《Muna Miracle》


 Chapter 0: Fallen Moon

    Do you believe in Miracles?


    In 1980, a memorable moment in sports was during the XII Winter Olympics. Cold war tensions were high and the U.S Olympic hockey team found themselves against the indomitable Soviet Army Hockey team. The announcer, Al Michael posed a question that would forever be fixed in the minds of every man, woman, and child that ever wished for hope.


    That year, Soviets went home that year with the Olympic cup, soon followed by a nuclear warhead and the question would remain unanswered for many hundreds of years.


    Our tale starts with a simple, wooden, cradle. This cradle is not empty, but there is no sound from it. Covering the face of the child is a white cloth slightly stained with the tears of the mother who bore this stillborn. She floats down the dark and river with frogs croaking in the reeds and the many different crescent moon high overhead.


    Suddenly the river lit up as the moon''s high over began breaking apart as prices plunged towards the tiny planet. The winds rose up and in the far in the distance, cities burned, monarchs and beggars died, all equal in death. The land was crushed and reshaped, oceans moved and mountains soared. As this world of Terra was experiencing armageddon, the little stillborn child was sent flying into the air by the impact of thousands of continent-sized pieces of the moon.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    This child was unharmed. Through sheer luck or fate, not a single jagged piece of moon touched that cradle. Through the storm of debris and bullet-like objects whizzing through the air like gunfire, not a single one, touched the loose cloth covering the dead child''s body.


    All that knew fear fled by plane, boat, even just futilely running on their own two legs. On the wing of a private jet the cradle landed. A single inch lower or high and the cradle and contents would have been sliced in two by the wing. Flaming meteors rained down like the wrath of god, shattering the plane and pitching the cradle into an abyss of fire.


    The moon had cracked open the crust of the poor planet and opened up subterranean volcanic tubes and hot spots causing great lakes of fire to form. These boiling hot lakes of molten rock collided with the water of the oceans that had jumped its shores, creating geysers tens of miles high, blasting the little cradle upwards into the atmosphere.


    As the planet gradually calmed down, the little cradle found itself exactly in between the shattered moons and broken earth. In that moment, fate decided. With the moons and the little planet so close together the young child gravitated towards the moon, carried by a soft wind down onto the mountain side of the moon.


    The once many moons and the small planet had now changed forever. The little planet had grown with all the mass it had absorbed from the moons. Now only 3 moons remained in the sky. The simple, wooden, cradle sat upon the top of a newborn mountain peak of the moon Selene. The sky had literally fallen on top of humanity, so someone of the time might not find it strange when from the cradle of the stillborn child came the cry of hope.

 Chapter 1: Lunabelle

    Hundreds of years passed and the planet of Terra went through a drastic rebirth. Humanity had fallen from the pedestal of the chosen race of Terra. The world was now a new grand wide place, but it was still a place mortals such as those that inhabited her could die at any moment. Resources and food were scarce and hard to find, and those that could be found often had predators fighting for dominance over them.


    One day, an old man that was lucky enough to survive, discovered after waking up his arm, which he had injured badly in his youth, was working properly now. The moonlight of the last remaining moons had shone down on him, healing his injuries. After many years of experimentation he found that the dust and stones of the fallen moons, when combined with the light of the still existing moons, could produce a variety of effects such as absorbing the properties of certain things like fire and water, or be used in their natural state to heal the body and soul.


    This old man rose up and created many pockets of humanity. It was not long before he was established as the king of a grand ancient nation, empowered by the moonstones. Shortly before he died, the old man proclaimed the remaining three moons the saviors of mankind, for if they had not taken pity on them, surely the fires of humanity would have died.


    As hundreds of years passed, organizations that specialized in moonstones arose and the supply began to run out, but the changes they created could be seen. People now lived longer, new medicines were developed, no one died of sickness in late and early age, the new average life span of a human was 120 years. The beasts of the planet were also changing, turning into monsters. Strength to survive became an iron law, and nature signed the bill herself, unleashing plagues and storms everywhere.


    But Terra no longer favored humanity. With the rise of the beasts and the wrath of nature, the inhabitants of the planet were forced to evolve and become stronger until humanity was no more, swept away by evolution. Hundreds of years passed and many quickly forgot their ancestry and the knowledge of humanity became scarce, dying ever so slowly with the rise of the beasts.


    _______________________________


    ¡°Zora come on!¡±


    The gray Luna Bear was plodding along at a slow speed in comparison to the flighty little wisp of a girl. The bear looked at the girl as if to say ¡°When are you going to get tired?¡±, and kept plodding up the hill at the same speed it was going. The little girl danced and flittered around the slow-moving bear as if she were a butterfly with wings.


    We finally reached the top of the hill and looked out over the valley. Twin mountains peaks created a valley of dark green as far as the eye could see.


    ¡°We¡¯re gonna miss it! We¡¯re gonna miss it!¡±


    After a few minutes of frantic pushing and pulling, they finally reached the top of the ridge just as the sun peaked over the horizon.


    As the first few rays of fresh sunlight touched the corners of the valley, as if on cue the flowers of the valley floor bloomed in unison, readying a show for the little one in their audience. Every shade of red, blue, yellow, and orange, shined in the morning light. White snow capped mountains shone like white washed silk and twisting rivers gleamed like diamonds.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    ¡°Wow~!¡±


    The speechless little girl as the sole observer started out in amazement and innocent wonder at a sight that the greatest artisans and poets in history could only wish to achieve.


    A farm breeze blew up out of the valley, carrying millions of petals with it. The young girl laughed and jumped around in the breeze. A crown of blue and purple star shaped flowers floated through the wind in front of the young girl. She immediately snatched it up and looked to the sky while shouting ¡°Thank you mommy!¡± and played away the rest of the day, swimming in the lakes and streams, making crowns of flowers for the sleepy bear, all until falling asleep in the warm embrace of her furry friend, silently muttering ¡°thank you¡± in her sleep.


    ________________________


    Unknown to her, three pairs of eyes watched silently from a distance. Ever watching as she danced and swam in the sunshine.


    ¡°Do you think the water is too cold? Maybe I should warm it a little!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry so much Selene. The water is fine. Look, she''s making more flower crowns now...¡±


    ¡°So cute¡­¡±


    The three gazed at the spectacle they had created for their beloved daughter for hours until she fell to sleep. To them, this scene was what they lived for. It brought a smile tho their faces everytime they saw a scene such as this. And for hundreds of years, they had done all in their powers to safeguard their precious daughter, chasing away all potential troubles from the other immortals and more. But today, a new threat visited them.


    Suddenly, the gazes of the three figures was interrupted by a change in the atmosphere. A bright light descended not far from the cradle of flowers in which little Lunabelle slept, breaking the three out of their trance and incurring their anger.


    ¡°Selene, intruders? How!¡±


    ¡°How have they gotten here! What do they want! They can¡¯t take our little Lunabelle!¡±


    ¡°Selene, Mora, calm yourselves. Mora, you take Belle somewhere safe. Selene, repel the intruders.¡±


    ¡°What about you Asta?¡±


    ¡°I shall go down and investigate how this has been made possible. When I get back, we will vote. In the meantime, Mora, if they leave one single mark on little Luna¡¯s garden, scorch that planet, agreed?¡±


    ¡°Agreed¡±


    ¡°Asta, Mora...Fine.¡±


    The three set off from their perches and quickly went about their duties. It had been over 2000 years since a being from the lower planet last dared to walk on their surfaces, and more than 1000 since they had first set foot. Previously humans had drained every resource possible from their sister moons and made them incredibly sick and weak. The humans had des


    There had been more of them back then. They were a happy little family, but when humans came, they similarly drained them as they had done to their own planet and killed their own protector. But these moon goddesses were different. These three were the youngest of the 7 moons of Terra and had not been permanently ravaged by humanity when their eldest sister, Zima, had finally had enough. In order to protect the chastity of their baby sisters, Zima gathered her sisters and ripped themselves out of orbit to come crashing towards the vermin that plagued their family.


    In doing so they hoped to destroy any chance of humanity ever coming back again. Until now.


    ________________________


    ¡°Hmmm? Zora? Where are we going?¡±


    Woken by the sound of heavy footsteps, Lunabelle awoke to find herself on the back of her best friend, moving away from the valley as fast as the bear could move.


    ¡°Zor~a! I¡¯m going to fall!¡±


    Splash she went as she fell in the river. Zora did not notice that anything was wrong and continued running as her creators had told.


    ¡°Wait Zora!¡± but the bear was out of shouting range.


    Suddenly she felt tremors in the ground and looked up to see a light falling from the sky in the distance.


    ¡°Pretty¡­¡±


    All thoughts of her friend forgotten, she ran towards the bright light that would change her life forever.

 Chapter 2: ET go home?

    ¡°Touchdown in 5...4...3...2...1...We have landed.¡±


    ¡°WOO! We''re here boys!¡±


    Cheering from the entire crew aboard the craft echoed as the rumbling of the engines died down.


    ¡°Alright, settle down. Ariel, how''re our communications holding up?¡±


    ¡°Command, you want to answer that?¡±


    [¡°Loud and clear Shuttle¡±]


    [¡°Command here, How are things up there?¡±]


    ¡°Sensors are picking up a Terra like atmosphere! Hey command, are you getting this!¡±


    [¡°We see it, Captain! Incredible! The readings are almost perfectly matched to Terra¡¯s! Of course, there are a few discrepancies, but really, its amazing!¡±]


    5 crew members looked around the capsule, runes and modern technology merged to create an airtight environment. An assortment of races from Elves to Humans celebrated the success of the mission which had been the topic of scorn and humor for many back on Terra. One man, who was sitting near the airlock pulled off his heavy harness and disconnected his breathing gear.


    ¡°Hey, who wants to go for a space walk!¡±


    ¡°Captain your breathing gear!¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you read the sensors? It¡¯s practically earth out there.¡± the human said with a laugh.


    [¡°Command here what''s going on.¡±]


    ¡°Shuttle here, the captain is disconnecting his gear to get out of the pod!¡±


    [¡°Negative captain, do not leave the shuttle.¡±]


    "Great...he''s in one of his reckless moods again isn''t he?"


    ¡°Better hurry up or I¡¯ll stick the flag in first!¡±


    The man crawled into the airlock and shut the door behind him. His teammates hurried to suit up and put on their gear, motioning for him to wait.


    ¡°Sorry! Can¡¯t hear you! There''s uh, glass¡± he said tapping on the thick airlock window.


    Suddenly the overhead speakers came on.


    ¡°Captain, Command is ordering you to remain in the shuttle until sensors finish their scan.¡±


    ¡°Screw the sensors. I didn¡¯t wait months of planning and preparation for this.¡±


    The man grabbed a flag with the emblem of a silver phoenix stitched on and unlocked the outer door.


    ¡°Sir-¡±


    Fresh air flowed into the airlock, washing away the scent of the recycled air. The exterior lights came on illuminating the area around.


    ¡°Always wanted to say this. One small step for man¡­¡± he said as he stepped onto the steel ladder reaching towards the ground.


    But before he could touch the ground, a thunderous BOOM could be heard in the distance. The ground shook and the fallen Captain had a very bad feeling something was wrong.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    ¡°Captain! Please return to the shuttle! Quickly!¡±


    In his field of vision, he could see shifting shadows in the distance on the ridge near where they had landed.


    ¡°Sir! Sensors are picking up large objects headed our way!¡± called out the 2nd in command from the airlock loudspeakers.


    He quickly ducked back into the airlock and emerged again with a flare gun, firing into the air. The magically enhanced flare lit up the area around for miles around, revealing a sight that chilled him to the core.


    ¡°You know what! Mars looks great this time of year! There''s Mars in this universe right?! Get us in the air!¡±


    He quickly shut the door as quickly as he opened it and started the launch sequences as an avalanche of several billions of tons of gray and black stone and dirt rolled down the slope towards the shuttle.


    ¡°Sir! The engines are on cool down!¡±


    ¡°Ronny, get the engines online!¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t! The maintenance computer keeps pinging the main computer with requests! I need to reboot the system!¡±


    The shuttle they were using had been completed shortly before the launch and had many corners cut due to budgeting, thus much of the equipment was not in top shape. The rumbling of death was so close now that objects magnetized to the desk started to rattle and come undone.


    ¡°BRACE FOR IMPACT!¡±


    A loud ¡°bang!¡± echoed throughout the shuttle and the lights went out. Screams erupted and metal groaned while everyone prepared for the end. But as soon as it started, the loud groaning of metal and the rumbling of an avalanche stopped. Everyone held their breaths and emergency lights came on, illuminating everyone in a red glow.


    ¡°Ronny, damage report.¡±


    The pale-faced, red-haired dwarven engineer looked back as his terminal finished rebooting.


    ¡°Generator 1 is offline. Number 2 and the auxiliary are damaged but capable of getting us in the air. The hull is punctured. Whatever hit the generators punched right through the armor like paper.¡±


    ¡°Ariel, comms?¡±


    ¡°Sir, the antenna has been unaligned. It will take some time to recalibrate it and get a signal back to comm-¡± responded tall elf.


    ¡°What the hell was that!¡±


    The hot temper of the Beastman in uniform boiled.


    An avalanche. The shuttle''s landing likely caused the area to destabilize and start a chain reaction.¡± said the glasses wearing elven scientist.


    ¡°But we scanned the area before we landed! That shouldn¡¯t have happened.¡±


    ¡°Maybe someone should have waited for the scans to come back before jumping out like an idiot.¡±


    ¡°2nd Lieutenant, cool you attitude. The captain was not responsible for what happened-.¡±


    ¡°Then who was!¡± beastman interjected.


    ¡°James knock it off. I think the better question right now is why are we all not dead.¡±


    Everyone was grim and silent. The sound of the cooling fans inside each terminal could be heard only to be broken by a single sound.


    Knock


    Everyone froze and turned to face the side of the shuttle where the sound had come from.


    Knock knock, knock


    ¡°Ariel¡­¡±


    ¡°External sensors are down.¡±


    ¡°Maybe it''s just a pipe¡­¡±


    Knock knock


    ¡°Can pipes change rhythm. James, grab the weapons.¡±


    The beastman took out a silver key and opened a cabinet in another room. From it he took several small round objects and 2 rifles.


    ¡°But sir, this could be alien life! We don¡¯t want to scare it away. We should be trying to communicate with it.¡± said the glasses wearing scientist.


    ¡°Little miss, I suggest you shut up and stay quiet. If you want to go out there and have a tea party with whatever that thing is, be my guest but don¡¯t get the rest of us killed in the process.¡±


    The elf girl withered under his fiery temper and shrunk back into her chair. The other crew members saw this and glared at the hot headed man. He had been this way ever since they could remember and his temper never got any better no matter how much time passed.


    Knock knock


    ¡°Enough, this is how it¡¯s going to go. I¡¯ll head out through the side airlock and attract it¡¯s attention while James goes through the top. If anything happens, shoot to kill. Ariel, work with Ronny and get this thing flight ready. Lia, you''re on comms. You don¡¯t need to set a course just get it into orbit. And above all keep the door locked.¡±


    He looked at each and every one of them, all merry attitude from before gone.


    ¡°Let''s go¡±


    Everyone moved about their duty as the sound of knocking continued like a song at a funeral march, each knock like the sound of a hammer on a nail in their coffin.


    ¡°Ready?¡± called out the captain.


    ¡°In position,¡± said James.


    ¡°Captain, please reconsider. Alien life...Didn¡¯t you at one point say you wished to come across it and make peaceful relations!¡± said Lia over the comms.


    ¡°That was a joke! Sigh Fine. If we don¡¯t have to fire we won¡¯t, but no promises. James?¡±


    ¡°As long as it doesn¡¯t make any sudden moves.¡±


    ¡°Good, now ready. 3...2...1...Opening hatch.¡±

 Chapter 3: Pain and Suspicion

    [¡°All clear over here. Proceeding to the source of the sound.¡±]


    [¡°Roger! Be careful Jarren.¡±]


    The captain could hear the soft whisper of his 2nd in command as he exited the spacecraft, rifle in hand and stuck to the shadows of the shuttle. He had taken off his shoes and now walked silently in nothing but the inner lining of his boots. Slowly sneaking around the side of the ship to find the source of the knocking which had gotten more and more frequently as time went on.


    He was prepared to fight if necessary. Many sacrifices had been made to get here, and it was the dream of many that had given him the chance to achieve this. As long as they stuck together, who could harm him and his friends!


    Moving silently but quickly, the figure tall in blue crept up on the right side of the shuttle, toward the source of the knocking. Just beyond the bend of the curved hull, the captain could see an ominous glow and thoughts of tentacle aliens and acid-spitting monsters filled his head.


    [¡°James are you in position?¡±]


    [¡°Yeah Sir.¡±]


    The captain slotted a rune covered round shot in the breech and switched off the safety. The ammunition for their weapons was desiged to imact only on live targets, so they didn''t need to worry about getting into a fire fight and damaging their ship.


