre board.

    ¡°Is that sarcasm, compared to you who always likes to scheme.¡±

    Saia immediately took a rook, with his knight, Elithas furrowed his eyebrows as he moved his queen.

    ¡°And you don''t? How do you think you got your new arm?¡±

    ¡°I wouldn''t have needed it, if a certain man didn''t put me in a situation to fight that guy.¡±

    Saia immediately sacrificed his white pawn for another black one in a war of attrition. After a terrible battle that cost many lives, Saia finally checkmated Eltihas, forcing one win each, and two draws.

    As Saia was about to set up another game, Elithas interrupted, and pointed at the painting.

    ¡°Saia, you saw the painting earlier right? Do you know what that painting is about?¡±

    Saia''s face turned serious as he analyzed it.

    The proportion of the painting emphasizes the sky, dark gray tones show the mood of vividness, and depression. The cold colors show sadness, the lines are fierce and powerful, showing heavy emotions.

    ¡°The title? When was the painting done?¡±

    ¡°Last Night, year 2475.¡±

    The 2475 had nothing of note, but in the 2400''s, during the era where most of humanity was at a global war. Death was rampant, people became poor, sad, and hungry.

    Saia stared at the painting longer, and noticed the flowers, and trees.

    Those flowers used to be famous in a country to the west, But during that period of history, in that country, there was something else of note, a famous woman,

    Saia''s eyes formed a glare as he stared at Elithas.

    ¡°The name of the painter?¡±

    ¡°Calos Byon.¡±

    Saia slowly nodded.

    ¡°.... They''re related?¡±

    ¡°Yea.¡±

    ¡°She married him?¡±

    ¡°Yea.¡±

    ¡°Estelle coldwater, later named Estelle Byon, a famed woman that was called a seer of humanity, the one who foresaw many turning points in history.¡±

    Elithas nodded slowly.

    ¡°Do you have any conclusions?¡±

    Saia stared at the woman, compared to the painting she was far too small, but her presence was also emphasized by the colors used for her, on her clothes was a strange symbol.

    ¡°That symbol is from a religion that started in the 2400''s, a religion with multiple gods, during the long war, the most prominent god associated with that time period would either be war or death. But the painting''s theme seems closer to death. During Estelle''s life time she only made predictions durings her youth, she stopped when she was around forty, in this picture she looked closer to seventy.¡±

    Elithas just looked amused, while waiting for Saia.

    ¡°..... Did she die the same year as this painting?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°I see. So before her death, she had one final vision, correct?¡±

    ¡°Seems so.¡±

    Saia sighed lightly while staring at the ceiling.

    ¡°The death of the world, is it?¡±

 3-Black Lab

    Two men were sitting on the roof of the building staring into the black waters, filled with sounds of crashing waves, and the feel of chilling winds. In the far distance a strange purple light briefly lit up the sky, before everything turned black again, this series of flashes went on uninterrupted for several hours, before it all died down again.

    ¡°Elithas, now that were alone, you can tell me the rest.¡±

    A small smile formed on Elithas'' face.

    ¡°You never change huh.¡±

    ¡°I''m probably just showing my age.¡±

    ¡°Look at me, what you just said almost sounded condescending.¡±

    Saia stared at Elithas'' old wrinkled face, and sighed.

    ¡°.... I only had a few left you know, to think I shared the reminder left with you, and you use it for something else.¡±

    ¡°Well Dr. Genova would be rolling in her grave, if I were to use her rival''s lab results on my body.¡±

    Saia stared up at the black sky, and just shook his head.

    ¡°The eight of them always hated each other, but we''re getting off topic, right?¡±

    Elithas nodded quietly as he brushed off the nostalgic memories threatening to overflow in him.

    ¡°You probably guessed it, but normally Estelle had no reason to keep all this silent, especially given her prominent reputation, and accumulated wealth. So why do you think it was expressed in a painting done by her husband?¡±

    Saia pondered lightly, considering her age, reputation, known history, her culture, religion, family, and various other factors.

    ¡°I could think of a few things, but if I could sum it up in a few words, it would be stability of her family situation, and inevitability of the result.

    She lived in a highly strict, and religious country, with volatile political relations. An old woman with a weakening body, and a family to worry about, plus the inability to see a different future. Scared of telling the truth, scared of the future, and scared of her inability. Apparently the husband most likely was close enough to her to confide in, and did this painting, as a silent outcry for her. Well this is only conjecture though. But how does Dr. Byon fit into all of this?¡±

    Elithas cleared his throat and, said in a slightly excited tone.

    ¡°I don''t know how Dr. Byon found out about Estelle''s secret, but he found something much more interesting during his life time.¡±

    ¡°Interesting?¡±

    ¡°He found the eighth lab.¡±

    ............................

    A horde of shadows stomping through the mud leaving thick imprint on the soil, the stench of sweat and blood could be smelt in the air. The loud primal growls echoed across a destroyed city, as hordes of orcs poured past the broken streets, and burning buildings. Human corpses lay broken across the street, and red pools formed from mounds of dead bodies.

    One of the orcs tore open the neck of a dead woman with his yellow teeth as blood leaked from his jaws, and chewed loudly. Cries and screams of children were drowned out by the overwhelming procession of the orcs.

    A single man around his thirties stared at the scene from a building, his blue eyes formed a steely gaze, and on his back was a giant mechanical sword over two meters long. His clothes were a simple mixture white, and black cloth, seamless woven into many mechanical parts. His handsome face was covered in scars, and his legs poured out steam. A young woman in a purple dress stood beside him, her long red hair was tied into a single braid, and her attractive face grew darker as she watched the orcs devoured the dead.

    Her rich bosom was covered by straps filled with strange discs, and in her hands was a heavy suitcase. The young woman leaned over and gently kissed the man on the cheek, a strange phenomenon occurred that caused the air around the man to suddenly distort.

    ¡°Good luck, my hero.¡±

    Without a response the man immediately jumped off the building, the moment he landed on the cement, dust flew into the air, a giant crater was formed, and the orcs standing around him were blown away as they smashed into buildings, and walls.

    A single swing from his sword turned several orcs charging at him into nothing but chunks of bloodied meat, as a strange powerful force blew out from the space he swung: steel turned to dust, and the air itself started to form a vacuum.

    The man did not stop, and charged onward, his eyes were staring at something distant, and far off, even the orcs rushing behind him, and to his flanks did not catch his eyes. A single motion from his left hand, dragged the surrounding orcs into a single spot, before he clutched his hand into a fist.

    The orcs gathered to his left, started to bleed from their eyes, white bone broke through their coarse green skin, as death cries rang into his ears A flurry of arrows flew through the air, and came down on him like a heavy rain, the man merely ran forward.

    Even amidst the storm of arrows, not a single scratch could touch his flesh, he continued to only stare at something far away as he charged forward, into a sea of green flesh, and muscle. Every swing of his sword caused the air to vibrate, and red liquid to scatter.

    He was running through a packed street filled with orcs, dead bodies, and overturned cars, a single swing of his blade, caused the nearby glass to shatter piercing the orcs like bullets. When he noticed strange magic circles forming around him, large balls of flame appeared shooting into his side. Instead of dodging he merely swung his free hand, causing the fireballs to explode before reaching his body.

    H was an unstoppable beast of violence, and fury. The farther he moved, the deeper into the swarm of orcs he was in. Every step he took blood flew, and every motion he made, bones were crushed, and another corpse littered the ground. This went of for two hours.

    Eventually a small smile formed on the man''s lips as he saw an orc in red robes being seated next to a strange statue, growling out commands to the orcs.

    An hour later only a sea of dead bodies remained, and the rift was now gone. The decapitated skull of the robed orc lay on the ground, and a smashed statue next to him. The attractive woman with the red braid walked up to the man dyed in red, and stinking of blood, and gently hugged him.

    While whispering softy into his ears.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°Thanks to you, I''m fine. This place is dangerous, I only killed the group here, their are many more around.¡±

    The woman smiled gently.

    ¡°So what if it''s a little dangerous? What''s more important is that you are here right now, in my arms.¡±

    A small smile formed on the man''s lips.

    ¡°Thank you for always being with me.¡±

    ¡°I''ll follow you to hell, if I have to.¡±

    ¡°Ahem.¡±

    A well dressed man wearing glasses stepped over a dead corpse and walked towards the couple.

    ¡°Evane.¡±

    The woman let go of the man, and the man asked the one in glasses, in a casual tone.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    ¡°How''s the situation John?¡±

    ¡°The others have arrived, they''re cleaning up the orcs, and they''re also annoyed you didn''t wait for them.¡±

    Evane only gave a carefree shrug of his shoulders, as the woman lit a cigarette for him.

    ¡°Is that all you wanted to say John?¡±

    John shook his head, and pulled out a holographic tablet.

    ¡°We have a some information sent to us by a man named Elithas, I think you would be interested in it.¡±

    A small silence followed, as Evane remained silent in thought before the words slowly leaked from his lips.

    ¡°Is a man named Saia involved?¡±

    John laughed lightly, ¡°no, he isn''t involved, you won''t get your chance.¡±

    The instant that name was mentioned the woman formed a murderous glare, John ignored the woman and continued.

    ¡°This only involves Elithas it seems.¡±

    Evane stared at the burning city behind him, and the ongoing fighting within the city.

    ¡°We''ll talk after this is finished.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    ............................

    Four days had passed since the meeting with Elithas, Saia was now inside a megacity where thousands of skyscrapers were clustered together forming something like a hedgehog. Large pillars of smoke was constantly being churned out, causing a thick smog to hover over the city. This was one of the few cities that was actually teeming with life, and technologically advanced.

    It was not only home to a thriving community, but also where information gathers. A city where everything was for sale, as long as the price was right. The closer to the centre of the city, the more orderly, and secure, and wealthy it was. Districts were separated by massive walls, and due to the enormity of the city, many parts of it were lawless, or poorly managed.

    Saia was walking in a narrow alley filled with neon signs, on some of the street corners, women of various ages were wearing revealing outfits trying to lure in customers. Men with tattoos, thick muscles, and some with poor mechanical modifications were hanging around smoking something, and chatting up the women on the street.

    Ciel wearing her mechanical suit was walking casually behind him, due to her obvious military grade equipment, most of the tough looking men didn''t approach her. However Saia who only wore a long black coat, and had a non-threatening face was the easier person to harass out of the two.

    While walking down the street they reached a run down looking bar with a couple of armed men guarding the entrance. The armed men became more alert as they saw Ciel, and wore threatening expressions as she drew closer.

    ¡°Ciel, looks like you''ll have to wait here.¡±

    ¡°Get me a soda.¡±

    Without bothering to wait for a response he walked past the men, and into the bar.

    The bar was as stereotypical as it could get, with rough looking guys, and some some woman scattered around the room, and the machine playing soft casual music. Saia sat down at the counter, and stared the woman with shoulder length black hair covering her left eye.

    ¡°Water please.¡±

    ¡°.....¡±

    ¡°With ice.¡±

    The woman nodded, and whispered to a brown haired man with a mechanical arm sitting on the counter, the man stood up and walked away.

    Nest to Saia, another group of people were talking.

    ¡°Did you hear, boss Daine''s mansion was raided?¡±

    ¡°Raided! Which idiots were crazy enough to do that? Isn''t that place similar to a military compound.¡±

    The man eventually came back, and led Saia to a small room at the back.

    Meanwhile the group was still talking.

    ¡°Don''t know, but I was told by my friends some poor sucker was caught and dragged their, and next thing they knew, the place was attacked a few hours later.¡±

    ¡°Wow, which organization?¡±

    ¡°Here''s the crazy part, I heard a single person did it!¡±

    ............................

    The man eventually brought Saia to a small room at the back. When he entered a man in expensive suit, who was wearing a black face mask was sitting on the couch, to his sides were two mechanical humanoids in classy suits. As soon as he saw Saia, the motioned for him to sit.

    ¡°So what business does a wanted man want with me?¡±

    ¡°Just curious about news regarding the Byratine Empire.¡±

    ¡°That depends on the price.¡±

    ¡°Charge it to Maya, she''ll cover the price for me.¡±

    The man nodded, and didn''t even bother to negotiate.

    ¡°Ugh, I hate dealing with her.¡±

    After half a hour, a few documents were placed on the table.

    ¡°There''s a recent spike in the flow of arms in the black market in that empire, the cash flowing in have been increasing, famous faces, and well known mercenaries are pouring in. As you know that empire is the holder of one of the seven black labs. Anyone who owns one of those labs are subject to the knowledge, and power discovered within. So to see a superpower like that need foreign mercenary power is strange.¡±

    Saia silently organized his thoughts before asking.

    ¡°When did the trend start?¡±

    ¡°Roughly ten years ago.¡±

    That was around the time Dr. Byon was found dead.

    The man handed over the documents to Saia, and asked in a casual tone.

    ¡°Are you getting involved?¡±

    ¡°No, I''m just curious.¡±

    ¡°Then you got lucky.¡±

    A curious expression formed on Saia''s face.

    ¡°The paladins are involved, and you know who leads them right?¡±

    With a lazy grin, Saia just sighed once again.

    ¡°The sole inheritor of the 3<sup>rd</sup> lab huh, that guy is as energetic as always. How''s he doing?¡±

    ¡°You''ll have to pay for that info, and I''m pretty sure Maya will kill you for useless expenses, and hassle me as well.¡±

    After an hour long chat, Saia was already leaving the bar, and met with Ciel leaning lazily against the wall, while playing games. Saia walked over, and handed her a can of pop.

    ¡°Drink after we leave this district, if you take your helmet off in this district we''ll meet with needless trouble.¡±

    ¡°Too late.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Saia casually glanced over her thin stealth suit, he could see some dust on her, and some gun powder smell on her suit. The suit radiated a bit of heat indicating it''s been recently used, and is recharging.

    The people on the street thinned out remarkably from before, and the atmosphere was also slightly tense.

    ¡°Muggers?¡±

    ¡°No, bounty hunters, it seems they caught you entering this district.¡±

    ¡°Well then let''s move before more show up.¡±

    Saia led Ciel through several alleyways, that led past some roads, and eventually allowed them to walk through a hole in a wall, into another district seamlessly, it was an ongoing chain of interconnecting paths that would confuse any newcomers.

    The new road was in district 21, while it was still part of the low security areas, it had a more localized businesses, and less shady dealings here. Saia walked by a stall selling exotic cured vegetables, and purified rat meat. People were hanging around the side of the road, and just gambling or playing card games.

    Men in business suits were allocated in various checkpoints, overseeing everything, when they saw Ciel they merely observed her but made no abrupt movements.

    Saia casually introduced her to this district.

    ¡°This district is run by the local mafia, as long as we don''t cause trouble, they won''t bother us.¡±

    As they were browsing the stores Saia noticed a small restaurant in the corner, the menu were food ration, vitamin supplements, some common vegetables, mystery meat, and some noodles.

    Saia decided he was a bit hungry, and since Ciel used her ability, she would need to replenish some calories as well. When they went down the stairs into the store, they were greeted by a small space with six tables, two of them were filled by some grungy looking customers.

    He sat on a plastic chair, and ordered noodles, and vegetables, Ciel ordered the same, she finally took off her helmet, and began to drink the pop. After staring around the restaurant in curiosity she finally focused on Saia.

    ¡°By the way Saia, what were you planning to do with the information Elithas gave you?¡±

    ¡°For now, nothing.¡±

    ¡°I already paid him back for selling me the bio-dome after all.¡±

    Ciel nodded casually.

    ¡°The others have taken a liking to it, so their also helping with the expenses.¡±

    ¡°Expenses?¡±

    ¡°You haven''t been there for a few years, but alot of things have been added to it, that''s why Maya has been more active lately in collecting funds.¡±

    Eventually an old man with a stained white shirt, and missing several teeth placed two bowls on the table. Ciel noticed a strange black mechanical collar on the man''s neck, but didn''t say anything.

    Saia just smiled at her reaction.

    ¡°So you noticed?¡±

    ¡°Yea, alot of the people in this city are wearing them.¡±

    Ciel took out a small pin and dipped it into the bowl, after a few minute she took back the beeping pin, and placed it into her suit. With only a slight nod she then began to eat.

    ¡°Are they slaves?¡±

    ¡°No, their low level employees.¡±

    Ciel gave him a questioning stare, as she took out some utensils to consume the noodles.

    ¡°This is your first time in this city but their is no real active government here, this place is controlled entirely by a corporation. Everyone living here is merely an employee, the higher your rank, the better the district you live. Only the outskirts are populated by foreigners, if you go deeper, every single person has a collar.¡±

    ¡°No government?¡±

    ¡°They used to have one, but they have no semblance of independence now, the current people in the government are lower executives of CT Corp. They produce goods, delivered to many neighbouring empires, the workers here are paid in food rations and housing. So even beer is a luxury here. Which gave rise to foreigners, and mafia to come here.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like a bad job.¡±

    ¡°Yea, but if they leave those collars explode, and CT Corp, also has a powerful hunting team to capture escaped employees.¡±

    ¡°I''m amazed people would even want to work for them.¡±

    Saia just smiled as he chewed on some artificial vegetables.

    ¡°Ct Corp most likely is in possession of a black lab, their army is highly advanced, and extremely well funded. If they need more employees they will just invade weak empires, or raid coastal villages. Orphans, children of prostitutes, and the children of their employees are likely candidates. In this world, human lives are a cheap commodity. Having babies here is profitable, since you can sell them. That''s why employees are encouraged to get multiple partners, and also why a high amount of prostitutes are all over the place."

    A few minutes later, five women quietly entered the restaurant. Saia looked at them who were obviously workers at the red light areas.

    ¡°Look at that group, what do you notice?¡±

    She eyed them briefly, faking an interest in the menu posted behind the women.

    ¡°Some of them are wearing communication devices, and armed.¡±

    ¡°Hmm I''ll give you three stars.¡±

    ¡°If you look closely their actually targeting you, and two of them seem be modified humans, with professional training, in a way they are similar to you.¡±

    A small frown formed on her lips, as she drank her soda.

    ¡°It seems you caught the eye of one of the executives, if they sell you to one, their positions will rise as well.¡±

    Ciel didn''t look alarmed, instead she casually continued to have her meal.

    ¡°So why did we come to this district then? If you knew things like this could happen.¡±

    A giant explosion erupted in the distance, the lights blanked out, and red sirens were blaring all around the city. Minutes later, another chain of smaller explosion came from the centre of the city where the executive lay, spreading out all the way to the outskirts.

    The city itself shook wildly, as shouts and screams came from everywhere. A small smile spread on Saia''s lips as he stared at Ciel ignoring the chaotic scene, and continuing her meal.

    ¡°We''re here to pick someone up.¡±

 4-Its because they dont live long enough.

    The dishes on the table clattered, and the entire restaurant shook violently, as ear piercing explosions erupted everywhere. Screams, and shouts penetrated the dull streets, intertwined with bursts of gun fire, creating a violent melody.

    Ciel''s brown eyes glared at Saia waiting for a response, while the other customers looked confused, and scared. During this moment of uncertainty, Saia covered his right eye, and silently dug out a small handful of capsules from his coat, and crushed it with his left hand. Noticing this action Ciel casually covered her mouth, and nose.

    The group of women targeting Ciel also looked rattled, and confused, but were able to retain their calm after a few minutes. The outside still shook violently, and more renewed gunfire and screams continued to leak into the restaurant.

    ¡°What''s going on?¡± Ciel asked as she continued her meal.

    ¡°To tell you the truth I''m not really all that sure, all I knew was something was going to happen.¡±

    Everyone remained inside to avoid the conflicts happening outside, unwilling to make any moves. Eventually over an hour had passed, and no one was willing to go outside until the sounds died down.

    The blaring sirens finally stopped, and suddenly a holographic screen appeared on the wall of the restaurant. An androgynous looking man, with short blonde hair, and dark blue eyes. He looked relatively young, and should be in the early twenties.

    The projection smiled proudly, and started to speak.

    ¡°I am Fremont of the liberation front, we oppose the tyrannical regime of CT Corp. Treating humans as live stock, and commodity. For too long we have been betrayed, and tread on, we will not tolerate this injustice any further.

    We have gathered, strengthened, and organized to fight for a better future. We have been stepped on, ridiculed, robbed, and humiliated. They sell our children, take our wives, and poison our bodies.

    I say no more.

    We will take back our loved ones, our humanity, and our pride.

    The man''s charming face looked even more bright and charismatic as he motioned to the people on the other side of the projection.

    Join me!

    Join our cause, we have already taken this district, and will continue to take more, come to the gate for those courageous men, and women who wish for a brighter future.

    We will push them back, we will regain what should be ours, and we will win!¡±

    The man disappeared, to be replaced by small map, and a location, eventually the public announcement was cut off.

    The gunfire died down, and so did the nearby explosions, almost everyone in the room looked shocked at what just happened.

    The women who were targeting Ciel seemed conflicted and puzzled while whispering to themselves, eventually a woman with curly brown hair slammed the table with her hands, and nodded. Everyone in the restaurant were staring at the strange scene, the woman with brown hair ignored the onlookers, and stared strongly at the others.

    Eventually they all nodded their heads, and tried leaving, only to stumble, and fall weakly barely being able to move. The onlookers remained puzzled, and so did the women.

    Ciel stared at Saia silently.

    ¡°I thought they were going to make a move during the distraction, it''s a bit unexpected they changed their minds.¡±

    Saia walked up to a nearby poster pasted on the wall, he pierced the poster, and gently dug out a camera, crushing it in his left hand. He then pulled out a black metallic syringe from his sleeves, and walked up to the women.

    One of the women stared at him in shock, and anger, she was about to say something but was unable to open her mouth.

    ¡°Relax I''ll be injecting the antidote into you, or do you want to wait for over an hour before the effects leave?¡±

    Without even bothering to communicate anymore, he quickly stabbed the needle into each of them.