    [¡°Sir, it''s on the back end of the craft now, by the primary thrusters. Permission to engage?]


    After he finished his preparations he sent confirmation.


    [Alright, We move on the count of 3. 1..2...3!¡±]


    The man rushed around the corner and turning on his illuminator while his partner opens the top hatch and took aim.


    Both figures froze as the small form of a young girl with luminous silver hair. She wore an unblemished white dress with no sleeves and no shoes, like one of those acolytes from the temples. Everything about her screamed innocent, from the tilt of her petite head to the wide eyes that shone like the sun,full of charm and life.


    ¡°¡°...¡±¡±


    Neither crew member let their guard down nor said anything. Someone or something had rolled an avalanche right down on top of them and they suddenly find a cute little girl tapping on the side their ship. The child exuded a calming, peaceful aura that contradicted their sense of alert. Not knowing what to do, both sides sat still in silence.


    ["Sir what''s going on out there!¡±]


    No one said anything until the little girl in front of them cocked her head the other way and peered through the darkness at the two strangers.


    "Who are you! Where did you come from!" Demanded the captain.


    ¡°^*&%)?¡±


    The sounds that came from her elegant little mouth made no sense to both men. Like the whistle of a warm summer breeze, the rumble of mountains, the call of the morning birds, and crash of oceans. Frightening but peaceful, resonating with something deep in the both of them.


    [¡°James here, the source of the knocking appears to be an unidentified humanoid. Possibly of alien origins. Whatever it is it doesn¡¯t speak Terrian¡±]


    [¡°The captain is trying to communicate with it? Sir! There are first contact protocols to follow! You need to-¡±]


    The man in charge ripped the earpiece out and looked back to the strange girl. He set down the rifle and looked at his partner and mouthed to stay alert.


    ¡°Who. Are. you.¡±


    The captain made signs and gestures as to try and make her understand. In the end, the little girl could only wonder what the big blue thing in front of her was doing? It wasn¡¯t as pretty or colorful. Maybe it''s a puzzle mommy Asta made for her? What kind of creature did her mommies make for her today?


    Oblivious to the weapons the two held at her, she sat down to think what she had to do to solve the puzzle her mommy had sent her.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    [¡°Sir! I have the scanners online and they''re detecting movement to the southeast!¡±]


    The captain turned to gaze expectantly at the forest behind him. Up on the ridge, emerging from the underbrush, a monster, the size of a siege tower burst forth. Fur like a field of hot coals, claws as big as swords, eyes like bonfires, and breath like a desert wind.


    [¡°Ariel! Tell me this thing can fly!¡±]


    [¡°Captain! We just started. Give us some time-¡±]


    [¡°You have 10 seconds!¡±]


    The man in blue grabbed picked up the little girl and carried her back into the airlock just as the roar of engines starting up could be heard.


    A great and thunderous ROAR resounded like the war cry of a dragon and the ground shook as it made rumbled down the side of the ridge at frightening speed.


    ¡°Get us in the air!¡±


    The captain rushed in and left the child on a seat while he started barking orders. The engines that should have been checked and repaired whirled to life as the magic reactor fired to life. The engines roared and were pushed to the limit, yet no altitude was made.


    ¡°Why aren''t we in the air!¡±


    ¡°Mr. Captain! I have some of the sensors online and it says gravity around the planet has been concentrated on our location! It''s like the moon doesn¡¯t want us to leave!¡±


    As soon as the words came out of the elves mouth, the beastman was the first to react and took aim with his rifle at the young child who was currently staring at the inside of the ship in amazement. There were so many new things she had never seen before, she never knew therewere so many people in the whole world. All her life, it had only been her, her mommies, and all her animal friends. Today, her universe grew.


    Regrettably, unknown to her, the universe also currently included a furry man pointing a deadly weapon at her.


    ¡°James!¡±


    ¡°2nd Lieutenant!¡±


    ¡°Sir! Protocol!¡±


    ¡°Mate! What are you doing!¡±


    The engineer and 2nd in command could only look back briefly before turning their attention back to the controls, unable to do anything about the situation behind them.


    ¡°Sir please move! That brat is the cause!¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t know that!¡±


    "There is a high likely hood it is!"


    ¡°Sir the bear!¡±


    From the cry of the engineer, the captain turned to look. Out the front view port, a massive monster had caught up with the shuttle and stood on its hind legs over the tiny little ship. It towered over the landscape roaring as if to declare ¡°Don¡¯t even think about getting away!¡±.


    ¡°WARP NOW!¡±


    ¡°In atmosphere sir!?!¡±


    Before the captain could answer the monster before them brought its paw down on the tiny intruders, luckily the large paw only grazed the ship just before the 2nd in command got the message and the warp engine was engaged. The ship whined and groaned in protest as it was pushed to the limits without proper time to prepare. Green energy lit up the engine core as it began burning away the essence inside its reactor. The increase in power was enough to overpower the gravity well the shuttle had become entrapped in and tear out of the inner atmosphere at breakneck speed.


    ¡°Warp Drive at 10% capacity. Artificial gravity is offline but life support is still running. When we get back I''ll see about getting it repaired.¡± the dwarven engineer said as objects around the cabin started to float upwards.


    ¡°*Phew*~At least were alive. Now can you release her?¡±


    The captain of the crew asked the man who still had his weapon trained on the young girl who was trying to look back out the window.


    She was kept trying to call out to her best friend that had nearly touched the big metal thing she was in. She wanted to go back and get her but she kept getting farther away. The armed beastmen knew something was still wrong but before anyone could say anything, the whole ship lurched and everyone went flying in zero gravity environment.


    For the crew members who had trained for a situation like this it was no trouble righting themselves, but for the young girl who had never left the confines of her home moons, she did an uncontrollable flip and slammed into the edge of a control panel. Blood poured out of the back of her skull as she cried out.


    Throughout the years and years of exploring the surface of her home moons, she had never experienced pain due to her mother''s downright paranoid pampering and worry. Wherever she went, any plants that had barbs would lose their thorns and bloom sweet smelling blossoms, stones and cliffs would turn to squishy mud holes and hills when she walked by.


    Simply put, pain was literally not in her vocabulary. Faced with this new sensation, she cried and screamed not knowing what to do.


    Everyone was stunned by the sudden outburst. It was just a head wound, not much really. But she was crying like she lost her arm. Her screaming, however, awoke something in them all. It was a cry that made them all want to comfort her and stop such a thing from happening ever again. Even the beastman, who did not entirely trust her, was speechless. He had been bashed a few good times in a fight, even got trampled by a war horse once. The screams and cries of the dying and tortured could not compare.


    Screaming in pain shattered the calm aura around the girl. The light in the cabin seemed to draw in away from its sources and try and shield the girl, hiding her out of sight. Every fiber of all the crew members present wanted to go and help her, but they could not move.


    The first to break the still was the timid elf who acted as the ship''s scientist.


    ¡°Sis grab the trauma kit.¡±


    She rushed over and pulled the free floating, crying child into her embrace. She soothed and tried her best to calm her. The child slowly calmed down and, albeit still in pain, recognized that someone was holding her. She looked up, expecting to see the face of one of her mommies but was met with the face of a strange girl with pointed ears.


    ¡°Trauma Kit. Now!¡±


    The whole crew that had sat unmoving went back to their jobs while Ariel went to get the Trauma Kit.


    The ship creaked and one look out the window told them just how much trouble they were in.


    The engines had been melted and parts of the shuttle drifted off into space. Ethereal chains held the shuttle in place as they watched, three glowing dots fly out of the atmospheres of the different moons and began multiplying, surrounding the ship as they went.

 Chapter 4: Surrender and Courage

    A sensation that she had never know attacked her. She had only ever known the tenderness and warmth that her mother''s brought her. She sat there, confused and crying. What was happening? She cried out for the comfort of her mother Selene, Mora, of Asta, but no one came. She screamed for someone to come and explain what was wrong, but no one said anything.


    She who was in great emotional distress over the first time experiencing pain and shock. But then a strange person came and helped her. She wasn''t her mommy, but she helped her. She smelled like her favorite trees and had a caring look in her eyes. She was a nice lady. She opened her mind to the girl, flowing her thoughts freely to the girl. Thanks and pleasant memories poured into the connection and the elven scientist was momentarily stunned., the elven scientist tried her best to sooth her until her sister finally snapped out of her trance and brought the emergency trauma kit.


    The scientist shook her head and put off reviewing all this until she had dealt with the problem at hand, she did her best to soothe the girl''s pain until her sister finally snapped out of her trance and brought the emergency trauma kit.


    The scientist carefully parted the silver locks of hair to find a gash on the back of the girl''s cranium. Drops of red blood and silver strands covered the wound making hard to see, but there was an undeniable impression there. She got to work administering basic first aid, wrapping a bandage around the little girls head while muttering a prayer.


    ¡°Wait shouldn¡¯t we clean it first?¡± Her sister asked.


    The elven scientist shook her head.


    ¡°We don¡¯t know if she might have a negative reaction any of the bacteria we carry from Terra. The shuttle is relatively sterilized but we can¡¯t take risks infecting the wound with germs she has no defense against.¡±


    Under normal circumstances, the proper protocol when making first contact was to make no hostile intentions and seek to out a way of communication as they were taught at the academy. However, the situation was abnormal. This little girl obviously belonged to someone and the fact that has been hurt by indirect actions they had taken will make any future communications with any other lifeforms either impossible or hostile.


    The protocols were there for a reason and she would respect them, however already violated they had been, they could still salvage the situation.


    While these thoughts were running through her head, the situation outside the shuttle had deteriorated.


    The ethereal chains held the ship in place. With the primary engines melted and turned to molten slag with no hope for escape. Not only did they not possess the materials to repair the engines but an army of glowing orbs had surrounded the shuttle and forming an impenetrable net around the shuttle. They flared up and morphed into thousands of silver lances, a deadly glow coming off each one. Bits of the melted engines drifted into one and was unceremoniously turned to dust.


    ¡°James¡­¡±


    ¡°Too many. Not even sure if our weapons can affect them. It¡¯s not wise to attack.¡±


    ¡°What about using the EVA suits to escape?¡±


    ¡°And risk those things moving to intercept, I don''t think so. We are surrounded with no means to defend ourselves and we can''t run away or hide. Our best option is to parley and discuss terms.¡±


    To the dwarven engineer who had known the beastman a long time, his answer was surprising and maddening. It was unlike him to wave the white flag in any scenario even if he was outnumbered and outmatched.


    The beastman saw the look on the dwarf''s face and replied.


    ¡°We cannot be reckless here. Under normal circumstances, I would not hesitate to try and create a weakness in the enemy''s encirclement or even use the EVA suits as you had suggested, but we are dealing with an unknown power. We have no way to contact Command about our situation nor do we have sufficient firepower to challenge them. And then there are political agendas to consider-"


    "Politicals be damned man! Our lives are at stake and you want to surrender because of some stuffy old men on a planet thousands of miles away!" Shouted the dwarf.


    "I mean not politics such as those that go on between men, I mean our relationship between us and "them". Because whoever "They" are, we are likely their first contact with Terra, and we must act accordingly. Like it or not, we are representatives of our species in this encounter. If we were to provoke them needlessly we could be endangering the whole of Terra should they be offended. They could be years ahead of us in magical and technological development. If we upset them, we could start a war. Thus, I strongly advise we parley. Your orders sir?¡±


    "i don''t think we have a choice. Look!"


    As he said so, three of the radiant orbs of silver light, brighter than the rest, flew out of the atmosphere, streaking across the darkness. The lances parted and the three orbs approached the shuttle.


    The hull groaned as bolts became undone and screws unthreaded themselves. Plating parted and the whole side of the shuttle facing the three flashing orbs pulled itself apart, opening the cabin to the vacuum of space, yet no one felt radiation burning their skin nor any suction force of the vacuum of space. Gravity seemed to turn back on as the crew members all slammed back down onto the deck, despite the artificial gravity not working.


    The three held their breath as figures that could only be described as Immortals descended. The leading one, a tall woman with bronze skin stormed down onto the light colored metal floor. She wore a crimson battle dress and eerie silver spear she held signified her a warrior, perhaps a bodyguard, they thought. You could not see her face through the visor of the helm, but one look at her and even the greenest soldier could tell she was a force not to be trifled with.


    From behind her, another long legged beauty descended. She wore a hoodless, ash gray robe with sleeves that brushed the floor as she lightly. Her features were charming, a pale face and delicate jawline, hair the color of black smoke drawn up in an ornate hairpiece, and eyes full of inquisition. With a book in one hand and a long shiny stiletto in the other, her eyes flickered from the elves holding the child to the gash on the back of her head, a dark glint could be seen in her sharp gaze.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°LUNABELLE!¡±


    Rushing past the other two, a gorgeous woman in a light blue chiton pushed the elven girls out of the way and cradled the girl in her arms. She wore no armor, nor weapon, or jewelry. Her dress plain and unadorned, her was hair unpinned flowed down her shoulder. Simple and ordinary, but every male member, including some of the females, were enchanted by her beauty.


    Yet her mannerisms indicated she was no mere nanny or handmaiden. Her form and grace rivaled the other two if not surpassed it.


    Powerful auras could be felt from all three. If it was the warrior or the clever looking women the crew could believe it, but the women with no weapon emitted the most potent one. The pressure she emitted was passive and carried a hint of distress, eclipsing the aura the other two posed to the point where the others were trivial.


    ''Oh no. Dieties! At least they do not appear to be hostile.'' thought the captain.


    The three of them broke open the hull of their ship and didn''t even need to worry about surviving the vacuum of space.Dealing with deities was a messy business. Religious practice was banned from the shuttle crew to keep conflict to a minimum since things often got out of hand whenever beings of immense power were involved.


    But how and who were they that they could pull a ship apart at it''s screws and not worry about dying?


    None of this mattered to the women cradling the girl. Tears stained her face as she hugged the girl to her chest, softly chanting a lullaby.


    A song from a time when words had yet to be born, when the minds of beings were a thing of the future and thought was just an idea. Raw emotions of sadness and joy, ideas of home and love, a lullaby from a time when intention and emotion was the language of the universe.


    She cried for a while, but slowly she grew tired and to the melody of old, fell asleep.


    The goddess halted her song and checked the back of the child''s head. Sure enough, the gash had mysteriously disappeared. She stood, and walked back towards the other goddesses. Suddenly the potent motherly aura she passively emitted disappeared, replaced with a deadly calm.


    ¡°Kill them.¡± she said.


    It wasn¡¯t a request, the moment the words left her mouth the goddess with the spear of silvery light pointed it at the crew and began to advance on the shuttle.


    ¡°Wait wait! Truce Truce!¡±


    The captain ran in front and began waving his arms in front of the three.


    ¡°Can you understand me? We aren''t here to hurt-¡±


    ¡°Kill them. And send this cursed vessel into the sun.¡±


    Ethereal chains tugged at the shuttle in the direction of the fiery ball of death and silvery lances advanced on the awaiting targets.


    Shouts of protest erupted as the lances tore through what was left of the walls and closed the net around them. The three goddesses had all but forgotten about the intruders and turned to leave when one the one called Selene halted and turned, a look of fury on her face.


    ¡°What did you just say!¡±


    The lances stopped their advance and the crew members all hurried to thank the woman only to be silenced by the point of the warrior''s spear. The goddesses rage was not directed at any of the protesting crew members, but at the elven girl who had been holding her child moments ago.


    ¡°I said, you have failed as a mother.¡±


    The rest of the crew members did not speak a word and instead looked at her in shock, their eyes seemed to ask the question ¡°What are you doing!¡±.


    ¡°Say that again!¡± the figure in blue said seethed.


    ¡°I said¡± the girl standing up.


    ¡°You have failed as a mother, and quite badly I might add.¡±


    ¡°Please pardon my friend, O great ones. We have all been under a lot of stress lately and her mind-¡±


    With a single death glare from the goddess in blue, the babbling captain was silenced. He could only curse his fate as unlucky, himself sure of his soon demise.


    ¡°I will have silence from you mortal! And you! You! You dare call me a failure of a mother! Did your parents drop you on your head as a child? Obviously they did not beat a sense of respect into you! Perhaps a few thousand years in eternal punishment will be a good teacher for your insolence.¡±


    Space seemed to shake and the stars grow dimmer. No one daring to say a word.


    ¡°She overreacted just now when she was injured. I wonder, with yourpampering...She hasn''t had a single discomfort in her life has she? You are a poor mother, for your own method of upbringing is flawed,¡± she said motioning to the sleeping child in the goddesses arms.


    ¡°Flawed! What is this nonsense? You have exactly 1 minute to explain, otherwise...¡± she said motioning to the darkness of space, a miniature black hole forming in the distance.


    The elf girl made a somber face. After she had been rudely shoved off the child, all the memories that the girl had tried to show her came rushing in. A never ending life of happiness. That is what the girl had experienced until now. she had never met with challenges or even a paper cut. And today, that blow to the back of her head was the first time she had truley experienced discomfort of any kind.


    The goddess impatiently tapped her toe against the dark metal floor, feeling this she had wasted enough time with these thieves and kidnappers.


    Seeing the impatient manners of the goddess, she quickly got to the point.


    ¡°This child...She holds a closeness to nature so strong, she was able to share her life like the ancient ents and nymphs could. She...when I am near her, I feel as though I am touching the heart of Lifetree itself.¡±


    The Great Lifetree was the guardian of the forests and a medium they used to commune with their goddess, Naturia. Once a year, or in times of disaster, an elven shaman would be tasked with entering the heart of the Great Lifetree to commune with Naturia for direction and guidance.


    Years ago she had once too been chosen from among the high elves to enter the Great Tree and ask for wisdom during the 32nd Demon war. That year, she was to tell the rest of Elvenkind to prepare for war with the forest defilers that had invaded their land. And it had not been a pleasant year.


    James had said that what she was speaking was not Terrian, but he was mistaken. She had not spoken any tongue of any of the races, but the language Naturia herself used to commune through the Great Lifetree, The language of No Words.


    When the girl had connected, it felt as though she was talking to the girl''s soul. Great distress and confusion had been blasted out in an emotional overload,but also the many years of happiness and comfort she had shared with the goddess in front of her.


    ¡°You have pampered and spoiled her too much! No one should pass through life without feeling being burdened by such things, it is a law laid down by the creators of life themselves. And in doing so, you have hurt her worse than any sword or stone ever could have.¡±


    ¡°Laws of the Creators of life, what utter nonsense is this. It is my realm and she is my child. I may do as I please. Who are you to question my methods! I can crush your entire world if I wanted to and your dare talk back to me!¡±


    The elven girl gave her a sad expression.


    ¡°You may be able to and have done all you said and more, but was it not your upbringing of her that resulted in this happening in the first place?¡±


    Just when the goddess in blue was about to make good on her promise and throw them into the nearby black hole, the one in gray came held her back.


    ¡°Sister, despite her attitude, this mortal has made a point.¡±


    ¡°But, Astenna!¡±


    ¡°Sisters, if we are to argue, I ask that we move this into a more suitable place.¡±


    Oddly enough, it was the goddess in armor who said this. Despite her looks as nothing more than a warrior, she was wise enough to carry out important matters in secrecy and away from prying eyes. They may be the rulers of everything within 10,000 leagues of their moons, but you never knew who was watching.


    ¡°Very well, Mora, return this vessel to the surface. Do not imprison them, but make sure they cannot go anywhere or get into more trouble. Mora, Selene, Come, we have much to discuss.¡±


    The battle goddess nodded and set about maneuvering the shuttle and its crew into the atmosphere of the red tinted moon. The black hole was dispelled and the crew relaxed. They were no longer in any immediate danger.


    Taking the child, the three turned back into glowing orbs and retreated back into the atmosphere of the gray moon.

 Chapter 5: Faith and Prayer Crisis

    As soon as the glowing orbs containing the goddesses and the child left, the hull of the shuttle stitched itself back together as if it had never been torn apart. Whatever artificial gravity had been active when the goddesses were around turned off and all the crew members returned to floating around. The shuttle crew breathed out in relief as the three goddesses left. The lone elf who had stood up to the three went limp and drifted into the awaiting embrace of her sister.


    ¡°You did great Lia. Right Sir.¡±


    A rare look of demand appeared on the face of the lieutenant as she gazed at her crew members and friends expectantly.


    ¡°Erm uh, yeah! Good Job Lia.¡±


    The odd and somewhat awkward praise from the captain was followed by a wave for the others to do the same.


    ¡°Well Done Little miss,¡± the beastman said.


    ¡°Great job...But could you please not endanger us like that again!¡±


    The Dwarven engineer begrudgingly said his thanks with an added bit at the end. Despite this, the timid scientist knew they were sincere.


    ¡°Ronny, I doubt if Lemina had interfered and said something we would still be breathing right now. A thank you is the least we can do.¡±


    The disgruntled dwarf went ¡°hmmp¡± and went to go inspect the shuttle.


    Everyone returned to their duties with the captain barking orders. The ethereal chains outside the shuttle continued to pull the ship towards the red-tinted moon. Previously, command had requested them to land on the blue moon of Selene because it had the highest chances of having liquid water and organic life. The red and gray moons of Mora and Antenna had been 2ndary priorities. Now they were being dragged towards th red moon.


    The elf scientist got up and went over to her workstation, retrieving a toolkit full of scientific devices she was supposed to use to on the moon to gather specimens if she ever got the chance.


    ¡°Sis?¡±


    The scientist continued to gather supplies and prepare microscopes, taking out a slide and as she went.


    ¡°Based on my analysis, those 3 appeared to possess the same names as the ones that the Tri-faced Moon Religion worships. I speculate that they are indeed the owners of the moons and are sacred territory to them just as the Infinite Forest is sacred to the elves.¡±


    Sacred Zones or Territories are places that a god has claimed with their power and held total dominance over. Some gods only allow certain individuals, tribes, or groups on their territory as a privilege. In exchange, they are expected to serve their god with obedience and reverence, with some exceptions of course. A believer of another god setting foot on their territory can sometimes be considered an act of war.


    The elven scientist floated over to the spot where the child had hit her head. She took a small test tube from her coat pocket and took out a cotton-tipped stick and began to swab the surface. After she was done, she brushed the slide with the bloody residue and collected some more into the test tube.


    ¡°I am curious about that girl. I know of no races that bleed red except for a few races of fire blooded in the east, and their blood possesses distinct burning or corrosive aspects, unlike this girls. Hmmm...there is more to her than meets the eye.¡± she said, examining the red liquid inside the tube.


    __________________________________


    The three orbs of light descended out of the atmosphere into a land of gray. While humans might see this as a lifeless moon, it was actually quite the opposite. True, its atmosphere was actually full of deadly gasses and toxins, but underneath the surface was another story. Hundreds of thousands of miles of caverns and tunnels stretched all the way around the moon and back.


    Inhabiting these tunnels were a variety of strange, alien life with crystals of all sorts of hues decorating their bodies. Everything from wolves with crystal horns to tiny birds with wings that were made of the stuff.


    On the surface, a massive crystal spire jutted out from the surface like the crystal atop a magic wand. It radiated power and dominated its dull gray and rocky surroundings. Inside of it was a fully functioning palace/fortress. Hundreds of beautiful rooms were carved out inside the giant spire. There were dining rooms made of diamond, bath halls of emerald, and ballrooms of bismuth.


    Retreating into the spire, Immediately upon landing, Selene excused herself a moment to go take Lunabelle to her room while the others convened in the conference room.


    Inside, an enormous slab of pure, Titanium Quartz stretching as long as a fashion runway to form a polished table, with black leather seats on either side and tasteful lighting fixtures along midnight black walls.


    The lighting along the walls was built to shine onto the table, drawing the attention of all present and bring out every color whenever the light touched it. When Lunabelle had seen it for the first time, she had been enchanted with the pretty lights and ask where they came from.


    Of course, Mommy Astenna had been more than happy to indulge the little girl''s question and explain the different spectrums of light and how they interacted with the reflected surface. Somehow the topic had ended up on lasers, one thing leadto another, and before she knew it, they were having a laser light show at the table and watching as they bounced off the table and hit a disco globe, spattering the room in red, green and blue lasers.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    When Selene and Mora had found them dancing on the table to music and laughed till their sides hurt. Who knew their silent and calm bookworm sister had such a side to her.


    Now devoid of any partying mood, the two sat facing each other, silently looking at each other.


    ¡°I think an explanation is in order Asta,¡± said the armored figure.


    Her sister would never do anything without a good reason. Stopping Selene from venting on the intruders had been unexpected, but not out of the unreasonable. However, keeping them alive and only taking them prisoner after the stunt they pulled kidnapping Lunabelle was totally unlike her.


    ¡°I suppose I should hurry and explain before Selene returns or I will never get two words out of my mouth. The mortal, as foolish as she was to say such a thing in front of Selene, had a point. We have pampered her too much. As a consequence, we have also been neglecting our duties for almost 2000 years now, with only an occasional bit of work done. When I went to investigate things on the planet''s surface, I discovered things have changed quite a bit.¡±


    The crimson armored goddess listened to her sister''s recount of the situation on the mortal planet. As she went on, the red goddess could only shake her head at the situation they had brought on. The goddess in gray reached out her hand and a scroll appeared in it.


    ¡°...the mortals have been applying the remnants of our sisters in the most interesting ways. The aftermath of the moon fall and our subsequent retreat to raise Little Luna was not taken well too. I have compiled the data and here is the chart of the estimates of how much our follower unit has decreased. The initial skyrocket of followers after the moon fall has reverted and decreased even further than before the event.¡±


    Before the moon fall, the humans had used their moons as a source of material and relied on them quite a bit. Despite the barbaric nature of it, them taking the material from them had raised their follower count exponentially. Humans, after all, had relied on them to create mining jobs, regulate the ocean tides, and were the center in many theatrical performances and movies. When the moon fall came around, they all thought they were condemned to oblivion, but hope had come when that old man had used remains from their sisters to start a religious order, pushing their follower unit back into a healthy state.


    After opening the charts and examining them for quite a few minutes she frowned.


    She hadn¡¯t expected the little humans to leave their goddesses so quickly. Maybe after 2000 years their standing might have begun to crumble, but wasn¡¯t this too quickly?


    ¡°I thought your initial prediction indicated a decay rate of 2500 years till high-class miracles were needed to restore?¡± she said.


    ¡°I had thought so too. There are too many variables to know what exactly sped up the decay, but I have a hypothesis that it has something to do with them coming into contact with some of that wretched Scarlet Artifacts.¡±


    Just before the destruction of the moon''s, Russia had successfully annexed 86.3% of the world. Their slogans and insignias could be seen everywhere. After the downfall of the moons, after all these years, people had just begun now to excavate old pieces of technology from before the downfall, many of them being marked with a scarlet Insignia of the Grand Council Socialists Republics. Of course, it had been hundreds of years and no one knew what such markings meant, only that they were red, hence the naming.


    Mysterious weaponry that could kill thousands in seconds, strange liquids inside of vials, metal armor suits 10 meters tall, all had been unearthed from strange underground places and metal houses. No one knew where they had come from, but what they did know was that they were deadly.


    There was an incident involving the unearthing, research, and subsequent accidental activation of a nuclear bomb had caused a small country to be turned into a fiery hell. There were many more incidents like it, a strange metal golem going berserk and destroying a small town, a whole village being wiped out after a vial of strange blue liquid thought to be a healing potion was broken open.


    Much of the time, the effects of the destruction wrought about these devices had lasting effects and spilled over into other countries. Nuclear radiation being swept by the wind into a neighboring empire, an entire area becoming plagued with sickness. A reputation of death and destruction had quickly accumulated.


    Thus an unspoken agreement was made between nations. With a few exceptions, no nation would use Scarlet Artefacts unless the destruction of their country was at stake.


    ¡°From what I was able to extract from the minds of the mortals and my investigation, a small band of leaders has formed a coalition to study the artifacts and understand their usage. They apparently have been studying these objects for the last 100 years and have made enough progress to improve their livelihoods and adventure into the celestial lands, or what they call Outer Space apparently. ¡±


    ¡°Why the secrecy from Selene sister? I fail to see the reason you wish to keep a few mere mortals digging up trinkets from our sister.¡±


    ¡°You make it sound so simple. *Sigh* It is important because while we have been raising Lunabelle, our followers are turning to new sources, such as this "Science" in search of hope. Now, here are my predictions of the further decay of our follower unit.¡±


    She handed the armored goddess another scroll. Unfurling it, her expression turned grim. The rate of decay continued to plummet until it reached a low, red part of the graph which had been labeled ¡°Demote Point¡±.


    ¡°This¡­¡±


    ¡°Our Demotion from celestial goddesses to nature goddesses is on the line. If this trend continues, our moons will cease to exist within the next 200 years.¡±


    ¡°Then why are we not talking with Selene right now!¡±


    A method of raising their follower unit while counteracting the effects of the Scarlet Artifacts on their follower unit was needed. Each of them had a stockpile of prayers and faith to work with. However, if they just threw a bunch of miracles at the planet and hoped for success, it would likely only lead to their definite demise.


    If they made a budget for their faith and prayer spending, then over the next 1000 years or so the should be able to recover. But they didn¡¯t have time, with only 200 years to work with a long term plan was out of the question.


    Faith and prayers of any sort were the lifeblood of all gods. Of course, there were exceptions, but for small celestial gods like them, it was a matter of literal life and death. If they spent too many prayers and faith performing miracles, then they wouldn¡¯t have enough to sustain themselves causing their immortal souls to fade.


    Truly the definition of being stuck between a rock and a hard place.


    ¡°I propose we send Lunabelle to the planet alone and have her act as-.¡±


    *SMASH*


    The two whipped around weapons draw to see a glass orb shatter and scatter across the dark obsidian floor. The figure of Selene standing in the doorway in disbelief and betrayal at the words of her sister came out of her mouth.

 Chapter 6: Beautiful moon

    After Selene excused herself from the others, she first took Lunabelle to the bath and washed away the blood that had congealed in her hair, brushing the shoulder length silver strands back into perfection. Afterward, she dressed her in her favorite fluffy pajamas and took her back to her room within the Crystal Spire.


    In here, pictures of various puzzles Lunabelle had solved decorated the room. Photos of her with each and every one of her mommies surrounded a grand bed that could only be described as a pink cloud. Playing in the tide pools at a beach Selene had made, exploring with Mora in a forest specially made for her, making a book fort with Astenna. Years and years of good times framed to remember. Fake windows projected a beautiful meadow of flowers of all colors and up on the high ceiling, a real time 3D image of a galaxy acted as a lamp, illuminating the room in a soft blue light.


    As she walked in carrying the girl, little animals with clear crystal bodies ran out of the cover of the furniture and instantly surrounded the mother and child. There were 6 of them each with their own color crystal body. The three mothers had seen a similar human tradition where they would give their young small stuffed animals to cuddle when in bed. They had copied this tradition and used live rabbits instead, on the argument that they would be much more cuddly and thus make Lunabelle smile even more.


    ¡°Oh for star''s sake! Where''s Zora?¡±


    The bear companion should have gotten her message earlier. Someone needed to be by her side at all times! She would do it herself but she needed to get back to Mora and Astenna. They were probably waiting in the conference room, Astenna had been eager to discuss something.


    She set Lunabelle down on the bed and put her favorite cuddle slime next to her. Mora may not be the most creative when it comes to giving presents, but giving Little Luna a slime to hug while she slept was a brilliant idea.


    *Click*


    ¡°YAY! Cute picture of Little Luna while she''s sleeping number 21701 acquired!¡± she quietly exclaimed while holding a crystal orb.


    A while back, Astenna had come up with the brilliant idea to document Little Luna¡¯s achievements by creating an orb that could recreate the scene in a holographic 3D picture. Unfortunately, she would later regret making them single use when Selene kept using up hers all on random moments like when Lunabelle was sleeping, playing with Zora, or chasing a butterfly.


    ¡°Moments like that MUST be documented though!¡± she said adamantly.


    Astenna...Why had she stopped her from killing those mortals? They had defied tried to steal her most precious away from her! Only death awaited those who dared to try and steal away Lunabelle from her. If any of them protested then she would reaffirm in their minds just who was on top.


    And that insufferable elf who dared to challenge her authority and question her methods! She could exterminate the entire elven race if she wanted to, that petty nature goddess of theirs wasn¡¯t strong enough to challenge her, and yet she still dared to talk back.


    ¡°Failed as a mother¡­¡±


    She hadn¡¯t shown it, but those words had hurt her deeply. She had devoted her life to being her mother after all, how could they not hurt her. All the energy and time she had spent playing and being with her, even going out of her way to reshape the nature of her celestial body.


    She had given everything to her, and that girl had told her she had failed.


    The goddess closed her eyes and remembered the first moment she had ever set eyes on the girl.


    _____________________________________


    ¡°No...No...¡±


    Their stupid headstrong older sister had gotten her younger sibling, not including the youngest 3, to crash their celestial bodies into the Tiny planet. And to make matters worse, it would seem they had been planning on not telling them, the three youngest.


    ¡°Why! Stupid! Idiot! ¡± tears streaming down a young Astenna¡¯s face.


    ¡°Big sister¡­gone...¡± came a shocked Mora.


    Selene said nothing as she watched the impact moment over and over in her head. It had to be a trick. One of Triana¡¯s illusions. Any second now they were going to jump out and scream ¡°PSYCH!¡±. Mora would chase Triana with her spear, Asta would hit the twins over the head and lecture them on how they were the older and had to act more responsible, and Selene was going to get a hug from Zima.


    ¡°Triana...Come out now. You got us...please come out...Mora doesn¡¯t like it when you play mean tricks on her...Morgan...Ava...Where are you? If you apologize now maybe Asta won¡¯t hit you¡­Zima...¡±


    ¡°Shut up! Just shut up!¡±


    Mora lashed out at Selene and screamed at her. Her spear missed by a long shot but her words hurt Selene more.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°They''re Gone! OK! They''re dead!¡± Mora screamed while wailing.