    ¡°Hey what do you think you are doing to those women!¡±

    One of the men tried to step up to stop Saia, Ciel was already up, and pointed a black hand gun at the approaching man, forcing him to back off.

    Saia stared at one of the women that he suspected was modified, and spoke directly to her.

    ¡°Well it''s likely your body will recover much faster then the others, so you''ll be up in a few minutes.¡±

    He then dug out a few plastic cards, and threw them unto the table. He stared at the worker, and smiled.

    ¡°Thanks for the meal.¡±

    Without even waiting for a response, Saia already left, and Ciel followed afterwards.

    ............................

    A large dark room surrounded by dozens of large screens were blinking profusely, as several men, and women, continued to voice reports loudly and in succession, overlapping each other, while inputting data in quick successive movement.

    ¡°District 15 clear.¡±

    ¡°Resistance in district 34.¡±

    ¡°The black hounds retaking district 30.¡±

    ¡°Blue team reporting, general manager Simoe captured.¡±

    ¡°Hacking power grid in district 25.¡±

    ¡°Cyan in district 21 agrees to the alliance.¡±

    ¡°White tyrant spotted in district 19.¡±

    The endless reports flooded a familiar man with an androgynous face, it could even be described as somewhat beautiful. He was in a dark green uniform, in the centre of a group of operators constantly relaying information to him. A confident smile filled with warmth appeared on his face as he took in the reports.

    ¡°Back away from white tyrant, send Liza to Cyan, bring Simoe to HQ, lure black hounds into district 33, give up 34 and focus on 35.¡±

    Images of battle, maps of districts, and charts were constantly churned out. Fremont easily memorized all the information, and organized it into his mind efficiently.

    ¡°Delay operation midnight by ten minutes, and starts operation security overlord.¡±

    ............................

    Meanwhile amidst all the chaos spreading throughout the entire megacity, Saia was now inside a building on the 20th floor, the room he was in looked like a giant office with clean brown tiles, and large amounts of black couches, and tables. He was standing next to the glass walls, overlooking flames, and smoke sparking in the distance. Ciel was sitting in the corner of the room staring at a portable gaming device.

    A middle aged man in a pure white suit walked in the room, his rugged face looked worn, but his black eyes were bright, and fiery.

    ¡°Sorry for the wait Saia, I had an emergency meeting with someone.¡±

    ¡°It''s no problem Cyan, there''s plenty of interesting things to watch tonight.¡±

    The man walked up beside Saia, and also gazed at the ongoing conflict.

    ¡°It''ll grow more intense.¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    ¡°Hmm, so your an insider huh.¡±

    ¡°That''s a secret.¡±

    Saia shook his head and walked back to sit on a couch, a woman dressed in a maid outfit placed some coffee on the table, bowed and immediately left. After examining the coffee for a few minutes, Saia slowly began to sip the bitter liquid.

    ¡°So, who is it?¡±

    Cyan didn''t respond, instead he snapped his fingers, and two large men from the other side of the doors slowly walked in. Behind them was a small young girl trailing behind, with short brown hair, in a plain pink dress.

    Saia stared intently at the little girl, her black eyes looked dead, and not an ounce of emotion could be seen on her emotionless face.

    ¡°So she''s the one?¡±

    ¡°Her name is Natasha, you probably know why I wanted you to meet her.¡±

    ¡°Yea, I feel a little bit of it coming from her.¡±

    Saia nodded lightly, his right eye started to give a mechanical red glow as he stared at the little girl. The two men placed some documents on the table.

    After noticing the commotion Ciel also paid attention to the little girl.

    Saia ignored the documents, and slowly walked towards Natasha, staring directly into her eyes. The moment he noticed her eyes contract slightly, the floors started to rumble, and lights began to blink on, and off.

    The closer he walked, the more weird metallic sounds could be heard all around him, as soon as he stepped within three feet of her, the ceiling broke open, and a large humanoid robot was blocking the path between him, and Natasha. The door was pushed open, and small cleaning machines poured into the room, and surrounded the little girl.

    Saia did not move anymore, and after several minutes the cleaning robots deactivated, but the human shaped robot stared at Saia with it''s mechanical eyes.

    ¡°A variant of technopathy huh, the ability to control machines.¡±

    Cyan watched quietly from the side, and nodded.

    ¡°She''s one of many children modified by CT Corp.¡±

    Saia stared at the little girl and smiled, the girl unfortunately did not smile back, and instead stood stock still. He turned to Cyan, and spoke loudly.

    ¡°Will she let me get close?¡±

    ¡°No, the only reason she''s fine with us is because she''s used to us.

    After a small sigh, Saia slowly began walking towards the girl again. The machines around her started to become active, and the room turned noisy. This time he did not stop and continued his steady pace. The robot in front immediately formed a fist, and made a direct punch to his chest, Saia just lightly chuckled and sidestepped, and then gently tapped the metallic arm downward with his fingers. The robot''s fist immediately accelerated, and penetrated the floor below. Saia walked around the machine, and continued forward.

    Before the robot could pull out it''s arms, he gently patted it on the head, and the glowing mechanical eyes of the robot shuddered involuntarily, before shutting down.

    Saia stared at Cyan.

    ¡°I''m not paying for that you know?¡±

    ¡°It''s only a servant robot, I can easily replace it.¡±

    The cleaning machines started to form a small barrier between him, and Natasha.

    A small black gun formed in Ciel''s hands, and she shot once, the bullet hit one cleaning machine, and exploded, releasing a small static field that caused the nearby machines to freeze up, and stop working.

    Saia ignored what happened, and finally stood in front of the little girl, still looking at her directly in the eyes, he bent down and just casually patted the girl on the head. The dead black eyes just continued staring at him, and stood stock still like a robot.

    After a few minutes of silence, the girl looked drowsy, and started to collapse, only to be caught by Saia.

    Cyan saw that and frowned in displeasure.

    ¡°It''s a bit creepy how you can so easily drug people, without anyone noticing.¡±

    ¡°Well I left some nanites floating around the room, all I really had to do was release the chemicals, and have them move it to the target. This doesn''t really work against most alert people though.¡±

    Saia carried the sleeping girl to a couch, and sat beside her, Cyan sat in the opposite direction with the two guards, and Ciel started to hover around in passing interest. Saia''s right eye started to glow brighter, and his left hand started to hum.

    He placed the hand on the girls head, and closed his eyes.

    The slow rhythmic beat of her heart, the rushing stream of her blood, the slow breathing from her lungs, the numbers, and various statistics of her body slowly poured into his brain.

    The temperature of her body could be felt, a small wave spread out inside the girl''s body; over her heart, lungs, and organs. The diagram of her bone structure formed an outline inside Saia''s head, the organs in her body slowly revealed itself inside the bones. The arteries, the veins, and the muscles gradually added unto the diagram, which soon formed the being known as Natasha.

    Over two hours had passed, and Saia still had his eyes closed, while a strange green wave occasionally skirted past her body. Cyan just watched intently, while Ciel lost interest and just sat to the side. After another two hours passed Saia opened his eyes.

    He reached out his hands, and began looking over the document, occasionally he would pull out a syringe and inject the girl with it, before going back to the papers. After several more hours he plopped the document on the table, and stretched out his arms.

    Cyan looked at Saia intently.

    ¡°You done?¡±

    ¡°Yes, and I''m also a bit hungry.¡±

    ............................

    The dining hall was large, and the bright room was simple, yet classy with black marble tiles, and wooden furniture. Decorated with abstract paintings on the wall, and low hanging exotic plants. The table was filled with bread, fresh salad, and several red meat dishes.

    Saia took a bit of the flame charred meat, while Ciel ripped some bread and dipped it into the vegetable soup. Two maids stood on either side of Cyan, as he carefully cut a slab of meat, covered in a thick aromatic gravy.

    ¡°So what did you notice Saia?¡±

    ¡°She''s a modified human alright she gives off that distinct feeling to me, but her body seems pretty ordinary, by the usual standards her body would have been strengthened as a prerequisite. She has an unique organ inside, acting as a miniature bio-plant that''s producing a strange non-biological virus. If I''m not mistaken those micro-organisms are being leaked into the air right now, and attaching itself into nearby machines. ¡±

    Ciel who was eating quietly chimed in.

    ¡°But that''s not all right?¡±

    Saia casually nodded.

    ¡°She''s too young for the ability to develop at that age, and that''s also considering CT Corp uses the technology of the 1<sup>st</sup> lab. What I can say is that the defects of rushed modifications are showing, and affecting parts of her brain, while simultaneously increasing cellular deterioration on various parts of her organs.¡±

    Cyan closed his eyes for a few minutes before staring at Saia with a bit of anxiety.

    ¡°Please keep her with you as along as you can, until you can find a way to solve her problems. I will willingly cover the expenses.¡±

    After a momentary silence, Saia nodded, the meal was finished quietly and Cyan produced a black memory stick, handing it to Saia.

    ¡°Here''s the research data I promised you, and....¡±

    A large man in a suit walked in and revealed, a small black case, the man opened the case revealing a flute, pulsing with strange light, next to it was a small booklet with a signature on it.

    ¡°The genesis flute, created by the genius musical artist in the year 2550, using material never seen before in this world, and created by an unknown craftsmen. It it said the melody affects human brain waves, giving it an otherworldly experience. Some people have been documented to be granted temporary synesthesia. ¡±

    ¡°Are you a fan of the artist?¡±

    ¡°Not at all, I just thought it would be fun to own it.¡±

    ............................

    Men littered the streets like garbage, buildings continued to burn, and the thick smell of ash floated in the winds. The shrill screams of a man could be heard as he slumped unto the cement, next to a black portal the size of a manhole floating in the air.

    Broken combat machines lay scattered on the streets, twisted metal limbs, and guns were spread out across the now silent district.

    A long white limousine was parked in a corner, inside the car a middle aged man in a luxurious suit with short brown hair. He casually stared at the scene with a smile on his face, while being accompanied by two attractive woman in his arms wearing black collars.

    ¡°Those goddamn rebels, actually tried targeting me of all people, employees should really learn their roles in this world.¡±

    As he said these words, an armed man burst out from a nearby alley way, and aimed his assault rifle at the limousine. Before the armed man could even pull the trigger, a dark portal formed near the man, and two mechanical hand''s reached out, and snapped the rifle.

    Another portal formed behind the man that was struggling to free himself, a single blade revealed itself, followed by two mechanical hands resembling a humans. A single horizontal slash, sent his head tumbling down, and his body to fall unto the street. The mechanical limbs slowly slid back into the portal, and everything remained quiet.

    From the distance a woman appeared walking towards the limousine, her white hair contrasted with the dark sidewalk. The man in the limo stared at the woman intently, as she slowly drew nearer, his eyes widened slightly, and he smiled brightly.

    She wore a black, and silver officer cap, and military uniform. It was covered with a black fur coat, and tied with a silver chain. Her beautiful face formed a bland expression, and her green eyes were alert, and focused.

    Contrary to her looks, the way she moved, and acted lacked any feminine charm, and a domineering aura leaked from her presence. She walked up the to car window, and said in a blunt manner.

    ¡°The streets are riddled with hostiles, drive back to the safer districts, and stop wasting my time.¡±

    A creepy smile formed on his face as he stared at the young woman.

    ¡°I was just waiting for you darling, come inside, it''s pretty warm.¡±

    The woman clicked her tongue in annoyance, and pointed her gloved hand at him.

    A miniature black portal formed beside her, and a long black rifle slowly emerged, and tapped the window lightly.

    ¡°I only helped you because we have business, I''m not your body guard.¡±

    ¡°The beauty mark on your chin is really cute, I really like that.¡± He said playfully, while casually ignoring the rifle pointed at him

    She clicked her tongue and the rifle disappeared. When she focused her attention on the two women inside, she witnessed something, it was only for a brief second but she saw green bits of ethereal light leaking from the women, as soon as she blinked, the lights disappeared like an illusion.

    ¡°Oh, are you interested in my girls, I didn''t know you swung that way.¡±

    Without even bothering to respond to the man inside, she abruptly turned around, and walked away.

    Farther away, several kilometres from the city, a black armoured car was speeding away.

    Saia was inside a newly acquired armoured vehicle in the driving seat, while Ciel who was in the rear was watching over a sleeping Natasha. The drive was silent, and barely anything was said, he only admired the dark landscape, with unique plants, and surrounding rubble. It was dark, it was lifeless, and it was broken. Skeletal remains could be seen poking out from the soil, and scattered to the side of the road. The roads were partially covered by plants, and a majority of them were in disrepair, the landscape looked desolate, with ruins of ancient building popping up in the distance.

    In some corner of the land, an unknown conflict was likely brewing, and the people living in this world just grew fewer, how long will this trend continue, and how far will we last?

    Saia was now witnessing the legacy of the people who lived here, as he continued to drive past the rubble. Bullet holes permanently etched into the sides of dilapidated buildings that are sparsely spread out. Long destroyed vehicles occasionally dotting the landscape, and heaps of twisted metal strewn carelessly all over the place.

    While driving with a dazed look, he suddenly stopped the car, and quickly went out. Ciel who was curious followed him outside. She saw Saia staring at the sky, with a strange expression on his face.

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°I thought I saw something.¡±

    Staring at the general direction he was looking at, the visual scope on her helmet started to magnify the perimeter, and switch to different filters, from infrared to radio waves. In the end she scanned patiently for several minutes, and eventually gave up.

    ¡°I didn''t pick anything up.¡±

    ¡°Hmm you''re a second seed after all.¡±

    ¡°What would that have to do with anything.¡±

    ¡°For now nothing.¡±

    ¡°You''re being vague.¡±

    ¡°I simply believe if people truly wanted answers, they would put in the extra effort to discover it for themselves.¡±

    ¡°Yea, whatever, you''re as difficult as always.¡±

    As Ciel was about to go back in the vehicle, Saia spoke up.

    ¡°Ciel.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°Quick question, If you had a pet dog that was suffering from an incurable disease, would you end it''s pain quickly, or would you spend more time with it, and care for it until it''s final days?¡±

    ¡°I don''t like pets, and I''m more of a cat person anyways.¡±

    As soon as she said those words, she went back into the vehicle, and closed the door. Saia just sighed lightly as he continued to gaze at the sky.

    ¡°... And she calls me difficult.¡±

    .............

    (Synesthesia: Condition when one type of sensation evokes another.)

    For example: A condition where you can see music, or taste words.

 5-Instead of giving it to you, Ill rather break it.

    A giant forest of purple trees, and black trunks grew out of a ruined city, surrounded by concrete rubble, and metal debris. The old buildings, and remains of civilization were buried by strange glowing plants, and sinister looking vines. In a small corner of this exotic forest a slim figure slowly emerged from the shadows.

    A person wearing a black suit with vibrant silver hair walked out slowly, the face was covered by a strange mask that seemed to mirror the environment, as if a giant hole was opened in it, showcasing what was behind.

    On the person''s waist was a long slender sheathe, and in the left hand, was a metal case. Behind the woman was a young man with tattered clothes, his once handsome face was covered in bruises and minor scars, his blonde hair was messy, and his blue shirt was covered in dirt.

    The woman in the mask walked ahead casually, despite the rough terrain, and uneven footing, her pace was continuous and surprisingly fast, while the man kept stumbling to catch up.

    ¡°W-wait up.¡±

    ¡°It''s better to keep a safe distance Leon, unlike you I''m better suited to this.¡±

    ¡°Guh, it hurts my pride to hear you say that.¡±

    The woman''s left hand twitched slightly, and a small flat blade dropped from her sleeves, she immediately flicked it with her gloved fingers near Leon who was trailing behind her, with a loud thwack something hissed. There stuck on a tree trunk was a small furry black snake about a foot away behind Leon, it''s skull was buried into the tree by the blade.

    Looking closely, a small barely visible wire attached to the blade started to shudder, and retreat back to her hand. Along with the blade, was the corpse of the snake, binded by minuscule threads of the wire, the penetrated it''s body like a spike.

    The face mask started to glow, and an image of a small flat circular disk could be reflected off her mask. She immediately dug the device from the snake, with her blade, an slowly pocketed it.

    Leon looked at her with a puzzled expression.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°We might gain some insight on the technology they use, every little bit helps.¡±

    The mask on her face changed colour, and looked no different than a mirror, reflecting Leon''s own face.

    ¡°Sis, I can''t help but admit that mask makes you look creepy, how long will the experiment last?¡±

    ¡°Hmm It''s been about 3 years now, the mask is machine evolving at a decent pace, it''s learning, and adapting; it''s definitely remarkable.¡±

    Leon just stared at her praising the mask with a weird face.

    She quickly ended the conversation, and lead the way past the streets, she gently lifted her pale right hand, and touched the air with her fingers; Leon could feel a slight sense of unease that lasted several milliseconds.

    ¡°Five large biological activity south west from here, about 100 metres away, judging by the movement speed, and movements trends, they haven''t found us yet.¡±

    She immediately signalled Leon closer, and lead the way into a small alley. Leon could see rats staring at them from the shadows, and scurrying all over the place. After several twists, and turns she led him into one of the few erect sky scrapers within the metal jungle.

    The doors were long torn down, and covered by plants, the inside was filled with dirt, mould, and what remained of crushed furniture. It used to be the entrance of a grand hotel, now it''s merely the living quarters of beast, and plants.

    While Leon followed her he could only hear the sounds of his own foot steps, despite her being only a few centimetres away. She made no sounds, and even the presence of a living being did not emanate from her, she felt more like a ghost than anything else, and would disappear from existence, the moment his eyes wandered away.

    They climbed several stairs, and passed many dilapidated rooms, eventually stopping at a room near the stairs, she casually walked into the room, and Leon followed. he noticed it was had a device planted into the middle of the room, and saw packaged food as well.

    Leon stared at her in surprise.

    She just shrugged her shoulders, inspected the room, before pulling out a blanket over the dirty floor. As Leon was about to join her she pointed at his shoes.

    ¡°It''s rude you know.¡±

    ¡°Eh it''s just a run down..¡±

    ¡°Manners first, it doesn''t matter where you are.¡±

    ¡°Yes....¡±

    When Leon sat down, she gently wiped the scars and bruises on his face, in her hands was a white cloth filled with an anti-bacterial liquid.

    ¡°Wait, stop I can do it myself.¡±

    Despite his complaints, she ignored them and gently cleaned his wounds, treating him like a struggling child.

    ¡°Leon, you may be built stronger than an average person, but you''re not really trained in combat, you should take better care of yourself.¡±

    After cleaning his scars, she gently wiped away the dirt on his face, and picked the dirt from his hair with her delicate fingers.

    ¡°So, how was she?¡±

    A bitter smile formed on his face, as he stared at her mask.

    ¡°I could feel it, how sad she was, how hopeless she felt, and the amount of guilt digging deep into her. Even if it was temporary, and even though she lied, for only a few brief moments, I could feel her warmth, and love.¡±

    A small sigh escaped form her mask, as she gently combed Leon''s blonde hair.

    ¡°Is that because of your ability, or your personality? Or maybe both?¡±

    ¡°I couldn''t leave her alone; I wanted to help her.¡±

    Without even Leon being aware, her left hand gently touched the side of his head.

    ¡°Is that ability troubling you too much? If so....¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    She merely shook her head, and retracted her fingers.

    ¡°Anyways when your suit was taken, the tracking signal should have been destroyed, why did it last as long as it did, were they really that careless?¡±A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Leon just smiled to himself, in a knowing manner.

    Thank you.

    She just stared at his smile, and shrugged.

    ¡°You''re a second seed after all, I probably wouldn''t even understand.¡±

    Leon just looked at her, and apologized once again.

    ¡°I''m sorry for all the trouble I caused, and we even ended up splitting with Saia, and Ciel.¡±

    ¡°It''s ok, the professor, and me anticipated this long ago, which was why I was watching you to begin with. Since it''s been a few days, we won''t be able to catch up, so lets head home first.

    Leon stared at the room, filled with item she had carried here.

    ¡°I set up a few temporary bases along the way in case we needed places to hide out, and managed to steal some packaged foods by hijacking some of their transports.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn''t they find out about the missing people, and supplies?¡±

    ¡°I left some evidence framing some rival organizations, it should be fine.¡±

    Leon stared at the blinking device planted in the centre of the room.

    ¡°So they are going to pick us up?¡±

    She nodded slightly.

    ¡°Chasing you down took alot of energy from me, it''s safer to have the recovery group come pick us up.¡±

    Leon stared at her mask silently, and asked in curiosity.

    ¡°You know, since you rarely take it off, I''m starting to forget what you looked like.¡±

    She got up, and started to arrange packaged food filled with supplements, tablets, nuts, and vegetables, and handed it to Leon. A small frown formed on Leon''s face as he stared at the food.

    ¡°Can I ignore the supplements?¡±

    She shook her head lightly.

    ¡°The amount of vitamins, and minerals is exactly what you need currently, especially since you are injured.¡±

    ¡°Ugh...¡±

    ¡°Do you want me to feed you?¡±

    Leon shook his head as he forced the pasty, chalk flavoured supplements down his throat. After giving a nod of approval as he downed the food, she opened the metal case she was carrying, and began to inspect the items.

    Inside the case was filled with various tools, from daggers, wires, powders, and vials, to small listening devices, and various concealed weapons. Leon who stared at the items, glanced at her clothes closely hugging her body revealing her slim but unmistakingly feminine build.

    She noticed him staring and asked in a plain manner.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Don''t you think you outgrew that suit already?¡±

    ¡°.... Are you calling me fat?¡±

    ¡°Eh! Not at all, it''s just I think you should get a new one, you definitely have enough contribution points.¡±

    ¡°Nope, I like it.¡±

    ¡°But it''s so old.¡±

    As if to emphasize her point she repeated again with the same measured tone.