    Astenna wasn¡¯t even conscious of what Mora was saying, much less in any able to stop her from saying such things. The normally logical and calm girl was curled up in a ball, muttering over and over how they could have found another way, how they WOULD have found another way.


    There was an enormous flash of light as the surface of the planet turned molten and the moon broke apart. And that was the final straw, reality seemed to hit Selene all at once and she woke up from her trance. Heartbroken and in turmoil, she fled back to her celestial body crying.


    She cried and cried and cried, praying, hoping, pleading with any force in the universe to return her family to her. But no one came, and there she sat feeling that life couldn¡¯t go on without big sisters.


    This pain she felt...death would be better than this.


    Everything was silent. A deathly sorrow covered the moon.


    Just as she was about to rip out her celestial soul, a small little *Bump* broke the silence.


    ¡°*Sniff Sniff* What¡­?¡±


    She looked out of the cave over her celestial body and spotted a little object resting on the tippy tip of a new mountain she had wanted to surprise Zima with.


    Curiosity stopped her and she went over to look.


    A child? Sitting in a cradle was the dead body of a human child. The tiny soul that was supposed to have gone to the underworld as soon as it died did not. Instead, by some instinct, it clung to the cold body and shivered.


    She looked around, unable to see who had brought this thing to her doorstep. Her first thought was ¡°How dare they invade my realm!¡± but before she could bellow the words she stopped. In a sense, the child was like her. Abandon, lonely, lifeless. She knew what the lost little soul was going through and couldn¡¯t help but pity the infant. With a wave of her hand, the heart of the infant restarted, its lungs filled with life. As she did so, she could not help but lament how she could return this child to life but was powerless to restore the life of her sisters.


    The cry of a newborn filled the mountains, banishing the gloom that had loomed over all.


    Suddenly, Selene felt lighter, happier. Even though her sisters had died, this new life had been born from the ashes. She held the little girl in her arms and rocked her back and forth. Technically she had just been born, or reborn however you wanted to count it. What were human women supposed to do after giving birth? Her own mother had given her a ball of supercharged mana to suck on until she grew old enough to eat out of the Ether. Oh, how delicious it had been.


    In years to come, Astenna would pound her head into the wall whenever the subject of how Lunabelle was supposed to fed was raised.


    ¡°Alright! Supercharged mana ball it is! Let''s make it strawberry flavor!¡±


    A pink ball of mana the size of a marble appeared in her hands. She popped it in the mouth of the little child and rocked her back and forth. The child shook and wriggled cried.


    Selene panicked. What was she supposed to do! She had never done that when she ate supercharged mana! She had even made sure to add extra light mana for beauty purposes. Just as she was about to run and get Astenna, the baby in her hands let out a big *BURP*.


    ¡°Phew! Stinky!¡±


    She patted the back of the little girl and laughed. The little girl yawned and cuddled closer to Selene.


    ¡°She''s tired? She needs a blankie!¡±


    Her own mother had given her a fluffy little blanket woven from Stardust. She didn¡¯t have stardust, but she had Moondust!


    She floated closer to the ground and gathered up a handful of the ambient dust. She carefully wove a sheet of shiny silver Moondust and Ether, taking extra care to make it soft and silky.


    When she was done, she wrapped the girl in it and put her back in the cradle, shifting the cloth that was already inside to form a soft pad underneath the infant.


    She flew back to her cave and watched over the child as she slept. She wondered where she had come from. Obviously, she had come from the tiny planet, but who brought her here? What was her name?


    ¡°Well, you can¡¯t go without a name. Hmm¡­Uuughhh!¡±


    What do humans name their children? Jane? Marry? NO! These plain old names wouldn¡¯t do! If she was serious about raising this child as her own, she needed an amazing name!


    She grabbed the cradle, careful not to disturb the sleeping child and flew out into the atmosphere. As she reached high into the atmosphere, she made sure to shield the child in her own personal atmosphere and magnetic shield to keep her safe from the vacuum and radiation.


    ¡°Hmmmm¡­.names¡­.names¡­¡±


    She gazed around at the emptiness and vastness of space. Being up here had always helped her think. Some people thought it was dark and cold, but to her, a celestial being, it whispered of mystery and adventure, of opportunity and beauty.


    ¡°Beauty...A human like you could never have had a chance to view a spectacle like this. Even if those pompous, gas balls over in the Aldameada galaxy say stars are the best, my sisters and I would always choose moons.¡±


    Every celestial being has a choice when they create their celestial body, most chose to have stars as their celestial body and shine in the sky while inflating their egos, thinking themselves as magnificent and majestic. However, stars are as abundant in the universe as there are grains of sand in a desert. Not everyone can outshine the other.


    When it was her and her sisters turn to create their celestial bodies, their mother had told them something.


    ¡°A star shines brightly from afar, grand and lonely. Like little diamonds on dark velvet. Pretty to look at, but unapproachable as a fiery hell and for such a price, tis not even the brightest thing in the sky. I don¡¯t want you to all be separated from each other or forgotten¡± their mother had said gathering their bodiless souls around her.


    ¡°I want you to shine and live happily together.¡± were her last words to them.


    So when it was their turn to find a place to belong in the cosmos, it was Zima who had found the tiny planet.


    ¡°Let us be sister moons on this tiny planet!¡± she had exclaimed.


    Thus, each and every one of them had created a beautiful moon. Shining in the sky over the tiny world.


    ¡°Beautiful moon...Perfect! Your name is Lunabelle, a Beautiful moon!¡±


    ___________________________________________


    Selene snapped back to reality. Wiping away a few tears, she looked at the crystal clock on the wall and realized she had kept the others waiting for a while now.


    She picked up the orb and hurried out of the room, heading towards the conference room. She couldn¡¯t wait to show them the cute picture of Lunabelle she took. They were going to love it!


    After running through crystal encrusted walls, and passing more of Lunabelle¡¯s favorite pets, she finally made it to the conference room. She walking about to apologize for her lateness when she heard what the others had been saying before she entered.


    ¡°I propose we send Lunabelle to the planet alone and have her act as-.¡±


    *CRASH*


    No, No, NO! Not again! Please don¡¯t take another person she cares about!

 Chapter 7: No hope...

    ¡°Selene!¡±


    The Mora called out to her and she froze.


    Selene was emotionally joined at the hip with Lunabelle. Astenna had good reason to talk while she had been gone, but unfortunately, Selene had walked in at probably the worst moment. Her eyes were moist as if she had been crying a short time ago as her form visibly shook.


    ¡°No!¡± Selene shouted.


    ¡°Selene please let us explain!¡±


    ¡°No! Lunabelle isn¡¯t going anywhere alone and certainly not to the tiny planet!¡±


    She bent down and gathered up the ruined crystal shards to the orb she had been so excited to show the others moments ago.


    ¡°Selene, please! Our follower unit is going down rapidly and-¡±


    ¡°No!¡±


    She cried and ran out of the room, visibly in tears. Mora moved to go after her but Astenna stopped her.


    ¡°Just give her some time. She''ll come around.¡±


    ¡°But what of our follower count? Every second counts!¡± Mora said with urgency.


    She understood that the more their follower count went down, the less power they would have at their command. And in a universe where a rival celestial deity or eradicator class monster could come around at any moment, it didn''t bode well with Mora who liked to be ready to fight anything.


    ¡°Right now our words won¡¯t get through to her. Wait until she has a clear mind then we both should properly explain. As cruel as it is, Selene needs this just as much as we do.¡±


    Mora nodded and the two left the conference room. Mora to go and oversee the containment of the mortals from the tiny planet, Astenna to go and research effective methods of raising their follower unit, and Selene went and cried at Lunabelles bedside, holding her tiny hand in her own.


    _______________________________


    ¡°Amazing!¡±


    The elven girl exclaimed from her hunched position over a microscope. She had been able to collect blood samples from the edge of the console and even was able to recover a strand of hair. When she placed it under the microscope she had shrieked in amazement.


    ¡°Will you pipe down!¡±


    The irritated dwarf bellowed out of the floor crawl space he was currently in.


    ¡°Some of us have important things to do, such as make sure we not explode!¡±


    He had been working for the better part of 3 days to fix what he could on the badly mistreated shuttle. Despite not having the materials to do so, so far, he had pounded heat sinks back into form, welded cracks in the hull, stiched the sensor grid back together, and a whole slew of other problems. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about the melted/missing main engine.


    The communications array had been the first thing the captain had ordered fixed in order to get into contact with HQ, but despite his best attempts, there was still something wrong even after quadruple checking the dish alignments.


    The elven scientist''s sister was busy helping the Dwarf find the problems with the array when she heard him shout.


    ¡°Calm down Engineer Zahar! Sis, if you could please, again for the 50th time, study whatever is fascinating in silence while we are trying to work. There are a lot of delicate and small parts here and some of them we can¡¯t replace.¡± the lieutenant said.


    Recently, ever since her sister had gotten her hands on those cells of the little girls, she had been ecstatic about studying them, which was weird. Usually, she was quiet and poised whenever she was in the laboratory. When the others had asked her what was so interesting she had merely told them ¡°Something that could possibly change the world!¡± and went on her merry way.


    ¡°I¡¯m telling ya! Maybe if she wasn¡¯t shrieking half the time, I swear we would be landing on Terra again by now!¡±


    ¡°Engineer Zahar! please, go back to working on the mana relay. Sis, have you seen the captain?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s out there playing with the barrier again.¡± she said not looking up from her microscope.


    Ever since they had been imprisoned here, a transparent red barrier had kept them and their ship from moving out of the vicinity. It was about a mile in diameter and impervious to all the attempts to break out of it the captain and corporal had come up with.


    ¡°Well can you go and help them. You¡¯ve been cooped up in here for days now!¡±


    ¡°But there''s so much to do in here!¡±


    They say that elves make the best scientists and scholars due to their closeness to nature and for the curiosity of that which they are bound by sacred law to protect. This fusion of both science and religion made the elven nation one of the most knowledgeable about the natural world with the dwarves being their close rivals with their extensive knowledge of metals and earth. Unlike the dwarves, however, the elves were not willing to exploit nature and mine it up to see what they could do with it. Because of this, in terms of military power, the dwarves win hands down.


    The elf scientist rambled on for a few minutes about several processes she MUST go through before her sister finally had enough.


    ¡°Lemina! Just...go¡­¡±


    She too had grown tired of her sister''s incessant mutterings and random shouts of awe at something no one else in the crew understood.


    ¡°...Ok¡­¡±


    The dejected scientist got up from her workstation and proceed out of the wide open airlock. The power had gone offline after the little encounter with the goddesses, the very expensive dwarvish crafted reactor no longer worked, and they only had access to backup generators. The dwarf had claimed he needed to use the majority of the power for repairs. Since the atmosphere outside was breathable and they needed the repairs done as soon as possible, the captain had decided to deactivate all unnecessary systems like life support and concentrate on things such as repair and communication.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    The elf scientist had been able to convince the captain to allow her a small amount of power to run the microscopes and Electro-Arcane Spectrometer. He was reluctant to do so, but agreed, he too was slightly curious about the alien girl.


    The crimson tinted dome that surrounded them was impervious to any of the weapons they had had on hand. In response, he had to use the Anti-Material explosives equipped to the shuttle to try and open a hole in their prison. They had originally been intended to set up a landing site for future expeditions, but under the circumstances had been repurposed to try and break out of the dome.


    If they were still here after a week had passed by with no contact with HQ or interaction with the presumed goddesses of this area, then they would attempt to blow a hole out of the shield and launch all the life pods. There were twenty life pods in total, so if the goddesses came after them, they all had a 1 in 4 chance of surviving unless they could somehow tell which pods they were in, in which case they were all probably going to die.


    It was day three and comms had not been fixed and there had been no interaction with the deities so the captain decided to experiment with the barrier and see how much explosives they would need to break the dome, or even if they could. Due to the limited supply of explosives they had, though, he had decided to do so on a small scale and calculate how much would be needed on a large scale.


    ¡°Captain!¡± the elven scientist called out from the airlock.


    *BOOM*


    ''Never mind, found him.''


    A small detonation of explosives rattled the shuttle and its inhabitants. From her perch on in the airlock, she was able to see where the smoke from where the magical explosion had come from and set out in that direction while her sister calmed a dwarf complaining about concentration again.


    All around, a barren red desert was present. It was nighttime and the sands inside the barrier had cooled to a bearable degree. They had found out quick that it was near impossible to travel during the day thanks to the scorching sun and the barrier didn¡¯t seem to provide any shade. Thankfully, there were no desert scorpions or other monsters to cause them problems. Small ways away from the shuttle was an oasis which they could use to replenish their water. However, there were no plants or trees with anything edible on them. On a side note, Lia took a few samples of the strange Palm tree-Oak tree hybrids to study later.


    The elf scientist ran across the desert sands and made it to the site of the explosion in 15 minutes. The captain and Major were inspecting thebarrier near a few dark scorch marks in the sand with measuring equipment borrowed from the lab.


    ¡°Great, another 5 charges down the drain.¡±


    ¡°Sir, I don¡¯t believe this method is via-¡±


    They spotted Lia coming up on their spot and stopped talking as she approached, silently looking to one another as if to say ¡°We¡¯ll talk later¡±.


    ¡°Hey, Ariel told me to come and see if I could help?¡±


    ¡°No actually, we were almost done and getting ready to pack up.¡± The captain said as he picked up his equipment. "If you could tell her we¡¯ll be right up in a few minutes that would help, though.¡±


    ¡°OK! More time to examine the cells!¡± she said the last bit quietly.


    She began to run back, excited by the new that she could go back to studying the cells she had been concentrating on before she had left.


    The two men packed up all the equipment and began the trudge back to the shuttle with packs laden with today''s water supply and measuring devices.


    ¡°Sir what should we tell the others?¡±


    The captain thought about the results of the tests they had been running over the past few days.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll bring it up at dinner and as for what to do¡­¡±


    He pursed his lip and looked back at the crimson barrier.It looked like something flimsy a novice magician might set up, but actually it had not even had a mark on it after detonating explosives on it.


    Half an hour later, the whole crew gathered up in the main room and rations were handed out. As far as food goes, they had it better than your run of the mill soldier. Tonight was Steak and Potatoes stew. Metal tubes containing diced potatoes, meat, dried mushrooms, and various powders were combined with hot water and shaken. That and a bit of flat bread like a quesadilla and a spoon was all that was included inside. It was simple but compared to the hard bread and watery soup you get in the army, it wasgood enough.


    Despite the tasty meal, everyone but the Lemina had a downcast expression. The meal was delicious, but to them, it tasted like ash. In contrast, the scientist had a chipper smile on her face as she gobbled down her meal, a spoon in one hand and a notebook in the other.


    ¡°So how did the testing today go?¡±


    The dwarf hesitantly broke the silence with a question.


    The captain and beastman gave each other another knowing glance. They wished they had better news to tell.


    ¡°About that. I¡¯m afraid we haven¡¯t even put a dent in it. Even using the tool you gave us Lia, we were barely able to detect any change. I¡¯ll send you the raw data later, but even just eyeballing it, I doubt we can make even a pinhole in it...How about you? Did you get in contact with HQ?


    The beastman and human gave hopeful looks to the dwarf and elf.


    The elfish lieutenant and the dwarven engineer also gave each other a knowing glance. They had spent days working on the shuttle and had repaired some of the damage, but when it came to the broken comm array, neither could figure out what was wrong no matter how many checks and double checks they did.


    ¡°No, we weren''t able to restore communications. We have been working on it for hours but we can¡¯t find the problem. We realigned the array and even changed the magic cylinders, but it¡¯s still not functioning...¡±


    The dwarf fell silent and sunk in his seat. He was a dwarf! A machine that refused to work under his hands was an insult to his pride as a craftsman. But no matter how much he shined, replaced, and ran the system, there was no change. Failing to repair something in such a critical time such as this...it was just unbearable!


    The elf, seeing his dejected look, went on with the explanation.


    ¡°Anyway, we were able to repair the auxiliary thrusters and seal the cracks in the hull. Life Support seems to work, but navigation is having problems too."


    No matter what they did, they were foiled at every turn when it came to repairing vital machineries such as the comms or navigation.


    Sir, it is my opinion that there is some outside interference stopping the radio and nav computer.¡±


    Considering the evidence, the captain was more than willing to agree with her, but knowing the problem didn¡¯t help if they couldn¡¯t deal with it. No escape, no communications, no contact from their jailers. Not to mention there were going to be more problems when rations start to run low. Only him, the captain had access to the supplies like food, drugs, and explosives in case of a mutiny. And last time he checked the stocks, they were about 5 to 7 days off from running completely out of food.


    The captain stared down at the bowl of stew that had gone cold. Which was a pity, he was sure that in another week or so he wouldn¡¯t be able to enjoy such luxuries.


    All while this happened, the scientist was busy licking her container clean while looking at a notebook full of scribblings and drawing in Ky¡¯tharian, the elven language, a smile plastered all over her face. She turned her page every few minutes and wrote down something every now and then, humming a song from her childhood.


    ¡°What are you so damn happy about! Can¡¯t you understand that we''re steam''n trapped here!¡±


    The beastman, who had been irritated by the girl''s behavior, blew up and started shouting at her. She didn¡¯t look up from her book and simply just replied with ¡°you have no idea¡­¡±


    Infuriated, he tried to get up but was back by the captain and the lieutenant. Even now, she was calm and reading her book. Noteven bothering with the spectacle in front of her.


    ¡°Lia, I think we all deserve an explanation as to what you''re been doing these days.¡±


    Finally, the girl looked up from her notes glanced at the captain, a look of excitement on her face.


    ¡°You really wanna know?!¡± she said in a voice that quivered in happiness.


    ¡°Yes! Please, Lia, tell us in terms we can understand what''s so interesting!¡± her sister said exhausted with her antics.


    The scientist all but dropped the remains of her dinner and ran over to her workstation. She picked up a multitude of papers, microscope slides, and ran back over. She set everything down on the seat she had been using and began her improvised presentation.

 Chapter 8: Extraterrestrial Loli?

    Lia set up her notes and data on the chair she had been using, when she was done, she turned to face her audience.


    ¡°When I graduated from Imperial Academy, I was always singled out for my ability to remember species designation and racial details.¡±


    It was true, she had been bullied quite often and called teacher''s pet by nearly everyone in her class during her prime years in the Academy. Her sister certainly had wrought vengeance upon all who were bold enough to do so, but it had left her ostracized from the rest of her peers. Nobody was dumb enough to mess with the younger sister of the star student, Ariel Hawkers.


    ¡°So when I began looking at the cells I gathered from the girl, I honestly thought I was surprised! They weren''t from any species I could remember, and even when I ran it through the database, there was a 0% match with any known species! Zero! Zilch! ¡±


    This was odd. The magical organism and species index was a massive library of every known species the elves had ever encountered, with records of their DNA, EBRF(Ethereal Biological Residue Footprint), body type, habitat, and ISQ(Instinct Sentience Quotient). The way the database works is it scans the different parts of the sample provided and runs those parts against all known parts of other species. For example, Kobolds look like dogs or wolves, but when searched up in the database, are found to be distant descendants of dragons.


    Even if the species is not the same, the machine will still compare them to other species and show what species the parts of the sample resemble. For a 0% to come up was, to everyone''s knowledge, impossible.


    ¡°Huh, would you look at that. Something the great elven researchers haven¡¯t found before.¡±


    The dwarf had finished with his little bout of self-pity and just went back to being a crude towards the girl and everyone else.


    ¡°Can it Engineer. So what are you saying, sis? Are you saying she''s not Terrian? That she¡¯s some sort of Alien?¡±


    ¡°That''s exactly what I am saying. That or there''s a whole other, never before documented ecosystem on Terra we have not explored yet. And forget species! Strictly speaking, the ¡®cells¡¯ I harvested are not cells at all. It¡¯s like, inanimate matter that suddenly decided one day to get up and start walking around!¡±


    ¡°So she''s a golem? An artificial construct?¡± the captain asked.


    ¡°Not necessarily. A golem is just a mass of matter controlled by an external source or force. Even a ghost possessing a golem isn¡¯t thinking for itself. The ghost is still the one driving the golem. It can¡¯t feel pain or think for itself just carry out orders, which she can definitely do. And at the same time, I¡¯m not saying she''s some sort of homunculus either. A Homunculus is just artificial life similar to cloning just with a little variation from the original. I¡¯m not even sure if girl is the proper terminology here since girl refers to the female sex. Who knows if she can even reproduce! How would she be classified then...¡±


    She wasn¡¯t even sure if you could call this ¡®girl¡¯ a lifeform since she didn¡¯t have cells. As far as she could see, it looked as if a pile of inorganic substances picked themselves up one day and decided to suddenly organize themselves, start thinking, moving, learning, and communicating. None of the tools she had could figure out the age of the sample she had, and when she tried to run computer simulations, they came back inconclusive.


    It made no sense at all! Normally cells would require energy to move and sustain themselves, but if she didn¡¯t have cells does that mean she didn¡¯t use energy to sustain herself? Doesn¡¯t that mean her physical state will never decay? Not even gods were immortal, they died all the time. It¡¯s just that they were so hard to kill that they might as well be immortal. But her...Was she even affected by the passage of time? If she was left in a box for half a trillion years would she emerge the same, in the same physical state as she was in when she went in?


    Everyone was intrigued.


    ¡°And you got this all out of a few hair and blood cells?¡±


    To this, the elf smiled. She took out a packet of photographs and distributed them to the crew.


    ¡°Take a look at the third photo. This is one of the first photos I took of the ¡®cells¡¯. And why I call them cells well...You''ll see why.¡±


    The other, curious, opened up the packet and looked at the photo marked with a 3. It was a blurry photo containing several small, silver white objects surrounded by darker gray objects reminiscent of animal cells. Each one was interconnected with the other via a web of darker gray material.


    ¡°What exactly is this?¡± her sister said.


    She majored in command and only took biology to fill her science requirement in the academy. It had been so many years that she had forgotten almost all of it.


    ¡°When I first looked at those ¡®cells¡¯, I thought they might have been fossilized or something, but when then I noticed that they were all moving! This! It''s so strange! And those black lines, It''s like their some sort of magical parasite, but they''re not even alive, just like the other cells in the sample! As far as I can tell, their all some sort of gathering of inorganic matter that has decided to organize itself in an organic manner. As for what those ¡®cells¡¯ are. Don¡¯t know exactly. When we get back to Terra I¡¯m going to do more research. Those ¡®cells¡¯ are obviously an organic pattern, I just don¡¯t know what they come from.¡±If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    At this point, most of the crew was at least beginning to see why she had been acting strange, shouting in amazement at random times, and literally sleeping at her workstation.


    The captain thought back to his old universe. Alien life was not something they had discovered when he was pulled into this new world. Before the war, scientists had been saying for years they could discover new life on other planets. Technology had advanced to the point where intergalactic travel was no longer science fiction. And yet here he was, in a magical universe stuck in the middle ages, on one of three magical moons, with magical creatures like elves and beastmen as crew members aboard a magical space shuttle. Oh, the irony.


    "Oh, and don''t forget the Extraterrestrial Loli we failed to capture. It was so much easier when there was a walkthrough..." the captain whisper to himself.


    ¡°Anyway, I don¡¯t think there''s much more I can do with the tools and database I have here. I¡¯ll need a full lab to fully pick apart these cells properly. What I have here just isn¡¯t suited to this kind of work. This is amazing! Non-organic life! The professor on earth would be amazed!¡±


    Prior to being picked for the moon mission, she had been a student who had just finished her doctorate in herbology and ethereal physics and was working on a new application for a type of ignis moss for medical purposes. If she had succeeded, then cheap anti-flame element potions would not have been out of the question. Adventurers looking to dive into fire type dungeons, craftsmen such as non-dwarf blacksmiths and other fire related crafters, and even lava miners would have bought such a product by the cartload.


    But when the moon mission was announced, she had jumped at the chance. Unfortunately, she the way she had gone about securing her seat involved giving her data and research she had collected to the previous seat holder. Giving away the data she had worked so hard on had been like someone had torn her arm off, but the chance to find something never discovered on the moon overridden all feelings of hesitation she had.


    Her professor had been thoroughly disappointed, though. He knew how hard she had worked on her thesis. And the guy she ended up giving the data too had not been a very good character. He was a nobleman who was only seeking to advance himself in the eyes of the board of science and magicks. Compared to a trip to a giant rock in the sky, 40 years of data for a new potion for heat immunity was worth far more in the eyes of the nobleman.


    To add insult to injury, her father had not been very supportive of her decision and her mother had outright been opposed to it. She was already risking one of her daughters on this hair brained trip into the sky, so when her youngest, Lia, had told them she was going with Ariel, it was not received well. But they were adamant, despite the pleading of their siblings and Things deteriorated and they ended up not speaking to each other and Lia moving in with Ariel.


    ¡°OK, thats enough for tonight sis. We can continue this tomorrow. Although thanks for letting us know.¡±


    Her sister wisely stopped her sister from continuing. While she was highly curious about what the ¡®the little girl¡¯ was, she was more concerned about keeping the crew in top shape. Tomorrow was going to be another hard day, and her sister cutting into the next 4 hours of their sleep time was not going to help.


    ¡°Right, well I¡¯ll take the first watch. Lia, if you could give me more detail on your thoughts about what this ¡®thing¡¯ is capable of tomorrow, that would be helpful.¡±


    The beastman took the first watch not because he was not tired, but because he wanted time to process this information Lia had shared. An unknown enemy was currently holding them prisoner and cutting off all contact with their commanders. Now they learn that the enemy was capable of feats outside the knowledge of the elves. With no reliable information to base his strategies off of and no information of possible weak points, he knew they were in a bad spot.


    The elven scientist, however, was the exact opposite. She hadn¡¯t been sure if the trade she had made back then would have ruined her life or turned her into a renowned scientist.


    She had thrown away the respect of her teachers, her relations with her parents, her data, all on the chance that she might discover something amazing. And luckily, as fate would have it, She did.


    ________________________


    It was after Ronnie switched in with James on watch that the captain decided to talk to him. He had been awake for the past 2 hours, contemplating what he would say after the watch switched.


    ¡°Hey Ronnie, can we talk?¡±


    The dwarf looked up from the electronics he was fiddling with.


    ¡°What!¡± he said with a little more force than intended.


    ¡°Look, I get that we''re all stressed, but you were digging a little hard into Lia today.¡±


    ¡°With all due respect sir, you weren¡¯t the one who had to endure her antics for the past few days.¡± He said gruffly.


    ¡°Ronny...forget ranks for a moment. I¡¯m here as a friend! This whole crew, actually, the whole coalition is supposed to be based on racial unity. I know that the elves and dwarfs have the whole rivalry thing-¡±


    ¡°Pffft. Not even close!¡±


    The Dwarf made and The captain pursed his lip.


    ¡°I¡¯m trying to help. Lia has done an amazing job keeping us alive when those presumed goddesses came for us, better than any of us did anyway including you. Listen, Lia acts immature sometimes, but she''s young and still learning how the world works. Can you at least give her some credit?¡±


    The dwarf went back to tinkering with his electronics for a few minutes. Dwarves were creatures of principle and trust. They mined for a living down under the earth where conditions could turn deadly, either bringing trillions of tons of rock down on your head or suffocating you to death at any moment. The fact that an airheaded elf had staked their lives on some hypothesis of hers without consulting the others, and then acting carefree and studying afterward had steamed him. True they might have died anyway if she hadn¡¯t, but the mere gesture was enough. And to make matters worse, she didn¡¯t even seem conscious of the fact. ¡®


    ¡°I¡¯ll give it to her when we get out of this steaming mess. Unfortunately, that may be unlikely.¡±


    They had gotten some auxiliary thrusters working, but it was difficult to say if they would hold up long enough to escape the atmosphere. Of course, there was also the huge chance of the goddesses finding them again right outside the moon''s atmosphere and killing them, assuming they even got past the barrier, which based on the captain''s analysis, was even more unlikely.


    ¡°Come on Ronnie. There''s still a chance to get back to Terra as long as we don¡¯t give up hope.¡±


    ¡°Hehe, yeah sure, and the moon is made out of my momma''s meat pies. Now if you''ll excuse me Captain, but I believe its been 3 hours already.¡±


    The dwarf went to go wake up the lieutenant for her watch duty while the Captain was left with a grim look on his face.


    As uncouth as the dwarf was, he was right. Who was he kidding? Everyone on the shuttle knew there was little chance for escape, everyone except him. He knew the facts and saw reality, and every time he mentioned escape it only spoiled the mood even more.


    Everyone else was resigned to their fate, so why, just why couldn¡¯t he leave it alone. Maybe all he was just hoping for a miracle...

 Chapter 9: From the Moon to the...moon?

    The next morning, before any of the crew could wake up, a howl pierced through the air and the ground shook. Several glowing orbs descended into the shield, turning into more silvery lances like the ones from before, and stabbing themselves into the ground. Hundreds of lances thrust into the ground with a loud *Shing* and formed a ring around the edges of the shield, waking everyone up in the process.


    ¡°Captain! The shield!¡±


    The crimson tinted dome that had proved impenetrable was now dispelled. As soon as he saw it, the captain ordered the lieutenant to lift off quick and get them out before the shield reformed. But before he could, several tendrils of an ethereal red, fog like substance encircled them all inside the cabin. The fog swirled and distorted the space, the heads of tens of wolves suddenly appearing in the mist, snapping at any who got close.


    The corporal was the first to brandish his blade against the monsters. He attacked in a strict and measured fashion that was the mark of years of training, darting in and out of the attack range. However, his blade, despite its enchantments, could not cut the beasts. As soon as the blade touched a wolf''s head, it dissolved and another dashed into the fight forcing James to retreat. More and more wolf heads began showing up as the others picked up whatever objects they could and began fighting back.


    ¡°No one move!¡± ordered the captain.


    As soon as everyone stopped, the heads in the mist dissolved and became indistinguishable from the fog around it. Few had sustained injuries, including puncture wounds and scratches. James had sustained a bite wound on his upper arm. A set of ragged puncture marks oozed the clear rust colored blood of the beastfolk.


    ¡°What are we dealing with James?¡±


    ¡°No apparent venom or toxins. Pack creatures including mentality and strategy, Reactive to general movement, small movements like breathing and talking do not set them off. Incorpal most likely until they form up.¡±


    ¡°How many?¡±


    ¡°Unknown. We could be seeing a mirage or a full pack. I would lean closer to a full pack though sir.¡±


    Did their jailers finally decide to execute them? If so, why now? It¡¯s been 3 days and they didn¡¯t have a shortage of chances to surprise attack them. Not that they needed the element of surprise, they were most likely powerful enough to wipe them out with just a wave their finger.


    ¡°Sir!¡± the Lieutenant shouted.


    She pointed out the window. Outside, the ground was being pried up from the ground by the silvery lances. The air hummed with power as the mile diameter area the shield had enclosed was pulled up from the rest of the moon and moved farther away from the ground.


    ¡°What the steam¡¯n hellas!¡± shouted the dwarf.


    As soon as they cleared the atmosphere, the whole area lit up with a bright white aura as they sped up, stars whizzed by and the surface of the red moon soon left their sight as they rapidly approached the gray moon.


    The entire crew screamed as the whole land mass entered the atmosphere and began to heat up, pieces breaking off here and there sending dust and rocks into the air. However, the aura covering everything, including the crew, resisted the heat and stress from the G-force and whatever other powers pulling the sky island down, keeping them safe.


    The surface soon came into sight as they broke through the cloud layer. It was dark here, the blue moon blocked out all of the sunlight. It was colder and wetter in comparison to the red moon desert. Dull gray raindrops deflected away from them as soon as they entered the area of the silver lances.


    ¡°Where are we going?¡± shouted the lieutenant.


    After the almost lightspeed flight through space and through the atmosphere twice, everyone was looking a little green. The dwarf was visibly tossing up his dinner from the night before on the floor. Luckily, the red mist wolves had all ceased hostility except for direct contact with them which resulted in someone receiving a bite wound.


    The sky island maneuvered around mountains and through valleys, slowly coming to a halt in the middle of a lake surrounded by open plains. The water rippled in the rain and reflected the blue moon on its surface. The sky island floated several meters above the lake surface, calmly waiting there, suspended by whatever force had taken it there.


    Suddenly the mist surrounding the crew all turned into a full pack of wolves, complete with 15 dangerous looking animals a little bigger than a regular wolf. They herded the crew members out the airlock and down a path. In the distance, two glowing balls of light came down formed into the shape of the battle goddess and the scholarly goddess from before.


    The scholarly one walked forwards a few steps, towering over the others while speaking.


    ¡°We meet again, and apparently under better circumstances.¡±


    The dwarf wanted to shout out ¡°How is this spark¡¯n better!¡± while looking at the wolves, but wisely he did not wish to provoke them.


    This time the captain stepped forward and bowed to the duo.


    ¡°Greetings again. Might I ask-¡±


    ¡°We are not interested in conversing with you. We wish to talk to the elf who we spoke to last time.¡±


    The captain paused a moment, looking back at Lia who was cowering behind her sister. Definitely no.


    ¡°If you want to talk to my crew members, I am afraid I must be present and the the person you wish to speak to must consent first.¡±


    ¡°Sir¡­!¡±


    The others looked at him like he was crazy. This wasn''t bravery, it was stupidity! They pulled the entire area the ship had been on from one moon to another! It was a death wish to want to mess with them!


    ¡°Don¡¯t be so presumptuous-¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t speak either without the Captain present!¡± The elf girl shouted out.