    ¡°I like it...¡±

    Leon gave up, and focused on his meal, as he was eating, he unconsciously used his ability, and felt a slight uneasiness emanating from her. While looking up to her facing the window, her mask was pitch black, and focusing on something distant in the sky.

    It was an emotion he rarely felt from her, or for that matter any of the first seeds.

    A day later, a helicopter came to pick them up.

    .....................

    A large shadow loomed over a frozen landscape of ice, and snow. The shadow belonged to a large black dome the size of a small city, floating lazily in the dark sky. The bottom portion was covered by a strange black ore, while the upper portion was filled with a shell of ice and snow.

    Inside the dome was bright, and even sunny, which painted a stark contrast to it''s exterior, in the centre was a giant cluster of buildings all huddled together, surrounding it were large patches of green grass, and artificial lakes. Strange machines could be seen half buried in the grass, next to metal sidewalks and roads that can be seen leading from the centre stretching outwards, towards five enclosed domes spread to the edges.

    In one of those transparent domes a few giant buildings lay, in one of those building Saia was inside wearing a white coat, he was surrounded by giant tubes filled with gel, an operating table, and giant holographic screens with several images of organs, and statistics.

    A small girl was unconscious in a breathing mask on the white table; looking over the girl was a woman in a white gown covered in blood, with a mask, and silver hair.

    ¡°Professor, how is it?¡±

    ¡°I''m surprised a tumour formed on her lungs, but it''s should be fine now. The basic class nanites implanted into her should help with the cellular deterioration, and organ repair.¡±

    ¡°You''re not taking out the hybrid organ?¡±

    ¡°No, after a deep scan I discovered that it''s linked to many other essential organs, instead of removing it, I implanted some cybernetic jammers inside to null most of it''s functions.¡±

    ¡°Would it be better to install a cybernetic data chip inside her brain, to lock some of her more dangerous mental functions?¡±

    ¡°I merged some bio-implants to her brain, that will preserve what she already has, for now I can''t improve the salutation, but I can theoretically stop it.¡±

    After several more hours, Saia brought the patient into a human sized capsule, where she remained a sleep. Beside her were a few other capsules that contained other occupants. He massaged his neck, and stretched out his arms.

    ¡°Well we''re finally done.¡±

    .................

    The two of them rode a primitive bicycle to the largest building in this area, made of stone, and tinted glass. When Saia walked in, his eyes were met with a massive expanse of books that rivalled any library, and had several floors worth. It was filled with books from digital to print, the languages were numerous and varied, and the topics were immense.

    This building contained the blood, and sweat that took a majority of Saia''s life collecting, some legal, and some through illegal means.

    Her mask reflected the books all in front of her, instead of sitting, she went away to a small room in the corner. Saia had a stack of books related to mythology, history, occult diaries, and a few old journals.

    As he was sifting through the pages of a book, he noticed a plate of food placed next to him.

    ¡°Professor, you''re health is more important than your hobbies, please eat first.¡±

    ¡°Eh, hmm thanks.¡±

    Saia just mumbled as he ate, and read simultaneously, the vegetables were perfectly seasoned, the supplements had there chalk flavour expertly disguised, and the sauce was complex. She took a seat next to him, and took out a book as well, despite still wearing the mask.

    It was quiet, calm, and uneventful, in this large building they silently enjoyed the time here. After many hours she got up to leave, while Saia remained perfectly entrenched with a very old book.

    ............

    Date: XXXX

    I bought a strange wooden idol I found at a shop in a small foreign village to the east, it looked like something resembling an octopus with innumerable mouths. The shop owner himself did not recognize the origins of this statue.......

    Saia noticed some chapters were torn off, and some of the words were smudged.

    Date: XXXX

    I haven''t been able to sleep properly for many weeks, those images assaulting my mind is driving me crazy, every time the sun goes down, strange innumerable whispers of unrecognizable languages continue to haunt me every time.

    From women, from men, from children, and from things I dare not imagine.

    At first those whisper were vague, and distant, but as the days went by, they became louder, more pronounced, and felt as if they were now whispering directly into my ears, and sitting at my bed side where I lay. But as I turned my head all I could see was the empty darkness in my room.

    Date: XXXX

    I can''t go on, I am too scared to sleep, and my body is growing tired. This morning when I was in the kitchen I somehow cut a small scar in my own neck. My mind was blank, and I didn''t even notice why I did it, the shock of crimson blood shook me awake.

    What is happening to me?

    Date: XXXX

    I cannot live like this any longer, I''ll do anything to stop this. Even after getting rid of that idol nothing changed.

    Saia noticed several more torn pages, and flipped to the nearest one with legible words in it.

    Date: XXXX

    The temple was found off the coast, buried deep within the jungle. The local natives were primitive, and hostile, but were no match for modern weapons. I spent a fortune hiring these people, the whispers told me it would stop, if I found that box hidden here.

    Date: XXXX

    It was unlike anything I had ever see before, dark spires jutting out from the earth, the soil was tainted black, and red. Something was calling my very soul, dragging me inside to it''s cold depths. The whispers inside my head grew excited, and forceful.

    Please, leave me alone. Please....

    The other pages were torn off, and Saia could see red finger prints on the pages.

    Date: XXXX

    Everything was dark, my mind is usually dull, and whenever I wake up again several hours passed, and I do not know what happened. All I know is that everyone in camp is dead, lying in the pool of their own blood, and my hands are dyed red.

    Now that I think about it, humans only have two hands and feet right? Then why......

    Date: XXXX

    The dreams no longer terrify me, my mind became clear again. For some reason I am alone now, my men, and the natives are all gone. The few time I explored the temple, I saw strange carvings of a fantastical creature.

    Date: XXXX

    It granted me back my sanity, it gave me a brief moment of clarity. God help us all, what have I seen, just how ancient was this.............

    The page was covered in dried blood, and a part of it was torn off, leaving the last pages unreadable.

    As Saia wondered about the last words he noticed a figure walking in, Saia stared at her mask, and suit, and couldn''t help but comment.

    ¡°Don''t you think that suit isn''t a good fit anymore?¡±

    ¡°But I like it though.¡±

    ¡°I can see where some of the blades, and tools you hidden on it are located, it''s not loose enough to conceal weapons.¡±

    She remained silent, and nodded slightly. Saia just sighed, ¡°you probably have much more contribution points than I do, but fine, I''ll buy you a new one, is that fair enough?¡±

    ¡°If it''s free.¡±

    As the pair walked out, she handed Saia a single tablet. He looked at it curiously, and noticed a single report. It contained information about major events, obtained by the information network.

    A slightly surprised expression could be seen on Saia''s face, as well a subtle cold gaze.

    An entire nation of people abruptly disappeared a few hours ago. Not a single living being was found, outside forces that went into the territory completely disappeared, the entire nation was dyed in thick black ink, from the soil, the trees, and to the buildings.

    Everyone that stepped a foot in that land simply disappeared.

 6- Means to an end

    The thick white snow covered the land in a pure white, the narrow valley was surrounded by thick mountains of ice, and the sky was dark as usual, creating the image of an hollow wasteland. In the midst of the flurry of snow, and powerful winds a small shadow could be seen speeding along a narrow passage in the valley.

    The vehicle was a large white rover with three thick tires on each side, moving silently in a single direction. Driving the rover was a humanoid shaped robot, next to it sat a fairly young man with bed hair, and a thick purple coat, his name was Saia.

    Saia shivered lightly as he stared at the sudden snow storm from the window.

    ¡°The weather is getting harder to deal with.¡±

    A mechanical voice responded in a sarcastic manner.

    ¡°Or maybe you''re getting too old Saia.¡±

    ¡°Hm? You''re here?¡±

    ¡°Ah I was asked to check up on you, since you disappeared by yourself.¡±

    ¡°I''m just making a short visit.¡±

    Before the sarcastic voice could respond another powerful gust caused the rover to shake violently, and the voice no long appeared.

    After the conversation was cut off by the strengthening snow storm, Saia just lazily admired the scenery. Their was nothing to see aside from pure white, occasionally he would catch a glimpse of frozen corpses of something buried in the snow.

    Several hours of solitude slowly went by when a giant structure slowly came into view. Large towers several meters high stretched outward creating a forest of steel, when the rover drove past these structures a giant chasm slowly revealed itself.

    On the edge of that chasm were metallic ridges covered by snow, and ice. It made a perfect circle embedded into the ground, it stretched for several kilometers. The rover did not stop near the edge leading to the abyss, and drove into the chasm.

    Saia just stared blankly as the rover fell into the deep earth, he then turned to the driver, and stared curiously at the silent robot.

    ¡°Want to play a word game?¡±

    The robot replied in emotionless voice.

    ¡°Function not equipped, please update software.¡±

    ¡°I''m a bit jealous of the Byratine empire, there''s have much more personality.¡±

    As the fall continued for around an hour, beams of light started to penetrate the rover, and scan the beings inside the vehicle, Saia gripped a simple metallic cane to his side, while he muttered something as he was being scanned.

    ¡°ID 4528.¡±

    The mechanical walls started to leak out a silver gas that slowly condensed over the rover, this action slowly lead the rover to softly land on the ground, as the gas retreated the rover was now parked in a massive, yet dimly lit tunnel.

    ¡°Even now I''m still amazed most of them were able to make something of this scale, their actions, their thoughts, and their goals, were really far too grand.¡±

    Saia turned to the robot driver, and gave a brief order.

    ¡°Drive along the center.¡±

    The robot nodded, and continued driving into the gigantic tunnel, that oddly resembled a hollowed out, massive turbine.

    ¡­.............

    Glowing lights in a multitude of colors shone like stars underneath the night sky, and above the ocean waters. Floating on the vast body of water were gigantic man made islands, housing countless buildings reaching into the sky. Flying over some of these cities were several giant structures resembling a snow dome, with plants, and trees buried deeps inside.

    Giant highways floating atop the dark waters connected these massive islands together, in an intricate web. The largest of these islands was called Elysium, the heart of the Byratine empire.

    Somewhere hidden within the depths of the island, a giant capsule lay entrenched in the center of a lab, the capsule spanned several meters, and was filled with a green gel. Air bubbles could be seen from a small shadow floating inside, it was that of a baby with purple skin, and a horns growing from it''s head.

    Wires, cables, and medical equipment were latched unto the tube, constantly printing out information with loud beeps, and buzzes.

    Men in lab coats constantly maneuvered in the back ground testing samples, and hovering over other large tubes, filled with the bodies, and organs of orcs, and other strange organisms. Some of the samples were still twitching and even staring at the scientists as they walked by.

    Looking over this scene was a middle aged man, his sharp features resembled a hawks, his gray eyes were clear, and his short black hair was combed neatly. Despite only wearing plain white clothing, they gave him a regal, yet plain elegance. He glanced at a cloaked figure hidden behind in a corner, and spoke in a calm manner.

    ¡°Lazarus, for our sake, I hope you are right about this.¡±

    Just as the man finished talking, a light blue liquid flowed from one of the IV lines, going into the tube, and entering the baby''s body. The baby slowly shuddered, and twitched, and a powerful soundless whine slowly spread out the lab room.

    The phenomenon had no sound, but the emotion of pain, and fear spread out in the lab, one of the machines monitoring the baby beeped loudly before short circuiting. Some of the lab workers were actually knocked unconscious from the wave of emotion.

    ¡°Hey someone get them a medic.¡±

    ¡°This happened again?¡±

    A small fuss was made, but the people acted as if this was normal.

    The man in white smiled, ¡°amazing, to think something with such a small body could produce so much energy. Even most of our best bio-engineered humans couldn''t compare.¡±

    ¡°Great leader, the prince is from a powerful lineage, it is currently trying to call out for his kin subconsciously, the connection will definitely happen.¡±

    ¡°No need for titles Lazarus, just call me Kostis, we are after all both benefiting from this.¡±

    The man call Lazarus nodded.

    ¡°Then when project is successful, I hope you will realize my wish as well.¡±

    A gentle smile formed on Kostis'' face as he spoke confidently.

    ¡°Once the migration is complete, I will aid you in your desire.¡±The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    The man in the black cloak nodded, and his body slowly disintegrated turning into ashes, that eventually disappeared from the lab.

    While Kostis focused on the baby, a vibrant feminine voice whispered in his ears.

    ¡°Can we trust him?¡±

    ¡°Ever since the failure of the space programs, I thought it would be over, but that creature provided us a good opportunity, we should be thankful.¡±

    ¡°But there is too much we do not know about him, we are risking a lot of resources for this.¡±

    A small smile was etched on Kostis'' lips as he spoke to the woman hidden from view.

    ¡°That ancient thing has a lot of mysteries to him, but there is one thing he has in common with many people, he''s blinded by his desire.¡±

    ¡°Such as?¡±

    ¡°A simple emotional thing really, in a way it actually makes him more relateable, he desires revenge.¡±

    Just as he finished, a strange rumbling could be heard, from his clothes a holographic projection of a video could be seen.

    In the outskirts of a city, a multi-winged demon leading thousands of orcs, could be seen ripping through tanks with his claws, crushing android soldiers with his fists, and deflecting bullets with his flesh. The orcs behind the demon easily took several bullets in the face, and chest but still moved on relentlessly.

    Kostis smiled at the scene, and sighed.

    ¡°Looks like it''s from the outskirts of one the mainland cities, seems like an elite force with how easily they brushed off several bullet wounds. It seems they are getting closer.¡±

    The woman spoke in a calm tone.

    ¡°The militia wouldn''t be able to handle this. I''m afraid the people there will be sacrificed.¡±

    A sad expression could be seen on his face, as he spoke in a depressed tone.

    ¡°It''s truly unfortunate, but we don''t have the room for them, we can only use the mainland as shields, until the plan goes through.¡±

    ¡­......

    The giant cavern was filled with many buildings, the walls, and ceilings were covered by tubes, wires, and mechanical equipment. Saia was walking past a graveyard filled with bones, metal, destroyed vehicles, and robots. In his hands were two bags fulls of items, as if he just went grocery shopping, while walking past an ancient battleground.

    The bones resembled great beasts, orcs, humans, and mechanical monstrosities.

    As Saia slowly walked past the corpses he noticed a skull several meters wide, shaped like a goat with canine teeth, and lightly whistled.

    ¡°It seems some new ones have been added recently.¡±

    He trudged along the rubble until he reached a small isolated statue, that was half demolished, and was no longer recognizable.

    ¡°Access code fair weather.¡±

    A slow rumble echoed in the silent battlefield, and a stair way leading deeper underground revealed itself next to the gray statue.

    A placid expression was on his face as he went in. The stairway had no light, and was very narrow, almost as if the walls were closing in on him. Saia lightly coughed as dry dust floated from the ceiling enveloping the small room. When he eventually reached the solid floor a small dim light could be seen in the corner of the simply made basement.

    Their in the corner was a small nameless metallic tombstone atop a pile of dirt. Saia walked next to the tombstone and placed the bags down, from the bag he took out several bottles of wine, and one cup.

    He then sat down on the ground, and stared at the tombstone quietly after a few minutes of silence, he took out a bottle, and poured the liquid over the grave.

    A small sound of static could be heard, and eventually a grainy image of a woman could be seen projected from the tombstone, wearing thick glasses, a lab coat, and messy long hair. She looked to be in her forties, and wore an arrogant smile.

    After some more static, the image slowly began to talk.

    ¡°Hah, if I can see your face like this it means I died huh?¡±

    Saia poured some liquid into this own cup, and nodded gently.

    ¡°You died quite spectacularly.¡±

    After taking a sip he poured more of the liquid from the bottle unto the grave.

    ¡°This one has a pretty complex finish, you''ll like it.¡±

    The woman just smiled as she watched Saia pouring the liquid into the soil.

    ¡°What year is it now?¡±

    ¡°2660, a little over two hundred years since.¡±

    ¡°.. And yet you look surprisingly well Saia.¡±

    ¡°Only a little better than you, Genova.¡±

    The woman in the image snorted, as the projection leaned on the tombstone.

    ¡°I''m assuming a lot has happened?¡±

    ¡°A bit, but people being stupid is pretty much the majority of the events, regardless of the era.¡±

    The image nodded gently, but focused on Saia again.

    ¡°.. And you?¡±

    ¡°Hmm killing time I suppose. I did manage to pick up a few kids during my travels.¡±

    The woman in the image raised her eyes slightly.

    ¡°Were you that lonely without me?¡±

    Saia just shrugged his shoulders, as he poured another cup.

    ¡°You must be joking, the random encounters were merely a twist of fate.¡±

    The woman in the image stared at Saia with a glint in her eyes.

    ¡°.. And what did you do to them?¡±

    ¡°I offered them a life choice, and they took it. Some of them were even compatible with you''re relics.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Even that feather?¡±

    Saia closed his eyes, and kept silent while taking out a separate bottle, this time it was filled with black liquid. He took a slow time savoring it, before pouring the contents of the bottle unto the grave.

    ¡°This one is pretty earthy, you might like it.¡±

    ¡°Are you ignoring me?¡±

    ¡°Of course not, just know the relics you left behind are in good hands, I even added a bit of my own improvements.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, nothing I ever made needed improvements.¡±

    Saia just sighed lightly at her arrogance even after death. He told her about various things, the major events that happened in the world, and the events of the present.

    ¡°So in short, the world went to hell.¡±

    ¡°.... Sure, if you put it that way.¡±

    ¡°Haah, still I was pretty sure my chances were good.¡±

    Saia just nodded lightly.

    ¡°But you failed, died in a showy manner, and became the most hated woman in history of this world.¡±

    She glared at Saia with a visible frown on her lips.

    ¡°You forgot to add genius to that list.¡±

    ¡°You, and the others really love yourselves huh.¡±

    She gently touched her chest, and smiled.

    ¡°My heart is pretty big, although I do love myself, theirs still enough room for you, and everyone else. Most of the others were selfish pricks.¡±

    ¡°Hmph.¡±

    Saia took out a few large plates, and bowls, slowly filled it with a hearty sandwiches, fine charred meat, grilled vegetables, and a rich soup.

    Genova stared at him eating, with interest.

    ¡°I''m a bit surprised you made all that, normally you would eat a plain sandwich and stuff yourself with nutrient liquids to save time.¡±

    ¡°Well a few things happened....¡±

    ¡°Hmph, I see. It''s a bit annoying seeing you enjoying yourself, while I''m dead though.¡±

    ¡°Well it''s a consequence of your own actions.¡±

    Genova nodded slightly, but her eye slowly grew more serious as she stared at Saia.

    ¡°You didn''t just come here to rub you life, in my face right?¡±

    Saia slowly ate a portion of the sandwich before nodding.

    ¡°Yea, I''m going to hasten your plan.¡±

    ¡°..... Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°Everyone else is doing their own thing, and after a few events, I determined the timing was pretty good as well.¡±

    A slightly sad expression was revealed on her face, as she spoke in a solemn tone.

    ¡°I hid those things pretty well, event those fools probably wouldn''t have saw it coming, if they were alive anyways. Those things should still be active despite all the years that passed.

    After a small silence she continued.

    ¡°The command code is in my cane.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°This means we won''t be seeing each other anymore, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I''ll keep your cane as a souvenir.¡±

    She closed her eyes, and sighed.

    ¡°Sorry for all the trouble Saia.¡±

    ¡°It''s fine.¡±

    ¡°You realize what you''re about to do right?¡±

    ¡°Don''t worry, I''m not deluded enough to deny what''s going to happen.¡±

    After finishing his meal Saia stood up, and dug out some small marble sized capsules from his clothes. He then threw it around the room, the capsules were releasing some powder, and gas. Genova just watched the act silently without making a sound.

    ¡°Well, I''ll leave the remaining food with you.¡±

    ¡°That''s quite the generous offering.¡±

    Saia just chuckled lightly as he began to walk away, while Genova watched him leave silently.

    ¡°Saia, it was nice seeing you one last time.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, enjoy the food I left you.¡±

    ¡°I will, and thank you.¡±

    Saia just smiled as he went up the stairs, eventually the room started to shake, and a bright flame erupted all over the room, the flame started to devour the spread over the wine, and turn the food to ashes. The image of the lone woman flickered violently as the flame started to sear the electronics embedded in the room, and some of the simple furniture as well.

    The ash, and smoke grew thick, and the image started to flicker, a sad smile formed on her face, as everything was engulfed in a bright pillar, and her body was gradually going away.

    She whispered something, but the sound was no longer discernible, and no one was around to listen to it, the image vanished, and eventually she once again, disappeared from this world.

 7-Its not complicated

    A line of young children around six years old could be seen being led into several large vans in a dark, and rainy street. Armed men were standing guard around the perimeter, as the procession of kids could be seen leaving a large run down looking building that used to be a school. The rain was pouring down hard, and the unnatural storms made the already black skies, even more sinister to look at.

    Across the street a small cafe selling artificially flavoured sweets, and tea, these kind of shops were a luxury due to the current state of the world, and the types of foreign plant life sprouting all over. A woman with short black hair wearing a uniform placed a cup of tea on the table, the man stared at the waitress and smiled.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    The waitress responded in a emotionless voice, ¡°anytime honey.¡±

    She immediately left without giving him another glance.

    The man just smirked to himself as he stared out the window.

    ¡°The androids here really are more human like, but it seems the array of emotions, and responses are still fairly basic.¡±

    He watched as all the children with subdued faces finally gathered in the vans, and driven off into some unknown location, likely never to return. In a world where basic necessities are lacking for a vast majority, higher education was a luxury, but also a necessity for a growing nations.

    Therefore those who are selected for higher education can only obtain the opportunity through various filters, and tests. It could be said children are selected from birth, and their future paths have long since been decided, and as they grow up, they would follow the destiny laid out for them.

    The least talented men, and women would be used as high quality breeding partners for talented individuals or those with superior genetics. The more attractive breeders would be picked up by more powerful people to be used as maids, butlers, or even as a mistress..

    The process was meticulous, and many branching paths are laid bare for those climbing the societal ladders in this kind of society. Those living in the outskirts and avoiding these kind of rules, lived a life of meagre food, exotic dangers, and the harshness of the warped land. It was hard to say living a free life in the outskirts of civilization could be preferable to one of control, and somewhat safe life.

    Looks, health, ability, genetics, potential, personality, and compatibility, those children were a mass of walking attributes waiting to be used, and categorized.

    A solemn expression formed on his face as he took a small sip of the tea provided to him, he made sour grimace as he put down the cup. The rain splattered against the window causing a slight hissing sound, the man just stared at the phenomenon as if it was the most common event in the world.

    The clattering of dishes and light small talk could be heard, as other people started filling in to escape from the acid rain. Well dressed men and women filled the empty tables, as human like android served the customers. The places like these were considered high class due to the fact the ingredients were somewhat natural.

    As he mulled over various things in his solitary table, someone stopped at his table, and sat directly opposite of him. A sweet scent of flowers tickled his nose, and a teasing feminine voice drifted into his ears.

    ¡°Allegro, you are ruining that handsome face by making that gloomy expression.¡±

    Allegro casually glanced at the figure with black clothing, wearing an oversized hoodie that covered most of her face, he could see strands of glossy pink hair from it. A small barely noticeable smile formed on his lips, as he focused on the young lady next to him.

    ¡°Coming here alone is reckless....¡±

    Before he could finish his sentence he felt a subtle cool wind unnaturally caress his cheeks, as a transparent feather dissolved in front of him.

    Allegro blinked lightly and abandoned his questioning as the phenomenon disappeared. Before he could take another sip, his tea cup was now in her soft pale, hands, she turned her head in his direction, as she lifted the cup for a sip.

    ¡°May I?¡±

    Allegro stared as she took a light sip, leaving her pink lipstick on the cup.

    ¡°How is it?¡±

    After lightly placing the tea cup back down, she sighed gently.

    ¡°It''s a shame natural fresh water is no longer possible, the water is too soft, giving it a flat taste, with a lack of minerals. I think they also over brewed it, creating a lack of nuance, and complexity to the taste.¡±

    Allegro sighed lightly, as he noticed she was gradually becoming more enthused on the topic. As he was about to warn her, she quickly calmed down even before he opened his mouth.

    ¡°Looks like they stopped paying attention now.¡±

    He narrowed his eyes lightly as she said those words.

    ¡°We were being watched?¡±

    ¡°You can sometimes be so dense, it''s actually quite cute.¡±

    Allegro just raised an eyebrow, as she shrugged her shoulders and continued talking.

    ¡°A few of the cute young ladies here were eyeing you before I came in, some were even planning to approach you. Until the moment I showed up.¡±

    She waved to an android waitress to make an order.

    ¡°Hello, may I have the Cerenean cake please.¡±

    The waitress nodded, and pondered with a robotic voice, ¡°sure thing honey.¡±

    Allegro stared at her in shock.

    ¡°Aww why are you giving me that look? We have more to discuss, it would be awkward to have people see us sitting for so long only drinking a single cup.¡±

    She gave a light pause before continuing.

    ¡°So... Did you find information about him?¡±

    ¡°A bit.¡±

    She nodded gently, as she considered all the events happening world wide.

    It had been a week since the disappearance of that man, ever since he hopped on a rover driving deep into the snowy landscape at an unmarked destination; he made a few questionable actions, and vanished like smoke. The usual people he worked with, the normal habits hew developed and the actions he took changed, even for someone as fickle as he is, the deviation was too large.

    His strange actions all started after various phenomenon were appearing world wide all within a relatively short time span, her instincts were all pointing at a grand scheme forming in the depths of this world, that were intertwining and affecting each other.

    Certain nations were speeding up the production of bio engineered humans disregarding the expensive cost of resources, and long term inefficiencies, mercenaries were being far more active than usual, the price of arms had been rapidly increasing, and certain resources have been stockpiled in the Empires of the central region where Saia recently visited.

    The incursion by otherworldly species are becoming far more frequent in quality, and scale, and several cities have been wiped off the map by strange miasma permeating through the surface of the world itself. However of all the strange movements within the central empires, the super power Byrantine, stood out the most.

    Several of the outer cities in their territory had fallen, yet they remained oddly passive, in fact they are even drawing further into their ocean capitals. From the information network she gained, and inherited throughout the years, various talented individuals all over the empire were being gathered, from men, women, children, to even androids.

    Naturally some of the information was manipulated and their was evidence of falsifying the data, but the events were too broad to cover up, something was definitely brewing, and the most annoying thing was she was out of the loop. Apparently Saia held information that she did not, it was slightly vexing.

    Allegro stared at her, as she silently tapped the table, eventuality the waitress came and put down a slice of cake with blue cream on it.

    A cheerful voice greeted the waitress with a, ¡°thank you, it looks wonderful,¡± as she took the plate in front of her. Allegro just frowned slightly as he heard the way she talked.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    ¡°Aren''t you over doing it?¡±

    She acted as if she never heard what he said, and delicately took a small silver spoon and took a small piece, and brought it in front his mouth.

    With a light sigh he opened his mouth, and felt the sweet, and moist sensation, after swallowing he commented in a off handed manner.

    ¡°It''s fine.¡±

    ¡°Thank you Allegro, you''re always so helpful.¡±

    As she began to happily take in the empty calories in the form of a low quality cake, Allegro started to gather his thoughts and slowly make his report.

    After telling her all the details she nodded gently, and chuckled in a light hearted manner. Allegro continued to maintain a serious expression in contrast to her.

    ¡°What I don''t understand is why mister Saia decided to make some of the details he tried to hide so obvious.¡±

    ¡°Knowing his personality and his actions, it''s a message.¡±

    Allegro remained quiet as she explained in a cheerful manner.

    ¡°His actions of distancing ourselves with him means he doing it alone, or making a unpopular action. The fact he used all his contributions points on perishable items like food, means he no longer needs what we provide. By not immediately ditching Ciel, and allowing her to over hear some details, point to one thing.¡±

    ¡°That is?¡±

    Allegro could only hear a charming laugh.

    ¡°It''s a challenge.¡±

    With a small chuckle she waved the waitress over, and paid the bill using digital empire notes.

    Allegro followed her, as she slowly got up and made her way out of the store where a small car was parked to the side of the street. Only then did he ask her where she was going, in which she replied.

    ¡°Elithas'' island should be nearby, let''s pay him a visit.¡±

    ...

    A large black helicopter shaped like a giant hawk was speeding across the dark waters, and lightless sky at an incredible speed. In the distance a lone island could be seen atop a vast space of water. As the helicopter flew lower, closer to the waters surface, small ships that were a few feet long could be seen scattered around the island like dead wood, the beams of light from the copter revealed chunks of plastic, wood and debris floating on the ocean.

    The debris had spread over the ocean water reaching nearly a kilometre in diameter of the island, corpses could be seen floating lifelessly. The Helicopter sped past the scene and hovered around a launchpad in the corner of the island, on a cliff overlooking a rocky beach.

    As the silent blades of the helicopter died down, shadows casually left the open hatch, one of them was a man wearing a green and black suit, casually meshed with a hardened substance similar to plastic in aesthetics, and weight.

    His rugged face was scarred, and a two meter long sword hung casually to his back, alongside him was a beautiful woman with long braided red hair, they were later followed by three more men with identical suits. What was most eye catching was a glowing light shaped like a blade being illuminated from their suits. This symbol was that of the Paladins, and a devotion to the faith they followed.

    The man with the two meter long sword was Evane Brightfield, leader of the well renowned organization, and scion of the 3<sup>rd</sup> lab. One of the men behind Evane spoke up in a worried tone.

    ¡°What the hell happened here, from the debris in the ocean waters, it felt like a large scale battl was fought here.¡±

    Evan nodded emphatically as he led the small group into the island.

    ¡°You''re right, Elithas himself isn''t a simple character, that man was one of the first generation scions, his knowledge, wealth and connection are something to be feared, for someone to make a move on him is surprising enough, but on such a grand scale...¡±

    A man in his late twenties with brown hair walked up to Evane, and shook his head.

    ¡°The communication network set up on the island is down, I can''t get a response.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Erone, In that case we''ll check out the situation with our own eyes.¡±

    As soon as he finished those words he immediately began to leading the group quickly into the night, at the direction of a nearby dome barely hidden by the sparse trees, and rugged mountains, it was surrounded by towering buildings stretching out high in the sky. The man known as Erone walked beside Evane, and occasionally closed his eyes.

    ¡°It''s faint, but I sense an encrypted frequency being sent out.¡±

    ¡°Direction?¡±

    ¡°North North East.¡±

    With a light nod the group sped up, and quickly disappeared to that location.

    ...

    The permanent shadows constantly made looking at the landscape hard and dangerous, even the mornings were dyed with brief rays of dim violet light. Yet deposit all this, humans have adapted, and even the darkness had become somewhat manageable.

    As these thoughts filled Evane''s mind a subtle vibration int he air caused his eyes to sharpen, a black blur darted out from the corner of his eyes, and dove into him. Evane''s left fist instantly tore into the centre of the shadow, and thrust it into a nearby tree, shattering the trunk, where the giant shadow gave a pitiful shriek, as it slumped to the floor.

    The red haired woman known as Shyla quickly appeared next to the corpse and examined it. A deep crease formed on her brows and she frowned lightly.

    The thing was over 2 meters tall, it''s skin was slimy, and black ink circulated it''s body, hooked tentacles convulsed around it''s back, and several human like mouths decorated its chest, the mouths continued to gasp profusely, and purple pimples decorated all over it''s human like frame. In the centre of it''s chest a a fist sized indent was present.

    ¡°What is that thing? I''m sensing a lot of negative wavelengths from it; threatening to overwhelm my sanity.¡±

    Shyla staggered lightly as she forced herself to back away from that thing. Evane walked forward and sheltered Shyla in his arms, steadying her.

    ¡°I''ve never seen this species, it''s a lot different then those orcs like things, and demons we usually get. It''s also giving off a far more sinister feeling.¡±

    He took the giant blade from his back and swung the blade downward, completely crushing the creature, it''s dark life blood oozed out of the human like mouths, Evane gripped the hilt tighter, which sent a strange energy swirling over the blade. This time cracks formed on the soil beneath the creature as it''s body was continually compounded, and compressed, until it''s internal organs leaked out, and it''s body turned into a black slimy pancake. The human like mouths spat out crooked teeth, and groaned before remaining silent.

    From the shadows, a light clapping sound could be heard echoing from the trees, a slim figure slowly walked out of the shadows in a long black dress, while wearing a hoodie that hid her face, she was followed by a handsome man with a slim but muscular build.

    Evane stared at them expectantly, as if he knew they were their to begin with.

    ¡°I see you didn''t bother to help, and were just watching.¡±

    The woman just said in a adoring tone.

    ¡°But it''s not often I get to see a celebrity in action, Espers really are fascinating to watch, you were so wonderful.¡±

    Before Evane could even respond Shyla darted out in front of him, and approached the couple, an angry scream quickly spread out.

    ¡°Maya!¡±

    Shyla stormed forward, and charged to the woman with the hoodie. Evane was somewhat flabbergasted and the others in the back could only stare in surpise at her sudden outburst. Even Allegro seemed off gaurd as the woman quickly closed the gap, as he was about to move his arms to block her, he was stopped by a gentle voice.

    ¡°It''s ok.¡±

    Shyla walked in front of Maya, her breath slightly flustered, and a mixed expression now remained on her face, as she opened her mouth not much force could be squeezed out anymore, and only a slight whisper.

    ¡°Why? Why did you join hands with that man?¡±

    ¡°It was a promise with her.¡±

    ¡°Promise? Is that a joke? Did you forget what happened to her!¡±

    ¡°Shyla, calm down.¡±

    ¡°I won''t, I won''t ever forgive him, and I''ll never forget about her.

    Shyla reached out he arms and strongly grabbed Maya.

    ¡°Come with me.¡±

    Allegro just watched the scene silently as if either result was fine with him.

    Maya stretched out her arms and gently touched Shyla''s hand, as she was being dragged away. However the farther Shyla walked the more unsteady she seemed.

    Maya turned to a man with brown hair and said in polite tone.

    ¡°Please catch her.¡±

    Eventually Shyla slowly crumpled to the ground, but was caught by Erone. She turned to Evane and said in a cheery voice.

    ¡°I only adjusted her hormonal balance a bit, she''s only sleeping. I think she should rest here while some of you go on, Allegro can help you.¡±

    Allegro walked next to Evane and signalled for them to move, as Evan stared back at Shyla''s body, he saw her being placed on Maya''s thighs, sleeping soundly, while having her hair stroked by the lady called Maya.

    ¡°Erone, Jace, please watch over those two.¡±

    ¡°You got it boss.¡±

    ¡°No problem.¡±

    As soon as they left the others, the speed increased by a lot as the two men closed the distance to the dome in mere moments, giving the image of two blurry shadows flying through the island.

    ¡°Allegro was it? What were you doing on this island?¡±

    ¡°We were looking for someone, and thought Elithas would have some clues, and you?¡±

    ¡°The paladin had something to discuss with Elithas.¡±

    ¡°Such as?¡±

    ¡°These matters are of no concern to you.¡±

    The Dome in the distance gradually grew larger until the two men were surrounded by metal towers; broken doors, bent equipment, and shattered glass littered the floor. The entrance to the dome was torn apart and black stains decorated the side of the dome.

    ¡°This scene has been prevalent all over the island.¡± said Allegro.

    Evane''s face remained expressionless as he surveyed the scene.

    ¡°Isn''t it odd, we haven''t seen a single body. Elithas should have had his own personal army, and several top class bio engineered soldiers. Let alone humans, I don''t even see any androids.¡±

    While they walked past the fragmented door to the dome, the lights flickered on, and revealed looked to be a farm that was completely in ruin, the soil was charred, the robots were destroyed, and the facilities inside were damaged beyond repair.

    The building they explored next was absent of life, only dried blood splatter decorated the wall and equipment. The communications tower was equally desolate, the animals in the meat processing dome were missing.

    ¡°Aside from the corpses that were floating in the ocean, everyone within the island simply disappeared.¡±

    Allegro looked at the equipment in the room that was the control centre for the island, all the screens were shattered, and the data was missing.

    ¡°Elithas should own a bio-dome, I wonder if he escaped on it?¡±

    Evane only nodded, ¡°I hope so, but we haven''t received a transmission from him at all which is strange, he should at least have had the time to be able to do that, even if he was attacked suddenly.

    ¡°Whats worrying is that whatever attacked this place was not human, but then how did they delete the data in the record systems?¡±

    The search lasted half a day but in the end nothing could be found. The corpse of the strange monster that was killed, completely faded away. Even the tissue sample that Eron had taken, turned empty.

    Evane looked around the scenery, and came to a firm decision.

    If Elithas is gone, then we can only carry out the plan without him.

    ....

    In a dark room with a single ray of light, where the floor stretched on endlessly and where a single chair was present, sat a man. From the man''s hand something small dangled in his fingertips, the ray of light caused it to sparkle, it was a small ring that glowed ominously.

    The man took a cane to his side, and slammed it into a small hole in the centre of the room, a flash of energy gradually spread out of the room until everything was engulfed in it. The dim ray of light expanded until the entire room was bright.

    Saia sighed lightly as he stared at the empty room several kilometres wide, forming into a giant sphere. The entire room rumbled as massive wooshing sounds enveloped the exterior of the room. He gazed blankly at the ring ignoring everything else.

    ¡°You really love leaving the loose ends to me don''t you?¡±

    He shrugged his shoulders and stood up, putting the ring in his pocket.

    ¡°Well, we''re only human after all, it''s not like we can do everything. Certain things just can''t be solved.¡±

    Saia stretched out his left arm, orbs of light slowly escaped his palm and floated around him.

    ¡°Become your flesh, nourish your blood, bring our destinies within you? How ridiculous.¡±

    He swiped his left arm, and all the orbs of light dispersed rushing into the side of the walls.

    ¡°Well ruining someone else''s plans are easier then making you own, after all.¡±

    As the rumbling sound intensified, small man sized distortions started to form around the room, they slowly went from one to ten, to a hundred, multiplying endlessly. Black toxic gas leaked from the distortion, and slim black creatures of irregular shapes, and sizes started to leak out. They were basically a mass of mouths, tentacles, and curved hooks.

    Even Saia could feel a chill on his back, and a slight shiver in his body that caused him to smile reluctantly.

    ¡°The fact you showed up means it''s working, right?¡±

    Saia laughed loudly as the creatures surrounding him from all sides dove into him, like a pack of hyenas on a single prey, fighting for the last scrap of meat, and blood, hoping to tear away everything, and leave nothing but bones.

 8-Countdown

    The calm, and dark ocean water could be seen as both beautiful, and eerie, the gentle waves moved by in a calm, and soothing fashion. The waves started to distort, and tremble, as a smooth black object slowly emerged from the restless waters. As the waters slowly parted, the object grew taller, and taller.

    Until something several kilometers wide slowly surfaced from the ocean depths, the height of the object already spanned several hundred meters, and continued to grow. It was a giant black dome, that covered the island of steel, made entirely of a strange black material. A sharp piercing sound continuously spread forth from the island, followed by transparent waves of energy, that spread out in all directions.

    A flock of gray birds spanning over 3 meters in length, that were mutated by the land, flew lazily near the island, but soon the birds started to shudder, and convulse, eventually they fell from their flight, diving into the waters below.

    ...

    It had been a week since the events relating to Elithas'' island, preparations were made long before the secondary meeting, even without his guidance the co-coalition forces were already building it''s momentum around the borders to the Byrantine empire.

    The world did not move for arbitrary things like justice, ethics or morales, but gains, and profits under the disguise of them, at least in the past. Now that common individuals no longer held much power, the so called excuses provided to the masses no longer mattered.

    The reason to attack the Byrantine empire simply held plenty of benefits for powerful individuals. The Byrantine empire wasn''t only powerful because of the 2nd black lab, but because a large swath of it''s land survived the golden era of humanity, before the human harvesting, and before the war of sages.

    Many of the structures, factories, and other items during the height of humanity remained intact within that empire. Long extinct resources, facilities, and knowledge still exist within.

    No one dared to attack them, but during that meeting, when Elithas willingly offered to spread the data, and location of the 4<sup>th</sup> lab, many quickly agreed.

    If they managed to topple the Byrantine empire they would have data from the 4<sup>th</sup> lab led by Dr. Genova known for energy creation, and synthesis, and data from the 2<sup>nd</sup> lab, led by Dr. Cylia, well known for her breakthroughs in bio-robotics, and programming.

    As a show of good faith, Elithas had provided a vast array of data for converting plant life into energy. The one that gained the most were the Paladins, Evane was a direct descendant of Dr. Herio, leader of the 3<sup>rd</sup> lab. If the operation was successful, he would have data of 3 black labs, making him an individual that held the most information from the golden era.

    The forces that Elithas brought together were from various empires in the central region, and from some massive organizations.

    Currently in a military base in an island, on an unmarked location was a small meeting room, where ten people resided.

    An old man wearing cybernetic glasses slammed the table.

    ¡°What do you mean Elithas will not show up, Evane!¡±

    Evane sat comfortably, and said in a rather calm tone.

    ¡°Elithas plans to make a move independent of the coalition, but the terms he stated will still go through, rather than worry about how Elithas will act, it''s better to just act accordingly. ¡°

    A man with a thick full beard nodded.

    ¡°We''ve already come this far, let''s move forward with the operation.¡±

    A holographic screen appeared; a map was printed out, and a man in a black suit walked next to the map and started to explain.

    ¡°As we know, a project is being formed in the ocean cities, while the energy to maintain this project remains a mystery.¡±

    A skinny man wearing a visor spoke up.

    ¡°What is this project specifically for?¡±

    ¡°From the data Elithas has provided, it seems to be a contained energy shell of some sort, although we do not have a clear idea on it''s usage, the energy contained is at least, enough to wipe out a continent.¡±

    While most of the higher ups understood this fact, some of the people in the meeting were still stunned, and their already pale faces turned ghostly.

    ¡°Anyways unto more important matters, the shipyards here on the mainland, the supply depots here, and forward military bases here, should be the first priority, in terms of logistics...¡±

    Evane watched the meeting silently without a hint of emotion, several lies and misinformation was used today, but it was already past the point of worry, he could only go forward.

    ¡­

    What is a human? They are simply a species, and what is a person? They are an entity recognized by the laws through rights, certificates, and Ids.

    Genova was definitely a person, but in my opinion she was also definitely not human. How did someone like her, become one of the seven sages, that led humanity in it''s golden era?

    No one knew.

    At that time there were only six prominent scientist, each one an amazing talent whom dedicated their lives towards the advancement of humanity, be it arms, energy, robotics, evolution, theories, or simply expanding the limits of imagination. Their influence, power, and connections grew to a point, where they were able to move countries.

    How they managed such a feat could be left to the imagination, but with the rise of cloning, mental augmentation, androids, and easily misinformed masses, many seemingly illogical decisions came to pass, as if it were the most normal thing ever. This was a testament to the human ability to be willfully blind, and comfortably ignorant.

    Well I can''t blame them entirely, the human brain has natural inefficiency towards rational judgment, simply known as cognitive bias. We as a species can be aware of it, but it would never stop us from repeating those mistakes. It is simply, how the human brain works.

    During this era an unknown entity rose to power, and became the seventh sage, she took on the name of one of the existing sages, simply naming herself Genova. No one knew how Genova, and Dr. Irene Genova were connected, it could be because of their similar names, or because they simply could not get along, but an indescribable rivalry was eventually formed.

    These long lived sages surpassed the human limits, and brushed against countless taboos, the greatest change to humanity was when they discovered a new form of efficient energy lurking in the depths of this world.