    She didn¡¯t want to talk to them alone again like last time. It had been frightening and an experience she did not wish to experience again. The captain had understood this and provided an opportunity for his support, and pushed to allow himself to be present. Lia caught on and desperately went with it.


    The battle goddess growled but was silenced by a gesture from the scholarly goddess. She whispered something in her ear and the battle goddess nodded as if content.


    ¡°If you must. However only you and her. The rest of your crew must wait over there.¡± she said pointing to a hill.


    On the hill, a gazebo like structure erected itself. The ground rose up like molten lead and molded itself into pillars and benches. The liquid structure turned solid and lanterns lit up, casting a golden glow over a table of foodstuff. Roast Gugu birds, a type of domestic bird similar to a chicken, Blue horned cow stew, a brown stew with swirls of violet streaks inside it, and a fountain of some sort of frothy drink and many other stews, meats, breads, and fruits none of them could name. It was a feast a king or emperor might be unable to put together.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    For the past few days, they had eaten rations out of storage. The mouth watering smell of fresh food enticed the rest of them greatly. Ariel glanced at the captain as if to ask for orders.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Go eat,¡± he said.


    With a look of worry, the Lieutenant led the rest of them over to the table and took seats. Ghostly servants appeared and started dishing out the food and pouring drinks.


    ¡°Come now. We have much to discuss.¡±


    The two started strolling in the opposite direction towards the oasis that had come with them. A similar gazebo had formed itself on the banks of the water. Instead of a table full of food and drink, a polished table of shiny obsidian formed itself out of the silver liquid. It was small and oval shaped with a row of 3 chairs on either side despite there being only 4 guests.


    ¡°Please sit.¡± the scholarly one said sitting with the battle goddess on the other side.


    The two sat down on the opposite side of the table facing them. The battle goddess removed her helmet and set it down in the seat next to her. She had a hard but pretty face, with high cheekbones, thin almond eyes, ginger hair, and bronze skin. More ghostly servants made of mist appeared and served tea in crystal glasses. Cautiously, Lia took a sip from her glass.


    It was delicious! A warm, minty liquid spread over her taste buds before running down her throat and changing to a honey and bitterness on the way down.


    ¡°It¡¯s good!¡±


    ¡°Should be. Tea made with the leaves of the ginseng my sister was experimenting with. I believe she took qualities from the plant you mortals call Snow Ogre Ginseng and Winter Ghost Mint.¡± said the battle goddess, taking a sip herself.


    The captain was oblivious to the reply she gave, but Lia, who specialized in herbs and alchemy knew and was stunned. Snow Ogre Ginseng was a poisonous herb that when ingested or drunk stopped a person from casting magic and froze them to the bone. It only grew in the northern wastes that were infamous for their witch tribes and below freezing climate. Rubbing the leaves on your skin would cause magic deficiencies in that area and froze it. Northern Ogres liked to eat it because it enhanced their tough, ice like skin and increased their resistance to magic. Of course, potions could also be made out of the stuff to achieve the same effect.


    Winter Ghost Mint was even rarer. It also only grew in the north along with the others but compared to them. This one was harder to get a hold of because it was so rare. It often grew around areas that had hosted great battles and were plagued with restless spirits as battlefields often were.


    It had uses in alchemy and blacksmithing. Armor and potions could be made out of them to increase resistance to undead and spirit attacks as well as a bit of cold resistance. Blacksmiths and chemists would pay a small fortune for one.


    ¡°You used Snow Ogre Ginseng and Winter Ghost Mint to make tea¡­¡± Lia asked visibly shaking.


    ¡°Oh yes. My sister is quite the tea brewer. I believe she has quite the collection of herbs, to name a few, 3 Shade Crystal Cherries, Crimson Dragthar, Purple Mystical Flower, Thousand Year Azure Tree Root¡­¡±


    Even Lia, an elf specializing in herbology and alchemy, did not recognize all those names. However, the ones she did she was pretty sure were locked up in the treasure vaults of one of the grand empires, or somewhere in the midst of some frozen, burning, or storming hell where a mountain could be mistaken for a sleeping monster.


    ¡°Why do you ask?¡± said the suspicious battle goddess.


    ¡°...No reason¡­¡±


    Her timid and quiet reply was enough to convince her that she wasn¡¯t planning anything harmful. But she was still on guard.


    The captain sat, sipping his drink. The taste was very good to him, despite him not being a tea kind of person. He was more of a Mountain Cola kind of person. At least he was when he could go and get one out of a vending machine.


    ¡°Man I go for a Dr. Sprite¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡± asked the battle goddess whose hearing was better than most.


    ¡°Oh, nothing. Anyway, you wanted to talk? What''s this about?¡±


    He regarded the situation as odd bordering suspicious. Despite being the prisoner, these goddesses were treating them like equals, VIP guests actually.


    ¡°Ah yes, to business I suppose. There are many things we are here to discuss, but first, we wanted to talk to you about your little mission to our ¡®moons¡¯, as you call them. Why have you come here?¡±


    The original mission was to collect samples, create a map of the topography, and set up a landing site for future missions. Although the change in circumstances had thrown the mission out the window.


    ¡°We are explorers, here to see what there is to see and report back with what we have found!¡± declared the captain grandly.


    ¡°Hmmm...Well, apart from being incredibly arrogant and rude intruding without permission, I suppose it¡¯s pardonable. But stealing our daughter...I believe you mortals call that a ¡®capital offense¡¯. ¡± said the battle goddess raising an eyebrow at the terminology.


    ¡°I would like to apologize for that misunderstanding. We didn¡¯t know who she was at the time and we were under attack at the time. I don¡¯t know what came over me taking her like that, but I can assure you we came here with no hostile intentions.¡±


    ¡°Originally you came here without evil intentions, yet you want to claim innocence when you were found with the child of another party, running away.¡±


    The captain knew it wasn¡¯t a convincing argument. They were caught red-handed with the child of apparently three goddesses. Disregarding the circumstances, they were the only ones there and could be the only ones held accountable.


    ¡°Again, we would like to apologize for our-¡±


    ¡°You think that a mere apology will suffice! Even if you were to grovel at our feet and die, it would still not be enough to cleanse your transgressions!¡± thundered the battle goddess.


    The auras of the two flared and threatened to choke the pair. The captain had originally thought that if things went south then he distract them and buy enough time for Lia to get the other to the shuttle and escape. But any thought of escape or subterfuge was blasted from his mind as he tried to resist the overwhelming power of the two.


    ¡°Please be at ease, though. We will not kill you for such an offense. However, the words you say now will directly affect whether or not you will return to your planet a mindless puppet or of your own free will. And then there is the continued existence of your little planet to talk about.¡±


    ¡°Choose your words carefully mortal, for they may decide the fate of all you hold dear.¡±


    The overwhelming aura changed and started taking on a more sinister element. A sudden vision of horror and destruction projected from the two. To the captain, reality had turned into a wasteland. The sky was the color of fire and the rotten stench of decomposing flesh rushed his senses. Piles of dead friends and family surrounded him as he walked through a literal hell.


    Suddenly, a hand reached out and grabbed his foot. Lauan, the woman he had been summoned with and a dear friend of his, was lying on the ground, half burned beyond recognition.


    ¡°Why! Why did you do it!¡± she screamed.


    ¡°No...No no!¡±


    Soon the other bodies took up the chant as multiple hands pulled him down under the surface. The last thing to cross his eyes was a burning meteor coming down and impacting, sending everything in his vision into a firestorm and burning his lungs while screaming.


    ¡°Enough!¡±


    Lia had broken from the nightmare first and shook her captain to reality. He shook with fright. He was sweating buckets and nearly collapsed right there if not for the support of Lia.


    It was just an illusion. A product of his fear. But it had been so realistic¡­


    Seeing that her captain was in no mood at the moment to re-engage in negotiations, she took the wheel.


    ¡°Please be merciful madams. It is as my leader says. We came here bearing no ill will. We were simply caught up in circumstances. We are willing to cooperate. Please, tell us what you would have us do.¡±


    Lia respectfully tried to reassure them they had not come to steal a child. They could only hope that whatever job they had for them wasn¡¯t impossible, or every race on Terra could be facing the possibility of extinction.


    With a bit of reassurance and respect from Lia, they slowly retracted their pressure to a tolerable amount, but it was still there in the background, like a metaphorical prowling lion waiting for a stray lie or mistruth to pounce on.


    ¡°Hmmm. Well, let''s not get ahead of ourselves. We have seen your capabilities, but first, you must convince our sister Selene of your innocence and skills. She is not too happy with anyone frankly at the moment.¡±


    ¡°You mean the goddess in the blue dress?¡±


    ¡°Chiton. And yes, her. She is fiercely protective of Lunabelle, and unfortunately, your actions seemed to have triggered a bit of irrational overprotectiveness in her. Which is unfortunate considering the timing. In short, she has refused to even let us see her. Which is where you come in.¡±


    It had been 3 days since Selene had stormed out of the conference room, but things had not gotten better. She had taken Lunabelle with her back to Her celestial body and refused to let anyone see her. Or even come near her.


    To make the plan work, they would need Selene to give her approval and allow Lunabelle to go with them to the little planet. Astenna understood there wouldn¡¯t be a better chance than this, so she decided to bet on the will of these ¡®exploreres¡¯ as they had called themselves and see if they could convince Selene to listen to reason.

 Chapter 10: 1000 years is too much!

    The two goddesses sipped their tea while the Captain looked on with anxiety written all over his face. Lia, on the other hand, was more curious.


    ¡°Is that her name? Lunabelle?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Indeed, A good name my sister came up with wouldn¡¯t you say.¡±


    When Selene had shown them all the strange human child she had found after she had been educated by Selene on the proper method of caring for a baby(She hadn''t known what to tell her little sister what a mother was supposed to do to feed a newborn, so she ended up just letting Selene feed her whatever she wanted). They all couldn¡¯t but say ¡°Awww¡± and ¡°So cute!¡± over the little bundle of cloth in her arms.


    ¡°We have a job for you. If you so decide to accept. Although refusal would mean we will demand compensation for the events that have transpired. And I cannot promise that we will not take measures to prevent an incident like this from happening again. Starting with that little coalition of yours.¡±


    As she said these words, she scrutinized the pair. They could not leave their celestial bodies without endangering them to hostile takeovers by other celestials. Thus, they needed someone else to keep an eye on Lunabelle and keep her out of trouble. They didn¡¯t expect Lunabelle to cause any trouble, but she was not someone who would underestimate the greed of mortal men. If one of them were to try to hurt her...


    ¡°I happen to be in need of a few people to watch over my child while she visits your little planet. I think employing you would be a fine way to repay us for all the troubles you have caused. You would have to watch her all the time, make sure she is well fed and all her needs met amongst other things.¡±


    The whole trip served 2 purposes. To help increase the follower unit of all three goddesses and save them from oblivion. And to help Lunabelle grow without the interference from the goddesses.


    Of course, Astenna had her own apprehensions even if she was calm on the outside. She too didn¡¯t want to let Lunabelle go, but it was for her own good as much as theirs. Lunabelle had been distracting them too much and they were suffering the consequences of it. She was the goddess of the higher learning and a patron of wisdom. If she saw the problem and did nothing, she would be as much a goddess of wisdom as a dragon was a mouse.


    Having Lunabelle learn and experience the little planet was a daunting and somewhat horrifying decision to make. What if she got badly hurt? Or worse, grew up and forgot and never came back! Wouldn¡¯t it just be better to keep her here? For 3 days, these thoughts had tortured her, making her hesitate. That was when she remembered the words her mother had said to her in private before she left to go and create her own celestial body.


    ¡°You are my daughter. One day you will outgrow my lap, as all must, but you will never outgrow my heart.¡±


    Astenna realized she had been foolish. If Lunabelle really loved them all, she would never outgrow them or forget. Even if she hated them, they all would still love her. Because she was their daughter, and they were her mother''s.


    The captain was shaking. He was trapped between a rock and a hard place after all. The way the two in front of him casually went about summoning plots of land to fly through the sky and building fantastic structures in seconds left no doubt in his mind that the two were indeed goddesses and not just powerful magicians.


    They way they talked about the demise of the coalition, which had been built upon the trust and friendship of millions, indifferent to the struggles of those below them...It was the true defining trait of a transcendent entity. There wasn¡¯t any other choice. Either work for them or die and let the all that hard work go down the drain, and end in death and destruction.


    ¡°We will cooperate, but in exchange-¡± he said downcast.


    ¡°Excellent. Then there is the matter of apologizing to Selene. She is not present for obvious reasons, so it will be up to you to explain yourselves and mend matters. If you fail, then we will just have to collect upon that debt in some other way you can imagine. I hope you understand.¡±


    Selene was now the only obstacle stopping them from continuing with the plan. If only she had agreed in the first place, they wouldn¡¯t need to go along with this charade.


    ¡°Wait a moment! Are you saying we have to convince a goddess that we can babysit a little girl on our world, and then do so! That''s ridiculous! All we did was trespass on your land unknowingly! And you want us to drop our lives and take care of a child without expecting something in return.¡± Lia Interrupted the scholar.


    They were all busy with their lives. The goddesses didn¡¯t even say how long they would have to do it!


    The goddess narrowed her eyes at them. A tiny bit of the scary aura from before leaked out from her.


    ¡°Yes in fact. Vote if you want on which one of you will do it if you must. In exchange, I will promise you that all of you may go back to the little planet as well, unharmed. But one of you will be held accountable for her, and I and my sisters will be checking in frequently so I do hope you treat this seriously for your own sake. For if she is harmed in anyway whatsoever, it is not you only who will pay the price, but your entire race.¡±


    Lia was frustrated at her own powerlessness. She could only wonder what she had meant when she threatened a decline in prosperity, but it didn¡¯t sound good. This wasn¡¯t negotiations, this was dominance! None of their requests would even be acknowledged! But unfortunately, she couldn¡¯t just walk away from the table or demand better treatment because they held no leverage in this situation. All they could do was sit silent and lower their heads.


    ¡°...How long¡­¡±


    ¡°It would be until she is of an age where she can take care of herself so maybe 1000 years or so. Although it is subject to change.¡±


    Lia felt lightheaded. 1000 years! High elves like her only lived 500, 700 absolute maximum, and they were the 2nd race with the longest lifespan only losing to dragons who could live 1000 years or more! And did the little girl even live that long! Was she some sort of dragon in disguise? Her cells had been so strange and weird that she wasn¡¯t even sure if she aged like normal organic life.


    ¡°1000 years is too much! We wouldn¡¯t even¡­¡±


    ¡°Live that long? Oh, no worries. The responsibility will be carried along to the next of kin or family in the event you died of age or other causes. There is no escaping if even if you.¡±


    As the captain thought before, there was no real choice. Lia didn¡¯t know what refusing or failing entailed, but if they accepted at least they would all get back home alive, albeit one would have to give up the lives of their family and whatever kin they have. One thing was for certain, though, Terra had to know what really was floating above their heads.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°We Accept.¡±


    ______________________


    ¡°They''re taking a long time¡­¡±


    Ariel was worried about her sister and captain. What if they had all fallen prey to some sort of trap, or were being tortured for information.


    ¡°Relax. Cap may be a pain, but he¡¯s tough as bolts. He¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    The dwarf was happily chugging down his third bowl of drink. He had been the first to try the strange drink and found it to be some sort of strong beer, except 100 times stronger and more alcoholic. He had gotten the biggest thing he could find that could hold liquid, which was a large fruit bowl the size of a wagon wheel, and started chugging down bowl after bowl, getting severely drunk in the process.


    ¡°Good stuff. Wish I could bring this back and show it to the guys in the forge,¡± he said falling drunk.


    For dwarves, good beer, sake, and wine was like a drug. And over the centuries, much to the panic of the dwarves, they had developed a resistance to alcohol far surpassing any other race. Nowadays, the saying ¡°A dwarves drink¡± was meant to indicate that the alcohol content of a drink was something that was poisonous to anyone but a dwarf.


    To put it into perspective, 30 standard shots of whiskey, which would be enough to kill a normal man twice over from before the moon fall or make an elf from the current era dead drunk, wouldn¡¯t even make a dwarf tipsy. And as expected, dwarves also had the ability to hold their alcohol better than almost everyone else.


    ¡°Still, it¡¯s been over an hour and they still haven¡¯t checked in.¡±


    She poked her fork at the Gugu salad in front of her, anxious for their return.


    ¡°Maybe we should go check up on them? Corporal?¡±


    The beastman was ripping into his 2nd Chu Gu bird, steak knife and fork flashing as he went. Considering the thing was bigger than a large buckler shield, it was impressive and wondrous how he managed to fit it all in his average figure.


    He put down his knife and fork for a second and wiped his mouth.


    ¡°Firstly, make no mistake, we are still prisoners. I will not pretend to know what they might be talking about, but I know that the longer we go along with whatever those two deities are planning, the longer we are more likely to live.¡±


    He immediately went back to crunching on the bones of the giant bird, ignoring the stares of his compatriots.


    ¡°What do you mean we''re still prisoner? We could literally run to the ship at this distance.¡± she stopped.


    He sawed off a portion of the bird he was snacking on and tossed it behind him through the opening. A pair of ghostly white jaws formed milliseconds later and snapped up the meat and devoured it in the time it took the crew to blink and realize what just happened.


    ¡° My professional opinion as the team bodyguard is not to engage an enemy we cannot hope to defeat while potential negotiations are going on. I would also strongly recommend not attempting to attack or leave the pavilion as such attempts would almost certainly be met with hostile force. That is all.¡±


    He was right, they couldn¡¯t beat the wolves the first time around, the 2nd time wouldn¡¯t be much different. Furthermore, he had a point about the talks going on. So far, their position had apparently elevated from prisoners of war to guests with guards. The new level of treatment aside, there must have been a reason that the goddesses had brought them here to talk. One the captain and Lia were most likely talking about right now.


    ¡°See! There they are! Right on time for my 5th shot!~ Hey! Cap¡¯n! You gotta taste this stuff!¡±


    The two were walking back over the hill they had gone, an argument going on between them.


    ¡°The fact still remains, You shouldn''t have just accepted their offer like that!¡±


    ¡°And you think we should have done otherwise!¡±


    They were being escorted by a pair of red mist wolves that trailed behind them a few steps, silently watching in solid form, no sign of the goddesses. As soon as they entered the gazebo, Ariel ran up to the two and started talking.


    ¡°How was the meeting sir?¡±


    The captain looked worriedly at Lia and she just stared back with a look on her face that said, ¡°Just tell them!¡±.


    ¡°We have some stuff to talk about. Get the others. We may have a new mission directive.¡±


    ____________________


    The two goddesses watch as the two left, escorted out by a pair of Shimmering Crimson Wolves that Mora so loved.


    ¡°And you''re quite certain they will cooperate?¡±


    ¡°They will choose the most obvious choice, although I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they look for a way out of it. They are only mortal after all.¡±


    ¡°Hmm...indeed. Although I was quite surprised. Cutting off their communications to their superiors, threatening them and their families, you are full of surprises dear sister.¡±


    Such fierce and aggressive actions was not like Astenna at all, who was usually a calculating and passive character. Selene was the more aggressive of them all but Astenna''s show of force could probably match it.


    ¡°I am her mother. Of course, I will scrutinize whoever it is to take care of my child. I just worry that they may think themselves clever enough to try something.¡±


    ¡°So just cement the consequences of betrayal in their mind. Easy fix.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid not so sister. If they get it in their mind to betray us while on the little planet then will gain the upper hand as we possess considerably less influence over Terra¡¯s matters. If they turn on us, we will have to deal with the situation ourselves, which could, in turn, cause a multitude of other problems for us, endangering Lunabelle even further.¡±


    They were putting the lives of their daughter in the hands of complete strangers. It wouldn¡¯t be strange if they decided to use Lunabelle as a hostage against them or worse. Any mother would be anxious.


    ¡°Should we add rewards? Maybe artifacts or power?¡± said Mora hefting her spear.


    Astenna thought for a moment.


    ¡°Perhaps. But not until they decide who it will be the one to do it. We must show them we will kill them if they go against us, but we can also reward them greatly for being loyal to us. And to those that refused, will receive nothing.


    ¡°Then we wait?¡± asked the battle goddess.


    ¡°Yes, we wait.¡±


    _________________


    ¡°And I¡¯m saying it¡¯s a bad idea!¡±


    The captain argued back and forth with Lia, raising their voices.


    After the captain and Lia had gotten back, they both explained what had happened and gave their versions of the story.


    Agreeing to work with a pair of unknown immortals was dangerous. For all they knew, they could be fallen gods, looking for easy prey. And when considering the use of illusions and threats, it wasn¡¯t impossible, or so the captain argued.


    Lia¡¯s argument was more based on what she definitely knew. And she knew that the goddesses wanted a babysitter for a lifetime, and if they accepted, all 5 of them will be able to go back to Terra and report on what happened, they needed to know of the deities that inhabited the moons above and the threat they could pose! Their fate was uncertain if they refused, so the only logical choice was to accept and proceed from there.


    ¡°Sir with all due respect, I believe I made the right choice. This way we may all return alive and well, although one of us will be held responsible for the alien girls stay on Terra.¡±


    ¡°For a thousand years no less! It¡¯s insanity! And we don¡¯t know what could happen during that time. As I said, you should not have accepted the job! And how will we decide who is selected!¡±


    The others watched from the sidelines, watching the exchange. Both had points and neither option was great. According to Lia, if the girl died at any time during her 1000 year stay, then the prosperity of the race would decline, whatever that meant. Thoughts of large races such as the Dwarven Empire or the Beast country falling prey to monster tides or famine swirled in the minds of all. However, opinions on who was correct were divided, with James taking the captain''s side, and Ariel taking her sister''s side. Ronnie had remained neutral, mostly because he was chugging down another bowl of spirits.


    *BURP*


    He fell back in his chair satisfied.


    ¡°Ay! Eres a great idea! You''ll love this! *Burp* Right get a pen, write this down, write this down...hehehe...¡±


    He started drunkenly rocking back and forth in his chair, nearly tipping because of how intoxicated he was.


    ¡°If ye want to live... agree! If ye don¡¯t...don¡¯t agree! Hehehe...Mazing innit, what happens when you use ye brain.¡±


    He went for his 8th bowl, his tone getting cooler. Lia and the other surging up in protest only to be silenced by the drunken dwarf slamming the bowl back down on the table, a web of cracks spreading out from its obsidian surface.


    ¡°If you ever feel the need to kill ye self, go right ahead and offend those goddesses, but don¡¯t drag everyone else steamin down into the grave with ya. Besides, Lia can just take care of the little squirt. Was er idea in the first place anyway. *Hick*.¡±


    He held up a hand for silence as he threw back another round.


    ¡°Ye know, they say that super powerful beings like dem goddesses are unpredictable, but if you go back in there and tell em you refuse, you can count on two things! You won¡¯t have to decide who''s watching the brat, and only 1 of us is going back to Terra alive!!! And if anything, not of their own volition it sounds like.¡±


    No one replied after that.

 Chapter 11: Stress takes its toll

    Lunabelle had been taken to her room on Selene, and stayed there for 3 days without contact from anyone. Not only that, but she was now feeling a strange feeling that she later found out was a little something called fear.


    ¡®Why does it feel this way¡­¡¯


    ¡®I just wanted to laugh and play with all my friends and hug mommy Asta, Mora, and Selene and be happy¡­¡¯


    ¡®But this feeling...Why! Where is mommy? Why isn¡¯t she here?¡¯¡¯


    Selene had not been very good at explaining what had happened or reacting well. All she told her was that everything was going to be fine, and everything was OK before leaving for somewhere, leaving her with Zora. But no matter what Zora did, an animal could not explain things Lunabelle nor tell her that her parents were in trouble.


    Selene had freaked out after the brief run in with Mora and Astenna and had left. Sure they desperately needed to raise their follower unit, and sure the best chance would be sending someone close to them as some sort of divine oracle, but why did it have to be her little girl! In her planning to keep Lunabelle with her, she had forgotten Lunabelle herself and left her alone in the dark about everything.


    ¡®I Just wanted to smile forever...Just for mommy to laugh and play with me. To swim and make pretty flower hats for everyone forever¡­I just wanted to smile and make everyone else happy because I was born too...¡¯


    ¡®But now...Now no one is glad and everyone is gone. Why was mommy Selene sad? Did I do something bad?...why are they not happy...¡¯


    She fell into a deep sleep afterward.


    _____________


    That night, the only one who slept soundly was the dead drunk dwarf. All of them remembered his words and could not help but think there was a chance he was right. More than a chance actually, it was definitely going to happen like that. The goddesses had even said so. None of them wanted to be the one to take care of the child though because of the threat it would present to their entire species, AKA almost certain annihilation.


    ¡®Only an idiot would endanger their people for such a foolhardy job.¡¯ every one of them thought.


    Even if they took the job, they would be outcasts from society. People would say they should have died on the moon instead of bringing a calamity unto them. They would be killed or taken into captivity, and the little girl locked in a high-security vault somewhere. Only a cruel fate awaited all those involved.


    The sleeping compartments in the shuttle were reminiscent of a school locker. It was a padded space located inside the wall wide enough to accommodate a grown adult, but small enough to fit several units along a wall.


    ¡°Puh¡­¡±


    From one of the unit burst out a sweating and shaking elf. Lia had been trying to get some sleep, but each time she closed her eyes she dreamt of the destruction of her homeland. The beautiful forest ablaze with silver flames and her hometown in ruins, pained screams of friends and co-workers played on a constant loop. In the background, the murderous aura of all three goddesses stalked her.


    Finally, she couldn¡¯t take it anymore and decided to go and research some of the terrain samples she had taken earlier today.


    *CRASH*


    She had been too distracted looking into the microscope, that when she went to switch slides she knocked over a rack of test tubes containing the blood she had taken from the girl. Good thing she made sure to separate what she had collected into several different tubes. Only 2 of the 4 she had were broken.


    She bent over to pick up the pieces, but unknown to Lia, the wheel on the microscope that adjusted the slide height ended up being caught on her sleeve, pulling the microscope down on top of her hand when she bent down.


    ¡°AHHH!¡± she screamed.


    The microscope mashed her hand on top of the shards of glass and stabbed many into her wrist. The green blood of the forest dwellers spilled out of her punctured arm and mixed with the red on the floor, making a huge mess. She clutched her wrist as her eyes watered.


    Lia had had it. She was exhausted, stressed, and in pain. She had engaged with an unknown deity and practically made a deal with a devil that could kill her entire race. The captain was likely going to call a vote for who would be chosen, and everyone was definitely going to vote for her up.


    She was a long way from home, taken prisoner and threatened with extinction. She was just a normal girl who dreamt of being a famous alchemist someday, settling down, and raising a few children with a loving husband. But now...


    She sank to her knees and broke down crying for her bleak future. The pain in her wrist tiny in comparison to the one in her heart.


    To be lynched by your friends. Her sister might even vote on Lia herself, and why not, she had brought this calamity on them. And worst of all what would her professor back home think?


    Another one of the compartments opened and out came her twin sister, rushing over once she saw how badly her sister''s wrist was cut.


    ¡°Hey hey, shhh shhh¡±


    She pulled her little sister into her lap and grabbed the trauma kit from nearby, unfortunately, Ariel had been hoping not to need it again during the mission. She held her sister''s arm tight as she sprayed a hemostasis spray over the wound. While the blood clotted, she went to work using tweezers to pull glass fragments out of the flesh and deposit them in a petri dish she took from the workstation.


    Lia wasn¡¯t even conscious of someone trying to help her. Blood loss had taken a toll due to no effort being made to fix it between the time she cut herself and now, leaving her pale and light-headed, or she just didn¡¯t care. If Ariel hadn¡¯t woken up and helped her, within a few minutes she would have bled out.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    ¡°Come on. You have to take care of yourself. You''re not allowed to commit suicide on a mission you know!¡±


    After several minutes and many tears, Ariel had retrieved 13 tiny glass fragments from the bloody green mess


    Ariel knew Lia wasn¡¯t the suicide type, and even under the circumstances, it wasn¡¯t an option she would normally consider. But regardless if it was intentional or just carelessness, they were on the job right now and were expected to perform at 100%.


    ¡°Now I think I got all the fragments, but just don¡¯t scratch at it OK? I can get you stitched up in the morning so don¡¯t worry about it, and just get some sleep.¡±


    ¡°*Sniff Sniff* B-but the vote, and *Sniff* the captain *Sniff Sniff* he¡¯s going to *Sniff* and your-¡±


    ¡°Call for a vote? Of course, he will, I talked it over with him. But I hope you didn¡¯t expect me to vote for you. I¡¯m an elf too you know. It would be bad if I voted for you to save my own skin then doomed myself later on for it.¡±


    She turned off the lights and carried Lia to her sleeping pod, she could sweep up the glass later. She buckled Lia into her bed and closed the door after saying a few words of encouragement.


    Unknown to either of them, the little amount of blood mixing with certain properties of that of the elves, unleashed an odd, psychoactive effect similar to dream potions or soul mate marks, allow both the users to walk into eachother dreams.


    _________________


    Nightmares did not come for Lia again. Instead, she was transported to a grassy field. A bright green blanket covered in splotches of yellow flowers of some sort covered everything the eyes could see. The tunes of unfamiliar birds filled the air and small animals reminiscent rabbits ran around. It was a literal paradise, but it was wrong, in patches around the clearing, the grass had turned a sickly yellow and withered. The sky was bright blue, but a large crack ran down the middle of it, splitting the beautiful blue, a dull gray fog leaking from it.


    In the center, of it all, an oak tree with an old rope swing fluttered in the breeze. Glowing white balls of light flittered around under its branches and in the grass. As Lia got closer, she heard the sound of crying.


    ¡°It¡¯s her again?¡±


    Lying curled up in the roots of the large tree, the little girl with silver hair was weeping. All around her, little animals nudged her and tried to comfort her and get her to stop crying, but to no avail.


    This time, Lia didn¡¯t approach any closer. Here was the cause of all her problems and she could do nothing. If she harmed her, the goddesses would no doubt bring hell down on all of them, so Lia decided to be on her best behavior around her. But why was she crying? She could possibly be still upset about earlier right.


    She settled on sitting down near her and staying silent. But as soon as she set foot in the ring of roots around the tree, the little girl sat up straight and looked at her.


    She sniffed and before Lia could sit down or open her mouth, the little girl jumped right into her embrace and buried her head in Lias bosom.


    Now Lia really didn¡¯t know what to do. Her mood in the last 24 hours had gone from curious, to fearful, to elation, then back down to depressed, to fearful. And the root cause of it all was burying her head in her chest.


    ¡°What''s wrong little girl?¡± she said stiffly.


    It was an odd sensation, inside the dream realm, one could not talk, but what they wanted to say was communicated.


    She stopped her crying for a moment and looked into the eyes of the elf. Like a massive hurricane, painful memories of the last few days hit Lia like an arrow to the heart.


    She was scared, and lonely, and wanted to see her mommy. But for the past 3 days, none of them had come to see her. Images of her huddled under the covers waiting with a look of agitation on her face, or waiting patiently at the door to her room for her mommy to come in and collect her for breakfast on Mora came across through the connection to the elf''s memories.


    But the door remained shut. No one had come for her. Without her mother''s words to comfort or explain things to her, she thought back through everything that had happened recently. Children are more capable and sensitive to changes than some adults after all. Through her strange connection to the essence of the moon and beyond, she was able to look through the eyes of her mothers and view their recollection of events from the past few days. However, she wasn¡¯t able to understand it, such as what a follower unit was or why it was bad if it went down, but the dark undertones they. Little by little, Lunabelle had begun to fear she had been abandoned.


    ¡°Shared memories!¡±


    For years, there had been theories of certain species of monsters being able to share memories. The memories that flooded her head were ones taken from the goddesses standpoint. Although Lunabelle was too immature to know what they meant, Lia was able to infer what had happened and what the goddesses situation was.


    ¡°So that¡¯s why¡­¡±


    Lia didn''t know why Selene hadn¡¯t come to see her as the memories cut off abruptly after the confrontation in the conference room, but it couldn¡¯t be good. During the connection, Lunabelles own feelings came across as a tidal wave of fear and anxiety. And Lia, she could feel in her heart that it wasn¡¯t a trick or trap.


    She pitied the girl. All her life she had been treated as the center of her mother''s constant attention. But in a single moment, they had forgotten about her and left her out, Lunebelle was afraid she had done something wrong to deserve to be pushed aside. And by experience, Lia knew the cold shoulder of someone so influential in your life, like a mother or father, was a horrible thing to experience, and at such a young age too.


    Her own mother had been the one in charge of her training as an acolyte when she was young, and being her daughter of the clan matriarch had done the exact opposite of winning her any special treatment. Similar to her sister, she was pushed to be the best at everything and forced to endure hours of her mother''s constant lecturing and forced practice at home, except she hadn¡¯t taken to it so naturally as Ariel had.


    That time period in Lia¡¯s life had been one of her least favorites, with only a few friends actually knowing what was happening to her at home. All the other young acolytes in her class thought she didn¡¯t care enough to join them going swimming or climbing trees, and had gradually stopped inviting her. In the end, Lia was left friendless and spent more time in the classroom and attended more lectures than most adults would in their entire lives, most of them not being of choice. She was also pushed to graduated the academy alongside her sister. After she graduated, she moved as far away from her mother as she could and got a teaching position at a university on the other side of the country from her home.


    Her mother had turned her into an impeccable young lady and priestess, but she had missed all those opportunities for friendship with children her age. No matter how many successful theories, rituals, or ceremonies Lia achieved thanks to her mother¡¯s influence, the woman still had taken from her her childhood life.


    Lia held the girl close to her chest as tightly as she could, reminiscing of all those long days and nights she sat in front of her mother being told how to act in an official court or the pre-preparation rites for a ritual.