    Genova, a woman with no prior history, no family name, and seemingly never existed, became the spark for the war of sages, that ended the golden era of humanity. To this day, her reasons remained unknown.

    And to me, she was closer to a god.

    ¡­

    Belerrion, a small town located in the far north.

    In a small rural village, located near an ancient water treatment plant, a little boy, and a older girl were lying on the concrete near many intermingling pipes. A single thin blanket covered their scrawny, and malnourished bodies.

    The little boy shivered as he tugged on the older girls arm, he whispered in a tired and timid voice.

    ¡°Sis, I''m hungry.¡±

    What greeted him was silence, the little boy stared at the older girl with her eyes closed.

    ¡°Sis has been sleeping for two days now, I''m sure shes very tired, I should let her rest.¡±

    As the boy slowly crawled away from the blanket, a sharp piercing sound could be heard, the sound caused the boy to stumble unto the ground. Next a wave of energy passed through his body, before a single thought could form the boy already lay motionless on the cold concrete.

    A deep numbing sensation slowly enveloped his body.

    The boy did not know what was happening, nor was he scared, his conscious drifted away, and his glazed eyes stared at the concrete floor.

    ¡­

    Hades, a large city located to the east, in the center of a large mega continent.

    A young man in ragged clothes with black hair and unnatural red eyes, was walking barefoot in an alleyway. The small knife in his hands dripped a crimson red as he watched over a well dressed man, the man''s neck was ravaged, deep gouging scars protruded outward followed by ragged red flesh, and a single piece of white, sticking out from the middle of red, and black.

    The lifeless head rolled on the floor in the mud, and dirt, while a thick red liquid continued to pour out.

    The young man breathed heavily, as he glared at the corpse, his fingers firmly gripped on the handle of the dagger.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    ¡°I will no longer let you walk over me uncle Balo, I''m tired of being your slave, and tired of being walked on.¡±

    He slowly walked over to the man, and quickly searched his pants, pulling out a wallet filled with cards, and notes.

    ¡°I''m tired of following their rules, and their ideas, I''ll do what I want.¡±

    As he walked away with the wallet, an overbearing piercing sound in the wind could be heard, which caused him to shudder violently, followed by a wave of energy that caused him to stumble back into the mud.

    What the hell is happening!

    The young man could feel and overwhelming sensation envelop him. He was scared, and frightened, he had no idea what was happening to his body.

    Shit! Am I dying? Impossible! Just when I finally killed that bastard!

    As his mind started to become cloudy, and his body started to numb, a fierce burning determination was imprinted into his mind.

    If I had another chance, if I could be reborn, I will never allow anyone to step all over me again, next time I''ll be the one to take from others, next time I''ll be the one with power.

    As his red eyes started to lose it''s luster, a final thought leaked from his mind.

    If I had a next time, I''ll take, and own everything I desire, and absolutely nothing will hold me back.

    ¡­

    A large mansion built in an abandoned factory, was located near a cliff in the far west, where a cluster of islands were linked together.

    In the mansion a lot of men with artificial limbs guarded various point in a newly refurnished mansion that merged with an abandoned factory. They were thick, muscular, and armed with heavy weaponry.

    Inside the mansion were decorations filled with cheap art, and normal furniture. An old fat man was in a large velvet room, sitting on a chair, his aged face broke into cheery grin as he watched someone enter the door.

    Her red hair was long and lustrous, her thin lips formed an awkward smile, and her delicate face blushed furiously, this sight caused his blood to burn, and something to rise. She was wearing the silky white coat he bought for her, her delicate pale hands slowly took off the coat and dumped it lightly unto the floor, revealing her plump white breasts, hidden under a thin piece of black fabric.

    The way she moved emphasized her tight but soft body, and he could see her shame barely hidden by the light fabric.

    The old man laughed lightly.

    ¡°I went to a lot of trouble to obtain you, if you please me, I''ll also return what you desire.¡±

    Her father was murdered, her family business was slowly destroyed from within, and her mother disappeared. All that she cared about was her little sister. As long as she was safe it didn''t matter what happened to her.

    Before the old man could stretch out his arms, the glass around the house shattered, followed by a powerful noise.

    ¡°What! Who dares to spoil my fun!¡±

    As soon as he finished that sentence, another wave of power caused him to tumble to the floor, the half naked lady also collapsed.

    The old man was furious, if he could get his hands on the culprit endless torture would be the result.

    The young lady could only think about a single little girl in her mind, as she slowly succumbed to the sleep.

    ¡­

    In a small village close to the sea, in an unmarked location far to the south lay a young girl. Her grandpa was sitting on a rocking chair, while the girl sat on his lap. The grandpa was missing a few teeth, and had short white hair, his face formed a kind, and weathered smile. He patted the little girl on the head, ruffling her short black hair.

    ¡°The world used to be a better place you know, we had clean water, bright skies, and warm beds. Humanity had dominated the world, we traveled the stars, and changed the planets we lived on. We originally thought that there was only humans and nothing else.¡±

    The old man merely shook his head and sighed, leaving a musty smell that caused to girl to wrinkle her nose.

    ¡°We created miracles and countless geniuses, I wonder if things would have changed if that catastrophe never happened.¡±

    The little girl looked starry eyed as he listened to the old man.

    ¡°Grandpa tell me the story of the eighth.¡±

    The old man smiled again, and nodded.

    ¡°Ah he was an eccentric loner that liked to ramble on about how our reality was too limited, and how the seven sages were too preoccupied by the norm. He opened his own research lab and delved into something that wasn''t looked well on.¡±

    The little girl leaned on the old man''s chest as if she was tired, and asked, ¡°why?¡±

    ¡°Parascience delved on principles, and ideas not supported by rules of the world, it''s a field filled with hoaxes, frauds, and no accomplishments. It could be said he had never contributed anything to the world, and only hid away in his own lab.¡±

    The little girl wrinkled her brows, but continued to listen.

    ¡°One day the eighth was encountered by one of our ancestors, our ancestor found the eighth buried under a collapsed house, and rescued him, as thanks, the eighth gave our ancestor an amulet.¡±

    The old man took out a purple amulet that gave off an iridescent glow, and placed it on the little girl. The little girl happily stared at the amulet, hanging on her neck in wonder.

    ¡°The eighth said the amulet was special and would help our family in the distant future, and now the amulet is yours.¡±

    ¡°Wow, can I really have it?¡±

    The old man laughed lightly, as the little girl hugged the amulet with her two tiny hands. After that he continued the story.

    ¡°You see, while the eighth was not renown, and had nowhere close to the resources, and accomplishments as the others, he was for some reason always invited to the meetings between the seven sages, this alone gave him a small pocket of fame.¡±

    As the old man continued his story, a powerful wave enveloped the tiny far off island.

    ¡­

    ¡°Murderer, no that would be inaccurate, I guess I could be labeled as a genocidal maniac.¡±

    Saia quietly ridiculed himself as screens of different black islands popped up in view in front of the chair he was sitting on.

    ¡°From this, roughly 10% of the surface population has been filtered.¡±

    Another screen popped up that showed grand light displays, and energy being released. The sky was decorated with bright explosions, and objects falling to the earth. Thousands of shadows danced in the sky, while many more fell in ruin.

    The sea, the land, and the sky was all drenched in a swirling chaos of flames, smoke, and ash.

    ¡°Looks like they really are going at it, even if they discover the islands, I doubt they can halt their conflict anytime soon to move against me.¡±

    From atop the black islands, green balls of light grew more, and more numerous, as more people began to fall world wide. Nearby empires, criminal organizations, mercenaries, militias and all sorts of neutral entities began to stir, as they realized a new incoming threat.

    Saia stared coldly at this scene, without a hint of emotion.

    ¡°The others should have noticed this by now, I wonder how they plan to move, even the second seeds should be able to see the green lights now.¡±

    Just as Saia was muttering to himself, a hazy screen popped up in front of him, a hooded figure could be seen on the static filled screen.

    A cheerful voice greeted him,¡°surprise.¡±

    ¡°Oh? You managed to track me down so soon, I estimated it would take you another day at least.¡±

    ¡°That''s because you have a habit of underestimating people.¡±

    ¡°So, whats your response, to what I''m doing?¡±

    Maya brought up a single device and showed it to Saia, he could only stare at it in confusion.

    ¡°It''s natural you have no idea what it is, since you spent most of your time just wandering around lately, and away from our constant experiments.¡±

    She casually dialed a few buttons, ¡°Saia this is my promise to her, try and survive.¡±

    On the screen with the black Islands one of them was met with a series of explosions, which caused the Island to rattle, and the energy around it to weaken. From that scene countless shadows could be observed rushing to the black island.

    Saia could see several different types of air crafts with different symbols, and flags on it. A large smile appeared on his face as he stared at the scene.

    ¡°Well it is their lives after all, it''s only fair they fight back, with everything they have.¡±

    Maya nodded gently.

    ¡°Well, good luck Saia.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, did you receive the present?¡±

    ¡°Yes, a lot of the second seeds disagree with the first seeds, there''s going to be some conflict.¡±

    ¡°Sorry for the trouble, Maya.¡±

    ¡°It''s ok, I expected trouble from you to begin with.¡±

    After that short conversation, the communication was cut off. Saia watched as a large swarm of shadows left the island, to defend the air space. As he casually watched this scene, another image popped up, a single vessel was heading directly towards where he was, the small and fast air craft had a glowing sword grafted unto the ship.

    The energy emitted from the ship was actually visible in plain sight, as the air around it was incredibly distorted, making it seem like the sky was made of water, as waves of power continued to cause ripples in the scene around it.

    ¡°The entity know as The Paladin made it''s move, I didn''t expect that thing to come to me, when it''s organization the Paladins was in conflict with Byrantine.¡±

    Saia didn''t bother to move, he just sat still and watched how everything progressed. To him the success of this operation did not matter, all he simply needed to do was try his best. Eventually explosions, and bursts of lasers barraging the black islands from different screens showed up.

    Some of them belonged to criminal organizations, some belonged to tyrants, and dictators, and some from well established empires, and mercenary groups.

    ¡°Hmm, normally speaking, I guess that makes me to evil sub-boss huh?¡±

    Saia stood up, and slowly walked towards the cane, buried deep into the ground.

    ¡°I usually enjoy rooting for the underdogs. but, since I''m on the other side; I guess they should be stopped.¡±

    He stood in front of the plain walking cane, and whispered gently.

    ¡°Apocalypse, start.¡±

    From the depths of the dark waters thousands, upon thousands of mechanical abominations surfaced, some as small as a human sized adult, while others were the size of mountains, all over the world these machines surfaced.

    ¡°Genova really is quite the monster, even a few centuries after her death, she still managed to create these things through automation.¡±

    As Saia muttered to himself, more distortions started to appear around him, this time the slimy monstrosities resembled humans, fused with tentacles, and curved hooks, unlike previously, the distortions were endless, and dense. Every second, more would show up, each one bulkier, and more grotesque than the one before.

    From the depths of the floor, a single shadow could be seen covered in black armor, bluish energy sizzled, and laced around the shadow, constantly like snakes.

    ¡°Once again sorry, I''ll leave this to you.¡±

    The humanoid merely nodded as it dove into the constant swarm of disfigured monsters.

    ¡°I guess that thing is getting a bit desperate.¡±

    A dull light shone on his left finger tips as a giant black hulking beast, towered over Saia.

    ¡°Honestly I''m just a small fry in this, pretty much everything is automated, but either way, it is a consequence of my own actions, so I guess I should take responsibility. But, it''s a shame though, you shouldn''t be at your peak condition, since this isn''t your era."

    Saia casually talked to the monster as it dove in, black hooks merged with the shadows, lunging at him from the behind, Saia gripped a few syringes in his right hand, while a dull glow in his finger tips exploded, enveloping them both in a nova of dull light.

 9-Logic

    A large beam of white light illuminated the sky, the aircrafts bathed in that light turned to dust, and the mechanical monstrosities melted away into nothingness. That light slammed into the black island, shock waves of power sent nearby planes spiraling out of control, and the oppressive heat caused the air itself to vibrate.

    The island trembled as the constant stream of light burrowed into it, the dome turned from black to red, as the island shook violently. Eventually after a few seconds, the beam of light faded, and the island remained intact, seemingly unaffected at all.

    Most likely this kind of scenery was repeating itself all over the world. Hopes were crushed, lives were scattered, and an increasing desperation would likely be born.

    That large scale laser just now killed as many allies as it did machines, not only were the ragtag human forces disorganized, they didn''t even seem to care about friendly fire. If one were to think objectively, it was possibly a selfish, and calculated action.

    ¡°...... ¡±

    I comfortably nestled against the thick tree branch, as the light show resumed in the distance. The voiceless cries, the scent of ashes that clung to the wind, and the constant chill was something all too familiar.

    Each wave had an interval of several minutes, as long as a shock was delivered to the island, the invisible wave would weaken in strength, but the island always remained intact, no matter how much punishment it received.

    Every second a new ball of light would hover in the sky far above the conflict, they were gradually getting more luminous, as they formed large layers of green clouds. Every death, scream, and explosion added more to that number.

    Seeing this, I was reminded once again, the world could never turn back. The nations built from the ruins will never reach their former height. The small pockets of civilization built around an ever diminishing resource, will eventually scatter, and the empires fighting over scraps, will eventually cannibalize itself.

    A single wave of power in the distance caused a slight prickle in my skin, eventually a piercing sound reached my ears, that was later followed by a warmth that surged over me. I could only sigh as it washed passed me, and flowed into the distance.

    This same wave will eventually kill millions, who knows what the total death count will be in the end. Panic will likely arise, riots would occur, even more tragedies will follow. But in the end, this was to be expected.

    As I look towards the scene of conflict I couldn''t really call it a battle, there was no suspense, and the result was obvious. Mechanical titans as tall as mountains, numerous insect like robots covered encompassed the skies, and the ocean depths were teaming with glowing red, emotionless eyes.

    The current military capacity of humanity was simply too fragile, weak and limited, how could they hope to fight something centuries in the making, against the remnants of the golden era.

    This was never a battle of equals, nor would there be a question of who would win, this was an event with only one outcome. What I was seeing was only a theater, where people shined there brightest, for only a brief beautiful moment, before they became nothing but dust.

    ¡°Logic before emotions huh.¡±

    As I said these word to myself I noticed something far off in the distance behind me, closing in slowly. It was faint, swift, and barely noticeable, but with a familiar sense of presence, and rhythm.

    But sadly, it might as well have been standing in a plain, open field, covered with light.

    I looked at the plain silver mask in my hands, and gripped it tightly.

    ¡°So she managed to escape.¡±

    ¡­

    A lithe shadow clad in a thin black armor could be seen walking from the wreckage of a plane that recently crashed into the shore nearby. Ciel stared at the sky behind her, where a giant floating dome was now coated by a film of green light. The once moving dome called Almanac was now firmly rooted in place, the space around it seemingly frozen, and the lights inside no longer shined.

    She could still remember the conflict inside, as soon as information leaked out on what Saia had been doing, an immediate decision arose from a large portion of the members, stop Saia, and prevent him from achieving his goals.

    The normally wimpy, and overly emotional playboy, Leon of all people, had inspired a lot members to action. Surprisingly he had quite a way with words, no wonder he managed to get into all of those dangerous women.

    As soon as Leon gathered those who agreed; Maya made a single announcement to the entire dome.

    ¡°If you want to stop Saia, go ahead, but only if you have the ability to reach him.¡± After a quick charming laugh, her voice disappeared from that speaker.

    At first I wasn''t completely sure what she meant, but eventually when the group led by Leon was about to leave, they were stopped by a few others, and a large scale infighting broke out near the outskirts of the central buildings.

    Thinking back, the organization was frivolous in a way, to solve the current disputes through power was far too simple, and unlike Maya, who did things that were usually complicated. I''m pretty sure she was watching all of this without so much as batting and eye lash, I could never understand what she was thinking.

    During that conflict a strange expanding energy erupted from the very core of the dome, spreading out viciously, those caught within, were instantly frozen in limbo. This strange phenomenon blanketed the space, buildings, and people.

    I was one of the few that managed to make it near the hangar to escape, unfortunately a portion of the escaping plane was touched by that film of expanding energy, causing the plane to be unstable from lift off, and crash land on the island below.

    The small island near the south was one of the few hideouts that had an active air base, left over since the harvesting nearly a century ago. It was one of the few intact bases that we found for ourselves. The mere fact Almanac was heading towards this island, once again left me confused on Maya''s intentions.

    ¡°If I''m to escape, it should be near the edge of the island, hidden inside that mountain.¡±

    She looked at a giant shadow in the distance, hidden by a blanket of dead trees, where a pre-harvest era base was maintained to launch insurgent attacks against the enemies of humanity.

    As she silently walked on the rocky shore towards the sea of dead trees, a black mass of metal floated in her hands that formed a plain looking gun, she immediately gripped it, and fired. A single black light smashed into a shadow between several large rocks, and a small explosion reached her ears.

    She quickly scanned the area with large rocks, stones, and loose soil, and slowly thought of safety measures.

    Awhile later, she walked into the entrance of the dead forest, and occasionally shot down the machines that appeared, hiding in the shadows. At one point she moved toward one of the destroyed robots shaped like a spider, and stretched out her fingers.

    The metal, wires, and glass were all consumed by the black mass around her hands, that made the gun in her grip change shape, and seem more detailed.

    As she steadily walked up a small path, a warning flashed in her mind, even though she couldn''t see anything strange, her body screamed something was coming.

    She immediately side stepped, a light crack echoed, which was immediately followed by a sizzling sound. When she turned around, a small finger sized knife was stuck into a large rock several meters behind her, the knife was buried deep inside, and left several running cracks, followed by streaks of electricity.

    ¡°I''m surprised you of all people would come, Ciel.¡±

    A calm, and placid voice reached her ears, Ciel stared at a shadow walking slowly towards her, wearing a creepy, faceless mask. Ciel''s visual scope focused on the sheathe dangling from her waist, and her hands which were now both covered by slim black gloves, that looked to be made of a black metal.

    ¡°That knife you threw was pretty lethal, wasn''t it?¡±

    ¡°Not really, the stealth suit should have weathered the impact, and the blade wouldn''t have gone deep enough into your body. At the very least it wouldn''t be fatal; But I was hoping to stun you for a few seconds though.¡±

    ¡°I''m guessing you''re not going to let me reach the base?¡±

    ¡°I''m sorry.¡±

    ¡°Are you really fine with letting Saia do as he pleases.¡±

    ¡°Of course not, who would be fine to see so many people lose there lives?¡±

    A small light shined in Ciel''s brown eyes, seemingly a little bit hopeful.¡±

    ¡°Then..¡±

    ¡°But I won''t let you pass.¡±

    A slightly cold voice leaked out from Ciel.

    ¡°Why? Are you on his side after all?¡±

    ¡°Side is it? What I''m doing right is more about you, rather than the professor though.¡±

    ¡°... What? Explain yourself.¡±

    Instead of answering the question, she briefly paused, and scratched her silver mask, and a different question was given to Ciel instead..

    ¡°Ciel, how are you on history?¡±

    ¡°It''s not my topic of interest.¡±

    Ciel was a bit surprised on the sudden change of flow in the situation, but decided to play along, while a small black orb detached itself from the back of her suit, and secretly moved away into the shadows.

    ¡°Roughly over two hundred years ago, when humanity was at it''s limit for resources, and tensions between countries were already escalated, a new form of energy was discovered in the core of this planet. Using this new resource called the life vein, humanity once again flourished, and we were able to reach new heights.¡±

    ¡°That was when the seven sages arose right?¡±

    ¡°Correct, they discovered that a new variant of the life vein had begun to appear in a select few individuals world wide, leading to the creation of modified humans with unique attributes.¡±This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Ciel joined in, due to the famous historical incident even she knew.

    ¡°But that all ended when Genova sparked the war of sages, a near century long conflict that ended with the mysterious disappearance, and deaths of the seven.¡±

    A happy voice reached Ciel''s ears, which made her feel somewhat puzzled due to the previous tense situation.

    ¡°Good job Ciel, from what I heard from the professor during some of his ramblings in the library, was that the life vein was the main contributing factor for that war. The main question is why?¡±

    Ciel remained silent, but nothing came to mind, even with her enhanced cognitive process she had no clue, she didn''t have much of an interest in these worldly topics to begin with.

    ¡°Think about it, that life vein born inside us does not benefit us naturally at all, in fact we gain absolutely nothing from it. From an evolutionary stand point, the life vein could not have naturally appeared inside the human body. Even if it was merely something that formed in living beings, then why were animals not excluded?¡±

    Before the conversation continued, several explosions erupted around Ciel almost simultaneously.

    Ciel stared in the distance and observed a silver sword being swiftly sheathed back in the black scabbard, the strange transparent substance that floated around the atmosphere disappeared.

    She could only click her tongue when a black object crashed to the ground in the distance, while a cheerful voice teased Ciel.

    ¡°Did you think I wouldn''t notice you sending that support droid to set up traps around me? Anyways let''s continue the story.¡±

    Ciel nodded as she casually put one hand behind her while a black substance slowly gathered in her palm, the more complex, and powerful the gun, the longer it took to build. The bullets on her suit, needed time to transfer to the gun or risk losing density. So Ciel just continued to listen as she slowly prepared for conflict.

    ¡°Lets do a short time skip, a little over a century later, what happened?¡±

    ¡°The harvest.¡±

    ¡°Yes, the first genuine space faring alien species humanity had encountered. Sadly it wasn''t a marvelous event, the majority of the planet was easily dominated, humanity was enslaved, used as farm animals, and a select few were used as living batteries.¡±

    Ciel frowned slightly.