    She pondered for a while, loosing track of time. It wasn''t fair the situation her and the crew were in, Lunabelles moms were in, or Lunabelle herself. Everyone was suffering.


    Suddenly, like lighting, an idea struck Lia''s brain, and a plan began forming.


    "It could work? But we would have to deal with her first..."


    It was simple, yet difficult. If any part of it failed, they were all going to be off in a bad way later, the goddesses included. But she was willing to risk it.


    Once Lia had calmed the crying girl down enough, she then began to explain everything that was happening, why her mommies hadn¡¯t come to see her, as well as telling her what Mora and Astenna had planned as revealed by the shared memories.


    ¡°Your mommies are just having a misunderstanding. You see, they want to send you to that big planet in the sky to do stuff.¡±


    She explained what Lunabelle needed to do in order to help her mommies and what she should say and do.


    Lunabelle pouted and Lia laughed. It was just too cute. She could see why the goddesses loved her so.


    A clock bell in the distance chimed and the dream world around them began to fade. Before going, though, Lunabelle communicated one last thing to Lia.


    ¡°I like you! You make people happy!¡±


    And with that, the world around them turned to white smoke and evaporated.

 Not a chapter, but...Who needs a map!

    Sorry for not posting guys. If I had to make a comparison, my week has felt like I jumped into a sandblaster. Just stop for a moment and try to imagine what that would feel like. Humor me and just try to. I got a head cold so my throat feels like, well sandpaper, my whole body aches, and my workload didn''t decrease even if it was a vacation week.


    But there is some good news. For starters, I have been using a good deal of my time to edit what I have already posted and just shine it up a little. I changed some plot bits slightly up to chapter 8 so if you want to go back and run over them your welcome too. I also have been working on this little beauty.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Who needs a map counter: 1


    For all you who get that reference, that''sgreat, consider it my bad joke of the chapter. For all who don''t let me just say you''re missing out. Now, it''s just a rough map and is NOT the entire world. This is just a fraction of the world and the local area that Vol 1 will be based in. Vol 2...Already have some ideas down, but it''s still in the dream phase.


    I should be able(Hopefully) to get a chapter out by tomorrow night, and if not, Sunday. That is...if nothing bad happens again. You would think with all the bad luck I''vebeen having this week I must have picked up a cursed treasure or something?


    Credits tohttp://inkarnate.com/ for providing me the tools to build this awesome map.

 Chapter 12: Loose Cannons

    Lia woke up, her hand moved to the heavy bandages on her arm. It was real, everything that happened last night was real! That means the plan was in motion, and Lunabelle would help them.


    Lia was practically brimming with happiness as she emerged from the sleeping pod. Everyone else was awake and getting breakfast when she came rushing in with a smile plastered all over her face.


    ¡°Hey, guys! Maybe we aren''t so much in trouble after all!¡±


    ¡°Ughhh Keep it down, working off a hangover.¡±


    ¡°Morning sis. Just let me grab the water rations and I¡¯ll deal with your arm real quick.¡±


    Taking the chance, Lia said she would do it and ran outside, puzzling the others on her motivation to retrieve water.


    After almost half an hour, Ariel was about to go and see if Lia had injured herself again when she came back, carrying the day''s water supply, a look of happiness and deep thought


    Besides the usual chores and hungover dwarf, the captain asked looking at the broken microscope and bloody floor. James was scrubbing the green and red liquids out of the material with a washcloth and cleaner.


    ¡°Lia, what happened last night?¡±


    She stopped and remembered the mess she had made, putting thoughts of plans on hold. Lia sheepishly apologized.


    ¡°Sorry! Sorry! I¡¯ll get it.¡±


    She moved to take the brush from the beast man''s hands but was stopped.


    Never mind that, used to scrubbing blood stains out of the floor. Just get your arm stitched up and grab breakfast. Captain has something he wants to say.¡±


    ¡°No, but that''s what I have to say. Maybe we don¡¯t have to worry about being strapped with doomsday after all!¡±


    She went into detail about what happened last night after she had cut her arm and the shared dream she had had. She laid out her plan to befriend Lunabelle and ask her to change her mother''s law and her plans if she did.


    ¡°The quicker we ask her to ask her mothers to repeal her law, the less of a chance there''s gonna be doomsday if something should happen.¡±


    ¡°Lia..."


    ¡°I know, I know, but this could be our only chance! Agreeing as it has its risks. But if we have her help on our side, we have a chance!¡±


    The crew silently looked at eachother. None of them had wanted to hang Lia out to dry, and felt that this burst of planning from her was because she felt her own life was going to be sacrifsed by them.


    In reality, they had all agreed that morning before Lia had woken up to give her a break, as a way to show they were not going to harm her and show their thanks.


    ¡°And why would she steam¡¯n help us?¡±


    The voice of negativity came along and pointed out the crutch of the whole argument. Her plan sounded nice and all, but would only work if Lunabelle helped them.


    ¡°It¡¯s OK Lia, you don¡¯t have to push yourself.¡±


    To the captain, deities were unpredictable and tangling with one was a one way ticket to getting themselves into trouble, one could almost say he thought of them as loose cannons. Beings with immense power and control with only other beings of similar status able to oppose them if things got out of hand. And as radical as it sounded, he was right, there were seldom few individuals or groups that could stand against an immortal.


    ¡°Look, Lia, it''s alright. You didn''t do anything wrong and your not going to be punished for anything. If anything, its my fault for taking the kid with me when we ran."


    A lot had been on the captain''s mind, and the situation was deadly. But he wasn''t one of those men who would push someone else into the jaws of the dragon to save his own sorry hide.


    "*Sigh* I¡¯ve been thinking, about the girl and what to do. I¡¯ll accept the responsibility of taking care of her since humans are in a minority here. However, it doesn''t solve the situation.¡±


    Lia¡¯s eyes widened in surprise. Wasn''t he going to blame her? She had prepared to quit her job and sacrifice her life and take care of Lunabelle, but why was the captain coming up now?


    ¡°But what about me?¡± she interrupted.


    The captain looked over to her in the tight space.


    ¡°You''re a part of my crew are you not? The actions of my crew are my responsibility to bear."


    It left a sour taste in Lia''s mouth, though. Like she owed a debt to the mafia and someone else was paying...with their life.


    "I¡¯ll take care of everything. I can hide out in the skeleton keys and work from there. At least if they call down divine wrath or anything of the sort, we can divert the potential problems away from any major populations. Actually, it might even be helpful if she did get hurt by accident and bring down-¡±


    ¡°No!¡±


    Send her to the Sunshine keys? Forget it! How could you be so cruel to a child! The sunshine keys were infested with pirates, smugglers, and every other character of shady nature. It was a constant war zone between the rival sea gangs and the cartels. And don¡¯t forget the nearby warring states that were an actual war zone.


    Certainly, the captain''s argument made a lot of sense. The Sunshine keys had tens of thousands of islands. With the captain taking care of her, hiding in the secrecy and mystery of the Keys would keep her out of any political agendas, but Lia still rejected the idea.


    She was responsible here, no matter what the captain said. Letting him take the fall and letting Lunabelle have that kind of a life was not something she could live with, she refused to live with it.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    ¡°She doesn''t deserve to live in the Keys just because were afraid of gods blasting down fiery wrath on everyone. And you shouldn''t try to claim my mistakes as your own. I agreed to this and set everything up, and it¡¯s my responsibility to see it through to the end.¡±


    ¡°Lia please,¡± The captain shouted. ¡°And what do you mean by-¡±


    Before he could finish, the space bent and the next thing they knew, they were all flat on their backs. Looking up, a high ceiling with stars that looked real enough to touch twinkled.


    ¡°Well, I see you''re all here.¡±


    Turning to see the source of the voice, the goddess in gray was once more looking down on them as they lay on the ground. They were back in the clearing they had been in when they first landed. The uprooted trees and landslide had been fixed and everything was back to perfection.


    ¡°That...That is what I meant¡±


    ¡°Come, There is much to say and do, and I am afraid this is the last chance we and you may have.¡±


    __________________


    As soon as Lunabelle had woken up this morning, she was greeted by a familiar warm embrace.


    ¡°Mommy!¡±


    She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and twisted around in her bed. Sure enough, there Selene was, clinging to her precious daughter.


    ¡°Mommy! Wake up! Wake up! Your back!¡±


    She got up and started shaking her mother awake. Her eyes blearily peeked open and recognized her daughter''s form.


    ¡°Good morning to you too my little angel. Can I have a good morning kiss?¡±


    Lunabelle hugged her mother tight and kissed her on the cheek. She had been gone for 3 days and hadn¡¯t told her anything. Lunabelle was really scared and was happy she was finally back.


    Then she thought back to last night and remembered that she had to do all the things that the nice lady had told her to do to save her mommies.


    ¡°Mommy! We need to go see the nice lady who said she can help you! Let''s go! Let''s go!¡±


    Unfortunately, Lia hadn''t taken into account how honest and incapable of lying Lunabelle was and ended up almost ruining the plan because she didn''t know how to keep something a secret.


    ¡°5 more minutes.¡± Selene teased.


    ¡°No! We go see the nice lady and help you get better!¡±


    Lunabelle pouted and the goddess secretly took out another crystal orb and took another picture. Moments like this truly must be preserved!


    She vaguely wondered who this nice lady was? Maybe a Lunabelle had made an imaginary friend keep herself company these last few days she was away. She was thankful however that Lunabelle didn¡¯t seem frightened because she stepped out of a moment.


    Of course, it didn''t occur to her until she was halfway through her trip that a moment for her would equal 3 days for Lunabelle.


    She wanted to go back, but the job had to be done and it hurt more than anything not too. But the mission she was on would allow her to keep Lunabelle by her side no matter how badly their follower count counted down. And in the end, the trip had proven its worth.


    To make it up to her daughter for leaving her, she would go along with her games and go see this imaginary friend of hers, make the day special as a sort of apology. Maybe they were playing veterinarian and played with all the animals! She would join them and do everything she could to make Lunabelles day amazing.


    ''A morning playing doctor with Lunabelle, really, there was no better way to start the day.'' Selene thought.


    ¡°OK sweetie, let''s get breakfast first and go see your friend.¡±


    After a quick meal of scrambled eggs and toast, Lunabelle was literally tugging Selene by the hand as they marched out the front gate of the palace. The green and blue superstructure behind them disappeared and a clearing the size of several coliseums opened up, fresh flowers blooming in their wake.


    Once again, the little girl was running ahead tugging her mother along in a familiar scene. Over the gorge and through the river, they walked. Downhill and into a vast clearing, where Selene suddenly realized something.


    Selene suddenly looked around and stiffened. They were back in the dreadful place that things had all started in. The gray dirt, the presence of mortal men coming to take her child, all came rushing back. They were back at where that metal vessel of theirs had landed.


    During the entire walk, she had been daydreaming and wasn''t paying attention to where they were going. Why not? It was her special day and there was nothing on her moon that could ever harm her.


    The first step to Lia''s plan was getting Selene and Lunabelle out in the open, and Lunabelle had done her job well despite almost giving away everything. The green and blue palace had been the only thing keeping Mora and Astenna from tracing Lunabelles presence, without it, they could find her easily.


    Selene realized she had been led by the nose by her own daughter and reacted quickly to steer her somewhere else, but the door swung shut.


    A transparent red barrier flashed into existence in the sky and Lunabelle disappeared.


    ¡°Sister, we need to talk.¡±


    The goddess in Mora and Astenna flanked Selene''s sides. Step two of the plan required acquiring the help of the goddesses, which she had done this morning by finding some of the Red mist wolves in the oasis pavilion they had dined at the previous night.


    ¡°RETURN HER TO ME!¡±


    ¡°Peace sister. We only wish-¡±


    She didn¡¯t get to finish as Selene''s humanoid form exploded in a flash of divine of light and a crimson bear the size of a siege tower brought its paw smashing down on the two figures.


    They quickly blinked out of range and tried to make peace once more.


    ¡°Sister please, calm yourself. Lunabelle is fine. She is-¡±


    A small hill the size of fortress came flying over and smashed into the ground and exploded, turning the whole area into a crater. Bit of rock and burning shrubbery rained down from the sky.


    Suddenly, the howl of a wolf echoed through the air as a Wolf almost as big as the bear took the field, a pack of smaller, but just as nasty wolves followed in her wake. One look from her was all it took, and the smaller wolves ran forward snapping at the feet of the giant.


    One by one, they were quickly slapped into the ground and turned back into red mist. Mora turned giant wolf, dashed forward and climbed up Selene''s back, latching onto the fur on the back of her neck.


    Selene roared in a blind rage and smashed her back into the mountain and managed to shake Mora off. She bore down on her intention to kill when a Silver Owl of massive size came plummeting out of the sky and used its talons to blind Selene in her right eye.


    ¡°Selene! You force my hand!¡± Astenna communicated over the howls and cries of battle.


    ¡°RETURN HER!¡± Selen replied.


    She bashed the wolf away and took up large pieces of stone, just smaller than your village hut, and began launching them in rapid fire at the airborne target. Each one glowed with a deadly light and exploded, destroying anything in its path. Only the crimson barrier prevented the fight from destroying any more of the surroundings.


    Meanwhile, outside, Lunabelle was with Lia getting a proper tour of the Shuttle, which had conveniently been bought with all the windows closed. Lia had asked the goddesses to ready the area the confrontation would take place, and set countermeasures such as sound absorbing barrier outside the red one, and finding something to distract Lunabelle from the war going on outside.


    The rest of the crew, however, didn¡¯t have a wisp of a clue of what was going on. First, they were warped here in the middle of a serious conversation, then the girl who started all this popped into existence right in front of them. Lia seemed to know everything that was happening but secretly told them to wait until after Lunabelle wasn¡¯t present to explain things.


    ¡°And this is where we all sleep.¡±


    Lia was giving Lunabelle a tour around the ship, showing her how the giant shiny metal rock that appeared out of the sky was actually hollow on the inside. She turned on all the lights and made everything as colorful and captivating as possible as to distract from the ugliness going on outside.


    ¡°Hey Lia, maybe you could show Lunabelle the cockpit? Just do let her touch the controls, alright?¡±


    Lia had insisted that everyone be friendly and address Lunabelle by name, and make her feel welcome. To the crew, it was harder than said. She was the reason why they had been threatened, their ship trashed and taken prisoner. They knew she wasn¡¯t really to blame, but she was the root cause. It was grinding their nerves to have her around and be nice to her.


    But so far, there had been no problems. Everyone was being at least respectful, and Lunabelle hadn¡¯t found out anything yet. Although she hated lying to her. Regrettably, it wouldn''t long before the Lunabelle got curious as for where mommy was again. And at that time came, Lia was going to have to lie again.

 A Brief Update

    Sorry for not posting guys, I know it''s been a couple weeks...BUT! Let me just say that I am doing all the work to make the story as immersive and realistic as possible. Usually, I just write by the seat of my pants(Oddly enough, there''sa term for this. It''s called a Pantser, or someone who writes by the seat of their pants...#Themoreyouknow) and write lore around the story, but now I am wiser, I have learned from my mistakes with FoxgirlIn another World(Which I plan to Rewrite/continue at some point)! I am actually writing out an entire world, climates, political positions, magical system, history, monetary system, and more.Believe


    Believe me guys! It is complicated as FUCK! I have spent hours putting together a new branch(s) of taxonomy for this, compared world formations and estimated what sorts of resources each country will have, don''t even get me started on the language system, and the magical system...THE MAGICAL SYSTEM IS A PAIN IN THE ASS! How do I plan the interactions of emotion and mind? How do I fit godly power into a system that deals in mortals normally and still explain it in a relatively normal-----


    *Sigh*


    Sorry guys...Going for such a long time without posting is really grinding my nerves...


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Have no fear though guys, once I get this done, I am likely going to not do it again for a while. Remember when I posted that map? I said that was a rough map and nothing was final. I also said that that map alone wasn''t the whole world. In fact, it isn''t even a 1/8 of the world.


    I''ll just put this out there and say that the world of may sound a lot like earth, but in reality, it is a little less than half the size of Saturn and the star it orbits is Sentient.


    So when I say that this universe is massive and complex and realistic, just think of how big Terra alone is, and then add all the possibilities of multiple planets, dimensions, and beings that populate it all to the mix. Then add all the lives of everyone on every planet in every dimension at any time point in the universe. I have been mostly focusing on Terra up until this point, both in story development and creation. But once I finish creating Terra, I have plans for alternative dimensions, aliens, powers that transcend mana, origins of the universe and more.


    I am LITERALLY playing god.


    So if you could be patient and understanding until it is all done, that would be helpful. I know I talk big, and in my mind, that''s a good thing. Because the bigger I plan, the bigger the universe gets.


    I also have a few other stories in the pipeline, 1 of which takes place on Terra so it will come out later. But the other is an interesting little bit that takes place in the real world(Earth) so likely I won''t have to spend to much time creating the back story and lore of it.


    Sincerely


    zews