    ¡°What do they have to do with the topic, you''re taking pretty large jumps in reasoning, I don''t see a logical flow at all.¡±

    ¡°The main issue is that why would they leave? After subjugating a majority of the world, and easily obtaining the resources of the planet for many years.¡±

    This was something she did not understand either, in fact many people had no idea why at all. Some believed it was divine intervention sprouting numerous shady religions, some thought humanity was left to rebuild only to be harvested later, and some thought they merely went away for some place better.

    ¡°Here''s a hint, why did after they leave, strange transparent islands started to appear in our world? The world was then encased in a black shell, and all space programs failed to leave the atmosphere.¡±

    Ciel complained in a annoyed manner.

    ¡°You''re being vague, I think Saia''s bad habit is rubbing off on you.¡±

    ¡°The aliens abandoned this planet, and a prison like state was forced on it, why? When the sun was blocked, life on this planet should have been snuffed out. But strange occurrences appeared that remedied some of our basic problems, in a way that should never have naturally occurred.

    Ciel watched as a notebook could be seen being waved at her.

    ¡°I secretly examined some of the books the professor was reading, if you add all these points I mentioned together objectively a few ideas popped up. The conclusion I personally drew are.. ¡±

    Ciel interrupted in a slightly cool tone.

    ¡°Sorry, but you''re stalling ends now.¡±

    From Ciel''s right hand, she tossed one black gun in the air which she grasped firmly with her left hand, while the the longer one in her right hand was a gun, that glowed a vibrant red.

    ¡°Oh, so you''re ready now?¡±

    Ciel clicked her tongue again.

    ¡°Her freakish senses are sharp, she probably knew what I was doing from the start, and deliberately rambled on just to give me more time.¡±

    ¡°But in my opinion you should have waited a lot longer, Ciel.¡±

    Ciel didn''t waste time to talk she immediately opened fire, several dark bullets silently burst out in succession from the black gun; the longer red gun started to glow as a torrents of red light began to wrap around her right hand, and glow a vibrant crimson.

    Ciel''s vision started to slowly change as two green cross hairs formed on her brown pupils, the density of objects, the form of any object, the angle, the wind speed, and various mathematical factors on the surroundings started to filter into her brain. In a way, everything in the world began to be defined by mathematical equations, and observed data.

    Prediction models on where a shot will go, the level, and direction of debris that will occur, the deflection ratios, and penetration ratios all formed into her thoughts.

    A small sigh leaked from Ciel''s lips as she watched a single sword sweep deflect all her bullets effortlessly, and a black blur was rushing towards her.

    Black bullets, and large bursts of laser bolts burst pierced into the incoming blur in a flurry, some of the bullets were deflected into the ground by a silver flash, and the lasers seemingly went through the charging shadow, as if the opponent was a ghost.

    Ciel started to run back wards, as she angled the lasers into some of the deflected black bullets on the ground, which rebounded unto her target from behind. But the black shadow minutely side stepped a few millimeters, letting the lasers shoot past her, and continued the steady advance.

    The quick but flashy exchange shortly led to the rocky shores, as bright red lights, and silver flashes swept across the dark.

    Ciel tossed her black hand gun in the air, and threw a grenade from her waist, before catching the gun again, to let loose a flurry of bullets, and laser fire. As soon as the figure neared the grenade, Ciel shot the grenade, instantly detonating it. Ciel immediately predicted the probability she would dodge to the right of the explosion, because the left was filled with large rocks, and uneven footing.

    As long as Ciel led her to a narrow environment, filled with uneven footing she wouldn''t be able to maneuver as much, which was one of her opponent''s strong points. Ciel immediately charged the red gun, letting lose a highly condensed laser bolt to the right, followed by a rain of bullets spread out in a fan like formation to cover the narrow path.

    As soon as the grenade exploded sending debris into the air, and the bullets were let loose, Ciel frowned. There was no response to the explosions, and bullet fire, it was as if she only hit air. But at the speed the target traveled, there should have been a response, or clue in the dust, sound, and wind.

    ¡°The air pressure!¡±

    Ciel jumped backward as a silver streak flashed downward, she brought up her gun to block the blade with the handle of the black gun. The force of the impact pushed Ciel''s arm back, as the blade easily traced downward creating a long but shallow gash in her armor, and gun handle.

    Ciel immediately fired several sparse laser blasts as a counter while she back pedaled, only to be met with a black sheathe that easily blocked her red bolts, and slam into her side. She blocked the incoming sheathe with her right arm which left her numb. She then stomped the ground, and tried to kick her in the sides, followed by cover fire from Ciel''s left hand gun at point blank range.

    Unfortunately the kick didn''t connect, and the bullets were dodged easily, she abruptly felt something slam into her gut, causing her to retreat a few steps.

    ¡°Not bad Ciel, but I''m a bit taller than you, and my legs are longer, so it''s natural my kick connected, while yours didn''t. But aside from that, all that time spent hiding in your room really dulled your senses.¡±

    Ciel stared at the silver mask, her sword, her black suit, legs, feet, arms, chest, and hands, cross hairs decorated everything on her target, as percentages started to ceaselessly be imprinted in her mind.

    Her right arm is stronger by 20%, the top acceleration speed is one second, the left leg seems slightly weaker, the balance is at a perfect ratio, her reaction time is 0.030 S and rapidly decreasing. The openings in her posture had ten probable areas to exploit. Despite all the information flowing in, Ciel only frowned as she moved backward slowly.

    ¡°You barely used your ability at all, in fact you only used it three times in total. You could have easily done several things before, and after the moment your sword made contact with me.¡±

    The voice that answered her remained calm, and cheerful even.

    ¡°If more of the others showed up I would have been a bit more forceful then, and broke a few bones. Since it''s a rare chance to get the resident shut in outside for a bit of exercise, I decided sharpening you a bit would be more prudent.¡±

    Ciel just laughed bitterly, as she touched a sharp thin gash on the stealth suit where she was kicked.

    ¡°She has a hidden blade in her shoes.¡±

    As the data started to pile up in Ciel''s eyes, while staring at her opponent, she couldn''t help but sigh.

    ¡°The difference between a first and second seed is a pretty large gap huh.¡±

    A slightly admonishing tone later followed.

    ¡°But Ciel, the biggest issue is you being quite inactive, it''s not healthy to blame it all on being a second seed, especially when you deteriorated so much lately, and..¡±

    She immediately cut off what she was saying, and jumped backward.

    A chain of explosions sent nearby rocks, and dust flying, which covered Ciel in a cloud of dust, and she immediately disappeared from view. The lone masked figure was currently a few feet away. She brushed off some dust from her clothes, and tie, while not bothering to give chase.

    ¡°Ciel must have booby trapped this area beforehand, the way the explosions happened, it''s likely she used that ''sight'' of hers to calculate where the debris would go, and used it as cover. Since she disappeared, I assume her stealth suit is still in working condition.¡±

    As soon as these words were said, her left arm flew out like a bullet, which was quickly followed by a large bang that caused the air to shudder. As she brought back her hand, a finger length bullet was grasped firmly in her slim, black, gloves.

    She immediately felt a strange premonition from the bullet, but suppressed her immediate reaction to toss it away, the bullet quickly emitted a strange energy that clung to her black glove, she felt dozens of small objects rush towards her from a four meter radius.

    ¡°Looks like a special ammunition that has a dense magnetic force.¡±

    All the black bullets Ciel had used before that littered the ground, and those she purposefully dropped in the area, converged to the center of the magnetic field on her left hand. She casually whipped out her hand, and swiped all the bullets that were trying to impale her. Each time her hand met with Ciel''s black bullets, the bullets were turned into metal slag.

    After a few seconds of acrobatics, the rocky shore was now decorated with layers of black metallic liquid. It was easy to block mainly because they were not too many, it all had a specific destination, and the interval between the incoming bullets were not dense enough.

    ¡°I was a bit curious what she was up to, but that was unexpected, it seems she had a small stock pile of specialized ammo when she escaped. But to use that kind of ammo on me, isn''t that a little too ironic? If all the tools on my body were able to be magnetized I would have had some problems though. I''ll give her two stars.¡±

    As she slowly began to walk towards where Ciel''s presence disappeared to, a smile formed on the silver mask, that resembled an inky black curve, on a plain silver, that slowly drowned in black.

    ¡°Who knew she would be so passionate. Once again, I''m reminded that you guys are truly different.¡±

    A tri-tipped blade attached by a wire, fell from her sleeves, and unto her fingertips, the blade was flung forward, and slammed into an object a few feet away from her, causing a minor collision, and sparks to fly. She then tugged at it from an angle, causing the blade to fly back unto her gloves.

    ¡°Now then, if I were Ciel what would I do? Would she run past me, and escape to the hidden air base, or lure me into some traps, and ambush me?¡±

    All the suitable areas for an ambush filtered into her mind, as she thought up likely scenarios that would occur, and simulated the probable actions Ciel would take against her, however just as these things were replaying in her mind, something occurred.

    The black island in the distance exploded in a dazzling array of lights.

    ¡­

    The conflict between the coalition and the Byrantine empire could be described as fierce but brief, the moment the wave of power bathed over the area of battle, planes crashed into the ocean, battleships rammed into allies, and soldiers fell over unconscious.

    The chain of command in the coalition collapsed all over the front, and even inside the borders of the Byrantine forces surrounding the ocean cities.

    However a single man was smiling broadly at witnessing the scene of chaos from afar in a small bunker, that man was the great leader Kostis. A large swathe of the people in his empire simply collapsed, from the militia, the citizens, to even his workers.

    A young woman with brown hair, and glasses, wearing a red outfit walked up to Kostis, and gave him a report in a plain tone.

    ¡°It''s as you expected, roughly 70% of the empire have become lifeless husks, but all of your guests, and the people a part of the program all seems healthy, roughly 45% of the ocean city forces have been unaffected by the wave phenomenon from those black islands. The coalition forces however seemed to have suffered substantial loses in mere moments. I believe it''s more prudent to use this opportunity to clear their forward bases out of our territory.¡±

    Kostis just shook his head and smiled.

    ¡°Why would I do that?¡±

    The woman just stared at him slightly puzzled, as if asking herself if he was alright in the head.

    ¡°This battle was meaningless to begin with, whoever used that wave only cleared out the people who were unnecessary to the grand scheme of things. Those that now remain are people worth keeping alive.¡±

    Kostis sat back down on the chair as he stared at the woman intently.

    ¡°So, hows the project?¡±

    The woman blinked a few times in a daze, but quickly regained her composure.

    ¡°It''s strange, it seems something outside is resonating with the energy shell, and a surprising amount of energy spikes are occurring, there''s an anomaly where the shell itself is being dragged out past the initial area of the ocean cities, and detaching fragments of itself unto the wave.¡±

    Kostis just nodded, as several holo-screens popped up displaying graphs, and charts.

    ¡°The main integrity of the shell is still stable, but...¡±

    ¡°I have a rough idea whats happening, it''s ok.¡±

    ¡°But sir...¡±

    Kostis just waved her away, and turned to the screens.

    ¡°Heh, whoever you are, not bad. If you want to use it go ahead. Now then, I should probably try and get into contact with the coalition, they have more use being alive then dying in a fruitless war. The moment Elithas stopped making a move, is the moment this game no longer has meaning.¡±

    Although Kostis still had a big smirk on his face, a small sigh still leaked out.

    ¡°Elithas aside, I know for sure Evane is here, it''s a shame that muscle head is still just going with the flow like an imbecile.¡±

    As he said these words, a powerful, and hollow screech from the very depths of the planet itself bellowed out. It froze his soul, and nearly caused him to collapse from shock. This single screech, shook the world like an earthquake, and reached every corner of the planet.

    In that single moment, from that horrid sound, the world started to change, and the deepest, darkest, desires of humanity, finally manifested in a twisted physical form.

 10- Circle

    Fissures started to form across the dark planet causing earthquakes to rumble world wide, while beams of scarlet light ushered forth like billowing lava. The sky began to form purple, and black veins interweaving and mixing within, inch by inch ethereal pulsing flesh started to form from across the globe. It was like a realistic illusion that faded in, and out, slowly engulfing everything, and eventually becoming so real you could even touch it.

    Plants started to writhe, and leak out black liquid, trees began to shiver and make unearthly human like wails, and the world slowly became tainted. Animals started to moan and convulse, and the humans on the planet started to change.

    ¡­

    In a major city located deep in the center of the Byrantine empire, where several paved highways were connected to many active cities, is currently teeming with people. They were crawling out from their homes. A man continuously walked into a concrete wall over, and over until his blood drenched the gray wall. A woman was sitting in the middle of a road her eyes bright and brimming with life, while giving off rasping noises as she slowly strangled herself.

    Cars veered off the street and crashed into buildings, men lit houses on fire, and walked in, bathing in the flame, while smiling happily as their skin start to burn, and melt. Children laughed in delight, as red liquid slowly leaked from their eyes.

    A woman cried sadly as she stabbed a small carriage wrapped in blankets, while grinning happily in contrast. A man cried in disgust, as he ate a woman''s dismembered fingers.

    The fissure in the planet grew wider, and wider, and the blood red light start to waft into the air like a thick steam, as it began dyeing the world in it''s own color. A single blue bird that fell into the gas started to choke violently, it''s eyes started to shrink, a second beating heart started to form on it''s head, and its feathers began to rot.

    All over the world a majority of the people started to behave oddly, soon the changes would grow more visible, and more extreme.

    This was the final result of two beings that should never have met, and a pure love that should have been absolutely destroyed.

    ¡­

    Another black island shuddered violently, and white cracks formed all over it''s exterior frame, eventually breaking apart into large pieces, and falling to the ocean depths, sending pillars of water into the air. Disgusting creatures could be seen floating away from the rubble, to be attacked by the mechanical robots in the sea. Large fleshy monstrosities crawled out from the fissures of the earth, attacking the mechanical titans nearby.

    In a large open room, where two armored figures lay collapsed on the ground, and the plain floor was filled with fissures; A single man flew through the air like a bullet. He nearly collided face first into the black wall. Only to be stopped with a dull light that slowly spread out to his body, and slowed the acceleration to a crawl. The man pushed the air with his fingers which immediately changed the trajectory, launching him feet first back onto the ground, and causing the dull light to vanish.

    A small gasping sound leaked from his lips as Saia steadied himself and stared at the creature before him. It was young androgynous looking man, his skin had dark black cracks across his entire body that was barely containing a red glow hidden within, carnivorous mouths decorated his lower torso, and legs, and weird pulsating tattoos covered his pale bare chest. It''s yellow nails were several centimeters long, and leaked out corrosive liquid. Black syringes could be seen sticking out from the thing''s heart, neck, lungs, and legs.

    But the creature look completely undisturbed, Saia on the other hand gasped for breath as he wiped the blood from his lips. His black jacket looked like it was ravaged by a savage animal, and a trail of blood flowed down the sleeves of his right arm.

    His right eye glowed a deep red, and his face looked slightly pale as he studied the naked creature.

    ¡°I''m losing a bit of confidence, each syringe was filled with powerful anesthetics, and nerve agents.¡±

    The creature just smirked but didn''t say anything, instead Saia saw the creature shimmer for less than a millisecond, and to his annoyance, sharp jagged nails were immediately a few millimeters from puncturing his heart.

    Once again a dull light formed a thin shell around him, causing the attackers piercing action to immediately slow down to a crawl, and change direction. A stab through his heart, changed into a scratch across his chest instead, leaving four bloody claw marks that baked the skin black.

    Saia immediately pulled back and grasped the wrist in an iron grip, and using his right hand, slam into it''s elbow, hoping to break it''s joints, only the moment his palm was about to connect, the figure shimmered ever so slightly, his grip turned black, and blood immediately flew from Saia''s neck.

    A small capsule exploded from behind Saia, releasing a thick toxic gas while the creature once again vanished, Saia maneuvered around the gas, and moved his left hand to the side of his neck that was missing several inches of flesh.

    ¡°No fatal poison, but a corrosive substance.¡±

    Several capsules fell from his sleeves, and flew out rotating across his body following a trail of microscopic light that circulated around him in a thin circular movement. With a flip of his fingers, the capsules detonated around him, covering him in different types of gas, and powders.

    As a person who played with several forms of chemicals, gases, and lethal substances, he had his ways to deal with the aftereffects. The subject of his nerve agents, chemicals, and poisons was himself. Saia''s nanites have rebuilt an artificial, but robust immune system from within his body as a result of the frequent negative effects.

    Just as he was thinking when it would appear, he felt a cold shiver, and kicked the floor moving to the side. A black tentacle filled with barbs grabbed his right arm, and a loud crunch echoed out in the room. Saia''s red eye flashed, and his left hand clawed the air. The casual swipe sent the light gray powder, to mix with the thick gray gas, resulting in a blinding explosion.

    Saia redirected the explosion''s kinetic force with a dull light, and jumped out of the way to reposition himself. He studied the creature revealed by the subsiding debris; it remained completely untouched by the explosion, and powders.

    ¡°Does it have a instantaneous speed that surpasses my kinetic vision? No, I don''t smell or detect any of my gas on it''s body, even if it moved past all the substance barriers to get to me, there should have been a subtle change in the gas, and powder.¡±

    Saia stared at his broken right arm hanging loosely, and frowned. It didn''t bother him that his arm was broken as much as, how it happened. When he had gripped it''s arm before, he felt no resistance as it escaped his grip instantly, and only left him with a burning black scar on his palm.

    ¡°How did he escape the deceleration phenomenon I imposed on my arm? A displacement type ability? No, if that was the case, why was my grip seemingly forced open when he disappeared.¡±

    Saia slowly breathed out, and secretly took out a button on his sleeves, and hid it in his left hand.

    ¡°In that case, lets test it, and find out.¡±

    He carefully examined the creature when it quickly shimmered, a thick nova of light encompassed Saia''s body, that was timed along with the creature. A shadow appeared instantly behind Saia, and reached for his spine, Saia twisted his body, and took the damage in his left arm, before the creature reappeared in the distance.

    ¡°Looks like it''s actions finally slowed down a bit, it somehow dodged my deceleration, did it figure out my timing?¡±

    A gaping hole of several inches could be seen torn through his arm, but only shallow fake blood flowed out. What was more prominent was that sparks flew wildly, and pieces of machinery leaked from the damage. On the creature''s body was a small button attached to it''s fingers. The creature noticed the button and crushed it immediately.

    Saia breathed out a sigh as he slowly walked around the open space.

    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Acceleration, deceleration, and direction, anything within my territory could be momentarily affected for about 1 to 2 seconds. The fact it took you less than a second to break free should have been a clue in itself, especially since I didn''t feel an increase in an opposing force, or energy.¡±

    The creature gave a toothy smile, revealing it''s large canines, Saia''s eyes sharpened in intensity as black noxious gas leaked out from the mouths on it''s body, the very next moment before Saia could even react, half his left arm was torn apart, leaving black miasma eating away at his injury. A revolting smell reached his nose, and a sizzling sound could be heard on the remains of his left arm.

    ¡°Just now, did the phenomenon get faster?¡±

    The thing was five meters away from Saia now grasping what remained of his arm in it''s hands, veins started forming in the creatures body, and purplish liquid leaked from it''s pores.

    ¡°The button from before had a tracking signal on it, you didn''t bend space but merely walked past everything, broke my arm, and walked back. The timer indicates over 2.3 second have elapsed since the signal, but the movement you displayed is clearly shorter than that.¡±

    ¡°That thing can cause a time related phenomenon, not only that, it''s quickly evolving while fighting against me.¡±

    Saia maneuvered slowly, walking close to the creature in a circular motion, reaching a curved wall, while small capsules floated around him as if in orbit.

    The creature smiled in a lazy way, imitating Saia''s usual expression, Saia likewise smiled back, the light in his red eyes glowed brighter, and an explosion of bright light flew past Saia''s body. The creature reappeared to Saia''s right side only to run into the launching capsules. The creature smiled as it tried to move away, only to notice something strange happening.

    It appeared, and reappeared every second inching away in very short intervals, the capsules flew out in an instant acceleration, unaffected by the constant deceleration Saia was throwing out in incredibly short intervals. Little by little the capsules were closing in, but the creature was nearing one meter away, which was Saia''s maximum deceleration range.

    Even though the creature was about to escape Saia just smiled, and didn''t give chase to extend his reach, in a flash of light, a badly damaged figure in black armor stood in front of the creature, black wires flew out of the armor like spider webs.

    The once smiling creature, involuntarily frowned.

    ...

    0.070 seconds, that was how long it stood puzzled, until it felt the capsule explod on it''s body encompassing it in a strange sticky liquid that froze it in place. The creature stopped time in it''s area, to fend off the wires emitting a dangerous amount of power, only to find more glue like substance multiplying across it''s body. It froze time again to tear off the sticky substance.

    Only to be wrapped up in the remaining black wires, where a powerful heat leaked out and started to tear apart it''s flesh on a cellular level. It stopped time to launch a projectile of teeth into the armored figure.

    Only to find out it''s sight was no longer there, it''s sensations turn hazy, and it''s thoughts wander off into a permanent darkness.

    ¡­

    Saia watched as the nanite acid mixture burned away at the creature''s skull, while it was layered with a glue like substance. The armored figure cut off some of the black whips stuck in the glue, and turned around to confront more hulking beast, that began to have a more human shape.

    ¡°There''s a reason this is an open space you know?¡±

    The ceilings opened to hundreds of inner laser turrets, smothering the monsters in laser fire, however this was an intense drain on the island''s energy, and required a period of recharging. The creature with time abilities invaded during the brief recharge period.

    His survival after all, was not important to the grand scheme of things, it was more important to keep the wave unhindered, so Saia did not forcibly activate the defenses. However as time dragged on, he began to realize the safety of preserving the current amount of souls he had obtained, grew too risky if he waited too long.

    As these thoughts grew inside him another island shattered from the inside, and a mass creatures swarmed out like cockroaches. Normally the trigger to release the souls was automated, but Saia had to authority to schedule it earlier.

    The higher level organism hibernating deep inside the earth wasn''t predicted to wake up until 5 days later, the fact it woke up now meant something had triggered it, Saia could easily guess which thing did it. Apparently it couldn''t go further back in the time period, or obvious things would have happened to prevent the situation from reaching this point.

    With a slow sigh, Saia dragged himself to the cane planted in the floor, and whispered in a tired tone.

    ¡°Administration id 450734, commence initiative TM.¡±

    ...

    The world suffered erratic changes, a vast amount of cities in the ocean vanished over night, green clouds floating over the black island slowly melted away, and pockets of distortions decorated small parts of the world. Seven multicolored lights glowed vibrantly in hidden parts of the world, and vanished, followed by a momentary purple light that blinked into existence, then out of it.

    Saia was now currently sitting outside of the island on top of a giant black dome, initiative TM was executed hours ago, his left arm was in disrepair, his right was in an impromptu cast. He looked indifferent as he sat next to a black armored figure that had large tears in it''s armor, and irregular stream of electrcity, danced across the surface.

    Saia watched the ancient android, and smiled.

    ¡°Thanks for the hard work, looks like you were the unlucky one that got stuck with me.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I found you a bit pretentious, and you talked too much during fights, but it was... Nice being with you.¡±

    ¡°Heh.. I won''t deny it, but you took quite a beating from that old zombie.¡±

    ¡°Yes, he was truly an amalgamation of power, I would have liked to have faced him under more fair circumstances though.¡±

    ¡°It''s his fault for rushing in solo like an idiot though, but that guy can''t die permanently, he can only change hosts, so if you live long enough, you may get another chance.¡±

    ¡°I get another chance? In a world like this?¡±

    The armored figure pointed at the sky turning into an abominable color, and weird textures were forming. A blood like aurora was now amassing into clouds, from the pillar of lights that burst through the crust of the planet.

    Saia just shrugged his shoulders, and looked behind the figure, to see a small distortion in the air that was shaped like a whirlpool. A nasty smile formed on Saia''s face as slowly got up and walked towards the armored figure.

    ¡°Hmm, what is it?¡±

    ¡°Bye.¡±

    A dull light formed on Saia''s shoes as he kicked the armored figure flying into the distortion.

    ¡°Huh?!¡±

    As the armored figure was wondering what was happening, it was quickly dragged in, and the body slowly disappeared into thin air.

    A lazy smile formed on Saia face as he sat back down on the black curved surface.

    ¡°Sorry, I wanted more alone time.... Have fun.¡±

    His smile quickly disappeared to be replaced with melancholic expression, his brown eyes seemed tired, and he just silently watched as a terrifying creature rip open the earth with it''s long jagged claws, and razor tentacles. It''s bulbous black body sagged as it dragged itself out of the deep red fissure in the ground.

    The black islands no longer produced any waves, the surviving islands merely floated aimlessly as they were each being invaded by sickening abominations.

    Saia could faintly hear laser fire inside the dome, and unearthly screams from within, instead of reacting he merely sat there. The wisps of white breathes flew in the cold air, which was followed by another sigh.

    ¡°I lost again....¡±

    A bitter smile formed on his face, he could easily imagine what was happening world wide to a majority of the population, and it was simply put, not going to be pretty.

    A distortion slowly appeared beside Saia but he just smiled lazily, using his fingers he dislodged a green ring in between them, and flicked it into the distortion, the distortion vibrated and shook violently, before it disappeared. He just continued staring at something in the distance, with a slight look of interest.

    It wasn''t everyday a person gets to watch the end of the civilized world two times after all, he watched as the crust of the planet broke apart, where lava spilled forth, and a giant shadow that replaced the night, fill half the sky.

    A loud rumbling scream that caused the heart to shake, and the body to break out in a cold sweat, spread out in an shock wave. Even Saia trembled lightly, as he watched this scene from the island.

    A little later, an overpowering stench wafted in his nose, and he heard a hoarse breathing sound behind him, he didn''t bother to turn his head, and only spoke in a casual manner.

    ¡°You again?¡±

    Saia closed his eyes as if they were tired, and leaned back.

    The figure behind him inched closer and closer, but Saia did not even bother to react, he just silently examined the towering shadow growing thicker, and larger in the far distance.

    ¡°I wish I had a drink, where is Elithas when you need him?¡±

    Saia''s mind was currently in a blank state, as the figure was within a meter, an incredible pressure buried Saia, and a cold chill crept into his back.

    ¡°I dislike pointless struggling.¡±

    With that said, Saia remained still and silent, not bothering to react to what was happening behind him, he simply no longer cared. As Saia just stared vacantly at a monstrosity that was being born, he heard something whisper into his ears.

    It was a familiar feeling, something he recognized as soon as he heard it, and something that was not only ridiculous, but should be utterly improbable as well. At that point in time, he realized how ironic it truly was.

    BAD END.

 Starfall

    A loud slap could be heard, the handsome man in white robes with long black hair, glared coldly at the fallen woman in red. He then shouted in a loud voice.

    ¡°You''re are not fit to be a woman of my house.¡±

    The woman in red cried loudly as she tugged on his pant leg, wearing an incredibly ugly expression, as tears formed in her eyes.

    ¡°I was drunk, my mind wasn''t clear... I..¡±

    ¡°Enough! On this day I have lost a fiancee, and a brother!¡±

    She begged, and pleaded, but the handsome man ignored her.

    He violently left the stage. The woman cried pitifully, as the red curtain above dropped downward.

    A loud applause thundered loudly as the crowd watched the handsome man leave the stage, for the closing of the scene, while the lighting orbs dimmed. The opera house was popular among the people as entertainment, and the acting troupe was rather famous as well, leading to a quick rising popularity.

    The theater room was filled to the brim with many men, and woman dressed in fancy robes, and gowns. The silent talking in the audience quickly simmered away as the lighting orbs glowed, and the curtains rose again for the next scene.

    In one of the small box seats in a balcony, a lone lady with greenish black hair, wearing black framed glasses, and a green robe was approached by a gray haired man in black robes, he whispered lightly to the young lady.

    ¡°Miss Lan, there has been a scheduling change, your train leaves in four hours!¡±

    ¡°What! I thought there was an accident, and it was canceled!¡±

    ¡°No time, I already have a car waiting outside!¡±

    The old man did not wait for a response, and quickly left, the young lady stared at the stage where the handsome man confronted his sworn brother, her clear blue eyes wavered as she turned around and left.

    Two people ran out of the large brown opera house into the streets, the sky was bright, and the sun was drifting behind a blue moon. A black car that had strange carvings across it''s body was parked to the side of the road, a driver standing to the side, quickly opened the door to the rushing old man, and lady.

    The old man shouted in anxiety.

    ¡°Mr. Chen, hurry!¡±

    In mere seconds the car started up and left in a flurry, some of the nearby food vendors jumped away in shock.

    ¡­

    As the car was speeding down the paved highway, they drove past a procession of uniformed men marching past down the road in red, and black armour, followed by large vehicles, and a few armoured tigers the size of a small house.

    The old man sighed at this scene, and shook his head, as they drove past. Lan casually traced a small line on her cheek unconsciously as she gazed at the weapons the infantry was holding.

    After a good hour, the military procession disappeared only to followed by a horse drawn carriage, carrying some children with ragged clothes, and dirty faces. As the car went down the road, more carriages, and people on foot could be seen. Many with injuries, some carrying luggage, and many more with bitter faces.

    Eventually the car reached a wooden building next to the train tracks, and two people quickly rushed into the entrance. The building was filled with many people, a lot of whom wore elegant robes, and garments. Some of the people sitting in the seats had armed servants following them.

    Lan found an empty red seat near the booth and sat down, while the old man ran to the customer service booth.

    Two kids were running around in circles, and a lot of excited chatter could be heard. A man in a red robe spoke anxiously.

    ¡°The emperor has finally reached the coming of age, what a glorious day for our empire.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I heard the capital is teeming with activity, many foreign guests are also coming to pay their respects.¡±

    Just as the noises were reaching it''s peak, a loud screeching sound could be heard, followed by a low rumble. The people quickly went past the gates, and started to run to the station. The smoke stack of the arriving train leaked out a gentle dull green gas, and a loud horn sounded, before it slowly stopped, and the passengers left the train.

    Lan casually waited in line as the train was emptied, before people started to slowly pour in, the old man behind her whispered quietly.

    ¡°Remember not to cause problems for our clan.¡±

    ¡°Do you have to this now?¡±

    ¡°I''ll keep doing it until this old Lai''s a dried up old corpse.¡±

    Lan clicked her tongue, as she presented her ticket to an employee, and entered the train. She was led to a section with an expansive room, fine red carpets, and black chairs made of high quality material. The attendants were all attractive, and always wore a bright smile as they lead the guests to their rooms, and seats.

    A young man in a robe led her to a small room in the train.

    ¡°You''re room miss, please let me know if anything arises.¡±

    Lan smiled and nodded, as the man in red left, and Lai entered first to slowly examine the room, he stepped back in surprise.

    ¡°Hoh.. This is.¡±

    ¡°Did you find something?¡±

    As Lan peeked inside the room, her blue eyes widened in surprise. There floating in the room was a figure of blue light, interweaving with the air.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°A mid level nature spirit, what is it doing here?¡±

    The old man Lai, pointed at a faint symbol engraved into the transparent figure.

    ¡°It seems to be contracted, looks like it''s contractor is nearby.¡±

    ¡°Whatever the case this is our room, I''ll have to expel it.¡±

    She lightly touched her glasses, faint parallel strings of light started to form in front of her, that multiplied, and grew more complex. When suddenly a small shout could be heard, and something bumped into her from behind.

    ¡°Stop it!¡±

    A small girl in red robes tugged at Lan''s dress forcibly, her cute cheeks were puffed up, and her brown eyes look scared. The little girl''s long reddish black hair looked ruffled, and her pale hands refused to let go.

    ¡°Bully!¡±

    Lan was at a slight loss of words, when suddenly an elder gentlemen with a long black beard came from behind the young girl, and gently pulled her back.

    ¡°Apologies, please excuse the rash actions of my lady, she is quite attached to her contract spirit, if you please allow her to retrieve it, we would be most grateful.¡±

    Lan sighed lightly, ¡°no apologies needed, we were just slightly surprised.¡±

    The older gentlemen stared at her hair color and nodded faintly. The little girl spread out her arms and called out.

    ¡°Come, southern wind!¡±

    The transparent figure rushed to the little girl arms, and reduced it''s size to a ball of light in her arms. The elder gentlemen slowly admonished the little girl.

    ¡°Little miss that spirit can cause trouble if unattended, you should not have let it wander around in a train. Although most people cannot see the spirit, it could still potentially cause a lot of mischief. Please apologize to these people.¡±

    The little girl turned to Lan and bowed with a sad expression.

    ¡°I''m sorry for all the trouble.¡±

    Lan looked slightly uncomfortable, and just gave an awkward smile, and responded.

    ¡°No, it''s alright.¡±

    The little girl was quickly led away, and the elderly gentlemen bowed in thanks. As they left, Lan caught a glimpse at the item hanging on the gentleman''s waist.

    ¡°He''s from the military.¡±

    Old man Lai nodded.

    ¡°Yes, it seems he has a blade rifle in his sheathe.¡±

    ¡°Then that little girl?¡±

    ¡°She is most likely someone important.¡±

    Lai sighed as he stared at Lan.

    ¡°Please stop causing more problems for us.¡±

    Lan glared at the old man.

    ¡°You''re blaming this on me?¡±

    ¡­

    The train rumbled onward as Lan stared quietly at the landscape, they passed a pavilion normally found in the pleasure districts, a small park near a large lake with pagodas built on it, and residential buildings, stacked on top of each other, forming giant towers.

    The average citizen preferred living in an elevated area, while the less financially secure citizens lived closer to the ground, it was simply a racial trait to live closer to the sky. Eventually the landscape grew more rural as they left the city walls, and saw dots of rural buildings scattered in the area.

    Large trees slowly decorated the scene followed by some passing wild beasts, Lan raised an eyebrow as she witnessed a line of soldiers marching towards the town she left. She noticed a single figure on top of a large silver wolf leading a group of armored gun lancers, followed by military grade golems.

    Old man Lai whistled lightly.

    ¡°Seems the orc tribes are causing problems.¡±

    Lan nodded gently.

    ¡°That person.....¡±

    ¡°You felt it all the way here right? He''s leading around 100 men, at most a mere captain leading a small company, but he has the astonishing presence of an immortal.¡±

    ¡°Why would a person of his level be used to fight lowly orcs?¡±

    Eventually the train ran into a tunnel, blocking out the scenery, after roughly an hour of darkness, the light shined through, and they were now in a large woodland area. As Lan was about to stand up and call for some snacks, the train shook violently, and large booming sounds roared out.

    The train abruptly stopped almost causing her to lose balance, shouts and screams could be heard, and more explosions rumbled.

    Old man Lai stared at Lan and whispered.

    ¡°Don''t escalate matters.¡±

    Lan frowned and glared back.

    ¡°What exactly do you think I am in your eyes?¡±

    ¡°Miss I am your loyal servant, and would never speak insults towards you.¡±

    The moment he finished a loud crack was heard and someone kicked in the door. Men armed with knives covered in black masks barged in.

    ¡°No one move!¡±

    Old man Lai stared at Lan silently, as the masked men approached with rope. The Jin Tian empire did not allow commoners to use advanced weaponry, only normal weapons like bows, and swords. The fact the bandits only carried knives meant they did not have much of a backing. Their stances were poor, and did not have a developed presence in their bodies.

    ¡°In short, low level bandits.¡±

    The moment she said these words in an icy tone, old man Lai already appeared behind them in a flurry and broke one of their necks with a clear snap, before the other bandit could respond, a quick punch shattered the bandit''s spine.

    Lai stared at Lan with a disapproving frown.

    ¡°I told you not to escalate matters, miss.¡±

    ¡°..And what you did just now is what?

    ¡°To prevent you from doing anything.¡±

    More explosions rang out, as the duo quickly left their rooms, only to find the train being engulfed by a powerful flame. The flame spread out quickly, and turned everything into ashes within seconds, it was obviously not natural. Smoke covered the room, and the air heated up.

    With an angry grunt, Lai''s fingers dug into the steel walls of the train, and ripped apart the metal in a rapid fury, eventually creating a large gap to escape through, a single green feather stuck out on his graying hair.

    Lan quickly followed him out to escape the smoke, the unnatural flames would have easily killed the bandits, and passengers alike, what exactly was going on? However she did not have much time to react when she noticed thousands of wispy lights leaving the train.

    She recognized those lights all to well, they were the souls of the dead, she immediately widened her eyes as she felt several presences nearby, each one was dangerous.

    She immediately ran into the woods, followed by old Lai. Although she was not sure what was happening, she knew something much bigger was in play. Should she be careless, she would be part of those dead souls as well.

    She stared at Lai as he nodded, and they quickly ran from the scene, to stay near this area, was to risk death. Several more explosion rang out, and a black cloud flew in the general direction of the train, followed by hundreds of lightning bolts smashing downwards in a violent torrent.

    ¡­

    After nearly two hours escaping into the woods, they were now surrounded by a thick layer of trees, and a small running stream.

    Lan cupped her hands and took some water from the stream, while Lai surveyed the area. When he came back he reported in a calm manner.

    ¡°Looks like whoever was being targeted, it was not us.¡±

    ¡°Yes, if they had those masters, why would they need bandits to join in, I''m guessing they were to be used as scapegoats, or sacrifices.¡±

    ¡°The thunder storm was most likely done by a mid tier manacraft user.¡±

    Lan rested near a tree while frowning, she remembered all those people and kids in the train, that most likely died. She couldn''t help but feel bitter, this was a feeling she understood all too well. The incident was near the day of the emperors birthdays, the court officials will be in a frenzy to find the culprits.

    Instead of dwelling in the depressing feeling that was quickly rising inside, and the dark thoughts forming in her mind, she quickly sat up.

    ¡°I''m going for a small walk.¡±

    Lai stared at her eyes that seemed to flash between cold, and dark, and silently nodded.

    The soil was soft, the grass was green, and the air was nice and warm, with a fresh scent dwelling in the atmosphere. The running stream emphasized the purity of the area, she could even see low level nature spirits playing along the streams, and leaves.

    However for a brief moment, the stream was dyed red, the trees felt dead, and a rotten stench wafted in her nose. She immediately closed her eyes, and when she opened them again the green scenery was visible again.

    Her breathing that was starting to become rapid, slowed down once again. While walking deeper into the woods, she felt a large presence in the distance, however she did not feel movement, or hostility.

    She immediately stopped moving, and remained still, probing the thing hidden in the trees. After several minutes of silence, she wandered closer to the object, it was the size of a boulder, covered in vines, leaves, and flowers, with insects crawling around it.

    Lan slowly walked towards the slumbering giant, and lightly ran her jade like fingers across it''s smooth mettalic surface.

    As she was about to get closer, she noticed something pop out of the metabeast, it was a soul of the dead. Each soul had a different quality to them for Orcs, for Elves, and for her kind, but this was different. It was something she recognized years ago, and seen far too often; that was so familiar it almost made her feel sick to her stomach.

    It was the soul of a human.

 1-Hypocrisy

    Lan pursed her pink lips, and quickly closed her eyes, her youthful face was covered with traces of sweat on her smooth pale skin. After a few slow, and deep breaths, her large blue eyes slowly opened, and she stared fixedly at the transparent ball of light. It seemed to have glowing strands leaking from the frame of it''s body.

    The color was a mix of green, and milky white, and could fit into the palm of her hand. It floated around in a slow manner, and rubbed against the giant humanoid beast made of an unknown metal. If one word was used to describe this soul, and it''s movements, it would be lazy.

    She stared silently at the antics of the dead soul, and slowly spoke in a quiet voice.

    ¡°My name is Xing Lan, if you have any dying wishes, or final words, I would be more than happy to listen to them.¡±

    Despite her kind, and formal words, her facial expression was devoid of emotion, her eyes were cold, and her tone was strained. The ball of light paused only for a few seconds as if to consider her proposal, but eventually floated to the top of the metabeast''s helmet shaped head, and lay there near the vines.

    Xing Lan could only watch in curiosity.

    ¡°Does it not understand my words?¡±

    She quickly shook her head, and dismissed the idea, it was an impossible notion, the concept of foreign language did not apply to those that lost the bindings of the physical form.

    She watched it quietly with her hands to her back, as if waiting for something to happen. A bird chirped, the wind blew away crisp green leaves, and almost ten minutes passed. Her focused eyes started to waver, and a confused look crept into her face.

    Xing Lan sighed lightly as the blob like shape moved like a snail, glowing in slow, dull intervals, as if it had lost any form of motivation or will. It rolled down the head of the metabeast, across the shoulder filled with leaves, and down the mechanical arm the size of her body.

    Staring at the soul, she involuntarily recalled something distant, and warm.

    It was ten years ago, in a small brown room where an elderly scholar in a modest gray garment walking leisurely around my desk. The fresh scent of pine, mixed with the musty smell of the room caused my nose to wrinkle.

    He was giving a lecture on one of the major schools of thought. My mind was hazy and I almost fell asleep because it was near morning.

    I watched his lips curve into a smile as he excitedly talked about various topics, and policies, then occasionally grunt and complain about legalism. In my opinion he was a straight, and simple man, that showed his thoughts through his expressions.

    His back was firm, he stood tall and proud, and his smile was always warm. A person who I viewed, that could do no wrong, and deserving of respect.

    At that time I was seven years old, so many things he mentioned I was not that interested in, but his excited voice, and grand gestures always eventually drew me in. On that day I still remembered a lecture he was giving.

    ¡°Husband and wife, parent and child, younger and elder, ruler and subject, friend and friend. These relationships are the manifestation of the sacred, through this sacred bond we can create harmony in society, and shows respects to the spirits, and heaven.¡±

    At that time I couldn''t help but sigh at his long lectures, that often seemed far too complicated for me.

    ¡°By treating these relationships, and daily actions in life as sacred, people can be taught, improved on, and be changed for the better. Do not look outwards for your values, but inwards, for family, and for society.¡±

    At that time a vibrant glow appeared on the teacher dark eyes, and he deliberately stared deeply at me, his lecture was halted, and only a smile surfaced. I couldn''t help but be confused on what he was doing.

    ¡°That''s why, let'' try and create a society that follows the will of the heavens.¡±

    At that time I wasn''t completely sure on what he meant, and what he wanted me to do, and sadly I would never find out.

    Maybe I was stupid, maybe I was corrupted, and maybe I just never understood. I tried, I really did, and I desperately wanted to bring forth his ideals. But in that desperation, I made a terrible mistake.

    Now, no matter how much I wash these hands of mine, it would forever be dirty. But even so I still wanted to follow what he taught me, I still wanted to keep those words alive within me, and I still wanted to believe he was right.

    Therefore I now stretched out my hand, that was to my annoyance, still trembling, and I tenderly touched the ball of light rolling on the ground.

    ...

    Emerald green feathers decorated with blue and black fell from the darkening sky, as two figures landed on the dirt road leading to a small town in the distance. The old man called Lai coughed violently, as he tried to calm his breathing.

    ¡°Good thing no one saw us, it''s forbidden to travel around the empire''s territory like this.¡±

    Xing Lan casually dismissed his worry.

    ¡°This prefecture suffered a lot during the central government''s suppression of the nobility, so they won''t have the man power to spend on a remote place like this, especially given the current situation in the south west.¡±

    Old Lai nodded while scratching his gray hair.

    ¡°At this rate we won''t make it for even the the last day of the awakening.¡±

    ¡°Then should we go back home?¡±

    Old Lai''s bushy eyebrows furrowed at such a suggestion, this wasn''t merely to go sight seeing, but a diplomatic visit to reassert the vassal states loyalty to the new emperor. Even if it was late, they still needed to show their faces.

    ¡°Miss really likes to joke.¡±

    Old Lai ignored her serious expression.

    Xing Lan stared at the direction behind her gloomily, before walking towards the town. Old Lai could only form a bitter smile as he trailed after her.

    ¡°This is for the local government agencies to handle, not for us outsiders to meddle in.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    The last bit of light in the sky quickly faded, as the two people walked silently on the dirt path, the town in the distance was filled by large towers, and covered by metallic walls.

    Roughly six campsites had been erected to the side of the roads, waiting for the gates to be reopen in the morning. For mutual safety they most likely grouped together, as the town militia did not protect people who arrived after curfew.

    Xing Lan walked to the camp slowly, she could see two people acting as lookouts observe her form afar, in situations like this being casual and non threatening was a must. She raised her voice, and waved at the two lookouts, old Lai was was trailing behind her stood at the back, letting her do the negotiating.

    ¡°This girl is named Fay Lai, I''m traveling to meet my little sister, but due to an accident with our car, we had to change our route. May we stay with you good sirs until the gates are reopened?¡±

    A young man in his twenties, and an older gentlemen wearing a black hat, observed her for a bit.

    The young man wearing a plain black suit nodded to her, while the gentlemen took the lead and stepped forward.

    The elderly gentlemen glanced at her empty hands, and fine green dress. One quick glance could tell she came from a fairly affluent family due to the way she walked, and dressed. Her appearance could be said to be fairly pretty with bright round eyes, and a delicate oval face, that made her quite eye catching. Her figure was petite, and lithe however, which was a clear sign she had not gone through the awakening ceremony, also known as the coming of age.

    From his standpoint, she hardly looked like a possible bandit, and she held no weapons as well. This alone made him relax his guard.

    ¡°Hello miss Lai, my name is Tai fan, we would be more then happy to welcome you two into the camp.¡±

    Xing Lan lightly bowed, and waved old Lai over.

    As the gentleman led her to the camp, he finally noticed the green tinges on her black hair, his eyes widened slightly, but otherwise his facial expression remained quite relaxed. Most of the people were already sleeping inside their tents, and sleeping bags.

    She could only spot a few men, and woman chatting around the campfire, they only glanced at her a few times, before returning to their conversation.

    Tai Fan spoke in a genial tone as he led her to the fire, where some pans and pots were stored.

    ¡°We have some leftovers if you are hungry, they are meager, but should fill your stomach for the night.¡±

    Xing Lan smiled and cupped her hands.

    ¡°Thank you sir Fan, Fay Lai appreciates your hospitality.¡±

    Tai Fan just smiled, and left to go back to his post, he nodded to old Lai who was passing by, and they exchanged some pleasantries.

    Xing Lan decided eat her fill, and then sleep for the morning, she picked from the pile of clean bowls in the basket, and looked into the pot.

    ¡­

    The land was dyed in a thick red fog, and shadows dotted the scorched, and barren land. The overpowering stench of rot forced their way into my nose, the odor was so powerful I could almost taste it. Distant cries, and primal roars echoed loudly, as giant shadows crawled out from the ground, and important bonds disappeared like flowers in a snow storm.

    As I watched this scene happening all around me a powerful thundering sound echoed loudly in the distance behind us. When I turned around and saw that scene, a deep sense of regret, and despair swallowed me, because I realized that it was all over.

    ¡­.

    Xing Lan''s eye shot open and a cold sweat covered her body, she was panting heavily, and she felt like all around her something was coming. Danger, death, an imminent threat that was everywhere coming to strangle the life out of her, everyone around her was about to die in agony.

    Her mind started feeling hazy, and she could hear her own heartbeat drumming in her ears, warning her to get up, take action, and prepare for death.

    ¡°Miss!¡±

    A loud shout slammed into her ears, and into her mind, she widened her eyes to see old Lai in front of her. Her vision cleared up, and she noticed the gentle blue sky, and lazy white clouds.

    She stared at old man Lai and forced a awkward smile.

    ¡°I''m awake.¡±

    Old Lai merely nodded, Xing Lan got up from the tree she was leaning on, and examined the camp. Apparently a majority of the tents were already taken down. Only a few people remained and were having breakfast.

    She immediately stood up, and brushed off the leaves on her dress.

    ¡°Shall we go miss? Let''s find a good tea house to have breakfast.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    They quickly reached the small line up of people entering the town, people were searched for unauthorized weapons, or suspicious substances like narcotics, and banned items. The single line had several armed guards to the side, and on the walls.

    Xing Lan watched as the guards wearing practical black garments, and armed with swords that had a trigger on it. Upon closer inspection she could see it was a regular version, and not military grade, due to the material and design.

    They looked through bags, and luggage, Xing Lan was naturally allowed in fairly easily due to her lack of baggage. The search wasn''t stringent because of the peaceful nature of the current environment.

    Inside people were mulling around on the cobble stone streets tending to their businesses, occasionally there would be light blue gas protruding from the chimney stacks of the houses, but the gas dispersed easily into the atmosphere, making it seem very natural.

    Due to the rural nature of this town, most folks just wore practical plain garments, and aside from a few mechanical instruments, most houses were only made from wood or stone. Some old men carried around some dried fish on a pole, others sat on wooden chairs talking leisurely in front of their food stalls, while many more played chess in a town square.

    The only things out of place were the steel walls, and some unique modern buildings, which seemed to have been added on recently.

    Old Lai who was leading the way, gradually spotted a large building that arched into the sky. A large wooden signboard was decorated with gold metallic colors saying lucky tea house.

    Just from standing near the door way, the sound of utensils clattering, dishes hitting the tables, and loud conversations was enough to tell him it was lively. The atmosphere was exactly how all of them usually are, hectic, and loud.

    Old Lai walked into the tea house that was filled with red wood, and waitresses rapidly moving about each table. Men, and women talking above each others voices, and the waitresses that were talking even louder than them. It could be said people ate out not only for the food, but for the lively atmosphere as well.

    Old Lai waved over what looked to be an employee wearing a red dress.

    ¡°May I have a seat for two please, we prefer a seat near the higher floors.¡±

    The woman smiled and nodded.

    ¡°Welcome sir, we charge extra for eating at the higher levels though.

    ¡°It''s fine.¡±

    The woman in black hair nodded, and lead them to the red stairways, passing a few floors on the way up. He noticed that the sounds gradually grew more quiet and less populated, until they stopped at the fifth floor.

    The entire floor was covered by a gorgeous red carpet, and the winds blew gently on the floor. The scenery was calming as it overlooked the town, and many exotic plants decorated the room. Only five tables were filled in this area.

    We were lead to a table in the veranda, and given a menu.

    Old Lai briefly glanced over the simple paper with a list dishes, and made an order.

    ¡°I''ll have the seafood porridge, black rice pudding, and braised pig trotters.¡±

    Xing Lan also ordered a few rice dishes, and drinks.

    A large portion of the dishes were black rice based, due to the fact the crop was common in the empire, and could also be used in various products like soap, and animal feed.

    Xing Lan washed the utensils, and cups with the hot tea before pouring a fresh cup for Old Lai, and herself to drink.

    ¡°Beautiful weather, calm environment, being close to the sky, and some good warm herbal tea, to Avarians like us, this is true pleasure.¡±

    Xing Lan frowned as she heard this.

    ¡°Makes you want to go back home doesn''t it?¡±

    ¡°Nice try miss, but we still have to pay our respects, it would look bad for us if the others did this, but not us.¡±

    ¡°We really went off course, how do you plan to travel to the capital?¡±

    ¡°They don''t rent any cars here, so we''ll rent a mount from one of the monster stables.¡±

    ¡°Or we could just f...¡±

    ¡°Not allowed.¡±

    Xing Lan stared at old Lai casually, he happily enjoyed deep fried bread, and dipped it into his porridge. She on the other hand enjoyed a type of rice pudding, and ate silently.

    The atmosphere between the two could simply be described as solemn. Xing Lan spoke up in a nonchalant manner to break the silence.

    ¡°Old Lai, why were you sent with me as a guardian?¡±

    The reason she asked this was because guardians were usually acquaintances with the people going on foreign journeys, in many cases they were familial servants. Old Lai could be described as a only an acquaintance to her.

    Old Lai''s face remained happy, as he spoke up.

    ¡°I was free.¡±

    ¡°But so was Jian and Xing.¡±

    Old Lai shrugged his shoulders, not bothering to comment any further, but Xing Lan''s blue eyes grew slightly darker.

    ¡°Was it uncle?¡±

    ¡°Oh? Why do you think the patriarch was involved?¡±

    Seeing his poker face, Xing Lan withdrew the topic.

    ¡°No, never mind.¡±

    Xing Lan enjoyed the creamy smooth pudding, and pushed the troubling thoughts forming in her mind away.

    She already had more than enough things to worry about. The trip to the royal capital wasn''t goign to be simple, she thought.

 2- Lights out.

    A crude dull knife slammed into pink flesh, the blood splashed out, and the muscle and fat was exposed. The dry crunch of the bones could be heard, while the man proceeded to dig his fingers underneath the fat to slowly pull out the skin. His callused fingers were covered in blood, and oils.

    ¡°Fresh yugao for sale!¡±

    Bellowed a fat butcher in the busy market, that was leading to the town square.

    ¡°Fermented bean curd, with secret family fermenting recipes!¡± shouted an old lady, as if competing with the butcher across from her.

    They glared at each other for only a brief moment, before continuing.

    People were walking about in a clamor, as they moved through the busy road, the sound of straying cattle, loud conversations, and screaming children breathed life into the cold afternoon. Xing Lan was slowly examining the surroundings as she walked down the path towards the monster ranch.

    The stone roads, and cheaply built houses surrounding it were made of wood, and crude stones that further emphasized the rural town. Down the road the town square was filled with many people playing chess, and relaxing.

    Farther away, near an old tree in the corner of the town square, was a small gathering of people, with two men as the focus. They had a much whiter, and sharper features, and wore red, and black priestly attire. They held walking staffs, that had strange iv tubes and wires interweaving across the obsidian tool.

    ¡°Life is hard, living is a burden, the aspirations, and joys you feel are nothing but a temporary illusion brought forth by selfish mortal desires, of the mind, and flesh. Loved ones die before their prime, your children are sick, the happiness you longed for is always out of reach.¡±

    The man''s words had a bit of an accent, but spoke there language quite effortlessly. A moment of silence followed before the priest vigorously shouted.

    ¡°But this is all a trial! A preparation before you are invited into paradise! Something with meaning, and somewhere you truly belong is waiting for you, and your family!¡±

    From the excited tone the man talked in, the vibrant eyes, and near fanatical expressions, Xing Lan could tell these men had some measure of charisma.

    Xing Lan phased out the man''s words, and focused on different details.

    It was faint, and hidden by their clothes, but traces of wires and tubes were also circulating into their bodies. A slightly dark look clouded her eyes as she saw a black symbol on their attire, that formed the outline of a black eye with tears.

    Old Lai didn''t notice her expression and commented curiously.

    ¡°It''s rare to find them venturing so far north, you would think they would have more pressing grievances back home, than come here with their questionable teachings.¡±

    Xing Lan however changed the topic, to something much more concerning to her.

    ¡°Those staffs they carry, aren''t simple.... I wonder how they went through the town guards.¡±

    Old Lai just smiled, ¡°my, the young miss sure is knowledgeable, it''s most likely some profitable agreements have been made with the local governors, it''s best not to concern yourself with these things unless you want to stir up a nest of vipers.¡±

    As the two were about to leave she noticed a pair of beautiful women in black dresses in the background, one of them was pregnant and smiling gently as she rubbed her belly.

    Xing Lan could only glare darkly at the woman''s belly, and frown. She knew better than to think it was a mother showing love to her unborn child, the world was sadly, not that comforting.

    She sped up her pace, that sight brought many unpleasant feelings, vague images were starting to leak out from the depths of her mind, trying to break free through her mental barriers.

    As they walked across the stone roads, the houses became more sparse, and the space gradually opened up until a large towering building made of metal could be seen, the featureless square building felt like the architect made this to emphasize form over aesthetics, surounded with far reaching impenetrable walls. The more shocking aspect of it was that the walls stretching from the building encompassed a quarter of the town itself, and partially melded into the town walls.

    Unlike the rest of the town, the roads leading to the building was paved, there were actual guards patrolling the area, that even carried weapons superior to the town guards. They wore sleek black gray flexible armor, and carried long black spears, engraved with special properties, and wore even a small pistol on their belts.

    ¡°Quite admirable as always, they give off a fairly imposing feeling just by being near them.¡±

    ¡°Why would it be this large for an out of the way town like this?¡±

    The couple walked past the patrolling guards and reached the entrance made of glass, an array of light blue lines appeared on the glass and formed a complex interweaving pattern before the door opened by itself. They were quickly greeted by the sight of a store front with many types of packaged goods, and products.

    A young man wearing a red, and white uniform approached them and bowed, with a friendly smile the man asked.

    ¡°Welcome dear customer, how may I be of service?¡±

    Old Lai stepped forward and smiled back, ¡°Oh, someone of the crow descent, how rare.¡±

    The man smiled while looking at old Lai, ¡°how can someone like me compare to the eminence of an emerald peafowl?¡±

    After a brief formal greeting, and some casual conversations, old Lai began to move forward with business.

    ¡°We are looking for a reliably fast mount, with high endurance.¡±

    The employee nodded, ¡°please follow me, while this place is mostly just a training center, we do offer some respectable products.¡±

    The employee led them to the desktop counter where a large binder was filled, with over a thousand pages.

    ¡°Your store can have that many monsters?¡±

    ¡°We do pre-orders.¡±A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    The employee walked towards two guards standing over a chained gate, after a brief verbal exchange the guards moved aside, while the employee led them to the back of the store.

    It was a long dark metal hallway similar to an underground bunker, with various closed doors to the sides. Xing Lan was able to glance at some of the signs on the sealed entrances.

    ¡°Proving grounds, research, arena? Looks like there is a lot more going on then I expected.¡±

    Faint sounds, and low rumbles formed from large beasts leaked from some of the rooms, the farther they walked, the more pronounced the sounds were. After reaching a large iron door several meters wide, we finally stopped. As if noticing our presence the doors slowly creaked opened exposing cool winds. We were greeted with the sight of gigantic cages, artificial dens, and towering habitats sealed off from many angles.

    In a way it was similar to a zoo, but for creatures that were far more dangerous.

    The young man that led the way brought us to a large tent.

    ¡°Please wait here for a few minutes, I''ll get someone that can more accurately serve your needs.¡±

    As soon as those words were said, the young man went inside the tent. While glancing around old Lai whistled as he saw a a gray forklift carrying the corpse of a large ox, with blue scales and dull red eyes.

    Xing Lan noticed several well dressed people that were previously observing different monster dens, whom suddenly focused their sight on that corpse.

    Seeing how everyone else acted, her curiosity was also slightly peaked. Just as she was wondering why everyone was so interested she felt something slowly approach her. It was a presence that had a rough feeling to it.

    Just as she was about to turn around, a calm manly voice drifted to her ears.

    ¡°Hello esteemed guests, I see you have an interest in that blue morolith?¡±

    There standing a few feet away was a large man in his thirties his dirt brown hair was fairly unkempt, his scarred face while intimidating, did nothing to hinder his gentile features that were considered fairly handsome, and his brown eyes had a dark, hawk like quality to it.

    The man was wearing loose fitting clothes with several straps, and covered with different tools hanging from his attire.

    ¡°My name is Zazai, I''m the manager of this humble establishment.¡±

    Old Lai was the first to comment.

    ¡°Please call me Fang Lai.¡±

    After a quick greeting old Lai stared at the corpse of the monster.

    ¡°Looks like the monster hunters in this branch are quite formidable, the blue morolith is considered a dangerous high class monster, with many potent abilities.¡±

    Zazai sighed deeply, wearing a slightly tired, and sad expression.

    ¡°The association discovered a dense breeding ground of some monsters in an ancient valley, the expedition team sent to observe them was nearly wiped out, all we manged to gain was the corpse of this immature morolith.¡±

    The man shook his head again, and sighed.

    ¡°We lost fourteen hunters, to a young morolith. Imagine what would happen if they reproduced, and ventured closer to avarian settlements.¡±

    Old Lai nodded in empathy, monsters were dangerous creatures that dominated a majority of the world. Their bodies housed incredible materials, and contained vast amounts of information that allowed the technology of the world to flourish, however they were also the cause of many calamities.

    Their origins were almost as mysterious as the metallic beasts that aimlessly roamed the planet.

    Old Lai stared at the monster hunter before him, many independent agencies, and associations have gained a business purely hunting, and selling monsters. Because of monsters, many kinds of dangerous jobs have opened up. The issue was the quality of the average monster hunter had dropped accodingly.

    Zazai seemed to guess what old Lai was thinking, and gave a bitter smile.

    ¡°The average hunter is quite mediocre physically, the poorer ones can only use guns you see, in their hands melee weaposn would have been pointless, not to mention the crafts.¡±

    The man slowly pulled out a small hand gun from his waist and aimed it at the corpse. The moment it was fired, a small spark glittered in the horns of the monster, and after a loud bang, the bullet fell helplessly to the ground, as if all velocity and kinetic force was dispersed into the air.

    Old Lai widened his eyes lightly.

    ¡°Oh, looks like that corpse will fetch quite a lot money.¡±

    Zazai nodded slowly as if he couldn''t agree more.

    ¡°Skin that could weather the most punishing crafts, aura that could reflect the fastest bullets, and power that could easily trample a regular man to death.¡±

    Zazai finished off the sentence with an exhausted voice, that had bitter undertones.

    ¡°Against a creature like this it would be normal to prepare many things in advance, sadly we did not have the resources, and suffered from it."

    Xing Lan could faintly recognize it in his eyes, the regrets he held, the sad light behind his sharp gaze. It was a short and brief moment, that spanned less then one second, but she felt a subtle sense of closeness to that man. The countless unending question one would ask them self, the frustrating feelings of having no answers, and the overwhelming guilt that slowly ate away at you.

    ¡°What am I even doing?

    Xing Lan immediately shook her head, and got rid of all those thoughts.

    ¡°Anyways I heard you wanted a mount? May I ask where you plan to go?¡±

    ¡°We''re looking to go to the capital.¡±

    Zazai nodded slowly, but also wore a weird expression.

    ¡°The closest town with a train station would be Hwei stone city, but from the messages I''ve been getting something major happened south, and the train routes going their have been blockaded. Since the capital is located in a special area, which can only be reached by train travel, you''ll have to go to next closest city, where the trains are still running, called black iron city.

    Old Bai immediately frowned.

    ¡°Isn''t that..¡±

    Zazai nodded briefly without saying another word.

    ¡­

    The dark sky loomed ahead as the rain clouds started to form, eventually droplets of liquid lightly tapped on the tiled roofs, and stone roads. A little girl in gray garments carrying a basket of white flowers quickly ran down the dreary roads to escape the light drizzle that was slowly growing.

    The rain itself produced a gentle calming rhythm that was almost melodious, the water pouring outside the streets made the air cool, and refreshing. It was night, and all the light in these nearby houses, were extinguished, families slept in the comfort of their beds, while a single young lady stared vacantly from the second floor of an inn.

    The small room was lit by a dim warm light from the lantern with an orb inside, Xing Lan was sitting on a table with a single flower vase, in it was a lone flower with white petals. She casually turned back from the window, and stared vacantly at dainty flower, she easily recalled it''s name.

    It was an old memory that remained as clear as day, and something she could never forget even if she tried to.

    ¡°It''s called sailua.¡±

    Said an old man as he stared at a small girl holding the flower in her hands, while she sat on a bench, under the glowing sun.

    The young girl stared at the old man with flowing white robes, whom exuded a dignified presence. Her large blue eyes widened in surprise, but no words came out.

    The old man stroked his bushy white beard, and sat next to her, the young girl could smell a faint fragrance similar to the flower. It was a clean, and pure smell, that oddly made her feel warm, and relaxed.

    ¡°Why are you sitting here alone in the park young lady?¡±

    ¡°Waiting for father.¡±

    ¡°Why here?¡±

    ¡°Because this was the park where he said to wait for him.¡±

    ¡°You come every day?¡±

    The little girl nodded her head, and she dangled her legs on the bench. While she seemed determined to wait there, he could tell she was almost ready to fall asleep, because she kept rubbing her eyes.

    ¡°Does your mother know?¡±

    The little girl shook her head, while staring at the ground, as if in guilt, and mumbled.

    ¡°She can''t, so I''ll do it for her.¡±

    The man sighed softly to himself.

    ¡°A tree may grow thousands of feet high, but the leaves will eventually fall back to the roots.¡±

    The man pulled out a small chain from his robes, and presented it to the little girl.

    ¡°The general knew things like this might happen.¡±

    The little girl stared at the intricate chain in his hands.

    ¡°This is!¡±

    The man stared at the little girl, and smiled brightly.

    ¡°I am a friend of your father, and also your new teacher, you may call me Don Fang.¡±

    A loud rumbling sound smashed open the scene, which caused Xing Lan to open her closed eyes, the warm summer day, the bright beautiful sun, and the soothing scent vanished. All she could see was the dimly lit room, and the lonely white flower in the vase.

    ¡°Has it been over twelve years?¡±

    Xing Lan smiled softly as she brushed something from her eyelids, her delicate pale fingers trembled lightly as if she lost a bit of her strength.

    The slow pouring rain was now a powerful storm, the soothing winds were now violent, and the faint rhythmic music became chaotic and fierce. She quickly closed the windows, and went to bed.

    The wooden lantern as if sensing the situation, turned off, and the room was quickly blanketed by the darkness.

    For once, she actually had a restful sleep in a long while.